Four Months in a Dahabëéh; or, Narrative of a winter's cruise on the Nile

Front matter

FOUR MONTHS IN A DAHABEEH ; OR, NARRATIVE OF A WINTER'S CRUISE ON THE NILE. MOHAMED ELADLEE.H IN UNDRESS; EL AB1AD & MY MAN AL FOUR MONTHS IN A DAHABEEH ; OR, NARRATIVE OF A WINTER'S CRUISE ON THE NILE. BY M. L. M. CAREY. " Flies and mosquitoes bold divided sway, Half sting by night, the other half by day.' LONDON: L. BOOTH, 307 REGENT STREET, W. 1863. LONDON : Stranceways and Walden, Printers, 2S Castle St. Leicester Sq. J)*bkat*b TO 'COUSIN PHIL' AND SELINA. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. FROM ENGLAND TO EGYPT ... 1 II. ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO 34 III. OUR BOAT-HOME 80 IV. FROM GIRGEH TO ASSOUAN - . . . .118 V. ASSOUAN TO KOROSKO 166 VI. KOROSKO TO WADEE HALFEH . . . .212 VII. DOWN THE NILE 261 VIII. ASSOUAN, KARNAK, DENDERAH . . .297 IX. THE LAST EXCURSIONS . . . : .338 X. FROM CAIRO TO SUEZ — CONCLUSION . . .376 PLATES.

PAGE MOHAMED EL ADLEEH, EL ABIAD, AND ALI . to face Title BOULAK, THE PORT OF CAIRO 73 THE CREW OF THE * CAIRO ' AT BREAKFAST . . 87 THE ISLAND OF PHILAE, ABOVE THE FIRST CATARACTS 184 VIEW OF THE SECOND CATARACTS FROM THE ROCK ABOUSIR 251 THE DAHABEEH ' CAIRO ' AT THE TEMPLE OF KOM OMBO

Chapter I. From England To Egypt

' Cousin Phil ' is seventy-five years of age ; he is crippled and paralysed by a sad accident which it pleased God should befall him some two years back ; but he is still a hale and hearty old gentleman, carrying out to its fullest extent the maxim he has held to through life, — never to allow another to do for him what he can contrive to do for himself. The consequence is, that although now unable to move without crutches, or a stick on one side and the arm of his faithful servant Thomas on the other, he is thinking of setting out on his travels ! Of course he is ; and why should he not ? There is a reason for moving ; and we shall soon see that ' Cousin Phil ' can move quite as easily as any one else. Many a clay in the month of September, 1860, may lie have been seen in his study, with guide- B books, maps, and accounts around him, planning how he and his ' little Selina' shall keep themselves warm this coming winter. ' Little Selina ' is a grown woman now ; but with all her father's tender care of her, she is very delicate, and the M.D.'s have said that she must be ' kept warm.' ' Cousin Phil ' fetches down his books for himself, and is not a bit discou raged because, stick and all, he has fallen several times in his attempts at reaching a high shelf, and has thus been forced to delay his planning until Selina or Thomas have come in to pick him up !

But ' Cousin Phil ' resumes his work as bravely as ever. He will do it all for himself, — aye, and far better too than many a younger head would do it for him. Bermuda is rejected, because " we do not like it" — Madeira, because of its steep hills, up which ' seventy-five ' could not possibly walk : and walk he must still. Italy is too cold during the winter. The Cape of Good Hope is too far off. Algiers is strongly recommended : but the fame of the air of Egypt, for the benefit of consumptive pa tients, is wafted more and more on the cold English breeze, and ' Cousin Phil ' in his study has finally decided that, for the coming winter, they shall " warm up " in Cairo, and take a trip on the Nile. It was further chalked out for me that I should go with them ; and I went. I do not know exactly what my companions ex pected at that time ; but I expected nothino- !

