DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11637#0059
AND LOWER EGYPT. 45
raged with impetuosity, and furrowed with waves
the Nile, now confined within its banks. Rain,
sometimes accompanied by thunder, watered the
land previously moistened by the river, which had
but just retired to its bed. The agitation of the
sea seldom allowed a vessel (o venture out of port;
and the rashness of those sailors who were not to
be restrained by the danger, exposed them to cer-
tain risk, of which their lives were not unfrcquently
the forfeit. Of two germes, which, notwithstand-
ing the threatening appearance of the weather,
quitted the tranquil coast of Rossetta, and set sail
for Alexandria, one was lost on the Boghass ; the
other, after having escaped the dangers of the bar,
could not resist the fury of the waves, and foun-
dered at sea. Each of these vessels had on board,
beside the crew, fifteen or twenty gaUhng'is, or
Turkish marines, who belonged to a ship of war at
anchor in the old port of Alexandria, and not a
single person was saved from either of them. Amid
this tumult of nature troops of porpoises sported in
the mouth of the Nile, the seat of danger and of
death, and shewed themselves more frequently be-
fore the walls of Rossetta, than at any other season.
The branch of the river that passes-by Rossetta,
affords different species of fish, which I shall have
occasion to mention. One of the most common
in this season is the eel of the Nile, which, accord-
ing
raged with impetuosity, and furrowed with waves
the Nile, now confined within its banks. Rain,
sometimes accompanied by thunder, watered the
land previously moistened by the river, which had
but just retired to its bed. The agitation of the
sea seldom allowed a vessel (o venture out of port;
and the rashness of those sailors who were not to
be restrained by the danger, exposed them to cer-
tain risk, of which their lives were not unfrcquently
the forfeit. Of two germes, which, notwithstand-
ing the threatening appearance of the weather,
quitted the tranquil coast of Rossetta, and set sail
for Alexandria, one was lost on the Boghass ; the
other, after having escaped the dangers of the bar,
could not resist the fury of the waves, and foun-
dered at sea. Each of these vessels had on board,
beside the crew, fifteen or twenty gaUhng'is, or
Turkish marines, who belonged to a ship of war at
anchor in the old port of Alexandria, and not a
single person was saved from either of them. Amid
this tumult of nature troops of porpoises sported in
the mouth of the Nile, the seat of danger and of
death, and shewed themselves more frequently be-
fore the walls of Rossetta, than at any other season.
The branch of the river that passes-by Rossetta,
affords different species of fish, which I shall have
occasion to mention. One of the most common
in this season is the eel of the Nile, which, accord-
ing