Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-11-10
LIFE ON THE NILE.
CHARMING WAY TO SEE A PART
OF EGYPT IF ONE HAS TIME.

"A Nile Dahabeah Is "A Delightful Kind of
Boat In Which to Spend a Few Months.
What One May See on the Famous
River-Busy Banks and Lively Boats.
Given good boat and crew and pleasant
companions | know nothing more enjoy
able IN the way of travel than life for some
months on board dahabeah on the Nile
Inc Nile is seldom rough enough to cause
discomfort even to the most timd, and at
tne worst the dahabeah can be moored
against the bank while the storm lasts.
another great advantage of sailing on the
Nile is the steadiness of the wind From
the beginning of winter to the end of
spring-that is, while the Nile is navigable
the north wind blows steadily up stream
with sufficient force to drive sailing boats
against tie current at "A fair pace, while
on the other hand the current is strong
enough to carry boat without sails down
against the wind except when it blows a
gale.
A pleasure dahabeah under full sail is a
beautiful sight. 1t has one great sail, Of
latteen pattern, attached to yard of enor-
nous length. Small sails are added as
occasion may require. Over the cabins
and saloon is rallied high poop, with easy
chairs and lounges and gay with plants
and flowers. To the east stretches the
Arabian, to the west the Lybian desert,
each fianked by range of bare hills, which
in few places touch the river but lie for
the most part two or three miles back on
either side. Ages before the pyramids the
Nile filled the whole of the valley to the
depth of some 200 feet, and the yellow hills,
now so bare, were clothed with a luxuriant
nt,N.. - I'll l. !
mains in petrified forests and fossilized
plants. 1t was plainly period of heavy
rainfall and impetuous torrents carving
out vast gorges and pouring their waters
into the Nile
The Nile is a busy river, full of life and
movement, dahabeahs, bent on pleasure or
on trade, passing up and down its streams
with scarcely any interlnission, while its
banks are full Of interest to the lover of
the picturesque; crowds of women, with
graceful forms and not seldom very
comely faces, filling heavy earthen jars
with water and carrying them home on
their heads; men, with skins of bronze,
toiling in relays of three hours each at the
shadufs under a burning sun, and singing
the while to relieve the monotony of their
daily labor; boatmen floating with the
stream or sailing against it, and they also
echo of a hopeless cry waited across the
centuries from hard bondage under Egyp-
tan taskmasters, such as the Israeltes en-
dured before the exodus; flocks of pelicans
standing on the sand or maneuvering in
the air like soldiers on the march; king
fishers, now lowering over the water, now
darting beneath its surface in quest of a
passing fish.
And then there is the mysterious Nile
itself, mysterious still, though it's sources
have been disclosed and its long meander-
ings tracked from the uplands of central
Africa to the margin of the midland sea-
The voyager now, it is true, seldom sees a
crocodile unless he goes beyond the sec
ond cataract; still less has he chance of
witnessing any of those fierce encounters
between crocodiles and hippopotami
which are sculptured on the walls of the
temple of kdfu. In those ancient DAYS,
when the shores of the Nile down to Cairo
were lined with reeds and papyrus, the
river abounded with crOcodiles and hippo
potami, both of which afforded excellent
albeit sometimes perilous-sport to the
dweliers on the banks. Fire%inls and
steamers have now driven those fierce n.ou-
sters Of the deep beyond the second cata-
r,tct.
EC,, apart from its Inhabitants. the Nj,
i,>oI has Il mystic interest os its own.
| do not wonder tEGt in the mythology a.
| ancient Egypt II va endowed With ~
and received some sort Of divine Lt8ur.
Its periodical inuudatiuus, while i,,,
causes were unknown, placed 1t ont ski
tn" category 81 ordinary rivers aHl i..H,--.
| ed it with ~ atmosphere Of mystery. t.t.
| in the youth Of orr race, wien N-as..- .
| glades and rivers We're believed 90 .,.
| appropriate deuizeas, it is easy = ua.,..
| stand how the Nile came to he REGARDED g.
endowed with more than natural HE
| Is so full of sUbcurrents and cGGics H..
/ the amphlbious natives, who swim Iis
| fish, will not venture to cross il cNe.
| astride on logs OF wood In tire stI.lu..
| of the night these eddies gUrgle auI r....
muir past your dahabeah Ike spirits t-....
THE vastly deep engaged in conGdeB la.
| talk.
And who can adequately describe those
| splendid dawns and gorgeous sunsets
which ere among the commonplaces Of Nile
| scenery? / have often seen the whole sky
| from the zenith TO the horizon become one
| molten, mantling sea of color and FIRE
| every ripple and wave transfused into IN
| sullied, shadowless crimson and purple
| and scarlet and opalescent hues, shading
| off into colors for which our language sup
| plies no words and previous experience no
| ideas. This splendor of indescribable in
| termingling colors appears-at sunset on
the western horizon and is followed by
soft sheen, as of moonlight, reflected on the
| hills on the eastern bank of the river
| In short, life on dahabeah is one per
| petual picnic. You stop where you please
| and either enjoy the dolce far niente of re-
naming on board or making excursions to
| old temples or tombs, or taking part in
veritable picnic in the desert, and a picnic
| in the desert under favorable auspices is
not likely to be forgotten.-Londou Spec
| tator.
Odd Records.
| Records are kept with knotted cords in