For the steamboat trip you have no trouble except to buy your ticket, go on board at the appointed day and hour, and submit patiently to the various impositions devised by the contractors who manage the business. The movements of the boat are carefully arranged beforehand, and the time for visiting the various temples, tombs, and other interesting things on the journey, is all on the schedule of the dragoman or conductor. Travellers of various nationalities are herded together, and must move at the beck and call of the conductor. There is a printed programme of the places to be visited and the hours for visiting them, and if no accident happens you can count on being back in Cairo in twenty days and four hours from the time of starting. A facetious traveller, who made the Nile journey by steamboat, says that the conductor of his party had a private programme on which was marked the time to be devoted to sentiment as well as to sight-seeing. As they approached the great hall of the Temple of Karnak the conductor glanced at his programme and said, "Gentlemen, prepare for sublime emotion!" Of course due preparations were made, and when the grandeur of the hall was visible they gave utterance to the regulation number of "ohs!" and "ahs!" When these were ended, and silence came again, the guide looked at his watch and called out, "Five minutes for sublime emotion!" When time was up they moved on. At another place they had "five minutes for musing on the decayed glories of ancient Egypt," and at another they were requested to "think of the havoc that the centuries have wrought." In travelling by dahabeeah you charter the boat, and make up your own party. In a general way you are your own master, and can say where, and for how long, you will stop. During the winter the wind blows pretty steadily from north to south, so that you sail up the Nile with the breeze in your favor. On the return the great sail is lowered, and the crew row the boat with the current. Their rowing is just enough to give steerage-way, and the flowing river brings you safely back to Cairo. The steamboat fare to the first cataract and back is £50 ($250), and to the second cataract £80 ($400). This includes meals, guides, donkeys, and some of the fees for seeing temples and tombs, but does not include saddles for riding the aforesaid donkeys, nor does it embrace the use of a chair for the deck of the boat. There are constant demands for backsheesh for various things, and the passengers are expected to make up a liberal purse at the end of the voyage for distribution among the officers, crew, and servants. About £5 ($25) will be needed for these inevitable "extras."