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CXXIV. But we must do justice to the Pasha's government. Twenty years ago, the villages in this neighbourhood were so many nests of robbers, so that no stranger could with safety visit them. At present, though the race is far from being extinct, thieves are becoming more rare; the constant levies for his Highness's "victorious armies" draining them away, to exercise their ingenuity in other quarters. I have heard the Swiss defend their mercenary practice of selling the blood of their fellow citizens to foreign nations, by dwelling on the public advantages of getting rid, in distant wars, of the turbulent and unprincipled part of their population; peace, which to all other nations is a blessing, being a curse to them, since it brings home all their thieves and highwaymen, to infest the roads, brawl in the taverns, and fill the gaols. If caitiffs of this description alone were kidnapped by the Pasha's Italians for the army, the Egyptian peasantry would have but little cause for complaint; but, numerous as rogues are in Egypt, I fear that Ibrahim would hardly have achieved his Syrian victories, had no honest man been admitted into the ranks.

CXXV. We moored for the night a little to the south of El Wuddi, and the jackals, which seem to grow more numerous as we advance, again, immediately after nightfall, entertained us with their howlings, which greatly resemble the screams of a set of hired mourners wailing for the dead. The village dogs also show their vigilance, by incessant

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barking. Except these, however, no sounds were heard, save the ripple of the water and the creaking of the kandjia, as it swung to and fro in the current of the Nile. I now began to think my little cabin quite comfortable, with my divan, my books, my pipe, my coffee, and my cheerful lamp; more especially when, returning late in the evening, tired after a long walk, I beheld a light gleaming from the cabin door across the water, awakening something analogous to the feelings of home; though, being greeted, on entering, by none of those young faces which I was wont to see clustering round my hearth on the banks of Lake Leman, this feeling soon gave way to a sense of utter solitude. We had no rain this day (though the sky still continued to be overcast), and the cold was less severe than the day before.

VOL. I.

194

A DAY OF ACCIDENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

DANGEROUS AVALANCHES IN THE NILE MY KANDJIA NEARLY SUBMERGED IN THE RIVER QUARREL WITH THE NATIVESSAND STORM ON THE NILE COTTON, PLANTATIONS-VISIT OF WILD BEASTS-DEPTH OF THE SOIL OF EGYPT -KIASHEFF OF SOHL-A BEDOUIN CAVALIER-HIDDEN TREASURES CURE FOR LEPROSY APPEARANCE OF THE ARABIAN CHAIN MOSLEM FAKĪRS-GRATITUDE OF THE ARABS RARENESS OF CATSOF PROVISIONS-A MURDERED MAN BEAUTY OF ARRIVAL AT BENISOOEF.

CHEAPNESS
THE RIVER

Friday, Dec. 4. Kafr el Zarateen. CXXVI. This morning seemed, at sunrise, there being little wind, -to promise a better day than yesterday. But it soon began to blow as strong as ever from the south; and, as there was no path for the trackers on the eastern bank, we put up a sail, and made for the opposite shore, where we had much difficulty in keeping the kandjia from striking every moment against the land. Several villages are here seen on the Arabian side of the Nile; and, directly over against the place where we moored, there is a small low island, Geziret el Zarateen.

CXXVII. This was a day of accidents, one of which nearly proved fatal to me and my boat. The wind, as usual, was southerly when we set out, and, soon after our departure, began, as I have said, to blow

ADVENTURE ON THE NILE.

195

with great violence. Of course, there were no means of proceeding but by tracking; and, for this purpose, three men were sent on shore. Monro had left his boat early, while I had remained on board to write. At length, however, I observed that the current, aided by the wind, was becoming exceedingly violent; that the three men on shore were unequal to the task of tugging us along; and that, owing to the loftiness and steepness of the bank, there was no possibility of adding to their number. About ten o'clock in the morning, we came to a bend in the river, where the bank was at least twenty feet high, and worn away at the base by the action of the stream; and, in consequence, extremely liable to those avalanches (as they are justly denominated by Bishop Heber) which often sink boats in the Ganges. Round this point the Nile rushed along with fearful noise and velocity, forming many whirpools, and eddying vortexes covered with foam; and it required extraordinary force to drag forward the kandjia through this hell of waters." By great good fortune, Monro's boat turned the promontory in safety; but when mine came up, either the wind had increased, and the fury of the eddying current along with it, or my Arabs, already fatigued and exhausted, made an untimely pause; thus giving the water a purchase, as it were, by which to cast us back. Our reis, a highly active but not a strong man, knowing wherein the danger of our position consisted, endeavoured, by the most strenuous exertions with the pole, to keep away the boat from the overhanging bank,

196

ADVENTURE ON THE NILE.

where huge masses of earth were ready to fall upon our heads. But the strength of the current was quite irresistible. It was in vain that he exerted himself: indeed, three feet from the land he could find no bottom, and his pole became useless. The kandjia, yielding to the force of the stream, now pulled back the trackers, and went down the river, striking against the bank in the most fearful manner. In a few minutes, the poor Arabs, recovering breath, again came to the charge, — again dragged her along, until she was just turning the point, where the might of the river once more prevailed, and down the stream we went a second time. Monro's people, who were out of danger, stood looking on, though our reis several times called upon them for help. Their master not being present, they would not stir.

CXXVIII. Mohammed was not, however, to be discouraged his passions, though engaged in a struggle with the elements, beginning to be excited, in a tone of anger and fierce reproach he commanded the trackers to exert themselves like men. They obeyed; and, dashing desperately forward, our gallant bark, in the midst of foaming whirlpools, had already turned the promontory, when the strength of the poor fellows again failed, and compelled them to yield to the stream. In a moment the kandjia was hurled furiously against the cliff; and a large superincumbent mass of earth giving way, came thundering down upon the cabin the vessel was in an instant

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