The Caravan.-Arab Political Economy.-A projected Railroad.-The Sirocco. Suez.-A travelled Englishman.-The Red Sea.-Embarca- tion of Pilgrims.-A Misadventure.-Scriptural Localities.--The bitter The Aspect of the Mountains.-Arab Graves.-The Pacha and the Bed- ouins.-The Value of Water.-Perplexing Inscriptions.-Habits of the Arabs.-Ethics of the Desert.-Breach of the Marriage Vow.—Arrival INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN EGYPT, ARABIA PETRÆA, &c. CHAPTER I. Alexandria.-Pompey's Pillar.-The Catacombs.-The Warwick Vase.-The Pacha's Canal.-Boats of the Nile. ON the afternoon of the December, 1835, after a passage of five days from Malta, I was perched up in the rigging of an English schooner, spyglass in hand, and earnestly looking for the "Land of Egypt." The captain had never been there before; but we had been running several hours along the low coast of Barbary, and the chart and compass told us that we could not be far from the fallen city of Alexander. Night came on, however, without our seeing it. The ancient Pharos, the Lantern of Ptolemy, the eighth wonder of the world, no longer throws its light far over the bosom of the sea to guide the weary mariner. Morning came, and we found ourselves directly opposite the city, the shipping in the outward harbour, and the fleet of the pacha riding at anchor under the walls of the seraglio, carrying me back in imagination to the days of the Macedonian conqueror, of Cleopatra and the Ptolemies. Slowly we worked our way up the difficult and dangerous channel, unaided by a pilot, for none appeared to take us in charge. It is a fact worthy of note, that one of the monuments of Egypt's proudVOL I.-B |