Village Life in Egypt - 1852 Author:Bayle St. John Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. Modes of Travelling on the Nile—the easy and the go- ahead—River Scenery—Palms—Tovras and Villages —Mohammed Ali a Leveller—Visit to Kafr Mustanat... more » —Rural Dancing Academy—Dancing Girls—Young Pupils — Sales of Children—Origin and History of the Ghawazee — Influence of Labour and Vice on Beauty — Gypsies—the two Daughters of the Barmekides— Wandering Propensities of the Ghawazees—Pilgrimages— Reason of their Banishment to Upper Egypt — Reformed Votaries of Vice — a One-eyed Beauty and an undignified Exit. Theke are two different modes of ascending th'e Nile, according as travellers are in a hurry or leisurely disposed. In the first case, you rnust be in a perpetual conflict with the reis and the crew; you must coax or bully, promise or threaten; you must be up with the first streak of day, and sleep with one eye open at night; you must see that there is a due supply of loaves piled on the roof of the cabin, that none of the men sneak on shore without leave, that the tackle is in good order, that a sufficient Vol. i. c number of hands go to the tracking-rope; and you must storm and rave if the boat runs aground, until it gets off again. At least this is the system recommended by gentlemen of the go-ahead school. I have made such a trip once, and never wish to do so again ; for the celerity gained is but comparative. Unless a good wind serve, your progress must, after all, be slow; and there is a great deal of bustle and annoyance without any corresponding advantage. I have always preferred the other way of going to work, especially in my various excursions along the shores of the Delta. The object was not so much to leave a certain number of villages and palm-groves in the rear, as to escape from absolute repose. A few hours' sail will suffice to reveal n...« less