FROM ASSOUAN TO ALEXANDRIA.--FAREWELL TO EGYPT.
A part of the next day was passed on the island of Elephantine, opposite
Assouan. By reference to the books in their possession, Frank and Fred
learned that Elephantine was a place of considerable importance two or
three thousand years ago, and a large town once stood there. Its ruins
are now covered by a modern village, whose inhabitants are all Nubians;
in fact, there are no Arabs living on the island, and it is said that
Elephantine has been the home of none but Nubians from time immemorial.
Frank asked for the elephants, but could not learn that any had ever
been seen there; he concluded that the island received its name from the
entire absence of the largest of animals, or even of any fossil remains
of him.
[Illustration: AN ANCIENT POULTRY-SHOP.]
There were two temples, or rather their ruins, on the island at the
beginning of the present century--but they were destroyed in order that
the stone could be utilized for building the houses of Assouan. A
gate-way of one of them is yet standing, and there are some walls built
by the Romans, who are said to have made Elephantine a military post.
The Nubians offered Roman coins, polished stones, and other curiosities
for sale; the coins were supposed to have been dug up on the island, but
there was an appearance of newness about them which revealed their
falsity. The quantity of false coins increases year by year, and in many
instances the Arabs do not take the trouble to submit them to the
action of acids, in order to give them an antiquated look. The
manufacturers of antiquities in Cairo and Luxor generally manage to make
their goods have an appearance of genuineness; but sometimes the demand
is unexpectedly great, and they rush off their fabrications in a hurry.
On several occasions Roman coins were offered to our friends that did
not appear to have been out of the mint more than a day or two. One of
them bought a copper denarius of the time of the Emperor Hadrian that
was bright and fresh as though stamped an hour before; it was so new
that the oil used for facilitating its passage through the mint had not
been worn off, and was easily perceptible to the fingers.
The boys regretted their inability to go farther than the first cataract
of the Nile, and as the steamer headed down the river they gave a
longing and lingering look behind them. They were consoled with the
reflection that they had seen a great deal in their journey from Cairo,
and were farther relieved when Doctor Bronson informed them that
comparatively few travellers ever went beyond the first cataract. "Down
to within twenty years," said he, "the island of Philæ was the _Ultima
Thule_ of nearly all tourists on the Nile, and any one who had
penetrated farther was regarded as a sort of Mungo Park or Dr.
Livingstone. Once in a while somebody went to the second cataract, two
hundred and forty miles above the first, and on rare occasions an
Englishman or other foreigner visited Khartoom, at the junction of the
Blue and White Nile. Bayard Taylor was one of these adventurous
travellers, and he went some distance up the White Nile to the country
of the Shillook negroes.
"In 1850," he continued, "very little was known of the Nile beyond the
point reached by our enterprising countryman. Exploring parties had been
up the river considerably beyond the Shillook region, but in most
instances the explorers had died while beyond the limits of
civilization, or their accounts were insignificant. For a long time it
was supposed that the Blue Nile was the principal stream, and as its
head-waters had been reached by the famous traveller Bruce, he was
credited with the discovery of the sources of the mysterious river. But
it was afterward found that the White Nile was the longer of the two and
the greater in volume, and many lives were sacrificed in the attempt to
find its origin. The discovery and exploration of the lakes of Central
Africa, where the Nile rises, belongs to our day; and the names of
Burton, Speke, Grant, Livingstone, Stanley, Baker, Long, and others,
will go down in history for solving a mystery which has puzzled the
world for centuries."
One of the boys asked what they would have seen in case they had been
able to ascend the Nile a few hundred miles farther?
[Illustration: AN ARAB AND HIS CAMEL.]
