DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0080
64
row slip of soil between the water and the sands cultivated with
the greatest attention and care. The whole extent for two miles
presented a continued range of gardens, where Nature lavished
her richest vegetation, and well repaid the industry of the inha-
bitants. So confined is the soil that will admit of any culture,
that the slopes of the bank just left by the water (November
18th,) were already sown, and the corn and beans covered them
with the freshest sjreen. Groves of Date-trees and Acacias shaded
the patches of Doura and Cotton, and the variety of verdure
above and upon the ground afforded a scene highly grateful by
the side of parched mountains of sand and rock: the Persian
water-wheels were all in motion, the whole village hard at work,
and the sun seemed to shoot a milder ray than usual on one of
the most smiling spots in Egypt. The approach to Es Souan
from the North is striking and picturesque: the insulated rocks
in the mid stream, the island of Elephantine immediately behind
them, the fortunate site of the town on a gentle slope, termi-
nating in a hill, with a small fortress to the East; and to the
West the mountains of the Desert, with the tomb of an Arab
Shekh on their summit, and a ruined monastery half way down
the steep,—all combined to form an interesting and pleasing pic-
ture. Our feelings on this occasion were perhaps more particu-
larly excited by the reflection that Ave had reached the Southern
boundaries of a country whose history forms such a conspicuous
feature in the annals of the antient world, that we could hear
the distant crash of the far-famed Cataracts, and that either we
had arrived at the furthest term of our journey, or, if able to
proceed, we should visit a land new to the geographer and the
antiquary ; and possessed by a people venerated for their anti-
quity when the laws and religion of Egypt were yet in their in-
fancy.
Very
row slip of soil between the water and the sands cultivated with
the greatest attention and care. The whole extent for two miles
presented a continued range of gardens, where Nature lavished
her richest vegetation, and well repaid the industry of the inha-
bitants. So confined is the soil that will admit of any culture,
that the slopes of the bank just left by the water (November
18th,) were already sown, and the corn and beans covered them
with the freshest sjreen. Groves of Date-trees and Acacias shaded
the patches of Doura and Cotton, and the variety of verdure
above and upon the ground afforded a scene highly grateful by
the side of parched mountains of sand and rock: the Persian
water-wheels were all in motion, the whole village hard at work,
and the sun seemed to shoot a milder ray than usual on one of
the most smiling spots in Egypt. The approach to Es Souan
from the North is striking and picturesque: the insulated rocks
in the mid stream, the island of Elephantine immediately behind
them, the fortunate site of the town on a gentle slope, termi-
nating in a hill, with a small fortress to the East; and to the
West the mountains of the Desert, with the tomb of an Arab
Shekh on their summit, and a ruined monastery half way down
the steep,—all combined to form an interesting and pleasing pic-
ture. Our feelings on this occasion were perhaps more particu-
larly excited by the reflection that Ave had reached the Southern
boundaries of a country whose history forms such a conspicuous
feature in the annals of the antient world, that we could hear
the distant crash of the far-famed Cataracts, and that either we
had arrived at the furthest term of our journey, or, if able to
proceed, we should visit a land new to the geographer and the
antiquary ; and possessed by a people venerated for their anti-
quity when the laws and religion of Egypt were yet in their in-
fancy.
Very