10 THE DAHABEAH. 



be more careful about, after suiting himself with a dragoman, 

 than in the selection of his boat. He should pay sjjecial 

 attention to the fitting of the windows, as up to the end of 

 February the nights are chilly ; and he must of course assure 

 himself that the new paint does not cover old and rotten 

 woodwork, as is too frequently the case : he should also see 

 that the ropes, sails, and masts are strong and in good order ; 

 or he may be delayed at some disagreeable place, to suit the 

 convenience of the captain, while they are being repaired. 



The dahabeah has a raised cabin occupying the stern-half 

 of the vessel ; this cabin contains a double-bedded room aft, 

 then four or more rooms along each side of the passage 

 which runs through the centre, one of them containing a 

 bath, on which a bed can be made up if required, then the 

 sitting room, in front of which, on each side of the passage, 

 are other rooms for the dragoman's supplies. The fore part 

 of the boat is devoted to the crew, who sleep on the deck. 

 The mainmast stands near the bows, with the kitchen just in 

 front of it ; in the stern, near the helm, is another small 

 mast. Over the cabin is the quarter-deck ; on this the crew 

 need never come, save the second captain, who steers, as the 

 mainsail is worked in front of the cabin and aU the rifffxinsj 



Do o 



is forward. 



February 1th. — We start by the midday train for Cairo, 

 thankful to have left Alexandria, as certainly the most dis- 

 agreeable part of the Nile tour is the time spent in that 

 town, so remarkable in ancient history, so uninteresting at 

 the present day. Steaming along the side of Lake Mareotis, 

 our hopes of sport rise as we watch the flocks of water-fowl 

 scattered here and there over its surface, the Plovers and 

 Curlews flying round, and the. Herons wading in its muddy 



