DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0118
100 4 THOUSAND MILES UP THE NILE.
the uses of such simple tilings as poultices or wet com-
presses, but of' the most elementary laws of health.
IJoctors there are none south of Cairo; and such is the
general mistrust of state medicine, that when, as in the
case of any Avidely spread epidemic, a medical officer is
sent up the river by order of the government, half the
people are said to conceal their sick, while the other half
reject the remedies prescribed for them. Their trust in
the skill of the passing European is, on the other hand,
unbounded. Appeals for advice and medicine were con-
stantly being made to us by both rich and poor; and there
was something very pathetic in the simple faith with which
they accepted any little help we were able to give them.
Meanwhile L------'s medical reputation, being confirmed by
a few simple cures, rose high among the crew. They called
her the hakim sitt (the doctor-lady); obeyed her directions
and swallowed her medicines as reverently as if she
were the college of surgeons personified; and showed their
gratitude in all kinds of pretty, child-like ways—singing
her favorite Arab song as they ran beside her donkey—
searching for sculptured fragments whenever there were
ruins to be visited—and constantly bringing her little gifts
of pebbles and wild flowers.
Above Siut, the picturesqueness of the river is confined
for the most part to the eastern bank. A\re have almost
always a near range of mountains on the Arabian side, and
a more distant chain on the Libyan horizon. Gebel
Sheik el Raaineh succeeds to Gebel Abufayda, and is
followed in close succession by the cliffs of Gow, of Gebel
Sheik el Ilereedee, of Gebel Ayserat and Gebel Tukh—
all alike rigid in strongly marked beds of level limestone
strata; flat-topped and even, like lines of giant ramparts;
and more or less pierced with orifices which we know to bo
tombs, but which look like loop-holes from a distance.
Flying before the wind with both sails set, we see the
rapid panorama unfold itself day after day, mile after mile,
hour after hour. Villages, palm groves, rock-cut sepul-
chers, flit past and are left behind. To-day we enter the
region of the dom palm. To-morrow we pass the map-
drawn limit of the crocodile. The cliffs advance, recede,
open away into desolate-looking valleys, and show faint
traces of paths leading to excavated tombs on distant
heights, The headland that looked shadowy in the dis^
a
the uses of such simple tilings as poultices or wet com-
presses, but of' the most elementary laws of health.
IJoctors there are none south of Cairo; and such is the
general mistrust of state medicine, that when, as in the
case of any Avidely spread epidemic, a medical officer is
sent up the river by order of the government, half the
people are said to conceal their sick, while the other half
reject the remedies prescribed for them. Their trust in
the skill of the passing European is, on the other hand,
unbounded. Appeals for advice and medicine were con-
stantly being made to us by both rich and poor; and there
was something very pathetic in the simple faith with which
they accepted any little help we were able to give them.
Meanwhile L------'s medical reputation, being confirmed by
a few simple cures, rose high among the crew. They called
her the hakim sitt (the doctor-lady); obeyed her directions
and swallowed her medicines as reverently as if she
were the college of surgeons personified; and showed their
gratitude in all kinds of pretty, child-like ways—singing
her favorite Arab song as they ran beside her donkey—
searching for sculptured fragments whenever there were
ruins to be visited—and constantly bringing her little gifts
of pebbles and wild flowers.
Above Siut, the picturesqueness of the river is confined
for the most part to the eastern bank. A\re have almost
always a near range of mountains on the Arabian side, and
a more distant chain on the Libyan horizon. Gebel
Sheik el Raaineh succeeds to Gebel Abufayda, and is
followed in close succession by the cliffs of Gow, of Gebel
Sheik el Ilereedee, of Gebel Ayserat and Gebel Tukh—
all alike rigid in strongly marked beds of level limestone
strata; flat-topped and even, like lines of giant ramparts;
and more or less pierced with orifices which we know to bo
tombs, but which look like loop-holes from a distance.
Flying before the wind with both sails set, we see the
rapid panorama unfold itself day after day, mile after mile,
hour after hour. Villages, palm groves, rock-cut sepul-
chers, flit past and are left behind. To-day we enter the
region of the dom palm. To-morrow we pass the map-
drawn limit of the crocodile. The cliffs advance, recede,
open away into desolate-looking valleys, and show faint
traces of paths leading to excavated tombs on distant
heights, The headland that looked shadowy in the dis^
a