The Land of Khemi Author:Laurence Oliphant Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 156 CHAPTER IV. SOCIETY IN THE PROVINCES. Life in Minieh in the month of March left nothing to be desired for those whose tastes were moderate, and who ... more »were in search rather of repose than of excitement. The climate was soft and temperate; the view from our place of residence over the Nile, with precipitous limestone cliffs rising out of the palm-trees, presented a constantly renewing variety of marvellous effects of light and shade, which it was a continual source of delight to watch and attempt to put on paper. The neighbourhood abounded, besides, in picturesque sketches ; while our rooms were ever fragrant with the odours of the orange and lemon groves in full bloom, by which they were surrounded. Though the bazaar was by no means so picturesque and characteristic as that of Medinet el Fayoum, itwas much better supplied; and so far as the necessaries of life were concerned, we were far better off. The town presents quite an imposing effect from the river, with its white mansions lining the bank; and the palace of the Khedive is one of the handsomest buildings of the kind out of Cairo. There are two or three mosques, which are chiefly interesting from the fact of their columns being taken from old Graeco-Roman ruins of towns in the neighbourhood, and presenting an unusual variety of style of capital. One that has completely fallen into decay is especially picturesque : half-a-dozen beautiful little Corinthian columns rise out of a mass of rubbish; and on a neighbouring roof immediately above them an ox is perpetually turning a sakkya, which supplies the adjoining baths with water. There does not seem to have been any city of importance here in ancient times—the capital of the Nome of Hermopolis Parva, in which it was situated, lying a few miles to the south at the villa...« less