ABOVE THE CATARACT.
WITHOUT troubling the public with a description of that portion
of the Nile to the north of the first cataract, or with a
detailed account of the Egyptian ruins, that have been visited by
a thousand tourists, I will commence by a few extracts from my
journal, written at the close of the boat voyage from Cairo :--
"May 8, 1861.--No air. The thermometer 104 degrees Fahr.; a
stifling heat. Becalmed, we have been lying the entire day below
the ruins of Philae. These are the most imposing monuments of the
Nile, owing to their peculiar situation upon a rocky island that
commands the passage of the river above the cataract. The banks
of the stream are here hemmed in by ranges of hills from 100 to
250 feet high; these are entirely destitute of soil, being
composed of enormous masses of red granite, piled block upon
block, the rude masonry of Nature that has walled in the river.
The hollows between the hills are choked with a yellow sand,
which, drifted by the wind, has, in many instances, completely
filled the narrow valleys. Upon either side of the Nile are
vestiges of ancient forts. The land appears as though it bore the
curse of Heaven; misery, barrenness, and the heat of a furnace
are its features. The glowing rocks, devoid of a trace of
vegetation, reflect the sun with an intensity that must be felt
to be understood. The miserable people who dwell in villages upon
the river's banks snatch every sandbank from the retiring stream,
and immediately plant their scanty garden with melons, gourds,
lentils, &c. this being their only resource for cultivation. Not
an inch of available soil is lost; but day by day, as the river
decreases, fresh rows of vegetables are sown upon the
newly-acquired land. At Assouan, the sandbanks are purely sand
brought down by the cataracts, therefore soil must be added to
enable the people to cultivate. They dig earth from the ruins of
the ancient town; this they boat across the river and spread upon
the sandbank, by which excessive labour they secure sufficient
mould to support their crops.
In the vicinity of Philae the very barrenness of the scenery
possesses a charm. The iron-like sterility of the granite rocks,
naked except in spots where the wind has sheeted them with sand;
the groves of palms springing unexpectedly into view in this
desert wilderness, as a sudden bend of the river discovers a
village; the ever blue and never clouded sky above, and, the only
blessing of this blighted land, the Nile, silently flowing
between its stern walls of rocks towards the distant land of
Lower Egypt, form a total that produces a scene to be met with
nowhere but upon the Nile. In this miserable spot the unfortunate
inhabitants are taxed equally with those of the richer
districts--about fivepence annually for each date palm.
"May 9.--A good breeze, but tremendous heat. 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. The
boat returned, and left us on the east bank of the Nile, with the
great Nubian desert before us.
Korosko is not rich in supplies. A few miserable Arab huts, with
the usual fringe of dusty date palms, compose the village; the
muddy river is the frontier on the west, the burning desert on
the east. Thus hemmed in, Korosko is a narrow strip of a few
yards' width on the margin of the Nile, with only one redeeming
feature in its wretchedness--the green shade of the old sycamore
beneath which we sat.
I had a firman from the Viceroy, a cook, and a dragoman. Thus my
impedimenta were not numerous. The firman was an order to all
Egyptian officials for assistance; the cook was dirty and
incapable; and the interpreter was nearly ignorant of English,
although a professed polyglot. With this small beginning, Africa
was before me, and thus I commenced the search for the Nile
sources. Absurd as this may appear, it was a correct
commencement. Ignorant of Arabic, I could not have commanded a
large party, who would have been at the mercy of the interpreter
or dragoman; thus, the first qualification necessary to success
was a knowledge of the language.
After a delay of some days, I obtained sixteen camels from the
sheik. I had taken the precaution to provide water-barrels, in
addition to the usual goat-skins; and, with a trustworthy guide,
we quitted Korosko on the 16th May, 1861, and launched into the
desert.
