DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11636#0119
AND LOWER EGYPT. 93
those which cover the ssas of the Levant, of a to-
tal loss, in a region abandoned to the pillage of
Africans.
To make the land of Alexandria is likewise at-
tended with difficulty and danger : this part of
Egypt is so low, that much circumspection is re-
quisite toward a safe approach to it. If your course
is from the Libyan side, that is, from the west, the
first indication of the land of Egypt is Abousir,
called by Europeans, the Towers of the Arabs.
These are two eminences, on each of which a
tower is constructed. They are distinguishable at
sea four leagues off. One of these towers is round,
the other square. At least this is the appearance
which they presented to my eye, on viewing them
from the offing. It would appear, nevertheless,
that their forms are different from what I supposed
them at a distance; for Granger, who seems to
have made a survey of the edifices, describes them
differently *. That
* " On the western extremity of this lake (Mareotis), is to
" be seen the tower of the Arabs, called, by the people of the
" country, the castle of Abousir. It is indeed a square tower,
"fourscore feet bigr, the faces of which are each two hun-
" dred and fifty feet broad ; built of very beautiful hewn stone ;
" the walls are fourteen feet thick. At the distance of a
" quarter of a league from this castle, there is a tower, .square
" below, and the upper part round; and, six leagues from
" thence, still to the westward, there is another, on the walls of
" which
those which cover the ssas of the Levant, of a to-
tal loss, in a region abandoned to the pillage of
Africans.
To make the land of Alexandria is likewise at-
tended with difficulty and danger : this part of
Egypt is so low, that much circumspection is re-
quisite toward a safe approach to it. If your course
is from the Libyan side, that is, from the west, the
first indication of the land of Egypt is Abousir,
called by Europeans, the Towers of the Arabs.
These are two eminences, on each of which a
tower is constructed. They are distinguishable at
sea four leagues off. One of these towers is round,
the other square. At least this is the appearance
which they presented to my eye, on viewing them
from the offing. It would appear, nevertheless,
that their forms are different from what I supposed
them at a distance; for Granger, who seems to
have made a survey of the edifices, describes them
differently *. That
* " On the western extremity of this lake (Mareotis), is to
" be seen the tower of the Arabs, called, by the people of the
" country, the castle of Abousir. It is indeed a square tower,
"fourscore feet bigr, the faces of which are each two hun-
" dred and fifty feet broad ; built of very beautiful hewn stone ;
" the walls are fourteen feet thick. At the distance of a
" quarter of a league from this castle, there is a tower, .square
" below, and the upper part round; and, six leagues from
" thence, still to the westward, there is another, on the walls of
" which