I was not disappointed. No : although formed rather DEPARTURE. 3 for glaciers and mountain-passes, than for cloudless, burning skies, and although my health did give way for a time under the winter's ' warming,' I can honestly state for the benefit of future adventurers, that we spent five whole months in Eg}7pt, and that we enjoyed ourselves. It would make but a sorry home, it is true, but Egypt is well worth a visit ; and because the friends in my truly favoured home would naturally expect something of me on my return, all the events of this ' warm winter' were carefully committed to paper, as they occurred ; and now at the request of the same friends, I lay them before them, that they may be amused or stupified over their pages as the case may be, and judge whether they will endeavour to ' keep themselves warm ' in the same manner, next winter or not ?

Our rendezvous was at the London Bridge Ter minus, where we took leave of all our friends : and thus, on Oct. 9th, 1860, with Thomas the man-ser vant and Sarah the lady's-maid, our trio started under the favourable auspices of a bright, sunshiny day. Happily for us, bad sailors, the Southampton steamers were so full, for this and the following month, that we could obtain no accommodation in them ; and it was decided that the heavy baggage should alone have the chance of sea-sickness, and that we should go overland to Marseilles. It is not usual to take European servants up the Nile. The expense is great, aud they are, generally speaking, voted "in the way." But ' Cousin Phil' could not do without Thomas, and Sarali proved a treasure which we could ill have spared, were it only for the perpetual ironing which she cleverly accomplished.

The Arabs wash well enough, but the iron is beyond them ; and therefore the choice for Europeans must frequently be between a lady's maid, a couple of irons for their own use, or doing without ironing at all. With no more than the usual stock of linen required at home ; a few common dresses for the river ; the lightest possible shawl or mantle for the daytime ; plenty of warm wraps for the night ; round hats, neckhandkerchiefs, veils, gauntleted gloves, aud large, lined umbrellas, to guard the white skin against the unscrupulous burning of the Egyptian sun ; two pair of strong boots for desert and temple excursions ; light ones to baffle mosquitoes at all hours of the day ; goloshes, for the mud on the banks of the Nile ; elder-flower water for the eyes and the complexion ; a preparation of zinc — one grain to ten drops of water — one drop of which, applied to the corner of the eye on the point of a fine camel's-hair brush, and repeated night and morning, is an infallible cure on the first symptoms of the dreaded Ophthalmia; a large quan tity of quassia, to destroy the flies ; thermometers and guide-books — Murray, Wilkinson, Warburton, &c. ; and, finally, as there are no M.D.'s on the Nile, a good book and box of medicines — homœopathic, of course ; — we considered ourselves armed against all emergencies.

Thus equipped, we left London for Folkestone, MARSEILLES. 5 crossed over to Boulogne, and travelled through France, stopping at Amiens, Paris, Dijon, Valence, Avignon, and finally at Marseilles, where we arrived by these easy stages on October 18th. We met with a few little adventures en route, and ' Cousin Phil ' ran some small dangers on steam boat, train and staircase, but escaped in safety out of them all. An amusing instance of French politesse oc curred in the train-carriage between Valence and Avignon. The number of passengers was so great, that we were forced to divide our party. My companions pulled down the blinds, to hide the beautiful scenery of the mountains of Dauphine, as commonplace to them, no doubt, as High Street and Regent Street to me. They then closed their eyes, and slept soundly ! ' Cousin Phil ' and Selina, in the adjoining carriage, shared much the same fate, and a dead silence reigned until ' Cousin Phil' sneezed twice.

When ' Cousin Phil' did sneeze, it was always like an electric shock to every one in the neighbourhood. All the ladies awoke with a start, shut up the windows, and seized the hat which lay beside him, with strong exhortations to Selina, that he should put it on his head ; giving practical indications of their determined intention to place it there them selves, bon gre, mal gre. " Car, Mademoiselle, Mon sieur s'enrhume!" While Monsieur, not hearing one word of what was passing, began to suspect the necessity of police interference, to prevent the theft of his comfortable, old travelling companion, which Selina had vainly exhorted him to throw into the old-clothes bag a long time past. He knew too well the value of an old friend and prepared for a fight, but their good-humoured French faces soon betrayed their charitable intention ; ' Cousin Phil ' was re-assured; the mystery was soon cleared up, the blinds raised, and the lovely scenery admitted to view.

