DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0036
HOLY LAND, AND CYPRUS. 17
appearance of the Nile, Rosetta, and its neighbourhood; for,
though on entering the town and arriving at the river, the
eye is much gratified by the opposite shores of the Delta,
and the change from desert to cultivation, yet the traveller
will look in vain for the paradise of Denon, Savary, and
Sonini.
Rosetta still has a few European inhabitants : it is a
considerable place; and being the point of communication
between Cairo and Alexandria, had some appearance of
trade. Its aga acted as chief of the customs, and prided
himself as having commanded at Rosetta during our unfortu-
nate attack on that town.
The desert approached close to the shores of the Nile;
a few gardens, and the continuation of the palm-grove above
mentioned, are all that separates it from that river. A village
on the opposite shore of the Delta gave me but a miserable
idea of the state of the inhabitants. A few straggling houses
and a half-clothed population first met my view. The high
state of cultivation for which this part of Egypt has been
celebrated consisted in ground laid out for rice, with tracts of
clover and radish allowed to run to seed amongst plantations
of palm-trees. The peasantry seemed too much sunk in
apathy to notice me, and rather shunned me as I approached
to ask them questions.
The island of Sarshes, opposite Rosetta, has seldom been
D
appearance of the Nile, Rosetta, and its neighbourhood; for,
though on entering the town and arriving at the river, the
eye is much gratified by the opposite shores of the Delta,
and the change from desert to cultivation, yet the traveller
will look in vain for the paradise of Denon, Savary, and
Sonini.
Rosetta still has a few European inhabitants : it is a
considerable place; and being the point of communication
between Cairo and Alexandria, had some appearance of
trade. Its aga acted as chief of the customs, and prided
himself as having commanded at Rosetta during our unfortu-
nate attack on that town.
The desert approached close to the shores of the Nile;
a few gardens, and the continuation of the palm-grove above
mentioned, are all that separates it from that river. A village
on the opposite shore of the Delta gave me but a miserable
idea of the state of the inhabitants. A few straggling houses
and a half-clothed population first met my view. The high
state of cultivation for which this part of Egypt has been
celebrated consisted in ground laid out for rice, with tracts of
clover and radish allowed to run to seed amongst plantations
of palm-trees. The peasantry seemed too much sunk in
apathy to notice me, and rather shunned me as I approached
to ask them questions.
The island of Sarshes, opposite Rosetta, has seldom been
D