318 EXTRACTS FROM 
The following morning we drove at an early hour to the 
large barracks of Kasr-el-Nil, and went on board the steamer, 
which was lying below them. It was our good old vessel the 
‘Feruz,’ with which were connected so many delightful 
recollections of the happy plains of Upper Egypt. The dusky 
Admiral was again in command of his trusty boat, and in a 
few minutes we were moving down-stream. 
To eyes accustomed to far greater charms, Cairo and Lower 
Egypt, at first so enchanting, now looked tame and dull; and it 
is not until one returns to them that one learns to fully 
appreciate the glorious colouring and the striking, almost 
tropical aspects of nature in Upper Egypt. 
We were now on our way to the famous Barrage of the 
Nile. We first passed a number of old houses leading down 
to the water’s edge, and then came to the place where several 
of the Viceroy’s yachts, the mail steamers, and a perfect fleet 
of dahabeeyahs were lying side by side. On the left bank 
were country houses and luxuriant gardens; on the right the 
town, the Shfibra Avenue, the palace of the same name, and 
the lofty trees of the great park. These interesting scenes, 
however, soon vanished, and we saw over the crumbling banks 
of the river the monotonous cultivated districts of Lower 
Egypt. 
Several solitary Egyptian Geese and numbers of ducks, but 
not many other water-birds, were observed as we steamed past 
various long sandy islands, and we soon came in sight of the 
singular bridge-like construction of the Barrage. 
At this southernmost point of the delta the Rosetta and 
Damietta arms of the Nile separate, and the tongue of land 
dividing the two channels is connected with the mainland by 
iron bridges and gigantic dams. These were built by 
Mohammed Ali to keep back the Nile when it is low, so that 
the innumerable canals of the delta might then be supplied 
with water as well as during the time of the inundation. 
