DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11638#0324
AND LOWER EGYPT. 3OI
selves: but toward the west, the mountains are
much farther removed, and sometimes to so great
a distance, that they are scarcely perceptible from
the river. The former, that is to say, those which
are washed by the Nile, project above, while the
middle and lower parts retire, being furrowed
lengthwise over the whole front which borders
the Nile to the very summit, as if the waters had
flowed to this height against their declivity, and
had there marked the successive diminution of the
elevation of their course. Another general obser-
vation which the navigation of the Nile enabled
me to} make, is, that when these mountains, or
rather these masses of rock toward the east, con-
fine the current of the Nile, the shallows or sands
on the opposite shore advance also to a point, and
leave a very narrow channel to the river, which is
exceedingly formidable to navigators.
The Nile began to diffuse over the plains her
fertilizing waters. The canals were successively
filling. The part of Egypt where I then was,
may be reckoned the most beautiful country in
nature; that where the eye embraces situations
the most picturesque, and contrasts the most
striking. Towards the west, the country pro-
duces an abundance, which ages of cultivation
have not xhausted. Villages upon eminences
surroundc.! with water, appear with the trees
which
selves: but toward the west, the mountains are
much farther removed, and sometimes to so great
a distance, that they are scarcely perceptible from
the river. The former, that is to say, those which
are washed by the Nile, project above, while the
middle and lower parts retire, being furrowed
lengthwise over the whole front which borders
the Nile to the very summit, as if the waters had
flowed to this height against their declivity, and
had there marked the successive diminution of the
elevation of their course. Another general obser-
vation which the navigation of the Nile enabled
me to} make, is, that when these mountains, or
rather these masses of rock toward the east, con-
fine the current of the Nile, the shallows or sands
on the opposite shore advance also to a point, and
leave a very narrow channel to the river, which is
exceedingly formidable to navigators.
The Nile began to diffuse over the plains her
fertilizing waters. The canals were successively
filling. The part of Egypt where I then was,
may be reckoned the most beautiful country in
nature; that where the eye embraces situations
the most picturesque, and contrasts the most
striking. Towards the west, the country pro-
duces an abundance, which ages of cultivation
have not xhausted. Villages upon eminences
surroundc.! with water, appear with the trees
which