Proceeding onward, they came to large plantations of dates, and beyond them the people were seen occupied in cutting the sugarcanes. The houses here had on their roofs receptacles for pigeons, from which was derived a considerable profit. The wind had now become so strong that the canja could scarcely carry her sails; the current was rapid, and the velocity with which she dashed against the water was terrifying. "We came," says Bruce, "to a village called Rhoda, where we saw the magnificent ruins of the ancient city of Antinous, built by Adrian. Unluckily, I knew nothing of these ruins when I left Cairo, and had taken no pains to provide myself with letters of recommendation, as I could easily have done. I asked the rais what sort of people they were. He said that the town was composed of very bad Turks, very bad Moors, and very bad Christians; that several devils had been seen among them lately, who had been discovered by being better and quieter than any of the rest. After the character we had of the inhabitants, all our firearms were brought to the door of the cabin. In the mean time, partly with my naked eye and partly with my glass, I observed the ruins so attentively as to be perfectly in love with them." While Bruce was thus gazing at these ruins, the people or "devils" on shore attacked some of the canja's boatmen: three shots were even fired at the vessel, which Bruce returned by firing his blunderbuss. The crew were very desirous to go on shore to attack the people; but Bruce, an old traveller, with a very proper _esprit de corps_, says, "Besides that I had no inclination of that kind, I was very loth to frustrate the attempts of some future traveller, who may add this to the great remains of architecture we have preserved already." He therefore continued his course; and while his mind was secretly exulting in the reflection that every hour was bringing him towards the ultimate object of his ambition, his attention was most agreeably diverted by the various objects which passed in succession before him. Village after village came in sight; at times the shore was covered with date-trees, and occasionally with the acacia, that solitary inhabitant of all deserts, from the most northern part of Arabia to the extremity of Ethiopia. A considerable part of the west shore was cultivated and sown from the very foot of the mountains to the water's edge, the grain having been merely thrown upon the mud as soon as the water had left it: the wheat was at this time about four inches high, and the acacia-trees on the opposite side in full flower. Every object, whether trifling or serious, seemed to claim Bruce's attention, and to afford him some moral. "I was very well pleased," he says, "to see here, for the first time, two shepherd-dogs lapping up the water from the stream, then lying down in it with great seeming leisure and satisfaction. It refuted the old fable that the dogs living on the