152 JOURNEY TO CENTRAL AFRICA.

CHAPTER XII.

PHILiB AND THE CATARACT.

An Official Visit— Acbmefs Dexterity— The Island of Elephantine— Nubian Children-Trip to Philoe— Linant Bey— The Island of Philse— Sculptures— The Negro Race-Breakfast in a Ptolemaic Temple— The Island of Biggeh — Backsheesh — The Cataract — The Granite Quarries of Assouan— The Travellers separate.

" "Where Nile reflects the endless length Of dark-red colonnades." — Macaulay.

We had scarcely moored our vessel to the beach at Assou an, before a messenger of the G-overnor arrived to ask if there was an American on board. He received the information, and we were occupied in preparing ourselves for an excursion to the island of Elephantine, when Achmet called to us : " The Governor is coming." We had no time to arrange our cabin for his reception ; he was already at the door, with two attendants, and the most I could do was to clear sufficient space for a seat on my divan. His Excellency was a short, stout, broadfaced man, with large eyes, a gray beard and a flat nose. He wore a semi-European dress of brown cloth, and was blunt though cordial in his manners. His attendants, one of whom was the Captain of the Cataract, wore the Egyptian dress, with black turbans. They saluted us by touching their hands