The Banner-Democrat., 1892-12-03
LIFE ON A NILE pAHAsEAH.


LIFE ON ~ NILE OAHAoGAos
4 Charmins Way to See 6 Part AZ Egype
II One II Not In . Hurry.
Given a good boat and crew and
pleasant companions, know nothing
more enjoyable in the way of travel
than life for some months on board .
dahabeah on the Nile. The Nile is sell
dom rough enough to cause discomfort
even to the most timid, and at the
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 stead
lily mp stream with sufficient force to
drive sailing boats against the current
at fair pace; while, on the other hand,
the current is strong enough to carry
boat without sails down against tho
wind except when it blows gale.
A pleasure dahabeah under full sail
is . beautiful sight. 1t has one great
sail, of lateen pattern, attached to .
yard of enormous 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 ybisn desert,
each flanked 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 two
hundred feet, and the yellow hills, now
50 bare, were clothed with luxuriant
vegetation, of which the evidence still
remains in petrifed forests and fos-
silized plants. 1t was plainly q period
of heavy rainfall and impetuous tor
rents, carving out vast gorges and pour
ing their waters into the Nile.
The Nile is q busy river, full of life
and movement, dahabeahs, bent on
pleasure or on trade, passing mp and
down its stream with scarcely any in
Permission, 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, fill
ing heavy earthen jars with water, and
carrying them home on their heads;
men, with skins of bronze. toiling in re-
lays of three hours each at the shadufs
under 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
nlso singing weird. wailing chant, like
the echo of hopeless cry waited across
the centuries from hard bondage under
Egyptian taslsmastcrs, such as the
Israelites endured before the exodus;
focks of pelicans standing on the sand
or maneuvering in the air like
soldiers on the march; kingfishers,
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 its sources have been disclosed
and its long mesnderings tracked.
from the uplands Of central Africa to
the margin of the Midland sea. The
voyager now, 1T is true, seldom sees q
crocodile, unless he goes bey yond the
second 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 Edfu. In
those ancie' Tvs, when the shores of
the Nile dow co Cairo were lined with
reeds and papyrus, the river abounded
with crocodiles and hippopotami, both
Of which afforded excellent-albeit
sometimes perilous-spoft to the dwell
ers on the banks Firearms and steam
ers have now driven those fierce mon
sters of the deep beyond the second
cataract.
But, apart from its inhabitants, the
Nile itself has mystic interest of its
own. / do not wonder that In the my
thology Of ancient Egypt it was en-
dowed with life, and received some sort
of divine honors. Its periodical inun-
dations, while their causes were un-
known, placed it outside the category
of ordinary rivers, and invested 1t with
an atmosphere of mystery. And in the
youth of our race, when woods and
glades and rivers were believed to own
appropriate denizens, it is easy to un-
derstand how the Nile came to be re-
garded as endowed with more than
natural life. 1t is SO full of sub-cur-
rents and eddies that the amphibions
natives, who swim like fish, will not
venture to cross it except astride on
logs of wood In the stiffness of night
these edies gurgle and murmur past
your dahabeah like spirits from "the
vastly Deep engaged in confidential
talk.
And who can adequately describe
those splendid dawns and gorgeous sun
sets which are among the commonplace
of Nile scenery? have often seen the
whole sky, from the zenith to the hori-
zon, become one motion, mantling sea
of color and fire, every ripple and
wave transfused into unsullied, shadow
less crimson and purple and scarlet and
cpalescent hues, shading on into colors
for which our language supplies no
words and previous experience no ideas.
This splendor of indescribablc inter
mingling colors appears at sunset on
the western horizon, and followed by a
soft sheen, as of moonlight, reflected
on the hills on the eastern bank Of the
river.
In short, life Oh the dabsbeah is one
perpetual picnic. You stop where you
please. and either enjoy the dolce far
niente Of remaining on board or making