Travelling through France as far as Marseilles is so common an occurrence now-a-days, that I need not trouble my readers, nor waste time or paper in describing it; suffice it to say, " Beware of the hotels near the harbour" at Marseilles, until some improvement has been made in the drainage of that town. To the Hotel de 1' Orient we went, and were, one and all of us, taken ill from the noisome odours which rise from the harbour in this quarter. Indeed, the con sequence to me was, that I went on board ship, on the evening of the 19th, more dead than alive ; no very pleasant state in which to leave Europe for the first time in one's life, my consolation being that to get out of Marseilles was at any rate a luxury, and inwardly resolving that nothing on earth should ever induce me to set foot there again.

We were allowed to embark on board the Vectis, Peninsular and Orien tal steamer, at night, in order to avoid the confusion of the morning and the large influx of passengers aud baggage. It was nearly dark, and as the tide was low, the only means of descent from the quay VECTIS. 7 into the small boat, which was to row us to the steamer, was by a jump downwards of from five to six feet. 'Cousin Phil' — undaunted 'Cousin Phil' — pre pares quietly to take the leap himself, but a stout ' Marseillais,' equally quietly, and by 'French leave,' lifts him in his arms, and in spite of remonstrance, deposits him carefully in the boat ; and so was each one of our party disposed of in turn, not excepting the long-legged Thomas. It was an augury of our Eastern mode of transport, aud certainly the only safe one on this occasion.

The ladder of embarcation on the Vectis was perpendicular up; and the 'companion' ladder was perpendicular down : but all was accomplished in safety, and we went straight to our cabins alongside the saloon. One of these Selina and I shared, and there I remained during the whole of the following day, October 20th, whilst at 10 a.m. the Vectis started with all her unknown freight of passengers on board. It was a fine day, and with the assistance of ' belladonna ' and starvation, by 1 p.m. of October 21st I reappeared on deck as lively as possible. It was Sunday. There was no clergyman of the Church of England on board, but from my cabin I had heard the service read in the saloon by a Presbyterian; 'Cousin Phil' and Selina attending with all the other passengers. It was a glorious siaht that I now saw for the first time on reaching the deck of the Vectis.

The wide expanse of the Mediterranean in its own deep blue, not a ripple on its surface, the distant coast of Sicily the only land in sight, and an exquisitely blue sky over head. And there sat ' Cousin Phil ' in his camp chair, looking the very picture of contentment, although he could hear nothing of what was going on around him. For some unaccountable reason of his own, totally incomprehensible to me, he was always peculiarly happy on board ship. Selina lay comfortably reclining on her couch beside him, — a couch which served as bed or chair : and here let me remark, that travellers on this route will do well to be provided with their own couch or chair, or they may have to stand during the greater part of the day. ' Cousin Phil ' and Selina slept out half their day, and as they alternately awoke I had a chat with either.

The former went down to the saloon for meals, and I accompanied him, but Selina had her meals brought to her on deck. I had never faced roast beef and boiled chicken on board ship before, and I felt very shy of them, even in this lovely weather ; but I could not desert ' Cousin Phil ; ' not that he was a bit shy, but then he was deaf, and so I went to sit beside him, and give him the benefit of a little chattering. It was not nearly so bad as I had expected, and although when any richly cooked mess was passed by me, "my heart jumped into my mouth," to use the expression of an FELLOW-PASSENGERS. 9 Irish servant we once had, yet I survived it. The descent into the saloon was of great advantage too, in facilitating the process of making acquaintances among our fellow-passengers. I had felt rather lonely in this lovely weather, when both my com panions were asleep, at seeing around me groups of pleasant-looking people, yet being unable to impart to any one of them the thoughts that would naturally arise in a mind entirely new to the whole scene.

