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CHAPTER XVIII.
DELAY AND DANGER.

T was January 1250, and King Louis, at the head
of the Crusaders, was still on the banks of the
Achmoun. But it was not from reluctance to pro-
secute their enterprise that the armed pilgrims sub-
mitted to delay. The aspect of the country through
Which they had passed on their way from Damietta
had not been such as to diminish their ambition to
be conquerors. It cannot be doubted that the fer-
tility of the land of the Pharaohs must have made
them more and more eager to become its masters.
In truth, there cannot be a more delightful sight
than Egypt at either of two seasons of the year.
Ascend some mountain in the month of July or
August, when the Nile has risen, and you behold a
vast sea, in which appear numerous towns and vil-
lages, with causeways leading from place to place,
the whole interspersed with groves and fruit-trees,
of which the tops are only visible, and bounded by
woods and mountains. But it is the peculiarity of
the Nile, unlike other rivers, which, in overflowing
lands, wash away and exhaust their vivific moisture,
that its waters serve to fatten and enrich the