DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11637#0188
1^2 TRAVELS IN UPPER
of a number of hermits, encroaching upon the
rights of death by leading a savage and useless
life, making it their sole study to counteract the
laws of nature, and endeavouring, after having
abjured the qualities of man, to form a barren co-
lony for Heaven. From Zaidi el Baramons I took
the bearings by the compass of the buildings that
were discernible from the top of the walls. The
little uninhabited house of Saint Maximous lay to
the east south-east: about two leagues distant was
another monastery, called Zcudi Sourum, to the
south-south-east: very near this was a second,
south by east: and lastly, on the other side of the
lakes of natron, was a little deserted building,
bearing north-east by east, which had been con-
structed by a Kiaschef, who was commissioned to
drive away the Bedouins and keep them at a dis-
tance. It still served as a shelter to those who
come to collect the natron.
A day's journey to the westward is the River
without Water, Bohr Ihla Ma, the ancient bed of
a communication between the lakes Mocris and
Mareotis. Rocks of different figures, scattered
throughout the dry channel, have led people to
suppose that they were petrified fragments of
boats: and some go so far as to say, that tin y dis-
cover men and animals there petrified in the same
manner. Eagle-stones, or aetitcs, are very common
in
of a number of hermits, encroaching upon the
rights of death by leading a savage and useless
life, making it their sole study to counteract the
laws of nature, and endeavouring, after having
abjured the qualities of man, to form a barren co-
lony for Heaven. From Zaidi el Baramons I took
the bearings by the compass of the buildings that
were discernible from the top of the walls. The
little uninhabited house of Saint Maximous lay to
the east south-east: about two leagues distant was
another monastery, called Zcudi Sourum, to the
south-south-east: very near this was a second,
south by east: and lastly, on the other side of the
lakes of natron, was a little deserted building,
bearing north-east by east, which had been con-
structed by a Kiaschef, who was commissioned to
drive away the Bedouins and keep them at a dis-
tance. It still served as a shelter to those who
come to collect the natron.
A day's journey to the westward is the River
without Water, Bohr Ihla Ma, the ancient bed of
a communication between the lakes Mocris and
Mareotis. Rocks of different figures, scattered
throughout the dry channel, have led people to
suppose that they were petrified fragments of
boats: and some go so far as to say, that tin y dis-
cover men and animals there petrified in the same
manner. Eagle-stones, or aetitcs, are very common
in