Immediately behind this narrow stripe, the white mountains appear again, square and flat on the top like tables. They seem to be laid upon the surface of the earth, not inserted into it, for the several strata that are divided lye as level as it is possible to place them with a rule; they are of no considerable height.
We next passed Boush, a village on the west-side of the Nile, two miles south of Shenuiah; and, a little further, Beni Ali, where we see for a minute the mountains on the right or west-side of the Nile, running in a line nearly south, and very high. About five miles from Boush is the village of Maniareish on the east-side of the river, and here the mountains on that side end.
Boush is about two miles and a quarter from the river. Beni Ali is a large village, and its neighbour, Zeytoom, still larger, both on the western shore. I suppose this last was part of the Heracleotic nome, where [1]Strabo says the olive-tree grew, and no where else in Egypt, but we saw no appearance of the great works once said to have been in that nome. A little farther south is Baiad, where was an engagement between Hussein Bey, and Ali Bey then in exile, in which the former was defeated, and the latter restored to the government of Cairo.
From Maniareish to Beni Suef is two miles and a half, and opposite to this the mountains appear again of considerable height, about twelve miles distant. Although Beni Suefis
- ↑ Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 936.
