We took a train entirely filled with the "Corks," and went up the Nile
to Luxor, nearly five hundred miles from Cairo; some of the party were
going to other places and would take their turn on the Nile later.
When you have seen the ruins at Luxor, Karnak and Thebes you have seen
the best there is in Egypt, and there is but little use in looking at
minor temples unless you desire to become an Egyptologist. Here is a
feast in ruins that will satisfy almost any appetite.
[Illustration: THE TOWER OF DAVID, JERUSALEM]
We were quartered on a Nile steamer, moored to the dock, as the hotels
were crowded. We had hardly landed on the deck when the flies lit on
us in swarms. In all parts of the world I had encountered flies that
held the record for abandoned cruelty to man, but they were
white-winged angels of peace compared to these tarantulas! They stuck
and hung and dug into your flesh with apparent glee. You have whips,
whisks, fans and bunches of twigs to chase and defeat them, but it's
all no use. You kill a dozen, and a hundred take their place. After
standing the pests as long as I could, I got some netting and made bags
for my head and hands. This was a great relief, but it had its
penalties. Dying _without_ flies is almost as attractive as living on
the Nile with them.
Gooley Can was our guide. It may be here said of Gooley that he was an
Arab of middle age, well set up for the most part; he spoke fair
English, and was a conversational soloist of no mean pretensions. He
had a brother who was just a plain guide, with a cast in one eye and a
great admiration for Gooley; he was generally full of sadness (and
grog), brought about by disappointments in his profession. Gooley had
a great reputation, and as he was exclusive he always looked his party
over and sized it up before taking the job; also he had one wife and
was on the lookout for more. He claimed to have piloted rafts of big
men up and down the Nile, and was not to be frowned down by anybody.
He was a gorgeous, oriental dresser, and had a wardrobe as big and
grand as Berry Wall's; so the "Corks" were fortunate indeed in securing
the great man. He was known descriptively as the "Snowball of the
Nile."
The Luxor Temple was near by, and we started right into business.
Gooley gathered us together and gave us a lecture. He said:
"Laydies en genteelmen, ef you plaze: I shall be your guide for a week
and I want you to pay attention to me. I want no disputing of what I
say. I am an honest man; I speak the truth, and I know my beeziness.
You can't expect less; you should not hope for more."
After this explicit statement, Gooley put a roll in his cuffs, cocked
his turban at the correct angle, hitched up his sash, cleared his
throat, and began the business of the day. He uncorked a new bottle of
adjectives in florid description of each wonder as he reached the
ever-lasting wilderness of courts, pillars and obelisks, of
hieroglyphics, bas-reliefs, pylons, hypostyles, colonnades, giant rows
of columns--till he got out of breath and our brains seemed muddled
into a grand pot-pourri done in granite, marble and limestone--but
alas! without salt or pepper! Gooley told us what King Bubastis said,
what Setee I. did--he of the Armchair Dynasty; how Amenophis III. was
no better than he should have been; and that the ladies of those days,
including Cleopatra, painted and wore false hair just as they do now.
Gooley had a vein of sarcastic wit about him. He said:
"You Americans think you invent everything, but you don't: there's the
cake-walk cut on that stone four thousand years ago. The girls do it
in the latest fashion; and over there you will see Queen Hat-shep-set
spanking her child, the young king, in the usual manner"--(and in the
usual place).
"Lots of men would leave their footprints
Time's eternal sands to grace,
Had they gotten mother's slipper
At the proper time and place."
The temples were very hot in the middle of the day, about ninety-five
in the shade, and there was but little air moving, so we sat down for a
rest, and it came to pass that Gooley considered this a good time to
spring his scarabs on us, with the unvarying formula with which he
constantly opened every description:
"Laydies en genteelmen, ef you plaze: you have no doubt heard in Cairo
of the fraudulent imitations of scarabs that are being foisted on
visitors to the Nile and sold as real scarabs. I have scarabs for
sale"--(he was interrupted at this point by applause and hand-clapping,
as the "Corks" were eager for the fray and wanted to get into the game).