"That is a difficult question to answer," was the Doctor's reply, "but I
will try to meet it. The second cataract is much like the first, and is
a succession of rapids rather than a fall. It is two hundred and forty
miles from Assouan to Wady Halfa, a village at the second cataract, and
the point where nearly all tourists who go beyond here turn back. On the
way thither you pass a few ruined temples and other remains of ancient
Egypt; but there are none of great importance, with the exception of
Abou Simbel, which ranks next after the pyramids and the temples of
Thebes. There are two temples there hewn in the solid rock, and dating
from the time of Rameses the Great. A good deal of the history of that
monarch has been gathered from the sculptures in these temples, and the
door-way of the principal one of them is guarded by a couple of enormous
statues that recall the Sitting Colossi of Thebes. They have been
pronounced the finest statues of their size in all Egypt, and certainly
I do not know of any that can rival them in grandeur and beauty.
[Illustration: COLOSSAL HEADS IN FRONT OF THE TEMPLE OF ABOU SIMBEL.]
"These statues were formed by cutting away the solid rock, just as the
statues of the temples of Ellora, in India, were made. Like most of the
royal statues of Egypt, they represent the king seated on his throne.
They are partly covered with the sand that has drifted about them, and
sometimes little more than the heads of the figures are visible. They
are said to be sixty-six feet high without their pedestals. A friend of
mine measured the head of one of them, and gave me the following notes:
Length of the nose, 3 feet 5 inches; height of the forehead, 28 inches;
width of the mouth, 8 feet; length of the ear, 3 feet.
"The head of the statue is twelve feet high, without including the cap
or crown that covers it. Compare these figures with the measurements of
the broken figure of Rameses at the Memnonium, and you will realize the
grandeur of the work.
[Illustration: PUBLIC SQUARE AT KHARTOOM.]
"The second cataract is more difficult of passage than the first, and
can only be accomplished when the Nile is at its full height. Above it
the river makes a wide bend, and, as the navigation is difficult, the
land route to the Upper Nile is preferable. Travellers leave the Nile
at Korosko, nearly a hundred miles below Wady Halfa, and cross the
desert to Khartoom. It is a journey of eight days by camels, and there
is only one oasis on the route where water can be procured. Khartoom is
a town of considerable size--about twenty thousand inhabitants--and has
a curiously mixed population of Egyptians, Nubians, Turks, Arabs, and
half a dozen other races and tribes. It has a fine trade in ivory,
ostrich feathers, and other products of Central Africa, and formerly was
the centre of the slave-trade between Egypt and the regions to the
south. The situation is said to be quite picturesque, as it is on the
angle between the Blue and White Nile, and the boats from both these
rivers lie at its banks.
"From Khartoom there is good navigation on the Nile for a long distance,
till the _Sudd_, or bank of reeds, is reached. The river is blocked by a
great mass of aquatic plants, which have drifted down and accumulated so
that they cover several miles of the course of the stream. Imagine a
small brook in which a load of hay has been overturned, and you have an
idea of what the Sudd is like.
[Illustration: EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS ON CAMELS.]
"Beyond the Sudd the principal town is Gondokoro, in Abyssinia, and as
we go farther up the Nile we enter the countries of the savage rulers of
Central Africa. You can read about them in the works of Livingstone,
Stanley, and other travellers who have gone there, and then--"
"Dinner is ready!" said one of the stewards, and the description of
Africa by the Doctor was indefinitely postponed.
The return voyage to Cairo was quickly made, as the steamer halted but a
few times, and then only briefly, at some of the principal points. There
was no time for sight-seeing, as all of the visits to temples and tombs
were planned for the upward journey. The principal incidents of the trip
were a few slight quarrels among the passengers, growing out of the
general lack of something to do, and a glimpse of a crocodile. Everybody
had been on the lookout for crocodiles during the voyage up the river,
but none had been seen. The presence of these inhabitants of the Nile
had been nearly forgotten, when suddenly one afternoon somebody on deck
called out,
"Crocodile!"
Instantly there was a rush from seats and lounging places, and those who
happened to be in the cabin came out as though a shell had exploded
among them. Some ran one way and some another, and several went to the
wrong side of the boat.
