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

184 PROGRESS UP THE RIVER.
CHAPTER IX.
PROGRESS UP THE RIVER. — NUBIAN SCENERY. KOROSKO. —
COURSE OF THE NILE.— TAXATION. A BATTLE-ROYAL IBRIM.
Wadi Haifa, Dec. 10, 1845.
Ten days have elapsed since the closing date of
my last letter, (which I found an opportunity of
forwarding to you on the 6th inst., from Korosko,
where we met with a French gentleman in the
Viceroy's service, who kindly undertook to have
it conveyed to Cairo with his own dispatches),
since which, nothing of interest has occurred in
any shape. We quitted Mahatta early on the
morning of the 2nd, and in pursuance of our plan
quietly progressed in our course up the Nile
without halting to visit any of the Nubian tem-
ples that are scattered along its banks. On the
3rd we entered the Tropic of Cancer, at Kalabshi,
and found ourselves in the Torrid Zone ; the
weather, although extremely warm, by no means
oppressive, and the climate so delicious as even