DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0170
134 OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH.
land, a barren plain covered with stunted bushes, and
which appears to have been formerly under water, ex-
tends for about two miles to the lake, where some
people were employed in building a boat. The water
was so shallow that we were carried to the vessel which
was to convey us to the other side. The lake abounds
with fish and with various kinds of waterfowl, and great
quantities are taken by hooks attached to long lines, that
are stretched at intervals over the surface. I saw a large
black fowl with a sharp serrated bill caught in this
manner; and two fish called Shillbee Beeri, with flat
heads, and beards, or whiskers six or seven inches long,
which were said to be very fine, and were nearly a yard
in length.
We arrived on the western shore in about an hour,
and landed in the same way, in which we embarked.
Having passed a narrow strip of bushes, where the slots
of leopards, and of antelopes were visible, we ascended
a steep ridge, on which there had been evidently vine-
yards, as the remains were to be perceived struggling
through the sand, that now covers the extensive ranges
of desert mountains to such a depth, that their rocky
summits are the only objects perceptible in the undulating
waste. As the sand is deep and drifted, it is impossible,
Bahr Yousef, could be supposed to have been the work of the great
patriarch, it might be an additional argument.
9 Certain varieties of fish are said to be peculiar to the Nile, and
to the Caspian Sea. I do not believe that the assertion extends to those
in the Lake Mceris; but, considering the antient traditions respecting
this lake, it would be interesting to discover any fish in it, which are
peculiar to the Caspian Sea, and still more so if they were not found
in the Nile.
land, a barren plain covered with stunted bushes, and
which appears to have been formerly under water, ex-
tends for about two miles to the lake, where some
people were employed in building a boat. The water
was so shallow that we were carried to the vessel which
was to convey us to the other side. The lake abounds
with fish and with various kinds of waterfowl, and great
quantities are taken by hooks attached to long lines, that
are stretched at intervals over the surface. I saw a large
black fowl with a sharp serrated bill caught in this
manner; and two fish called Shillbee Beeri, with flat
heads, and beards, or whiskers six or seven inches long,
which were said to be very fine, and were nearly a yard
in length.
We arrived on the western shore in about an hour,
and landed in the same way, in which we embarked.
Having passed a narrow strip of bushes, where the slots
of leopards, and of antelopes were visible, we ascended
a steep ridge, on which there had been evidently vine-
yards, as the remains were to be perceived struggling
through the sand, that now covers the extensive ranges
of desert mountains to such a depth, that their rocky
summits are the only objects perceptible in the undulating
waste. As the sand is deep and drifted, it is impossible,
Bahr Yousef, could be supposed to have been the work of the great
patriarch, it might be an additional argument.
9 Certain varieties of fish are said to be peculiar to the Nile, and
to the Caspian Sea. I do not believe that the assertion extends to those
in the Lake Mceris; but, considering the antient traditions respecting
this lake, it would be interesting to discover any fish in it, which are
peculiar to the Caspian Sea, and still more so if they were not found
in the Nile.