SCENE ON THE NILE NEAR WADY DABOD, WITH CROCODILES.

 

 

THIS scenery is very characteristic of the Nile in Nubia; the mountains break into bold forms, the rocks are often precipitous, and islands rise abruptly from the river. Here the view is taken looking down the Nile. Wady Dabod, or the valley of Dabod, lies on the western side of the river, but the Temple of Wady Dabod is situated too far on the left to be introduced in the view. Some Egyptian ruins crest the summit of the island, but, like other masses of ancient structures, which can often be traced on the borders of the Nile, enough scarcely remains to reward the traveller for the labour of research into their history.

    Here our artist observed many crocodiles. Those brutes, so characteristic of the Nile that they may be considered its emblems,

unlike the changelings of the land, are the lineal descendants of those who were worshipped in certain places in the valley, and contemporary with its earliest Pharaohs. It is the sport of the Nile traveller to shoot at these poor animals; the first crocodile seen on the ascent of the river is a red-letter day in his journal, and his success in killing one is a triumph. They are often seen basking in the sun on the sand-banks, but on the approach of a boat they generally take to the water. Mr. Roberts says, they do not dive into the river – they seem to be denied the power of swimming, and are never seen to float – but enter the water by walking down the slopes and mud-banks; and if steep, their tails are seen out in the angle of the slope, and slowly descend into the water, until they wholly disappear. Of the birds which are always seen near them the Arabs tell strange tales, and assert that they may be constantly seen picking flies from the mouths of the crocodiles, which are open when the animals are dormant.

 

                     Roberts’s Journal.