TOWING, TACKING, AND SAILING. 395 
perienced at Khartoom. We had to lay-to so often 
that walking on shore was resorted to as a pastime ; 
and we were glad to renew our acquaintance with the 
Persian wheel, driven seemingly by the same old bul- 
locks and the same drivers as are seen on the plains of 
Hindostan ; even the squeaking music from the wheels 
was there to complete the parallel. 
The management of the diabeah was left entirely to 
the captain, who, with his crew, tried every possible 
means of progress — towing, tacking, sailing, and row- 
ing ; but all generally failed. The truth is, they were 
waiting for a fair wind, and preferred a little quiet 
society on shore every evening, to making any great 
exertion to get to their journey's end. When they 
rowed, the boat was held with its broadside in the 
direction we wished to take ; and when they tacked 
from shore to shore across the river, which was a mile 
broad, we stuck as regularly as the tack was made, 
not getting off till the crew jumped into the water 
and pushed the diabeah. Instead of making progress 
by these movements, we generally lost ground, in con- 
sequence of the awkward way they had of making the 
boat wheel a complete circle, or fall off the wind at 
the particular moment of changing the tack. Towing 
was willingly adopted by the crew, who harnessed 
themselves to ropes, and walked at a staid pace on the 
hard part of the shore. However, at this operation it 
was often very disheartening to find the wind blow, 
retarding, and finally stopping their advance. We gen- 
erally put up for the night by the shore, to enable the 
crew to eat their dinners, and we were on the move by 
daybreak. When at Shijr Nagara (literally, tree-drums) 
we were told that, if we stood by a solitary tree on the 
