We Had Been Told That We Should Be Almost Torn To Pieces By
This Rabble, In Their Eagerness To Induce Us To Engage The Services Of
Themselves Or Their Animals.
Accustomed as we had been to the attacks
of French waiters, we were astonished by the indifference of the
people, who very contentedly permitted us to walk to the place of our
destination.
The lady-passengers, who arrived in the steamer, agreed to prosecute
the remainder of the journey in company; our party, therefore,
consisted of four, with two servants, and a baby; the latter a
beautiful little creature, of seven months old, the pet and delight of
us all. This darling never cried, excepting when she was hungry, and
she would eat any thing, and go to any body. One of the servants
who attended upon her was a Mohammedan native of India, an excellent
person, much attached to his little charge; and we were altogether a
very agreeable party, quite ready to enjoy all the pleasures, and to
encounter all the difficulties, which might come in our way.
Having formed my expectations of Alexandria from books of travels,
which describe it as one of the most wretched places imaginable, I was
agreeably disappointed by the reality. My own experience of
Mohammedan cities had taught me to anticipate much more of squalor and
dilapidation than I saw; though I confess, that both were sufficiently
developed to strike an European eye. We wended our way through
avenues ancle-deep in sand, and flanked on either side with various
descriptions of native houses, some mere sheds, and others of more
lofty and solid construction. We encountered in our progress several
native parties belonging to the respectable classes; and one lady,
very handsomely dressed, threw aside her outer covering, a dark silk
robe, somewhat resembling a domino, and removing her veil, allowed us
to see her dress and ornaments, which were very handsome. She was
a fine-looking woman, with a very good-natured expression of
countenance.
[Footnote A: The author followed up these remarks with others, still
more severe, upon the treatment which she and her fellow-travellers
experienced on board this vessel; but as these remarks seem to have
caused pain, and as Miss Roberts, without retracting one particle of
her statements, regretted that she had published them, it has been
deemed right to omit them in this work.]
CHAPTER IV.
* * * * *
ALEXANDRIA TO BOULAK.
* * * * *
Description of Alexandria - Hotels - Houses - Streets - Frank
Shops - Cafes - Equipages - Arrangements for the Journey to
Suez - Pompey's Pillar - Turkish and Arab Burial-grounds - Preparations
for the Journey to Cairo - Embarkation on the Canal - Bad accommodation
in the Boat - Banks of the Canal - Varieties of Costume in
Egypt - Collision during the night - Atfee - Its wretched appearance - The
Pasha - Exchange of Boats - Disappointment at the Nile - Scarcity of
Trees - Manners of the Boatmen - Aspect of the Villages - The Marquess
of Waterford - The Mughreebee Magician - First sight of the
Pyramids - Arrival at Boulak, the Port of Cairo.
There are several excellent hotels at Alexandria for the accommodation
of European travellers.
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