DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14563#0321
CHAPTER
XXXV.
cairo again-stioobra-riioda •- old cairo -
the derwishes.
It was not without regret that we parted at Cairo with
the Lotus and our worthy friends, the rets, Hassan, and the
crew. To be sure the Lotus, which had been palmed upon
us at Alexandria at an exorbitant rate, proved to be the
hull of an old grain boat vamped over; and though bran
new with paint, and very comfortable, was too logy, and
continually got aground. Four weeks on the upward voy-
age, and nineteen days on the downward, instead of the
average of eighteen and twelve respectively, were rather
aggravating to American go-aheadativeness. But we came
at last to enjoy our leisurely progress, and counted it a per-
fect luxury to be fifty days without hearing a word from
any other part of the world. Mails and newspapers were
almost forgotten.
The traveller should allow himself not less than two full
months, and if possible, three, for a visit to Egypt; and
should resign himself completely to the uncertainties of
Nile navigation. Not even the genius and enterprise of a
Vanderbilt could improve this. To change Kile navigation
one must change the Nile. Forty years ago, one of my
companions was kept beating about for two weeks in a sloop
on the Hudson, between New York and Albany. Then
nobody thought of jumping overboard, in nature's primitive
garb, to pull the sloop with ropes, or to shove her along by
XXXV.
cairo again-stioobra-riioda •- old cairo -
the derwishes.
It was not without regret that we parted at Cairo with
the Lotus and our worthy friends, the rets, Hassan, and the
crew. To be sure the Lotus, which had been palmed upon
us at Alexandria at an exorbitant rate, proved to be the
hull of an old grain boat vamped over; and though bran
new with paint, and very comfortable, was too logy, and
continually got aground. Four weeks on the upward voy-
age, and nineteen days on the downward, instead of the
average of eighteen and twelve respectively, were rather
aggravating to American go-aheadativeness. But we came
at last to enjoy our leisurely progress, and counted it a per-
fect luxury to be fifty days without hearing a word from
any other part of the world. Mails and newspapers were
almost forgotten.
The traveller should allow himself not less than two full
months, and if possible, three, for a visit to Egypt; and
should resign himself completely to the uncertainties of
Nile navigation. Not even the genius and enterprise of a
Vanderbilt could improve this. To change Kile navigation
one must change the Nile. Forty years ago, one of my
companions was kept beating about for two weeks in a sloop
on the Hudson, between New York and Albany. Then
nobody thought of jumping overboard, in nature's primitive
garb, to pull the sloop with ropes, or to shove her along by