The greatest breadth of this majestic river may be computed at two thousand feet, or about a third of a mile. Its motion is even slower than that of the Thames, and does not exceed three miles an hour. The water is always muddy: in April and May, when it is clearest, it has still a cloudy hue. When it overflows, the colour is a dirty red. It is replete with a variety of fish; those I have chiefly observed are, _Bûlti_, Labrus Niloticus; _Kelb-el-bahr_; _Farhôn_; _Charmût_, a round fish about eight inches long, and said to be poisonous; _Tabân-el-bahr_, the eel, Muræna Anguilla; _Nefâsh_, apparently a species of salmon, and found of very large size. It seems not now determinable of what species, or whether of any now known, was the fish called _Oxyrynchus_, so famous in the antiquities of Egypt. D’Anville says it is the one now called _Kesher_. The best is the _Bûlti_, somewhat like the white trout, but sometimes attaining such a size as to weigh fifty pounds. Except good and large eels, none of the fish have a strict similitude of the European. From Kâhira to Assûan, a distance of about three hundred and sixty miles, the banks, except where rocky, present no natural plant; they somewhat resemble the steps of stairs, and are sown with all sorts of esculent vegetables, chiefly that useful plant the _Bamea_. It grows to a little more than three feet in height, with leaves like those of the currant-bush; and produces oblong aculeated pods, which lend a pleasant flavour to the repast. Among several kinds of water-fowl which frequent the Nile, may be mentioned what is here called the Turkey goose, _Anas Nilotica_, LIN. a large fowl, the flesh of which is palatable and salubrious food. Other striking and antient features of this distinguished stream, are the rafts of _Belasses_, or large white jars, used for carrying water; little rafts of gourds, on which a single person conducts himself with great philosophical dignity across the stream; and the divers, who, concealing their heads in pumpkins, approach the water-fowl unperceived, and seize them by the legs. Concerning the crocodile and hippopotamus so much has been said, that I despair of adding any thing new. The latter I never saw or heard of in Egypt; in Nubia they are said to abound. The crocodile itself seems reduced in number, and is confined to the district above Assiût, where he is dangerous to bathers. A young man bathing at Dendera, a day or two before I arrived, had his leg bitten off by one of those unwieldy animals.