when approaching an exceptionally dangerous bit of water, he carried mainsail as well as foresail, so that the vessel remained practically stationary, the wind pressure just counteracting the influence of the current; and he was thus enabled to scan the broken water below him at leisure, select his road, and form his plan of action, before reducing canvas again and allowing the boat to be carried down. The old reis rose in my estimation; for though, when in safe reaches of the river, lazy, awkward in the handling of his boat, frequently running into the bank, or grounding on a shoal through sheer carelessness, he was always, when put on his mettle by the perils of a cataract, the able skipper, prompt in action, possessing unerring judgment and iron nerve. When descending a cataract it is, of course, always well to have a contrary wind, as was the case that day. When a south wind combines with the torrent to drive a vessel through these rock-sown rapids, the most skilful reis can have but little control over her course, and it must be by good luck chiefly that disaster is avoided.
In the evening of the same day we came to the ruins of an old Roman fort, crowning a height on the left bank. Here the channel is much narrowed, being hemmed in by rocky bluffs. The Nile, pouring through this defile, is dashed into a wild confusion of breakers, whirlpools, and shifting eddies. It was an extraordinary and ever-changing spectacle. The water boiled and roared around us as in a
