I HAD placed my bed on a rock high enough to get the benefit of any breath of cooler air which the north breeze might bring; the nightly drop in the temperature usual in the desert does not obtain in like manner on the edge of the Nile. Our exalted2 position on the roof of Edfu temple had been conducive3 to sleep, and during the first three nights I slept well, perched up on my rock. Strange dreams, however, disturbed the fourth night. My identity got hopelessly mixed up with that of Horus; the steam-launch and the ship I had copied at Edfu temple became a composite craft, with the lassoed hippopotamus4 serving as a drag anchor. I resented the anxiety shown by the goddess in the prow5 to meet the handsome young king on the bank, and felt I was handicapped in my courtship by having a hawk’s head. My divinity was outweighed6 by the good looks of the mortal, and I was preparing to use my spear in as effective a manner on him as I had on the hippopotamus, when the boat bumped heavily against the bank and awoke me.
I was shivering on the rock, having fallen out of my bed, and was soon conscious enough to know that271 I had fever. I never sleep out of doors without having a blanket handy to pull over me in case of a sudden drop in the temperature, and I made use of it now. I could not trust myself to climb down the rock and get to the more sheltered place of my companions, nor could I make any one hear me. Slowly the night went by, shivering fits alternating with fantastic dreams—yet no inclination7 to rise came with the dawn. I heard shouts from below that breakfast was ready, but all the breakfast I wanted was a dose of quinine. My friend climbed up bringing me the drug, and was anxious to see what was the matter. Thinking it was a touch of the malarious8 fever which for years I had been subject to, I hoped that in a day or two I should be all right again. I could not, however, remain where I lay, for as the sun got up, so my rock became untenable. Getting into the shade of the tomb, which we called our living-room, ways and means were discussed, I acquiescing9 in whatever my friend proposed.
Assuan was the nearest place where a doctor could be found, and a four-mile ride would take us to the nearest station on the line. A train left about two o’clock, and donkeys might be obtainable at the nearest village. We drifted down the Nile to the nearest spot from which we could ride to the station, and while writing these lines that ride comes back to me as a horrible nightmare. The midday sun of June in Upper Egypt is carefully avoided by those in the best of health, even when a well-saddled donkey is obtainable. But ill as I was, with nothing but a sack of straw for a saddle, the trials of that ride are indescribable. My sketching272 umbrella and pith helmet were a protection from the direct rays of the sun, but none from the scorching10 heat which rose from the baked soil. When we left the sandstone rocks on our right we got on to the cultivated land, and I could see the little station, across the plain, trembling in the heated air. I managed somehow to get there without tumbling off the straw sack, and I had that sack taken off my donkey to use it as a pillow on the station floor. Some fellaheen were lying about on the flags, and even they seemed overcome with the oven-like heat of the station, on the flat roof of which the vertical11 rays of the sun had been beating.
The train service in Upper Egypt is excellent while the tourist season is on; but, as may be supposed, few trains crawl along the desert track in midsummer. Happily there is generally one first-class car attached, on the chance of some official being obliged to make a journey, and in this car there is often a sunk well in the floor, which serves as a small ice cellar. I had at other times unfavourably contrasted the luxuriousness13 of the official car with the cattle trucks which seemed good enough for the natives. I forgave them readily enough now, while I greedily drank of the cold water obtainable by means of the ice cellar. Fortunately, also, one decent hotel remains14 open at Assuan after the more luxurious12 ones put up their shutters15. I could, therefore, look forward to a comfortable bed after the five long hours of the train journey.
Page 272
THE VILLAGE OF MARG
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273 When the proprietor17 seemed satisfied that I had neither the plague nor cholera18, a room was got ready for me, and the only European doctor then in Assuan was soon at my bedside. He was a kind-hearted Swiss missionary19, who had still four days to remain here before he left for Jerusalem, and should I not be well enough to move then, the permanent medical man at the dam could be sent for from Shellal. He said I was down with sunstroke, and ordered an ice-bag to be put to my head, and told me I could put another on my chest if I liked. He looked in again about midnight, and several Englishmen also called to offer any assistance they could give. Who they were and what they said I only found out when I returned to Egypt the following season. One sentence, however, I understood, and that was that the thermometer had reached 124 degrees in the shade during the afternoon. I was also conscious enough, when left alone, of a cutting pain in the right side of my chest, and decided20 to dispense21 with the ice-bag there until I knew what this pain meant. I heard voices in another room, and a declaration of ‘no trumps,’ also an argument about ‘going diamonds,’ and I felt a certain comfort that countrymen of mine were near at hand.