The crocodile was lying on a sand-bank two hundred yards or more from
the course of the steamer. He was evidently enjoying a sun-bath when
disturbed by the sound of the paddle-wheels, and concluded that the
wisest plan for him to follow was to drop into the water.
While he remained quiet he could easily have been mistaken for a
blackened log, but as soon as he was in motion there was no doubt on the
subject. Creeping rather than walking, he was soon at the edge of the
water, and, without pausing to see what it was that disturbed him, he
disappeared beneath the surface of the river.
The Doctor told the boys that many persons made the tour of the Nile
nowadays without getting a single glimpse of a crocodile below the first
cataract. Above Assouan crocodiles are more frequent, and beyond
Khartoom they are so abundant that dozens of them may be counted in a
single day. Thirty years ago they were numerous in the vicinity of
Thebes and Keneh, and it was dangerous to venture into the water lest
they might take a notion to a breakfast on humanity. On the upper part
of the Nile, in the vicinity of Gondokoro, they are large and ferocious,
and hardly a day passes that they do not carry off a native who has
incautiously ventured into the river or near its edge.
It is the ambition of every tourist who ascends the Nile in a dahabeeah
to bring back the skin of at least one crocodile as a trophy. The best
way of killing this kind of game is to shoot him when he is taking his
nap on a sand-bank; and if proper caution is observed, and the position
is favorable, the sportsman may approach within forty or fifty yards
without disturbing his prey. The scales of the reptile are so thick and
hard that an ordinary rifle-ball glances off as from an iron plate. The
only vulnerable point is behind the fore-leg, and a good chance for a
shot is not always presented.
Of late years considerable havoc has been made among crocodiles by means
of explosive bullets, which burst as they strike and tear a hole in the
crocodile, in addition to making a general disturbance internally if the
proper spot has been reached.
A large package of letters was at the hotel in Cairo for our friends,
and they sat till far into the night perusing and discussing these
welcome missives. Everybody at home was well, and there were lots of
congratulations for Frank and Fred over the intelligent use they had
made of their time, and their interesting accounts of what they had seen
in their travels. The presents for Mary and Miss Effie were greatly
admired by those young ladies as well as by their friends, and one of
the letters contained a polite intimation that similar selections in
future would be as cordially welcomed. There was a renewal of the
suggestion that the letters and journals of the youths ought to go into
a book. Mrs. Bassett said the village editor had printed all the letters
in his paper, and they had been so highly praised that he was sure they
ought to be preserved in a more permanent form.
"Well," said Fred, "it seems as though we were to become authors whether
we want to or not."
"I don't see any harm in it," responded his cousin. "Authors may do some
good in the world if they make good books, can't they?"
"Of course they can," was the reply; "and if we become authors we'll try
to make books that nobody can object to."
"I'm afraid you are counting on an impossibility," said Doctor Bronson,
who had overheard the conversation. "What will please one will not
please another, and you can never do your work so that somebody will not
find fault with it. And there are some critics who prefer to say
spiteful things, and will search a book from beginning to end to find
something they can object to. If you ever write a book you must expect
abuse. Do your work well, satisfy your own conscience, give your book to
the public, and leave the result to take care of itself."
When the perusal of the letters was over the youths went to bed and
slept soundly, despite many dreams of friends at home, mingled with
pyramids, temples, tombs, mummies, Arabs, deserts, valleys, and other
things and places that had come under their observation since their
arrival in Cairo. They were up in good time the next morning arranging
for speedy departure from the City of the Caliphs, as the Doctor had
informed them it was necessary to take the afternoon train for
Alexandria.
"Here is our plan," said the Doctor, as they sat down to breakfast. "We
will take the train at noon, and be in Alexandria four hours later; the
distance is a hundred and twenty miles, and the train is a fast one. We
will have a day in Alexandria, and then take the steamer for Jaffa. From
Jaffa we will go to Jerusalem, and from that city make the tour of the
Holy Land, arranging our route according to circumstances."
