flung over them. The vine-leaves threw a cold quivering shade over the marble terraces: the fragrant fumes of Latakeea mingled with the balmy air; and the coffee, which was always roasting, contributed its pleasant odor. Nubian lances, spears, and clubs, mingled with European arms, glittered on the walls; showy carpets and wild-beast skins covered the floor and the divans. A hyæna's hide covered a table strewn with antiquities, and our boat-flags hung round as tapestry. Chibouques, yellow and red slippers, tarbooshes, sashes and other Orientalisms, lay strewn about, and we at least accomplished what would have been a very comfortable drawing-room for Inkle and Yarico.

A visitor (and we had numbers of all descriptions) enters; and before his feet are unslippered and tucked beneath his gown on the divan, one servant presents him with coffee, and another with a pipe; by the time the latter is finished, we are apparently on the most intimate terms. Whatever may have been in old times the prejudices against Europeans, the Cairenes are now both anxious and willing to cultivate our acquaintance, and express themselves with apparent frankness upon every subject. One soon gets tired, however, of people whose principal contribu tion to society is the smoke of their pipes; whose every principle (if they have any) is so opposed to our own; and whose information (if they choose to give any) is so little worth having.

There is an evident expectation in the public mind of Cairo that England must, sooner or later, take a leading part in Fgyptian politics; and not only here, but all over the East, every traveller, at all capable of conversing with the natives, constantly meets the question, "When are the English coming?" It would be difficult to trace the origin of this popular impression, which certainly has not arisen from any vaporing, politically or privately, on the part of the English. There are, moreover, no Englishmen in the Pasha's service, except the superintendent of the gardens at Rhoda, and of the sugar plantations in the Said; but Frenchmen abound in every department, from Suleiman Pasha* to the apothecaries' apprentices in the female surgery. It was Frenchmen who made Egypt a naval power; it was a

* Colonel Sève, a French renegade, to whom are principally owing the improved tactics, discipline, and conquests of the Egyptian troops.

Frenchman who organized the army that all but overthrew the empire of Constantinople; it was a Frenchman who made the magnificent docks at Alexandria; and the celebrated engineer, who controls the destinies of Egypt by means of acting upon the inundations of the Nile, is M. Linant.

So it is, however, as every traveller will bear witness: England is expected in the East, where, hitherto, she has never planted a standard, except in defence of the Crescent, and the integrity of its dominions. That she will ever come forward to vindicate the Cross where her best and bravest blood was shed in its defence six hundred years ago, is very problematical; however, "Gold wins its way where Angels might despair," and the interests of India may obtain what the Sepulchre of Christ has been denied.

This is perhaps a delicate subject, and for the present we will waive it, and proceed with our parting view of Cairo.

This is the most decorous and dissolute metropolis that the sun shines over. The women seem all secluded in the interior of the hareem, or in the no less impenetrable garments that conceal their persons and their faces in the street; the men all wear the yet more baffling disguise of patriarchal appearance and stern formality. As you walk through these masquerading streets, among men whose thoughts appear abstracted from the earth; and women who are all veiled or in mourning except their flashing eyes, you might imagine you beheld the people of Nineveh the day after they had repented. No Dead Sea fruit ever presented a more hypocritical exterior or a truer type. Enter into their houses, and inquire of their household gods; listen to their familiar conversation, and study the complexion of their thoughts; mark the objects of their desire, their ambition, and their zeal; and you will at once see the necessity of such strict observance of appearances to cloak the tissue of sensuality and guilt that pervades the population of Egypt. In the streets, perhaps, there are none of the manifestations of vice too usual in European cities; but in the latter the moral filth is confined, principally at least, to sewers, which, foul as they may be, are only partial. But in Cairo, the whole city is so inundated with uncleanness that these sewers are indistinguishable, and it would

seem that the ocean, that now wraps the Cities of the Plain, could alone purify its polluted precincts.

