loud cheers of the company. Baron Taylor's former journey to Upper Egypt, and his return from Alexandria to Cairo, had made him an accomplished cavalier. Every body was ready but Bechara, who was searching in the sand for something he had lost: one of our Arabs rode in front to point out the way, the whole caravan commenced a round trot, and the journey was begun. Heaven preserve you, gentle reader, from the trot of a dromedary.

Still I was not so occupied as not to see that Bechara's beast was leaving its owner behind, and taking its place in the cavalcade; but this seemed to give no concern to the owner, who continued to look for what he had lost. At length, either having found it, or fearing that we should get too far to be overtaken without trouble, he set off at a gallop, and rejoining his dromedary, which trotted by the side of mine, he profited by the moment when the animal lifted its left leg, put one foot on the shoe, the other on the knee, jumped from the knee to the neck, and from the neck to the saddle, and this with so much rapidity, that I could scarcely see the proceeding by which he attained his point. I was overwhelmed with astonishment.

Bechara came up to me with as much mildness and good humour as if he had not just made one of the most marvellous displays of skill. Seeing that to escape the jolting, I grasped the pommel in front

with one hand, and grasped the back pommel with the other, he began to give me instructions on the manner of keeping myself in my saddle. The word saddle reminded me that we had been told that ours were perfectly padded, whilst the first thing I felt was that I was seated on a piece of hard wood. Bechara replied that he had not deceived us, and that, at the first halt, he would let me see that my saddle was padded with the greatest care: it is true that the padding was underneath, but this, he said, was right, for in such a journey as we were about to make, it was better to spare the dromedary's hide than the traveller's skin. This appeared to me true Arab reasoning, to which I would not condescend to make a reply; we continued the journey without another syllable.

After half an hour's travelling, we reached the foot of Mokattan. This granite chain, scorched by the sun, is absolutely naked; a narrow path cut in the rock enables the traveller to ascend the precipitous side of the mountain; it is only wide enough for a loaded camel to pass. We went in single file, the Arab who acted as a guide leading the way. This ascent gave us a little respite, for the difficulty of the road compelled the dromedaries to exchange their horrid trot for an endurable walk.

When we had been ascending for about an hour and a half, we reached the top of the mountain.

For about three quarters of an hour, the summit offered to us an undulating surface; in the midst of which, continually ascending and descending, we frequently lost sight of the western horizon, but found it the next moment; at length, as we went down the last eminence, we ceased to see the houses of Cairo; then the loftiest minarets disappeared in their turn; some time afterwards, the pyramids of Ghizeh and Sakkara appeared to us like the pointed peaks of another chain of mountains; finally, their last pinnacles sunk, and we found ourselves on the eastern declivity of Mokattan.

On this side there was nothing but a boundless plain, an ocean of sand, which extended from the foot of the mountain to the horizon, where it was mingled with the sky. The general aspect of this shifting carpet was tawny, like a lion's skin; still some beds of nitre striped it with white, like the dresses of our Arabs. I had already seen such arid flats, but never of the same extent; besides, never did the sun look on earth with such ardour, its rays were absolutely visible, and this dust never materially varied.

We were about half an hour descending, when we found ourselves in the midst of fragments which we took for those of a city; but, seeing that the earth was only strewed with columns, we looked closer, and found that these columns were trunks of trees.

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We interrogated our Arabs, who told us that we were in the midst of a forest of petrified palm-trees. Such a phenomenon appeared to us worthy of a closer examination than could be given from the backs of our dromedaries; so, as we were near the base of the mountain, and the time for the mid-day halt was come, we told Taleb that we wished to halt. The Arabs slided down from their dromedaries; our beasts, understanding the affair, knelt down; it was the reverse operation of starting; they began by bending up the fore-legs, and then the hind-legs: this time I was prepared, and I clung so tight to the saddle, that I escaped with a good shaking. Mayer, who had not been forewarned, received two terrible blows in the breast and loins.

We began to examine the strange spot in which we had dismounted; the ground was covered with trunks of palm-trees, like the broken shafts of columns. One might have said that the whole forest had been suddenly petrified, and that the simoom, striking against the naked sides of Mokattan, had unrooted those trees of stone, which were broken as they fell. To what cause could this be attributed? To what convulsion of nature may we attribute this phenomenon? It is impossible for us to tell; but it is a fact, that for more than half a league, we travelled in the midst of these strange ruins, which at first sight, with their thousand columns, fallen and

shattered, might be mistaken for some unknown Palmyra.

Our Arabs had erected one tent at the foot of the mountain; we soon rejoined them, and found them reclining under the shade of their loaded dromedaries. Abdallah began his service, and came to prepare our dinner; it consisted of boiled rice, and a kind of crumpets of wheaten flour, thin as wafers, which he had broiled on the coals; they were soft and stringy, like barley-sugar, instead of being crisp, like bread. I judged of the man by his prospectus, and from this moment he lost my confidence. We dined on some dates and a portion of our marmalade, which we broke off. Mayer was so wearied by his exertions to keep himself on his dromedary, that he could take nothing. As to our Arabs, one would have supposed that they partook of the nature of Jins (fairies); for since we had left Cairo, we had not seen them swallow a single grain of maize.

We slept nearly two hours; then, as the fierce heat was past, our Arabs roused us. Whilst they folded up the tents, we mounted our haghins, and prepared to make, on that very evening, our first halt in the Desert.