But this did not last long. The necessity of offering a chair on deck, or one of those objection able dishes in the saloon, and no doubt a desire for sociability on all sides, soon made introductions an easy matter. The weather was so fine that no one could think of being ill ; excepting poor Mrs. T , whom the Fates had fixed upon for the ' victim ' which is to be found in every society ; and thus before Monday, October 22nd, had passed away, I found myself acquainted with half of our fellow passengers. There were the Earl aud Countess of A with their daughters, who were acquainted with one cousin of ours, and carried letters of in troduction to another ; Mrs. S , whose husband was commanding in India on the same station with one of my many brothers ; Lieut. N , in the same regiment with this brother of mine, and of whom he told me the following story.

That having, soon after his arrival in India, gone 'pig-sticking,' he had jumped horse and all into a well, the mouth of which was hidden by brushwood ; where, after fruitless attempts to extricate himself from both horse and water, he must certainly have been drowned, had not his Indian servant, perceiving that he was missing, and guessing the cause, gone straight to the well, and pulled him out by means of his turban. It was a providential escape, and what seems more wonderful still, the horse was also pulled out in safety. There was Mrs. E , also going to join her husband in India, whose friends were stationed with a second brother of mine in the city of S , and had met him at Aden a short time since. Such, thought I, is one at least of the advantages of belonging to a military family. We find friends ready made for us wherever we go.

Then there were three young brides who all wore Fez-shaped caps, made out of the scraps of their husband's new travelling coats ; most useful head-dresses for lying down on board ship, and very becoming too, though they give no shade whatever to the face. There was Col. B politeness itself; Capt. L , who paced the deck making confidential remarks to a friend on the various passengers around ; Mr. R , a very young man, who, sitting in the saloon close to our cabin door one evening, reported upon ' Cousin Phil ' in most pathetic tones as " a very, very, very, old man:" and, lastly, there was M. Les seps, the French engineer for the Suez canal, besides a variety of others who entered not into this select circle. The histories and destinies of each one were MALTA 11 gradually unfolded, and those of the " Cairo party" found to be not the least romantic of them all.

Our projected trip up the Nile caused quite a little excitement among our new friends ; the most general opinion being, that the charming young ladies and "very old man" would never more be heard of, if they undertook anything so rash : others, again, declaring that it was perfectly safe, and the most delightful expedition that could be imagined. 'Cousin Phil' only smiled, and said, "Time will show ! " Between all this aud the sketch-books, which afforded no little amusement in the way of a few shaky caricatures, the time passed pleasantly enough. On Monday not a speck of land was visible till the vessel approached Malta at 10 p.m. ; and though there had not been a sail to relieve the monotony of the sea, it was a magnificent sight, and one which the eye could certainly have dwelt upon for more than a day without wearying.

Alas! our eyes did not try it much longer. The night approach to Malta was exceedingly pretty, with the rows of lights along the shore and in the gaily-painted, junk-like boats that came along side to fetch away passengers. The Maltese costume was curious, and the " patois," a mixture of Italian and Arabic, very amusing to hear. Brave and enterprising as we were, the darknesss effectually prevented such a party as ours from landing. Almost every other passenger did so, and we then resignedly retired to bed and to suffocation during the operation of " coaling." Four long hours did the coaling last. All the port-holes were closed, to keep out the dust, and hot is no word for the state of the atmosphere. The time was, however, slightly enlivened by the bargaining carried on between the few remaining passengers and a portly Maltese, who, with the best grace in the world, offered for sale all the trash which he had collected from his store, asking the most exorbitant prices for it, assuring his customers at the same time, in his blandest tones, that " he, at least, would not deceive them."

He contrived to dispose of a few articles, and the morning light revealed that they were trash indeed. No one need be thus taken in, for it is a well known fact that nothing really valuable is ever O J brought to the passenger-boats for sale. At length the old acquaintances returned, and new ones arrived. What a noise had been going on over our devoted heads all this time, as sacks of coal, baggage, and passengers, rapidly succeeded one another on the deck. But down come our lively dinner-companions, and, considerately seating them selves near the partly-open cabin-door, they dispel our headaches and restore our mirth, by making us the subject of their conversation. Between two and three o'clock a.m. on Tuesday, "THE SEA ! THE SEA !" 13 the Vectis resumed her way ; the port-holes were opened, and the travellers breathed again.

