We ascended the steep, high banks on the right of this quay,—and had before us the Nile.
I believe we shall not soon forget the impression it made on us; for it is, there, a beautiful river, and its effect was heightened by contrast with the dull, monotonous scene presented by the black sides of the canal and the deserted country around. The Nile is about as wide as the Connecticut at Hartford or the Ohio at Cincinnati; it flowed here at our feet in graceful and beautiful curves. In front of us was an island, low and flat, but covered with millet, and with shrubs and plants of the most intense verdure. A little higher up, on the opposite bank, from amid a mass of houses, towered the domes and picturesque minarets of Atfour, a city of 40,000 inhabitants, with a large building like a palace at its upper edge. Just above this was another island covered with trees, which were dipping their foliage into the waters, and behind which the river was lost to our sight. On our own side the view was less interesting. Only a few trees dotted the banks, and in the interior, the dreary stretch of flat, waste land was interrupted only by the deceitful mirage or imitation of water.
While some of the party were looking down on the river in high admiration of its modern beauties, or lost in meditations on its ancient fame, old Catalina, the Mahonese woman who attended on the Commodore’s family, approached. Catalina had never seen any thing larger than the rivulet which flows near her native city, and is much frequented by the Mahonese washerwomen. The company watched her in order to enjoy her surprise. She was, indeed, surprised. When she had a little recovered from her astonishment, one of the party said to her, “Well, Catalina, what do you think of the Nile?” “Oh,” she replied, with sincerity and earnestness, “it is very grand—if it was only at Mahon, what a fine place it would be to wash clothes in!”
EGYPT.
CHAPTER II.
Boats on the Nile. Our enjoyments on the river. Water of the Nile. Villages. Ovens for hatching chickens. Egyptian bricks and case of the Israelites. Singular costume of the females. Thievish boatmen. First view of the Pyramids. Stupendous undertaking of Mohammed Ali at the Barage. Approach to Cairo. Moonlight scene.
The boats of the canal are confined exclusively to its waters, and we here found it necessary to look out for other conveyances, a necessity to which our last night’s experience made us very gladly submit; nor had we at any time occasion to find fault with the comfort or cleanliness of the boats on the Nile. Those which we engaged had about three fourths of the length of one of our canal boats, and about twice the breadth, and drew from three to four feet water; near the stern were a forward and an after cabin, the former of sufficient height to allow us to stand upright. In front of it we spread awnings above, and at the sides, so as to make a cool verandah or vestibule for eating and sitting during the day; and, with the aid of curtains, a pleasant sleeping apartment for the night. Towards the bow the deck ceased, and gave place to an open area filled with sand, where our excellent cook erected his throne, and chopped off as many heads as might have satisfied even Mohammed Ali himself.
Our party, consisting of twenty-six persons exclusive of attendants, engaged three of these boats. The Commodore and his family, and, by invitation, ——, and the writer of this, occupied one of them; a second was engaged by a party principally of lieutenants; and a third by midshipmen from the two ships. We had on board of each boat a person called a Cavass, an officer appointed by government to attend on travellers; he goes well armed, and bears in addition, as a badge of office, a long cane capped with silver or gold, to which dangle chains of the same material. His presence places the party under the protection of government, and gives it access to all public places to which he may choose to lead.