DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0371
SILS1LIS AND EDFU. 353
CHAPTER XX.
SILSILIS AND EDFU.
Going, it cost us four days to struggle up from Assiian
to Mahatta ; returning, we slid down—thanks to our old
friend the sheik of the cataract—in one short, sensational
half-hour. He came — flat-faced, fishy-eyed, fatuous as
ever—with his head tied up in the same old yellow hand-
kerchief, and with the same chibouque in his mouth. lie
brought with him a following of fifty stalwart shellalees;
and under his arm he carried a tattered red flag. This
flag, on which were embroidered the crescent and star, he
hoisted with much solemnity at the prow.
Consigned thus to the protection of the prophet; win-
dows and tambooshy* shuttered up ; doors closed ; break-
ables removed to a place of safety, and everything made
Sl>ug, as if for a storm at sea, we put oil from Mahatta at
seven a. m. on a lovely morning in the middle of March,
f'he Phila), instead of threading her way back through the
°ld channels, strikes across to the Libyan side, making
straight for the Big Bab— that formidable rapid which as
yet we have not seen. All last night we heard its voice in
the distance; now, at every stroke of the oars, that rushing
sound draws nearer.
J-1 ho sheik of the cataract is our captain, and his men
are our sailors to-day ; Reis Hassan and the crew having
°'ily to sit still and look on. Tlie shellalees, meanwhile,
''ow swiftly, and steadily. Already the river seems to he
running faster than usual; already the current feels
stronger under our keel. And now, suddenly, there is
sparkle and foam on the surface yonder—there are rocks
ahead ; rocks to right and left; eddies everywhere. The
sheik lays down his pipe, kicks off his shoes, and goes him-
self to the prow. His second in command is stationed at
*Ar. Ta7iil)00shy—i. (,, sidoon skylight,
CHAPTER XX.
SILSILIS AND EDFU.
Going, it cost us four days to struggle up from Assiian
to Mahatta ; returning, we slid down—thanks to our old
friend the sheik of the cataract—in one short, sensational
half-hour. He came — flat-faced, fishy-eyed, fatuous as
ever—with his head tied up in the same old yellow hand-
kerchief, and with the same chibouque in his mouth. lie
brought with him a following of fifty stalwart shellalees;
and under his arm he carried a tattered red flag. This
flag, on which were embroidered the crescent and star, he
hoisted with much solemnity at the prow.
Consigned thus to the protection of the prophet; win-
dows and tambooshy* shuttered up ; doors closed ; break-
ables removed to a place of safety, and everything made
Sl>ug, as if for a storm at sea, we put oil from Mahatta at
seven a. m. on a lovely morning in the middle of March,
f'he Phila), instead of threading her way back through the
°ld channels, strikes across to the Libyan side, making
straight for the Big Bab— that formidable rapid which as
yet we have not seen. All last night we heard its voice in
the distance; now, at every stroke of the oars, that rushing
sound draws nearer.
J-1 ho sheik of the cataract is our captain, and his men
are our sailors to-day ; Reis Hassan and the crew having
°'ily to sit still and look on. Tlie shellalees, meanwhile,
''ow swiftly, and steadily. Already the river seems to he
running faster than usual; already the current feels
stronger under our keel. And now, suddenly, there is
sparkle and foam on the surface yonder—there are rocks
ahead ; rocks to right and left; eddies everywhere. The
sheik lays down his pipe, kicks off his shoes, and goes him-
self to the prow. His second in command is stationed at
*Ar. Ta7iil)00shy—i. (,, sidoon skylight,