'Personal Narrative of a pilgrimmage to Al-Madinah and Meccah. Vol. I' [‎29] (84/564)

CHAPTER III.
the nile steamboat—the " little asthmatic."
I n the days of the Pitts we have invariably a " Re
lation " of Egyptian travellers who embark for a place
called " Roseet" on the " River Nilus." Wanderers of
the Brucean age were wont to record their impressions of
voyage upon land subjects observed between Alexandria
and Cairo. A little later we find every one inditing
rhapsodies about, and descriptions of, his or her Daha-
biyah (barge) on the canal. After this came the steamer.
And after the steamer will come the railroad, which may
disappoint the author tourist, but will be delightful to
that sensible class of men who wish to get over the
greatest extent of ground with the least inconvenience to
themselves and others. Then shall the Mahmudiyah—
ugliest and most wearisome of canals—be given up to
cotton boats and grain barges, and then will note-books
and the headings of chapters clean ignore its existence.
I saw the canal at its worst, when the water was low;
and I have not one syllable to say in its favour. Instead
of thirty hours, we took three mortal days and nights to
reach Cairo, and we grounded with painful regularity four
or five times between sunrise and sunset. In the scenery on
the banks sketchers and describers have left you nought to
see. From Pompey's Pillar to the Maison Carree, Kariom
and its potteries, Al-Birkah 1 of the night birds, Bastarah
i Villages notorious for the peculiar Egyptian revelry, an un
doubted relic of the good old times, when " the most religious of