An Assiût Donkey.
from every part of Egypt, and of all colors, shading from the engineer, who was a cream-colored Turk,—when his face was washed,—to Ali, who must have been a Sudanese. Our head steward was almost as black, and the second steward was another of the cream-colored variety. We seldom saw the cook. Sometimes he would put his head and shoulders out of the hatchway, with his arms on the deck, and then we could see that he was a little, white-faced Turk with a large black mustache.
Salem was a Syrian Christian, and he had lost all his earnings in an unprofitable exhibit at the World’s Fair in Chicago. His costumes were always elaborate, and he was very ornamental, with his silk sashes and fancy turbans. He superintended our meals, and always suggested the next day’s program during dinner; so with our coffee we would read aloud Charles Dudley Warner’s and Miss Edwards’s opinions of our next stopping-place.
After our first dinner we tied to the bank, by a little village, Salem said, just big enough to have a name. It was-dark, and we could hear and see nothing; so we took his word for it.
We were off early the next morning, and all that day the river’s banks were fringed with sugar-cane and sakiehs. The many boats we passed were loaded with natives, sometimes perched upon loads of grain, or mixed in with turkeys and cattle.
Temple of Ti.