llages along the Nile is as primitive as it is among the
Pueblo Indians of Arizona and New Mexico. Although their religion
admonishes them to wash before prayers, these peasants appear to pay
little heed to such rites. Men, women and children are extremely dirty,
and it is unusual to find anyone with good eyes. Inflammation of the
eyelids is the most common complaint and this disease is aggravated by
the fact that the natives make no effort to drive away the flies that
fasten upon the sore eyes of their little children. This is due to the
common superstition that it brings ill luck to brush off flies. At every
small station where the steamer stopped to land native passengers and
freight a score of villagers would be lined up, each afflicted with some
eye complaint, and all swarming with small black flies.

At only a few towns along the Nile from Luxor to Cairo were there any
houses which looked like comfortable homes. The great majority of the
houses were of sun-dried brick, and these were often in a ruinous
condition. Yet with their framework of graceful date palms, these
squalid villages would delight the eye of an artist. For nearly the
whole distance the west side of the Nile is marked off from the desert
by the high Libyan mountains, gleaming white and yellow in the brilliant
sunshine. These limestone cliffs were chosen for the tombs of the kings
at Thebes, and all along the river one could make out with a glass
frequent tombs carved in the steep sides of these hills. The other side
of the river was flat, with low ranges of hills. At sunrise and at
sunset the most exquisite colors transformed the country into a
veritable fairyland. The sun sank behind bands of purple and amethyst,
and his last rays brought out in sharp silhouette the statuesque forms
of women water-carriers and long lines of laden camels moving in ghostly
silence along the river bank. Very beautiful also were the pictures made
by the dahabiehs and other native boats, with their big lateen sails and
with the motley gathering of natives in the stern. All these boats have
enormous rudders which rise high out of the water and add greatly to the
effectiveness of the picture as seen against the sunset glow.

The atmosphere along the Nile is wonderfully clear, the sky is as blue
and lustrous as fine silk, and the wind blows up clouds in fantastic
shapes, which add greatly to the beauty of the scenery. All day the
little steamer passes half-ruined villages