356 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



one is left, a son of Khahira, the mother of the world, whom sleep 

 still refuses to bless. From beside the flickering camp-fire comes 

 his simple, tremulous song — 



Sweet night, dear night, thou mak'st me sad. 



Longer thou seem'st and alway longer ; 

 No peace from thee I ever had, 



With thee day's pain grows ever stronger. 



Oh, gentle night, how long, how long, 

 Since these poor eyes last saw her beauty ! 



Seeing aught else they do her wrong ; 

 When will she come to claim their duty 1 



Oh, tender night, now hovering near. 



Lighten Love's load, and my undoing! 

 Bring Peace to me. Peace to my Dear, 



Shelter my Sweet, and speed my wooing ! 



But this lover's plaint, also dies away, and the silence of the night is 

 unbroken save by the murmurings of the wavelets on the sacred 

 river. 



NUBIA AND THE NILE RAPIDS.* 



Egypt and Nubia, though immediately adjacent, and closely 

 connected by a river common to both, are essentially different 

 countries. Through Egypt the sacred Nile flows with leisurely 

 dignity, through Nubia it rushes in furious haste; over Egypt it 

 distributes its blessings widely, in Nubia it is hemmed in by high 

 rocky banks; in Egypt it triumphs over the desert, in Nubia the 

 desert is supreme; Egypt is a garden which the river has formed 

 after thousands of years of ceaseless labour. Nubia is a desert 

 which it cannot conquer. Of course this desert has its oases like 

 any other, but they are few and scarcely worth considering in com- 

 parison with the lands on both sides of the stream which remain 



* In order to understand and appreciate this chapter the reader should bear 

 in mind that the Nile is in flood from June to about the end of September, being 

 at its highest in the latter month, and at its lowest in April. At low. Nile the 

 rapids present a very different appearance from what they do at high Nile. 



