FROM ROSETTA IN EGYPT TO LARNECA IN CYPRUS, i 83- 
foe formed whither this passage extended elsewhere, as it has 
foeen opened by the sea toward the bay. Pliny, speaking of 
Canopus, says it was an island; on which account these ruins 
may have belonged to that city. Sonnini has described other 
remains upon the opposite coast; and these seem to owe their 
origin to Canopus. If, therefore, Pliny’s statement be incor¬ 
rect, and the island once formed a part of the continent, as the 
inhabitants of the country maintain, the ruins here, and those 
mentioned by Sonnini,may altogether have resulted from the 
destruction of the same place, now lying buried beneath the 
waves, a memorable instance of the fate attending cities dis¬ 
tinguished only by their vices. We found here a few other 
curious plants, and observed in great abidance, among the 
sand, those small and beautiful shells worn by Maltese sailors 
in their ears. 
We were detained with the fleet until the ninth. Upon the 
morning of that day, the BraakePs cutter being ordered to Ro¬ 
setta, we again set out for that place ; sailing in company with 
the Dorothea frigate, until she came off the mouth of the 
Nile. The surf of the bar being low, w e w ere able to pass 
over it, and therefore entered the Rosetta branch of the river. 
Of the seven mouths this river formerly possessed, only two 
now remain ; those of Bamiata and Rosetta. Soon after pass¬ 
ing the bar in the embouchure of the Rosetta branch, an island 
divides the stream into two broad channels ; and just beyond 
the point -where these again unite, upon the western side of the 
river, Rosetta is situated ; appearing equally beautiful, whe¬ 
ther approached by •■land or by, water. The small island I 
have.mentioned is covered with clover and date trees, arid 
■was then appropriated to the use of the French and Maltese 
prisoners, taken at Bamiata, and -other places upon the Nile 
toward Cairo, 
We remained at Rosetta until the twentieth, visiting, occa» 
si on ally, the Delta, and environs of the town. Concerning this 
place, the'account already published by Sonnini is so faithful, 
that to attempt another would be introducing a superfluous 
repetition. Chameleons are very common in the gardens, and 
upon the island in the midst of the river, w here we procured 
two, that lived with us until we finally left Egypt. These 
were large, and of a most vivid green colour when first taken. 
Afterward, their ordinary appearance was that of a common 
lizard ; and we found, as they became unhealthy, that their 
pow r er of changing colour diminished. Indeed, this effect is 
