ECKERSLEY (The Rev. Hampson S.).
Nine Months on the Nile.
Decidedly uncommon, not in NSTC or on BLPC or COPAC, OCLC locates only three copies, all in the USA.
Falling ill with pneumonia in 1884 Eckersley was advised to take a sea trip. A two month’s voyage to the Mediterranean was followed by a further trip to Alexandria, “… and, but for a severe cold, contracted in bad weather after leaving the Straits of Gibraltar, I feel certain I should have landed in England with my life fully insured.” He returns to his “circuit duties” preaching in and around Gateshead. But this is a false dawn, his hopes for the 1885 Newcastle Conference are dashed with a recurrence of his illness. He offers his services to the Army as a chaplain at Cairo, is “graciously appointed” but a severe relapse prevents him from taking up the post.
Nonetheless he sets sail for Egypt and “winter on the banks of the Nile.” What follows is a well-written and engaging travelogue adressed to “the public in general and my many friends in particular, with the humble hope that they will impart pleasurable inspirations, and fail to furnish profitable phases of Pharaonic history and modern life in Egypt.” Surprisingly unburdened by the religiose observations that might be expected from a Wesleyan Methodist preacher at large in the proximity of Bible Lands, the narrative is actually full of well-observed vignettes of life in Egypt; tit-bits of regional history, and details of the practicalities of travel in Africa in the latter part of the C19th. Eckersley is a pleasant travelling companion and it is sad to note that it appears that his ill-health continued, he died only five years after the publication of this book.
