levelling and carrying away the mounds of rubbish which encumber the environs of Cairo. In approaching Masr el Atikeh, we saw on our left the Great Aqueduct, which conveys the water of the Nile to the citadel. A propos of this aqueduct a very absurd story is told. The architect, they say, in constructing the steep winding passage which leads to the summit, forgot half his design, and made it too narrow to admit the oxen that were to work the waterwheels; in consequence of which a number of calves were carried up, and kept until they acquired the necessary size above! But how the wheels were turned while the calves were growing, the story sayeth not. Another story, which may be better founded, is, that the King of England, a few years ago, presented the Pasha with a complete hydraulic apparatus for raising the water of the Nile into this aqueduct, which was utterly spoiled by the engineer employed in setting it up.

LXXXIII. Having passed through a portion of Masr el Atikeh, or old Cairo, we arrived about sunrise at the ferry, and embarked upon the Nile. The prospect, as we moved across the river, was truly magnificent. The long lines of white buildings on the eastern bank, the tower of the Nilometer, the groves and gardens on the island of Rhoudah, the village of Ghizeh, flanked by palm woods, glimpses of the Libyan desert between the trees, the lofty summits of the Pyramids, the broad bosom of the river enlivened by numerous sails, the partially clouded sky illumined

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by the first rays of the sun,-all these elements, harmonising beautifully together, formed a panorama of incomparable interest. But the air was exceedingly keen and cold, so that our thoughts were often diverted from the landscape to the means of protecting ourselves from the wind. Arriving at Ghizeh, on the western bank, we remounted, and pushed on hastily towards Sakkiet-Mekkah; the plain which we now traversed being intersected in various directions by canals, and partly covered by broad sheets of water, the remains of the inundation, between which, in many places, lay our road, over slippery causeways, or banks of earth, barely wide enough to admit of one person's riding along them at a time. Large flights of ibises, as white as snow, continually kept hovering about us, or alighted on the lakes, while several other kinds of water-fowl, of brilliant plumage, were scattered here and there in flocks. A great portion of the plain was covered with forests of date palms, of magnificent growth, planted in regular lines, and springing up from a level carpet of grass or young corn of the brightest green. Interspersed among these woods, and numerous smaller groves of tamarisks and acacias, were the villages, mosques, and sheïkhs' tombs; not unpleasing objects when beheld by a cheerful eye. Here and there were fields of ripe dhourra sefi, a species of Indian corn of prodigious powers of increase, which grows to a great height, and forms a principal ingredient in the food of the Arabs. Hamilton reckoned on one ear of this corn three thousand grains; and a lady, who frequently made the ex

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periment in the Thebaid, constantly found between eighteen hundred and two thousand.

The

LXXXIV. As, owing to the quantity of water which still remained from the inundation, the pathway turned in various directions, and proceeded in a very circuitous manner, we often seemed to be moving towards the east, and caught a view of the Mokattam mountains presently, the pyramids of Sakkarah, Abousir, and Dashour became visible in the distance, towards the south; but though they are many in number, I could discover no more than seven. appearance of the country continued exceedingly fine; and the rocks and grey sand hills of the desert, which bounded our view towards the west, seemed only to enhance by contrast the splendour of the intervening landscape. It would appear to be mere prejudice to suppose that a fine level country, like Egypt, with a surface diversified by all the accidents of wood and water, rustic architecture, flocks and herds, and hemmed in by rocks and sands eternally barren, must necessarily be insipid and unpicturesque. The landscape now before me was beautiful; and there are artists in England who, from such materials, and without overstepping the modesty of nature, could create pictures to rival the softest scene among the works of Claude. The date palm itself is a lovely object far more lovely than I have ever seen it represented by the pencil; and when seen in its native country, relieved against a deep blue sky, or

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against the yellow sands of the desert, with a herd of buffaloes, a long string of laden camels, or a troop of Bedouins passing under it, lance in hand, it is a perfect picture. But when we have before us whole forests of these trees, of all sizes, from ten to one hundred feet in height, intermingled with mimosas, acacias, tamarisks, and Egyptian sycamores, more noble, if possible, than the oak, disposed in arched echoing walks, with long green vistas, glimpses of cool shady lakes, villages, mosques, pyramids, the whole overcanopied by a sky of stainless splendour, and glowing beneath the pencil of that arch-painter, the sun, nothing seems to be wanting, but genius, to discover the elements of most magnificent landscapes.

LXXXV. The pyramids themselves, though towering far above every thing around, did not yet disclose all their vastness, there being no object near by which to judge by comparison of their magnitude. Standing alone in the desert, which they exactly resemble in colour, they appeared to belong to and form a part of it; but, long before we approached them, they seemed near, quite at hand, and the intervening space a field or two, over which we should pass in a few minutes. We rode on for another hour and though they certainly appeared to have increased in dimensions, there was no very striking difference in their aspect yet we could see that we had still some space to traverse. Another hour the pyramids had sensibly increased in bulk; the sun occasionally shone upon them, and gilded their peaks, and the shadows

;

of the clouds, as they passed along, travelled over them as over the face of a mountain. At length we crossed the Bahr Youssouf, emerged from the cultivated country, and entered upon the desert, where our animals sank deep at every step into the sand, which stretched away in mound and valley interminably towards the left; while flocks of plovers, quails, ibises, &c. rested upon the fields on the right, or skimmed along the atmosphere, tempting our sportsmen. A considerable space of desert land, interspersed with small patches of a kind of prickly plant which is eaten by the camel, still remained to be crossed. We now saw a number of Bedouins hastening towards us over the sand, to offer their services as guides; the greater number of whom were tall, muscular, clean-limbed young men, young men, in many cases, handsome; and they all appeared lively and good humoured. There were, however, far too many of them but though they were so informed, and positively assured that they would not be all employed, not one of the number would relinquish the hope of earning a piastre, and the whole party, laughing and chattering, ran bounding along over the heavy sand, with as light and springy a step as if it had been a smooth gravel walk.

LXXXVI. At length we entered the hollow sandy valley, at the foot of the pyramids, in which the sphynx is buried, all but the head. Three noble spreading trees, nourished by a hidden fountain, afford an agreeable shade in the centre of this burning hollow; and there, should I ever revisit the spot, I