EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS.
[Chapter XVI.]
THE RAMESEUM, MEDINET ABOO, AND THE VOCAL MEMNON.
DRY FOOTING.
The morning after the visit to Karnak an early start was made for the other side of the river. The party was ferried across in a couple of native boats to a sand-bank that pushed out some distance from the shore; the boats grounded in the shallow water, and our friends were carried on the backs of several Arabs, who gladly accepted the chance to earn a few pennies by a temporary conversion into beasts of burden. Everybody landed dry and unharmed with the exception of one unfortunate individual, whose bearer stumbled just before reaching the solid earth. Luckily the accident resulted only in a slight wetting. The Arab carrier demanded a large backsheesh because he waited so long before falling!