"Laydies en genteelmen, ef you plaze; I am glad to see you are
interested in my goods, and I will now show them to you. I am an
honest man, and so was my father before me. Father and son, we have
sold scarabs to the crowned heads of Europe and to the nobility and
gentry of England, Scotland and _Ireland_--think of that, Mr. Bayne! I
would not cheat you; I am too proud to do that, and if I told you a lie
my father would turn in his grave! There were twenty-six dynasties of
Pharaohs, and each one of them had scarabs of his own pattern. I have
many examples of the oldest and best, some of them having but one eye."
Assured in this wholesale and convincing fashion, the "Corks" fell to
and made many purchases from Gooley, who told them that his uncle,
Hajie Hassan, was a professional excavator and had lately made an
important find in some graves at Thebes, and that every one of his
scarabs had been taken by this uncle from the coffins. (By the way, at
Thebes they dig mummies with scarabs attached about as we dig our
potatoes, and of course the big bugs are the most valuable and
expensive.) The prevailing average price was one hundred _piastres_
each, but he was very concise and particular about his prices, and for
some he charged a few _piastres_ less, for others a trifle more, as he
said he knew their exact value and asked only the rate that the Museum,
the crowned heads and the savants were anxious to pay for them. Some
of the "Corks" openly scoffed at this line of talk and threw the gaff
into him without mercy. This hurt the great man's feelings, and he
jumped up and told them that he was rarely asked for a guarantee, but
since suspicion had been cast upon him in an unfair way, he would clear
himself by giving each purchaser a written guarantee. Whereupon he
pulled out a book like a cheque-book and filled out the details, signed
it, and handed each purchaser a "guarantee." This had a tendency to
restore confidence and he made some more sales; but it was getting late
and we adjourned to the steamer.
[Illustration: THE SPHINX--THE GRAND OLD GIRL OF ALL SCULPTURE. THE
SUN'S KISS WAS THE ONLY ONE SHE EVER HAD. THE QUEEN OF POST-CARDS, TO
WHICH THE PYRAMID BEHIND HER RUNS A CLOSE SECOND]
We had a _table d'hôte_ dinner, and when the Nile fish course was
reached, Gooley appeared between the tables, arrayed in gorgeous,
Arabic robes, and addressed his audience thus:
"Laydies en genteelmen, ef you plaze: my family has been story-tellers
on the Nile for many generations, and ef you plaze I shall tell you
some Arabian Nights tales."
With many gestures and admirable poise he told his stories between the
courses; the "Corks" laughed, but the laughter had an apologetic ring
that did not speak well for its sincerity. The truth is, the men were
afraid to laugh in the presence of the ladies, as the stories were full
flavored and spicy; but still, no one fainted. I may say that during
our voyage Gooley repeated this performance at each dinner and changed
his costume on every occasion, always coming out with some little
pleasing surprise, such as a silver ornament stuck through the top of
his ear (where there was a hole for it). Some of the Arab stewards
also wore these, but none was so grand as Gooley's.
Dinner over, we sat out on deck in comfort, as the sun had set and the
flies had quit for the day. Beside us was anchored J. P. Morgan's
_dahabiyeh_, Mr. Morgan and his party dining on board. He had been up
the river and was coming down in easy stages, landing at the various
points of interest.
Next morning we mounted donkeys, and with Gooley Can leading we started
for Karnak. It was a funny experience, as some of us had never ridden
a donkey, and many had not been on horseback for years. We were a
weird looking crew, with our heads in net bags and using our fly-whips
like flails. Each donkey has a "boy" (half of them are men), who prods
and whips his charge, but without any cruelty, as the riders would not
allow it. These boys are full of tricks: when I alighted squarely on
the ground, one of them had edged up to me and he set up a loud howl,
claiming I had lit on his toes and had broken two of them. I had seen
the trick played before, and noticing an Englishman near with a heavy
whip I reached for it and made the "boy" really suffer. His friends
laughed at his failure, and before long he joined in the merriment at
his own expense. He had asked me for three dollars damages, equal to a
dollar and a half a toe. On comparing notes in the evening we found
that three passengers had parted with _bakshish_ on similar claims.