Little sleep did any one get that night, either of those who had landed, or those who had remained on board, as the sleeping forms in every available corner of the vessel during the day-light hours of October 23rd, but too plainly showed ; of course I did not sleep ; but sat " watching the waves with all their white crests dancing.'' The day was lovely still, with the same exquisitely blue sea and brilliant sunshine ; late in the evening, after considerable exertion on the part of some of the gentlemen, the ladies were induced to sing ; and, finally, quite a little concert was got up, as we sat on deck in the brilliant moon -light. Alas ! for us all, we " made hay whilst the sun shone," but the hay-making was over for the remainder of this voyage. The ship took to rolling in the night, and in the morning, when ' Cousin Phil ' reached the deck, it was with too much difficulty to allow of his attempting the descent again for breakfast.

I lay on the top of one of the cabin lights getting worse every hour, and unable to move without evil consequences ; Selina lay on her couch beside me ; until, by a sudden lurch of the vessel, ' Cousin Phil ' in his camp-chair fell forward upon the deck, and roused us both in alarm. A number of passengers ran to the rescue ; happily, he was not in the least hurt, but henceforth sat lowly upon the deck, with shawls and pillows for support and safety. Selina and I were completely "finished" by the start and the fright, and felt very wretched to the end of the journey. Later in the day, a loud crash was heard, another lurch, and down goes poor Selina, couch and all, overturned after the example of her father ; I began to quake for myself, but friendly hands were ready again to assist, and in order to secure her for the future, her couch was lashed firmly to one of the cabin-light bars.

Oh ! the miseries of the descent at night, and the issuing forth again in the morning; whether the Mediterranean were blue or not, the two succeeding days seemed quite interminable. ' Cousin Phil ' lost his companion at dinner time, and had no more chatting to enliven him. The fat, comfortable stewardess assured me that I should starve if I "went on in that way," but I always find it the " best way " on these occasions, though Selina maintained the contrary, and certainly the stew ardess's " way " appeared to agree well with her ! Every passenger on board was upset, and yet the treacherous sea looked calm, and the spirits of the gentlemen seemed to rise, with the rolling of the vessel. Though full of compassion for the ladies, the first signs of a pale face, among their own number, was a signal for merriment and fun, in which each one was the victim in his turn, and their shouts of laughter at the dinner-table were incomprehensible to our dejected minds.

There was one unfortunate man, whose very green and yellow appearance brought him in for an extra share of this kind of fun. A SURE REMEDY. 15 He was resolved to face the enemy, and down stairs at dinner-time he goes with the rest. Fat pork, stewed beef, greens, and salad, are simul taneously thrust before him, and he rushes away in despair. 'Try again' however, he will; he is de termined to discover the remedy for sea-sickness, and he descends once more. Shortly after, he returned on deck, as lively as possible and looking perfectly well ; and so he continued to the end of the voyage. He said he had drunk a glass of porter, and eaten a slice of rich plum-pudding, and hence forth recommends them to the public, as the surest remedy under similar circumstances. Our misery came to an end at last, and at about half-past 8 a.m. on Friday, October 26th, the Vectis arrived in the Alexandrian harbour.

What a change ! The water was green now instead of blue, but the sky-blue was as lovely and brilliant as ever ; and it was so warm that we could not stir a step without holding umbrellas over our heads. The Pasha's flat-roofed palace is now the prettiest object in view. The groups of windmills, seen through a forest of masts, are curious to behold, and quite in the distance appears Pompey's Pillar. It is a white, barren-looking scene altogether ; the land a dead flat, the flat roofs of the houses giving them no additional beauty ; but the variety of boats around, and the costumes and varied complexions of the' Egyptians and Arabs who surround the vessel, are most picturesque and amusing ; and I perceived that the Arabs in this harbour pulled the same effec tive double-stroke with their oars as the Irish boat men used to do in the Cove of Cork.

