BALBEIS, FEBRUARY 27. Tormented as we had often been by the millions of fleas which swarm in Egyptian habitations, we had met with nothing equal to the hosts which assailed us through the last night. It was almost impossible to open either the eyes or mouth, without getting them filled, and my ears and nostrils were both literally obstructed by them. In short, their numbers so surpassed all belief or conception, that the most scrupulous observance of truth in computation would not exempt one from the charge of romancing. It was of course impossible to sleep, and I know not that I was ever more weary and impatient for the dawn.

With the first glimpse of day, we repaired to the bath, and although this was inferior to any we had yet seen in Egypt, in cleanliness and accommodation, the cause which hastened us there rendered its defects less objectionable. It was a luxury of the highest kind to strip, and such was my impatience to enjoy the certainty of being free from these innumerable tormentors, that I plunged at once into the cistern, before the operation of rubbing the body had been performed by the attendants. As our clean linen was in the same condition in this respect, as that which we had just taken off, I had ordered the whole of it, with every part of our dresses, even to the scull-cap, to be washed in boiling water; and as their being dried and made ready again to put on, would necessarily occupy some time, I profited by that opportunity to enjoy the whole process of the bath at leisure, and to follow it by a few hours' sweet and profound repose. It was past noon, when we left the bath, like persons awakened to a new existence; and the Aga's son having attended me for that purpose, I accepted his offer of accompanying me through the town and its environs.

As the site of the ancient Pharbæthus, its ruins are extensive, though not a remnant of them are in a state of high preservation. Blocks of granite, and marble columns, as usual, mark the situation of temples and public edifices, and the walls of private dwellings are also discernible at some distance from the gate of entrance. In the bath and mosques are also marble pillars, surmounted with Grecian capitals, dug from the surrounding ruins, and broken shafts are used as threshholds and supporters to the doors of the meanest huts.

The present town is almost entirely built of bricks, taken from the destroyed buildings of the ancient city. It contains only two mosques, and these possessing no beauty, though the population is estimated at eight thousand. One great source of maintenance to its inhabitants, is the supply of the Syrian caravans, which arrive here from Damascus, and frequently make some stay, until merchandise is collected for their transportation of it to that country from Egypt. It has also a manufactory of coarse linen and thread, which are sold at Cairo, and the few Christians of the town employ themselves, much like the inferior Jews in England, in the working of ear-rings, bracelets, necklaces, and other ornaments of female dress, which they carry round to families in pedlar's boxes-exactly in the same way and send the more expensive to the capital.

The inhabitants attribute their general healthiness to their vicinity to the desert, and the consequent dryness and purity of the air. It would be difficult to pronounce whether that be the only cause; yet

nothing is more visible than the effect itself. Diseases of the eye are by no means so general here as in many parts of Egypt; and in addition to these blessings, they were exempted from the plague during the last year, in which it made such dreadful ravages through Egypt, nor has it existed among them since the period of the French expedition.

It was during that period, which, from its importance in the history of their recollections, is now become an epoch of reference with them, that the town was walled in with materials hastily collected, and loosely put together. Their invaders also levelled the whole of the ruins that were without, in order to render the approach of an army more open to the range of their fire from within.

At the present moment, there are no soldiers here, though it is generally the station of an Albanian company of infantry; the reason assigned by the inhabitants for this, was, that all the commanders of distant provinces, as well as the troops who occupied villages, had been called to the defence of Cairo, since the recent revolution there, to supply the place of those who had been sent from thence to join the Pasha in Arabia.

Among the dresses of the women here, I observed no other change than the use of larger ear-rings, bracelets, etc., of silver, tin, and pewter, and a white linen veil, bound with black cord at the edges, between which the eyes appear, producing an effect difficult to be described.

On our return from this agreeable ramble, the court of justice was crowded, as at the same hour of yesterday, but so much more numerously, that it was with difficulty we could push our way through the attendants, when the Aga, beckoning me to come up to the bench and sit by his side, I joined him there, and we crossed our legs upon the same carpet. I was both amused and instructed by listening to the various causes that succeeded each other; and though the decisions on them were exceedingly rapid, yet I cannot but confess that the verdicts appeared to me to be consistent with the most rigid justice. The parties were alternately heard, in the statement of their own cases, without counsel or assistance; and as they confronted each other, but few misrepresentations would be allowed by either to pass unnoticed, without an appeal to other witnesses on the spot, so that nothing was more easy than to distinguish the innocent from the guilty; and while impartial judgment prevailed, no evil could result from this brief and simple mode of trial. Among a number of familiar cases of dispute, which occupied the attention of the court, was one relative to the purchase of two asses, which were ultimately returned to the seller, on its being proved that he had been guilty of misrepresentation in overrating their good qualities, a decision sufficient of itself to prove that impartial justice can sometimes be obtained.

