Immediately behind this narrow stripe, the white mountains appear again, square and flat on the top like tables. They seem to be laid upon the surface of the earth, not inserted into it, for the several strata that are divided lye as level as it is possible to place them with a rule; they are of no considerable height. We next passed Boush, a village on the west-side of the Nile, two miles south of Shenuiah; and, a little further, Beni Ali, where we see for a minute the mountains on the right or west-side of the Nile, running in a line nearly south, and very high. About five miles from Boush is the village of Maniareish on the east-side of the river, and here the mountains on that side end. Boush is about two miles and a quarter from the river. Beni Ali is a large village, and its neighbour, Zeytoom, still larger, both on the western shore. I suppose this last was part of the Heracleotic nome, where [108]Strabo says the olive-tree grew, and no where else in Egypt, but we saw no appearance of the great works once said to have been in that nome. A little farther south is Baida, where was an engagement between Hussein Bey, and Ali Bey then in exile, in which the former was defeated, and the latter restored to the government of Cairo. From Maniareish to Beni Suef is two miles and a half, and opposite to this the mountains appear again of considerable height, about twelve miles distant. Although Beni Suef is no better built than any other town or village that we had passed, yet it interests by its extent; it is the most considerable place we had yet seen since our leaving Cairo. It has a cacheff and a mosque, with three large steeples, and is a market-town. The country all around is well cultivated, and seems to be of the utmost fertility; the inhabitants are better cloathed, and seemingly less miserable, and oppressed, than those we had left behind in the places nearer Cairo. The Nile is very shallow at Beni Suef, and the current strong. We touched several times in the middle of the stream, and came to an anchor at Baha, about a quarter of a mile above Beni Suef, where we passed the night. We were told to keep good watch here all night, that there were troops of robbers on the east-side of the water who had lately plundered some boats, and that the cacheff either dared not, or would not give them any assistance. We did indeed keep strict watch, but saw no robbers, and were no other way molested. The 18th we had fine weather and a fair wind. Still I thought the villages were beggarly, and the constant groves of palm-trees so perfectly verdant, did not compensate for the penury of sown land, the narrowness of the valley, and barrenness of the mountains.