Year: 1878

We have two men with poles who lean the PROV
and sink their poles In the water. and now aud
then shout. Then M the wheel we have
one, or perhaps two. stecrsmcn, generally
nne grave, swarthy fellows VINO do not
shout much, but, knowing the rivers coquettsn
ways do as they please, unmindfu of the shouting.
For hour, for two or three hours, We hum along
with easy, trembling motion. the smooth shining
tapping sides, and the low green banks falling
behind Then have tremor. a siding to
side, and the engines stop. This serious
business especially seafaring friends, for
the first second time they regarded II call to
quarters a fro alarm, but became used


It, and running aground hardly Interrupted the dlest
conversation. When evening comes captain picks
the best point that be found after aud
up to the land. The crew are sent ashore with
torches and hammers. posts driven into the soft
clay ana are tiod to the shore. There, II out
Of the earth they come, have a group
Of Bedouins In their turbans who gather
the bank and make bonfire of dried sugar cane
cornstaks and keep watch during the night


The first night tied up Mr. Grant, the younger, and
your correspondent went ashore seeking out hassan
TO keep company. There our group OF crouch


ing Arabs over the re their dark features lighting up
into strange but not unmpressve kind of beauty.
We had been tod-I believe Ill the books written by
English friends tell us-that the only way


tract courtesy from Oriental is to beat him. trampe
him, or at least show hin the hilt Of your dagger
the muzze of a pistol The only daggers our party
possess the honest table knives, which some
ofthe many Mohammed Ais is at this moment most
likely securing. The only pistols trace Gen.


eral Grants and my own. The General, how
ever, left his weapon In the bottom o! one
Of his trunks In London, and mine Is
looked upon Kind Of Internal machine


dangerous to no one but the owner However, wo
treat our Arabs with civilty and Hassan supplies
them with cigarettes They wish to stand in
honor, but insist their taking all the comfort
possible out of their modest, cracking nre. Thoy
tell us their nnmes Mohammed one thing and Mo-
hammed another They have only wife each and
live Ia the neighboring village They have sheik


ana he lent them hither to watch over the hadji
Times hard with them. The Nile has been bad


and when Nile il bad calamity comes and the peo-
pie 60 away TO other villages We did like TO talk
poncs with them because feared that Hassan, who
Is admirer and friend OF the Khedive, might limit
the tendencies OF our inquiries and give only barren
answers. They said however. they would sit over
all night and keep US from harm. have NO doubt
they were sound asleep, burrowcd near the cinders


long before any OF party had retired. except


perhaps the Doctor. whose habits are exemplary and
VINO sets us an example Of early hours.


NILE.


There can be more interesting and, I am afraid,
perilous experiment than to put ten human beings
boat tor three weeks and bid them enjoy
themselves l looked around the boat with little
curiosity in and began 10 adjust ourselves
TO the conditions OF our trip. There two things
that try friondship-getting married and travelling
together. You have to dovetai each other, to mako
and receive compromises Questions OF coffee and
tea and chocolate. OF breakfast and luncheon, Of
amusement and conversation, enter into travel. There
is the passenger who s never quite well, the passen


ger whose health Is a reflection upon others, the
passenger who worries about the engines and the
mails, the passenger who cannot stand the cook.
ing, and compares overy dish with famous dinner
he once enjoyed at Dslnonico's. Then there Is the
exasperating passenger who contradicts every body
and ready to wager Our little party developed
OF these eccenrictieG SO far the daily and hourly
rubbing together was concerned nothing came TO
harmony. We adjusted ourselves TO the Generals
modes Of life; and those OF the simplest and
most consderate character it involved sacrifice.
wo live in q cluster OF small rooms around the cabin.
Ny own littc room has window within few inches
OF the water. have only TO put out hand to feel
tho cooling sense OF the stream. 1t wonder how
much you do with room not much larger than
an ordinary sidoboard. Clothing and books hnd rest
In odd kinds of places You sleep with your brushes
and comba In one corner ia little crate Of Egyptian
orockery which the Marquis induced me to purchase
at Slcut, and when awake at night wonder how l
arm ever to carry II the and what people
will say. do not think that the purchase a
ful ore, but It did not cost ucb, aud everybody
seems TO be going mad on crocKery l may mako q
reputation as q connoisseur OF Egyptian art at a
small expense If only the crocksry stands
the seas We breakfast whenever we please
In the French fashion. The General
Is an early or late rser according as we have an en-
| Mt f0rt the thero arer rui IN ha
in the morning he generally first deck with
his Indian helmet swathed IN silk, and as he
waits of military time. II there sights
to be seen the morning hours DRIFT away. We lounge
on the deck We go among the Arabs and see them
cooking We over the Prov and watch the sailors
poke tho Milo with long poles and call out the message
from its bed. Sometimes murderous feeling steals
over some OF the younger people aud they begin 10
shoot al q stray crane or pelican. afraid these
shoIs do not diminish the resources of the Nile,
the General suggests that the sportsmen 90 ashore
ard fire at Of the poor, patient drudging camel
who pulls his heavy-laden hump along the bank.
There long pauses OF silence In which the General
maintains his long conceded supremacy. Then come
little rippes OF real. useful conversation, when the
General strikes some theme connected with the war
or his administrator. Then your espondent
wishes he wero Las Casas or a Boswell that he might
gather up and bind these sheaves OF history. Or
perhaps our friend Brugsch opens upon some theme
connected with Egypt. And we sit In grateful silence
while he tells US OF the giants who reigned 10 the old
dynases OF the gods they honored, OF tho tombs and
temples, Of their glory and their fs think that We
will all spy that the rcd letter hours OF our Nile Jour-


ney were when General Grant told Us how he met Leo
at Appomattox, how Sherman fought at Shiloh, or
when Brugsch, In burst of nne enthusiasm, tells us
of the glores of the eighteenth dynasty what Kar-
max have been the days of its speDdors and its
pride. But you must not suppose that have notu-
ing but serious talk In those idle hours on the Nile
Haddcn sometimes insists that Sami Bey shall become


Christian, and offers to have subscriptions raised for
his conversion, and this generally superinduces half
serious, half laughing conversation, In which our
Moslein friend shows how firmly he believes in the
Prophet, and how IL IL that an accomplished and
widely travelled man Of the world may SEQ all the