There was once a flourishing town at this place, but at present little remains of it; and even the ruins have been so covered with sand that they cannot be readily found. The desert comes down on both sides of the river at Hagar Silsilis, and the fertile land of the Nile disappears altogether. To the stranger ascending the river for the first time it seems as though he had reached the head of the Nile, and his journey was to come suddenly to an end; but a turn of the stream undeceives him, and his eye rests upon a more agreeable scene.
THE FOOT OF THE FIRST CATARACT.
On and on went the boat, and the scenery became more and more picturesque as the sandstone formation disappeared and granite took its place. The barren shores of Hagar Silsilis were forgotten in the fertility of the soil below Assouan and the brightness of the verdure on the island of Elephantine, which lies at the foot of the first cataract of the Nile. The hills around the cataract were crowned with little shrines and tombs of Moslem saints, and there was a fringe of barren hills directly back of the town in sharp contrast to the fertility of the soil below it. The sun shone brightly on the water, which appeared quiet as a lake enclosed in the mountains; the black rocks that rose here and there on the bank of the river seemed to threaten danger to any boat that ventured near them, since it was not easy to know what might be concealed below the surface. Beyond Elephantine Island the river was broken and lost, and our friends had no difficulty in comprehending that they were in a part of the Nile quite unlike anything they had seen before.
The steamer swung sharply around at the foot of the island, and in a few minutes was at the landing-place of Assouan, the Syene of the ancients.
Not only were our friends among new scenes of rocks and hills, but the crowds of natives that welcomed them were different from any they had seen before. It was a mingling of Arabs and Nubians: the former were nothing new, but the latter had put in an appearance for the first time. They were scantily dressed, their skins were black as ink, and their woolly hair was done up in little ringlets, like pen-holders, and apparently soaked in grease. The goods they offered for sale were ostrich feathers, Nubian dresses, arrows, old coins, knives, and kindred things, and they were as shrewd in making bargains as their friends the Arabs. Whips and canes of the hide of the hippopotamus were liberally offered, and nearly every passenger made purchases of these articles.
The hippopotamus whip is called a courbash by the Arabs, and has the reputation of being the most cruel whip in the world. It is much like the "green hide" that was in use in the Southern States of North America during the days of slavery, and a blow from it is to be dreaded and long remembered by man or beast.
It was late in the afternoon when our friends arrived at Assouan, and there was only time to stroll through the bazaars before sunset. Plans were made for an excursion to the island of Philæ on the following day, and everybody went early to bed.