The boys were delighted with the proposal, and were ready at the
appointed time. There were no incidents of consequence in the railway
journey. The boys looked earnestly at the pyramids and the tall minarets
of the Mosque of Mohammed Ali as the train bore them away toward the
sea, and left Cairo behind them. They were bidding farewell to ancient
Egypt, and we cannot wonder that they had many regrets in so doing.
[Illustration: THE BARRAGE OF THE NILE.]
They passed near the "Barrage," an extensive structure which was
intended for a dam across the Nile to check the overflow of water during
the inundation, and retain it till it was wanted for purposes of
irrigation after the falling of the river. This great work was projected
and begun during the time of Mohammed Ali, and an immense amount of
money has been expended upon it. It consists of a long line of arches
across the river, and the plan was to arrange gates at the openings of
the arches, so that the flow of the water could be checked or allowed at
pleasure. It has never been completed: the engineers say there was an
error in the original calculations, and if the arches were closed, so as
to raise the river to the proposed height, the force of water would
sweep away the entire structure.
The Barrage has been partially utilized, and it is said that the
government contemplates its completion by strengthening the work, so
that it will retain the water as desired. There is no doubt that it
would be of great advantage to Lower Egypt, as it would largely increase
its productiveness. There is a story that Abbas Pacha once suggested to
a French engineer to pull down the pyramids and use the material for
constructing the Barrage. The engineer was horrified at the idea, as he
said it would cause him to be execrated by the whole world, and his name
would go down to posterity covered with disgrace for having destroyed
the finest monument of ancient Egypt.
Our friends passed through Tantah, a town of considerable importance,
containing many handsome houses, and a palace where the Khedive
occasionally passes a few days. Three times a year, in the months of
January, April, and August, a fair is held at Tantah which lasts eight
days. Sometimes as many as two hundred thousand people come to this
fair; their ostensible object is to pray at the tomb of a Moslem saint,
but the most of their time is passed in amusements and in trading. There
is a large business in camels, horses, and general merchandise, and in
former times a good many slaves were sold there. All around the town
there are tents and booths devoted to singing and to the performances of
jugglers, snake-charmers, and others whose living is derived from the
amusement they furnish to the public.
The train swept along the bank of the Mahmoodieh Canal, which connects
Alexandria with the Nile; it is fifty miles long and a hundred feet
wide, and was built in less than a year by order of Mohammed Ali. Two
hundred and fifty thousand men were employed upon it, and of this number
twenty thousand died of hunger, plague, and cholera. For several miles
the route of the railway lay through a marsh, and as they neared
Alexandria our friends caught a glimpse of Lake Mareotis, a shallow body
of water, whose principal use is to supply the Alexandria market with
fish.
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF ALEXANDRIA.]
Pompey's Pillar came into view, and so did the domes and minarets of
Alexandria. There was the usual crowd of porters, guides, and the like
at the railway-station, and with some difficulty the Doctor and the
youths made their way through the dense assemblage, and drove to the
hotel. The boys found that the streets were paved with large blocks of
stone, but the pavement was broken in many places, and had much need of
repair. In rainy weather there are deep holes filled with mud, and the
incautious pedestrian runs a great risk of taking an involuntary and
very disagreeable bath.
The morning after their arrival the party started out to see Alexandria
and engage passage for Jaffa. The passage was secured, and then there
was leisure for visiting the points of interest in and around the city.
[Illustration: CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE AT ALEXANDRIA.]
There is comparatively little remaining of the great city of Alexandria,
which once contained half a million inhabitants, and boasted of the
finest library in the world. The library was burnt, the buildings
disappeared, the city dwindled in importance, till at the end of the
last century its population was barely six thousand. Since 1798 it has
been steadily reviving, till it now contains nearly a quarter of a
million inhabitants, of whom a fourth are Europeans. It is the
commercial capital of Egypt, and the viceroy lives there during the
summer. Of its ancient monuments Pompey's Pillar is almost all that can
be found. There are some tombs near the city, but they are scarcely
worth visiting: there were formerly two obelisks near the water's edge,
but they have gone, one to England and the other to the United States.
