THE GYMKHANA AT LUXOR 127 



going on the Prince Abbas to the second Cataract. 

 I had not seen the good man since he was a House 

 Master at Rugby (before he went to Cheltenham), 

 and was glad to find him looking so fit and well. 

 The terrace of the hotel commands a fine view of 

 the river, and, among other attractions, there are 

 croquet grounds — real turf — and a concrete lawn- 

 tennis court. 



" I ought to add, while I think of it, that at 

 Komombo, where we were yesterday, there re- 

 mained derelict until last year one of the 800 

 whalers which were to have done such great 

 things in the unhappy Nile Expedition of 1884-85. 

 To this day one hears local stories bearing on the 

 Canadian boatmen and those boats, respecting 

 which, however, Lord Wolseley reported in De- 

 cember 1884, ' The EngHsh boats have up to 

 this point fulfilled all my expectations. The men 

 are in excellent health, fit for any trial of strength, 

 as the result of constant manual labour." On this, 

 Judge Royle, in his excellent book. The Egyptian 

 Campaigns, 1882 to 1899 (Hurst & Blackett), 

 says, page 330 : 



" ' As a commentary on the above, it may be 

 mentioned that nine out of sixteen boats which 

 brought up some of the Duke of Cornwall's Regi- 

 ment were lost, and the remainder, owing to the 

 sHghtness of their build, had to be patched with 



