DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0135
104 TRAVELS IN EGYPT, NUBIA,
At Hellaal, the ancient Elethias, numerous tombs in the
Mokattam, included in a space of more than two miles, part
of which is in a large amphitheatre, formed by the hills re-
tiring to the east from a narrow chasm, showed the existence
of an immense city, of which there are no remains, except a
few columns, one small building, and an entrenchment of
unburnt bricks, whose base is forty feet, and called forth the
speculations of Denon and other travellers. The tombs con-
tain paintings, supposed to represent the profession of the
deceased ; and, amongst the articles of husbandry, in one of
them is the sickle, now unknown to the modern inhabitants
of Upper Egypt, who pull the corn up by the roots.
It was in the mountains above Hellaal, that I saw the
Nems, an animal larger than the fox, resembling a wolf or
jackall, which Hassalquist calls the Ichneumon. Not far
from this, I was surprised by the appearance of a large rep-
tile of the lizard kind, about eight or nine feet long, of a rich
green colour, creeping amongst some sount bushes near the
shores of the Nile. It answered the description of the animal
which some old traveller, whose name I cannot exactly re-
collect, found in the Syrian desert; and stamps as the real
dragon whom St. George was said to have encountered. The
boatmen gave a name to it, which I neglected to write down,
and it escaped my memory to ask it again. It appears to be
of the Guaina kind.
At Hellaal, the ancient Elethias, numerous tombs in the
Mokattam, included in a space of more than two miles, part
of which is in a large amphitheatre, formed by the hills re-
tiring to the east from a narrow chasm, showed the existence
of an immense city, of which there are no remains, except a
few columns, one small building, and an entrenchment of
unburnt bricks, whose base is forty feet, and called forth the
speculations of Denon and other travellers. The tombs con-
tain paintings, supposed to represent the profession of the
deceased ; and, amongst the articles of husbandry, in one of
them is the sickle, now unknown to the modern inhabitants
of Upper Egypt, who pull the corn up by the roots.
It was in the mountains above Hellaal, that I saw the
Nems, an animal larger than the fox, resembling a wolf or
jackall, which Hassalquist calls the Ichneumon. Not far
from this, I was surprised by the appearance of a large rep-
tile of the lizard kind, about eight or nine feet long, of a rich
green colour, creeping amongst some sount bushes near the
shores of the Nile. It answered the description of the animal
which some old traveller, whose name I cannot exactly re-
collect, found in the Syrian desert; and stamps as the real
dragon whom St. George was said to have encountered. The
boatmen gave a name to it, which I neglected to write down,
and it escaped my memory to ask it again. It appears to be
of the Guaina kind.