We passed Ashmounein, probably the ancient Latopolis, a large town, which gives the name to the province, where there are magnificent ruins of Egyptian architecture; and after that we came to Melawé, larger, better built, and better inhabited than Ashmounein, the residence of the Cacheff. Mahomet Aga was there at that time with troops from Cairo, he had taken Miniet, and, by the friendship of Shekh Hamam, the great Arab, governor of Upper Egypt, he kept all the people on that side of the river in their allegiance to Ali Bey. I had seen him at Cairo, and Risk had spoken to him to do me service if he met with me, which he promised. I called at Melawé to complain of our treatment at Shekh Abadé, and see if I could engage him, as he had nothing else to employ him, to pay a visit to my friends at that inhospitable place. This I was told he would do upon the slightest intimation. He, unfortunately, however, happened to be out upon some party; but I was lucky in getting an old Greek, a servant of his, who knew I was a friend, both to the Bey and to his Patriarch. He brought me about a gallon of brandy, and a jar of lemons and oranges, preserved in honey; both very agreeable. He brought likewise a lamb, and some garden-stuffs. Among the sweetmeats was some horse-raddish preserved like ginger, which certainly, though it might be wholesome, was the very worst stuff ever I tasted. I gave a good square piece of it, well wrapt in honey, to the Rais, who coughed and spit half an hour after, crying he was poisoned. I saw he did not wish me to stay at Melawé, as he was afraid of the Bey’s troops, that they might engage him in their service to carry them down, so went away with great good will, happy in the acquisition of the brandy, declaring he would carry sail as long as the wind held. We passed Mollé, a small village with a great number of acacia trees intermixed with the plantations of palms. These occasion a pleasing variety, not only from the difference of the shape of the tree, but also from the colour and diversity of the green. As the sycamore in Lower Egypt, so this tree seems to be the only indigenous one in the Thebaid. It is the Acacia Vera, or the Spina Egyptiaca, with a round yellow flower. The male is called the Saiel; from it proceeds the gum arabic, upon incision with an ax. This gum chiefly comes from Arabia Petrea, where these trees are most numerous. But it is the tree of all deserts, from the northmost part of Arabia, to the extremity of Ethiopia, and its leaves the only food for camels travelling in those desert parts. This gum is called Sumach in the west of Africa, and is a principal article of trade on the Senega among the Ialofes.