NUBIA AND THE NILE RAPIDS. 383 



sparkle, and the mighty river rolls out its mighty melody, which is 

 ever the same arid yet eternally new. Such a glory, such a harmony, 

 fills the heart with contentment and rapture. The morning is 

 spent in devotional contemplation of this glorious spectacle, for it 

 is not till forenoon that the wind begins to blow from the north 

 and fill the sails. Work and danger, toil and struggle, hazard and 

 anxiety, begin anew; and thus one day follows another, and rapid 

 after rapid is at length overcome. 



The voyage up-stream is dangerous and tedious; the voyage 

 down-stream has no parallel in perilousness, such a mad rush is it 

 through flood and rapid, whirlpool and eddy, cataract and gorge, 

 an exciting game in which life is the stake. 



Voyages down-stream through the region of the rapids are only 

 undertaken by the special boats which are made for the purpose 

 in the Soudan. About ten per cent are smashed on the voyage, 

 and that the percentage of deaths is not equally high is simply due 

 to the ma.tchless swimming powers of the Nubian boatmen. Even 

 when they are dashed by the waves against a rock they do not 

 always drown; usually they are like ducks in the water, and reach 

 the shore in safety. 



Let me try to give a faithful picture of one of these down-stream 

 voyages. 



Six new boats, built of the much-prized heavy mimosa -wood 

 which sinks in water, are moored to the shore at the southern limit 

 of the third group of rapids. The men who compose their crews 

 are lying on sandy places between the black rocks, where they have 

 spent the night. It is still early morning and the camp is quiet; 

 only the river roars and murmurs in the solitude. As day dawns 

 the sleepers awake; one after another descends to the stream, and 

 performs the ablutions ordained to accompany morning prayer. 

 After the prescribed prayer has been uttered from "preface" to 

 "conclusion", they refresh themselves with a frugal breakfast. 

 Then old and young betake themselves to the tomb of a sheikh or 

 saint, whose white dome gleams among the light-green mimosas, 

 there to offer a special petition for a fortunate voyage. In this they 

 are led by the oldest Reis, or steersman, who represents the Imam. 



