Notes from Egypt

My dear E

I am now fairly afloat with Lieutenant Pengelly and Mr. Lakes in our aquatic habitation, and probable domicile for three or perhaps four months to come. We feel already quite at home, and exceedingly comfortable in the Mary Victoria, and hitherto have had very little experience of the usual annoyances which travellers on the Nile complain of. To our great joy we have escaped the insect disturbers of rest, though we have received terrific accounts of their numbers and prowess on the Nile, and the only intruders on our domestic peace, are a small family of rats, and a colony of cockroaches, both confining themselves to the lockers and timbers of the boat, and never appearing, at least by day, in any part of the vessel where their presence would be a source of personal annoyance, and our well arranged mosquitoe curtains would effectually exclude these, and every other nocturnal visitor from the beds. We found in Mr. Page, the owner of the boat, a very fair dealing and honourable man, who has spared no pains to render our voyage comfortable as far as the appointments of the Mary Victoria are concerned, and we consider ourselves as very fortunate in not having had to deal with an Arab owner, with whom a contract drawn up in very express terms in Arabic, and signed at the Consulate, would have been absolutely necessary; a proceeding both troublesome and attended with some expense, and one which rarely effects the purpose in view, of obviating any dispute or misunderstanding between the contracting parties, as the Arab boat proprietors seldom stand by the written engagement, but are ever ready to seize an opportunity of evading the conditions to which they have subscribed, and to take every advantage in their power of the ignorance and inexperience of tourists. We have a very young crew or eight men, (including the Keis or captain, and the steersman), docile, good humoured fellows from Nubia or Ethiopia, with mild, honest countenances, who seem as happy as kings, and amuse us with their simple boat song, or rather chant, and performances on the small drum of the country, and on the tambourine^. We have each of us a servant, having dispensed altogether with our dragoman, who is almost invariably a dishonest, or at least imposing fellow, very consequential, and unmanageable, and who requires many times the amount of wages given to a single Arab domestic. Saad, my own man, acts as cook on board, and serves us in that capacity very creditably; his wages are 200 piastres or about £2 per month for his double official duties, finding himself in food, and every thing besides during the voyage. These, with our three selves compose a little community of fourteen, Lieutenant P. assuming the supreme command of the crew and vessel, subject to the advice and opinion of the Eeis on matters relating to local navigation; the latter, notwithstanding his extreme youth, conducting himself towards his people with wonderful dignity of deportment, never mixing in their games or songs, but generally sitting retired at the head of the boat, watching her progress, and ready to give his orders when necessary.

Mr. Lakes not being well enough to accompany Mr. Pengelly and myself to the Barrage — a vast undertaking of the late Mohammed Ali, for damming up the waters of the Nile when at their height, and retaining them on the irrigated lands of the Delta longer than the time of their natural subsidence would allow of, — that gentleman and myself left Cairo in the boat on the 21st for the junction of the Kosetta and Damietta branches of the Nile where the above works are situated. We caught sight of them before sunset, but could not examine them till the next day: they are on a scale of great magnitude, but their ultimate completion, from the enormous expenses already incurred, and the sum which wall be required to finish the undertaking, is considered very doubtful, particularly when the careless, unenterprising character of Abbas Pasha is taken into account, as another impediment to carrying out his predecessor's grand conception. The Barrage is as its name imports, a vast dam of masonry, stretching across the two principal branches of the Nile, (those of Kosetta and Damietta), just at their point of junction with, or confluence into the main stream which forms the apex of the Delta. It is in fact an immense bridge of numerous slightly pointed arches, and with towers at its extremities, the arches are to be closed with flood gates to admit the Nile freely during the period of its rise, but, as I understand it, are to be partially closed when the inundation is at its height, and the river begins to fall; when the water in that part of the valley of the Nile above the Barrage w T ill be longer retained on the irrigated lands, the fertility of which it is supposed will thereby be much augmented. But it is doubted by many competent judges, whether any barrier, however solidly constructed, can resist the enormous pressure to which it must inevitably be subjected, especially during the period of the high Nile or inundation. It is feared that no sufficiently good foundation can be made in the bed of soft alluvium, even should the superstructure itself prove firm enough to stem the current, and the weight of accumulated water when the sluices are closed. The works are not yet half completed, but are slowly going on by forced and ill paid labour, as in all other Government undertakings of the kind in this country. Having inspected the Barrage, we set off on our return to Cairo, and passing the port of Boulak, we took up our position under the beautiful island of Rhoda, with its fine, but now half ruined gardens, over which I was not long since conducted, by the late curator, Mr. James Trail. Rhoda is reputed to be the spot where the daughter of Pharoah went to wash herself at the river when she discovered the infant Moses; the island lies partlyopposite to Old Cairo, and consequently nearly on the site of ancient Memphis, and has the Nilo-meter on its smaller extremity. The tradition carries plausibility with it, since Rhoda was, probably, from time immemorial a garden residence, and from its retired situation well suited for the ablutions of a king's daughter.

