W^SM
 
 V, ■■
 
 |VAL m JESYPT.
 
 WALTER'S TOUR IN THE EAST 
 
 BY 
 
 DANIEL C. EDDY, D. D., 
 
 AVTHOR OF "the PERCY FAMILY." 
 
 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 •Mysterious Egypt! Time's quaking tread 
 Has levelled down thy domes and capital*, 
 And shook thy very temple to its bum." 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. 
 13 AsTOR Place.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862 by 
 
 SaELDON AND COMPANY, 
 
 tn Um Clerk's Offlc« of the Pietrict Court for the Soutiiern District ci 
 
 Hem Tork.
 
 URL 
 
 ^/ 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 This series of books, six in number, will 
 describe the visit of a company of young tour- 
 ists to the most interesting and sacred spots on 
 earth. Such incidents will be recited, and such 
 facts presented, as will interest and instruct boys 
 and. girls, and give even adult minds some idea 
 of the romantic East. The aim of the author 
 is to impart permanent benefit, as well as to 
 amuse and please the reader.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Chap. Pagh 
 
 I. Making Akrangements 13 
 
 II. What we saw in going over 24 
 
 III. Malta and the Mediterranean 37 
 
 IV. Experience in Alexandria 53 
 
 V. Pompey's Pillar; Cleopatra's Needles- 67 
 
 VI. Grand Cairo 78 
 
 VII. The First Donkey Ride 8» 
 
 VIII. The Mosques 100 
 
 IX. The City of the Sun 110 
 
 X. Climbing the Pyramids 121 
 
 XI. The Wonderful Kivek 133 
 
 XII. The Contract with Achmet 144 
 
 XIII. Crossing the Desert of Suez 1.0 7 
 
 XIV. The Passage of the Red Sea 1 70 
 
 XV. The Portfolio 181 
 
 XVI. Looking Back '"■'
 
 LIST OF IIJ^USTRATIONS. 
 
 (FROM DESIGNS BY E. J. WHITNEY.) 
 
 Pagh 
 
 ARRIVAL IN EGYPT. {Frontispiece.) 58 
 
 FIRST DONKEY RIDH 97 
 
 CLIM-I'.ING THE PYRA.MIDS . 122 
 
 BOAT LIFE ON THE MLt 187
 
 WALTER'S TOUR IN THE EAST. 
 
 ORDER OF THE VOLUMES. 
 
 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 WALTEli IN JERUSALEM. 
 
 WALTER IN THE NORTH COUNTRY. 
 
 WALTER IN DAMASCUS. 
 
 WALTER IN CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 WALTER IN ATHENS.
 
 PERSONS REPRESENTED IN THE STORY. 
 
 Walter: a Lad Jrom Cambridge. 
 
 Minnie : his Sister. 
 
 Harry St. Clair : a Schoolfellow. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Percy: Parents of Walter and Minnie 
 
 Mohammed Achmet : an Egyptian Dragoman. 
 
 Several Gentlemen traveuing m the East.
 
 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MAKING ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 The snow lay deep upon the hills of New 
 England, and the cold blasts of winter whistled 
 through the valleys of the old Bay State. In 
 the metropolis, the tramways were covered witl\ 
 ice, and the jaunty cars were laid aside. The 
 brisk, handsome lads covered their ears with soft, 
 Warm fur, and blew their hands as if they were 
 hot, as they coasted on the Common, which is so 
 beautiful, either clad in the green garb of sum- 
 mer, or robed in the white mantle of winter. 
 The girls were coaxing unwilh'ng papas for skates 
 wherewith to enjoy the wild sport of Jamaica 
 Pond ; and the little fellows, too small to skate 
 or coast, were frolicking in the fleecy snow. At 
 the season of the year thus indicated, the family 
 of Peter Percy were assembled one evening in 
 their suburban home, that looked like a marble 
 palace as the pale moon cast her beams upon its
 
 14 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 snow-wreathed front. Out through the crystal 
 panes flashed the cheerful beams of light, while 
 within, gathered beneath the massive chande- 
 lier, were as merry a group and as happy a 
 family as could be found in the land. Mr. 
 Percy held his newspaper in his hand, and 
 now and then would read a paragraph to his 
 wife, who sat by, engaged upon a piece of em- 
 broidery. Walter was having a simple ^ime 
 with Harry St. Clair, and the changes of fortune 
 from side to side often caused boisterous merri- 
 ment. Minnie was puzzling her brain over a 
 hard lesson in arithmetic, the recitation of which, 
 the next day, she knew would have an impor- 
 tant bearing upon her standing in her class. At 
 length the game between the boys was finished, 
 and Walter, starting up, asked, — 
 
 " Father, do you remember the promise you 
 made me?" 
 
 " What promise, my son ? " 
 
 " Now, have you forgotten ? " 
 
 " Unless you tell me what the promise was, 
 and where it was made, I cannot say whethei 
 1 have forgotten it or not." 
 
 " Do you not remember being in Cologne two 
 Bummers since, looking out upon the Rhine? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And there you promised me that in two years 
 you would take me to Egypt and Palestine ? "
 
 MAKING AKKANGKMK.NrS. 15 
 
 " Ah, Walter, you have a good memory." 
 
 " I always remember such promises as that." 
 
 " Well, do you wish to go this year ? " 
 
 " Oh, I would like to go any time." 
 
 " So should I," exclaimed Minnie, lookin^^ ii| 
 from her school-book. 
 
 " I have not been unmindful of my promise, 
 children," said Mr. Percy. " I have been think- 
 ing of the subject for weeks, and have found 
 two or three gentlemen who would like to make 
 the tour." 
 
 " Oh, delightful ! " cried Minnie. 
 
 " When shall we go ? " asked Walter. 
 
 " I cannot tell just when, but I think about 
 the first of April, if at all." 
 
 " Oh, now, Pa, don't begin to back down," said 
 Minnie. 
 
 " We will see about that. Mr. Tenant wish- 
 es to go, Mr. Allston, the young rector of the 
 church in the next town, Mr. Dunnallan, the 
 gentleman whom you have seen here once or 
 twice of late, and Dr. Forrestall, our excellent 
 physician, all propose to join the party." 
 
 " Glorious," cried Walter clapping his hands. 
 
 "Why did you not tell us this before?" 
 asked the dauchter. 
 
 " Because I did not wish to have your heads 
 full of the subject, and so spoil your studies 
 this winter."
 
 16 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " But mamma does not seem surprised at all," 
 said Minnie. 
 
 " I knew it long ago," said the lady; "and am 
 going with you, my children." 
 
 " Good, good I " they both cried at once. 
 
 " We have arranged that Charlie shall stay 
 with his Aunt Hester, and that the house shall 
 be left in the care of our trusty servants ; and 
 that I shall go with you the whole, or a part of 
 the journey." 
 
 " Oh, I am so glad, Mother," screamed Minnie. 
 
 *' I should not be willing that my little girl 
 should go so far away without me." 
 
 "Your little girl!" said Minnie, reproachfully. 
 
 All this time, Harry St. Clair, who, it will be 
 remembered was a young correspondent while 
 our travellers were in Europe, sat listening with 
 intense interest, catching every word that was 
 uttered, and seeming to be absorbed in the con- 
 versation. He had listened hour after hour to the 
 recitals of Walter and his sister, and often, when 
 they had anticipated the pleasure of visiting 
 Palestine, he had resolved to go with them. 
 
 " Mr. Percy ! " at length he exclaimed ab- 
 ruptly. 
 
 " What say, Harry, I had almost forgotten 
 that you were present ? " 
 
 " May I go with you ? " 
 
 "You?"
 
 MAKING ARRANGEMENTS. 17 
 
 " Yes, Sir." 
 
 " I don't know ! " 
 
 " Why may I not ? '.' 
 
 " Would your father allow it ? " 
 
 " I think he would, for he told me after you 
 went awav before, that if he had thoufrht of the 
 benefit it would be to me, he would have made 
 arrangements for me to have gone then." 
 
 " I hardly know what to say." 
 
 " Say yes." 
 
 " Oh (io, Pa," cried Minnie. 
 
 "• Well, Harry can ask his father, and if Mr. 
 St. Clair consents, I have no objections." 
 
 " Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah ! " enthusiastically 
 shouted Harry, almost overturning the table in 
 his joyfulness. 
 
 The matter being settled thus far, Harry ran 
 home and found his father, who consented that 
 his son should go with the party, provided Mr. 
 Percy would be careful to keep him out of mis- 
 chief. The next morninir, before the Percy fam- 
 ily were uj), he was at their door, ringing the 
 bell and thumping for admittance. Walter heard 
 the noise, and putting his head out of the win 
 dew saw Harry on the steps. 
 
 " Heigho, Harry ! " 
 
 " All rigiit, Walter ; father says I may go, if 
 your father will keep me out of mischief." 
 
 " A hard job he will have." 
 2
 
 18 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 "No, I will do first-rate." 
 
 A few weeks after this, Mr. Percy announced 
 to his children that the party was formed ; and 
 in addition to those mentioned, Mr. Butterworth, 
 a banker, who had devoted himself to business 
 for years; and Mr. Damrell, a retired gentleman, 
 wo\ild accompany them, making seven, besides 
 Mrs. Percy and the children. 
 
 " What shall we have to carry ? " asked 
 Walter. 
 
 " For a Syrian tour," replied his father, " we 
 need to dress somewhat different from the style 
 we adopted on our European journey." 
 
 "Shall we find the weather warm?" 
 
 "Yes, and we shall want more protection from 
 the sun, though we need r.ot take such articles 
 from this country; we can find them in the East." 
 
 " I would like to get all my clothing before I 
 start." 
 
 " You can do so. To-morrow, if you wish, 
 you can go to your tailor, and have him make 
 for you a suit of drab, or gray woollen cloth." 
 
 " Woollen ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Why not of some thin cloth." 
 
 " Woollen is a non-conductor of heat, and pre- 
 vents sudden changes in the temperature of the 
 body, and often saves the traveller from the Sy- 
 rian fever. '
 
 MAKING ARRANGEMENTS. 19 
 
 " What shall I get for iny head ? " 
 
 " A light felt hat." 
 
 " How I shall look in that I " 
 
 "Well, you must have it, as your cap would 
 not protect your eyes from the sun. When 
 in Syria, you must Avind several folds of mus- 
 lin around the hat, to keep the heat from the 
 head." 
 
 " It must be terrible hot to need such precau- 
 tions against it." 
 
 " No, it is the burning sun, and not the inten- 
 sity of the heat against which you must guard." 
 
 " How high does the thermometer go in 
 Syria ? " 
 
 " I can only tell you what Dr. Robinson 
 says." 
 
 " What is that ? " 
 
 " Speaking of his sojourn in Jerusalem, ht; 
 says, that from A jiril 14 to May 6, the thermom- 
 eter ranged at sunrise from 44° to 64°, and at 
 two p. M. from (>0° to 79°. This last dejrree 
 of heat was felt during a sirocco, April 30. 
 From the 10th to the 13th of June, at Jeru- 
 salem, we had at. sunrise a range of iVom 5'6° to 
 74°, and, at two p. m., once 86°, with a strong 
 north-west wind ; yet the air was fine and the 
 heat not burdensome. The ninhts are uniformlv 
 cool, often with a heavy dew." 
 
 " Oh, that is not verv hot."
 
 20 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " No, we sliould not think it was in tins coun 
 try. 
 
 " Perhaps Robinson was there in a cold tinve, 
 and we shall find it much hotter at the same 
 seasons." 
 
 " I think not, for Schubert gives the average 
 range during the hottest part of summer at 23° 
 to 24^ Reaumur, or 84° to 86° Fahrenheit." 
 
 ^ What do you mean by Reaumur and Fahren- 
 heit? " asked Harry St. Clair, who was present 
 during this conversation. 
 
 "Can you tell him, Walter?" asked Mr. 
 Percy. 
 
 " No, Sir ; except that they were two men 
 who invented different thermometers." 
 
 " That is so." 
 
 " In what did the thermometers differ ? " 
 asked the two boys at once. 
 
 " Why, Reaumur was a French philosopher, 
 who invented a thermometer which bears his 
 name, and is used mostly in France. Taking as 
 the extremes, freezinn; and boilino;, he divided 
 the interval into eighty degrees, or eighty equrd 
 parts. Fahrenheit was a German, who made the 
 thermometer we use, and which differs from the 
 other in the scale into which it is divided, and 
 also in several other particulars." 
 
 " I will remember that, Mr. Perc}^," said 
 Harr^^ " When I have travelled with yoo
 
 MAKIXG AKKANGEilHNTS. 21 
 
 a vear, I shall knuw as much as Walter does. 
 My father never exj)lains anything to me." 
 
 ''Shall we carry arms?" asked Walter. 
 
 " We carry arms ! " exclaimed Minnie with a 
 smile. 
 
 "Yes, wg.' Why not?" 
 
 " Because you would not be able to fire off 
 anything." 
 
 " The gentlemen of the party will carry 
 revolvers perhaps," said Mr. Percy ; " but you 
 two boys will need nothing of the kind." 
 
 " Let me carry a j)istol without powder," said 
 Walter. 
 
 " Yes," added Hai'ry, " that will make us 
 look as if we were armed." 
 
 " We can see about that when the time comes." 
 
 In many a conversation like this were the 
 evenings spent prei)aratory to the time of sailing. 
 Walti'r and Minnie read several larfje works on 
 Palestine, and obtained much valuable informa- 
 tion about the lands they were to visit. A new 
 trunk was bought for each of them, the pass])ort3 
 were obtained, and tlie tickets for the steamer 
 were purchased. Mr. Percy allowed the chil- 
 dren to do all the business, and make all the 
 arrangements, his plan heinir to oive Walter 
 practical instruction in business life, and prepare 
 him somewhat for the position in which he would 
 be placed in after-years.
 
 22 WAl.TKK IN EGYPT. 
 
 iMinnie went into Boston, and had a long con- 
 versation with a ladj who awhile before had 
 made a Syrian tour, and derived from her many 
 useful hints, and much profitable knowledge. 
 It had already been arranged that she should 
 accompany the party only through a part of the 
 tour, but she hoped to persuade her father tha'c 
 she could endure the fatigue of the whole ex- 
 cursion. 
 
 Harry St. Clair was wild with joy. He kept 
 talking about the East all day long. At night he 
 sat up long after all the members of the family 
 were asleep, reading taseful books on Syria and 
 E2:yi)t, and plagued his father every time he en- 
 tered the house, by asking questions about places, 
 of which the old gentleman, who was far more 
 given to mone3^-making than to literary pursuits, 
 knew nothing. A brace of revolvers were pre- 
 sented to him by a friend, and he became quite 
 expert in target-shooting, and when his mother, a 
 poor, nervous woman, would rem.onstrate against 
 the use of such weapons, he would tell her he had 
 east fifty bullets to carry with him, and each one 
 of them was sood for an Arab. So far did the rash, 
 thoughtless boy work upon her fears, that the poor 
 woman began to think she should never see her 
 son again : while his father only laughed at him, 
 and declared that he would trust Harry any- 
 where. He was like many other parents who
 
 MAKING ARRANGEMENTS. 23 
 
 think they can trust their children anywliere, and 
 with this false conviction, give them up to be 
 spoiled by the temptations of the world. God 
 never desioned a man to walk without His o-uid- 
 ance, nor a child to go alone without parental 
 advice and care. Mr. Percy and his neighbor 
 Mr. St. Clair represeiit two classes of parents, 
 often found, who have very different ideas of what 
 thev owe to their children.
 
 24 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 WHAT WE SAW IN GOING OVER. 
 
 It was on the third day of April that the party 
 started from Boston. The snow was deep upon 
 the earth ; it hung from the branches of the trees, 
 festooned the houses, wreathed the ghttering sign- 
 boards, metamorphosed the pubHc buildings, or- 
 namented the telegraphic wires, the tall chim- 
 neys, and the tapering steeples, and lent an inde- 
 scribable charm to every object on which the eye 
 rested. 
 
 The steamship Canada was anchored about a 
 mile from the landing, and a little tug took tlie 
 passengers out to her. It was a great relief to 
 the ladies of the party when they reached the 
 side of the Canada. The tug rolled so fearfully 
 that they were already quite sea-sick, and were 
 very glad to step on the firm deck of the mighty 
 vessel which was to bear tliem across the ocean. 
 
 Mrs. Percy and Minnie at once went to their 
 state-rooms, but the boys remained on deck until 
 they became chilled with cold, gazing on tlie city 
 which became (^very moment more indistinct in
 
 WHAT WE SAW IN GOING OVER. 25 
 
 the distance. When the last glimpse of the State 
 House and the tall monument had been ob- 
 tained, they both went into the saloon, where 
 many of the passengers were congregated. 
 
 " I begin to feel it," said Harry, after they 
 had been seated on the divan for a few minutes. 
 
 " Feel what ? " inquired Walter. 
 
 ■' Oh, I don't know ; sea-sickness, I suppose." 
 
 " Then you had better go into your state- 
 room." 
 
 Harry rose to go, but was so faint and dizzy 
 that he could hardly stand, and Mr. Tenant 
 coming along at the moment, helped him to his 
 berth, where he was sick until the steamer 
 reached Halifax, which was about sunrise on 
 Friday morning. 
 