We now entered the largest ruin in the world, the Temple of Karnak, a
monument of unparalleled grandeur, whose vast proportions overpower the
imagination. The temples at Karnak and Luxor are connected by an
avenue six thousand five hundred feet long, with a width of eighty
feet, on each side of which are ranged a row of sphinxes. To describe
these wonders in detail would require weeks, as will be understood when
it is explained that one place, called the "Hall of Columns," alone
contains a vast forest of pillars arranged in groups running from
thirty-five to sixty feet high and each having a circumference of
twenty-seven feet, all highly carved and ornamented. Another object of
interest, the First Pylon or Corner Tower, is three hundred and
seventy-five feet wide and a hundred and forty-two feet high. Many
kings and rulers had a hand in the construction of these great
buildings, and it took fifteen centuries to complete them, but one
character stands out above all other men and things as a builder of
these ruins and the king-pin of Egypt--
_Rameses II._
Rameses II. was the greatest advertiser of any age or time. He erected
rows of colossal statues to himself all over Egypt, and for fear some
one would not notice a _single_ figure, he would place half a dozen
side by side. He was usually represented in his Sunday clothes, with a
pleasing smile, and a granite goatee on his chin as big as a
narrow-gauge freight car. (See photograph.) "Ram" was the most
celebrated of the Pharaohs; he reigned seventy years, and was over a
hundred years old when he died. As a young man he won a real battle,
and he spent the rest of his life singing about it through paid,
professional poets. He had one hundred and eleven sons and fifty-nine
daughters. (That was going some!) However, suspicious hieroglyphics
have been found that go to show that Ram was chased in many battles,
and that one barbarian had the audacity to tin-can him into the
neighboring desert, from which he did not return for many moons.
Kadesh was his Thermopylae, and the Khetas compelled him to recognize
their independence at the treaty of Tanis. This made the old man sick,
as he was not accustomed to taking "second money." They had no
"germans" in those days, but Ram is shown in one of the alto-rilievos
in his temple nimbly leading the cake-walk, leaning as far back as ever
Dixey did when exploiting that dance. In the matter of carving, Ward
McAllister couldn't hold a candle to him: he used no knife nor fork,
but slashed his Christmas turkey in pieces with his dirk, ate it and
called for the next course. His wife never got any of the white
meat--the drum-sticks were good enough for her. He was more than a
two-bottle man: this is made plain in the reliefs by the number of
"empties" that are stacked upon his table, and also by the fact that he
built and stocked a celebrated wine cellar at Thebes, his best vintage
being "1333 B.C."
[Illustration: RAMESES II. THE GREAT PHARAOH OF THE XIXTH DYNASTY AND
THE GRAND OLD MAN OF ALL TIME. AS HE APPEARS NOW IN A GLASS CASE IN
THE CAIRO MUSEUM. IT IS THREE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED YEARS SINCE HE DID
A STROKE OF WORK. YET HIS BODY IS SO IMPERISHABLY EMBALMED THAT, IF
NOT DESTROYED BY FIRE. IT IS CERTAIN TO BE WITH US TILL THIS EARTH HAS
PASSED AWAY. FOR MANY REASONS RAMESES II. IS NOW THE MOST UNIQUE,
PICTURESQUE, AND CELEBRATED PERSONAGE IN ALL HISTORY. WE MUST TAKE OFF
OUR HATS TO HIM.]
When Ram dropped into his smoking den after the coronation, the first
thing he did was to order all the stone-cutters, from Cairo to the
Sixth Cataract, to get out their tools and cut his praises on the
stones, rocks, pyramids, tombs and obelisks, according to the plans and
specifications of his architects, professional poets and press agents,
all along the river right down to low-water mark, and there they stand
to this day. One of the favorite postscripts is that this great king
never took off his hat to anybody that ever "blew up" the Nile. Even
in those very, very early days they had a masonic understanding that he
who sails on the Nile must "contribute," and it is a curious fact that
that requisition has never been revoked even unto this writing.
