Howard-Vyse, Richard William Howard: Operations carried on at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837: with an account of a voyage into upper Egypt, and Appendix (Band 1) (London, 1840)

RETURN FROM UPPER EGYPT.

109

a small Arab village at some little distance. The convent
at Deir-El-Cosseir (on
the site of Pesla) had
been destroyed, and
no signs of sculpture
remained in the grot-
toes. I did not visit
Djebel Toona on the
western bank, as it
was at a considerable
distance from the
river, and as the only
remains consisted of
tombs similar to those
at Tel-El-Amarna, and
accordingly arrived in
the evening at Hadji
Kandeish near Coseah,
the antient Cusaa.

\5th. — The ruins at Tel-El-Amarna (formerly Ala-
bastron) are situated in a plain of considerable extent,
and surrounded by a semicircular chain of desert hills,
that come down to the river at its northern and southern
extremities. The promontory to the northward is called
Sheik-Said. A large island is opposite to the plain, and
a strip of cultivated ground in an open grove of palm-
trees extends along the bank of the river, near which the
villages are situated. The rest of the plain is neglected
and covered with sand; but the ground under tillage
is very productive, and sugar-canes, cotton, and other
crops, are raised in great abundance. The remains of the