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98

EFFECTS OF MISGOVERNMENT.

the Nile, fertile even to rankness, the poorest villages, perhaps, in Egypt are found. The Nile overflows, and the sun ripens in vain. Misgovernment more than counterbalances the bounty of nature, and leaves the wretched peasant pining with want in the midst of luxuriant harvests and over-filled granaries. On arriving at Bershaum, we found that the Sheïkh el Beled, who had several villages under his government, was absent, and not expected to return that night in consequence of which, we for some time inquired in vain for a lodging, and began to think of passing the night in the street; but, at length, some good-natured Arab consented to accommodate us with a cow-house and another small chamber capable of containing two beds. The floor of the cow-house, where we dined, was thickly strewed with dhourra straw; and our lantern, shaken to pieces by the jolting of the road, placed upon the earthen basin which contained our butter, was often upset among the straw, to the no small danger of the whole tenement. However, our Arab cook, accustomed to scanty conveniences, prepared us an excellent supper, consisting of doves, snipes, quails, &c. stewed in onions; and our long day's journey had provided us with an appetite.

Wednesday, Nov. 28. Cairo.

LIV. Next morning, being desirous of reaching Cairo before sunset, we set out soon after dawn, through a thick white fog, like those which, during the preceding winter, I had seen covering the great plains of Burgundy. Though our course, on quit

THE LAND OF GOSHEN.

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ting Bershaum, lay close along the Damiatta branch of the Nile, we could at first discover nothing beyond the mere edge of the stream; but, when the fog began to clear up a little, and suffered us to discern the opposite bank, this arm of the river appeared to exceed the other in width. By degrees, as the sun gained force, a light breeze sprang up, and began to dissipate the fog, which was driven along like sleet, leaving the whole earth drenched as after a heavy shower. Every object beheld through this mist appeared greatly magnified: a man riding an ass seemed to be mounted on a camel, and a little boy looked like a man. As soon as the atmosphere had cleared up, the heat of the sun began to be very powerful; every person felt oppressed, and our animals moved along faintly and languidly, the effect of humidity for in Upper Egypt and Nubia, where the heat is far greater, no such languor is experienced.

LV. At Shubr-es-Shawieh we crossed the Nile, and entered the land of Goshen, the residence of the Beni Israël, once fertile and flourishing, but now more than half deserted, and rapidly assimilating in character and features to the desert. At Kelioub, the capital of this district, we halted to breakfast. Here, beneath a spreading sycamore, we found a kind of hedge coffee-house, the landlord having kindled a fire between two piles of loose bricks, and spread his mat under the shelter of a mud wall. We took up our position on the other side of the tree; and, while some of our party proceeded to the village

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CONSERVE OF DATES.

in search of dates, eggs, milk, and butter, the remainder undertook to boil rice and prepare coffee. The Pasha's monopoly having rendered the real Mokha berry exceedingly scarce and dear, the poor Arabs have long been fain to content themselves with a very inferior American coffee, which, in order to render it more palatable, they flavour with cloves. Such was the beverage which this man of Goshen distributed to the wayfarers in Kelioub. We took each a finjan*; and, though unsugared, it did not to me taste amiss; but my companions thought it execrable. When our meal was ready, we sat down and ate it under the tree; and a poor old beggar, who had previously established himself there, and to whom we gave a portion of our fare, called down the blessings of Allah on our unbelieving heads. Charity covereth a multitude of sins. Here, for the first time, I tasted the conserve of dates, so well known in the East, which is made in the latter end of autumn, when the fruit is perfectly ripe, by taking out the stones from the dates, and then pressing them in thick masses together. This conserve will keep all the year, and is extremely well tasted; but, in some when no care has been taken to free the fruit from dust, a number of sandy particles are found grating under the teeth. Near the sycamore tree was a large pond of water, left by the inundation,

* The small coffee cup of the Turks and Arabs is so called. The little brass or silver filigree stand, in which this cup is presented to you, and which is sometimes of very elegant form, they call zerf. Mr. Barker, late his Majesty's Consul-General in Egypt, possesses the most tasteful zerfs and finjens I have any where seen.

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which served as fountain, washing place, and horsepond to the whole village.

LVI. Having finished our meal, we remounted, and pushed on with great vigour towards Cairo. The slight haze, which had all the morning obstructed the view towards the west, now cleared away, and we discovered, on the edge of the Libyan desert, the apex of the Pyramids. I now felt that I was in Egypt. But, notwithstanding the ideas, manifold and mysterious as they are, which history has invincibly connected, in our mind, with these prodigious structures, they by no means, when first beheld from afar, excite those powerful emotions of astonishment and admiration which the sublimity of nature gives birth to. On the contrary, when beginning to loom upon you across the desert, through openings in the palm forests, they appear little better than huge brick-kilns. In fact, you only see a small portion of their upper part. But when you consider that you are still at the distance of a long day's journey from them; that their fair proportions are appa rently curtailed by the mere rotundity of the globe; that they have withstood the wear and tear of 3000 years; and that, if left entirely to the action of the elements, they will probably equal the world itself in duration, your imagination begins to take fire, and acquires, by degrees, a just conception of the sublime design of the architect. As we rode along, the eye, thus aided by the imagination, which alone ivifies and endues this sublunary scene with beauty, began

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APPROACH TO CAIRO.

Every other ob

They occupied

to be familiarised with them, to measure them more accurately, and to transmit to the mind a juster idea of their magnitude and grandeur. ject, for the time, was forgotten. and filled the whole mind; and as we drew nearer and nearer, they seemed to lift themselves up, like giants, far above every thing around-the monuments and the tombs of an extinct people, whose bones and ashes, gathered together, might all have been hidden within the dimensions of those prodigious edifices. Two only of the Pyramids are at first visible; and it is sometime before that of Mycerinus appears. As you advance, those of Cheops and Cephrenes seem to join at the base: you see two points apparently rising from one foundation, and, shortly afterwards, the former entirely masks the latter, and they appear to be reduced to one.

LVII. Arriving at Shoubra, we passed through the grounds of the Pasha's palace, and entered that grand avenue of trees which leads from thence all the way to Cairo. The road is here at least ninety or one hundred feet in breadth, and bordered on either side by a row of noble sycamores, acacias, mimosas, and tamarisks, whose branches, meeting above in many places, form a verdant arch, at all times impervious to the rays of the sun. The views on both sides are magnificent. Close at hand, on the right, is the Nile, with its whole surface trembling and glittering in the sun; numerous small barks, with lateen sails, moving up and down the stream; and,

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