DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11636#0246
AJJD LOWER EGYPT. 2 17
abominable insects, we were tormented in a man-
ner altogether inconceivable ; our bodies were an
uninterrupted continuity of little wounds and
smarting blisters. I had been exposed, in South
America, to the stings of innumerable swarms of
musquitos, but I do not remember that I ever suf-
fered so much as in that accursed kanja.
These hosts likewise have, as the gcrmcs of
Alexandria, immense triangular sails, attached to
sail-yards of a very extraordinary length. (See
■plate VIII.) These yards too, like the others, are
not made to lower; and when the vessel is under
sail, it is impossible to make them change their side
of the mast, aloft, to go on the other tack ; so that
in the frequent necessity of putting about, occa-
sioned by the sinuosities of the Nile, the sails are
for some time backed close to the masts and
shrouds, without a possibility of reefing or lower-
ing them. The wjnd being unsteady, the squalls
frequent and furious, and the boatmen ignorant in
the extreme, it is by no means uncommon to see
some of those boats, in such a position, go to the
bottom. The one on which we were embarked,
was freighted for my sole use ; there was no one
on board but ourselves and our baggage. I had
leisure and opportunity to converse with the mas-
ter. I endeavoured to make him comprehend that,
by means of certain slight arrangements, it would
be
abominable insects, we were tormented in a man-
ner altogether inconceivable ; our bodies were an
uninterrupted continuity of little wounds and
smarting blisters. I had been exposed, in South
America, to the stings of innumerable swarms of
musquitos, but I do not remember that I ever suf-
fered so much as in that accursed kanja.
These hosts likewise have, as the gcrmcs of
Alexandria, immense triangular sails, attached to
sail-yards of a very extraordinary length. (See
■plate VIII.) These yards too, like the others, are
not made to lower; and when the vessel is under
sail, it is impossible to make them change their side
of the mast, aloft, to go on the other tack ; so that
in the frequent necessity of putting about, occa-
sioned by the sinuosities of the Nile, the sails are
for some time backed close to the masts and
shrouds, without a possibility of reefing or lower-
ing them. The wjnd being unsteady, the squalls
frequent and furious, and the boatmen ignorant in
the extreme, it is by no means uncommon to see
some of those boats, in such a position, go to the
bottom. The one on which we were embarked,
was freighted for my sole use ; there was no one
on board but ourselves and our baggage. I had
leisure and opportunity to converse with the mas-
ter. I endeavoured to make him comprehend that,
by means of certain slight arrangements, it would
be