On the whole, Ram was a magnanimous man and did not forget his wife; he
had her done in a group with himself in which she stands behind his leg
and hardly reaches his knee; something like a prize doll at a fair. He
got other men to do the most of his fighting and, for that matter,
almost everything else, but he never failed to take the credit for
whatever they did.
[Illustration: ARAB TYPES--CAMEL DRIVERS--SUNBURNT SNOWBALLS OF THE
NILE]
The great men of England are buried in Westminster Abbey, and
succeeding generations gaze on their statues with awe and admiration;
but as there is nothing of the kind in Egypt, the authorities content
themselves with placing the conspicuous heroes and kings of the past in
full view in glass cases in the museums, where even the small boys may
stare at them in the "altogether," without blanket, bathrobe or pajamas
to cover their physical imperfections. After "life's fitful fever,"
poor old Ram and his historical rivals and friends sleep well in these
hard, ebony boxes in the museum at Cairo. Ram had lots of air and
elbow room during his spectacular career, and it seems hardly fair that
he should be kept on exhibition now, although his mummy is most
interesting and always draws a crowd. To parody William a little, it
might be said:
To what base uses may we come!
* * * *
Imperial Ram'ses dead and turn'd to clay
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.
O, that that earth, which set the Nile on fire,
Should lie in glass! this is a fate too dire!
Ram, scarabs, flies, and _bakshish_ are, after all, the main things of
Egypt and the Nile. I once asked Gooley Can confidentially:
"How many statues did the great king put up for himself--two hundred?"
"Oh, very many more than that! he was a busy man."
But in many departments he had his rivals. Now there was Bubastis I.
of the twenty-second dynasty. (His name seems somewhat similar to that
of our old friend Bombastes, when pronounced by a man with a cold in
his head--but anyway, we'll call him "Bub.") He was a man of not a few
accomplishments, many habits and some deeds: for instance, he made a
grand-stand play when he started out for Jerusalem with twelve hundred
chariots, sixty thousand horsemen and four hundred thousand footmen.
He took it hands down in a canter--and took a whole lot of other
things, too, when he got his hands in the bags of Solomon's temple.
This was a "classy" performance and gave him some small change for the
evening of his days. Thebes was his home town and he was as well known
in the all-night restaurants as Oscar Hammerstein is on Forty-second
Street. He was a great poker player, and wore an amalgamated copper
mask when engaged in a stiff game; it was a helpful foil when trying to
work his passage on a pair of trays. This, mind you, was in the stone
age of poker, when a man couldn't hide his feelings when he held a full
hand. To-day the player sits disconsolate and looks woebegone when
glancing at his royal flush.
When Bub got hard up he made raids on the "capitulists" of the day, and
often cleaned up both banks of the Nile, from Wady Halfa to Port Said.
When short of funds he frequently staked ten cars of watermelons or a
bunch of steers on a single hand, and most always "pulled it off." He
became infatuated with an odalisk who was a popular favorite at the
Beni Hassan opera house--the rock he split on was _Annie Laurie_, that
good old song, then well known in Lower Egypt, which she sang with chic
and abandon. Bub met her at the stage door after the performance, took
her to a "canned lobster palace," and then eloped with her to the
Second Cataract, instead of coming right over here to Niagara Falls and
doing the thing up in regulation style. I assume they had a _Maid of
the Mist_ at the cataract, and if so he certainly had his photograph
taken in a suit of oilskin--but, of course, this is only an assumption.
However, it is a certainty that he was a plunger and often cornered the
melon crop in the Produce Exchange at Abydos, when the sprouting season
was delayed by floods. It is said that Bubastis I. had more scarabs
buried with him than had any other king that ever ruled the land; I
have no doubt of it, for some of them are offered daily at Shepheard's
by a dozen scarab scalpers.
Some sceptical readers may raise their brows at this synopsis of a
great man's life, but no suspicions need exist. It was all told to me
in strict confidence by Gooley Can in his tent at Luxor, over a cup of
afternoon tea. He explained that he had dug out these facts in the
museums in the slack season when tourists were scarce, and that I could
rely on them implicitly.
