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We saw the vessel, a fine, large, handsome boat, which had been mentioned to us as building for the purpose of conveying passengers to Atfee; consequently, should the political questions now agitating be amicably settled, and Egypt still continue to be a high road for travellers to India, the inconveniences of which I now complain will soon cease to exist.
We passed the base of Pompey's Pillar, and through the burying-grounds; and in another quarter of an hour came to the banks of the canal, and got on board the boat, which had been engaged to take us to Atfee. In the whole course of my travels, I had never seen any thing so forlorn and uncomfortable as this boat.
It was nearly twelve o'clock in the day before we reached Atfee; and with all my previous experience of the wretched places inhabited by human beings, I was surprised by the desolation of the village at the head of the canal.
As it was impossible that four ladies, for our friends had now joined us, with their European female servant and the baby, could be accommodated in this small vessel, we despatched our janissary, with a letter in the Turkish language to the governor of Atfee, with which we had been provided at Alexandria, and we were immediately politely informed that the best boat attainable should be at our disposal.
She was certainly a beautiful specimen of an English infant, and in her pretty white frock, lace cap, and drawn pink silk bonnet, would have attracted attention anywhere; such an apparition the people now assembled at Atfee had probably never seen before, and they were evidently delighted to look at her. She was equally pleased, crowing and spreading out her little arms to all who approached her.
The friend who accompanied him gave us the pleasing intelligence, that a large handsome boat, with ladies' cabin detached, and capable of carrying forty passengers, had been built by the merchants of Alexandria, and when completed and it only wanted painting and fitting up would convey travellers up the canal to Atfee, a distance which, towed by horses, it would perform in twelve hours.
Description of Alexandria Hotels Houses Streets Frank Shops Cafés 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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