would account for the absence of humbler dwellings, and for the gorgeous architecture, the beautiful sculpture, and the splendid palaces with which Canopus abounded. But when the delusion vanished, and the people no longer believed in the virtues of the fountains, it is probable the desertion of the city was as sudden as its rise and prosperity had been rapid. This delusion, it has been humorously said by a distinguished traveller, was no greater than actually exists in the 19th century, in England and America. It is true, people do not believe in fountains of youth; but they believe that pills and lotions will produce an effect as marvellous as that ascribed to the baths of Canopus. Any one may be convinced of this fact by reading the newspaper advertisements of the day, from which it will appear that if people become sick it is their own fault; and if they die they have no one but themselves to blame.
Damietta is situated on the eastern bank of a different branch of the Nile, and is remarkable for having been the city which was the residence of the Crusaders. The architecture of the buildings and the appearance and customs of the inhabitants, approach nearer to those of the cities of Europe than any other eastern city. The inhabitants are cheerful, and possess a spark of vivacity uncommon with the Turks, and such as is seldom met with in other cities of the East. Its population is about 20,000.
Goshen 1. (Gen. xlv. 10.) A fertile section of pasture land in the north-eastern division of Egypt, between the Red Sea and the River Nile, upon the southern border of Canaan, allotted by Joseph to his father and his brethren, where they dwelt for upwards of two hundred years. It was, for grazing purposes, the best of the land.—(Gen. xlvii. 6, 11.) Mr. Smith, an American missionary, passed, with a caravan, through the northern district of ancient Goshen, in 1827; and he describes it as an immense sandy desert, drifted with sand banks; and presenting here and there, in small patches, a few shrubs of evergreen, like our whortleberry bushes, on which the Bedouins pasture their flocks. Rameses and Pithon are mentioned as cities of Goshen, and the supposed ruins of them are described by modern travellers.