Cairo nevertheless affords to the traveller and the student many sources of entertainment and information: there is an excellent library, liberally open to all strangers, principally under the care of our consul, Mr. Walne. There is also a literary institution, founded by Dr. Abbott and M. Priess, having in view not only a collection of literature connected with Egypt, but the publication from time to time of new discoveries and old MSS. In the former are held weekly "conversaziones," where the appearance of the guests is as various as the information to be obtained from their frank and ready courtesy. Pipes and coffee, nargilehs and sherbets, are handed round to turbans and tarbooshes, hats and grey hairs. Conversation flows freely and richly among men who seldom meet, and who appreciate that meeting; all have something to communicate, and all have much to learn. Among the leaders of this society, I need only mention our distinguished countrymen, Sir Gardner Wilkinson and Mr. Lane; M. Linant and Clot Bey, and the more enlightened travellers who fill the numerous hotels. I must not omit allusion to the valuable Antiquarian Museum of Dr. Abbott, and the well-chosen collection of antiquities and natural history belonging to Clot Bey, both of which are most liberally open to the inspection of strangers.

The public schools are well worthy of a visit; and, as they are the most praiseworthy of Mehemet Ali's numerous establishments, I shall introduce them when speaking of his life and character.

I have little to say of the mosques, which considerably disappointed my expectation. There are four hundred in Cairo, and scarcely any village in Egypt is without one: yet there are only three in all Nubia; to this latter cause the Moolahs attribute the tendency to drunkenness and other failings, not uncommon above the Cataract. These mosques consist generally of cloisters surrounding a square court, in which stands a fountain for ablutions the sanctuary is always on the eastern side, towards Mecca; the whole aspect of the building reminds one of a gutted cathedral. It is true that some are elaborately decorated with

:

painting or sculpture of leaves and flowers; and friezes, consisting of verses from the Koran, are not unfrequent; but, generally, nothing can be more naked and cheerless than the interior of a Moslem temple. It contains no furniture, except a pulpit, a few mats, and a number of small lamps suspended from the dome. When a mosque becomes old, it is considered irreverent to repair it; it therefore is allowed to fall, and a new one occupies its place. Attached to the mosque of El Azhar is the university, in which the classic languages are unknown, science much neglected, and a vast quantity of Moslem theology principally exercises the students' minds.

There are several hospitals and schools of medicine; among the latter there is one devoted to educating female surgeons, which is characteristic of the country. The greater number of pupils are Abyssinians and negresses, who learn quickly, and pay great attention to Mademoiselle Goult's lectures on medical science; that branch of it especially in which it may be supposed women are most personally interested, and in which they here practise exclusively.

These are all dry details, which are uninteresting I fear to those who do not visit Cairo, and too meagre for those who do. I shall not allude to the Courts of Justice further than to say, that the name is a melancholy irony applied to tribunals in which the unblushing bribery is only to be equalled by the profound ignorance of those who administer the laws.

Before me rose, in wonderful array,

Those works where man has rivalled Nature most

Those pyramids, that fear no more decay

Than waves inflict upon the rockiest coast,

Or winds on mountain-steeps; and like endurance boast.
R. M. MILNES.

THE Pyramids had become as familiar to our view as the Grampians to a Highlander, when we suddenly recollected that they still remained unexplored, while the days of our stay at Cairo were already numbered. Our donkeys, which stood at our door, from sunrise to sunset, were put in immediate requisition, and we started about four o'clock in the afternoon of the 11th of April.

Mahmoud had a child's birthday to celebrate; as he assured us we should find comfortable lying among the tombs, and have no occasion for his services, we rashly believed him, and left him to his festivities. He was the best of Dragomans, but an Egyptian still; and we afterwards found cause to repent having trusted to him.

We sallied forth then from the "City of Victory," mounted on two donkeys; Abdallah and another donkey preceded us, as servants always do in this paradoxical country, while a sumpter-mule and four Arabs brought up the procession. Arrived at the mouldering quays of Cairo Vecchia, we embarked our donkeys in a large ferry boat, and passing the Nilometer on the island of Rhoda, we landed on the western bank of the river.

The sun had just set in glory over the crimson sands of the