REPAYING KINDNESS

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1940, Page 3

REPAYING KINDNESS

SAILING TRIP ON NILE NEW ZEALANDERS' IDEA (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service). Egypt, Aug. 19. In a day's picnic outing on the vvaters of the Nile, two youn? New Zealand soldiers discovered an ingenlous way of repaying kindness exteiided to them by an English family living near the camp of the First Contingent at Maadi. The soldiers, who are brothsrs. hired for the occasion a quaint, high-masted sailing craft typical of those which for centuries have made their unhurried way up and down the river. For the mother and the two young children of the family, the New Zealanders prcvided a pleasant, lazy day on the water, spent in zigzagging at leisure from point to point, watching the untiring spectacle of life along the river, and even fishing, however vainly, for the carp and catfish that play below its brown surface. The outing began when the native boatman pushed his craft out from a landing on the river bank and unfurled the claw-shaped sail — so much repaired that it seemed all patches— from the curved boom. Because of his lifetime of experience in river navigation, the boatman was a necessary addition to the party, but for all the interest he showed in the presence of the others he might never have been there. He set the boat mo-ving in a slow tack from one bank to the other, making do wnstream .. between the fields of corn, vegetables and green feed which crowd each side of the river. Commercial Waterway. In spite of modern roads and railways, the Nile to-day remains an important commercial waterway. Graceful dahabeahs and feluccas, stacked with goods and produce of every kind, maintain a constnnt fiow of trade between Upper and Lower Egypt. They know no split second schedules, for their progress depends on tlie amoui.t of wind their high sails can catch. A brisk following breeze gives them the spccd of a river steamboat, fcut often they must tack with painful slowness and at times be liauled by tow ropes from the banks. The spectacle of this ceaseless traffic fascinated the picnic party, whose craft was passed by sailing vessels laden with grain, fruit, earthern pot.s, building stone and golden hay. There was a moment of contrast as a modern motor yacht sped by, giving a glimpse of passengers relaxing under coloured awnings. The river banks themselves were full of life— bvownskinned children bat-hing in the muddy water, eattle passively submitting to a washing, women scrubbing clothes,- and age-old irrigation contrivances raislng water for the fields. The picnic craft passed between these scenes to the outskirts of the city oi" Cairo, where a forest of masts indicated a busy landing stage. Then it faced upstream to seek out a sheltered lunching spot. and in the late afternoon returned to its mooring place, completing a sev.m hours' cruise which the two New Zealanders wiil long remember.