 When land a])peared, sea-sickness vanished, 
 and the children were all eager for a run on the 
 shore, and as soon as the vessel reached the pier, 
 they sprang out, and in two hours had explored 
 the whole place. Even Minnie climbed the high 
 hill on which the fortificaticMi is built, and Mrs. 
 Percy moved so nimbly that her husband was 
 out of breath. But the two hours for which 
 they had permission to leave the ship were quick 
 ly exhausted, and they returned, and were sooi' 
 Bteaming away from Halifax. 
 
 The voyage proved a long and tedious one, 
 but the travellers managed to enjoy it. Minnie
 
 26 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 was one of the most lively of the company, and 
 was an immense favorite. Harry was rather 
 disliked by the passengers until they became ac- 
 quainted with him, and found out how noble a soul 
 he had concealed beneath his somewhat rough 
 and neglected manners. Mrs. Percy, by her 
 quiet dignity and kindness, won the affections of 
 all, while Walter was treated as a man, so supe- 
 rior did he seem to boys of his age. 
 
 One evening the whole party were together in 
 the saloon, conversing gayly on what they ex- 
 pected to see, when Mr. Percy said, — 
 
 " Walter, you are now old enough to appre- 
 ciate the tour you are taking." 
 
 " Yes, Sir ; I am now fourteen years of age." 
 
 " How old are you, Harry ? " 
 
 " Nearly fifteen, Sir." 
 
 "And Minnie is twelve." 
 
 " Yes, Pa, and as lively as Walter and Harry 
 together," answered the little girl. 
 
 " Lively enough, certainly, but not always as 
 thoughtful as you might be." 
 
 " Well, Pa, I shall be as thoughtful as Walter, 
 when I arrive at his age." 
 
 "You may be as wild as I am," replied 
 Harry. 
 
 " I leave you," said Mr. Percy, " very much 
 to your own resources, anxious that in early 
 life you may learn its lessons of experience.
 
 WHAT WE SAW IX GOING OVER. 27 
 
 You cannot begin to observe men and tilings too 
 early. There is no study of books that will 
 con.pensate for the want of kno\vledo;e of life as 
 it is." 
 
 " I am studying and thinking all the time," 
 said Harry, " and I don't see why I do not know 
 as much as Walter." 
 
 " Perhaps," remarked Dr. Forrestall, who over- 
 heard the conversation, "you do not study in 
 the right direction. The difference between you, 
 Harry, and Walter, is, that what he knows is 
 systematized and well arranged in his mind, 
 while you have learned without system. Some 
 one has said that it is not the quantity, but the 
 quality of knowledge which determines the mind's 
 dignity." 
 
 " I think that is so, for I have observed that 
 Walter can say just what he wants to, and at 
 just the right time, while I have to stop and 
 think, and adjust my thoughts." 
 
 " I'll tell you what I think," said Minnie. 
 
 " What, Minnie ? " asked Harry. 
 
 " Why, Walter's head is just like the post- 
 office." 
 
 " Just like the post-office ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 The gentlemen laughed, 
 
 " How is my head like the post-office ?" asked 
 Walter.
 
 28 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " Yes, tell us how ! " exclaimed Harry. 
 
 " In the post-office are boxes for letters. 
 Those directed to persons whose names begin 
 with A are put in one box. Tliose that begin 
 witli B liave another box, and so on to the end 
 of the al])habet." 
 
 " What has that to do with Walter's head ? " 
 
 " Just this. Walter's head is " — 
 
 " Oh, nonsense, Min ! Stop, and let oldei 
 people talk," said Walter. 
 
 " No ; go on, Minnie, we want to hear," said 
 Mr. Dunnallan, who sat by. 
 
 " Walter's head is all divided up into little cub- 
 by-holes, and when he gets an idea he puts it into 
 one of them, and there it lies until he wants it, 
 and when the time comes he can take it down 
 and use it." 
 
 " What is your head like, Min ? " asked Walter. 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " I do." 
 
 " What ? " 
 
 " Why, like the top-drawer of Uncle Win- 
 throp's old bureau." 
 
 " Hum." 
 
 '' Hum or not, it is true." 
 
 "What drawer is that, Walter?" asketi 
 Harry. 
 
 " The top-drawer of Uncle Winthrop's old 
 bureau is called the" —
 
 WHAl WE SAW IN GOING OVER. 29 
 
 " Ball ! " exclaimed Minnie. 
 
 "Is called the 'rummage drawer,' and you can 
 find anything there, but nothing is in order, and 
 lots of things are piled in j)romiscuously to- 
 gether." 
 
 A hearty laugh greeted this description of 
 Minnie's head, who retorted by saying that she 
 would rather her head should be like a "rum- 
 mage drawer" than like a bureau full of empty 
 pigeon-holes. This conversation led to the im- 
 portance of studying and observing systemati- 
 cally, and the children derived many valuable 
 hints from their older friends. 
 
 The voyage was long, but the time was occu- 
 pied by pleasant reading, profitable conversations 
 in the saloon, games on deck, and in various other 
 ways. Harry became acquainted with every of- 
 ficer and seaman, with all the stewards and cooks, 
 and became familiar with the manasement of the 
 ship, asking questions of everybody he met ; and 
 the boy, whose inquisitiveness was deemed im- 
 pertinent when he first came aboard, became tlie 
 object of much interest, every one perceiving his 
 desire to learn. 
 
 After being out twelve days the steamer reach- 
 ed Queenstown, where the mail-bags were dis- 
 charged, and a few passengers put ashore, and on 
 the morning of the thirteenth day, Liverpool waa 
 seen.
 
 30 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 It was no part of the plan of the party to ve 
 main in Europe, and a delay was made in Liver 
 pool only long enough for the gentlemen to ar- 
 range their money matters, secure letters of credit, 
 and attend to the necessary business. Mrs, Percv 
 and Minnie spent the time at the Adelphi, while 
 Harry St. Clair took a hansom, and drove about 
 the city with Waltei-, whose former visit to Liv- 
 erpool was fresh in his mind, as a valet-de-place. 
 The two boys visited the Docks, St. George's 
 Hall, the Brown Institute, and many other 
 places, and came near delaying the party over 
 a train, by being gone so long. 
 
 It was near midnight when they arrived at 
 London, but the streets were full of people ; car- 
 riages were driving to and froj the thousand gas- 
 lights made the city seem almost like daylight, 
 and poor Harry was almost bewildered by what 
 he saw, and almost crazy with excitement. Wal- 
 ter pointed out to him the prominent objects as 
 they drove rapidly by, and soon they were at the 
 hotel where they were to spend the night. They 
 were all so tired that they were not disposed to 
 question much as to the character of the apart- 
 ments, and tlie only one who seemed to have a 
 choice, was Walter. 
 
 " Give me the room I had two years airo," said 
 he. 
 
 " I do not know which that was," answered 
 the servant.
 
 WHAT WE SAW IN GOING OVER. 31 
 
 '* It was Number 128, and every morning 
 when I awoke I could look out upon the dome of 
 St. Paul's." 
 
 " Ah, I know ; you can have it." 
 
 So they went to bed. 
 
 The next morning while the gentlemen were 
 attending to some necessary business, getting their 
 passports vised^ and making some purcliases, Wal- 
 ter took Harry up to the top of the dome of the 
 cathedral, and pointed out to him the churches, 
 monuments, houses of parliament, markets, tower, 
 and all the objects of interest in view. Harry, 
 who had been to the top of tiie dome of the State 
 House in Boston, manv times, and who was verv 
 fond of going up into the tower at Mount Au- 
 burn, was charmed with the view, and Walter 
 had hard work to get him down. They climbed 
 into the ball, and amused themselves two hours, 
 and then with weary feet came down. 
 
 Just at night they took cars for Dover, and 
 went on board the little steamer that was to con- 
 vey them across the channel. The boys were 
 wide awake, and as they left the dusky cliffs of 
 Dover behind, imitated the example of the men, 
 and stowed themselves away on lounges, to bf 
 ready for sea-sickness, which is seldom escaped in 
 this ugly passage. The steamer went hopping, 
 skipping, and wriggling about, and each one btga.i 
 to fe*^l the effects. Harry and Walter, who woi ^
 
 82 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 lying near each other, \vere very sober, until the 
 steward came in with a large number of white 
 bowls, and running nimbly about, put one as near 
 as possible to the face of each passenger. The 
 scene was so ludicrous that the two boys began 
 to laugh so heartily that it drove away all the 
 feelings of sea-sickness they had experienced. 
 
 Just before reaching the French shore, the 
 bar-tender glided in, and laying his hand on the 
 shoulder of one half awake and half asleep pas- 
 senger, whispered, — 
 
 "• Remember the steward, Sir." 
 
 " Ay, ay, I'll remember you," and shoving 
 off the hand, turned away from the beggar. 
 
 " A present for the servant, Sir," he whisper- 
 ed to a second. 
 
 " Go 'long, what are you waking me up for ? " 
 was the angry reply. 
 
 " Sometliing for steward's service," was the 
 whisper to another. 
 
 " A'n't had no service — be off." 
 
 Thus from one to another he went, in piteous 
 accents begging a pittance from such as were 
 willing to give. The constant demand for ser- 
 vants' fees in Europe is very annoying to an 
 American who expects no such demand at home. 
 
 We skip over the annoyance at the French 
 
 custom-house, the ride to Paris, the day spent in 
 
 \ that beautiful metropolis, filled up with visits to
 
 V 
 
 WHAT WE SAW IN GOING OVER. 33 
 
 the Louvre, Tuileries, Pere-la-Chaise, and Notre 
 Dame ; walks along the Champs Elysees, and 
 Place de la Concorde ; views from the Arch of 
 Triumph and Column Vendome, and rides along 
 the Boulevards. All that will be found in the 
 account of Walter's first tour in Europe, when 
 he spent some weeks in this lovely yet dissipated 
 city. 
 
 An amusino; account of the ride down to 
 Marseilles, was given by Harry St. Clair, in a 
 letter to Tom Fellows, one of his young asso- 
 ciates. We give only an extract : — 
 
 " Well, Tom, I have told you how we got to 
 Paris ; now let me tell how we got away. The 
 French cars have two seats facing each other, 
 like a hackney coach. In the middle of the car, 
 over each seat, is a sort of pad, against which 
 the traveller may rest his head and sleep. As 
 we could not all set into one car, Mr. Tenant 
 and I took one separate fi'om the rest of the 
 party, in which the only other passenger was an 
 English officer on his way to India. Mr. Tenant 
 and the officer took the back seat, and I took the 
 front one, with my back to the horses — only 
 you know we had a locomotive instead of 
 horses. Unable to sleep, I had nothing to do 
 but to watch the two men, who, leaning their 
 heads against the same pad, one on each side.
 
 34 Walter in egypt. 
 
 were soon sound asleep. Their heads tunied 
 and bobbed, now came close together as if a 
 contact was inevitable, and then rolled apart. 
 Now the long, red, fiery whiskers ot" the Eng- 
 lishman would meet the neat, trim beard of Mr. 
 Tenant, and the huge brandy-burnt proboscis of 
 the soldier would almost touch the graceful nose 
 on the other side. Now the lips would almost 
 meet, and if one party had been a lady, no 
 knowing what would have happened ; and then 
 the two mouths wide open, would approach, and 
 the men would seem to be preparing to swallow 
 each other ; and anon the two heads would come 
 together with a bounce, and the two men would 
 start up and look at each other savagely, as if 
 about, each one, to ask, ' What did you thump 
 my face for?' I thought, Tom, that, if every- 
 body looks and acts so ridiculously when they 
 are asleep, it is a great mercy on the part of 
 Providence to ordain that men should sleep 
 when it is dark. 
 
 " We arrived at Marseilles after a ride of 
 twenty hours, and went to a magnificent hotel. 
 It was almost supper-time, and Mrs. Percy 
 and Min decided to take refreshments in their 
 room. When we were about oi'dering our sup- 
 per, Mr. Percy suggested that as we were to 
 have no ladies at the table, we begin to econ- 
 omize. Tom, don't vou think it a humbug fn»
 
 WHAT WE SAW IN GOING OVER. 35 
 
 rich old fogies like Mr. Percy to talk about 
 economy ? I hoped they would laugh at him ; 
 but Mr. Dunnallan at once took up with the 
 idea, and then Dr. Forrestall joined in, and the 
 whole party decided to economize. Now, Tom, 
 how do you suj)pose they did it? Why, Mr. 
 Tenant just went and ordered a special supper 
 for ourselves, declining in behalf of the party to 
 go to the table d'hote, which is the common 
 table. Five francs was the table charge, and 
 ours was to be furnished for four. So we waited 
 and waited, grew faint, hungry, and savage, and 
 were at length called to supper. As we entered 
 the dining-hall, we saw the table filled with 
 elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen, and were 
 about to take our seats with them, but the ser 
 vant beckoned us to the foot, away fi'om th- 
 rest, and seated us around a candle which 
 burned upon a clothless table. He then set 
 before us a dish of small potatoes, no one of 
 which was larger than a walnut, and a bit of 
 beef which was tough and poorly cooked. Of 
 the potatoes, there were two for each of us ; 
 bread was an extra charjre. We cast lono-ino 
 glances at the other end of the table, and the 
 gay company beneath the brilliant chandelier ; 
 Walter pinched me under the table in a most 
 unmerciful way, and I began to laugh ; Mr. 
 Butterworth tried to swallow the beef, but gave
 
 86 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 up in despair ; Mr. Allston, the young minister, 
 who sat at one end of our circle, or half circle, 
 as we sat around the end of the table, looked 
 wishfully at the plate of potatoes as its contents 
 diminished ; and at length, not half satisfied, we 
 got up and slunk away from the table, feeling 
 that we had practised very poor economy. I 
 guess you will never hear Mr. Percy recom- 
 mend economy again. We have all joked him 
 so about this experiment that I think he will 
 never want to hear the word economy again. 
 So you see, Tom, how we are getting along. I 
 am enjoying more than I ever thought I could 
 enjoy. Walter sends his love to you and so 
 does Minnie." 
 
 From this extract of Harry's letter, it will be 
 seen what objects made an impression on his 
 mind. Walter's letters were quite different from 
 this, and indicated a much superior cast of intel- 
 lect, though under the judicious care of Mr. 
 Percy, Harry was improving every day.
 
 VIALTA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN. 37 
 
 CFIAPTER III. 
 
 MALTA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN. 
 
 ** Where are you going now ? " asked Walter 
 of his father, as on the evening of the day of 
 their arrival at Marseilles the gentlemen pre- 
 pared to go out. 
 
 " To the steamer office, to secure our ticketa 
 for Alexandria." 
 
 " Shall we go with you ? " 
 
 " You can go with us, or with your mother 
 and sister, who are going out for a ride about the 
 city." 
 
 " I wish to go with you — Avliat say, Harry ? " 
 
 " Yes, let us go to the steamer." 
 
 That being arranged, the party sallied forth, 
 and on reaching the office found that no plan of 
 the cabin could be seen, and they must go on 
 board to find out what arrangements could be 
 made. Taking a little boat, they were rowed 
 out to the Vectis, a steamer that was to start the 
 next morning for Egypt. 
 
 " What is the fare?" asked Mr. Tenant of 
 the purser.
 
 38 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " To Alexandria is ^£20." 
 
 " Enormous." 
 
 " It is not considered so." 
 
 " What is the second cabin fare ? " 
 
 " There is no second cabin, except for serv 
 ants." 
 
 " What is the fare there ? " 
 
 "ItisXlO." 
 
 " Wliat say, friend Percy ? " asked Mr. Ten- 
 ant. 
 
 " Why," replied that gentleman, " the ladies 
 must go in the first cabin. The boys can go in 
 the second cabin if they please, and what they 
 save I will add to their pocket-money." 
 
 " Our voyage," said Mr. Butterworth, " will 
 be only six or seven days, and we shall save 
 eight or ten dollars per diem by taking the 
 second cabin." 
 
 " I shall go in that," said Mr. Tenant. 
 
 " So shall I," added each one except Mr. 
 Percy, who concluded to accompany his wife 
 and daughter to the first cabin. 
 
 The next morning they were on board early, 
 and on repairing to their quarters, found nothing 
 to please them much. Their berths were in the 
 bows of the vessel, the room dimly lighted, and 
 everything repulsive and unpleasant. Still they 
 concluded to try it, and putting their luggage 
 away, made themselves as comfortable as thej
 
 MALTA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN. £9 
 
 could. Towards night, a terrific storm came on, 
 which continued to increase with the darkness. 
 Suddenly the whole party were aroused by the 
 dash of water into the cabin. Dr. Forrestall 
 sprang from his berth, and found the floor cov- 
 ered to a depth of several inches. There was 
 a momentary panic, but it was soon found that 
 the door of the companion-way had been left 
 open, and the water that dashed over the bows 
 of the vessel was rollino; down in torrents. The 
 doctor at once set himself about mending the 
 evil, and climbing up to the door, braced him- 
 self against it, closed it, but could not fasten it. 
 There he was deluged with water, calling for 
 help. 
 
 '* Steward, come and shut this door," he 
 cried. 
 
 No response. 
 