While he was at it, Gooley gave me a few tabloid truths regarding Setee
I., who, it seems, rivaled and even excelled both Ram and Bub in the
realm of sport. Setee, as his name implies, was not of royal blood,
but was descended from a line of chair makers, having their main
factory at Beni Suef. As a youth of eighteen he won the single sculls
championship, defeating a large field. He was the captain of the
cricket eleven, and defeated the Asia Minors in a game which lasted
most of the summer, scoring three hundred and seventy-five runs off his
own bat in the first innings. This was a great boost for cricket, and
it has been popular in England ever since. He was fullback on the
Pyramids eleven, and was famous in his day as a punter. He kicked as
many goals for his side as ever Cadwalader did when "Cad" was Yale's
great centre rush. It was Setee's custom, of a Sunday morning after
church was out, to take his pole and vault the Sphinx, just to astonish
the Arabs on their native heath; and he was never known to touch her
back in making the record. In common with most of the great Pharaohs I
have been describing, Setee had a trick of cutting his name on any
statue of a dead one that he thought would advance his fame with future
generations; he never hesitated to hack out the other fellow's
signature and insert his own. In these cases he usually asked the
stone-cutter to add a few kind words to show posterity that he was a
great man and a good fellow. It will be seen at a glance that this
broad-gauge and fearless type of man would be eminently fitted for a
dazzling banking career, and feeling entire confidence in himself,
Setee organized the First National Bank and Trust Company of Wady
Halfa--a comprehensive title, perhaps, but that was what was wanted.
He became its first president, and inaugurated a splendid system of
banking--one very much needed to-day. Some of his plans embraced the
charging of "reverse interest "--_i.e._, five per cent. for the
responsibility of caring for the depositor's money. He had an act
passed compelling all of his subjects worth a thousand _piastres_ to
deposit in the royal bank, and they had to do it. If anybody failed on
him, the debtor had a tooth pulled every month till the debt was paid.
But somehow the snap was too soft, for it fell out that in a few years
Setee had all the money and there was no more to get nor any customers
to do business with, so he closed the bank and with great success
promoted the first Nile Irrigating Company, the remnants of which are
slowly working out their salvation to-day.
Gooley also stated that the men were not the whole thing by any means:
"Just think what a bird-of-paradise Queen Hatshepset was, and all the
history she made!" enthusiastically exclaimed my historical Boswell.
She was the daughter of King Thothmes I., who gave her a Pullman palace
car name; she was regarded as the Boadicea of the Orient. "Hattie"
built temples, fought battles, and was, in fact, found on the firing
line during most of her reign. Like most other ladies, she had her
personal idiosyncrasies: for instance, she wore men's clothes when not
engaged in court functions; she shaved twice a week, but let her beard
grow when on an extended campaign so as to give her all the appearance
of a warrior. Hattie made a famous expedition to a place called Punt,
and there she swindled the natives by exchanging the cheap dry-goods
she had with her for gold and rare jewels. She married her
half-brother, Thothmes II., and made it very hot for him during their
reign. She wore the "pants" in theory as well as in practice and was
the undisputed leader of the "four hundred" in Cairo, being the
headliner in the Levantine book of _Who's Who?_ Her greatest work was
the erection of the vast temple of Der-al-Bahari, part of it ornamented
in fine gold. Hattie smote her pocketbook for the count on this
structure--like as not she had to mortgage her Luxor villa to meet the
final pay-roll. Den Mut was her architect and he grew rich as the
buildings increased. He owned a centipede barge on the Nile, which was
the badge of big money in those days.
[Illustration: RAM IN THE LIME-LIGHT, WITH THE INEVITABLE GOATEE. THE
ONLY WAY HE COULD TRIM IT WAS WITH A BLAST OF DYNAMITE]
Gooley wasn't always a treasure; he frequently irritated me by
designating certain things as "cool-o-sall'." I said to him one day:
"Gooley, when I was a boy they pronounced that word _colossal_."
