DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14563#0059
a nile boat and crew.
35
Prophet will that Hawiigee be, whose palate is daily tempted
from the caboose of Ibrahim Sulliman, and served by his
faithful boy Mohammed.
Our boat is rigged after a fashion never seen upon the
Hudson. In the bow is an enormous lateen-sail,* fastened
* to a spar, which is swung as upon a pivot on the top of a
mast, some forty feet in height; the spar is about a hundred
feet long, and swings at an angle of forty-five degrees; this
position, and the facility of rotary motion bring the sail
readily before the wind, so that it fills easily. In the stern
of the boat is a sail similarly adjusted, but upon a much
smaller scale. Here also is the tiller, which the helmsman
manages from the top of the poop. Twelve banks of
oars, and twelve huge poles pointed with iron to be used
in shallow water, complete the equipment of the bark
" Lotus " of Alexandria, bound for Thebes. From her
flagstaff wave the stars and stripes, and from the forward
mast the pennon of the senior member of the firm of
W-, U-, T-, & Co., the charterers of this
present expedition. The boat is manned by a reis (cap-
tain), a steersman, and twelve hands, making our entire
company, including the dragoman and the professor culi-
nary, twenty souls.
An Arab crew is an interesting study. Ours is a mixture
of all the races that inheritance or successive conquests
have gathered upon the soil of Egypt. The reis hails from
Keneh opposite the ancient Tentyra, and in the vicinity
of Thebes. He is a slender, graceful man, of a dark
copper color, with a keen eye, a pleasant expression, and a
voice as musical as the Pope's at Vespers in the Sistine
* " A lalcen-saW is a triangular sail, extended by a long yard, which is
swung about one quarter the distance from the lower end, which is brought
down at the tack, while the other end is elevated at an angle of about
forty-five degrees." — ( Webste?) Maritime Dictionary.
35
Prophet will that Hawiigee be, whose palate is daily tempted
from the caboose of Ibrahim Sulliman, and served by his
faithful boy Mohammed.
Our boat is rigged after a fashion never seen upon the
Hudson. In the bow is an enormous lateen-sail,* fastened
* to a spar, which is swung as upon a pivot on the top of a
mast, some forty feet in height; the spar is about a hundred
feet long, and swings at an angle of forty-five degrees; this
position, and the facility of rotary motion bring the sail
readily before the wind, so that it fills easily. In the stern
of the boat is a sail similarly adjusted, but upon a much
smaller scale. Here also is the tiller, which the helmsman
manages from the top of the poop. Twelve banks of
oars, and twelve huge poles pointed with iron to be used
in shallow water, complete the equipment of the bark
" Lotus " of Alexandria, bound for Thebes. From her
flagstaff wave the stars and stripes, and from the forward
mast the pennon of the senior member of the firm of
W-, U-, T-, & Co., the charterers of this
present expedition. The boat is manned by a reis (cap-
tain), a steersman, and twelve hands, making our entire
company, including the dragoman and the professor culi-
nary, twenty souls.
An Arab crew is an interesting study. Ours is a mixture
of all the races that inheritance or successive conquests
have gathered upon the soil of Egypt. The reis hails from
Keneh opposite the ancient Tentyra, and in the vicinity
of Thebes. He is a slender, graceful man, of a dark
copper color, with a keen eye, a pleasant expression, and a
voice as musical as the Pope's at Vespers in the Sistine
* " A lalcen-saW is a triangular sail, extended by a long yard, which is
swung about one quarter the distance from the lower end, which is brought
down at the tack, while the other end is elevated at an angle of about
forty-five degrees." — ( Webste?) Maritime Dictionary.