Chap. VI.] ACORIS, NOW TEHNEH. 369

in the power of any one to foresee or prevent their
approach ; and every one acquainted with the habits
of these wanderers is aware of the inutility of pur-
suing them in an arid desert with an armed force.
Besides, a precaution of this kind obliged them to
resort to the towns to purchase corn; and thus the
construction of a wall had the double advantage of
preventing the plunder of the peasant, and of ren-
dering the Arabs dependent upon Egypt for the
supplies necessity forced them to purchase ; nor did
the government incur the expense of paying their
chiefs, as at the present day, to deter them from
hostility.

Nearly opposite Wadee e' Dayr is Samalood,
whose mounds mark the site of an ancient town,
and whose lofty minaret is reckoned a chef-d'oeuvre
of Fellah architecture.

The convent of El Adra (the Virgin) is inhabited
by Copts. In the rock below it, to the west, are
several flights of steps and a few small quarries.

At the Gisr el Agoos, just alluded to, are remains
of an ancient village, and above the town of Gebel
e' Tayr are some grottoes.

Beyond this is Tehneh, whose ancient name,
Acoris, is established on the authority of a Greek
inscription of the time of Ptolemy Epiphanes, sculp-
tured on the face of the rock a little to the south
of the ancient town. Above this are several
quarries and grottoes, some hieroglyphic tablets,
and on the south side of the isolated peak that
stands above the town, are two Roman figures in

2 B