travels

HOLY LAND, AND CYPRUS. 117they could, and no provision made for their subsistence.The consequence of such oppression may be easily conceived..1The Kamseen winds, which had been prevalent in m}'voyage up the Nile, had been succeeded, as usual, by thenorth winds in my descent, often with such violence as toprevent the possibility of continuing my course, and pro*duced the sickness felt at sea to some of my boat's crew.At Thebes, about the 20th of June, the same time meritionedby Denon, I observed the beginning of the inundation,with the same preceding symptoms, a stillness of water, andits change to a muddy white colour. By the time I arrivedat Boolac it was much increased; its daily rise was an- .nounced by the public criers*; and on the 12th of AugustI was witness to the ceremony of cutting the dyke of thecanal conveying the waters of the Nile to Cairo. I formedone of a party, consisting of Colonel Misset's secretary andhis wife, and Mr. Buckingham, whose name I have beforementioned. We hired a cangia, and left Boolac before day^light, amongst crowds of boats. Each boat had a light; and* Benjamin of Tudela mentions in his time, that the Nilometer was measuredevery day during the inundation by a man, who then cried to the inhabitantsof Misraim and Tsohan, " Thank God 1 for the river has risen to such andsuch a height." These words are still used. He travelled in the 12th centmy.ΚΥΠΡΙΑΚΗ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΘΗΚΗ