scientific and methodical manner, deep cuttings following the veins
of good stone which only was extracted, while the river front has
remained practically untouched--a contrast to the modern method of
quarrying, where the most striking bluffs upon the Nile are being
recklessly blown away, causing an enormous waste of material as well
as seriously affecting the beauty of the scenery.




CHAPTER VII

THE NILE--III


After a river journey of 583 miles from Cairo, Assuan is
reached--limit of Egypt proper and the beginning of an entirely new
phase of Nile scenery. Cultivation in any large sense has been left
behind, and we are now in Nubia, a land of rock and sand, sparsely
inhabited, and, excepting in very small patches along the water's
edge, producing no crops.

[Illustration: FIRST CATARACT FROM ELEPHANTINE ISLAND.]

Built at the northern end of what is called the first cataract, Assuan
is perhaps the most interesting and prettily-situated town in Upper
Egypt. Facing the green island of Elephantine and the golden
sand-drifts which cover the low range of hills across the river,
Assuan stretches along the river-bank, its white buildings partly
screened by the avenue of palms and lebbek-trees which shade its