"There was a handsome lamp in the hall-way of the house, and the Doctor told us it was much like the lamps that are used for decorating the mosques. It hung under a wooden frame in the shape of a six-pointed star. The ornamentation upon the outside of the body of the lamp was in curious patterns of arabesque design; the light was given by a series of little cups hanging on the outside, and not by the lamp itself. Each cup was partly filled with oil, and a tiny wick floated on its surface, and gave out a small blaze of light. It reminded us of the floating wicks for burning in a sick-room at home, and we readily understood why there were so many of them. A single flame would not have been enough to light the hall-way, and it was only by employing a great many that the proper illumination could be secured.
"On leaving the house we went to the bazaars, which were crowded with people, partly because it was market-day, when so many country people, men and women, came to town, and partly because of the large party of strangers that had landed from the steamboat, and were sure to be in the bazaars before continuing their journey.
"We bought some fans of ostrich feathers, which were offered for about half of what they would cost in Cairo. Sioot is one of the starting-points of the caravan routes to the regions where ostriches abound, and it is only natural that these things should be cheaper here than farther down the river. We also bought some cups and saucers, and a few pipe-bowls, made of a fine clay peculiar to the neighborhood of Sioot, and highly prized throughout Egypt. Of course we were obliged to bargain a long time to save ourselves from being cheated. It is of no use to tell these people you are in a hurry, and must have the lowest price at once; they cannot understand you, and will lose the chance of selling their goods rather than change their mode of dealing.
"Leaving Sioot we found ourselves in a region where the river winds considerably. The wind blowing from the north does not choose to follow all the bends of the Nile. A boat sailing up the stream will have a fair wind one hour and an adverse one the next, and when she finds both wind and current against her she must wait for a change in the breeze, or send the crew out with the tow-line. Towing up stream is slow work, but it is better than no progress at all. Ten or fifteen miles a day may be made by it, and sometimes as many as twenty miles, and if the passengers have a fondness for hunting they can indulge it very easily. Sometimes a walk of a few miles will cover a whole day's journey of the dahabeeah while she is working around a bend, and even the steamer is not averse to gaining distance while her passengers are on shore.
"Towing is the hardest part of the occupation of the crew of a Nile boat. They are harnessed like horses, and attached to a rope which is taken to the bank. The captain remains on board to steer the craft, and if the sailors are remiss in their work he shouts to them in a voice the reverse of pleasing; and while it is a laborious task for the men it is a severe trial to the passengers, this dragging along at a snail's pace, and listening to the imprecations of the captain, which grate harshly on the ear, even though they are uttered in an unknown tongue.
PIGEON-HOUSES.
"We wound along the river, sometimes close to the cliffs that form the eastern bank, and sometimes in the midst of a fertile plain, with the desert at a distance. We passed several villages, and the conductor told us their names; but as they were all pretty much alike, we did not think it worth while to write them down. An interesting feature of the villages was the great number of pigeon-houses, some of them standing by themselves, and others built on the tops of dwellings. The pigeons are kept in great flocks. Sometimes they are owned in common by a whole village, while at others they are the private property of individuals. The guano from the pigeon-houses is carefully saved for enriching the melon patches; and, where the house is the common property of the village, the key is kept by the sheik or chief. Some of the houses are like square towers, with a great many holes where the birds enter, and the inside of the walls is full of niches, where the pigeons make their nests. Others are of a circular shape, and have protuberances on the top like chimneys, which are filled with holes for admitting the pigeons, but too small for the hawks and other birds of prey that pursue them.