Mr. L. joined us on the 23rd, and the next day, we were fairly on our long voyage up the " river of Egypt," which has hitherto proved most prosperous and agreeable. My two companions are perfect gentlemen, quiet, and yet very cheerful, disposed to make the best of every thing, and anticipating great enjoyment for the future. We all feel as much at home in our little floating castle, as if we were ashore, or in Old England; the winds have hitherto been propitious, enabling us to make sail during the night, and to steal softly into ever increasing warmth, at least by day; for the mornings, evenings, and nights, are very cold: but the glorious sun is never obscured except for a brief interval, perhaps once in a week, by some fleeting cloud, shining else unceasingly over our watery path. Within, we are amply protected from the cold of the night, by good bedding, clothing, and folding doors, and when the mosquitoe curtains, whose nominal office is now quite a sinecure, are arranged by our trusty squires, Saad, Mohammed, and Ameen, for the night, each sleeping place is as private and retired as if we slept in separate apartments. I have the utmost cause for self gratulation in having brought out a gun with me: it has proved an admirable adjunct to our trip, not merely from the amusement derived from shooting, but as a means of replenishing our larder, daily, with every variety of excellent fowl; while our stock of poultry on board is reserved against the failure of game, and we are not, as we should otherwise be, condemned to that kind of food almost exclusively. It is only occasionally, on arriving at the towns or larger villages, that we can hope for the luxury of butchers' meat, mutton, kid, or as a great rarity, beef, all of inferior quality to what we are accustomed to at home. Without our guns, we never set foot on shore, and invariably return from our walks through the palm groves and fertile fields of Egypt, with the materials for our morrow's breakfast and dinner. The spoils of the chase have hitherto been confined to wild pigeons, wild geese, ducks, and larks, which last are as common as in England, and exactly identical in species with our skylark, which we should hold it a sin to shoot at home; but here, we find it expedient to cast away all such scruples in providing for our daily mess. The crew are delighted with our foraging, as we are enabled to supply the second table as well as our own with game, which is a welcome addition to their simple and frugal diet of bread, lent el soup, (the red pottage of Esau), or certain messes of vegetables, leeks, onions, cabbage, with rice, or corn of various kinds; the Nile water being their only beverage. We invariably land at the Egyptian villages, many of which are large and populous, to shoot doves and pigeons; the former abound in the extensive palm (date) groves, in the vicinity of the cultivated lands, and they commit great depredation on the maize and guinea corn: the latter are domesticated in huge pigeon houses, of which I have before spoken. I am sorry to say our travelling countrymen do not always observe the rights of property, but make a practice of shooting pigeons, heedless of the remonstrances of the pacific inhabitants, who are afraid of making more energetic demonstrations of disapprobation. We never molest the pigeons in the villages, but to shoot any stray birds outside, however near to the houses, is considered perfectly fair, and is never objected to by the people, who invariably behave to us with civility, as we stroll amongst their huts of mud or unburnt brick. The children it is true, sometimes run away at the sight of us giaours, and the dread of the evil eye is occasionally manifested by an expression of impatience from the women, if we indulge in a stare of curiosity or speculation at them or their occupations, but the dread and dislike of the Frank is fast wearing away, not in Cairo only, but all along the river; and the probability is, that before many years shall have elapsed, the British voyagers on the Nile will be regarded by the dwellers along its banks, as their best, and certainly their most profitable friends.

