N the morning of the 19th of January, that being the third day of our journey, we came to the town of Siout, or Assiout, as some call it. We have a vice consul here, and tokens of our coming had been sent, as could be seen by the flags which decorated the bank and the crowd on the shore. Siout is the capital of Upper Egypt, and is a city of 25,000 inhabitants. The city is some distance back from the river, and grew into importance as the depot of much of the caravan trade from Darfour. Upon arriving the vice consul and his son came on board and were presented to the General. Congratulations were exchanged, and we offered our friends coffee and cigars in the true Oriental style. The name of our consul here is Wasif el Hayat. He

a

is a Syrian and a landed proprietor. He is a grave elderly person, who speaks only Arabic, but his son had been educated in Beyrout, at the mission schools, and knew English. We all drove to the town. It was over parched fields, through country that in more favorable years would bloom like a garden. But the Nile is bad this year, and a bad Nile is a calamity second only to a famine in Egypt. We rode into the town and through the bazaars. All the town seemed to know of our coming, for wherever we went crowds swarmed around us, and we had to force our donkeys through masses of Arabs and Egyptians of all ages and conditions, some almost nakedcrowds crying for baksheesh or pressing articles of merchandise upon us. The bazaars are narrow covered ways, covered with matting or loose boards, enough to break the force of the sun. The stores are little cubbyholes of rooms, in front of which the trader sits and calls upon you to buy. As these avenues are not more than six feet wide at best, you can imagine what a time we had in making our progress. The town had some fine houses and mosques, but in the main it was like all towns in Upper Egypt, a collection of mud hovels. We rode beyond the town to the tombs built in the sand, and climbed the limestone rock on our donkeys. This was our first evidence of the manner of sepulture in the olden time. These desert rocks of limestone were tunneled and made into rooms, and here the mummied dead found rest. The chambers appointed for them were large and spacious, according to the means of the deceased. In some that we entered there was a chamber, an antechamber, and sometimes connecting chambers. There were inscriptions on the walls, but they had been defaced. The early Christians had deemed it their duty to obey the first commandment by removing the representatives of the gods that came in their way. The ceilings of the tombs had been once decorated, but modern Christians have deemed it their duty to deface them by firing pistol shots. shots. When you visit a tomb and note the blue stars and astronomical forms that the ancients. painted with so much care, it is so cunning to try the echo by firing your pistol. Consequently the roofs are spotted with

bullet marks. Here also came the wanderers for shelter, and you see what the fires have done. What the tombs What the tombs may have been in the past, when they came fresh from pious, loving hands, you can imagine. But what with ancient Christian iconoclasts, modern Christian wanderers, Bedouins, Arabs, selling the graves for ornaments, nothing remains but empty limestone rooms filling with sand and a few hieroglyphic memorials on the walls.

our naval men concluded to wear their uniforms. The Doctor rode ahead in the carriage with General and Mrs. Grant and the consul general. As the Doctor wore his uniform and the others were in plain dress, he was welcomed by the awestricken Moslems as the King of America. Hadden and

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the rest of us rode behind on our trusty and well-beloved donkeys, Hadden in uniform, followed by wondering crowds. I suppose he was taken for a minor potentate, as in the Oriental eyes all that lace and gold could not be wasted on anything less than princely rank. But we all had more or less attention, although we could feel that the uniforms were the center of glory, and that we shone with borrowed splendor. As we came to the house of Wasif el Hayat we found a real transformation scene. Lanterns lined the street, servants stood on the road holding blazing torches, a transparency was over the gate with the words, "WELCOME GENERAL GRANT." The "N" was turned upside down, but that made no difference, for the welcome here in far Africa made the heart throb quicker. As we rode up torches blazed, rockets went up into the air, various colored lights were burned, and we passed into the court-yard glowing with light and color, passing into the house over carpets and rugs of heavy texture and gorgeous pattern. Our host met us at the gates of his house, and welcomed us in the stately Oriental way, kissing the General's hand as he clasped it in his two hands, and then touching his own heart, lips, and brow. Here we met the governor, and, more welcome still, the Rev. I. R. Alexander and his wife. Mr. Alexander is one of the professors in the missionary college, and is under the direction of the United Presbyterian Church. The dinner came, and it was regal in its profusion and splendor. I should say there were at least twenty courses, all well served. When it was concluded the son of the host arose, and in remarkably clear and correct English proposed the General's health. You will allow me, I am sure, to give you a fragment of this speech. "Long have we heard and wondered," said the speaker, "at the strange progress which America has made during this past century, by which she has taken the first position among the most widely civilized nations. She has so quickly improved in sciences, morals, and arts, that the world stands amazed at this extraordinary progress which surpasses the swiftness of lightning. It is to the hard work of her great and wise men that all this advance is imputed, those who have shown to the world

what wise, courageous, patriotic men can do. Let all the world look to America and follow her example-that nation which has taken as the basis of her laws and the object of her undertakings to maintain freedom and equality among her own people and secure them for others, avoiding all ambitious schemes. which would draw her into bloody and disastrous wars, and trying by all means to maintain peace internally and externally. The only two great wars upon which she has engaged were entered upon for pure and just purposes-the first for releasing herself from the English yoke and erecting her independence, and the other for stopping slavery and strengthening the union of the States; and well we know that it was mainly under God due to the talent, courage, and wisdom of his excellency General Grant that the latter of the two enterprises was brought to a successful issue." The speech closed by a tribute to the General and the Khedive. General Grant said in response that nothing in his whole trip had so impressed him as this unexpected, this generous welcome in the heart of Egypt. He had anticipated great pleasure in his visit to Egypt, and the

DRIVE IN SIOUT.

anticipation had

been more than realized. He thanked his host, and especially the young

man who had spoken of him with so high praise, for their reception. The dinner dissolved into coffee, conversation and

cigars. Mrs. Grant had a long

talk with Mrs. Alexander about home-Mrs. Alexander being a fair young bride who had come out from America to cast her lot with her husband in the unpromising vineyard of Siout. And when the evening grew on we rode back to our boat,