EMBALMING OF CROCODILES.

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and voracious hyænas. Though the crocodile was regarded as a god by the Egyptians, his body was less carefully preserved than their own. Neither coffin nor sarcophagus enclosed the corpse, which having been embalmed, was first packed in palm leaves, disposed lengthwise along the body, and bound round with cord, formed, like that in use at present, of the leaf of the palm tree. The whole was then enveloped, like the human mummy, in linen bandages, sewn together with twine, and secured with broad tape. The entrails, separately embalmed, and strung together in small bundles, were placed in the palm leaves beside the body. Two small oblong packets, placed over the empty sockets, seem to have contained the eyes; but these we did not open.

DXXV. We now ordered the Arabs to take up the crocodiles, and departed. It was a singular cavalcade; for the bearers, with their dusky and half naked bodies, appeared themselves like so many mummies, condemned for their sins to walk the earth, with their gods upon their heads. Of all these thirteen men, every one, I believe, except the old Sheikh, had the fore-finger of the right hand cut off; the stumps of some, recently amputated, being still red and swollen. This horrid practice, resorted to in order to escape the army, must not be taken as a proof of cowardice in the Arabs. Like all other rational people, they prefer peace to war; but their principal objection to the Pasha's service, they say, arises from the disingenuous contrivances resorted to

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MUTILATION OF THE ARABS.

by the government to cheat them out of their miserable pay. Perhaps they know that money sufficient to enable the Pasha honestly to discharge his debts towards them, does not exist in the country; but this knowledge will not blunt the feelings of the heart, when they see the wives and children from whom they are forced away, condemned to poverty and want, or driven to support a wretched existence with the wages of humiliation and vice. Numbers of young wives thus abandoned, are compelled by starvation, or, to prevent their infant children from perishing, to join the almé, all whose profligate habits they must soon acquire. Such of their husbands, therefore, as live to return from the army, will, in many cases, find the wives and daughters, whom they, perhaps, loved and cherished, irremediably lost : many families are thus entirely broken up. For, not content with seizing on part of the men, they frequently take all fit for military service. Such are the grounds of their disgust for the army. That they are all interested in emancipating the country from the Ottoman yoke, seems beyond a doubt; but this they cannot, perhaps, comprehend, or, if they do, the pressure of present evils forces them, in spite of this conviction, to curse the Pasha, and his wars.

DXXVI. A great portion of the plain of Maabdé, the finest grassy flat which I had beheld for many years, resembled a bowling green in smoothness, reminding me of Lords' cricket ground; and numerous bright flowers, such as the white poppy, the daisy,

TOMB OF SHEIKH SAID.

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and a small delicate convolvulus, were growing among the short soft grass. grasshopper, were busily celebrating the return of spring. One of the Arabs, as I have already observed, was afflicted with incipient elephantiasis; and a bull, which came down to drink at the river, seemed to be attacked in one of his fore legs by the same disorder. Having embarked the crocodiles, and dismissed the guides, we recommenced our voyage, and during the night lost sight of Monro's kandjia.

The sky-lark, the bee, the

Tuesday, Feb. 26. Abou Aziz.

DXXVII. The wind, though still contrary, not blowing very high, we descended rapidly all day, and in the course of the morning passed the tomb of Sheikh Said, where I landed, and visited the building, which, though peculiarly holy, has nothing remarkable in its appearance. The servant of the Sheïkh, who keeps the tomb clean, and receives the offerings of the traveller, made no objection to my entering; but I did not proceed beyond the threshold, the whole of the interior being from thence visible. There was, as usual, a small chest, neat mats on the floor, and two or three miniature boats suspended from the roof. The saint here interred is held in peculiar veneration by the mariners of the Nile, who, when no servant happens to be present, cast a little bread into the river for Sheikh Said. Long before sunset we came in sight of Gebel Mahazi, or the "Mountain of the Battle," so called on account of a celebrated victory gained near the spot during the conquest of

Egypt by the Arabs. This is the most southern point of the "Bird Mountain," which we passed in ascending the river, on the 26th of December, exactly two months ago. Shortly after sunset, which on this day was singularly beautiful, and covered the rocks and the river with crimson, we arrived at Minieh, where we moored, in order to allow Ali, one of my boat's crew, time to pay a visit to his mother, who lived there. Though married and very indigent, the poor fellow had contrived, perhaps by stinting himself of the necessaries of life during the voyage, to save up a few piastres, which he carried her: on his return we again set forward. For the first time, since the day of our leaving Wady Halfa, the wind this evening veered round to the south, bringing along with it a sensible change in the temperature of the atmosphere, which, from being at night sharp and cool, now became heated and oppressive *; and about twelve o'clock the gale increased to a storm, so that the Arabs, overcome by sleep and toil, applied for permission to moor, until morning, near the village of Abou Aziz.

Wednesday, Feb. 27. On the Nile. DXXVIII. Soon after sunrise, Monro's kandjia, which had been sailing all night, was discovered a

The sultry character of the south wind is alluded to in the book of Job. "How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind?" Chap. xxxvii. ver. 17. It is rather remarkable, that during the prevalence of the scirocco, or south wind, the atmosphere, in the Mediterranean, and on the coasts of Northern Africa, is almost invariably charged with clouds; whereas, when it blows from the north, the air is generally clear. This fact also is noted in Job:-"Fair weather cometh out of the north." - ver. 22.

VENERATION FOR BREAD.

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little in the rear; and the wind still continuing fair, we immediately quitted our moorings, in the hope of reaching Benisooëf in the course of the day. It has, I believe, been observed, by some of our older travellers, that the Orientals, of every rank, entertain a sort of superstitious veneration for bread; at least this is the case with the Egyptian Arabs, who have a remarkable aversion to allow, on any occasion, a crumb to fall to the ground, — affirming that such an act of wastefulness, persevered in, might ruin a man's fortunes. This notion, in their usual way, they illustrate by a story, which, though in some degree bordering on the ludicrous, I will request the reader's permission to relate.-There were formerly, they say, in Cairo, two merchants, who having lived, during many years, in the strictest intimacy, had at length conceived so strong an affection for each other, that between them even the thoughts and wishes of the mind had become common property. One of these friends, finding his wealth increase beyond his desires, and apprehending, like the Pagans of antiquity, some sudden and terrible reverse from the envy of fortune, consulted the other concerning the means to be adopted to reduce within the limits of moderation his oppressive riches. Charity, perhaps, and the exercise of private munificence, may not have presented themselves to the imagination of the merchant; to the grave inquiries of his friend he, therefore, replied: "Eat toasted bread as you walk along the public road!" So sage a piece of advice was not to be neglected; but, in pursuance of those eco