34 MOUTH OF THE NILE. 
CHAP, and such positive injunctions issued by the 
Commander-in-chief against attempting to pass 
when the signal was removed, that we supposed 
the Arabs belonging to the djerm would take us 
back to the fleet. The wind was, however, 
against our return; and the crew of the boat 
persisted in saying that a passage was practi- 
cable. It was accordingly attempted ; but the 
surf soon drove us back, and we narrowly 
escaped being overwhelmed by it. A second 
attempt was then made, nearer to the eastern 
side of the river's mouth. We prevailed upon 
some English sailors, who were on board, to let 
the Arabs have their own way, and not interfere 
with the management of the djerm, however 
contrary it might seem to their usual maxims. 
Never was there a more fearful sight, nor a 
scene of greater confusion, than ensued when 
we reached the middle of the tremendous surf a 
second time. The yells of the Arabs, the oaths 
of the sailors, the roaring of the waters, the 
yawning gulphs occasionally disclosing to us 
the bare sand upon the bar, while we were 
tossed upon the boiling surf, and, to complete 
the whole, the spectacle afforded by anothei- 
djerm swamped and wrecked before our eyes, 
as we passed with the velocity of lightning, 
onable to render the least assistance, can nevef 
