508 THE NILE CATARACTS. 



way; but is still passable by a dahabiyeh, or other 

 small craft, when the wind is favourable and the river 

 not too low : the boats being' generally dragged up 

 the " Bdb-es-Shelldr or "gate of the cataract," by a 

 strong force of Arabs, with the aid of tow ropes, etc. 

 The course is then clear as far as Wadi Haifa, the 

 present Egyptian frontier station, some five miles below 

 the second or Great Cataract. Here the river is a 

 succession of rapids of the most formidable description, 

 completely impassable to vessels, except when the river 

 is at its highest stage, for a short time in each year. 

 They extend through a space of several miles and are 

 called by the Arabs " Batn-el-Hagar " or "The Belly 

 of Stone." On the west bank, just below this rocky 

 gorge, is a high cliff called "Abusir," from whence 

 a magnificent view of the cataract is obtained. It is 

 surrounded on all sides by the drifting sands of the 

 Nubian desert, whose surface presents to the eye a 

 glowing expanse of reddish sand, broken in all, directions 

 by ranges of sterile waterless hills. The great river 

 flows below, its channel broken up into numerous streams 

 by a succession of rocky islands, carpeted with dwarf 

 bush, and grasses of the deepest emerald green. It 

 is impossible to conceive anything wilder, more beautiful, 

 or more impressive than the scene as we saw it during 

 our recent visit, just as the sun was sinking behind 

 the distant desert hills, which its declining rays were 

 tinting with a deep shade of rose-pink. Away towards 

 the south, the great river flows through regions of 

 which little is really known, except from the records 

 of the British boat expedition of 1884. 



We understand that the Egyptian archives, when 

 searched by British officers for data for use by the 



