NUBIA AND THE NILE RAPIDS. 357 



in unchangeable sterility and desolation. Throughout the greater 

 part of the long winding valley which forms what we call Nubia, 

 dark, gleaming masses of rock rise from the bed of the river or from 

 its immediate vicinity, and over wide tracts prevent the growth of 

 almost all vegetation. They have for their sole adornment the 

 waves of golden yellow sand which are blown from the deserts on 

 east and west, and gradually slide down the rocks into the river. 

 The sun beats from the deep -blue and rarely cloudy sky; for 

 many years together not a single shower refreshes the thirsty 

 ground. In the deeply cut gorges the life-giving waves of the 

 fertilizing stream contend in vain with the unimpressionable rocks, 

 on which they hurl themselves roaring and foaming, blustering 

 and thundering, as if enraged that their generosity is met with 

 ingratitude and their beneficence with disdain. The field on which 

 this battle is waged is the region of the rapids. 



Very few travellers who visit the lower valley of the Nile ever 

 reach the rapids of its middle course. A few go beyond the so- 

 called first cataract, scarcely one in a hundred passes the second. 

 Wady Haifa, a village immediately below the second group of 

 rapids, is the usual goal of travellers; only purposes of exploration, 

 the passion for the chase, or some commercial enterprise, leads 

 any one further south. For it is at Wady Haifa that the difficul- 

 ties of a journey into the interior really begin, and it is therefore 

 not surprising that the great majority turn the prow of the boat 

 homewards at that village of palms. But no one who is young 

 and vigorous, energetic, and not too luxuriously inclined, will ever 

 regret if he pushes farther south. In the Nile valley, which is by 

 no means rich in picturesqueness, the region of the rapids is quite 

 unique. Grandeur and beauty, sombreness and gaiety, desolation 

 and overflowing life mark the scenes that here follow one another 

 in quick succession; but they are all desert pictures which this 

 landscape presents, and one must forget conventional standards in 

 order to appreciate them as they deserve. The man who is unable to 

 appreciate the desert, to revel in its wealth of colour, to endure its 

 scorching heat, and to find refreshment in its solemn night, would 

 do well to avoid the desert of the Nile. But he who travels 



