For many centuries, visitors to Egypt have been overwhelmed by the sight of ancient monumental architecture and statues, noticeable signs of an extraordinary past.
However, Napoleon’s presence in Egypt inspired many travelers to visit the land of the pharaohs and turn it into the tourist destination that it still is today. During the 19th century, Egypt fired people’s imagination. Some travelers welcomed the opportunity to visit one of the world’s cradle of civilization and others undertook the journey simply because it had become the smart thing to do. While it was common for men to travel alone, women travelers were more conspicuous. Yet their stamina, courage and intelligence matched in every way that of their male counterparts.
“Women on the Nile” reminds us that women were also attracted by a journey on the Nile despite its dangers and discomfort. Before the advent of steamers introduced in 1869, flat-bottomed boats known as dahabiehs were commonly used for Nile travel. Traveling on a dahabieh could be quite dangerous when boats capsized. Furthermore the winds either too strong or too weak would often delay sailing.
This travelogue sheds light on the life and writings of three outstanding, middle-class Englishwomen: Harriet Martineau, Florence Nightingale and Amelia Edwards. It shows how their journey to Egypt changed their life forever. The author, Joan Rees, tells us right in the beginning that it is not a book about Egypt but about reactions to Egypt and, more particularly, to ancient Egypt.
All three women, Harriet Martineau, Florence Nightingale and Amelia Edwards tackled deeper issues than men: “Egypt touched chords with each of them which vibrated profoundly and their books, consequently, have a depth and complexity of interest which the men’s do not match,” says Joan Rees.
Their books about Egypt, considered as historical documents, also highlight the extraordinary effect that Egypt had on them. Harriet Martineau believed that anyone who had seen Egypt would never be interested in another country. In her autobiography, she acknowledges she never imagined that her journey would influence so much her convictions and that the rest of her life would be irremediably shaped and determined by what she saw during her trip to the Middle East. Florence Nightingale also wondered how one could live the same way after having visited Egypt. Finally, Amelia Edwards found her vocation in Egypt. She abandoned her way of life and devoted from thereon all her energy to the preservation of the Egyptian antiquities.
Martineau wrote an account of her trip which was published under the title “Eastern Life Present and Past”. In this book, an open invitation to discover wider horizons, she tries to open the minds of her readers. Like Florence Nightingale she loved Cairo: “There is nothing so wonderful and romantic in the whole social world as an Arabian city; and Cairo is the Queen of Arabian cities,” and she concludes that “the thoughtful traveler can hardly fail to return from Egypt a wiser, and therefore a better man.”
Of the three women, Florence Nightingale is the best known but letters from Egypt belong to the part of her life before she fulfilled a public role and was nicknamed ‘the lady with the lamp’. She undertook the journey to Egypt at a time in her life when she was terribly frustrated, She felt that women who possessed passion, intellect and moral activity had no way of using up these talents. Her visit to Egypt in 1849 which came toward the end of a long period of waiting convinced her of her mission in life. Four years later, in 1853, The Crimean War broke out and Florence Nightingale entered history.
Amelia Edwards, unlike the other two writers, is the only one whose name is truly linked to Egypt. Upon her return from Egypt in 1874, she began to write A Thousand Miles up the Nile which was published in 1877. It took her two years of work, including many visits to the British Museum to tap the knowledge of its experts. The book was a great success. The book is instructive, entertaining and the descriptions benefit from the beautiful illustrations. Amelia Edwards was a gifted water-colorist and she illustrated her own books. She also played a major role in founding the Egypt Exploration Society which has been promoting and financing excavation in Egypt ever since. She spent the last two decades of her life at her desk offering all her talents and her energy to promote the Egypt Exploration Society and its work.
Amelia Edwards truly fell in love with Egypt especially ancient Egypt. She was particularly overwhelmed by the beauty of Abu Simbel:
“It is a wonderful place to be alone in a place in which the very darkness and silence are old, and in which Time himself seems to have fallen asleep. Wandering to and fro among these sculptured halls, like a shade among shadows, one seems to have left the world behind; to have done with the teachings of the past; to belong one’s self to the past.”
Women on the Nile is not only a tribute to three outstanding women but it also shows the psychological and philosophical impact of the rediscovery of ancient Egypt in the nineteenth century.
