DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1350#0005
INTRODUCTION.
our edges; on the flat was impossible. My friend,
however, had a man's foot in his stomach most of
the night. We all got on well together afterwards;
and our next neighbour, one of the corporals, was a
very good fellow. The sacred space allotted for the
promenade of the first-class during the day was only
intruded on by stealth; some of the men could not
resist the sight of a clear deck and plenty of room
just over the hand-rail barrier. Certainly, if the
Egyptian Government fill up all the space with as
many soldiers as they think can be stowed on the
deck, and then take all the passengers they can get
in addition, some stretching of the rules of accommo-
dation ought to be allowed. The boats are not
built to be choked in this way; and the apology for
sanitary arrangements is scandalously inadequate.
If the whole affair were proclaimed to be on par
with a pilgrim boat, one would take it all as it
came, rough and ready; but the first-class and its
civilization hedges off the deck, and curiously inspects
the herd which is penned up before it. Coming
down from Luxor some weeks later, the same state
of matters was still going on; only this time I was
settled into the midst of a cargo of convict soldiers,
all undergoing sentence for some crimes. They
were duly guarded day and night by sentries, and
not one was allowed to leave the upper deck without
a soldier behind him, bayonet in hand. This I
thought tolerable company, squeezed together as we
were; but at one place a gang of civilian prisoners, all
heavily ironed together by massive chains from neck
to neck, were brought on, and settled down just on the
top of myself and baggage; I had secured a piece of
the pathway, and so my neighbourhood was a little
clearer than elsewhere. After some clamour, we at
last got our load of wretches shunted off into a
corner. A gang of Egyptian prisoners looks strange
at first; these were all utter villains, except one boy,
—men whom I would never have employed under
any circumstances, from their faces alone : each man
walked on hugging with his chained hands his sack
of provisions thrown over his shoulder, for they
seemed to be required to provide all their own food.
They had been seized for murders and robberies,
and were on their way to trial at the Mudiriyeh.
During the day there was just moving room to pick
one's way across the legs and among the bodies of
all our cargo of scoundreldom; and many a pleasant
hour I spent, sitting on the barrier of respectability,
talking to a friend who was, luckily for me, going
down in the same boat, and luckily for him first-
class, there being a lady in the question. When
I returned to my faithful Muhammed, who was
alone with me this time, I generally found him
sitting rather disconsolately, with less room about
him than when I had gone; it needs the presence of
a living and acting personality to.secure any space
in such a crowd. But at night, when every man
wants his six feet of deck, then comes the squeeze,
and the early sleepers have the best of it. There is
only a couple of thin iron bars around the deck,
without any bulwarks, and the lower rail is more
than a foot above the deck. Hence it is needful to
lie end-on to the boat's side, or else a roll would send
a sleeper into the water. The paddle-boxes were
coveted spaces, of course legally forbidden, and
without any rail or barrier whatever around them,
but yet rather clearer than the deck. Watching
an opportunity, I saw a soldier get up one afternoon
from his space on the box, and I instantly seized it,
and spread my blankets, in token of a settler in
occupation of his claim. My head was safe, for
the box tapered away too narrow for anybody to get
at that part; my legs were steadily intruded on
until I asserted myself by a good thrust on that side;
then some one on the other side gently insinuated
his legs across my feet, .and was gaining ground
for a while, until, when his position was matured,
a convulsion from below tossed his heels in the
air, and he meekly withdrew. It was not the
company that I objected to, but having too much
of a good thing; individually, an Egyptian is a
very pleasant fellow to travel with, conversable,
kindly, and in short chummable. These soldiers
had been seized as conscripts, probably marched
off from their villages in chains, and then sent to
garrison in Nubia for three years. At many a
village and town that the steamer passed, a man
would rise and stand looking out at every soul
in sight, searching for some of his family, then
call out his father's and brothers' names, in hopes
that some of them might be in hearing. At one
place a boy sighted his brother on board, and ran
along the bank at full tear for a mile or two,
shouting "Hasan! Hasan!" Happily we came to
a stop near there, and Hasan's brothers and sisters
and parents all came down, and rejoiced and wept
over him for ten minutes, until the whistle blew,
and Hasan was once more lost to their sight. These
poor folks do not know how to write, and even
when they do send a letter it is often not received.