It is said that the ultimate occupation of Egypt by the English is looked forward to with considerable confidence by the Cairenes, and that they express much satisfaction at the prospect. It is certain we shall never relinquish the hold we have on their country without a struggle, and that we can never permit any of the great European powers, France, Russia, or Austria, to gain a footing in Egypt, as the safety of our Indian empire would be fearfully compromised by foreign occupation of this country, if it did not eventuate in its loss.

Minieh, lat. 28. 7. December 2nd. A week's sailing with light airs and calms, and an occasionally favourable breeze, has brought us thus far on our voyage, nearly half way to the great centre of attraction, Thebes; a degree of progress we owe to the unwearied exertions of our willing and light hearted crew of Nubians, in tracking during the day; for at night we generally now make fast to the banks till daybreak, unless the wind should be propitious, when we keep under sail all night, or a part of it.

December 5th, Left Minieh this forenoon with a favourable breeze from the northwards, having been detained much longer than we intended by an accident to Mr. Lakes, who, when shooting very early on Tuesday morning with a Maltese gentleman, received a shot from the latter intended for a snipe, 27 corns entering in various parts of his person, and one striking the left eye, and wounding the white, a very short distance only from the transparent cornea, which happily escaped an injury that must have infallibly destroyed the sight of that eye. The pain at the moment, Mr. Lakes describes as so intense, that he imagined the shot had pierced his brain, and he fell involuntarily on receiving it. On recovering, he found that he could not see at all with the wounded eye: he managed to reach the boat, a distance of several miles from the spot where the accident occurred, partly on foot, partly on a donkey, and presented himself before us whilst we were at breakfast, informing us, with a smile on his countenance, of what had happened, and exhibiting to Mr. Pengelly and myself, an alarming appearance, his face being perforated with several shot, and the left eye closed. Fortunately Minieh is the residence of a European district surgeon, who being a friend of the Maltese, whose mal-adroitness caused this distressing event, was immediately in our boat, and on examination, found the eye wounded as above related. He prescribed a lotion of acetate of lead, constantly applied, and then a poultice of linseed, intending to bleed his patient, should inflammatory symptoms shew themselves: but most fortunately, the previously lowered system of Mr. Lakes was little disposed to take such inflammatory action, and contrary to all expectation, he passed the night free from any pain worth speaking of, and has ever since been going on as well as could be wished. The sight of the eye is much obscured, but it is to be hoped that in a few days, the troubled humours in the ball will be absorbed, and replaced by others of the usual transparency, there being no reason to apprehend the smallest injury to the optic nerve. Mr. Lakes is sufficiently well to allow us to pursue our voyage* his eyes are of course bandaged, and he cannot employ himself for some days to come, but we have the greatest reason to be thankful that things were no worse. Mr. Lakes might have suffered the loss of his eye, and we must have returned in the boat with him to Cairo.

We are now, thank God, again stemming the broad bosom of old Nile, to the wild music of our Arab, or rather, Berber crew, (the Berbers are a tribe of central Nubia), under a glorious, never ceasing sunshine, now so mild in its refulgence, that you would suppose yourself in England, were it not for the plague of flies, countless hosts of which have invaded our watery domicile since we moored our little bark alongside the town of Minieh; the plague of fleas has also commenced, and begins to be troublesome to us at night. Ihe banks oi the river swarm with gigantic rats, which never fail to come on board whenever we stop, but they seem to content themselves with running about the boat during the night, and gnawing the timbers, as we have not yet discovered that we are sufferers by their visits to our store lockers, or poultry crate, which is a matter of astonishment, considering the facility of access they have to any article of food on board, and their numerical force and rapacity. We have two cats, (as yet only kittens), and a rat trap on board, but cannot entirely succeed in expelling our unwelcome visitors.

With kind regards to all our friends at Ryde, and elsewhere, Believe me, always, Your affectionate Brother, William Arnold Bromfield.