DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0061
34
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH.
her head, swam through the foaming waters from the
western shore, and climbing up the rocky cliffs, dressed
herself, took up her bundle, and pursued her solitary
journey.
11th. — We were enabled, by a fair wind, to proceed
about eleven o'clock; and were hauled by a rope through
the first cataract, or, rather, rapid. The boat was full
of Nubians, who were extremely active, and, when occa-
sion required, swam from rock to rock with great dex-
terity : they were remarkably well made, and, from their
dark glowing colour, had the appearance of bronzed
statues. We had ascended two strong eddies, or rapids,
without encountering any fall or cataract, and seemed
to be in a fair way of getting through our difficulties,
when the wind lulled, and the people, probably for the
sake of another day's pay, took advantage of a sudden
turn in the river, where the passage was rather dif-
ficult, and, after much altercation and noise, finally
moored the boat to the eastern shore. As no further
progress could be made, I set out for Phila?, over sandy
hillocks interspersed with patches of cultivation wher-
ever the inundation had left any alluvial deposit, and
passing a village of scattered clay huts in a grove of
palm-trees, and afterwards some cultivated ground, I
arrived at a promontory, composed of large masses of
black granite, on the brink of the river opposite the
island of Bigge, which is also formed of enormous
blocks of the same material, of the most extraordinary
and picturesque shapes. The inhabitants resembled
Negroes rather than Arabs, and appeared tolerably
well off.
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH.
her head, swam through the foaming waters from the
western shore, and climbing up the rocky cliffs, dressed
herself, took up her bundle, and pursued her solitary
journey.
11th. — We were enabled, by a fair wind, to proceed
about eleven o'clock; and were hauled by a rope through
the first cataract, or, rather, rapid. The boat was full
of Nubians, who were extremely active, and, when occa-
sion required, swam from rock to rock with great dex-
terity : they were remarkably well made, and, from their
dark glowing colour, had the appearance of bronzed
statues. We had ascended two strong eddies, or rapids,
without encountering any fall or cataract, and seemed
to be in a fair way of getting through our difficulties,
when the wind lulled, and the people, probably for the
sake of another day's pay, took advantage of a sudden
turn in the river, where the passage was rather dif-
ficult, and, after much altercation and noise, finally
moored the boat to the eastern shore. As no further
progress could be made, I set out for Phila?, over sandy
hillocks interspersed with patches of cultivation wher-
ever the inundation had left any alluvial deposit, and
passing a village of scattered clay huts in a grove of
palm-trees, and afterwards some cultivated ground, I
arrived at a promontory, composed of large masses of
black granite, on the brink of the river opposite the
island of Bigge, which is also formed of enormous
blocks of the same material, of the most extraordinary
and picturesque shapes. The inhabitants resembled
Negroes rather than Arabs, and appeared tolerably
well off.