Book Description

Excerpt from A Thousand Miles Up the Nile, Vol. 1 Of the comparative merits of wooden boats, iron boats, and steamers, I am not qualified to speak. We, however, saw one iron Dahabeeyah aground upon a sandbank, where, as we afterwards learned, it remained for three weeks. We also saw the wrecks of three steamers between Cairo and the First Cataract. It certainly seemed to us that the old-fashioned wooden Dahabeeyah - flat-bottomed drawing little water, light in hand, and easily poled off when stuck - was the one vessel best constructed for the navigation of the Nile. Other considerations, as time and cost, are, of course, involved in this question. The choice between Daha beeyah and steamer is like the choice between travel ling with post-horses and travelling by rail. The one is expensive, leisurely, and delightful; the other is swift, less expensive, and less luxurious. Those who are con tent to snatch but a glimpse of the Nile will doubtless prefer the steamer. I may add that the whole cost of the Philae - food, dragoman's wages, boat-hire, cata tact, everything included except wine - was about 10 per day. With regard to temperature, we found it cool - even cold, sometimes - in December and January; mild in February; very warm in March and April. The climate of Nubia is simply perfect. It never rains; and once past the limit of the tropic, there is no morning or evening chill upon the air. Yet even in Nubia, and especially along the forty miles that divide aboo-simbel from Wady Halfeh, it is cold when the wind blows strongly from the north. I had hoped to add here a little table of average temperatures, compiled from notes taken by a fellow-traveller who carefully registered the variations of the thermometer from day to day. But the Idle Man has only too well carried out the promise of his sobriquet; and I am still without the necessary data. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.