On the breaking up of the divan, and the conclusion of sun-set prayers, we passed our evening as on the preceding one, having made all our preparations for departure early in the morning, and remained up late, to delay our combat with the dark hosts that awaited us in millions, until the last moment.

BALBEIS TO HASLOUGEY, FEBRUARY 28.— We had so reduced our luggage, that by the purchase of a double sack, my servant and myself could each take a portion on our own animal, and we wanted neither guide nor attendant beside ourselves. This also was an arrangement so perfectly accordant with my own wishes, that I would not suffer any anticipated inconveniences, or the incessant obstacles created by my servant, to disturb it; because I wished to be at perfect liberty as to our route, our halting places, and every other incident connected with the tour, that I might assume such appearances as might be most convenient, and change that appearance without observation, as often as new motives for such a change might occur. At sun-rise, then, we mounted and departed, taking our road in a south-east direction, through a beautifully fertile country, enjoying a refreshing breeze and moderately-heated atmosphere, which, with the richness of the scenery, contributed to render our ride delightful.

Attracted by the elevated mounds of Tal-Metabeel, the sure indieation of ancient remains, we halted at the foot of them, about an hour after our leaving Balbeis. On ascending those heaps, I was somewhat surprised to find that they formed a sort of enclosure to a small town, rather less than a mile in circumference, which town occupied the centre on a level with the outer cultivated land, though the hills or embankment which encompassed it was at least fifty feet in elevation, and completely hid the interior from the view of the passenger, who, from a sight of those heaps, would be led to suppose them of an uniform level at the top. The dwellings thus enclosed were many of them unusually perfect in their remains, so as to entitle them to the character of a deserted village, rather than a ruined town, and but for their superiority in the form of the sun-dried bricks, the regularity of the layers of cement by which they were united, and other characteristic points of resemblance to the ruins of Heroöpolis and other cities, by which its antiquity was rendered indisputable, one would almost suppose its desertion recent, though it is the character of all the ancient fragments with which this interesting country abounds, to retain, from the dryness of the climate, a freshness of appearance, that is extremely deceptive to the eye, and is only to be detected by frequent observation, and close comparison between the doubtful and those which are self-evidently decisive.

These embankments, as could be clearly traced from the remains of masonry and brick work, were the ruins of buildings elevated above the central town, and most probably of subsequent erection, about the period when the levels of the Egyptian cities were raised, partly for the benefit of a cool and refreshing air, as well as for a better defence against the inconveniences occasioned to private dwellings by the elevation of the soil and influx of waters, accompanying every inundation of the Nile,

This salutary improvement of the ancient settlements is thus mentioned by Herodotus in his Euterpe: 'In the reign of Anysis, a king of Egypt, who was blind, Sabacus, king of Ethiopia, overran the country with a numerous army. Anysis fled to the morasses and saved his life, but Sabacus continued master of Egypt for the space of fifty years. While he retained his authority, he made it a rule

not to punish any crime with death, but according to the magnitude of the offence, he condemned the criminal to raise the ground near the place to which he belonged, by which means the situation of the different cities became more and more elevated.'

The appearance of the present town corresponded perfectly with this description; as the existence of central dwellings within the elevated enclosure, proved that such elevation was a progressive work, and subsequent to the foundation of the town itself. There was nothing, however, among all its remains, that evinced either comfort, opulence, or splendor; the habitations were small and mean, nor was there the vestige of a public building to be seen. The venerated tomb of Sheick Amrahn is now the only object that cheers this solitary desolation, which tomb, standing on the summit of the hills, is occasionally visited by devotees, to be graced, on the days peculiarly sacred to his memory, with votive offerings from the sick and unfortunate, and with ragged banners from the grateful who have not implored his shade in vain.

