Page:Small-boat sailing; an explanation of the management of small yachts, half-decked and open sailing-boats of various rigs; sailing on sea and on river; cruising, etc (IA smallboatsailing01knig).pdf/303

 extraordinary; and, as she would not go about, the reis had to wear her each time—an operation which involved running fast up-stream before the wind for fully five minutes, before the clumsy craft, after jibing, would luff up and sail close-hauled again on the other tack. It was a curious and paradoxical style of navigation. The faster we wished to travel the less sail we carried, and we were at our best under bare poles or in a dead calm. It was only at the approach of danger that our prudent skipper hoisted all his canvas, and it was only when a clear channel was before him that he boldly furled both his sails and allowed his craft to rush madly down the stream. For thousands of years the indolent Nile mariners have been content with this leisurely navigation; and yet it would be easy, by fitting leeboards on one of these craft, to enable her to accomplish the downward voyage in less than half the time now occupied, for at high Nile the river is generally broad and unobstructed by rocks, so that a vessel could tack down boldly between bank and bank; it is only at the cataracts that caution has to be observed.

But, slow as it was, our voyage was an enjoyable one. After our long marches across the dreary deserts it was pleasant to get away from the dust-storm and the fiery heat, and float lazily down the broad stream. The country on either side looked wonderfully green and fertile to us; for from the water we could not see the barren sands that stretched