Position 33 - Dahabiyehs On The River Ready For The Journey To The Upper Nile

Who will ever forget that happy day, when the dahabiyeh, swinging out into the river with head to south, began her long struggle with the Nile current, a struggle, that carried one every moment nearer and nearer to the wonders of the upper river? The sailors spread the vast triangular sail, the fierce current boils and roars under the bow as the mighty north wind fills the huge canvas; slowly the palms and the villages seem to move northward, till gathering way, the picturesque craft moves faster and faster mile after mile, and the towers and minarets of Cairo drop behind a fringe of intervening palms. At last you are off for Upper Egypt!

Here you are already in that valley of which we have so often spoken, and you can see the tall cliffs, which wall it in on the other shore. Similar cliffs rise behind us. In mid-river is a dahabiyeh, and you will be interested to know something of the craft in which the voyage can be most comfortably made. It is a long, narrow sail boat of the simple rig so common in the east. Divided approximately into halves, the forward half is devoted to the crew and the cook, while the after half is occupied by the passenger cabin.

The cook presides over a tiny kitchen, perched like a dry goods box on the bow, just forward of the mast. Ordinarily there are no other quarters for the crew, and here on this low forward deck they sleep, eat, loaf in the sunshine, or tug at the oars as necessity requires. The passenger cabin in the after half of the boat is surmounted by an awning-covered deck, furnished with chairs, settees, hammocks, and a writing table. Below, the interior is usually divided into four parts. As you enter from the crew's deck you find yourself in a narrow passage leading down the middle directly aft, having on either side the pantries, store-rooms and servants' rooms; these form the first part.

The narrow passage leads to the second part, the dining-room, which includes the whole width of the craft. Behind this a similar passage gives access to the sleeping rooms of the passengers, bath-room and the like; while behind this third part, lies the fourth, the drawing room. This arrangement may be varied somewhat at will; and limited as that cabin appears for so extended an arrangement of rooms, it is nevertheless convenient and comfortable.

He who has at some time in his life made the voyage of the Nile in such a craft will often sigh for the dreamy days on that awning deck, lulled asleep by the lapping of the swift-flowing waters, or the slow chant of the sailors bending to the heavy sweeps when the wind is low. There is a certain charm about this landscape which never leaves the voyager. The eye wanders languidly out over the far, still landscape, glowing in vivid green under the golden sunshine; the verdant plain is dotted here and there with palm-groves, beneath which nestle picturesque little villages, looking out in sombre gray against the deep green of the palms, save where the white of the Moslem minaret, gleaming through the leaves and rising above the treetops, proclaims the Egypt of to-day, when one would fain have pictured it all as it was in the days of the pyramid-builders.

This boat in mid-stream here, is floating with the current, with all sails furled, the sailors at the oars and a strong wind astern, that flutters the stars and stripes bravely, not to say also the flag of the ubiquitous Cook, and carries the boat rapidly northward. Astern is dragging the feluka, or small boat, in which are the chicken coop and a lamb or two for the larder of the passengers. The other craft moored to the bank is a less pretentious affair, and no one would imagine from looking at it, the origin of the word “dahabiyeh” as applied to these passenger craft. It means “golden,” and has descended from the days when such boats were richly decorated with designs in gold, and belonged exclusively to the very rich.

The workmen just before us are transporting the large jars of which we see a long heap on the bank, awaiting shipment on the river. Such large jars, are made in great quantities in Upper Egypt , and their manufacture forms a considerable industry, especially at Keneh. Nothing is commoner than to see such a heap as this, only vastly larger, occupying the two decks of a pair of cargo boats, lashed together for the purpose and floating in mid-Nile. Such a jar, unglazed, makes an excellent filter, and forms an indispensable part of the equipment of a dahabiyeh, for the yellow Nile water, when filtered and cleansed of the sand and other foreign substances which it carries, makes excellent drinking water.

Our first stopping place as we journey south, up the Nile, will be about fifty miles from Cairo, in the vicinity of the Fayûm. See Map 6. Our first position, as the red lines numbered 34 on this map show, will be fifteen miles or so west of the Nile. We shall look southeastward.