DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0120
THE CURSE OF PHARAOH.
Ill
they had been a party of six, and I alone; but I
saw them afterward, and our acquaintance ripened
into intimacy; and though our lots are cast in dif-
ferent places, and we shall probably never meet
again, if I do not deceive myself, neither will ever
forget the acquaintance formed that night on the
banks of the Nile.
Our conversation during the evening was desul-
tory and various. We mounted the pyramids, sat
down among the ruins of temples, groped among
tombs, and, mixed up with these higher matters,
touched incidentally upon rats, fleas, and all kinds
of vermin. I say we touched incidentally upon
these things ; but, to tell the truth, we talked so
much about them, that when I went to my boat I
fairly crawled. I have omitted to mention that
the curse provoked by Pharaoh still rests upon the
land, and that rats, fleas, and those detestable ani-
mals into which Aaron converted the sands, are
still the portion of the traveller and sojourner in
Egypt. I had suffered considerably during the
last four days, but, not willing to lose a favourable
wind, had put off resorting to the usual means of
relief. To-night, however, there was no enduring
it any longer; the rats ran, shrieked, and shouted,
as if celebrating a jubilee on account of some great
mortality among the cats, and the lesser animals
came upon me as if the rod of Aaron had been
lifted for my special affliction. I got up during
the night, and told Paul that we would remain
here a day, and early in the morning they must
Ill
they had been a party of six, and I alone; but I
saw them afterward, and our acquaintance ripened
into intimacy; and though our lots are cast in dif-
ferent places, and we shall probably never meet
again, if I do not deceive myself, neither will ever
forget the acquaintance formed that night on the
banks of the Nile.
Our conversation during the evening was desul-
tory and various. We mounted the pyramids, sat
down among the ruins of temples, groped among
tombs, and, mixed up with these higher matters,
touched incidentally upon rats, fleas, and all kinds
of vermin. I say we touched incidentally upon
these things ; but, to tell the truth, we talked so
much about them, that when I went to my boat I
fairly crawled. I have omitted to mention that
the curse provoked by Pharaoh still rests upon the
land, and that rats, fleas, and those detestable ani-
mals into which Aaron converted the sands, are
still the portion of the traveller and sojourner in
Egypt. I had suffered considerably during the
last four days, but, not willing to lose a favourable
wind, had put off resorting to the usual means of
relief. To-night, however, there was no enduring
it any longer; the rats ran, shrieked, and shouted,
as if celebrating a jubilee on account of some great
mortality among the cats, and the lesser animals
came upon me as if the rod of Aaron had been
lifted for my special affliction. I got up during
the night, and told Paul that we would remain
here a day, and early in the morning they must