DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0344
326 A THOUSAND MILES UP THE NILE.
off in parallelograms like a cattle market, lies mapped out
below. A field-glass shows that the houses are simply
cloistered court-yards roofed with palm-thatch; the sheik's
house being larger than the rest, with the usual open space
and spreading sycamore in front. There are women mov-
ing to and fro in the court-yards, and husbandmen in the
castor-berry patches. A funeral with a train of wailers
goes out presently toward the burial-ground on the edgo
of the desert. The idle man, a slight figure with a veil
twisted round his hat, wades, half-hidden, through the
barley, signaling his whereabouts every now and then by a
puff of white smoke. A cargo-boat, stripped and shorn,
comes floating down the river, making no visible jirogress.
A native felucca, carrying one tattered brown sail, goes
swiftly up with the wind at a pace that will bring her to
Abou Simbel before nightfall. Already she is past the
village; and those black specks yonder, which we had
never dreamed were crocodiles, have slipped off into the
water at her approach. And now she is far in the dis-
tance—that glowing, illimitable distance—traversed by long
silvery reaches of river, and ending in a vast flat, so blue
and aerial that, but for some three or four notches of purple
peaks on the horizon, one could scarcely discern the point
at which land and sky melt into each other. Ibrim comes
next; then Derr; then Wady Sabooyah. At Ibrim, as at
Dorr, there ara "fair" families, whose hideous light hair
and blue eyes (grafted on brown-black skins) date back to
.Bosnian forefathers of three hundred and sixty years ago.
These people give themselves airs, and are the haute
noblesse of the place. The men are lazy and quarrelsome.
The women trail longer robes, wear more beads and rings,
and are altogether more unattractive and castor-oily than
any we have seen elsewhere. They keep slaves, too. Wo
saw these unfortunates trotting at the heels of their mis-
tresses, like dogs. Knowing slavery to bo officially
illegal in the dominions of the khedive, the M. B.'s
applied to a dealer, who offered them an Abyssinian girl
for ten pounds. This useful article—warranted a bargain
—was to sweep, wash, milk, and churn; but was not equal
to cooking. The M. B.'s, it is needless to add, having
verified the facts, retired from the transaction.
At Derr we pay a farewell visit to the temple ; and at
Amada, arriving toward close of day, see the great view
for the last time in the glory of sunset.
off in parallelograms like a cattle market, lies mapped out
below. A field-glass shows that the houses are simply
cloistered court-yards roofed with palm-thatch; the sheik's
house being larger than the rest, with the usual open space
and spreading sycamore in front. There are women mov-
ing to and fro in the court-yards, and husbandmen in the
castor-berry patches. A funeral with a train of wailers
goes out presently toward the burial-ground on the edgo
of the desert. The idle man, a slight figure with a veil
twisted round his hat, wades, half-hidden, through the
barley, signaling his whereabouts every now and then by a
puff of white smoke. A cargo-boat, stripped and shorn,
comes floating down the river, making no visible jirogress.
A native felucca, carrying one tattered brown sail, goes
swiftly up with the wind at a pace that will bring her to
Abou Simbel before nightfall. Already she is past the
village; and those black specks yonder, which we had
never dreamed were crocodiles, have slipped off into the
water at her approach. And now she is far in the dis-
tance—that glowing, illimitable distance—traversed by long
silvery reaches of river, and ending in a vast flat, so blue
and aerial that, but for some three or four notches of purple
peaks on the horizon, one could scarcely discern the point
at which land and sky melt into each other. Ibrim comes
next; then Derr; then Wady Sabooyah. At Ibrim, as at
Dorr, there ara "fair" families, whose hideous light hair
and blue eyes (grafted on brown-black skins) date back to
.Bosnian forefathers of three hundred and sixty years ago.
These people give themselves airs, and are the haute
noblesse of the place. The men are lazy and quarrelsome.
The women trail longer robes, wear more beads and rings,
and are altogether more unattractive and castor-oily than
any we have seen elsewhere. They keep slaves, too. Wo
saw these unfortunates trotting at the heels of their mis-
tresses, like dogs. Knowing slavery to bo officially
illegal in the dominions of the khedive, the M. B.'s
applied to a dealer, who offered them an Abyssinian girl
for ten pounds. This useful article—warranted a bargain
—was to sweep, wash, milk, and churn; but was not equal
to cooking. The M. B.'s, it is needless to add, having
verified the facts, retired from the transaction.
At Derr we pay a farewell visit to the temple ; and at
Amada, arriving toward close of day, see the great view
for the last time in the glory of sunset.