DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0035
16 TRAVELS IN EGYJPT, NUBIA,
and mosques, to the memory of sheiks and santons, drove
away the agreeable delusion. The lake had the muddy ap-
pearance of a river ; all its landing-places were so shallow,
that it was necessary to wade to the shore, to which I was
carried for thirty yards on the shoulders of an Arab boatman.
The banks of the lake were covered with palm-trees, growing
in thick plantations from a sandy soil: no verdure appeared,
except in front of Etko. We skirted the lake for an hour
through groves of palm, till we left it for the desert, where a
solitary palm-tree once or twice showed itself amongst hills
of sand, and where the charity or devotion of some Arab
generally left a pitcher of water for the thirsty and wearied
passenger. This slight specimen of the desert gave me a
tolerable idea of what the journey must be across larger
portions of it. Our road lay through a succession of ascents
and descents of loose sand, into which our animals sunk to
their knees at each step. We continued thus till Ave arrived
at a plain near Rosetta, where the mirage deceived me, as it
has done other travellers, by the resemblance to water; but
our journey Avas rendered less troublesome as the sand was
firmer. At half past three Ave came in sight of Rosetta, and
at five got to the grove of palms near the Avails, which springs
up amidst hills of sand, and Avas pointed out as the spot
Avhere the English detachment under general Wauchop took
up its position. I confess I felt no raptures at the sudden
and mosques, to the memory of sheiks and santons, drove
away the agreeable delusion. The lake had the muddy ap-
pearance of a river ; all its landing-places were so shallow,
that it was necessary to wade to the shore, to which I was
carried for thirty yards on the shoulders of an Arab boatman.
The banks of the lake were covered with palm-trees, growing
in thick plantations from a sandy soil: no verdure appeared,
except in front of Etko. We skirted the lake for an hour
through groves of palm, till we left it for the desert, where a
solitary palm-tree once or twice showed itself amongst hills
of sand, and where the charity or devotion of some Arab
generally left a pitcher of water for the thirsty and wearied
passenger. This slight specimen of the desert gave me a
tolerable idea of what the journey must be across larger
portions of it. Our road lay through a succession of ascents
and descents of loose sand, into which our animals sunk to
their knees at each step. We continued thus till Ave arrived
at a plain near Rosetta, where the mirage deceived me, as it
has done other travellers, by the resemblance to water; but
our journey Avas rendered less troublesome as the sand was
firmer. At half past three Ave came in sight of Rosetta, and
at five got to the grove of palms near the Avails, which springs
up amidst hills of sand, and Avas pointed out as the spot
Avhere the English detachment under general Wauchop took
up its position. I confess I felt no raptures at the sudden