Cairo to Kisumu

by Frank G. Carpenter

The steamer Ibis, on which I have been travelling, is one of the little vessels of the Sudan government which go twice a week from Shellal, just above the Aswan Dam, to Wady Halfa, where the railroad across the desert begins. The ship is a sternwheeler, much like those on some of our rivers. It is about twenty feet wide, one hundred and fifty feet long, and draws only six inches. We make about six miles per hour, and our pilot, a dark-faced, short-bearded Nubian in turban and gown, corkscrews his course from one side of the river to the other as we wind our way up the stream.

We fly the Egyptian and Sudanese flags, but the steamer belongs to the government of the Sudan which means it is British. The captain, however, is a German, and the rest of the crew are Nubians, most of whom are as black as your shoes. The captain speaks German, French, English, and Arabic. He attends to everything connected with the steamer, even to the meals and the proper table service. Our waiters are black-faced Nubians in long white gowns and sashes of bright red. They wear white turbans, and their feet are either bare or shod in red slippers.

I find the steamer comfortable and the company agreeable. The boat has two decks. On the lower one are thirty cabins and the dining room, where our meals are served table d’hôte. Over the upper deck an awning is stretched, so that we can sit and watch the scenery as we go up the river.

Our party consists of several commercial travellers, bound for the Sudan and Central Africa; two missionaries who are going up the Sobat River; a capitalist, largely interested in land development enterprises about Khartum, and several people who are on their way to the Blue Nile to hunt big game. Although we are far away in the wilds of Nubia, with nothing but desert on each side, most of us appear in evening clothes at dinner. Our meals are served in courses with half-a-dozen changes of plates, knives, and forks.

Here is our bill of fare for one day. At seven this morning, while I was yet in bed, my black boy appeared and handed me a cup of hot tea, with two sweet crackers on each side of the saucer. At eight o’clock the bell rang for breakfast in the dining room. The meal consisted of fried fish fresh from the Nile, bacon and eggs, bread and butter and jam, with tea or coffee. At one o’clock came luncheon, a bountiful meal of rice, giblets, chicken, mutton chops, and fruit, with bread and butter and cheese. Coffee, of course. At eight o’clock we had dinner, and the menu was as follows: An excellent soup, then a boiled fish just out of the Nile, followed by a salmi of pigeons, roast lamb and mint sauce, with potatoes and string beans. Then there was a course of tomato salad, and after that a pudding and fruit.

I do not find travel in Africa at all cheap. If one travels along the Nile he must expect to spend about fifteen dollars a day, the cost increasing as he goes up the river. My trip from Shellal to Khartum and back by rail and steamer, a distance not very much greater than from New York to Chicago, will be one hundred and fifteen dollars, or about six cents per mile, and I shall pay at Khartum a hotel rate of at least five dollars per day.

If one attempts to travel economically he must expect many discomforts. On this boat first-class passengers only are carried. We have some second- and third-class passengers, but they stay on a low barge which we tow alongside. This barge has a flat deck of rough boards covered by a roof. The people carry their own bedding and lay it down on the boards. They must supply their own food, and as the servants of the first-class passengers, and natives, who are far from clean, travel in that way, the company is not desirable. Besides, it is very cold at night, and those who sleep on the decks have the desert breezes blowing over them all night long. It is cooler here than in Egypt, although we are nearer the Equator. I have a woollen blanket on my bed, with a heavy travelling rug on top of that, but still I am none too warm. In the early morning I wear an overcoat on deck, although at noon it is so hot out of the breeze that I would fain take off my flesh and sit in my bones.

Sailing up the Nubian Nile we are almost free from the flies such as are found by millions in Egypt, but Nubia has a little fly of its own which is almost unbearable. This is known as the nimetta, a small midge, which appears in myriads during the winter season. Its bite causes a slight fever, and the natives sometimes wear bunches of smouldering grass twisted about their heads to keep it away.

The flies of Egypt are probably the descendants of those which the Lord sent to afflict Pharaoh when he would not let the Children of Israel go. They look not unlike the common fly of our country, but they are bolder and hungrier. Their feet stick to one as though they were glued and they will not move until forcibly brushed off, but the Egyptian peasants have become so used to them that they let them stick at will. Their favourite feeding place seems to be on one’s eyes. This is especially true of the children, and it is a common sight to see a child with its eyes so fringed with flies that it seems to have double eyelashes. The flies cover the meat in the markets, they roost on the buffaloes, camels, and donkeys, and attack the tourist to such an extent that the selling of fly brushes has become an Egyptian industry. The brushes are tassel-like affairs with long strings similar to the hairs of a horse’s tail.