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.
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