Saturday, 3rd September Aswan dams, Papyrus and Nubians

As with the previous days, I had had to resort to taking painkillers due to the recurring pain in my jaw. It would be fine after an overnight break but tea or brushing teeth would initiate a delayed onset of growing pain that would either gradually fade or reach a crescendo over an hour. Despite the antibiotics, the situation appeared to be getting worse. Worried about the my small pack of painkillers that had almost been depleted, I requested reception try to purchase some for me.

The mornings trip began with a trip to the two dams, the British one completed around 1906, which, whilst being one of the largest dams of the day, still failed to control the Nile floods. The road across was one vehicle wide as we crossed, downstream the rocks of the cataracts were revealed, whilst upstream there was a sizeable lake, with cruisers and crocodile netting.

We did not stop but drove on to the High Dam, the third largest in the world. At its base, the foundations were 960m wide and it reached a height of (111m). This was not apparent on the approach as we only saw the tip above the waters. Security was very tight both to get on and then when we got out. Whilst photography was permitted, zoom lenses or video were prohibited. Using my 14mm to 40mm lens immediately resulted in a soldier approaching me and it was only the intervention of Osama that avoided my having to stop taking photos.

The lake, that had seemed large behind the British built dam now looked puny compared to Lake Nasser, which stretchee to the horizon and lost itself left and right in flooded valleys. We were now on crocodile watch as these upper reaches of the Nile do harbour them. Apart from a tell tale v-ripple moving away from us parallel to the dam, we did not see any obviously basking.

The photo-session over we drove on to a small harbour on Lake Nasser to catch a motor boat to the island with the Temple of Philae, which we could see in the distance from the High Dam. It was one of the many temples that had been rescued from the inevitable flooding once the high dam was completed. As with all the monuments threatened with flooding, The temple of Philae was relocated stone by stone onto a suitable future island in the lake.

This was out first trip by boat. Everyone had to bring along their lifejacket, found under the beds in our rooms. The boats themselves were about 10m long, wide bellied with a flat deck and a bench along the sides, plus one across the centre of the boat. A large rectangular roof covered the seating area to provide welcome shade and the captain sat by his outboard motor at the back. We piled on and stored the lifejackets under the benches as we gently cruised towards the temple island. Arriving at the jetty we found the souvenir sellers with their wares on the mat. However, we had already had an Osama approved seller of necklaces and scarves on ours from which Louise bought two necklaces and I bought a camel bone one. At £E40 (£4), a good price for a future microscopy sample!

The Temple at Philae was dedicated to Osiris and Isis and linked to a tale of true love. Osiris was the god of fertility and lord of the dead and married to his sister Isis, goddess of magic and motherhood & maternity. His brother Seth god of sandstorms was married to the other sister Nephtis goddess of the west. Seth was incredibly jealous of Osiris, who was extremely popular and killed him. To ensure he could not recover, Seth cut Osiris's body into 14 parts and spread them all across the kingdom. The distraught Isis and Nephtis looked all over and collected all the body parts that they could find, bar the penis which had been eaten by a fish, which she found using magic and managed to reattach to Osiris. Then Isis brought Osiris back to life and slept with him to create Horus who would avenge his fathers death by his uncle. In is first attempt to do this, Horus lost his first eye when Seth gauged it out – a lesser loss as he had at the same time castrated Seth. Fortunately, Isis healed Horus's eye for him (the lost eye is the moon according to myth, the right eye being the sun). Horus engaged Seth in battle again and victorious, on the point of killing him, Isis and Nephtis intervened and completed the killing to ensure that it was final. Seth later becomes a divinity of unknown function after 300years of the day of Judgement.

Philae was initially began the construction in the third century BC as the last temple in Egypt during the thirtieth dynasty, by Nectnabu II (also created the last pylon of Karnak). In the fourth century AD, the Greeks and Romans continued working on the temple. However, they did not quite finish the work due to a lack of labour and disagreements amongst the late Greeks and Romans. Justinian then finally closed the temple as Christianity took hold. After Philae, it was back to Aswan to the papyrus factory. In total contrast to our ebullient guides, we were given a gentle introduction to the principles of creating papyrus by the resident expert.

The papyrus reed was given special distinction by the ancient Egyptians because its leaves looked like a sunburst, reminding them of Ra, and the stem has a triangular cross-section, with the holy number three.