 " Carpenter, come and shut this door ! " 
 
 No response. 
 
 " We are all drowning I Why don't you shut 
 this door?" 
 
 No answer. 
 
 '* Sailors, ahoy. Come, shut this door." 
 
 Here Walter and Harry began to laugh iin 
 moderately. 
 
 " I Hay, you there ! " 
 
 Louder laughter. 
 
 *' Whose business is it to shut this door ? "
 
 10 WALTER ra EGYPT. 
 
 •' You have made it yours, doctor," cried one, 
 
 " Keep hold of it," cried another. 
 
 "Won't — an J — of you — come and help^ 
 oh, dear — help me shut this door?" 
 
 Some sailors now made their appearance, and 
 relieved the excellent man from his perilous post. 
 He came down shaking the water from his per- 
 son, and exclaiming, — 
 
 " Harry, I have a good mind to whip you." 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 " For laughino; at me." 
 
 *' O Doctor, I didn't mean anything, but it 
 was so funny, ''^ and the boy shouted again. 
 
 Just then Mr. Allston came limping along, 
 saying,— 
 
 " Is there a spare berth ? Mine has broken 
 down and let me into the water." 
 
 While a berth was being found for him, a 
 frightened Frenchman began to yell at the top 
 of his voice, — 
 
 '''' G-ar^on! Gargon! Gargon!''^ 
 
 " W'hat does he want? " asked Harry. 
 
 " He is calling a servant," replied Walter. 
 
 Soon the servant came, and the Frenchman 
 cried out to him. The servant, who was some- 
 what angry at being aroused, asked in badly 
 pronounced French, — 
 
 " Que souliaitez vons ? " — ( What do you 
 want ? )
 
 V 
 
 MALTA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN". 4i 
 
 *' Be quoi s'agit il Id I"' — ( What is the mat- 
 ter there?) 
 
 " Restez tranqidlle.''^ — (Be quiet.) 
 
 " Wliat stufF, Walter, is that ? " 
 
 " The steward asks the Frenchman what ha 
 wants, and the Frenchman, who is frightened, 
 inquires what the matter is up there about tlie 
 door." 
 
 " What does the steward tell him ? " 
 
 " To be quiet." 
 
 " Oh, dear, I wish I understood French I " 
 
 " You can easily learn." 
 
 " Will you teach me ? " 
 
 "All I can, but I do not speak it very well, 
 though I have studied it four years." 
 
 " Boys, boys ! " cried Mr. Tenant. 
 
 "What say, sir?" 
 
 " Go to sleep — suspend conversation. Things 
 are getting quiet." 
 
 " Yes, Sir." 
 
 About sunrise the next morning, which was 
 Sunday, Dr. Forrestall, who had gone on deck 
 early, rushed into the cabin, crying, — 
 
 " Get up, get up, we are passing between the 
 islands of Corsica and Sardinia, and the house of 
 Garibaldi is plainly in view." 
 
 All rushed on deck, and found land on both 
 Bides, and away on the island of Sardinia, as if 
 set in the very rocks, the cottage of the ItuliaD
 
 V2 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 patriot. After breakfast, it was found that the 
 lecond cabin was so uncomfortable that a removal 
 was rendered necessary, and on Mr. Tenant's 
 application to the purser, the party moved into 
 mure comfortable quarters. 
 
 "• So ends our second effort to economize," said 
 Harry, as he dragged his luggage into the ample 
 state-room provided for him in the first cabin. 
 In their new quarters they fared much better 
 than before, and none of them regretted the 
 change. 
 
 On Tuesday morning, the boys awoke early 
 by the firing of a gun over their heads on deck, 
 and various unusual noises among the crew anc* 
 passengers. 
 
 " What do you suppose it is, Walter?" asked 
 Harry. 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " As soon as I can get my clothes on I will 
 
 see." 
 
 " Here comes father 1 Pa, what is the matter ?" 
 
 " Nothing, my son." 
 \ " What is the noise about ? " 
 
 " We have arrived at Malta." 
 
 « Ah, ha." 
 
 " Yes, get ready to go ashore. Minnie is all 
 prepared, and we shall soon be off. We stay 
 here several hours." 
 
 " I'll be on hand."
 
 MALTA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN. 43 
 
 »' So will I," shouted Harry. 
 
 Soon the two boys joined the rest of the partj 
 on deck, and they entered a small boat and were 
 rowed to the shore. Mrs. Percy remained in the 
 steamer, but Minnie persisted in going ashore. 
 The harbor of Malta was very rough, and once 
 or twice the little girl gave a slight scream, as 
 the boat careened to the gunwales in the briny 
 spray. As they neared the landing, however, 
 the water was smoother, and the children plied 
 their older friends with questions about the isl- 
 and. 
 
 " How large is this island ? " asked Walter of 
 Dr. Forrestall, who was sitting beside him. 
 
 " It has an area of about one hundred and fif- 
 teen square miles ; is oval in shape, sixteen miles 
 long and nine miles wide." 
 
 " And how much population ? " 
 
 " Malta proper has about one hundred thou- 
 sand inhabitants." 
 
 " Malta i^i'opar? Why do you say that? " 
 
 *' Because there is a group of islands. Be- 
 sides Malta there are Gozo, Comino, Corminetto, 
 and Filfla, and together they have one hundivd 
 and forty-four thousand people." 
 
 " Is there more than one township ? " 
 
 " Yes, we are going into Valetta, the capital 
 of the group." 
 
 While Walter and Harry were getting all the
 
 V 
 
 44 WALTE2 IN EGYPT. 
 
 infonuation they could out of Dr. Forresiall, 
 Minnie was as eagerly questioning Mr. Tenant. 
 
 " What do they sell here ? " she asked. 
 
 " Among other things, lace is manufactured 
 here quite extensively." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I have heard of Malta lace." 
 
 " Jewelry of a peculiar kind is also found here 
 in abundance, I believe." 
 
 Soon they touched the shore, and were in the 
 midst of Maltese sailors, women, dogs, and cats. 
 As they moved up the narrow streets, they saw 
 singular sights in every direction, and Minnie 
 was wild with interest and excitement. The 
 whole party stopped at a little shop for breakfast, 
 but few of them were hungry enough to eat the 
 garlicky bread that was set before them, though 
 an egg was not open to the same objection. 
 During breakfast the milk gave out, and the 
 keeper of the shop was summoned to supply the 
 deficiency. This he did in a queer way. A 
 drove of goats was passing in the street, and he 
 hailed the goatherd, who at once began to milk 
 his dirty animals in sight of the whole waiting 
 company. Minnie, who had cried most lustily 
 for " more milk," now concluded she would take 
 her coffee without milk, though it was thick, 
 black, and strong ; and Walter, when urged to 
 have mere milk for his untasted liquid, turned 
 away in disgust.
 
 V 
 
 MALTA A\D THE MEDITERRANEAN. 45 
 
 After breakfast they walked about the place 
 into the venerable Church of St. John, rich with 
 the memories and effigies of the old Knights of 
 Malta, and possessing some elegant specimens 
 of art. In the Governor's palace they saw a 
 gun, said to be the first made after the inven- 
 tion of gunpowder. It was about eight feet 
 long, manufactured of sheet iron, and wound 
 around with rope. As they stood looking at 
 this gun, the children had a hundred questions 
 to ask. 
 
 " Who invented fire-arms?" asked Walter. 
 
 " The Italians, I beUeve," said his father. 
 
 " How long ago ? " 
 
 " About 1430." 
 
 " When was gunpowder invented? " 
 
 "It is attributed to Schwartz, a German 
 chemist, in the fourteenth century." 
 
 " I thought," added Dr. Forrestall, " that 
 RojTcr Bacon described it in 1270." 
 
 " He gives a recei})t for making it," said Rev. 
 Mr. Allston. 
 
 " Does he ? What is it ? " 
 
 " He says, — ' Take of saltpetre with pounded 
 charcoal and sulphur, and you will make thun- 
 jer and lightning, if you know how to prepare 
 them.' " 
 
 " Then," remarked Walter, " we must set the 
 discovery of gunpowder in 1270."
 
 4G WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " 1 don't know, Walter," said Mr. Tenant. 
 •' but yon will be obliged to seek the origin of 
 gunpowder farther back than that." 
 
 " Ah, how so ? " 
 
 " Because Alexander is supposed to have re- 
 fused to attack the Oxydracae, a people living 
 near the Ganges, because they shot thunderbolta 
 from their walls." 
 
 " But this might not have been by gun- 
 powder." 
 
 " No, but they probably had some explosive 
 substance." 
 
 Leaving the gun and the rest of the objects 
 of interest in the Govex'n/)r's palace, the party 
 wandered about the town several hours. Minnie 
 bought some lace collars and veils, while Walter 
 invested some of his pocket change in mosaic 
 and lava ornaments, which he intended to have 
 set in gold on his return to America. Harry 
 said he had no sisters to buy lace for, and as to 
 jewelry, he did not care a fig for it, and would 
 not spend his money in that way. 
 
 At noon the voyage again commenced, and 
 that afternoon, as they sat on the deck, the 'Jon- 
 versation turned upon the island they had left 
 behind. 
 
 *' Was it not on this island that Paul was 
 shipwrecked ? " asked Walter of Mr. Tenant. 
 
 *' I believe so," replied that gentleman ; " but
 
 V 
 
 RIALTA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN. t7 
 
 here is Rector Allston, who can tell yo all 
 about that." 
 
 The children all looked to Mr. Allston. 
 
 *' What is it you want to know ? " said the 
 clergyman. 
 
 " Was this the island on which Paul waa 
 wrecked ? " 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " Don't know ?" queried Harry. " I thought 
 clergymen knew all about the Bible." 
 
 " But the Bible does not settle the question 
 very definitely." 
 
 " Well, tell us what you think about it." 
 
 " I think the identity of this island with 
 ancient Melita somewhat questionable." 
 
 "Do you?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "On what grounds ? " 
 
 *' Take your maps and look." 
 
 " We have got the maps." 
 
 " Now where was Paul when the storm by 
 which he was wrecked, began." 
 
 " Near Crete," said Minnie, turning to the 
 account in the Book of Acts. 
 
 " I do not find ' Crete,' " said Walter. 
 
 " Look for Candia ; the island is now called 
 by that name." 
 
 " Here it is, forming the southern limit of 
 the Grecian Archipelago."
 
 V 
 
 48 WALTER m EGYPT. 
 
 " Note the distance and direction to Malta, 
 and you will see the improbability of this being 
 the place where the shipwreck took place." 
 
 " What other island could it have been ? " 
 
 " It might have been Melida, near the Illj- 
 rian coast." 
 
 " I see it — here it is, Min." 
 
 *' Several eminent authorities reject Malta." 
 
 *' What reasons do they give ? " 
 
 " Among others, that the viper which fas- 
 tened upon the hand of Paul, is not a native of 
 Malta, but is of Melida ; that the disease the 
 father of Publius had, is peculiar to Melida, but 
 is hardly known at Malta ; that the inhabitants 
 of Malta were not barbarous at that time, — 
 those on the island where Paul landed were 
 represented as being so, — and several other such 
 reasons." 
 
 " What do the Maltese say about it ? " 
 
 " They say it was the place, and on the other 
 side of the island show a cave, in which it is 
 said he warmed himself." 
 
 The evening of this day was spent on deck, 
 in story- telling, singing, and pleasant conversa- 
 tion ; but the next morning a circumstance 
 occurrea which came near making the whole 
 companv very sad. After breakfast, as all were 
 on deck, wondering how they could spend the 
 day, Walter came up, and said, —
 
 MAirA AND THE MEDITERRAJTEAN. 49 
 
 " Mr. Allston is charged with having a penny 
 that belongs to Mr. Percy, and we propose to 
 try him according to the laws of the Mediterra- 
 nean Sea." 
 
 "A trial, a trial! That is right," said sev- 
 eral ; and all gathered round, while Walter, who 
 acted as prosecuting officer, read the indictment. 
 Mr. Butterworth was judge ; Harry was counsel 
 for defence ; Mr. Tenant, Mrs. Percy, Minnie, 
 and several other ladies and gentlemen were 
 jurors ; while Mr. Dunnallan, Dr. Furrestall, and 
 Mr. Damrell were summoned as witnesses. The 
 trial went on very regularly for a while. Walter 
 had the best notions of law, but Harry showed 
 the most shrewdness in questioning the wit- 
 nesses ; and the passengers all gathered around 
 looking on and enjoying the sport. Minnie did 
 not make a very good juror, as she expressed 
 her opinion freely at every stage of the trial. 
 At length, Mr. Dunnallan was put upon the 
 witness stand. The cross-questioning was at 
 length, and he leaned for support against a board 
 which had been j)ut across the companion-wav 
 to prevent the people from stepping in, — the 
 stairs havino; been removed. All at once the 
 board gave way, and the witness, tumbling back- 
 wards, was precipitated, head downwards, into 
 the hold below. AH saw him go, but all were 
 
 powerless to arrest his fall, and as he iisap- 
 4
 
 50 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 peared from view, the blood seemed to cuiiJe 
 in every vein. Dr. Forrestall was first to recover 
 from the shock, and hurrying to the stairway, 
 followed by Mr. Percy, they found the poor 
 fellow at the bottom, doubled up and crushed in 
 a narrow passage. He was quite insensible, and 
 being a heavy man, the two gentlen.en found it 
 very difficult to lift him up and bear him to his 
 state-room. When tliere. Dr. Forrestall at once 
 proceeded to an examination, and finding no 
 bones broken, began to take means to restore 
 him to consciousness. The Doctor opened his 
 trmik, and there he found medicines of different 
 kinds, which his thouo-htfulness had sucfoested, 
 and which now were available. For several 
 hours the poor suffering man remained in a 
 dreadful swoon, and melancholy were the fore- 
 bodings of the party, as they sat by him. The 
 skill of the physician, and the kind care of Mrs. 
 Percy, were very valuable, and at length reason 
 returned, and consciousness dawned upon him. 
 His first question was, " Where am I ? '* 
 
 " On board the Vectis." 
 
 "The Vectis!" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "What is the Vectis." 
 
 " A steamer ! Don't you know we sailed from 
 Marseilles on Saturday." 
 
 " I don t knov< . " 
 
 " Try to remember."
 
 MALTA AND THE MEDITERRANEAlf. 61 
 
 5> 
 
 " Where are we going ? 
 
 " To Egypt and Palestine." 
 
 " Wliat for ? " 
 
 " On our excursion of pleasure," 
 
 *' Is my wife here ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Where is she ? " 
 
 *' You left her at home." 
 
 "Did I?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Wliat has happened to me ? * 
 
 " You have had a fall." 
 
 "A fall? Where?" 
 
 " Down the companion-way of the steamer.'* 
 
 "Am I hurt?" 
 
 " No, only fainted, we hope." 
 
 " Where are we now ? " 
 
 " Between Malta and Alexandria." 
 
 " Yes, I remember now ; we were trying Mr 
 Allston." 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 These and similar questions he asked for some 
 time, but soon recovered ; and when at night a 
 httle company gathered in the state-room and 
 one offered prayer, every heart went up in de- 
 vout and grateful thanksgiving. 
 
 The feeling of the whole company was well 
 expressed by Walter in his Journal, from whi:h 
 we take a single paragraph : —
 
 62 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 "On Board the Vectis, April 24, 1861. 
 
 "... I know not as I ever felt more sad 
 than when I saw Dr. Forrestall and father hft- 
 ing Mr. Dunnallan, and bearing his apparently 
 lifeless form to the state-room. I had the saddest 
 rush of emotions that I ever experienced. Was 
 he dead ? Should we be obliged to burj this 
 dear friend in the deep blue sea ? Had he come 
 so far from his highland home, to find a sep- 
 ulcln-e ? What could we say to his wife, and 
 how could we meet his dear children ? These 
 were the questions I asked myself as every few 
 minutes I stole to the door, and saw mother 
 bathing his white face, or putting cordials to his 
 pallid hps. Oh, I should die to see my dear 
 father thus. But God is merciful ! "
 
 EXrERlENCE !>: ALEXAiXDKIA. 53 
 
 V 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EXPERIENCE IN ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 Bano-I Bang! 
 
 " Hurrah, Walter I " was the cry of Hany. 
 
 Pane; ! Bang; I 
 
 " I know what that means." 
 
 "What, Walter?" 
 
 " They ai'e firing for a pilot." 
 
 " Then we have reached the Egyptian coast." 
 
 " I suppose so ; get out your watch and see 
 what time it is." 
 
 " Just three o'clock." 
 
 *' Shall we get up ? " 
 
 *' Yes, of course." 
 
 Soon they were on deck. As far off as they 
 could see in tlie haze of morning, was an orien- 
 tal city, where minarets and domes could just he 
 discerned. 
 
 *' What is this?" asked Miiniie, who found 
 liie boys pointing to a rec' sand or dust that 
 covered the deck, spars, and sails. 
 
 " I don't know," replied Harry. 
 
 " Nor J," said Walter. " But here comes Mr. 
 Darnrell, he can tell us."
 
 54 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " Tell joii what ? " asked that gentleman. 
 
 " What this red sand is ? " 
 
 " Oh, this is nothing but the desert dust that 
 is borne out by the wind." 
 
