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

196 THE COURBAIRAM.
the whole of that distance ; its " blessed waters "
rolling onward through the long valley they fer-
tilize, have remained pure from all contact or
fusion with meaner streams; like the Great
Creator at whose command its waters sprang
forth from their yet undiscovered sources, the
Nile is alone in its bounty ; inexhaustible in its
beneficence, it gives all, dispensing riches, pro-
sperity, life, whithersoever it goes, and receives
nothing in return !
It happens that to day is the great Mahometan
festival of the Courbairam, or commemoration of
the sacrifice made by Abraham of a ram instead
of his son—{Ishmael, according to the Moslem
belief). The followers of the Prophet keep this
festival rigorously, and at the same time with all
the rejoicings that attend on Christmas with us
and all those who can afford it kill a sheep with
their own hand before their own door, and distri-
bute the flesh to the poor. The individual who
kills and gives the sheep is precluded from par-
taking of its flesh. Mohammed, who is a very
good Moslem, purchased a sheep at his own ex-
pense this morning, which he slew with his own
hand at sunrise, reciting at the same time the
prescribed form of prayer, and presented it to the
crew of the Dahabieh. All our boatmen put on
;