Although The Floor
And The Curtains Of The Cabin Are Continually Wetted, And The
Venetian Blinds Are Closed, The Thermometer, At 4 P.M., Stood At
105 Degrees In The Shade; And Upon Deck, 137 Degrees In The Sun.
This Day We Passed The Ruins Of Several Small Temples.
The
country is generally rocky, with intervals of ten or twelve miles
of desert plains.
"May 10.--Fine breeze, the boat sailing well. Passed several
small temples. The henna grows in considerable quantities on the
left bank of the river. The leaf resembles that of the myrtle;
the blossom has a powerful fragrance; it grows like a feather,
about eighteen inches long, forming a cluster of small yellow
flowers. The day pleasantly cool; thermometer, 95 degrees.
"May 11.--At 5 A.M. we arrived at Korosko; lat. 22 degrees 50
minutes N.; the halting-place for all vessels from Lower Egypt
with merchandise for the Soudan."
At this wretched spot the Nile is dreary beyond description, as
a vast desert, unenlivened by cultivation, forms its borders,
through which the melancholy river rolls towards Lower Egypt in
the cloudless glare of a tropical sun. From whence came this
extraordinary stream that could flow through these burning sandy
deserts, unaided by tributary channels? That was the mysterious
question as we stepped upon the shore now, to commence our land
journey in search of the distant sources. We climbed the steep
sandy bank, and sat down beneath a solitary sycamore.
We had been twenty-six days sailing from Cairo to this point.
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