 "How did it come out here? We have not 
 been through a desert." 
 
 " No, but these showers of sand are often car- 
 ried by the wind many miles out to sea." 
 
 " But when did this come ? " 
 
 " In the nicrht sometime. We have had a 
 windy night ; this is its result. You will see 
 more of the sand before you leave Egypt." 
 
 Bano; ! Bano; ! 
 
 " Why don't the pilot come ? " asked the 
 boys. 
 
 " He is coming," answered the gentleman 
 who had been conversing with them. 
 
 " Where do you see him ? " 
 
 " Out there two miles off." 
 
 " I don't see." 
 
 " Look again. Can you not see a little boat 
 with a large sail ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," answered they all. 
 
 Soon the boat reached the steamer, and the 
 pilot leaped upon deck and ran up to the pad- 
 dle-box like a cat. 
 
 " Mercy," said Minnie, " what a pilot I " 
 
 " What of him ? " asked her brother. 
 
 " He is a negro."
 
 EXPERIENCE IN ALEXANDRIA. 55 
 
 «' No, an Arab." 
 
 " And see his trousers and jacket ! " 
 
 " He is dressed in the costume of the ccsr.tiy. 
 Did you expect the pilot would be dressed in 
 European costume ? "' 
 
 *' Yes — no. But then I did not expect to see 
 him in such a rio; as this," 
 
 " You will get accustomed to the costume be- 
 fore you leave the land of Egypt." 
 
 The pilot, who was dressed proudly for one 
 in his station, displaying many ornaments, and 
 wearing very showy colors, took the vessel by 
 several English and French war steamers, and 
 brought her to anchor under the walls of the 
 city. Soon the deck was covered with the dusky 
 inhabitants of the country. They came out in 
 light feluccas, and swarmed upon the deck. 
 Some were the officers of customs ; some mail- 
 carriers, and at once set about taking out the 
 mails which were in canvas bags and metal cases, 
 — all the important documents being in sealed 
 cases, for protection against the weather. Some 
 were thieves, and went prowling about to see wiiat 
 they could lay their hands on ; some were beg- 
 gars — poor jiitiable objects ; and some were gen- 
 tlemen, well dressed, with long j)i]H's in their 
 moutlis, strutting about as if they owned the ves- 
 sel, and were masters of the passengers and crew. 
 
 As they stood looking from the steamer upon
 
 56 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 the city, an animated conversation took place bo 
 tween the children and the gentlemen of the party. 
 
 " How much of a place is Alexandria, Mr. 
 Percy ? " asked Harry. 
 
 " It is a considerable city," said the gentleman 
 addressed. " It is finely situated just at the 
 mouth of the Nile, and has a history well worth 
 your study." 
 
 " When was it founded ? " asked Walter. 
 
 " Three hundred and thirty-two years before 
 Christ.'^ 
 
 " Before Christ ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " I suppose by Alexander ? " 
 
 " Yes ; he laid the foundations, and it soon be- 
 came a great city, vying with Rome in military 
 greatness, with Athens in literature, with Tyre 
 in commercial importance." 
 
 " It is 7iot as great now as in former years ? " 
 
 " No ; time levelled its w^alls, and war slaugh- 
 tered its inhabitants. It incurred the displeas- 
 ure of Rome, its rival, and again and again was 
 sacked by Caracalla, Aurelian, and Diocletian. 
 Its commerce was driven to other ports, its wealth 
 aided to build up Constantinople, and its power 
 faded before superior races. After it had long 
 been in a decayed state, it was revived by Mc 
 hammed Ali, who " — 
 
 " Who was he ? ' ' asked Minnie.
 
 EXPERIENCE IN ALEXANDRIA. 57 
 
 " He was pasha of Egypt, who died in 1819." 
 
 •-' What was his history, Pa ? " 
 
 " I will tell you all I can." 
 
 " So do." 
 
 " He was a poor man who commenced life hum- 
 bly. At one time he was a tobacco-merchant, 
 but entering the army, he became the supreme 
 ruler of this whole country. He expelled the 
 French from the land, exterminated the brave, 
 warlike Mamelukes, built up commerce, ])romo- 
 ted agriculture and manufactures, and in many 
 ways improved the condition of tlie Egyptians," 
 
 " I must read his life." 
 
 " He saw that Alexandria was favorably loca- 
 ted for commerce, and went to work improving 
 its harbor, and offering facilities for trade ; and 
 under him the city revived, and is now a place 
 of sixty thousand inhabitants." 
 
 Before our travellers left home, Walter prom- 
 ised to write to Charlie, who had now become a 
 stout, intelligent boy, nine years old. As these 
 letters explain what the boys saw, in their own 
 lano-uao-e, one of them is here given : — 
 
 "Dear Chari.ik, — My last letter to you 
 was closed on board the Vectis just before wo 
 landed. On stepping ashore at Alexandria, we 
 met a crowd of those donkey-boys, that you re- 
 member we read about one evening last winter.
 
 58 WALTER EST EGYPT. 
 
 A s soon as we got out of the boat, they came at 
 us, a hundred of them. They acted hke liungry 
 wolves, shouting in all sorts of dialects, seizing 
 our baggage, pulling our clothes, crowding us in 
 one direction, and pushing us in another, one 
 urging us to ride his donkey for this reason, and 
 one for that ; and Minnie and mother were al- 
 most hoisted off their feet and mounted on the 
 backs of the donkeys before they were aware of 
 it. Minnie was afi"aid of them, though she would 
 not own it. While in the midst of the hubbub, 
 father espied an omnibus at a little distance — a 
 funny vehicle, about half way between a hearse 
 and a bagiiage-wairon, and without knowing; 
 where it was going, hurried us into it, much to 
 our relief, but three of the gentlemen concluded 
 to go on donkeys, and took Harry with them. 
 We supposed we had escaped the annoyance. 
 But we had not, for we were followed in l)y a 
 dozen dirty, barefoot Arabs, who proved to be 
 dragomans, and wanted to travel with us. They 
 chattered and screamed, gesticulated and ur2;ed. 
 Each one had a bag of greasy recommendations 
 given him by English or American travellers, 
 whom he had taken up the Nile, or through 
 Palestine. You would have laughed, Charlie, 
 to have seen and heard them. 
 
 " The omnibus took us to a hotel where Harry 
 and I had another adventure. We wanted to
 
 EXPERIENCE IN ALEXANDRIA. 59 
 
 take a hath soon after our arrival, and for this 
 purpose went into the elegant bath establishment; 
 after we had bathed in elaborate marble tubs, 
 and felt all the better for it, we marched out, but 
 an Arab stopped us, and demanded pay. This 
 was something we had not thought of, and on 
 searching our pockets, found we had nothing but 
 a few pieces of English silver. This we offered 
 him, but he would not take it. We told him we 
 would settle for the bath with our board-bills, but 
 that did not satisfy him. We asked him to let 
 us go and find some of the gentlemen, but he put 
 himself right in the door-way, exclaiming in bro- 
 ken accents, ' Big Americans, no pay.' Here 
 we were in limbo, and how to escape we could 
 not tell ; when fortunately one of our friends, 
 Mr. Damrell, came along, and released us. Harry 
 looks daggers at the villanous fellow every time 
 he sees him. 
 
 " I shall write you all the news, and you can 
 read the letter to Aunt Hester. 
 
 " Walter." 
 
 The hotel at which our travellers were accom- 
 modated was on the public square of Alexandria, 
 and Minnie and her mother took much pleasure 
 in sitting at evening on the balcony, and looking 
 out upon the people as they thronged the beau- 
 tiful grounds. There were people of all nations
 
 60 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 and colors. The coal-black Nubian, the S(.'owl 
 ing Turk, and the pale-faced European, were aL 
 there. Now and then a full dress suit of Eu- 
 ropean clothes upon a human form was seen 
 crossing the park, but mostly the people were 
 arrayed in the flowing oriental costume, vary- 
 ing from a mere white cloth wound around the 
 body, to the full Turkish suit, with its gay 
 colors and its showy decorations. Around the 
 square were vax'ious public buildings, among 
 which were the several consulates, surmounted 
 by the flags of the nations represented ; and 
 Minnie clapped her hands the first time she 
 recognized among them our own regal banner, 
 — the stars and stripes. 
 
 " Look, Mother," said Minnie one day, as she 
 sat with Mrs. Percy on the balcony ; " see, 
 there is a donkey with a ghost on him." 
 
 "A ghost?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, the woman does look like a ghost," 
 answered the mother, as an Egyptian lady, all 
 veiled in white, came trotting along on a donkey, 
 sitting, as the ladies always do when they ride, 
 on her knees, in a most uncomfortable position. 
 
 "And look there." 
 
 " What now ? " 
 
 " Why, there is a donkey with five boys ou 
 him."
 
 EXPERIENCE IN ALEXANDRIA. 61 
 
 " Yes, and there is another with a portly 
 Qian on his back, who covers the l)east all up.'" 
 
 " I see him, Ma. Oh, is it not Mr. Bradley ? ' 
 
 "Mr. Bradley? No, dear." 
 
 " Why, it is. Ma;— look!" 
 
 And so it proved to be — a friend of the 
 family, who had crossed the ocean in a sailing- 
 vessel, and who was at once kindly welcomed by 
 the whole party. 
 
 One evening, after the day's work was done, 
 Mr. Percy said to the children, — 
 
 " What have you seen to-day ? " 
 
 " Almost everything. Pa," said Minnie. 
 
 " But what have you seen that has struck you 
 peculiarly ? Walter, you may answer first." 
 
 " I have been struck," replied the boy, " with 
 the blindness with which so many people are 
 afflicted. About one fourth of the inhabitants 
 of Alexandria have something the matter with 
 the eyes. Blind children, blind men, blind 
 women, and even blind mules and dorkejs have 
 met me at every turn. What is the cause of 
 this?" 
 
 " I have been struck with the same thing, and 
 have attributed it to the filthy habits of the 
 people. Perhaps you have noticed that the 
 children are literally eaten uji with flies. I 
 have to-day seen mothers carrying theii* babes 
 througli the street, covered with these insects, 
 without trying to brush them ofi."
 
 62 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 "So have I, Mr. Percy," cried Hany, break- 
 incr in. " I have seen children to-day with their 
 eyes all covered with flies, so that where the 
 eyes should have been were two balls of insects 
 as big as apples." 
 
 " Whew ! " exclaimed Minnie. 
 
 " It is true," answered the boy. 
 
 " The Egyptian fly," remarked Mr. Dunn- 
 allan, " seems to have a swifter motion and a 
 sharper sting than any I have ever seen. It 
 aims for the eye, and strikes in at once, boring 
 into the flesh as with a gimlet, and when you 
 raise your hand to brush it off", you kill the 
 insect in dislodo-inor it." 
 
 " Dr. Smith, who has looked at the subject 
 in the light of science," remarked Dr. Forrestall, 
 "thinks that 'the prevalence of ophthalmia in 
 adults is owing, in part, to the turban, there 
 being no projecting rim to it, for a shade to the 
 eyes, like the visor of an ordinary cap. Those 
 who do not wear that hot, heavy head-gear, sub- 
 stitute the tarbousch, — a thick, red, felt cap, 
 without a rim, and consequently admitting the 
 strong rays of the sun directly into the eyes. 
 Then the heated sand, reflecting the light with 
 the intensity of a mirror, contributes to produce 
 an ii'ritability of the visual apparatus, which may 
 degenerate into total blindness.' " 
 
 " And that is not all he says," replied 
 Percy.
 
 EXPEKIENCE IN ALEXANDRIA. 63 
 
 "What does he say, Mother?" 
 
 "That an English lady told him that 'an 
 opinion prevails among them that it would be 
 disastrous to wash an infant till it is one year 
 old ; and consequently, from the hour they are 
 ushered into existence, to the termination ol' 
 twelve months, the dirty little creatures are 
 never washed.' " 
 
 " Oh, I don't believe that." 
 
 " Nor I." 
 
 " It does not seem reasonable, but it may be 
 
 su. 
 
 " I have heard the phenomena explained," 
 said Mr. Allston, " in this way : mothers put out 
 the right eye of their male children in infancy, 
 that they may not be impressed into the army." 
 
 " But," said Walter, " that would not explain 
 the blindness of the women and donkeys." 
 
 " No, that must be accounted for on the 
 siijiposition that they are put out by the sand, 
 which blows about, and fills eyes, ears, nose, and 
 mouth, as we have to-day experienced." 
 
 " Well, I don't know what the cause of it 
 is," said Harry, "but I know blindness is ter- 
 ribly prevalent. Blind men stand in the street 
 asking your charity on every corner ; men blind 
 of an eye look out at you from the little window 
 of the sliop where knick-knacks and gimcracks 
 are sold ; the donkey-boy is blind of an eye,
 
 64 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 and his mother who comes to help him out of 
 his trouble is bhnd of an eye ; the waiters at 
 the hotel here are troubled about the eyes ; the 
 landlord is obliged to shut one eve when he 
 speaks ; and a dozen times since morning 1 have 
 put up my hands to see if there is not something 
 the matter with my own eyes." 
 
 " Well done, Harry," exclaimed Minnie. 
 
 " Now, Minnie," said her father, " tell me 
 what you have seen and noted to-day? What 
 has impressed you ? " 
 
 " I have seen a funeral procession, and so odd 
 that I shall never forget it." 
 
 " Tell us about it." 
 
 " This morning I was aroused by a horrid 
 noise under the window, and on getting up and 
 looking out, saw a company of men with tin 
 horns, rude drums and gongs, making a hideous 
 outcry. Then followed a number of persons, 
 bearing a dead body upon a bier. The corpse 
 was covered with gay clothing, and the showy 
 turban of the man lay on the outside. Imme- 
 diately behind followed a woman and two 
 children ; these I supposed to be the wife and 
 children of the departed. Behind them were 
 from fifty to ninety aged men and women, wail- 
 ing and moaning, and shouting most violently." 
 
 " What did they say ? " queried Harry. 
 
 *' I could not tell, but Mr. Butter worth in-
 
 EXPERIENCE IN ALEXANDRIA. 65 
 
 quired of a native, and was told that they only 
 repeated over and over the most senseless expres* 
 sions." 
 
 " Such as what ? " 
 
 *' Oh my father ! Oh my mother ! Oh the sun ! 
 Oh the moon ! Oh the stars ! Oh the river ! " 
 
 " Well, Harry," said Mr. Percy, " what haa 
 impresse'l you to-day ? " 
 
 " Oh, n "tthing, Mr. Percy. I was so disturbed 
 by dogs and donkeys last night, that I have not 
 got any new ideas into my head to-day." 
 
 •'■ Dogs and donkeys ! Did they trouble you ?" 
 
 " You know the doos are large and wolfish, 
 and roam in droves. They are like half-starved 
 jackals ; and last night they were howling all 
 the time. One solitary doo; would commence, 
 and in a minute he would be joined by another, 
 and then ten, then a hundred, and it seemed at 
 last as if a milHon were joining in the boister- 
 ous chorus." 
 
 " But the donkeys don't bark, do they?" 
 
 *' No, but they bray." 
 
 " You know, Harry, that almost every man and 
 boy here keeps a donkey." 
 
 " Where do they keep him, Pa ? " asked Min- 
 nie. 
 
 " Sometimes they put him into the spare room, 
 and sometimes he is taken to bed with the 
 owner."
 
 66 WALTER m EGYPT. 
 
 " You reverse it, Pa." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 " Don't the owner go to bed with the don- 
 key?" 
 
 " I don't know ; but as Harry says, they make 
 a terrible noise ; a thousand of them seem to be 
 braying at once." 
 
 " I tliink it is time for my children to go to 
 bed now," said Mrs. Percy, rising. 
 
 " Not yet. Ma," said Minnie. 
 
 " Not just yet," added Walter. 
 
 " Oh, no ; it is not bedtime," was the reply of 
 Harry. 
 
 " You had better go now, and be up early in 
 the morning." 
 
 " Well." 
 
 " Good -night, all round."
 
 POMPEY'S PILLAR. — CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES. G7 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 POMPET's pillar. CLEOPATRA 8 NEEDLES. 
 
 * Where shall we go to-day?" said Waltei 
 to his father, one morning shortly after the ar- 
 ri\al in Alexandria. 
 
 *' It is a cool day, my son, and we have con- 
 cluded to take open carriages and ride about the 
 city, and see all we can of it." 
 
 " That will be nice, and there are some things 
 here I want to see." 
 
 "What are thev?" 
 
 " Pompey's Pillar and Cleopatra's Needles." 
 
 " We shall visit them." 
 
 " Are they far distant ? " 
 
 " No ; they are in sight from the roof of our 
 hotel. We can reach them in half an hour." 
 
 Just then they were called to breakfast, and 
 afterwards a carriage or two were found, — 
 though carriages are not numerous in Egypt, — ■ 
 and they all started out. 
 
 " Father," exclaimed Minnie, as they rode 
 along. 
 
 "What, child?"
 
 68 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " Don't you remember a Mr. Lucas, who 
 preached at our church a few Sabbaths before 
 we sailed ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 *' Well." 
 
 "What of him?" 
 
 "He spoke of the Alexandrian Library — is 
 that here ? " 
 
 " No, child." 
 