Leaving this place, we remounted our animals, and pursued our ride, with occasional inquiries for the road, through a country charming and fertile beyond description, like one continued garden, in which Nature had scattered with a lavish hand all the bounties of her reign to compensate for the absence of her grander and wilder beauties, by a luxuriance of vegetation along those smiling plains, which renders Egypt lovely in abundance, and rich in pleasing pictures amid her simplicity.

We passed through the villages of Metemyer, Sandanahour, Zancalaour, Met-Abou-Ali, and Haslougey, where we alighted at the house of the Sheick, and were kindly received by his family, the old man being absent in the fields. When our beasts were taken care of, and we were seated upon the mat which had been spread out for our repose, a number of questions were asked us by the women and children, as to the place of our destination, from whence we came, and what was the object of our journey. Above all, our pronunciation of the language was remarked, as differing from that of this district, for my servant's knowledge of Arabic, though he had resided in the country so long, was not greater than my own, and his pronunciation was worse, so that I spoke now without an interpreter, and was really surprised at my own facility of expression in a language of which I knew not yet the grammar, and which I had gathered up so imperceptibly, by learning it as we learn our mother tongue, from the mouths of those who speak it. The assurance that we came from Syria, where the Arabic is somewhat different from that of Egypt, was therefore sufficient to satisfy them, and we were received as men of that country, who, having executed the purpose of our journey into Egypt, were now returning to Salaheah, for the purpose of join ing the Damascus caravan assembling there. Cakes of dourra were immediately prepared by the females, and set before us while warm, with bowls of yaourt, or curdled milk, and raw herbs, from which we made a hearty repast.

The sight of my map, however, into which I had been looking for the purpose of correcting the relative situations of the villages, completely changed the opinion which our kind entertainers had con

ceived of us; and they now contended that we were learned men, magii, protected of God, etc.; an idea which they were not satisfied with indulging in secret, but promulgated among their curious and inquisitive neighbors.

We had scarcely finished our humble meal, before the court was thronged with the lame, the blind, the barren, and the pregnant, all soliciting written charms for their separate maladies, and that too with such importunity for preference, that it was with difficulty I could make myself heard among them. At first I had hoped to have escaped this new duty, by frankly declaring myself unqualified; but such declaration was considered by them only as a subterfuge to enhance my claims of reward; and poor as these people were, piastres and paras were held out in their hands, each individual owner proclaiming the sum his poverty would allow him to pay me for attending to his case. I saw it was in vain to resist any longer, and amidst their acclamations, crossed my legs upon the mat, and laid before me, with all possible gravity, my compass, map, brass ink-stand, and dividers, calling the eldest of the party before me, in conformity with their known veneration for age. This poor afflicted daughter of sickness, bending beneath the weight of years, was almost blind and deaf, and complained of a head-ache so violent as to occasion frequent delirium. While I was employed in counting her pulse, observing her tongue, and inquiring into her diet and mode of living, she had uncovered the upper part of her head, though her veil still continued on, and was but partially lifted to expose her mouth. Around it were tied five rolls of paper, which had been written by saints, ideots, or holy men, and given her for money, as infallible specifics, yet she was obliged to confess their total inefficacy.

Following up that confession, I demanded of her how she could again repose confidence in such remedies, after having been so egregiously deceived, more particularly when I had frankly acknowledged my incapacity to effect a cure by such means. Hope, however, that deluder of the miserable, had told her that some virtue must exist in a practice so avowedly holy, a practice neither known nor exercised by any but the inspired of God, men versed in books, and consequently capable of conversing with genii and superior spirits; and she took care to add, either to soothe me with flattery, or to explain the revival of that hope, that as I possessed mysterious instruments, which lay before me, and the use of which was unknown among them, whatever I attempted must be effectual.

Amidst the sincere commiseration which I felt for the poor woman's sufferings, as well as the ignorance which had placed her expectations on so frail a basis, I felt ashamed of adding another disappointment to the list; but all remonstrance, and avowal of incapacity on my part was misinterpreted, and I was compelled both to listen to their wishes, and comply.

Profiting, then, by the works of my predecessors in the healing art, I had the five written papers laid out before me, for the purpose of forming my own productions upon their models, so as to preserve an outline of resemblance at least; a task that was the more easy, as not one of them were written in Arabic; a mere collection of scrawls, destitute of order or arrangement, upon one of which,