THE BATH OF CLEOPATRA,
As it is vulgarly called, is a large basin, a little to the west of . the
old port, on one side of which are three small square rooms, hollowed
out of the solid rock. Across these are stone benches, and
a canal, made of a zigzag form for the purpose of stopping the
sand, conveys into them the water of the sea, as pure and transparent
as crystal. The . water rises a little higher than the waist
of a person sitting on the bench, while his feet rest on a fine sand.
He hears the waves roaring against the rock, and foaming in the
canal: the swell enters, raises him up, and then subsides; and
thus alternately entering and retiring, brings a continual fresh
supply of water, with a coolness truly delicious in so hot a climate.
Some ruins announce, that once this bath was not destitute
of ornament.
The columns of granite, of which a view is given in another
plate, are supposed to have formed part of one of the spacious porticoes
of the gymnasium near the Canopic gate.
ALEXANDRIA.
Having just mentioned the principal remains of it’s antiquities,
we shall now proceed to give some account of Alexandria itself,
a city on various accounts memorable.
It was founded by Alexander, who saw how well this situation
was adapted to an extensive commerce: the comprehensive mind