The outer peel is tough and brittle, so is cut off. Then thin slices of the pith are cut longitudinally. They are beaten with mallets to break the fibres and then pressed with a rolling pin or mangle. The thin strips are then placed back in water where they oxidise slowly. After 6 days they are a light straw yellow. If left for 12 days the strips are a darker brown.

The strips are then arranged on an absorbant surface, first in one orientation, overlapping like ship planking. A second layer is then arranged over these at 90 degrees to the first layer. Note that the size of the final sheet is predetermined by the length of strips used. Another absorbent fabric is placed on top of the provisional sheet. The sandwich is then placed in a press for more than a week (check) until the sheet is dry. The final papyrus is flexible and strong. Originally, the ancient Egyptians would prepare papyrus sheets with the designs required for carving on temples etc.. Most of these were lost during the fire of the great library of Alexandria. Modern artists are currently licensed to prepare copies of original stone engravings on papyrus. The work has to be approved and individually signed.

The papyrus factory had a collection of fine signed artwork and after serious consideration, we purchased some smaller pieces.

Afterwards, we took a motorboat for a quick half hour tour around Elephantine Island.

After returning to the boat for lunch, we joined a small party to go on the visit to a Nubian village. The start was adventurous in that the traditional motorboat was moored outside the outer, starboard door of our boat, separated by another boat in-between. We therefore stepped out onto the roof of the first boat and then carefully crossed to the second boat. Mohammed, our Nubian guide, was a polite elderly gentleman and together we assisted those having to turn around on the roof to go down the narrow steel ladder to reach the passenger deck below. The obligatory life belts were more a hindrance than a help.

Once safely settled it was off to collect a few more passengers from one of the other cruise boats before setting sail for the Lord Kitchener`s island. We took a leisurely stroll from one end to the other, with Mohammed giving us an introduction to some of the important regional plants and their uses. The most memorable for me was the thorn tree species used for Christ`s crown of thorns, an innocuous looking shrub until you saw the rose like thorns along its stem. Just before we boarded the boat, I spied another building nearby, labelled “Tissue Culture”, a reminder of my plant biotech past.

The trip was then on to Elephantine Island, which Mohammed thought was most likely due to a distant association with the ivory trade. Populated with two Nubian villages, this was part of the Nubian relocation after their lands were flooded by the great Dam.

We were taken to Mohammed's home, which also included his small museum called “Animalia”. The entrance takes you around three sides of the house to the outside reception where guests were received and could sleep overnight. The path was made of sand – for a reason. In the morning, the wife could see any tracks of scorpions or snakes that had come into the area overnight.

Wandering back round we came to the communal, partially shaded courtyard of the house, from which radiated the kitchen and the bedroom. The walls were decorated with eyes, showing a link to the distant past with the eye of Horus. There was also a hand of Fatima and a puffer fish. All are symbols to ward off evil spirits. The story of the puffer fish is that they appear immediately before the fertile Nile floods. Being poisonous, they are not eaten but dried as a protective house charm. The main feature of the kitchen was the beehive oven, again with a hand print. Above it were triangular niches in which the ancestors of the Nubians come to live.

The small museum had walls dedicated to different themes; insects, wildlife, fish, the effects of the High Dam and the role of women in Nubian society. According to Mohammed, women are respected in Nubian society. They also maintain the artistic heritage.

The key plant for the Nubian's is the date palm. The wood from the trunk is used for simple foot bridges etc.. The central stem of the palm leaves is used to make furniture and the individual leaflets are excellent material for basket-work. Individual leaflets can be stained in different natural colours, derived from minerals and plants to create geometric patterns.

We walked through the rest of the village, past mud bricks in the process of drying. The buildings were arranged close to each other, just one or two storeys high, often with characteristic white domes and a packed dirt path between them. Mud brick construction was used in many of them but the newer larger houses also included brick and concrete as the villagers adopted new materials.

The overall image was of a culture breaking out of poverty that, if one ignored the satellite dishes and tangle of electrical cables strung between houses, would not have been out of place a couple of centuries ago.

The trip back to the Commodore by boat was through the narrower passages between the islands so that we could see the remains of the ancient granite extraction and the wild birds. We saw little egrets, pied woodpeckers, moorhen, grey heron, guaka herons to name but a few.

Reception had come up trumps with both paracetamol and ibuprofen during the day. I began taking paracetamol at 4h intervals and, if the pain returned earlier, interspersed this with ibuprofen which gave a welcome relief at last, suggesting that the main issue might be an inflammation of the gum.

The evening's entertainment was provided by the Nubian dancers. I gave it a miss and went to bed early as I was shattered after the busy day.