The Arab pilot comes on board as the vessel enters the harbour ; and, when she is anchored, a small steamer takes away all the Indian passengers, and lands them near the railway station for Cairo. Those who purpose remaining in Alexandria are next attended to, and taken on shore in small row boats, opposite to the Custom-house. It was now our turn, and, having no one to meet us in Alexandria, and not understanding one word of the language, we were prepared, according to the accounts of travellers and guide-books, to meet with the greatest possible difficulty. ' Cousin Phil's' grey hairs probably ensured respect ; but, be that as it may, we were most carefully and tenderly deposited in one of the boats, under the super intendence of a handsome, coal-black, turbaned Arab, who understood a good deal of English.

Our luggage followed in another boat, and we were rowed to shore. A crowd of turbaned heads, and faces of every shade of brown, — those of the women veiled from below the eyes, — camels, waterskins, donkeys, donkey-boys, &c. &c, met our astonished gaze, but no fuss or incivility of any kind. The population were apparently as much amused and interested with us, as we were with them ; and our wondering glances at the new world we had reached, were returned with the most perfect good ALEXANDRIA. 17 humour by the Africans. The Custom-house was easily passed by means of a small silver coin; one box only on the truck being opened, and quickly closed again. Thomas was left with his new black friends to escort the luggage, and we took our seats in the omnibus for the Hotel Abbat. Here began a loud clamouring in Arabic for extra pay on the part of the porters and other ' hangers-on,' in which, as in many similar instances, 'Cousin Phil' found his deafness useful.

Finally the horses started off, and with a jolting which threatened to throw us off our seats at every instant, we arrived, in a quarter of an hour's time, at the hotel. M. Abbat is a very portly Frenchman ; we spent five days in his hotel, and found him a very atten tive landlord. If he would but destroy the flies and mosquitoes it would be better, for they were a perfect plague, and tried the temper of the new comers sadly. Later experience also led us to prefer the Hotel d'Europe in the grand 'Place' of Alexandria. Now came the first breakfast in Egypt ! I am not quite sure that we did not expect to see ' stewed crocodile' or alligator, but what we did see was omelette aux fines herbes, cotelettes, and cold meat, dried figs from Smyrna, bananas, dates, and apples. We were not to be pitied.

This was a private breakfast. The ' table d'hote ' was served twice a-day, at noon, and at 7 p.m., and had it not been for the presence of the foreign fruits, the mosquitoes, and c the costume and language of one of the waiters, who was an Arab, we might have imagined ourselves still seated at a 'table d'hote' in Europe. There is but one salon in the house, and as that one was occupied, we were obliged to put up with the small public room ; which would have done very well, but for that intolerable habit of spitting, which all foreigners will still keep up, and in which we found Egypt by no means behind-hand. We used this room, then, for a short time only before the dinner hour ; sitting in the ' verandah,' or in the open air in the little garden earlier in the morning, and in 'Cousin Phil's' room in .the evening.

Here, while undergoing a process of slow suffocation, we syste matically slaughtered the mosquitoes that well-nigh slaughtered us, until, wearied out with heat and bites, we despairingly brought our first Egyptian day to an early close ; obtained a momentary solace from a draught of delicious lemonade, and retired to our beds. In the afternoon we had taken a drive alone: the great Canal. It is called ' Mahmoodeeh,' in honour of Mohammed Ali, who began it in 1819. He com pleted it in January 1820 — it is said, with the loss of the lives of 20,000 men. The banks are barren and monotonous enough, but along the roadside are the gardens of the Pasha and several good-looking houses belonging to him, to one of the consuls, and to some rich residents, chiefly French. Here and there the windings of the canal afford a landscape, which, NATIVE HUTS. with a little stretch of imagination, might be called 'pretty;' but the ' dahabeehs,' or Nile boats, seen upon its waters, were the chief and most interesting objects in our eyes.