We get picked up again by the boat from the southern end of the botanical island. Before we head for our last destination, the island Elephantine, we sail through the lower part of the first cataract. Once the sailors were afraid of the rocky landscape, because of its rapids and its stony obstacles. Passing through was only possible at high water and by exact measuring of the water depth. However today the cataract is to be protected. And even crocodiles are not feared anymore, which in earlier times lunged at the cast aways. Due to the embankment and apart from only very few exceptions they hardly exist anymore.

In the days of Pharaohs the cataract was the natural border to Nubian from where the gold for the shrines, but also leopard's furs, exotic animals and ivory was imported into Egypt. The name Elephantine reminds of this old trading centre on the island. After all the few antic remains are impayable for archaeologists since the Satet temple can be traced back until the earlier times. This fact is unique in the history of Egypt.

On the other hand absolutely not unique is that we already attract two unwanted attendants only a few meters behind the entry. A policeman, who at least shows us where we are allowed to go, and someone else who just joins us and who doesn't let himself be send away. Also the information that I have already read more than twenty books about the old Egypt, so that we neither want nor need his information and that he also won't get any Bakschisch doesn't bother him. It's annoying, simply because we therefore get along through the ruins only slowly and at the mean time we've got only a short period of time for our visitation.

As a result we actually should have already been at the boat the time we finally arrived at the nilometer. Until the beginning of the 19th century the ancient gauge had been used to measure the floods of the Nil. Whereby the flood in the nilometer wasn't to be too low nor too high.
As in the first of these cases, this meant only few fertile mud and water for the fields so that a bad harvest was very likely. In the second case everyone could be sure of a good harvest but a rising gauge meant at the same time a rising burden of taxes which lessened their pleasure.
When we left the island a setback was also received by the guy who joined us before. The policeman who guided us safely and at the same time charily over the compound received the expected tip. The just annoying follower (accept of "Ankh, Ankh" he didn't know what to say) - as I promised - didn't get anything. Unless the other one gave something to him.

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