Up the Nile, and home again. A handbook for travellers and a travel-book for the library. (1862) (14764038335)

Identifier: upnilehomeagainh00fair (find matches)
Title: Up the Nile, and home again. A handbook for travellers and a travel-book for the library.
Year: 1862 (1860s)
Authors: Fairholt, F. W. (Frederick William), 1814-1866
Subjects:
Publisher: London, Chapman and Hall
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress



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y glad to pass these moun-tains with a fair wind; should the wind be adverse,and blow directly in their face, or along their sides,such is the power with which it is condensed, thatthe boat cannot proceed, but must anchor at themost convenient spot, furl its sail, and wait patientlyfor a change. It is sometimes a severe tax onpatience. For three days it is no unusual thing tobe thus blown to a mountain-side, in a most unin-teresting part of the river. Very frequently cloudsof fine dust are brought in the wind from the desert,which produces the effect of a fog on the distantscene, and fills the cabins of the boat with itsparticles. Whirlwinds occasionally produce curiouseffects in lifting heaps of sand high in the air,looking like the smoke of factory chimneys, whenseen in the distance. Near Soohaj, but at some distance on the edge ofthe desert, stands a very ancient Christian monastery,known as (< the White Convent/ It is a smallwalled village, with a very ancient church built from
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SIOUT TO KEXEH. 193 the stones of the older Egyptian temples, anddecorated with Byzantine ornament, giving credibilityto the old tradition, stating it to have been foundedabout a hundred and fifty years after the death ofthe famed Empress Helena, the mother of Constan-tine the Great. I must refer to Wilkinsons Hand-book to Egypt/ for an abundance of interestingdetails regarding the aspect of this old monastery,and the curious inscriptions here and in the imme-diate neighbourhood; merely remarking, en passant,that while the antiquary and scholar may be gratifiedhere, the ride will repay any visitor who is curiousto see an ancient monastic institution devotedto the Christian faith, abounding as this does withsculpture and painting of much interest. The large and important town of Ekhmim is thenext we reach on the eastern bank; it is now closeto the stream; but when Pococke visited it, in 1743,he spoke of it as a mile distant therefrom—a veryinteresting proof of the deviation in the co