But we must pass on. At the station number Six, where there are two public, as well as private and servants' rooms, we stopped a couple of hours for rest and refreshment. The first party of vans, we found, had not left before our arrival, so we had again an opportunity of seeing the friends from whom we parted at Suez. We got to the central station, number Four, early in the morning; and there we had an excellent breakfast, with fish, fowls, fruits, and various et ceteras from the Nile, in a tolerably large upper chamber. "This station contains," according to the advertisements of the Transit Company, "a large floor, a ladies' room, servants' room, kitchen, a number of commodious bed-chambers, large water-tank, and stabling." But let not the wayfarer trust too much to its comforts and luxuries. Having nearly a couple of hours at our disposal after breakfast, I set out with my young companions on a survey of the neighbourhood. We visited the tree of this desert called the Red Convent, alias the Mother of Rags, from the votive offerings suspended on its branches by the Muhammadan Hájís, or pilgrims, on their way to Mecca. It is an acacia Arabica, or the bábul of India. We also took a journey, for a couple of miles I daresay, to the south of the station-house. The desert in this direction is of loose sand covered with millions of jaspers, chalcedonies, and agates, and small fragments of petrified wood, mostly in the form of jaspers and agates. To its geological formation, here and elsewhere, I may afterwards allude. Its vegetation is extremely scanty, consisting only of an occasional tuft or a camel-bush, principally in the hollows, where rain can collect after a smart shower. In moving along, we observed the mirage far more distinctly than I had ever noticed it in the provinces of Káṭhiáwád, or Kach in India. This was a phenomenon which we afterwards frequently witnessed in our journey through Arabia Petroa, and in such a state of perfection, that nothing but a APPEARANCE OF THE DESERT-THE MIRAGE. 47 knowledge of our locality, and an experience of its deceitfulness, could induce us, at a little distance from it, to believe that it was any thing else than an extensive sheet, or copious lake, of water of crystal purity, reflecting the form of the mountains, and other surrounding objects, and even the clouds of heaven, sometimes in their proper position, and sometimes reversely. The Arabs give to it the name of saráb. Identifying it thus with the Hebrew, we cannot fail to see, as has been noticed by some critics, the great beauty and propriety of the image which is used in reference to the happy changes introduced by Messiah's kingdom, by the prophet Isaiah : For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert, The seráb is the subject of a great many Arabic proverbs. Muḥammad himself in the twenty fourth chapter of the Kurán, says― The works of the unbelievers are like the Seráb in the plain,2 Which the thirsty imagines to be water, till he goes and finds it is nought." We dined at the station number Two. As we appropinquated Cairo, the speed of our vehicle did not improve, the horses showing themselves more refractory than ever. In consequence of this circumstance, some of us walked the greater part of the two last stages, always, however, keeping close to the van. I had thus a better opportunity of examining the desert than I should otherwise have had, and of collecting specimens of the different kinds of petrified wood, which are strown over its surface. These fossils became large and numerous when we got abreast of Jebel Mukattem, and to the neighbourhood of what has been improperly called the "petrified forest," of which more hereafter. We came in sight of the valley of Egypt, just as the sun had gone down, and we distinctly saw the pyramids to the south-west. We also, about this time, passed the Indian vans on their way to Suez, with the passengers from England, and numerous camels trotting along with their luggage. In one of the vans I had the pleasure of finding some esteemed friends on their way to Bombay. Of Cairo and its suburbs we could see nothing till we actually reached them. We were met by torchbearers as we were descending from the level of the desert; and by them we were guided, while we were saluted, if not escorted, by hundreds of loquacious dogs,1 to the "Great Eastern Hotel" in the interior of the city, then occupied by Messrs. Hill and Company. We found a great crowd of persons in the Hotel, including the passengers from India, the gentlemen who had arrived from England by the last steamer, for travel in Egypt, and 1 The dogs of the East have been immemorially noted for their watchfulness and furious noise at night; and it forms a striking exhibition, as has been remarked, of the peace and quiet of the abodes of the Israelites, on the awful night of the death of the first-born of the Egyp tians, when it is said, "There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue against man or beast." Exod. xi. 6, 7. MEETING WITH FRIENDS. 49 some parties, who had already returned from a voyage up the Nile. Amongst the latter I was more than delighted to find my friend John Smith, Esq. of Bombay, who had preceded me to Egypt by a couple of months, but with whom I had arranged that he should be my fellow-traveller through the desert and Syria. He spoke with great rapture of the exhilarating effects of the climate of Egypt, during the winter months, upon our debilitated countrymen from India, and of the wonders which he had been privileged to see during his late excursion. I was surprised to observe how much his health had improved during the short time we had been separated, and I could scarcely recognize him, from the rapidity with which his facial vegetation had advanced under the indulgence which he had extended to it during his peregrinations. One of his first counsels to some of us was, "Give your razors rest while you sojourn in these parts." We made a trial of his advice, and resorted not again to barbaric operations till we arrived in London, the centre of civilization, upwards of eight months after we had become the humble imitators of our then venerable friend. Some may think an allusion to the liberties which we thus took unworthy of a notice in this narrative; but those who have to travel through the burning desert, and encounter its "meridian fervours," have but little inclination to waste their precious time in unfashionable ceremonies, and no disposition to complain of the shelter of their beards, even should they grow to a size-to use an Arabic figure-capable of allowing them to hide themselves behind them. Had we come to Egypt in the days of the Pharaohs, we might have acted otherwise, and in deference to the tyrant custom of the land-certified both by the testimony of historians1 and the ancient sculptures and pictures remaining to this day-cropped or shaved ourselves, as Joseph did when he went from the dungeon to the presence of the king.2 VOL. I. 1 Herodot. ii. 35. 2 Gen. xli. 14. D THOUGH We were much fatigued by our journey across the desert, and the excitement of meeting our friends at Cairo, we slept but little during the first night of our residence in that crowded city. This, I believe, was owing, to a great extent, to the closeness of our apartments in the hotel, so unlike what we had been accustomed to for years in India, where our open windows, or free venetians, permit us to imbibe during the hours of slumber, the fresh, if not cool, air of heaven. When we got astir on the morning of the 22d January, all was bustle and noise around us. Crowds of natives, with Egyptian antiques and curiosities, were watching for us at the doors, or intruding into our apartments, and most importunately pleading for purchases. Donkey-boys with their asinine chargers in hand, were mustered in the court, to tempt us to try the skill and mettle of their really intelligent and nimble little favourites, by a scamper through the endless mazes of the city. Busy hands were engaged in assorting |