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

PREPARATIONS. 159
who furnishes a hundred men to assist in its
passage through those somewhat perilous ra-
pids ; and our good and efficient Reis Ali is to
be allowed literally to " rest upon his oars " until
we get into smooth water again somewhere
near the Island of Philae. Mohammed, whose
management in everything is above all praise,
has made our compact with Reis Hassan (him
of the Cataracts), Avhich includes not only his
services and those of "his good men and true"
to bear us harmless up the first Cataract, but
to bring us down again on our return; one
half of the sum stipulated for, to be paid after
the ascent, the other half, after the descent.
Many travellers leave their Dahabiehs and car-
riages at Es-souan—the owners specifying in
their contract that they are not to go beyond
that place—and proceed by land above the Ca-
taract, where they take a small boat of the
country to perform the rest of the navigation
upwards. But such a plan entails so much
trouble and discomfort, (for every article of fur-
niture and provisions must be transported from
your own boat to the new conveyance, which
is invariably overrun with vermin and insects
of all descriptions), that it is always to be
avoided when possible ; and as Mr. Walne has