DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14563#0318
280
EGTPT, PAST AND PRESENT.
different positions of the boat, as under the lee of a moun-
tain, or on the margin of a heated plain; but they are such
variations as the traveller must experience. The lowest
temperature marked was 38° at sunrise, and the highest
88° at noon and at sunset, a variation of 50° in one month.
The greatest variation in one day was from 38° to 67°, or
29° in six hours.
The air of the Upper Nile is to be recommended for its
dryness, its softness, its purity, and its general warmth.
But the great secret of the benefit of the Nile voyage does
not lie in the climate, but in the fact that in sucli a climate,
with such sunlight, and among the palms, the voyager lives
listlessly, and with such navigation can diversify his exer-
cise and amusements, from the boat to the shore and from
the shore to the boat, as he pleases. Our dragoman, to be
sure, a native Egyptian, had the most exalted idea of the
virtues of the climate. He prophesied that the climate of
the Nile would cure all manner of ailments, of which our
party of four presented at least as many varieties in head,
throat, stomach, and limbs. Once, when a sailor had injured
his knee by a fall and a contusion of the cap, the dragoman
gravely assured us it would not hurt him, for though in
England such a fall might have broken his leg and laid him
up for weeks, in this climate it would only give him a little
bruise!
After all, what an invalid needs, is not so much a change
of climate, as a change, — the complete diversion of his mind
from himself, freedom from care, — the opportunity and the
temptation to enjoy life as life. For this, travel in foreign
lands is preeminently desirable. A man of business, or a
professional man, cannot get away from care so long as he
is within reach of railroads and newspapers. But in foreign
lands, among new scenes and strange people, he will find
continual diversion. Travel is the great specific. While
EGTPT, PAST AND PRESENT.
different positions of the boat, as under the lee of a moun-
tain, or on the margin of a heated plain; but they are such
variations as the traveller must experience. The lowest
temperature marked was 38° at sunrise, and the highest
88° at noon and at sunset, a variation of 50° in one month.
The greatest variation in one day was from 38° to 67°, or
29° in six hours.
The air of the Upper Nile is to be recommended for its
dryness, its softness, its purity, and its general warmth.
But the great secret of the benefit of the Nile voyage does
not lie in the climate, but in the fact that in sucli a climate,
with such sunlight, and among the palms, the voyager lives
listlessly, and with such navigation can diversify his exer-
cise and amusements, from the boat to the shore and from
the shore to the boat, as he pleases. Our dragoman, to be
sure, a native Egyptian, had the most exalted idea of the
virtues of the climate. He prophesied that the climate of
the Nile would cure all manner of ailments, of which our
party of four presented at least as many varieties in head,
throat, stomach, and limbs. Once, when a sailor had injured
his knee by a fall and a contusion of the cap, the dragoman
gravely assured us it would not hurt him, for though in
England such a fall might have broken his leg and laid him
up for weeks, in this climate it would only give him a little
bruise!
After all, what an invalid needs, is not so much a change
of climate, as a change, — the complete diversion of his mind
from himself, freedom from care, — the opportunity and the
temptation to enjoy life as life. For this, travel in foreign
lands is preeminently desirable. A man of business, or a
professional man, cannot get away from care so long as he
is within reach of railroads and newspapers. But in foreign
lands, among new scenes and strange people, he will find
continual diversion. Travel is the great specific. While