The latter was removed by Commander H. H. Gorringe, of the United States
Navy--the cost of the work being paid by Mr. W. H. Vanderbilt--and has
been set up in Central Park, New York. It was famous in history as
Cleopatra's Needle; the obelisk that was taken to England and set up on
the bank of the Thames above Waterloo Bridge had been lying prostrate
for centuries.
[Illustration: POMPEY'S PILLAR.]
Pompey's Pillar is a single shaft of red granite, seventy feet high and
about ten in diameter, standing on a broad base and crowned with a
capital, the whole rising a hundred feet from the ground. It is supposed
that a statue once stood on the top, and there are some old pictures of
Alexandria where a statue appears on the pillar.
Frank and Fred wanted to climb to the top of the column, but were unable
to see how they could do so, as there is no ladder or stairway, and the
shaft is polished like a pane of glass.
The Doctor told them it had been twice ascended in the present
century--once by an enterprising woman, and once by a party of sailors.
In each case a kite was flown so that it came against the top of the
pillar, then the string was used to draw up a cord, the cord drew up a
rope, and the rope drew up a ladder. The ascent is easy enough when the
ladder is properly secured, but it trembles so much that a steady head
and strong hand are requisite to insure safety.
After seeing the pillar the three visitors wandered through the bazaars,
which repeated, on a small scale, the sights of the bazaars of Cairo.
They spent an hour or more in the great square in the centre of the
city, where there are several rows of shade-trees and some bronze
statues, and they visited two or three private gardens, which were very
pretty, and contained rare varieties of plants. They went to the
celebrated "Pharos," which is one of the earliest light-houses ever
known to mariners, and was built by Ptolemy Philadelphus at enormous
expense. It is said to have been a square building of white marble in
several stories, each smaller than the one below it. A winding road led
to the top, and, according to history, Cleopatra once drove a pair of
horses to the summit, and then drove them down again. The name of the
"Pharos" is perpetuated in the French word for light-house (_phare_),
but very little of the ancient structure exists to-day. It is still
maintained as a light-house, and is a welcome sight to ships seeking the
harbor of Alexandria.
At an early hour the next morning a procession left the door of the
hotel and proceeded in the direction of the harbor. It was composed as
follows:
Frank Bassett and Fred Bronson mounted on donkeys, and attended by the
drivers of the little beasts.
Doctor Bronson similarly mounted and escorted.
A servant from the hotel superintending the transportation of the
baggage of the trio on the backs of a couple of Arab porters.
A miscellaneous array of beggars, peddlers, and their kindred, shouting
for backsheesh.
There were at least twenty individuals in the party, not counting the
donkeys; but a good many of the beggars dropped off after a few dozen
yards. Their places were taken by others, so that there was no material
loss of numbers on arrival at the landing, where the baggage was placed
in a boat, after a gift of a couple of francs to a customs official, to
save it from inspection. From the shore to the boat was a short journey,
and any possible monotony was prevented by the boatmen. They had made a
bargain to carry our three friends on board the steamer for five francs;
about half-way they stopped rowing and demanded ten francs, which were
refused.
Then the fellows turned, and threatened to row to the shore again, but
the Doctor prevented this performance by proposing to hand them over to
the police. They did not proceed until he rose to his feet and shouted
for the police-boat, and then they concluded it was best to do as they
had agreed. The boatmen of Alexandria are worse than those of any other
port of the Mediterranean, and it is a disgrace to the Egyptian
Government that they are allowed to continue their practices.
[Illustration: VIEW OF ALEXANDRIA FROM THE SEA.]
And now behold our friends safely on board the French steamer. The smoke
pours from her funnels, the anchor is lifted, the engine throbs, the
screw revolves, churning the water into foam--the entrance of the harbor
is passed, the shore fades from sight, and Egypt is left behind.
_Bon voyage!_