"Mr. Bayne, I don't care what they called it when you were a boy; I
call it cool-o-sall', and that goes on the Nile. What's been good
enough for King Edward you will have to put up with."
The crowd laughed and I subsided--for awhile. Afterward I caught
Gooley on his dates, but he again called me down:
"Mr. Bayne, if you think you can do this thing better than I can, why,
get up here and try it!"
And so we rattled along from one gibe to another till we mounted our
donkeys, rode out from the temples and started for the steamer. As we
came away we passed Mr. Morgan, who had chosen the cool of the evening
for his visit, even though the light was not so good.
There is an art in horse-racing known as the "hand ride," perfected by
Todd Sloan--_i.e._, swinging the hands from side to side and thus
rolling the bit to excite the animal. I tried it on my donkey and as
he had never experienced it before, it excited him so much that he
started out with a rush that threw me over his head before we had gone
ten yards. I was somewhat crestfallen, but remounted, and took "an
humbler flight" for the rest of the journey.
[Illustration: OUR OWN NILE DONKEY, "BALLY-HOO-BEY." KNEW HIS BUSINESS
LIKE A BOOK, BUT OBJECTED TO THE TOD SLOAN RIDE (SPOKEN OF IN THE
TEXT)--A WILD WEST EFFORT IN THE FAR EAST. ALI BABA, JR., IN THE
SADDLE]
Next day we started down the Nile, stopping at many places, but as they
did not compare in interest or importance with Luxor, Karnak or Thebes,
I shall not try to describe them. The season was closing, the river
had fallen six feet while we were coming down stream, and the Nile was
now so low that we frequently stuck on the shifting sand-bars. As the
pilots could not see the channels in the dark, we tied up at some town
on the banks every night and consequently made slow time. After dinner
the shopkeepers brought down their wares, spread sheets on the ground
and opened up for business by torchlight and the light furnished by the
steamer. The "Corks" were active buyers for home consumption, and
after a violent passage of arms usually got what they wanted at a
discount of ninety per cent. from the first offer. If there is
anything on earth that these towns did not bring down to us, I want to
see it!--from monkeys to tame snakes in the line of living things, and
from lion skins to mummies in the dead. The natives were not allowed
on board, and as there was great jostling on shore, the "Corks" stood
on the deck and the articles for sale were rolled in bundles and fired
at them for inspection, the owners giving the price in _piastres_ by
signs on their fingers. After a native made a sale, his fellows took
him by the throat and ran him to the back of the dock. He had been
successful and they would not allow him to compete again that evening.
Toward the end, some "Corks" would risk it and mix with the crowd on
shore, but their clothes were literally torn off them in a few moments,
which caused an immediate retreat. The natives were so excited and
each so persistent in his efforts to get more than his share of the
trade, that they frequently pushed one another into the Nile, wetting
themselves and their wares, much to the amusement of the onlookers.
But high above this rude brawling the scarab stood alone. When a fresh
bag of them was opened, a blight fell on all other wares. Bargaining
in them, indeed, was regarded as a kind of sacred function, as it was
believed we were dealing in the jewels and mascots of the deadest
people in all history. No greater investment could possibly be made
than to float a corporation and start a factory in Connecticut for
their manufacture and distribution, for it is but the few who may own
the genuine--there aren't enough to go round. None of the manufactured
product need be offered in America; they can all be absorbed on the
Nile. One man shouted with glee, as he waved a small bag of them in
the air:
"What's the use of bothering with Steel common? See what I have got
for a five-dollar bill!"
The sport ran high, and while it was active an Arab appeared on deck
with a basket. He approached me and said he had five sacred kittens
and some scarabs, and as he was not much of a salesman, a little short
in his English and out of funds, he wanted me to auction them off to
help him out. As I had done this kind of thing before, I accepted the
delicate position and in a short time had planted his stock in new and
responsible hands that would not be likely to throw it again on the
market in its present critical condition. He gave me his oriental
blessing and stole out softly into the night; his parents haven't seen
him since.
