An authority on the country, Wallis Budge, wrote a short guide to the monuments of the Nile for the benefit of Thomas Cook & Son’s tourists in 1886. In twenty years, this work had become a thousand-page Hand-book for Egypt and the Sudan, fully the equal of Murray or Baedeker. In the preface Budge states, of course, that travellers in Egypt ‘owe the ease and comfort which they now enjoy in journeying through the country entirely to the efforts of Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son, who were the first to organise the tourists system, and to make Egypt and its wonderful antiquities accessible to all classes. They have spared neither pains nor money in perfecting their arrangements for tourists, and their officers are ever watchful to place promptly at the disposal of those who travel under their care the advantages of rapid and comfortable transit which are becoming more and more numerous owing to the steady development of the country under British influence.’
The last word on begging is a notice, printed verbatim in the handbook, issued by Lord Cromer, and the United States and German Consul Generaclass="underline" ‘The attention of the Egyptian authorities has been frequently drawn (in 1906) both by visitors and by residents of the country, to the evils resulting from the indiscriminate bestowal of “bakshish” to the inhabitants of the Nile villages, and other places visited by tourists during the winter season. The intention of the donors is no doubt kindly, but the practice — more especially in view of the yearly increase of visitors to Egypt — cannot fail to be detrimental to the moral sense and the social well-being of the poorer classes of the community. At the present time many of the poorer inhabitants of those towns on the Nile which are most visited by tourists live almost entirely on what they can obtain by “bakshish” during the winter months; the easy means thus afforded of obtaining a small livelihood prevents their adopting any form of labour; and children are brought up to regard the tourist season as the period during which they may, by clamorous begging, enable their parents and themselves to lead a life of idleness for the remainder of the year. The unhealthy tendency of such a system is obvious.’
After more of such advice the section concludes with a plea: ‘Tourists should especially abstain from throwing money from the decks of steamers on to the landing stages or on to the banks of the Nile for the purpose of witnessing the scramble for the coins; such exhibitions are mischievous as well as degrading.’
The writer of the handbook naturally wants tourists to look favourably on Egypt, and to appreciate the benefits the country has to offer, and with this end in view we are told that whoever visits the country for the first time ‘will certainly be delighted … but it is probable that he will not admire the natives with whom he will come in contact until he knows them fairly well’. He strains to give a balanced view by saying that the Egyptians in general ‘have never been accustomed to travel, and they look upon those who wander from country to country as beings who are possessed of restless though harmless devils’. The Egyptian whose character has not been tainted by cupidity ‘is a very estimable individual. He is proud of his religion, but is tolerant to a remarkable degree’, but ‘it must never be forgotten that the strictest Muhammadans despise the Christian faith in their hearts, although Christians are treated with civility’.
Now comes a paragraph, again from Cook’s handbook, which will no doubt find agreement with many people today.
The abolition of corporal punishment, by Lord Dufferin, early in 1883, has had effects which were not contemplated by him. As soon as the whip was abolished the people refused to work, and Lord Cromer says that the period which followed its abolition ‘caused him greater anxiety than any other’ during his lengthened Egyptian experience. Another result was that life and property became insecure, and Nubar Pasha was obliged to appoint ‘Commissions of Brigandage,’ that is, to introduce martial law. The Egyptian had also learned that no one can be punished for a crime unless he is proved guilty, and that proof of guilt which will satisfy the law courts is hard to get. The result has been that large numbers of guilty people have escaped punishment, and through the country the people have little respect for the Law. The inability of the governors to use the whip is the cause of the present state of unrest among a certain class of Egyptians, and it is clear that only corporal punishment will reduce this class to order and obedience.
In 1858 our traveller arranged his trip up the Nile, says Murray, by first hiring a dahabeyeh, which boat was provided with ‘at least two or three cabins and a bath; and the largest have a front cabin sufficiently spacious to accommodate a party of 8 or more persons at dinner. The price depends of course on the size of the boat and the number of men; but a large one, capable of accommodating 3 or 4 persons, generally lets for about 50 to 70 pounds a month. All furnished boats are supplied with divans and other furniture, a canteen, kitchen, fireplace, and all requisites for the journey except provisions.’
The boats are said to be very clean, ‘so that it is no longer necessary to have them sunk before going on board’. Then follows advice on destroying flies, still one of the plagues of Egypt, but much attention is paid to strict discipline in the boat, and obedience to orders, as long as they are reasonable and just. ‘But I am far from advising that constant use of the stick which is sometimes resorted to most unnecessarily: firmness and the determination of being obeyed seldom fail to command respect and obedience; for, when they know you will be obeyed, they will seldom disregard an order.’
It is just as well that ‘however much they may try to impose on one over whom they think to get the upper hand, they never harbour any feelings of revenge. In short, my advice is, to be strict and just, without unnecessary violence, in order to have the satisfaction of being indulgent.’
A system of rewards was suggested, in the event of the crew behaving well. On going up the river, ‘give them a sheep at some of the large towns, or a certain quantity of meat at least, as a reward for past exertions; but some travellers have spoilt them through a want of discrimination, and they now begin to look on it as a right, whether they deserve it or no. This should be resisted; and they should be made to understand that they are to have no reward till they have earned it. They are allowed a sheep no longer; but instead of it a small sum may be given to a crew if they have had much towing and have worked well; though certainly not if the wind has done all the work for them.’
At the end of the journey, when the crew is paid off, ‘they also expect about 24 piastres each if they have given satisfaction; if not, they should be dismissed with no more than 6 piastres each, and, if at all unruly, they should have nothing but an introduction to the police’.
Before setting out for the south a few items of interest may be culled from the various guidebooks on Lower Egypt. At the village of Bebayt-el-Hagar, we are told in Murray’s that the author ‘had the satisfaction of shooting the great enemy of the village, a large wolf, which in broad daylight was prowling about the field that now occupies part of the enclosure of the temple. It had been a great annoyance to the people, and had been in the habit of entering the village at night, and carrying off sheep, poultry, and whatever it could find; so that its death caused great joy among those who had suffered from its unwelcome visits.’
In the Wadi Natrun there were several monasteries, to which Arabs were not admitted, though if they had been they would not have made away with so many priceless Coptic manuscripts as did visiting Europeans. The Revd H. Tattam departed with ‘upwards of 50 volumes; among which was a treatise on Eusebius, not previously known, and on his return in 1842 he obtained four times that number of manuscripts, all indeed that were not used by the monks’.