The post office, though excellent when a European's
letters are in question, is but lax with Arab corre-
spondence ; one man had written three or four letters
from Assuan to his family at Dahshur, but none were
ever received. When Muhammed was there with me
our edges; on the flat was impossible. My friend,
however, had a man's foot in his stomach most of
the night. We all got on well together afterwards;
and our next neighbour, one of the corporals, was a
very good fellow. The sacred space allotted for the
promenade of the first-class during the day was only
intruded on by stealth; some of the men could not
resist the sight of a clear deck and plenty of room
just over the hand-rail barrier. Certainly, if the
Egyptian Government fill up all the space with as
many soldiers as they think can be stowed on the
deck, and then take all the passengers they can get
in addition, some stretching of the rules of accommo-
dation ought to be allowed. The boats are not
built to be choked in this way; and the apology for
sanitary arrangements is scandalously inadequate.
If the whole affair were proclaimed to be on par
with a pilgrim boat, one would take it all as it
came, rough and ready; but the first-class and its
civilization hedges off the deck, and curiously inspects
the herd which is penned up before it. Coming
down from Luxor some weeks later, the same state
of matters was still going on; only this time I was
settled into the midst of a cargo of convict soldiers,
all undergoing sentence for some crimes. They
were duly guarded day and night by sentries, and
not one was allowed to leave the upper deck without
a soldier behind him, bayonet in hand. This I
thought tolerable company, squeezed together as we
were; but at one place a gang of civilian prisoners, all
heavily ironed together by massive chains from neck
to neck, were brought on, and settled down just on the
top of myself and baggage; I had secured a piece of
the pathway, and so my neighbourhood was a little
clearer than elsewhere. After some clamour, we at
last got our load of wretches shunted off into a
corner. A gang of Egyptian prisoners looks strange
at first; these were all utter villains, except one boy,
—men whom I would never have employed under
any circumstances, from their faces alone : each man
walked on hugging with his chained hands his sack
of provisions thrown over his shoulder, for they
seemed to be required to provide all their own food.
They had been seized for murders and robberies,
and were on their way to trial at the Mudiriyeh.
During the day there was just moving room to pick
one's way across the legs and among the bodies of
all our cargo of scoundreldom; and many a pleasant
hour I spent, sitting on the barrier of respectability,
talking to a friend who was, luckily for me, going
down in the same boat, and luckily for him first-
class, there being a lady in the question. When
I returned to my faithful Muhammed, who was
alone with me this time, I generally found him
sitting rather disconsolately, with less room about
him than when I had gone; it needs the presence of
a living and acting personality to.secure any space
in such a crowd. But at night, when every man
wants his six feet of deck, then comes the squeeze,
and the early sleepers have the best of it. There is
only a couple of thin iron bars around the deck,
without any bulwarks, and the lower rail is more
than a foot above the deck. Hence it is needful to
lie end-on to the boat's side, or else a roll would send
a sleeper into the water. The paddle-boxes were
coveted spaces, of course legally forbidden, and
without any rail or barrier whatever around them,
but yet rather clearer than the deck. Watching
an opportunity, I saw a soldier get up one afternoon
from his space on the box, and I instantly seized it,
and spread my blankets, in token of a settler in
occupation of his claim. My head was safe, for
the box tapered away too narrow for anybody to get
at that part; my legs were steadily intruded on
until I asserted myself by a good thrust on that side;
then some one on the other side gently insinuated
his legs across my feet, .and was gaining ground
for a while, until, when his position was matured,
a convulsion from below tossed his heels in the
air, and he meekly withdrew. It was not the
company that I objected to, but having too much
of a good thing; individually, an Egyptian is a
very pleasant fellow to travel with, conversable,
kindly, and in short chummable. These soldiers
had been seized as conscripts, probably marched
off from their villages in chains, and then sent to
garrison in Nubia for three years. At many a
village and town that the steamer passed, a man
would rise and stand looking out at every soul
in sight, searching for some of his family, then
call out his father's and brothers' names, in hopes
that some of them might be in hearing. At one
place a boy sighted his brother on board, and ran
along the bank at full tear for a mile or two,
shouting "Hasan! Hasan!" Happily we came to
a stop near there, and Hasan's brothers and sisters
and parents all came down, and rejoiced and wept
over him for ten minutes, until the whistle blew,
and Hasan was once more lost to their sight. These
poor folks do not know how to write, and even
when they do send a letter it is often not received.
The post office, though excellent when a European's
letters are in question, is but lax with Arab corre-
spondence ; one man had written three or four letters
from Assuan to his family at Dahshur, but none were
ever received. When Muhammed was there with me