 " Where is it ? " 
 
 " It was destroyed many years ago." 
 
 " I have often heard of this library, and 
 would like to know its history; — please tell it to 
 us," said Walter. 
 
 " If Harry will stop his shouting, I will. The 
 boy acts as if he was crazy." 
 
 " O Mr. Percy, I am all attention, if you 
 have anything to tell us." 
 
 " The Alexandrian Library was founded two 
 hundred and ninety years before Christ, by Ptol- 
 emy Soter." 
 
 " Who was Ptolemy Soter ? " asked Minnie. 
 
 " Ask the question some other time, Min." 
 said Walter. 
 
 " It was of great value, but was several time 
 destroyed : once by Csesar, forty-seven years be- 
 fore Christ ; once by Bishop Theophilus, a, d. 
 400, and finally by Caliph Omar in 642." 
 
 " How large was it?" asked Minnie.
 
 fOMPEY'S PILLAR — CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES. 09 
 
 " I do not know. There are many statements 
 in regard to the extent of tlie library, and they 
 contradict each other." 
 
 "What are they?" 
 
 " One statement is, that there were 4,000 
 baths in the city at the time the hbrary was 
 finally destroyed, and that the books being 
 equally divided among them, kept them all burn- 
 ing; for six months." 
 
 " Tremendous ! What other statements ? " 
 
 " Why, others say there were not more than 
 700,000 volumes at any one time." 
 
 " Were they not mostly manuscripts ? !' 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Are there not many public libraries that 
 hp.ve 700,000 volumes in them?" 
 
 "Not many." 
 
 "What are the largest?" 
 
 "The Imperial Library in Paris— 1,084,000 
 volumes." 
 
 " What comes next ? " 
 
 ' The Royal Library in Munich — 900,000 
 volumes." 
 
 " How many volumes are there in the Brit- 
 ish Museum ? " 
 
 "About 625,000." 
 
 "What is the largest library in America?" 
 
 " That at Harvard College, which has about 
 123,000 volumes."
 
 70 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 "What is next to that?" 
 
 '• The Astor Library in New York, which 
 has 100,000 volumes."' 
 
 " How many has the City School Library in 
 Boston ? " 
 
 "About 75,000; and the Athenaeum Library 
 has as many." 
 
 '■' Are any of the books of the Alexandrian 
 Library yet in existence ? " 
 
 Before Mr. Percy could answer this question 
 the boys both shouted together, — 
 
 " The pillar ! The pillar ! " 
 
 And there before them was Pompey's Pillar, 
 looking just as it looked to the children in their 
 school-books. They drove up to it, and all got 
 out, and as they approached, a little old woman 
 came running up to them, offering her services 
 as a cicerone. 
 
 " See, Walter," said Minnie, " here comes the 
 witch of the pillar." 
 
 "She looks like it." 
 
 The woman had pieces of red granite to sell, 
 which she stated had been clipped from the huge 
 shaft before them. But the party did not believe 
 her, and with a little hammer — which he always 
 carried on such excursions — Walter knocked off 
 a bit of the real stone, which he brought away 
 with him. The pillar stands on an elevation of 
 ground, and the foundations seem nearly under-
 
 POMPEY'S PILLAR. — CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES. 71 
 
 mined, and Walter predicted that it would all 
 tumble down in a few years. The shaft of the 
 pillar between the base and the elegantly 
 wrought Corinthian capital is seventy-three feet 
 high, of beautiful polished stone. The whole 
 height is ninety-nine feet, and the shaft is thirty 
 feet in circumference. Standing alone as it does, 
 it is a very imposing spectacle, the remnant of 
 an earlier age. While they were looking at it, 
 Walter inquired about its history. 
 
 " What is known about this pillar, father ? " 
 
 " Almost nothing." 
 
 *' Why is it named for Pompey ? '* 
 
 " No one can tell." 
 
 *' Was it erected to his memory ? " 
 
 "No; to Diocletian." 
 
 "By whom?" 
 
 " By Publius, the Prefect of Egypt." 
 
 " Then why is it called ' Pompey's Pillar'? " 
 
 " Probably after Diocletian ceased to be hon- 
 ored, the other name was given to it ; but it 
 should be called ' Diocletian's Pillar.' " 
 
 Here the old woman, who could speak Eng- 
 lish, apfiroached Walter, and oftered a piece of 
 red granite for sale. 
 
 " How much do you ask for it ? " asked Wal 
 :.er. 
 
 " Backshish.* 
 
 »»How much?"
 
 72 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " Money — backshish." 
 
 "No, I don't want it." 
 
 " No want — yes ^— backshish." 
 
 " No ; it is spurious." 
 
 " Spu — spu — backshish, backshish." 
 
 " It is no good, I mean." 
 
 " Yes, good — true Pompey." 
 
 But the lad was not to be deceived by any 
 such wares as the woman had for sale, and soon 
 he got an opportunity to remove little pieces of 
 the real pillar. 
 
 " You are a vandal, Walter," said Minnie, as 
 she saw him break them off. 
 
 "Not quite, Sis." 
 
 " You are not honest." 
 
 "Not honest?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "Because you are stealing." 
 
 "No, Sis." 
 
 " Why, this pillar is not yours." 
 
 " Yes, it is." 
 
 " How dc you make that out ? " 
 
 " It belongs to the world, not to this old wo- 
 man, nor to the Pasha of Egypt. I am a part of 
 the world, and am taking my pieces of the pillar 
 
 noAv." 
 
 " What immorality ! Where is Rector Aliston ?" 
 " Come, children, it is time to go."
 
 POMPEY'S PILLAR. — CLE0PATRAT3 NEEDLES. 73 
 
 " Ay, ay, Sir," roared Harry, who was quite 
 boisterous on this occasion. 
 
 " And where now ? " asked Walter, as they 
 seated tliemselves. 
 
 " To Cleopatra's Needles." 
 " Needles ? " inquired Walter. " I thought 
 there was but one." 
 
 " I am not responsible for your thoughts ; — 
 there are two." 
 
 " But there is only one in my geography," 
 said Minnie. 
 
 " I can't help that, — there are two here." 
 " We shall see." 
 
 Soon they reached the place, and found one 
 Bolitary obelisk standing. 
 
 " There, what did I tell you? " cried Minnie, 
 " Yes, 1 was right," added Walter. 
 " You were wrong," replied the father. 
 " How is that ? Here is but one." 
 " Wait and see." 
 
 They clambered over some piles of timber, and 
 reached the shaft. They found but one standing; 
 the other Avas on the ground and nearly embed- 
 ded in the earth. 
 
 " Ah, liex-e is tlie second ; I give it up," said 
 Walter. 
 
 " This fallen pillar was once offered to tho 
 English government ; but the expense and trou- 
 ble of getting it were so great, that the practical
 
 74 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 Englishmen concluded to let it stay wheie it 
 
 is." 
 
 " A wise conclusion," said Mr. Tenant. 
 
 " I don't thmk so," replied Dr. Forrestall. 
 
 " Nor I," said the rector. 
 
 " Nor I," chimed in Walter. 
 
 " Why not ? " asked Mr. Tenant. 
 
 " Because," replied the boy, " the English 
 government is rich, and might as well spend 
 money in one way as another, and this obelisk 
 in London would be a great curiosity." 
 
 " I think as Mr. Tenant does," said Harry. 
 
 " I supposed you would," replied Walter. 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " Because you care nothing for antiquity." 
 
 " No ; what have I to do with antiquity ? " 
 
 " Much, I think." 
 
 " No, Walter, I would rather look at a lamp- 
 post in a park, than this unsightly pillar." 
 
 " Yes, Harry," said Minnie, " you care more 
 for the present things, — fast horses, dogs, and 
 rifles, than for old pictures or old pillars." 
 
 " Of course I do." 
 
 " That is where we differ," replied Walter. 
 '• Now, father, tell us something about these 
 Needles." 
 
 " What would you know ? " 
 
 " I want to know if " — 
 
 " Who was Cleopatra ? " interrupted Minnie.
 
 POMPEY'S PILLAR. — CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES. 75 
 
 " Perhaps Walter can tell. She was a char- 
 acter in wlioni vou would feel some interest." 
 
 t/ 
 
 " I don't know much about her." 
 " Well, tell what you do." 
 " Well, I have read that Cleopatra was a Greek 
 female name, which signified ' the glory of her 
 country.' There were several Cleopatras, but 
 the one for whom I suppose this Needle to be 
 named, was the daughter of Ptolemy Auletes. 
 After various adventures she was married to 
 Ptolemy Necteros, a child only seven years old." 
 
 " Whew, how old was she?" 
 
 " About forty." 
 
 " Mercy," exclaimed Minnie, " why did she do 
 that ? " 
 
 " It was a State marriage, — to give her power. 
 She was a very ambitious woman. There are 
 many interesting things said about her. I have 
 at honu' a Httle iiistory which contains many of 
 the facts of her history, which you can have, 
 when we reach Cambridge again." 
 
 *' I should like to read it." 
 
 *' So should 1," added Harry. 
 
 " But, Walter," asked his sister, " was this 
 obelisk erected by her, or to her memory?" 
 
 '' I think to her memory. Am I right, ia- 
 ther?" 
 
 " No, my son." 
 
 " What\hen?"
 
 T6 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " The shaft was reared long before her time, 
 as far back as the Exodus, and was probably once 
 a part of a heathen temple. The hieroglyphics 
 on it are said to give evidence that it once be- 
 longed to the temple of the sun at Heliopolis, a 
 place we shall visit to-morrow." 
 
 " How high is it ? " 
 
 " The guide-books say sixtj^-three feet." 
 
 Having seen enough of the Needles they rode 
 to the catacombs hewn in the rocks, in which 
 Harry and Minnie felt no interest, but which 
 Walter viewed with much pleasure. They con- 
 sisted of chambers in the rocks, where the dead 
 had once reposed ; but the bones had all been 
 removed. 
 
 " And where next ? " asked Walter, when they 
 had again taken seats in the carriao-e. 
 
 " Where you will. We have seen all we came 
 out to see, and now you can go to the hotel, oi 
 ride about the city." 
 
 " I want to ride about," said Harry. 
 
 " I would like to see something more," said 
 Walter. 
 
 " I want to go home," said Minnie. " This fine 
 dust is sifting into my eyes so, that I cannot see 
 anything, and I shall not be fit to be seen at tea- 
 
 lime " 
 
 " Oh, no matter how you look, nobody will 
 know you."
 
 POMPEY'S PILLAR. — CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES. 77 
 
 9 
 
 " If nobody don't, I want to look decent." 
 
 " That is a new idea that has taken you, 
 Min," said Harry. 
 
 " Take that, Mr. Impudence," and " wliack" 
 went a Httlo twig tliat Minnie had in her hands 
 over Harry's shoulders. 
 
 " Come, come, childi'en, you mustn't play in 
 the carriaoe ; have your bantering at home." 
 
 They rode about the city an hour, and then 
 drew up at the door of the hotel, where they were 
 soon surrounded by a crowd of Arabs, from 
 whom they were glad to escape to their rooms, 
 where they rested until tea-time.
 
 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 GRAND CAIRO. 
 
 The part}' started one morning for Cairo the 
 Magnificent. This grand oriental city is situ- 
 ated about twelve miles above the apex of the 
 delta of the Nile, and is seven miles in circum- 
 ference. A railroad is stretched between Alex- 
 andria and this city, and few travellers y)ass 
 from one to the other by any other mode of con- 
 veyance. 
 
 The car into which our travellers climbed 
 was a large, room-like carriage, in which were 
 many Arabs bound to Cairo. For a while the 
 children amused themselves by watching the 
 strange ways of this strange people. The coun- 
 try was fertile ; green fields were waving in 
 all directions, and frequent villages were seen in 
 tlie distance. At every stop])ing-place, large 
 numbers of persons, male and female, were 
 found, who had various kinds of cookery to dis- 
 pose of. Chickens, well roasted, were sold at 
 sixpence each ; eggs, well boiled, three for a 
 half-penny ; oranges, luscious and well grown,
 
 GRAND CAIRO. 79 
 
 as cheap as sparrows in tlie times of Christ, as 
 Mr. Allston said ; various kinds of bread and 
 cake ; water from goat-skin bags, which neither 
 of tlie children coukl be persuaded to touch ; 
 and strong drinks in httle cans were met with 
 all alono; the road. 
 
 The river was crossed once or twice, — the 
 noble, majestic Nile. The moment it appeared 
 in view, the Arabs, who had seen it a thousand 
 times before, crowded to the windows of the car- 
 riages, and shouted in a delirium of joy. Had 
 Mecca ap})eared to their astonished gaze, they 
 could scarcely have been more jubilant. With 
 an Egyptian the Nile is an object of great re- 
 spect, if not of reverence and worship. Well it 
 may be, for without it not a single human being 
 could subsist in that arid, scorching region. It 
 is rain and dew, food and drink, occupation and 
 country to thousands who subsist upon its prod- 
 ucts. But of the Nile we shall speak more 
 particularly in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 At one of the stations on the road, they saw 
 the state train of the Pasha of Egypt, and a 
 m(»re gorgeous equipage the children had never 
 seen before. The locomotive was a blaze of gilt 
 and gold, and the cars were sumptuous in the 
 extreme. Time was given for an examination 
 of the carriages, and the splendor of their 
 decorations made Minnie enthusiastic in their 
 praise.
 
 80 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " Who would have thouo;ht I " 
 
 " Thought what, Sis ? " asked Walter. 
 
 " That I should come to-the deserts of Eg}''pt 
 to see the most beautiful train of cars that I 
 ever beheld." 
 
 " It is strange ; but father tells me this people 
 are fond of show." 
 
 " So are the French, but this train is far more 
 elaborate and beautiful than the state carriages 
 of Napoleon." 
 
 " Dino;, diner, ding ! " 
 
 " Come, children," cried Mr. Percy. 
 
 " All aboard ! " shouted Mr. Tenant. 
 
 Soon they were again seated, Minnie telling 
 Her mother what she had seen, and describing, 
 in a rapid enthusiastic manner, the beauties of 
 this royal train. 
 
 " Wasn't it beautiful ? " she asked, turning to 
 Mr. Tenant. 
 
 " Not beautiful, but showy, dear." 
 
 " Oh, what a man ! " 
 
 " It was not beautiful to my eye." 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 " Because so much show upon a locomotive is 
 out of taste." 
 
 " So Walter said, but he don't know." 
 
 " Walter's taste is generally good. Sis." 
 
 " Well, say what you will, Mr. Tenant, I 
 think it was first-rate."
 
 GRAND CAIRO. 81 
 
 " I wish 1 had seen it," remarked Mrs. Percy, 
 " and tlien I could liave exercised my judgment 
 in the matter." 
 
 A conversation on the other side of the car 
 between Waher and Dr. Forrestall now drew 
 attention. 
 
 " How old a place did you say Cairo was ? " 
 asked Walter of the physician. 
 
 " It was founded a. d. 970." 
 
 "' A. D ! ' What does a. d., that I hear you 
 speak about, mean ? " asked Harry. 
 
 " Why, Harry, don't you know ? " said Walter. 
 
 " No ; tell me." 
 
 '' Do you know, Sis ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, tell him then." 
 
 " It means ' the year of our Lord.' " 
 
 "But," queried Harry, "how does a. d. 
 mean ' year of our Lord ' ? " 
 
 " Explain, Minnie, as you have begun." 
 
 "It means — means — I don't know." 
 
 " Ah, I thought you didn't." 
 
 "Do you, Walter?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Then explain it to us." 
 
 " A. D. stands for Anno Domini, two Latin 
 words, which mean ' the year of our Lord.' " 
 
 " Good ; I shall always remember." 
 
 *' Now please tell us," said Walter, turning tc 
 6
 
 H2 WALTER IN EGTl'T. 
 
 the gentleman Avith whom he had been convirs- 
 mg, " about Cairo." 
 
 " What would you know ? " 
 
 " Who founded it ? " 
 
 " An Arabian caliph." 
 
 "Was it always called Cairo?" 
 
 " No, its original name vA^as ^l Kahireh.** 
 
 " What does that mean ? " 
 
 " The Victorious." 
 
 " Why that name ? " 
 
 " To commemorate some victory gained 
 here." 
 
 " Was there nothing here before ? " 
 
 " Yes, probably there was a city, on, or near 
 the Nile, in the times of Moses. Moez, though 
 liaving the credit of founding the place, only 
 revived it." 
 
 In conversation about Egypt, and the inhabi- 
 tants of the land, the time was occupied, until 
 the domes and minarets of the city appeared in 
 view, and about six hours after starting from 
 Alexandria they stood in the depot at Caii'o. 
 The children were here almost bewildered with 
 the jargon of tongues, but Mr. Percy got them 
 all safely into an omnibus, and they were 
 driven through narrow filthy streets, and be- 
 neath the shade of trees, that grew in the very 
 walls of the houses, until they arrived in front 
 of a large, modern-looking building, over the
 
 GRAND CAIRO. 83 
 
 hiffh-arched door of which were the words Hotel 
 ct Orient. 
 
 " Hotel of the East," shouted Walter. " Here 
 we ai-e." 
 
