It has no kind of cattle; and the
people are supplied from three wells near the town, the water of which
differs very little from that of the sea.
[Footnote 307: In Purchas, Al Kossir is named Alcocer. Don John thinks
this place to be the Philoteras of Ptolomy; but Dr Pocock places it
2 deg.40' more to the north, making Kossir Berenice, which is highly
probable, as it is still the port of Kept, anciently Coptos, or of
Kus near it, both on the Nile, as well as the nearest port to the Nile
on all that coast, which Berenice was. Dr Pocock supposes old Kossir
to have been Myos Hormos: but we rather believe it to have been
Berenice. - Ast.]
The most experienced of the Moors had never heard of the name of
Egypt[308], but call the whole land from Al Kossir to Alexandria by
the name of Riffa[309], which abounds in all kinds of victuals and
provisions more than any other part of the world, together with great
abundance of cattle, horses, and camels, there not being a single foot
of waste land in the whole country. According to the information I
received; their language and customs are entirely Arabic.