While I lay awake that night a curious sensation that I was two people got hold of me. Was it I or my double who felt this cutting pain? And whose turn was it to take the medicine the doctor had left? It was very nasty, and I rather resented that my double had not fairly shared in the taste. The Ka (which the ancient Egyptians believed was born with the body, as distinct from the soul) served as a guardian22 spirit or ‘double,’ who accompanied the mortal during his lifetime and tended to his wants after death as long as his remains were preserved in their mummy state. One of274 us must be this Ka, I thought; and whether I or the other fellow was the ‘double’ exercised what little mind I could bring to bear on the subject.
The Swiss missionary came early the next day, and was evidently not satisfied that sunstroke was entirely23 my complaint. He sounded my chest, and called out, ‘Oh, it is pleurisy.’ He seemed very excited, and said that, though occupied most of his time with people’s bodies, it was their souls which concerned him most. ‘As a doctor I can give you no hope, but as a missionary I can tell you that everything is possible with God. What is your name?’ I told him this, and, startled as I was, I still puzzled whether the name applied24 to me or to my ‘double.’ I can just recall the good man going down on his knees, and also his loud and earnest prayers; but owing to my semi-delirious state I can recall nothing of the latter but the good man’s foreign accent.
Why pleurisy should have so much alarmed him I cannot say, as I can recall many who have got the better of it. One good thing about it was that I could be attended to by the hotel servants, who up till that time would not answer my bell; they evidently were not satisfied till then that I was not down with cholera. The fever abated25 somewhat with the new treatment, and I was able to recognise Weigall and one or two other acquaintances who looked in. The doctor was most attentive26, and advised my going with him as far as Assiout, where there is a good hospital run by the American Mission. He called in the native medical man to get a second opinion as to whether I could do275 the journey, and between the two of them it was decided that I had better risk the journey than risk remaining in the terrible heat of Assuan without any means of proper nursing.
The Swiss doctor would accompany me as far as Assiout, and he would wire to the mission to have me met at the station and take me to the hospital.
We left Assuan after I had been there four days, and a friend who was a manager of the line got a sleeping-car put on to the train. We started in the morning, and after a thirteen-hour journey we reached Assiout in the dead of night. Here I had to part company with the Swiss doctor, who was on his way to Jerusalem. Now, whether the telegram ever reached the mission or not I can’t say; anyhow, the doctor looked in vain for any one connected with the hospital. A good Samaritan in the shape of a Scot, connected with the government, had fortunately travelled down in the same train, and by good luck Assiout was his destination also. I can recall his carrying me to a carriage, and I can also recall his slapping the cheek of a native who tried to force his way in while he clamoured for baksheesh.
He rang up the hall-porter at the hospital, when we reached it, and asked if I was not expected. The porter knew nothing about it, and said every one had retired27 for the night; there was, however, an empty bed in the room kept for occasional paying patients. I was then placed on that bed while the porter was sent to inform the head of the mission of my arrival. On his return he told us that the hakim was dressing28 and would be down in a few minutes; there was therefore no276 occasion for the Scotsman, who had been such a friend in need, to wait any longer. It was then about one o’clock, and I lay on that bed till half-past seven in the morning before I saw another soul except that porter, and he kept out of my way as much as he could, for I don’t believe he ever went to the doctor’s rooms.
Never shall I forget that night, and how I regretted that I had not spent it in the train and gone to a hospital in Cairo. The porter snored in the passage until it was time for him to give out doses to the patients, and then he rang a bell just over the entrance to my room and bawled29 out the names of those who were to take their medicine. The watchmen in the street, at intervals30, called wahed with a long plaintive31 drawl on the last syllable32, and this started every sleeping dog barking once more. A fretful baby in a dormitory next to my room put a treble to the bass33 notes of the watchmen and the howling of the dogs. I tried to awaken34 the snoring brute35 of a porter so that I might get something to drink; but my voice was not strong enough to have any effect, and I had to lie there perishing with thirst till the time came for that dreadful bell to be rung. When finally he brought me a glass of milk my ‘double’ was once more keeping me company—and one small glass for two people seemed a perfect mockery of my thirst. Thus I lay in the clothes I travelled in till a vision of a ministering angel, in white cap and pinafore, appeared in the doorway36.
She asked the porter who I was and when I had arrived, for until that moment no one in the hospital was aware of my existence except that lying porter.277 She sent for the doctor, got a sleeping-suit out of my trunk, and with the help of a male attendant she put me to bed.