 " Is this the hotel ? " asked Minnie. 
 
 She was soon answered by the sight of porters 
 seizing on the luggage, and in a few minutes, 
 they had all passed beneath the archway and 
 were in a pretty quadrangle into Avhich doors 
 opened on all sides. Mr. Tenant, wlio was the 
 business man of the party, was put forward to 
 make a bargain with the landlord, and the terms 
 being found satisfactory, the whole company was 
 soon provided with nice apartments on the second 
 floor of the house. 
 
 Walter and Harry were put into the same 
 room. Mr. liutterworth occupied one adjoining, 
 and the rest of the party were entertained to their 
 own liking. To Minnie was assigned an apart- 
 ment oi)ening out of the one occupied by her 
 father and mother, and the weary travellers were 
 soon congratulating each other on having found 
 such comfortable quarters. 
 
 " Walter," said Harry, while they were wash- 
 ing their dust-begrimed faces, " this is as good 
 as the Treniont House." 
 
 " Better." 
 
 " Do you think so ? " 
 
 " Yes, for if we should go to a hotel at home.
 
 84 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 we should be put into a little seven-by-nine room, 
 with one window only in it, and no ventilation." 
 
 " So we should." 
 
 " And then the hotel would be so full, and 
 there would be so much tramping through the 
 passages at night, that we could not sleep." 
 
 " That's so." 
 
 *' But here we have a room more than thirty 
 feet square, with four large windows in, and t\v'o 
 nice looking beds, and a large centre-table, — and 
 everything looks so homelike." 
 
 " I did not expect to find such accommoda- 
 tions." 
 
 "Nor I." 
 
 " I was afraid we should find the hotel so 
 mean that we should want to get out of it, and 
 the weather so hot that we should almost die 
 of it." 
 
 " We should be thankful that it is so much 
 better than we feai'ed. It is not very hot 
 here." 
 
 " No ; how high does your glass go ? " 
 
 Walter took out his neat little pocket ther- 
 mometer and stood it in the open window, and 
 when the mercury had reached its level, he 
 replied, — 
 
 " It is only seventy-six degrees in the shade." 
 
 " That would be comfortable summer weathei 
 at home."
 
 GRAND CAIRO. 85 
 
 " Yes, but it will soon be hotter here. I heard 
 a servant tell father that it was over one hun- 
 dred degrees at dusk on Friday last." 
 
 The commendation which the boys bestowed 
 upon the hotel was well deserved, as they after- 
 ward found. The institution was manaoed in 
 European style, and at the table one would 
 scarcely know that he was not in London or 
 Paris. The fare was as at our own hotels, — 
 two dollars and fifty cents per day, without 
 charge for little extras, which so often amounts 
 to a formidable bill at home. 
 
 Near the close of the afternoon the party all 
 came together to discuss plans for the exploration 
 of Cairo. 
 
 " The first thing we have to do," said Mr. 
 Percy, " is to secure a dragoman for our tour in 
 Syria." 
 
 "Why need we think of that now?" asked 
 Mr. Allston. 
 
 " Because, whoever we may eiio-acre will want 
 some time to prepare for the journey. He will 
 need tents, assistants, and provisions." 
 
 " May I speak father," asked Walter. 
 
 " Yes, my son." 
 
 " I have a dragoman." 
 
 " You have ! " 
 
 " Yes, Sir." 
 
 *' Who is he, and where did you get him?"
 
 86 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " He followed us from Alexandria." 
 
 " What is his name ? " 
 
 " Mohammed Achmet." 
 
 " Oh, yes, the good-looking young fellow, 
 that has rendered us some service all <he way 
 along." 
 
 « Yes, Sir." 
 
 " Where is he now ? " 
 
 " I saw him in the court below a few minutes 
 since." 
 
 "Call him." 
 
 Walter ran out and soon came in brino-ing a 
 tall, good-looking, well-dressed Arab, who was 
 apparently about thirty-five years of age. 
 
 " Here he is. Pa," said the boy, as the drago- 
 man came forward, bowing, in oriental style, al- 
 most to the floor. 
 
 " Are you a dragoman ? " asked Mr. Percy. 
 
 " Yes, Sir ; and I have gone up the Nile and 
 into Syria with many Americans." 
 
 "Ah, with whom?" 
 
 The man named several parties. 
 
 *' On what terms will you accompany us?" 
 
 " On any terms. I don't go for money." 
 
 " What do you go for ? " 
 
 " Because — for — why — it is my business — 
 trade you call him. Sir." 
 
 " How soon could you get ready ? " 
 
 " Any time."
 
 GRAND. CAIRO. 87 
 
 " What should you carry with you ? " 
 
 " New tents, iron bedsteads, plenty of food, 
 cock, good guard — anything you want." 
 
 " Well, Mr. — Mr. — What's-y our- name ? " 
 
 " I am Mohammed Achmet, dragoman." 
 
 " Well, Sir, we are going out now, and yon 
 can come at some other time. If we can agree 
 with you as to the terms, we may make a contrac-t 
 with you. We are to travel through Syria, ant! 
 shall want a good dragoman. You have be- 
 friended us on various occasions, and if we can 
 agree, we are willing to take you." 
 
 Mohammed was profuse in his thanks, and 
 promised them that they should be taken through 
 Palestine in a way that no party of Americans 
 had ever gone before. He then bowed himself 
 out of the room. 
 
 " Come, let us be off now," said Mr, Allston. 
 
 " Where ? " asked several. 
 
 " To the Pyramids ! " was the reply of Min- 
 nie. 
 
 " It is too late — it will take all day ! " 
 
 " To some of the mosques," was Walter's 
 choice. 
 
 " No," said Mr. Percy, " we have only two 
 hours before dark, and we shall need dinner by 
 that time." 
 
 " I know where to go," saiil Harry. 
 
 *' Where?" said several i»f the I'arty.
 
 88 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " Let US have a donkey-ride," replied the hoy. 
 
 " Capital," cried Mr. Tenant. 
 
 " Just the thing," answered Mr. Percy. 
 
 And it was soon agi-eed that the first donkey* 
 ride of the party should be taken. Mrs. Percy 
 and Minnie concluded to lie down and take a 
 nap, while the rest were gone out. Harry was 
 wild with joy, not only that his proposition had 
 been accepted, but that he was now to have the 
 novel entertainment which a donkey-ride was 
 sure to give. Walter was as much pleased as 
 Harry, at the idea of trotting through the streets 
 of Cairo on the back of a donkey, but he mani- 
 fested his pleasure in a much more quiet and 
 reasonable way. He reminded Harry that the 
 ride might not be as pleasant an experience aa 
 he imagined it would.
 
 THE FIRST DONKEY-RIDE. 89 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FIRST DONKEY-RIDE. 
 
 When a man who lias always despised the 
 poor donkey finds himself upon the back of one 
 of these animals, capering through the narrow 
 slippery streets of some oriental city, he has a 
 vivid perception of the ludicrousness of his posi- 
 tion. Legions of donkeys are found in front of 
 hotels, and in the public resorts of all the Egyp- 
 tian cities. When the donkey is hired, the 
 owner runs behind and pounds the beast with a 
 club, or pricks him with a sharp goad. The 
 saddle is easy, and the riding is very pleasant. 
 The driver, however, who is unaccustomed to the 
 perverse habits of the creature, must be careful 
 that he is not thrown over the head of the beas;. 
 and landed in the street with a broken nose. 
 
 Our travellers descended the stairs, crossed tin.- 
 quadrangle, passed through the gate-way, and 
 found about fifty donkeys ranged in front of tlio 
 hotel. It had been rumored about that a new 
 party had come, and the boys who had donkeys 
 to let had gathered themselves. As soon as they
 
 90 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 saw the gentlemen approach, tliey began to recom- 
 mend their beasts in broken English. 
 
 " Take this donkey ! " cried one. 
 
 " Here a good donkey — he do," cried another. 
 
 " This be real right donkey," cried another. 
 
 " Here is English Snooks donkey," shouted 
 the next. 
 
 " This is Yankee Doodle donkey," vehemently 
 vociferated the next. 
 
 The party were almost bewildered with the 
 earnestness of the boys, and stood laughing at 
 them. 
 
 " I'll take Yankee Doodle," said Walter. 
 
 " I'll have English Snooks," cried Harry. 
 
 Soon the whole party were mounted, and ir 
 high glee scampering through the streets of 
 Grand Cairo. They had not gone far before a 
 shout arrested the attention of all, and on looking 
 back to see what the trouble was, they found 
 that Mr. Dunnallan and his beast had been un- 
 able to agree, and both of them being somewhat 
 obstinate, had, in the contest, rolled over to- 
 gether in the mire of the street. When they 
 returned to the place, they found the man and 
 beast eying each other; the former with his 
 dignity somewhat soiled, and the latter seeming 
 glad that the catastrophe had occurred. 
 
 Again mounted, they drove through the ba- 
 zaars, and along the covered streets, into which
 
 THE FIRST DONKEY-KIDE. 91 
 
 it was almost impossible for the rays of the sun 
 to penetrate, until they reached the mosque of 
 Mohammed AH, — one of the first structures of 
 the kind on the jxlobe. The children were about 
 to enter in advance of the rest of the party, 
 when several Mussulmans stopped them, jab- 
 bering vehemently in an unknown tongue. 
 
 " Wha*- is the matter, Walter ? " asked Harry. 
 
 " I don't know," replied the boy. 
 
 " We have done somethino; wroiio; ; — see how 
 angry they are ! " 
 
 " Tiiev seem to be enraged at something ; we 
 had better wait until the folks come uj)." 
 
 Soon the party reached the gate, and the boys 
 found out what the trouble was. The Moslem 
 had requested them to enter the mosque without 
 shoes, and the whole party, drawing off their 
 boots, crossed the court, passed by the fountains, 
 and entered the mosque in this order. 
 
 "Your white stockings look well, Walter," 
 said Harry. 
 
 " Your blue socks don't look well — there is a 
 hole in the heel of one," was the retort. 
 
 " I am no worse off than some of the rest, for 
 there is Mr. Tenant, with white hose darned 
 with blue yarn." 
 
 " I see it. Oh, how Minnie vould plague 
 him about it, if she were here I " 
 
 Indeed, none of the gentlemen could boast
 
 92 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 much, as each one had done his own darning 
 and mending, except as Mrs. Percy and Minnie 
 had assisted them. 
 
 The mosque delighted the children. The 
 magnificent dome, marble pillars, the arches of 
 polished alabaster, the stained glass, the hanging 
 lights, the swinging pendants, the varied-colored 
 mosaics, all gave an indescribable charm to the 
 edifice. 
 
 " I wish I could take a drawing," said Wal- 
 ter. 
 
 " I wish Minnie was here to see it," added 
 Walter. 
 
 ^' So do I ; but you must describe it to her." 
 
 " Oh, it is indescribable — indescribable ! " 
 
 Mr. Percy called the boys to go out into the 
 quadrangle which overlooks the city. The view 
 from there was very fine. Beneath them lay 
 the city, and out beyond the desert, on the sands 
 of which could be discerned, in the haze of even- 
 ing, the mighty Pyramids. 
 
 " Here occurred," said Mr. Percy, " one of 
 those scenes which formed a part of the mastei- 
 policy of Mohammed Ali, by which he estab- 
 lished himself in power, and carried terror to the 
 Iiearts of his foes." 
 
 " Please, Mr. Percy, tell us what it was," said 
 Harry. 
 
 " When he was reigning here, he became
 
 THE FIRST DON KEY-HIDE. 93 
 
 aware of a conspiracy against him on the part of 
 the Mamelukes." 
 
 " Who were they ? " 
 
 " Perhaps Walter can tell you while we are 
 looking off upon the city." 
 
 " I can tell him, for I have read something 
 about this race of" people." 
 
 " Go ahead, Walter." 
 
 " The word Mameluke, or as the Arabic spells 
 it, — Mr. Tenant told me yesterday, — memalik, 
 means slave, and the Mamelukes were formerly 
 slaves imported into the country to work upon 
 the river or till the land. At length they in- 
 creased in numbers and power, and became mas- 
 ters of the country. They were wild, brave 
 men, and ranged over the whole land. They 
 were divided into twenty-four tribes, gov'erned 
 by beys." 
 
 " What is a bey ? " 
 
 " It is a — a — I'll ask father." 
 
 " A bey," said Mr. Percy, who overheard the 
 question asked by Harry, " is a chief or sheik." 
 
 " I remember reading," continued Walter, 
 *' that when Napoleon invaded Egvpt, these 
 Mamelukes gathered against him, and so brave 
 and courageous were they, that he said — ' Could 
 I unite the Mameluke horse to the French in- 
 fantry, I should consider myself master of the 
 world.' "
 
 94 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " There was one thing," said Mr. Buttei'- 
 worth, " which reconciled the French soldiers to 
 Hgiiting with these desperate men." 
 
 " What was it ? " asked both the boys at once. 
 
 " It was this. The Mameluke warriors car- 
 ried all they were worth npon their persons. In 
 addition to rich clothing, each one had gold in 
 abundance, in coins and ornaments, and the sol- 
 diers who killed them, and robbed them on the 
 field, made great gains." 
 
 " Now, fatlier, tell us, what scene in connec- 
 tion with the Mamelukes took place here." 
 
 " When Mohammed Ali found that this race 
 were conspiring against him, he invited all their 
 leading men and great warriors to a ban- 
 quet here, and when four hundred and seventy 
 of them had assembled in this quadrangle the 
 gates were locked, and a murderous fire poured 
 upon them by concealed Albanian soldiers." 
 
 " Were they all killed ? " 
 
 •• All but one." 
 
 " How did he escape ? " 
 
 " He leaped his horse from the ramparts here, 
 and escaped." 
 
 "Did he?" 
 
 " His horse was killed in the fall." 
 
 " What was his name ? " 
 
 " Emin Bey." 
 
 " And what became of the others ? "
 
 THE FIRST DONKEY-RIDE. 95 
 
 " Wliat others ? " 
 
 " The rank and file of Mamelukes." 
 
 " They fled from Egypt as fast as they could, 
 Init many of them were massacred." 
 
 " How cruel 1 " 
 
 " Yes, it seems so ; but it may have saved 
 life in the end." 
 
 " How long are you going to stay here teach- 
 ing the boys? " asked Dr. Forrestall. 
 
 " I am ready to go now," and they moved 
 towards the gate. 
 
 " Father, Father ! " shouted Walter, just as the 
 gentlemen were passing out. 
 
 " What, mv son ? " 
 
 " Can you let nie have some money ? " 
 
 " Money ? Have you spent all I gave you 
 the other day ? " 
 
 " Yes, Sir." 
 
 " How have you managed to get rid of so 
 much ? " 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " Don't know ? You should know." 
 
 " Well, Father, on ray honor I don't ; but ni}' 
 pocket is empty. You know the old ballad, don't 
 you ? " 
 
 " What ballad, Walter ? " asked Hariy. 
 
 " Yes, Walter, what ballad ? " joined in Mr. 
 Allston. 
 
 " This is it : —
 
 96 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 * Mone}' goes ! no one knows ; 
 Where it goeth no one showeth ; 
 Here and there, everywhere ; 
 Run, run ; dun, dun ; 
 Spend, spend ; lend, lend ; 
 Flush to-day, short to-morrow ; 
 Notes to pay, borrow, borrow ; 
 So it goes, no one knows ; 
 Where it goeth no one showeth ! ' " 
 
 " Ha, lia ! ha ! " laughed Mr. Tenant. 
 " Friend Percy, you should give the boy some= 
 thing for that." 
 
 " Wliat do you want of money now, my 
 son ? " 
 
 " To buy an egg." 
 
 An egg ' 
 
 " Yes, Sir, an alabaster egg." 
 
 " Oh, I see, of that man who has specimens of 
 alabaster such as the interior of the mosque is 
 finished with, turned into the shape of an egg." 
 
 " Well, here is some change. Make as good 
 a bargain as you can ; — get one for Harry, also 
 one for Minnie." 
 
 " Yes, Sir, I thought of Minnie." 
 
 The company put on their boots, and again 
 mounted their donkeys, and scampered off tow- 
 ards the city. On their way they came to a 
 great crowd of j)eople around a man who was 
 performing some feats of legerdemain. 
 
 " What is he doing ? " asked Walter.
 
