have given them a carriage which women in this country might well
envy. Though generally dark-skinned and toil-worn, many of the younger
women are beautiful, while all have shapely and delicately-formed
limbs, and eyes and teeth of great beauty. At the water's edge the
children are engaged in scrubbing cooking-pots and other utensils,
while their elders are employed in washing their clothing or domestic
linen, when, after perhaps enjoying a bathe themselves, their
water-pots are filled, and, struggling up the steep bank, they
disappear towards the village. These water-pots, by the way, are
two-handled, and pretty in shape, and are always slightly conical at
the base, so that they are able to stand on the shelving river-banks
without falling, and for the same reason are nearly always carried
slightly sideways on the head. It is pretty to see the wonderful sense
of balance these girls display in carrying their water-pots, which
they seldom touch with their hand, and it is surprising also what
great weights even young girls are able to support, for a "balass"
filled with water is often a load too heavy for her to raise to her
head without the assistance of another. Like all the poor, they are
always obliging to each other, and I recently witnessed a pathetic
sight at one of these village watering-places, when an old woman, too
infirm to carry her "balass" herself, was with difficulty struggling
down the bank and leading a blind man, who bore her burden for her.




CHAPTER VI

THE NILE--II