To Confound Confusion, The
Boatmen Have Moored Their Skiff Half A Dozen Yards Away From The Shore,
Lest The Porters Should Be Unable To Make More Than Double Their Fare
From The Hajis.
Again the Turkish women make a hideous noise, as they
are carried off struggling vainly in brawny arms; the children howl
because their mothers howl; and the men scold and swear, because in
such scenes none may be silent.
The moment we had embarked, each
individual found that he or she had missed something of vital
importance,-a pipe, a child, a box, or a water-melon; and naturally all
the servants were in the bazars, when
[p.187] they should have been in the boat. Briefly, despite the rage of
the sailors, who feared being too late for a second trip, we stood for
some time on the beach before putting off.
>From the shore we poled to the little pier, where sat the Bey in
person to perform a final examination of our passports. Several were
detected without the necessary document. Some were bastinadoed, others
were peremptorily ordered back to Cairo, and the rest were allowed to
proceed. At about 10 A.M. (6th July) we hoisted sail, and ran down the
channel leading to the roadstead. On our way we had a specimen of what
we might expect from our fellow-passengers, the Maghrabi.[FN#1] A boat
crowded with these
[p.188] ruffians ran alongside of us, and, before we could organise a
defence, about a score of them poured into our vessel.
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