"These boys are excellent swimmers, and now that the crocodiles have pretty well disappeared from the Nile below the first cataract, they do not run much risk in exercising in the water. Doctor Bronson says there were many crocodiles in the river thirty years ago, but they have been hunted so much by tourists that very few of them are left." [Illustration: AN OLD INHABITANT.] CHAPTER XIII. SIOOT, THE ANCIENT LYCOPOLIS.--SCENES ON THE RIVER. From Beni-sooef the steamer proceeded to Sioot, or Asyoot, a city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants, and one of the most important places of Upper Egypt. It is about two miles back from the river, from which water is brought by a canal, and the roadway passes along a high embankment lined with shade-trees. Just at the entrance of the city there is a picturesque gate-way, which reminded our friends of some of the gates of Cairo. The city is on the site of the ancient Lycopolis, and has borne its present name for more than two thousand years. Nevertheless it is called a modern town by most of the writers on Egyptian history, and is not allowed any claim to antiquity. [Illustration: A SCENE NEAR SIOOT.] "At the landing-place of Sioot," said the boys in their journal, "we found better donkeys than at Beni-sooef, and were able to ride with some degree of comfort. We went first to some tombs which are cut in the side of the mountain overlooking the valley, and were the burial-places of the ancient Lycopolis. There are a good many of them, and they were formerly well filled with mummies, but at present the mummies are gone, and the tombs contain nothing worth carrying away. According to the historical accounts the inhabitants of Lycopolis worshipped the wolf as a divinity, and when the tombs were plundered a good many mummies of wolves were found in them. "The view from the mountain where these tombs were excavated is very pretty, as it embraces a considerable extent of the Nile Valley; some writers have called it the finest in all Egypt, as there is an unbroken view for several miles of beautiful green such as you find nowhere else in the world. Dean Stanley was charmed with the spot, and compared the mud villages that are scattered among the luxuriant fields to the marks of a soiled foot on a rich carpet. The mountain has an additional interest to many people, as the caves in its sides were the homes of the early Christians during the periods of persecution. [Illustration: SCENE IN THE BAZAARS.] "We had been told that the bazaars of Sioot were almost as fine as those of Cairo, though naturally less extensive, and so we hurried down from the mountain in order to see as much as possible of the place.