A GERMAN NILE JOITRNE Y.*
IF we contrast this handsome volume with the less pretentious books of travel which delighted the last generation, it may be taken as not a bad representation of the difference there is between travelling on the Nile thirty or forty years ago, and the luxury of the same journey as performed nowadays. It is certainly no small advantage to the traveller of this day to be able to put himself and his wishes into the hands of Messrs. Cook, who, besides possessing the steamboat navigation of the Nile, have at their disposal a number of well turned-out dahabies. In a few hours they will provide a vessel and crew at a fixed tariff, and the traveller knows that he can claim assistance from their steamers and at their offices all the way up the Nile as far as Assouan. But we maintain that this facility and luxury has a tendency to vulgarise travel ; and fortunately, in consequence of the law of compensation which generally pervades life, those people who have nothing to do but pay, and who find everything cut-and-dried to their hand, do not know what real enjoyment is. We feel sure that the small difficulties to be overcome enhanced the pleasure of travelling in former days. Let it not be supposed, however, that we class among the advantages the necessity which too often existed in the old days of sinking the vessel in order to get rid of the vermin ! But the having to fit out the boat for oneself in all that is needful, to make a fireplace for the cook, to procure a great variety of cooking utensils, large porous jars to keep the water cool, provisions which could not be obtained up the country, and all the thousand other preparations required,—all this had a charm and was a source of amusement. It was a thorough pie-nic life, but a pie-nic under a glorified form, with nothing even to be feared from uncertain or bad weather, but under the most perfect climate that could be desired. Nowadays, everything is found ready, and only needs paying for. All European luxuries and unnecessary elegances are to be had,—a case where le super-flu c'est nicessaire. " Our dahabia possessed the extreme of every comfort and luxury." The pictures of the cabins show them to be worthy
• Nikfahrt. Von B. v. Ckuncenbach. Mit Mustrationen von Resell° Mainella. Stuttgart, Leipzig, Berlin, Wien : Deutsche Verlag' Anstalt. 1E00.
of an English boudoir. The Nilfahrt is an edition de luxe very
well got-up, and filled with profuse and very well engraved illustrations—many of which are interesting and clever, some of which are really beautiful and would deserve framing—but here too we feel rather overwhelmed, and complain of too much luxury. A feeling almost of surfeit is caused at last : if half were away, the remainder would be doubled in value. It is too much like a scrap-book ; there is not a blank page any- where ; and it is especially overdone with little odds-and-ends
of drawings stuck about everywhere, in the corners, in the margins, really a tort et a travers,—a beetle, a native umbrella, a pot of the country, a handle of a sword, an idol, and dozens
of other objects. At first they please; they seem appropriate to the text, and, we think, were probably observed at such-and-such a date. Gradually, however, we are not so pleased, for again the same beetle, umbrella, pot, handle, or idol seems to recur. We look back and compare. Yes ; the very same. We look on, and find there they are, each and all of them several times over, in season and out of season, just as illustrations are stuck into a child's scrap-book ; and the charm of the little drawings, which had been great if they had each stood alone, is greatly diminished. This is a real fault, for it lowers one's apprecia- tion of the rest.
The book is written in journal form, and the exception to be taken against it is that it is sometimes rather tedious reading, owing to the often uneventful life. On the other hand, if the reader has the courage and perseverance to wade through it, he will be rewarded by gaining a great deal of very truthful information about Egypt, and a very clear impression of the present outward condition of the country, and will see between the lines much of interest with reference to the present English occupation and the benefits which have accrued therefrom. It is rather crowded with detail, but also simply and unaffectedly told, and entirely free from any writing for effect, or with any preconceived theory of any kind. It is written with a mind entirely open to any impression from the outside. In this way, it is valuable as well as interesting. We cannot do better than conclude with a paragraph on the British occupation, where the advantages are plainly stated, and where it is not necessary to read between the lines :-
"Although England has reduced her army of occupation to a minimum, she continues to take firmer hold of the administration of the land, and the time of her evacuation of Egypt is for the present not within sight, notwithstanding the complaint of France. The population of Cairo, that is to say, the quiet, un- fanatical portion, does not wish for the evacuation ; and this was further shown me by the expression used by the fat Mamur in Assuan', to my question whether the country were satisfied with the English influence. Oh yes ! Formerly the administration was this,' and he drew in the air with his fat hand, which held the rosary, a zig-zag line. Now under the English it is thus,' and with his forefinger traced a straight line. Ninety years ago the young Bonaparte asserted that the way to India was through Egypt, and not round by the Cape of Good Hope. England did not for a long time subscribe to this proposition, at least not officially. When the Suez Canal question took form, her attention was roused, but during the long period of construction, Lesseps had no worse opponent than England. When at last the Canal was an accomplished fact, England to a certain extent changed her policy at once, and the change was made patent by her buying up the Khedive Ismail's interests. Since then, the British Cabinet has not lost sight of Egypt, but has got the management of Egyptian affairs more and more into its own hands. The land thrives and gains security under the well-trusted protection which the English afford to the Oriental. It is beyond doubt that the guardianship of Egypt by a single country must be more profit- able than if it were an international affair; and it also lies in the nature of things that in this political guardianship, the guardian should require and obtain the supremacy of his own flag. England has undertaken the political mission of reorganising Egypt, and is carrying it out with true British tenacity. I doubt much if she will ever again play the part of the pelican as she did to Greece with the Ionian Islands. An English Premier who could put his signature to a document which gave back Egypt to the Egyptians, is not yet born. However, the traveller who has sympathy with the Egyptians and their country can wish nothing better for them than that the English occupation should continue through a long period of years."
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