The immense excavations in these rocks, which greatly contribute in many places to facilitate the road, are abundantly sufficient to supply any quantity of these marbles that is any where known to exist. And it was more convenient to bring them thence, than from any other part of Egypt, to the Southward, or by a long land carriage from Arabia Petræa and the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai: yet, as the stones were to be carried some way by land, perhaps a day’s journey at least, it was necessary to have a road more level and easy, than could have been required for the passage of less ponderous and cumbrous materials. Whether observation of the fact, without reflecting enough on the probable cause, might have given rise to the report respecting a canal communicating in this quarter between the Nile and the Arabian gulf, or whether it was the effect of misunderstanding the antient writers on the subject, is unimportant; such an idea has prevailed, and it is countenanced by some intelligent authors. In frequenting the places, and not wholly unimpressed by this thought, I have never yet been able to persuade myself that such a canal had existed, or could have been formed. There are no marks, in either of the roads I passed, of water having ever flowed there, and the level of the road, after leaving the river, is much higher than that of the river itself. But the level of the river is certainly not lower than in former ages, and the water, if ever it flowed there, must have flowed from the Nile to the sea, and not from the sea to the Nile.—The conclusion is obvious. The coloquintida, cœlocynth, abounds near _Bîrambar_, and between it and Ghenné. The natives scarcely think it worth gathering, so low is the price in Kahira. At Ghenné is a manufactory of the best _bardaks_, _kullé_, earthen bottles, and jugs for water. They are made of a fine blue or bluish white clay; very thin and light, not too much baked, of a pretty shape and convenient size. Something of the same kind is made in other places, but none so much esteemed as those of Ghenné. The fabric is in few hands, but great numbers are made. They sell for double the price at Kahira which they fetch here. Large jars are also constructed, which are called _hamâm_, or bath. These too are very elegantly formed, and both by filtration purify and cool the water, in a greater degree than might be imagined. The people of the country however drink the water that remains within, not that which has passed through the jar or bottle. On going to Cossîr, I had sent my baggage forward to Assiût. Nothing remained therefore but to find a small boat, on my return to Ghenné, in which to be conveyed to Assiût. This offered itself on the second day, and two Derwîshes were my companions in that journey, one of them a very intelligent man. We stopped at all the principal towns, but without any new occurrence, and reached Assiût on the 21st.