Dr. Henry, an active, rather over-middle-aged American who has charge of the mission, was about as great a contrast to the little Swiss doctor as it is possible to conceive. He asked no questions till he had sounded my chest, and then gave the ministering angel, otherwise Sister Dora, orders to prepare a pneumonia37 jacket. ‘Ever had pneumonia before?’ he jerked out, and on my saying that I had not, and also that the Swiss doctor said I had pleurisy, he retorted, ‘Guess you’ve got both.’ Possibly lying all night between the open window and door had added this to the list of my complaints.
Dr. Henry was too practical a man to waste much thought on idle speculations38 as to causes; here was something definite to go for, and he went for it in good earnest. ‘That lung is clearing itself tiptop,’ he would say with professional pride after the fourth or fifth examination. The sunstroke was curing itself, unless my ‘double,’ who had left me, had gone off with it. The pneumonia jacket and the night noises were my chief discomfort39 after a few days. Assiout was distinctly cooler than Assuan, though there is plenty of room for heat without reaching 124° of Fahrenheit40 in the shade. A cotton-wool jacket about two inches thick was a severe trial and it stuck to me like a wet hot sponge, and before it was thinned down to vanishing point I was covered with prickly heat which I did not lose till after I had got back to England.
278 I was very anxious to write home, as my wife must have been alarmed at not having heard for some time. The Swiss doctor’s gloomy forecasts might easily be correct, and I wished to put my affairs in order. Writing was, however, such an exertion41 that I decided first to ask Dr. Henry whether my chances of recovery were good, and if so to put off correspondence until I could more easily manage it.
I asked him to tell me if I was likely to die, and his short ‘Guess not’ acted as a stimulant42, and one also which was not followed by a reaction. Had I not had that irritating prickly heat I should have enjoyed the feeling of daily gaining strength. Three other nurses used to come and relieve Sister Dora; the head one was a fine strapping43 American lady with a strong and cheery face which acted like a tonic44. There was also a sister from Holland who could wash me as clean as a Dutch milk-can. I could chat with her in her own language, and while we talked of the juicy green meadows of her country, it seemed to make my room feel cooler. I saw least of the German sister, who had some accident cases which took up most of her time. What a godsend to have educated women who will devote their lives to alleviating45 the sufferings of so many people!
The hospital was full to overflowing46; but, being the only European patient, I had the room allotted47 to them to myself. The two assistant doctors were both ill themselves, and the whole burden fell on Dr. Henry alone and his excellent nurses. No wonder he had not much time for conversation.
279 Sister Dora had been in Morocco before she came to Egypt, and was able to tell of her experiences while nursing the sick in Fez. I was also interested to hear about this mission, and how it is supported; for it is a large building, equipped for a hundred in-patients, which number was at that time using it. It is a great work, and though Assiout has a good government hospital, there is more than room enough for both. Subscriptions48 to the mission fell off when statistics showed that converts from Mohammedanism were few—a proof of Dr. Henry’s honesty; for the converted Egyptian Moslem49 hardly exists, whatever other statistics may attempt to prove. He did a great work amongst the Copts, Assiout being more or less their headquarters, and a large proportion of the patients in the hospital were Copts.
One Sunday afternoon a chorus of men singing in the next ward16 surprised me. The tune50 seemed familiar, and tunes51 rendered by unassisted Egyptians are not always easy to follow. It was an Arabic version of Sankey’s ‘Safe in the Arms of Jesus.’ Loud prayers to Allah followed, asking Him to look down in compassion52 on these sick people. It was very touching53 to hear the afflicted54 ones calling out Ameem! Ameem! whenever there was a pause in the deep voice of the Elder. I was informed by Sister Dora that a Coptic Plymouth brother visited that ward (which was set apart for the Christian55 patients) every Sunday, and held a service. A sermon in Arabic with no mention of Mohammed was new to me, and familiar texts in that sonorous56 language sounded very much as they must have sounded to280 Hebrew ears. The Arabic of an educated Egyptian has a strong affinity57 with the original language of the Old Testament58.
