Farman then proposed the health of General Grant in a felicitous speech. He said we had with us a distinguished citizen of the United States, and made a graceful reference to the services of the General. During the darkest hours of our national life our guest had by his own merits risen from the modest position of colonel to command a million of men. After the war, which, under the leadership of this illustrious chieftain, had been brought to a successful close, a grateful people elected General Grant to the Presidency. They believed that a man who had done so much in war would be the proper ruler in peace. "They were not deceived," continued Mr. Farman, amid hearty cheering. "He administered the government so wisely that he was reelected by an increased majority. He declined a third nomination, and comes to Europe, and now to Egypt, for rest and recreation. Coming as he does from one of the youngest of nations to a land abounding in monuments of antiquity, we can assure him of a hearty welcome." General Grant said in response that nothing in his trip thus far pleased him so much as his visit to Egypt, and he anticipated even more pleasure as he progressed in his journey. Speeches were made by General Stone and Judge Batcheller. Judge Hagens, in French, asked us to do honor to Mrs. Grant. This honor was paid most loyally. Dr. Lansing would not speak because he had to preach next day. After an hour or two of chat we went home, feeling that our entertainment by Mr. Farman had been of the most felicitous and successful character-feeling also, as General Grant remarked to the writer, that America had in Mr. Farman a most excellent representative, who could not but do honor to our consular service.

Farman then proposed the health of General Grant in a felicitous speech. He said we had with us a distinguished citizen of the United States, and made a graceful reference to the services of the General. During the darkest hours of our national life our guest had by his own merits risen from the modest position of colonel to command a million of men. After the war, which, under the leadership of this illustrious chieftain, had been brought to a successful close, a grateful people elected General Grant to the Presidency. They believed that a man who had done so much in war would be the proper ruler in peace. "They were not deceived," continued Mr. Farman, amid hearty cheering. "He administered the government so wisely that he was reelected by an increased majority. He declined a third nomination, and comes to Europe, and now to Egypt, for rest and recreation. Coming as he does from one of the youngest of nations to a land abounding in monuments of antiquity, we can assure him of a hearty welcome." General Grant said in response that nothing in his trip thus far pleased him so much as his visit to Egypt, and he anticipated even more pleasure as he progressed in his journey. Speeches were made by General Stone and Judge Batcheller. Judge Hagens, in French, asked us to do honor to Mrs. Grant. This honor was paid most loyally. Dr. Lansing would not speak because he had to preach next day. After an hour or two of chat we went home, feeling that our entertainment by Mr. Farman had been of the most felicitous and successful character-feeling also, as General Grant remarked to the writer, that America had in Mr. Farman a most excellent representative, who could not but do honor to our consular service.

On Wednesday, the 16th of January, we embarked on the Nile. As the hour of noon passed the drawbridge opened, farewells were said to the many kind friends who had gathered on the banks, and we shot away from our moorings, and out into the dark waters of the mighty and mysterious stream. One cannot resist the temptation of writing about the Nile, yet what can a writer say in telling the old, old story of a journey through these lands of romance and fable! The Khedive has placed at the disposal of the General one of his steam vessels, and she swings out into the stream with the American flag at the fore. We have all been in a bustle and a hurry to get away. There was the leaving the palace, the massing of bundles, the com

EGYPTIAN LADY.

mand of the impedimenta. We were alert for the trip, and we had been feeding our imaginations with visions of Eastern life, with visions of the faded but glorious remnants of the ancient civilization. Cairo was French. The infidel had gilded and wall-papered the city of the faithful, and it was hard to realize that you were in an Oriental land where everybody spoke Italian and French, and Vienna beer was among the principal articles of merchandise. But now we were really to throw behind us the tawdry French manners and customs which invaded us even in our palace, and to go for days and days upon the waters of the Nile. We read about it in guide-books, all except the writer of these lines, who resolved that whatever his impressions might be he would print them without incurring the mortification of seeing how well the work had been done before him. We bought each a Turkish fez, and some of us ventured upon the luxury of an Indian hat. Others went into colored spectacles, and the Marquis, a farseeing man, who had been on the Nile and who was not in the best of spirits at leaving a palace to float for weeks between

Arab villages, appeared with an astonishing umbrella. We had many friends to see us off-General Stone, Judge Batcheller, and Judge Barringer, with their wives, General Loring, and others. There were radiant mounds of flowers as remembrances to Mrs. Grant, and as much leave-taking as though we were bound from New York to Liverpool. Some one makes this suggestion, when the observation is made that we are about to undertake a journey as long as from New York to Liverpool and return. The General sits in a corner with Stone and Loring, talking about old days in the army, and making comments upon famed and illustrious names that the historian would welcome if I could only dare to gather up the crumbs of this interesting conversation. At noon the signal for our journey is given and farewells are spoken, and we head under full steam for the Equator.

Our party is thus composed: We have the General, his wife, and his youngest son, Jesse. About Jesse there has been so much said in a satirical way, in some of the journals, that I am almost tempted to do him justice by telling you how manly, original, and clever he is. But the young man is only a boy after all, and I hope he has many years in which to learn that praise or dispraise are to be heeded as the idle wind. The Khedive has assigned us an officer of his household, Sami Bey, a Circassian gentleman educated in England. Sami Bey is one of the heroes of our trip, and we soon came to like him, Moslem as he is, for his quaint, cordial, kindly ways. I suppose we should call Sami Bey the executive officer of the expedition, as to him all responsibility is given. We have also with us, thanks to the kindness of the Khedive, Emile Brugsch, one of the directors of the Egyptian Museum. Mr. Brugsch is a German, brother to the chief director, who has made the antiquities of Egypt a study. Mr. Brugsch knows every tomb and column in the land. He has lived for weeks in the temples and ruins, superintending excavations, copying inscriptions, deciphering hieroglyphics, and his presence with us is an advantage that cannot be overestimated, for it is given to him to point with his cane and unravel mystery after mystery of the marvels engraved on the