as they
did not compare in interest or importance with Luxor, Karnak or Thebes,
I shall not try to describe them. The season was closing, the river
had fallen six feet while we were coming down stream, and the Nile was
now so low that we frequently stuck on the shifting sand-bars. As the
pilots could not see the channels in the dark, we tied up at some town
on the banks every night and consequently made slow time. After dinner
the shopkeepers brought down their wares, spread sheets on the ground
and opened up for business by torchlight and the light furnished by the
steamer. The "Corks" were active buyers for home consumption, and
after a violent passage of arms usually got what they wanted at a
discount of ninety per cent. from the first offer. If there is
anything on earth that these towns did not bring down to us, I want to
see it!--from monkeys to tame snakes in the line of living things, and
from lion skins to mummies in the dead. The natives were not allowed
on board, and as there was great jostling on shore, the "Corks" stood
on the deck and the articles for sale were rolled in bundles and fired
at them for inspection, the owners giving the price in _piastres_ by
signs on their fingers. After a native made a sale, his fellows took
him by the throat and ran him to the back of the dock. He had been
successful and they would not allow him to compete again that evening.
Toward the end, some "Corks" would risk it and mix with the crowd on
shore, but their clothes were literally torn off them in a few moments,
which caused an immediate retreat. The natives were so excited and
each so persistent in his efforts to get more than his share of the
trade, that they frequently pushed one another into the Nile, wetting
themselves and their wares, much to the amusement of the onlookers.
But high above this rude brawling the scarab stood alone. When a fresh
bag of them was opened, a blight fell on all other wares. Bargaining
in them, indeed, was regarded as a kind of sacred function, as it was
believed we were dealing in the jewels and mascots of the deadest
people in all history. No greater investment could possibly be made
than to float a corporation and start a factory in Connecticut for
their manufacture and distribution, for it is but the few who may own
the genuine--there aren't enough to go round. None of the manufactured
product need be offered in America; they can all be absorbed on the
Nile. One man shoute