 THE FIRST DONKEY-RIDE. 97 
 
 ** I will see," answered Harry. 
 
 Driving their donkeys up into the crowd and 
 standing up in the stirrups, they discovered that 
 the man had a basket, and by it he turned snakes 
 into doves, and toads into rabbits, or appeared to 
 do so. The boys enjoyed the sport, understanding 
 that it was a trick, they having seen some such 
 things at home. They remained until called 
 away by the gentlemen, who were not much 
 interested. Directing their way towards the 
 hotel, they were soon running along, having 
 a jolly time. During this ride an incident oc- 
 curred, which I will give in Walter's own 
 words, as he wrote them in his Journal that 
 night : — 
 
 " On our way home a 
 laughable incident occurred which for a time 
 threatened to be disagreeable as well as ludicrous. 
 While we were in a long, narrow, slippery street, 
 we became excited with the novelty of our posi- 
 tion, and drove much faster than it was safe to 
 do with such animals. Having got in advance of 
 all the rest with Rector Allston, he began to whip 
 and punch his donkey to get ahead of mo ; and 
 driving up so close to me that I was afraid we 
 should come in collision, I turned out to the right, 
 and quite unfortunately just at that moment there 
 was a boy comino- alonir with two larjie baskets 
 
 of vegetables, one on each side of a donkey, who 
 
 7
 
 98 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 was staggering under the load. A contact took 
 place ! Quicker than I can write it the donkey 
 witli his vegetables was pitched over in one di 
 rection, and my donkey with his load — of vegeta 
 bles I had almost said — was pitched out in tha 
 other direction. Behind, were thirty or forty ex- 
 asperated beasts, ridden by as many half crazy 
 men, and to save myself from being trampled to 
 death, I let my donkey go, and crept out the best 
 way I could. My cap fell off, and my watch 
 tumbled out of my pocket, but held by the guard 
 I did not lose it. Mr. Allston was uncivil enough 
 to laugh at me, and told the rest how comical I 
 looked as I crept away from the fallen beast. I 
 hope he will have some kind of a ludicrous ad- 
 venture before we get through, though this wish 
 is not a return of good for evil." 
 
 The boy who drove the donkey on which 
 Walter rode, when he saw that he was down, 
 came and took him up, and showered upon him 
 all kinds of opprobrious epithets. 
 
 " Bad donkey, fall down." 
 
 " No matter," Walter said. 
 
 But he continued to make up faces at the poor 
 brute, whose reputation for future days he feared 
 might be injured. 
 
 When the party reached the hotel, Walter 
 told Minnie and his mother all they had seen ; 
 described the mosque, and spoke of a well called
 
 THE FIRST DONKEY-RIDE. 99 
 
 " Joseph's Well," said to be two hundred ana 
 eighty feet deep, and twenty-five feet square, and 
 which some have said was built by Joseph him- 
 self, while he was prince in this land. So ended 
 this first donkey-ride in Egypt. It was to both 
 of the boys a most exciting and interesting ex- 
 cursion, and they will not forget it for a long 
 time. Harry was much pleased that his donkey 
 did not fall down, and plagued Walter for the 
 accident which happened to him.
 
 100 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE MOSQUES. 
 
 Walter, who was always accustomed to at- 
 tend church and Sabbath-school at home, and 
 who always carried abroad with him the relig- 
 ious habits which he had cultivated from his 
 earliest years, was much interested in the wor-> 
 ship of the Mahometans. One day while walk- 
 ing out with his father, mother, sister, and some 
 of the other members of the party, his attention 
 was arrested by a peculiar cry. 
 
 " What is that ? he asked. 
 
 " What, my son ? " 
 
 " The noise I hear, as of a distant commotion 
 and outcry ? " ^ 
 
 " That is the Muezzin." 
 
 « What is that. Sir ? " 
 
 " The call to prayer." 
 
 " Where are they ? " 
 
 " Don't you see ? " 
 
 "No, Sir." 
 
 " Look up to the minaret of that mosque there." 
 
 ** Yes, I see two or three men walking about
 
 THE MOSQUES. 101 
 
 there, pacing round the minaret in tliat little 
 gallery." 
 
 " They are calling the Mahometans to prayer 
 — this is the hour." 
 
 " It seems to me that they pray often. I see 
 them praying in the streets, in the shops, and 
 everywhere else. The other day I wanted to 
 buy something and went to a store, and the man 
 was praying. He took no notice of me, but 
 went on until he had finished his devotions." 
 
 "It was proper, if he was sincere, that he 
 should attend to God before you." 
 
 " What do the Mahometans believe, father ? " 
 " I will tell you some other time, when we 
 have a better opportunity." 
 
 " Won't you visit some of the mosques to-day? " 
 " Yes, if the rest of the party agree." 
 The gentlemen on being consulted agreed, 
 and pursued their v.ay to several of the most 
 distinguished of these temples of Islam. The 
 first was the mosque of Mohammed Ali, which 
 they had visited before, and which they again 
 entered with shoeless feet. Around the grand 
 fountain in the centre of the court were several 
 men washing themselves, and so singular were 
 their manners that the attention of the younger 
 members of the party was drawn to them. 
 
 "What are they doing?" asked Walter of 
 Mr. Allston, who was walking with him.
 
 I?S WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " They are washing, preparatory to entering 
 the tnosque. A large part of the worship of the 
 Mahometans consists of these ablutions." 
 
 The boys watched the devotees for some time 
 and then followed on to the mosque, in admira- 
 tion of which they were soon lost. On leaving 
 this stmcture, they all went to the mosque of 
 Sultan Hassan, where instead of going in with 
 bare feet^ they were provided with over-shoes of 
 matting. They found the mosque to be well 
 worth a a <sit, for its peculiar style of architecture 
 which is very grand and imposing. The party 
 would then have gone home, but Walter urged 
 so hard that they concluded to see one more of 
 the structures, and went to the mosque of Ahmed 
 Ebn e' Tooloon, built in the year 879. This 
 mosque contains two pillars which interested the 
 boys very much. They had heard of them be- 
 fore, and no sooner had they entered than they 
 began to search for them. 
 
 " Here they are," said Harry, after they had 
 been searching for some time. 
 
 " Where ? " 
 
 Harry pointed to two pillars standing on a 
 pedestal, about seven and a half inches apart. 
 It is said by the Mahometans that heaven is 
 promised to all who can pass between these 
 posts. The gentlemen soon coming up, Walter 
 questioned them.
 
 THE MOSQUES. 103 
 
 " Wliy (lid Mahomet promise heaven to all 
 who should pass between these pillars, Mr 
 Tenant ? " 
 
 "I don't know." 
 
 *' Do you, father ? " 
 
 " It is supposed that the promise was made 
 to encourage temperance in eating and drinking ; 
 the prophet supposing that the most abstemious 
 only could go through." 
 
 " Then if we go through, we shall receive the 
 prophet's heaven ? " 
 
 " Yes, if his promise was worth anything." 
 
 " Who shall try first ? Go it, Harry." 
 
 Harry went through with perfect ease, saying, 
 " There, I knew I could. Now try, Walter." 
 
 Walter passed the test, and went through. 
 
 " Now try, father." 
 
 Mr. Percy, who was somewhat portly, tried, 
 but could not succeed, and soon gave it up. 
 Mr. AUstou, who was a thin, spare man, found 
 no difficulty. Dr. Forrestall, who was the stout- 
 est man of the party, would not try it — it was 
 no use. Mr. Dann-ell went through; Mr. Dunn- 
 alian failed. Mr. Tenant took off his coat, and 
 very nearly squeezed himself through. He was 
 a determined man, and was bont on doing it, 
 but the attempt was vain. He could almost 
 do it. 
 
 " There, there, one more effort and you are
 
 104 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 throngh," enthusiastically cried Walter, clapping 
 his hands. 
 
 " Squeeze a little harder — now, there — 
 hip ! " shouted Harry. 
 
 But Mr. Tenant failed, declaring that he 
 could go through, if he had one rib less. Mr. 
 Butterworth got through with much difficulty, 
 but declared that he cared not a fig for the 
 prophet's promise or his paradise. 
 
 This trial furnished the boys, and the gentle- 
 men as well, with much amusement, and for 
 many days after, Mr. Tenant was joked for his 
 unsuccessful endeavor to get through. 
 
 The guide who was with the party at this 
 time, pointed out a stone, under which he said 
 Gabriel hid the Koran, and where Mahomet 
 found it. 
 
 " Do you believe that, father ? " asked Walter. 
 
 " No, child." 
 
 " Do the Mahometans esteem the Koran as 
 we do the Bible?" 
 
 " More highly, I think. Among them there 
 is none of the irreverence which we often see 
 with the Bible. The book itself is kept with 
 the greatest reverence. None but the pure are 
 allowed to read it, and when the Moslems hear 
 it, they always put themselves in devout and 
 reverential positions." 
 
 " Have you ever seen the Koran ? "
 
 THE MOSQUES. 105 
 
 " Yes, I have read it, and there is a copy in 
 my hbrary at home." 
 
 " Oh, I shall read it with so much interest 
 wlien I return home." 
 
 The party now left the mosque, and on getting 
 out, found some donkeys, which they mounted, 
 and went trotting about the city. It was won- 
 derful to Walter to see how the boys could 
 endure so much fatigue. They would follow 
 the rider hour after hour without seeming to be 
 weary, and at times the donkey would give out 
 entirely, while the boy would be fresh and vig- 
 orous. Walter remembered to have read what 
 was written by an intelligent physician who 
 travelled here, concerning these men and boys, 
 and afterward repeated it to Harry, somewhat as 
 follows : " The drivers run from morning till 
 night, -thumping and pricking the animals every 
 few steps, keeping up without apparent fatigue. 
 I have known a driver stop on the way to drink 
 a cup of coffee, and, perhaps, aft^erwards smoke a 
 pipe, while the donkeys were going off at a satis- 
 factory speed, trotting and galloping alternately ; 
 and yet he would come on, ruiming in a hotter 
 sun than we have in July, Avithout any apj^ear- 
 anco of unusual exertion or fatigue. They fare 
 poorly, — breakfasting on a loaf of soft millet 
 bread, and drinking water. They rarely taste 
 meat ; and the only stimulus they ever indulge
 
 106 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 in is a small cup of coffee, the size of half an egg- 
 shell, made thick as chocolate, and without sugar or 
 milk." The same physician remarked, — though 
 Walter did not recollect it, — that his observa- 
 tions on this class of men had convinced him 
 that the coarser the diet, and the more actively 
 the muscles are employed, the freer they are fi'om 
 organic derangements, from chronic affections, 
 and the liability to acute diseases. 
 
 As they rode along they saw a boy in the 
 hands of the officers. A crowd was following on 
 behind, and the poor lad was weeping and wail- 
 ing as if his heart would break. The sympathy 
 of Walter was quickly enlisted, and he wanted 
 to follow, but his father would not allow him. 
 With great reluctance he was drawn away. 
 
 A new object soon drew his attention, and he 
 rode up to the door of a house, followed by 
 Harry. 
 
 " What is this, Harry ? " 
 
 " A bear-garden, I should think." 
 
 The room had grated windows, and was about 
 t\yenty-five feet square. In the centre sat a man 
 on a mat, and around him some thirty or forty 
 children. The man had a long palm-leaf stick 
 in his hand, and every now and then he would 
 lay it without mercy over the heads and shoul- 
 ders of the children, who were all talking or 
 reading aloud. Some of the boys had little
 
 THE MOSQUES. 107 
 
 pieces of board in their hands, which they 
 seemed to be using for slates. 
 
 " Whack ! whack ! whack ! " went the long 
 stick. 
 
 " What a brute ! " cried Walter. 
 
 "Whom does he remind you of?" asked 
 Harry. 
 
 " Of nobody that I know." 
 
 " He reminds me of somebody I know." 
 
 " Who ? " 
 
 " Of old Falkner." 
 
 " That is too bad, Harry." 
 
 " No, it is not." 
 
 " Mr. Falkner is a kind man, and both of us 
 owe him much. But is it possible that this is a 
 school?" 
 
 ' It can't be anything else." 
 
 " How amused Mr. Falkner, our good old 
 teacher., would be to see this I " 
 
 The gentlemen, who had been purchasing 
 some fez caps opposite, now came over, and 
 stood looking into the school, for such it proved 
 to be — an Egyptian school. The teacher be- 
 came indignant at being thus observed, and came 
 
 or? ' 
 
 and drew some blinds, and shut them out, and 
 they drove off". 
 
 That our boy-readei's may contrast the schools 
 of Egypt with those at home, we present a pic- 
 ture drawn by another hand. A traveller in Cairo
 
 108 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 happened to come to the windows of one of the.se 
 schools just as a boy was about being punished, 
 and punishment it was — stingingly severe. " A 
 hirge boy," he says, " sat in front of the master, 
 reeling to and fro while reciting from memory, 
 and crying bitterly at the same time, which par- 
 ticulaily caught my attention. 1 therefore stood 
 watchino; him. The retention of the lad's mem- 
 ory was perfectly su»'prising. He neither hesita- 
 ted, stammered, nor omitted a word ; still the 
 big tears rolled down his ruddy cheeks. I be- 
 came impatient to ascertain the cause. When 
 the recitation came to an end, the master seized 
 him by the collar, back of his neck, with the 
 ferocity of a tiger, and jerked him on his face. 
 The boy struggled, as though it were for life. 
 At the same moment, a stalwart Arab, from a 
 remote corner, flew to the spot, and seized the 
 legs of the resisting prisoner, — bringing with 
 him a stick the size of his wrist, strung with two 
 cords. As it fell on the floor, it bore some re- 
 semblance to an ox-yoke — the cords entering 
 by both ends, like the bows. I saw the object 
 was to put the culprit's ankles into the loops, 
 draw one end, and thus hold both feet in a vice. 
 The violence of the struggle, and the savage de- 
 termination of the two men, was exciting in the 
 highest degree, — all my sympathies being roused 
 in behalf of the "esisting child. They had not
 
 THE MOSQUES. lOU 
 
 fairly subdued him, when one of them happened 
 to raise his eyes, and, for the first time, saw me. 
 He let go his hold, and slunk back, muttenng 
 something, it was presumed, about hated Frank. 
 All three were afraid, perhaps, of the evil eye. 
 The urchin was quickly on his feet, and walked 
 to his place. I remained a while longer, with a 
 spii-ited determination to give them the full in- 
 liuence of a stare. This incident led me to be- 
 lieve that infractions of the teachers' laws are 
 severely punished by the bastinado. The in- 
 strument for binding the feet was precisely like 
 one which we saw in one of the courts." 
 
 They reached the hotel in season for dinner, 
 ind found Minnie and her mother, who came 
 out with them in the morning, but who returned 
 ■several hours before, awaiting them, and soon 
 they were all seated at the table, the boys having 
 t most excellent appetite.
 
 110 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE CITY OF THE SUN. 
 
 " Rap ! Rap ! Rap ! " sounded on Walter's 
 door early one morning. 
 
 "Who*^ is there?" 
 
 " Let me in, Walter," and Minnie's cheerful 
 voice rung through the room. 
 
 " Won't you wait until we get up ? " 
 
 " A'n't you up yet? The sun has been up an 
 hour." 
 
 " No matter ; the sun gets up so early that we 
 can't be guided by it here." 
 
 " Well, get up, sluggard." 
 
 " Don't call me harsh names. People that 
 live in glass houses should not throw stones." 
 
 " But you must get up ; — is Harry dead ? " 
 
 " Not quite." 
 
 " What keeps the boy so quiet ? " 
 
 " Oh, I a'n't half awake," answered Harry. 
 " Walter kept me awake half the night talk- 
 ing." 
 
 " Terrible lad, he is I He stuffs his head full 
 of sights all day, and then talks about them all
 
 THE CITY OF THE SUN. Ill 
 
 night. But get up, we want to be off in the 
 cool of the day." 
 
 "Off where?" 
 
 " I don't know, but it is to some outlandish 
 place." 
 
 " What name ? " 
 
 " He — Heli — Heli something." 
 
 " Oh, I know, — Heliopolis." 
 
 " That is the place." 
 
 " Shall we have a good time ? " asked Harry. 
 
 " Yes; — tell father we will be on hand soon." 
 
 It had been decided that the party should go 
 to Heliopolis that day, and at an early hour two 
 very jiretty barouches drove to the door and 
 they all entered, amid a crowd of gaping, star- 
 ing Egyptians. The young travellers were very 
 much amused at the way in which they left the 
 city. A courier went before them, — a forerun- 
 ner, as in ancient times, ran on foot about one 
 hundred vards ahead of the first carriage. He 
 wore a red fez cap, to which was attached a 
 huffe blue silk tassel. His loose trousers were 
 tied at the knee, and his feet were bare. In his 
 hand was a monstrous horsewhip, with which he 
 lashed dogs and donkeys, and even men and 
 women, who happened to be in the way. Right 
 in the middle of the street he ran, cracking his 
 whip and lashing objects on both sides of him ; 
 and uttering a strange, peculiar cry, he hurried
 
 112 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 on. Tliis forerunner Is necessary, as in many of 
 the streets two vehicles cannot pass each other, 
 and some one must be in advance to see that the 
 way is clear. 
 
 They were soon out in the open country, and 
 passing the tombs of the Mameluke kings, drove 
 on towards the site of the ancient City of the 
 Sun. 
 
 " Why do you called it the City of the Sun ? " 
 asked Walter. 
 
 " That is the Greek meaning of the word 
 Heliopolis." 
 
 " What took place there ? " 
 
 " There was then a temple of the sun, which 
 was a most magnificent structure. The city was 
 also the university city of Egypt, as Cambridge 
 is of England. Joseph married his wife at this 
 place, which is sometimes in Scripture called 
 ' On ', and sometimes Bethshemesh." 
 
 " What was the name of Joseph's wife ? " 
 
 " Asenath, and her father was priest or ruler 
 at On." 
 
 " Here is something we must see," snid 
 Mr. Tenant, speaking from the rear car- 
 riage. 
 
 " What ? " asked Walter. 
 
 *' This well." 
 
