DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0058
HOLY IAXD, AND CYPRUS. 39
Sacarra successively showed themselves on the rising ground
of the west; whilst on the east, the range of the Mokattam,
on that side of the Nile, rose high behind Cairo, whose lofty
light-coloured minarets were relieved by large precipitous
masses of the sandy rock of the mountain, in which numerous
holes evinced the existence of ancient tombs.
My progress up the Nile continued slowly; it was the
7th of May before I arrived at Assuan, although I rarely
stopped except from necessity, restraining my inclination to
visit the antiquities of this part till my return. In the course
of this time, I had some trials of temper, a few privations and
inconveniences: but I was rarely insulted; nor was I often
persecuted by the curiosit}T of the natives, who rather treated
me with respect. The Rais was a respectable Hadjee, whose
youngest and eldest sons were on board with him : the
former, a boy of seven or eight years old, was treated with
patriarchal fondness, and shared all the good his father pos-
sessed, in exclusion of the elder.
In some villages I was able to assist the sick by medicines
and advice; in others, I added to the catalogue of charms*,
by writing Arabic sentences in praise of God and the Pro-
* See Mungo Park's Travels in Africa; where he in some places subsisted
by writing them: the African called them Scqihics.
Sacarra successively showed themselves on the rising ground
of the west; whilst on the east, the range of the Mokattam,
on that side of the Nile, rose high behind Cairo, whose lofty
light-coloured minarets were relieved by large precipitous
masses of the sandy rock of the mountain, in which numerous
holes evinced the existence of ancient tombs.
My progress up the Nile continued slowly; it was the
7th of May before I arrived at Assuan, although I rarely
stopped except from necessity, restraining my inclination to
visit the antiquities of this part till my return. In the course
of this time, I had some trials of temper, a few privations and
inconveniences: but I was rarely insulted; nor was I often
persecuted by the curiosit}T of the natives, who rather treated
me with respect. The Rais was a respectable Hadjee, whose
youngest and eldest sons were on board with him : the
former, a boy of seven or eight years old, was treated with
patriarchal fondness, and shared all the good his father pos-
sessed, in exclusion of the elder.
In some villages I was able to assist the sick by medicines
and advice; in others, I added to the catalogue of charms*,
by writing Arabic sentences in praise of God and the Pro-
* See Mungo Park's Travels in Africa; where he in some places subsisted
by writing them: the African called them Scqihics.