Towards Evening, The Easy Motion Of The Chair, And
The Inclination I Felt To Close My Eyes, After Staring About All Day,
Caused Me To Fall Asleep; And Again, Much Sooner Than I Had Expected,
I Found Myself At The Place Of Our Destination.
Either owing to a want of funds, or to some misunderstanding, the
bungalow at this place, which is considered to be nearly midway across
the desert, had only been raised a few inches from the ground; there
were tents, however, for the accommodation of travellers, which we
infinitely preferred.
The one we occupied was of sufficient size to
admit the whole party - that is, the four ladies, the baby, and its
female attendant. There were divans on either side, to spread the beds
upon, and the openings at each end made the whole delightfully cool.
We found Ali, the servant sent on in the morning, very busy
superintending the cookery for dinner, which was performed in the open
air. The share of bread and apples given to me upon the road I now
bestowed upon my donkeys, not having reflected at the time that
the drivers would be glad of it; so the next day, when the usual
distributions were made, I gave the grapes, &c. to the donkey-men,
who stuffed them into their usual repository, the bosoms of their blue
shirts, and seemed very well pleased to get them.
The adjoining tent was occupied by two gentlemen, passengers of the
Berenice; their servant, a European, brought to some of our people
the alarming intelligence that the steamers would leave Suez in the
course of a few hours, and that our utmost speed would scarcely permit
us to arrive in time.
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