A SCENE AMONG THE NATIVES.

165

so that the donkey must have been a common beast of burden in ancient, as he his in modern, Egypt. If there were any doubt on the subject it could be settled by reference to the Old Testament, where the donkey, or ass, is frequently mentioned.

"The conductor interrupted us in the middle of our studies of the sculptures, and said it was time to move on. We went to several tombs and found something interesting in all of them; we have not time to describe a tenth of what we saw, and, if you want to learn more about the place, we must refer you to the descriptions by Wilkinson and others. These gentlemen spent a long time here making sketches, and taking impres sions by means of wet paper; as far as we know, their descriptions are accurate, though they do not always agree as to the exact meaning of the hieroglyphics which are above some of the pictures.

A RESPECTABLE CITIZEN.

AN ANCIENT DONKEY.

As

"When we came back to the boat we were annoyed by the natives begging for backsheesh; they were nearly as persistent as the Arabs at the pyramids, and if we had been a small party they might have been insolent. soon as we were on board the steamer they gathered on the bank close to it, and kept up such a howl that one of the passengers threw a few copper coins for them to scramble after.

"How they rolled over each other, and tossed the dust in the air! Every time a coin was thrown there was a rush for it, and the rule seemed to be that might made right. The small children were pushed aside by the larger boys, and several times they would fight for the posses

sion of a penny till both the combatants were exhausted, and had to stop to take breath.

"Some coins were thrown into the shallow water at the stern of the boat, and instantly the boys flung off their scanty clothing and plunged in. They would not go far out from the bank, or, rather, they would not try to find coins in any depth where they could not wade; the water of the Nile is not at all transparent, and it was probably because they could not see to any depth that they refused to dive. We fastened a coin in a piece of wood and threw it far out into the river; half a dozen of the boys swum for it, and there was a very pretty race between them to get the prize. It was far better than the rough scramble on the bank, and we repeated the performance several times till the boat was ready to start from the landing-place.

"These boys are excellent swimmers, and now that the crocodiles have pretty well disappeared from the Nile below the first cataract, they do not run much risk in exercising in the water. Doctor Bronson says there were many crocodiles in the river thirty years ago, but they have been hunted so much by tourists that very few of them are left."

SIOOT, THE ANCIENT LYCOPOLIS.-SCENES ON THE RIVER.

ROM Beni-soocf the steamer proceeded to Sioot, or Asyoot, a city

FROM

of twenty-five thousand inhabitants, and one of the most important places of Upper Egypt. It is about two miles back from the river, from which water is brought by a canal, and the roadway passes along a high embankment lined with shade-trees. Just at the entrance of the city there is a picturesque gate-way, which reminded our friends of some of the gates of Cairo. The city is on the site of the ancient Lycopolis,

and has borne its present name for more than two thousand years. Nevertheless it is called a modern town by most of the writers on Egyptian history, and is not allowed any claim to antiquity.

"At the landing-place of Sioot," said the boys in their journal, "we found better donkeys than at Beni-sooef, and were able to ride with some

degree of comfort. We went first to some tombs which are cut in the side of the mountain overlooking the valley, and were the burial-places of the ancient Lycopolis. There are a good many of them, and they were formerly well filled with mummies, but at present the mummies are

gone, and the tombs contain nothing worth carrying away. According to the historical accounts the inhabitants of Lycopolis worshipped the wolf as a divinity, and when the tombs were plundered a good many mummies of wolves were found in them.

"The view from the mountain where these tombs were excavated is very pretty, as it embraces a considerable extent of the Nile Valley; some writers have called it the finest in all Egypt, as there is an unbroken view for several miles of beautiful green such as you find nowhere else in the world. Dean Stanley was charmed with the spot,

MARKET-SCENE AT SIOOT.

169

and compared the mud villages that are scattered among the luxuriant fields to the marks of a soiled foot on a rich carpet. The mountain has an additional interest to many people, as the caves in its sides were the homes of the early Christians during the periods of persecution.

"We had been told that the bazaars of Sioot were almost as fine as those of Cairo, though naturally less extensive, and so we hurried down from the mountain in order to see as much as possible of the place.

"It happened to be market-day when we were there, much to our delight, as it enabled us to see what the country - people had brought in for sale. The market square was crowded with people, and also with donkeys and camels, and we had to keep both eyes wide open to escape being run over or knocked down. The camels were specially dangerous, as they seemed to have adopted the motto of the donkey dancing among the chickens 'Let everybody look out for his own feet!' They had great loads of sugar-canes or fresh cut grass, and as these loads stuck out on each side they needed a wide path, and took it too. It was a wonder that they didn't kill somebody, or, at any rate, do a good deal of damage, but somehow they didn't.

"All over the square were groups of men and women with heaps of sugar-cane, palm-stalks, beans, pease, wheat, and other products of the soil for sale. Nobody seemed to be in a hurry, and every transaction required a great deal of bargaining before it was concluded. All around the edge of the square was a fringe of solemn old Arabs, whose entire occupation appeared to be to sit on the ground and smoke their pipes. The stem of each pipe was about four feet long and made of a hollow reed, and when a man is engaged in smoking one of these pipes he can do very little else. In this part of the world the pipe is a very cumbersome thing, and occupies the entire attention of the smoker.

"One of the most interesting parts of the market at Sioot was the place where donkeys were sold. We went to see them, and asked the prices; but as the natives knew we did not want to buy any, they put the figures absurdly high. We found out that good ones could be bought for thirty or forty dollars-just good common donkeys for every-day wear; but if you wanted a fancy animal, you must go much higher. A hundred dollars would buy a handsome one, with a great deal of 'style' and corresponding strength, and there were some for which two hundred dollars had been refused. A two hundred dollar donkey is something that only the wealthy can afford.

"We had a chance to go into a fine house, and of course we embraced it at once. We passed through a gate-way with a lofty arch, and entered