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COAST OF NUBIA. fcii.
CHAPTER XVI.
Berenice—Belzoni— Wilkinson—Plan of Houses— Temple—
Antiquities—Ancient Key—Temple—Greek Inscriptions and
£
Statue—Hieroglyphics—Ptolemy, Strabo, Pliny, Robertson—
P, Sicard—Author's Opinion — Latitude — Proofs of having
discovered the Ancient City of Berenice—“ Berenice's Bodkin"
;■
—Fuel for Steam vessels—Habesh—Arab Fables — Capture
of a Devil Fish.
Hazy weather, and an expected southerly
wind, which would have rendered the vessel’s
situation very precarious, obliged us to run for
shelter to the north-east extreme of Foul Bay,
where we anchored within a short distance of
the ruins of the ancient seaport of Berenice.
This lone spot, now untenanted even by the
rude wanderer of the Desert, was once en
livened by the busy din of commerce, and its
traffickers, journeying from “ furthest Ind ” in
rude and fragile barks, cast anchor on its
wild, desolate shore. Now how changed the
scene! Ages have since swept over it, and
mounds of sand, wafted hither by desert
storms, cover its edifices, Its harbour is
choked and empty; and the ruins of one
L-
