A Clerk Of Mr. Waghorn's, An European, Who
Had The Charge Of The Mails, Went Up In The Boat With Us; But As We
Could Not Possibly Afford Him Any Accommodation In Our Cabin, His
Situation At The Prow Must Have Been Very Uncomfortable.
He was
attended by a servant; there were ten or twelve boatmen, which,
together with Mohammed and the janissary, completely crowded the deck,
so that it was impossible for them all to lie down at full length.
I have not said a word about the far-famed river, which I had so long
and so anxiously desired to see; the late inundations had filled it
to the brim, consequently it could not have been viewed at a more
favourable period; but I was dreadfully disappointed. In a flat
country, like Lower Egypt, I had not expected any thing beyond
luxuriance of vegetation; but my imagination had been excited by ideas
of groves of palms. I found the date trees so thinly scattered, as to
be quite insignificant as a feature in the scene, and except when we
came to a village, there were no other.
The wind being strong, we got on at first at a rapid rate, and as we
carried a press of sail, the boat lay over completely, as to put the
gunwale (as I believe it is called) in the water. We looked eagerly
out, pleased when we saw some illustration of old customs with which
the Bible had made us acquainted, or when the janissary, who was
an intelligent person, pointed to a Bedouin on the banks.
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