A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

138 THE GHAWAZEE.
large glass of that forbidden beverage without
shame, — a disgusting proof of how easily vice
levels not only every principle, but e\ery scruple.
What a contrast to our poor hard-working sailors,
not one of whom Avill accept of any restorative
stronger than coffee, after having been for nearly
an hour in the water straining every nerve to
right the boat
!
Our reception of the fair Ghawazee soon spread
through the village, for presently a large group of
her companions came trooping down to the river-
side, preceded by a band of musicians playing
upon all sorts of barbarous Arab instruments
but fortunately the provisions for which we had
stopped at Dishna were just put on board, and we
pushed off from the land at the very moment
when the banished Bayaderes were sounding their
castanets to the onset—thus escaping an exhibi-
tion the cynical immodesty of which must render
it intolerable to every female eye.
Between Dishna and Thebes nothing particular
occurred. There is no scenery to describe on the
banks of the Nile so far as we have yet pro-
gressed, and those travellers who have endea-
voured to warm their imaginations into a pictu-
resque account of the " flat " but not " unpro-
fitable" aspect of things here, have been either
;