“Voyage up the Nile, From Alexandria to Cairo
Monday, November 3d, 1838.––
...At night the wind failed, and the germ was alternately dragged along by a rope, or wafted by a breeze in the sudden turns and angles of the river. The moon shone magnificently on the low banks of the Delta: we seemed to glide within an arm's length of the shore, while a fountain of silvery light fell upon the rich carpet of green, the tufted palms, and other trees of less height, but more graceful outline. The occasional note of the Arab pipe sounded from the village solitudes; the plaintive boat-song just roused from deep repose a bevy of aquatic birds that squatted on the newly deposited mud; our mariners in their national costume, with their turbans of red and white, all fierce and bustling in their aspect, as they ran along by the water's edge, pulling the boat, and joining in one full, vigorous burst of song; all these novelties blended wildness with beauty, and gave a scene bordering on romance.”
[Sketches by a Resident in Cairo, The Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine, 1846]