After about ten days Dr. Henry told me that my lung was cleared, ‘and, mind you, if you had not been a teetotaller, you could never have pulled through this.’ I had to disappoint him by telling him that I had never taken the pledge; the disappointment did not abash59 him, as I expected it would. ‘The little you’ve taken has made no difference, anyhow,’ was his answer. I seldom feel the want of stimulant, but I felt it strongly then. I longed for a glass of port, and I told him so. He shook his head: total abstinence was the rule of the mission. There was something, however, in my next medicine that proved that the word ‘total’ must not always be taken too literally60. It tasted very like a favourite prescription61 friends in Oporto order on the least provocation62. I drank Sister Dora’s health in it, likewise that of the three other ladies who brightened the lives of all who entered this hospital. The only health the three doctors seemed to neglect was their own. One had to leave, during my stay, to try to recruit in a cooler climate, another was awaiting an operation, and Dr. Henry looked as if the strain of overwork was telling on him.
I left Assiout by the same night train which had brought me there from Assuan, and recruited sufficiently63 during ten days in Cairo to enable me to take the homeward voyage.
Having arrived at Assiout and having left it also during the night, I have seen no more of what is considered281 the capital of Upper Egypt than I could see from my bedroom window in the hospital.
I often feel indignant at the sneers64 the very word missionary provokes amongst the self-indulgent people I meet in the hotels in eastern countries; for whatever the religious or moral convictions of these critics may be, their self-indulgence contrasts unfavourably with the self-denial of the many missionaries65 I have happened to meet.
After a stay of three months in England, I was ready to return to Egypt to complete a series of water-colour drawings for a future one-man show in London. The incidents related in this volume have not always followed a consecutive66 order: some took place after my return to Cairo, when also several of the illustrations to this book were painted. At Luxor I ran across my Scottish good Samaritan, whom I had not seen since he left me to the care of the hospital porter. He asked me if I remembered his slapping the face of the man who had importuned67 us while we drove from Assiout station, and on my replying that I did, he told me that on the following day he received a summons to appear before the Mamoor for assault and battery. This might have led to very serious consequences had the Mamoor reported him to his chief in Cairo, for to strike a native is as much as an Englishman’s place in a government office is worth. It would also have been an easy way for the Mamoor to gain popularity with the Moslems, to have got a British official dismissed for such an offence. Fortunately the Scotsman had made the Mamoor’s acquaintance on a previous visit to Assiout, and both282 men liked each other. When the native had told his version of the services he had rendered and the brutal68 reward he received, my friend explained what really happened, namely, that while he was lifting an apparently69 dying compatriot into the cab, this man, who had done no more than to pick up the hat which had fallen off the sick man’s head, tried, in his greed for baksheesh, to force his way into the cab as it was driving off. For this impertinence he received his slap in the face.
‘Come here,’ said the Mamoor, ‘and show me exactly where you were struck.’ The man approached and showed his left cheek, whereupon the modern Solomon gave him a smart slap on the right one, and told him that neither cheek could then be jealous of its fellow.
For once I left Egypt before the exodus70 of the tourists, as I was due in Japan before the cherry-trees had shed their blossom. As the ship slowly moved through the Suez Canal, the remembrance of unpleasant hours I had spent in Egypt vanished with the smoke from the funnel71, and only happy recollections sped me on my voyage from the Near to the Far East.
The End
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inmate
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| n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人 | |
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exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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conducive
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| adj.有益的，有助的 | |
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hippopotamus
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| n.河马 | |
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prow
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| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
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outweighed
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| v.在重量上超过( outweigh的过去式和过去分词 )；在重要性或价值方面超过 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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malarious
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| （患）疟疾的，（有）瘴气的 | |
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acquiescing
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的现在分词 ) | |
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scorching
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| adj. 灼热的 | |
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vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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luxuriousness
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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cholera
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| n.霍乱 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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abated
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| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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bawled
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| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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pneumonia
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| n.肺炎 | |
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speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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Fahrenheit
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| n./adj.华氏温度；华氏温度计(的) | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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stimulant
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| n.刺激物，兴奋剂 | |
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strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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tonic
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| n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的 | |
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alleviating
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| 减轻，缓解，缓和( alleviate的现在分词 ) | |
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overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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subscriptions
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| n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助 | |
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Moslem
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| n.回教徒，穆罕默德信徒；adj.回教徒的，回教的 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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51
tunes
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| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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52
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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affinity
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| n.亲和力，密切关系 | |
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testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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abash
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| v.使窘迫，使局促不安 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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prescription
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| n.处方，开药；指示，规定 | |
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provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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sneers
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| 讥笑的表情（言语）( sneer的名词复数 ) | |
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missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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66
consecutive
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| adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的 | |
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importuned
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| v.纠缠，向（某人）不断要求( importune的过去式和过去分词 )；（妓女）拉（客） | |
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68
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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69
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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exodus
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| v.大批离去，成群外出 | |
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funnel
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| n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集 | |
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