Perhaps it may have been noticed that wherever we went there were
unusual doings and excitement. This is true, as, long before we
arrived anywhere, our coming was heralded in the papers, and as the
party was exceptionally large, all Southern Europe and North Africa
felt bound to get a whack at our pocketbooks.
Two striking things may be seen on the Nile. One is the irrigation of
the land by hand: this is accomplished by lifting up the water in
buckets by means of poles balanced with a weight equal to that of the
water. This hard work is done by hundreds of thousands of natives, who
are practically naked and do this labor in the hot sun. The banks are
lined with them on each side for more than a thousand miles. When the
length of the Nile is reckoned from its extreme source, it is four
thousand and ninety-eight miles long, making it perhaps the longest
river in the world, although the Mississippi, the Amazon and the Congo
are about as long. Between Khartoum and the sea the Nile has six
cataracts, some of them very rapid. Dry up the Nile and Egypt would be
like the Desert of Sahara in a month; the river is its very heart's
blood and makes it everything it is. Labor is cheap on the Nile: the
men who hoist the irrigating water get only a few cents a day; a hotel
waiter gets a dollar a month, with board and lodging; and so it goes in
proportion.
The other activity that arrests one's attention is the planting of
melon seeds in rows on the flat banks at low water. Later the river
overflows them and when the flood subsides the plants are well on the
way toward bearing. Our negroes call them "water-millions;" that name
would be most appropriate in Egypt.
When Beni-Hassan was reached we made an early start and rode out on
donkeys to see the famous tombs hewn out of the living rock. As we
were returning we met Mr. Morgan and his party coming up the hill. A
sand-storm had blown up, and it was quite dark and very disagreeable.
I am sure he would have liked to be out of it, but he had his nerve and
poise with him and went through to the bitter end. We had started
while this same sandstorm was still in action; not being able to see
clearly, we ran into a flight of Nile freight boats, and in trying to
avoid sinking one of them got on a rock and it punched a large hole in
our steamer's bottom. We sank almost immediately, but as our keel was
near the river bed we had not far to go. It took twelve hours to pump
out the boat and patch the hole, during which time the Morgan
_dahabiyeh_ came up, but finding we were not in danger, passed on.
Later we went after them and took the lead, but lost it again in
shallow water.
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF LUXOR ON THE NILE. "RAM" IS VERY MUCH IN
EVIDENCE, BUT ONLY A SMALL PART OF HIS SCULPTURAL OUTPUT IS SEEN, AS
THE STONE-CUTTERS' LIENS HAVE NOT YET BEEN SATISFIED]
Next day we arrived at Cairo, and I found at Shepheard's an invitation
for dinner from De Cosson Bey, who controls and manages all the great
public utilities of Cairo. He married a Philadelphia belle who had
often visited at my house in New York, so we had a very pleasant
evening, rehearsing the scenes and experiences of _auld long syne_.
The evening was a social oasis in a strange land and quickly taught me
how they live and what they do in Cairo. My hostess spoke the language
like a native and managed her Arabic _ménage_ with skill, _à plomb_ and
distinction. I ate and drank many strange concoctions never previously
included in any _menu_ I had ever had the pleasure of exhausting. I
did not dare to ask the names of the rare dishes, as I might not have
liked them if I had--sometimes one had better not "know it all," or
even a part of it. To be thoroughly happy in a case like this it is
best to leave minute details and even a general knowledge of such
things to the inquisitive. I had, however, sufficient curiosity to
speculate on the dishes, and have made a tentative _menu_ of them,
assuming the courses, from their color, flavor and general appearance,
to be as follows:
--:--MENU--:--
NILE GREEN POINTS
A pearl in every oyster
GUM(BO) ARABIC PUREE
_Siccative_
CROCODILE HARD-BOILED EGGS
Sauce _à la_ Queen Hat-shep-set
BREAST OF THE ONE-LEGGED PINK STORK
Stuffed with Baby Sausages
BROILED SCARABS ON BUTTERED TOAST
Sauce _de la Pyramide_
BRIE _de_ BAGDAD
Foil cases, Crimean vintage '34