As the Nile winds in its course the rocky hills on either side
alternately approach close to the river, revealing a succession of
rock-hewn tombs or ancient monasteries, or recede far into the
distance, half hidden in the vegetation of the arable land; but,
speaking generally, the river flows principally on the eastern side of
the valley, while all the large towns, such as Wasta, Minyeh, Assiut,
or Girgeh are built upon the western bank, where the largest area of
fertility is situated.

As we ascend the river the vegetation slowly changes; cotton and
wheat, so freely grown in the Delta, give place to sugar-cane and
Indian corn, and the feathery foliage of the sunt and mimosa trees is
more in evidence than the more richly clad lebbek or sycamore.

In many places are fields of the large-leaved castor-oil plants, whose
crimson flower contrasts with the delicately tinted blossoms of the
poppies which, for the sake of their opium, are grown upon the
shelving banks. The dôm palm also is a new growth, and denotes our
approach to tropical regions, while the type and costume of the people
have undergone a change, for they are darker and broader in feature
than the people of Lower Egypt, and the prevailing colour of their
clothing is a dark brown, the natural colour of their sheep, from
whose wool their heavy homespun cloth is made.

The limestone hills which have been our companions since leaving Cairo
also disappear, and a little way above Luxor low hills of sandstone
closely confine the river in a very narrow channel. This is the Gibel
Silsileh, which from the earliest times has supplied the stone of
which the temples are built. These celebrated quarries produce the
finest stone in the country, and have always been worked in the most