Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 1.djvu/198

94 tains on the east run in a parellel direction with the river, and are not three miles distant.

passed Deirout on the east side, and another called Zohor, in the same quarter, surrounded with palms; then Siradé on the east side also, where is a wood of the Acacia, which seems very luxuriant; and, though it was now December, and the mornings especially very cold, the trees were in full flower. We passed Monfalout, a large town on the western shore. It was once an old Egyptian town, and place of great trade; it was ruined by the Romans, but re-established by the Arabs.

Arabian author says, that, digging under the foundation of an old Egyptian temple here, they found a crocodile made of lead, with hieroglyphics upon it, which they imagine to be a talisman, to prevent crocodiles from passing further. Indeed, as yet, we had not seen any; that animal delights in heat, and, as the mornings were very cold, he keeps himself to the southward. The valley of Egypt here is about eight miles from mountain to mountain.

We passed Siout, another large town built with the remains of the ancient city Isiu. It is some miles in land, upon the side of a large calish, over which there is an ancient bridge. This was formerly the station of the caravan for Sennaar. They assembled at Monfalout and Siout, under the protection of a Bey residing there. They then passed nearly south-west, into the sandy desert of Libya, to El Wah,