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

260 DESCENT OF THE CATARACT.
crew as would be required, were to remain in the
Dahabieh. Our way lay across the Desert just
skirting the famous granite quarry of Syene, which
I have already described to you ; and much did
T regret that we were completely shut out from
seeing the descent of the Swift : for from the
certain quantum of danger incurred, it must
have been not only a beautiful spectacle but a
most exciting one. When the boat neared the
rapid, where the principal peril of the descent
exists, every man on board prostrated himself
on the deck, and simultaneously uttered a prayer
aloud—then, as they arose, the bark shot down
the boiling torrent with frightful velocity. At
the foot of this rapid, a rock rises in the middle
of the stream, and at a very short distance
beyond, and placed a little to the side of it,
there is a small mud island. The great skill of
the Reis and Pilot of the Cataract consists in
steering the vessel so as to clear the rock (a
collision with which appears inevitable, and would
involve instant destruction,) and by giving it an
oblique impulse, direct its course upon the mud
island, where the safety of the boat depends upon
its being run ashore. It is afterwards easily ex-
tricated and floated into smooth water, and the
remainder of the passage of the Cataract is plain