 They hkd come to one of the wells which 
 abound in Egypt, by which the country is fertil-
 
 THE CITY OF THE SUN. 113 
 
 izetl. These wells are very large, and the water 
 is raised by means of a wheel which is turned 
 by a cow. 
 
 A long string of earthen jars is moved up 
 and down by means of the wheel, each of which 
 will hold about a gallon. The jars go down bot- 
 tom up, and ascend by the revolution, filled, and 
 as they turn to go down again they pour their 
 contents into troughs or viaducts which carry the 
 water into tlie fields. These wells are found 
 everywhere in Egypt ; and often concealed by 
 foliage, their peculiar creaking sound can be 
 heard, making nuisic over all the land. Riding 
 on a little farther they came to some men plough- 
 ing in the fields. Mr, Butterworth, wishing to 
 see the plough, which v/as a very rude affair, 
 went into the field, and takinii the instrument 
 from the furrow examined it very carefully, and 
 when he returned to the carriages, gave Walter 
 a very minute description of it, which the lad 
 afterwards wrote out in his Journal. Soon they 
 catne to a threshing floor, and leaving the car- 
 riages they went over and examined the pro- 
 cess of threshing the grain. The floor was the 
 trampled, hardened earth. The threshino: insrru- 
 niciit was a machine having several rollers armed 
 with circular iron knives which cut the grain, 
 and mashed the stalk, and Walter declared it a 
 most absurd way of getting the grain out. Tliis 
 8
 
 114 WALTER m FGTPT. 
 
 machine was driven by oxen or cows that swepi 
 around in a circle, driven hy an Egyptian who 
 sat on the machine. 
 
 " Here we are at Heliopolis," said Mr. Percy. 
 
 " Where is it ? " asked Minnie. 
 
 " Here ! " 
 
 " I don't see any city." 
 
 " What do you see ? " 
 
 " A deep well, a grove of mulberry-trees, 
 one of which Harry is shaking already, and a 
 single tall obelisk." 
 
 " This is all there is of the city." 
 
 " And did we come out so far to see this, and 
 nothino; more ? " 
 
 " We have been seeing all the way along, and 
 this spot is of much interest." 
 
 " Not to me. Pa ; so I'll go and help Harry 
 pick mulberries," and off she ran. 
 
 Walter was more interested in the locality. 
 He wanted to know all about the old city. His 
 father told him all that was known ; that the ori- 
 gin of the place Avas lost in the remotest anti- 
 quity ; that it came to maturity and began to 
 decline at least six hundred years before Christ 
 came into our world ; that it was famed for its 
 universities, in whose halls Solon, Eudoxus, and 
 Plato studied. 
 
 " And what is this shaft ? " 
 
 " It is supposed to be a part of the ancient
 
 THE CITY OF THE SUN. 115 
 
 Temple of the Sun, and is inscribed with the 
 name of Osirtasen I." 
 
 " Who was he ? " 
 
 " Not much is known about him, but he is 
 sii[)[)osed to be the king who ruled when Joseph 
 came down to Egypt." 
 
 " I tliought his name was Pharaoh ? " 
 
 " Fliaraoh is the Egyptian word for king. 
 Every king was a pharaoh ; it was a title rather 
 than a name." 
 
 " Oil, yes, I understand. The same as ' czar' 
 is the name by which the emperors of Russia are 
 known to us." 
 
 " Yes. ' Czar ' means king or lord, and as 
 the title of the emperor dates from the sixteenth 
 century." 
 
 Thus conversing about the history of the place, 
 the father and son spent an hour. Mr. Percy 
 took a seat by the well, and enjoyed the cool 
 shade. Harry and Minnie paid attention to the 
 mulberries, which were ripe and delicious. The 
 rest of the party wandered about in other direc- 
 tions as their tastes inclined them. 
 
 On their return home they came to a beautiful 
 garden full of roses, in the centre of which was a 
 tree, towards which attention was soon directed. 
 
 " What of that old tree? " asked Minnie. 
 
 *' It is Mary's tree," replied her mother. 
 
 " I don't kno V any better now."
 
 116 WALTER IN EGfPT. 
 
 " It is said that tliis tree is two thousand years 
 old ; that when Joseph and Mary fled with the 
 infant Saviour into Egypt, the Virgin Mother 
 rested here while her babe slept." 
 
 "How old is it?" 
 
 " I cannot tell." 
 
 " What kind of a tree is it ? " 
 
 " Tlie sycamore." 
 
 " What is the time required to bring such a 
 tree to maturity ? " 
 
 " It takes several centuries to bring the syca- 
 more to perfection, and the maturity of this tree 
 passed long ago." 
 
 "• It may liave been, then, the same tree under 
 which the mother of Christ sat." 
 
 " It may have been, but the thing is very im- 
 probable. However, as you are told so, you 
 need not trouble yourself with doubts, as nothing 
 depends on it but the story." 
 
 " See, mother, wliat are Walter and Harry 
 doing ? " 
 
 " Measuring the tree." 
 
 '• How much does it measure, Harry ? " 
 
 " Walter can tell you ; he has the figures." 
 
 " It measures," said Walter, " twenty-four 
 feet in circumference ; its branches overhang a 
 diameter of about fifty feet, and its tallest 
 branches are more than seventy feet high, if I 
 can judge right."
 
 THE CITY OF THE SUN. 117 
 
 " What is Harry climbing up into it for ? " 
 
 The question was not answered, l)ut the rea- 
 son was soon very obvious, for the boy was at 
 work vigorously cutting his name in one of the 
 I Hunches. 
 
 " Walter," he cried. 
 
 - What say ? " 
 
 " There are thousands of names here, cut on 
 all the limbs. There is scarcely a spot on any 
 (»f.the lower branches where room is left for a 
 dozen words. Several Americans have left their 
 names here. Shall I cut yours ?" 
 
 '' Yes, if you please." 
 
 " And mine, too," said Minnie. 
 
 " Come, come, we are ready to start," called 
 out Mr. Percy. 
 
 Just as they were leaving the garden, a wo- 
 man who seemed to have charge of the premises 
 came and gave each of them a beautiful bouquet. 
 Minnie so(m picked hers to pieces, but Walter 
 pressed his between the leaves of a book, and has 
 it to this day. 
 
 From the garden they rode back to Cairo. 
 Minnie amused herself as thev rode aloiiix, in 
 watching; the women, who were dressed in a 
 most amusing style. The little girl was very 
 much surprised that they should all have their 
 faces covered, not with a veil as our ladies, bui 
 with a thick cloth, covering everything but tlif 
 eves.
 
 118 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " They look like walking ghosts," she said. 
 
 " I cannot tell whether they are pretty or 
 homely," said Walter. 
 
 " I cannot tell whether they are black or 
 white," added Harry. " All I can see is two 
 bright, piercing black eyes." 
 
 Just as they were entering the gates, the car- 
 riages stopped, and Mr. Percy bought of a wo- 
 man one of the veils, which had attached to it 
 some gilt nose ornaments, at which the young 
 folks made themselves quite merry. 
 
 " Minnie, just listen," said Walter. 
 
 "To what?" 
 
 *' While I read a description, in this book, 
 of these veiled Egyptian women, by a late trav- 
 eller throuo-h this remon." 
 
 " Read on. Don't be long about it." 
 
 " ' Very many Levantine females were riding 
 on donkeys, astride, enveloped in monstrous 
 black silk cloaks. Their knees being raised to 
 a level with the pommel of the saddle, and the 
 cloaks immensely inflated by the wind, their 
 appearance, preceded by a black slave, cracking 
 a whip to clear the way, was indescribably ludi- 
 crous. Their faces were covered to the eyes 
 with white veils, suspended from the middle of 
 the forehead, — a cord coming down on a line 
 with the nose, from a band that crosses the head. 
 Some have a series of short brass tubes, strung
 
 THE CITY OF THE SUN. 119 
 
 together, constituting a heavy chain, to sustain 
 the weight of the veil. Levantines are those 
 born in Egypt, or the East, of foreign parentage. 
 Many of them are Christians, who conform to 
 some of tlie pecuHar institutions of the Mahom- 
 etans. Wearing a veil is a custom as old as 
 the days of Abraliara, and, no doubt, of a more 
 remote antiquity. Some of the ladies had fair 
 complexions ; but a majority were rather sal- 
 low, with piercing black eyes, short in stature, 
 and fat. Even the black female slaves, who 
 accompany them in riding or walking, were 
 veiled in the same manner. It was sometimes 
 dilKcult to determine what the color of the in- 
 dividual was, so closely were the corners of the 
 veil drawn down. Little girls — ragged, bare- 
 legged, and scarcely covered to hide their naked- 
 ness — begin at eight and nine years to resort 
 to the veil, which demonstrates the deep and 
 abiding force of the custom. An occasional mis- 
 hap exposes the face, but rarely; and some, in- 
 dicating a natural coquetry of the sex, raise one 
 side, exposing one eye, either for a better view 
 fr.r themselves, or for exhibiting the antimonial 
 lines of beauty they have made about tJK' mar- 
 gins of the eyelids.' " 
 
 " That is a good descrii)tion, Bub, of what we 
 have seen, only we could not tell whether the 
 v\-omen are of fair complexion or not."
 
 120 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " We must guess at that from the eyes." 
 
 The carriages now stopped suddenly, ahnost 
 jerking the occupants out, and they found 
 themselves in front of the Hotel tZ' Orient. 
 
 "Dinner ready," said an English servant — 
 for such are found, even in Egypt. 
 
 " So are we," answered several of the com- 
 pany. 
 
 Leaving them in preparation for dinner, we 
 let the party take care of themselves, while 
 with the reader we turn to another chapter, in 
 which the story of the Pyramids is told.
 
 CLIMBING THE PYRAMIDS. 121 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CLIMBING THE PYRAMIDS. 
 
 It is quite an exploit to climb the pyramids 
 which have stood so loner amid the sands of the 
 desert. The whole party had looked forward to 
 it with much pleasure, and when the moiniiio; 
 came for the excursion, they were all up, and 
 had breakfasted, and were in the saddle long be- 
 fore sunrise. It was arranged that Mrs. Percy 
 and Minnie should ride out with the others, and 
 see the monster piles, and rest at the base in care 
 of the guide, while the party should go up. Wal 
 ter had the " Yankee Doodle donkey," and Harry 
 had "Snooks," while the others were all well 
 mounted. They drove leisurely through the city, 
 — by the granaries erected by Joseph, so they were 
 told, — until they reached the Nile. Here a large 
 boat was chartered to take the whole party over. 
 She was an awkward, clumsy thing, and Walter 
 named her " The Constitution." A plank was 
 laid from the shore to the boat, and the donkevs 
 driven in ; then the donkey-boys were embarked, 
 then our party got aboard. The Arabs yelled,
 
 122 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 the donkeys brayed, and tlie boys shouted, and 
 after a great deal of trouble the shapeless vessel 
 started. Partly witii sail, and partly with oars, 
 the other side was gained in almost an hour, the 
 boat having passed by the island Rhoda, where, 
 tradition says, the ark in which Moses was put 
 by his mother, was found by the daughter of 
 Pharaoh. Of this island we shall have some- 
 thing to say elsewhere. 
 
 On reaching the other side, the donkeys were 
 got out of the boat, and the party again mounted 
 and rode ten or twelve miles from Cairo to the 
 Pyramids. As they came near the structures, 
 a crowd of men came running towards them, 
 and offering their services as assistants in climb- 
 ing to the top. But their offers were rejected. 
 On arriving, terms Avere made with the sheik 
 of Ghizeh who contracted that each traveller 
 should have three men to help him up, and a boy 
 to carry a jar of water ; each assistant was to have 
 a half-dollar, and the boy a quarter. A couch 
 was made under the shadow of a rock for Mrs. 
 Percy and Minnie, and the guide was charged 
 to remain by them. Then three excellent Arabs 
 were picked out for Walter, and three others for 
 Harry. Mr. Tenant went up first, without 
 much difficulty ; Mr. Damrell followed. Then 
 the two boys were started, and all reached the top 
 in safety. Dr. Forreslall, Mr. Allston, and Mr
 
 CUMB8NC THE FYRAMSJDS.
 
 CLIMBING THE PYRAMIDS. 123 
 
 Duiinallan liad some trouble with their servants. 
 Mr. Allstou reached the top frightened half out 
 of liis senses, and one or two of the others were 
 obliged to give backshish to the servants to get 
 them along. 
 
 The reader may ask why it is so difficult to 
 climb tlie Pyramids. A description will answer 
 the question. The Pyramids stand on the very 
 edge of the desert. The largest is called Cheops, 
 and that our travellers ascended. Tliere are 
 thr-ee large, and three small, structures. Ranges 
 of tombs, and the mj-sterious colossal Sphinx 
 are near by. Clieops covers an area of 571,538 
 square feet ; the length of each side is 756 feet : 
 the original perpendicular height was 480 feet, 
 but the upper 20 feet have been removed, leaving 
 a level at the top about 30 feet square. The 
 solid contents are 85,000,000 cubic feet. One 
 traveller says : " Cheops would fill the whole 
 length of Washington Square in New York, and 
 exceed its breadth by one half, and would rise 
 nearly 200 feet higher than the spire of Trinity 
 Church." Another asks: " Have you ever st(M)d 
 in tiie centre of a twelve-acre lot.? Mark olf 
 in your mind's plantation twelve acres, and cover 
 the ground with layers of huge hewn stone, so 
 nicely fitted that the joints can scarcely be dis- 
 cerned. Ov^er this platform, but two feet within 
 the outer edge, put on another layer, and another,
 
 124 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 leaving but a single narrow passage into a lew 
 small chambers in the far interior of this im- 
 mense mass, that rises by gradually diminishing 
 layers as it ascends, till it reaches an apex twice 
 the heiglit of the loftiest church spire in Kew 
 York, and you have some idea of the outer di- 
 mensions of the Great Pyramid." And one othei 
 who has waded in the sand around Cheops says,- 
 " that, taking a hundred New York churches of 
 the ordinary width, and arrangino; them in a 
 hollow square, twenty-five on a side, you would 
 have scarcely the basement of this Pyramid. 
 Take another hundred and throw in their mate- 
 rial into the hollow square, and it would not be 
 full. Pile on all the stone and brick of Phil- 
 adelphia and Boston, and the structure would 
 not be as high and solid as this greatest work 
 of man. One layer of block was loner since re- 
 moved to Cairo for building purposes, and enough 
 remains to supply the demands of a city of half 
 a million of people for a century, if they were 
 permitted freely to use it." 
 
 Up Cheops they went. The steps were often 
 very narrow and the risers very high, and heie 
 the climbing was very fatiguing and dangerous. 
 Our party went up at one corner, pursuing a zig- 
 zag course, and winding round the corner, back 
 and forth as they ascended. 
 
 It is common for tiiese Arabs to take a traveUei
 
 CLIMBING THE PYRAMIDS. 125 
 
 half way up, one hold of each hand, and the 
 other pushing behind, and then demand hach- 
 sMsh. The day before a party of Englishmen 
 had gone up, and had given all the money they 
 had about them, to be taken safely down. Mr. 
 Percy had quite an experience going up, which 
 we will relate. His Arab guides started up 
 singing a sort of doggerel in broken English as 
 folh/ws : — 
 
 American gentleman, he very good, 
 
 He pay backshish : 
 American gentleman, go to the top of the pyramid, 
 
 He pay backshish: 
 American gentleman, go into the King's Chamber, 
 
 He pay backshish : 
 American gentleman, go Into the Queen's Chamber, 
 
 He pay backshish: 
 American gentleman, see all there is to see. 
 
 He pay backshish. 
 
 When about one fourth the way up, they asked 
 him to sit down and rest, declaring him to be the 
 heaviest man they had ever taken up, at the 
 same time asking for money. Not being disposed 
 to yield to this demand, Mr. Percy sprang to his 
 feet, and began leaping up the rocks almost with- 
 out their assistance, determined to give them no 
 occasion to complain of his extraordinary weight. 
 But soon they wanted him to rest again, and on 
 pretence of rubbing his leg? to prevent lameness,
 
 126 ' WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 one of tliem began feeling for liia pockets, and 
 when his fingers fell on the gentleman's purse, 
 he shouted: — 
 
 " Gold ! gold ! money I backshish I '* 
 
 " No backshish for you." 
 
 " Give us backshish.''^ 
 
 " No, I will not." 
 
 " Backshish ! backshish ! " 
 
 '• Not a penny." 
 
 " Money ! gold ! money ! " 
 
 " No ; we contracted with the sheik." 
 
 " Backslash ! backshish ! " 
 
 " If you don't go on I will go alone." 
 
 "Ah! ha! ha!" 
 
 " Yes, I will." 
 
 "Ah! ha! ha!" 
 
 Then they told him that a year before an 
 Englisliman had started up with them, and on 
 their demand for money he would not pay it, 
 and had started to go up alone, but on reaching 
 a certain step which they pointed out, he fainted 
 and fell, and dashing from ledge to ledge, rolled 
 to the bottom a sightless, mangled mass of flesli. 
 This reeital they accompanied with violent ges- 
 ticulations, approaching Mr. Percy with the great- 
 est rapidity, as if they were about to cast him 
 down. But they had overstepped the mark, and 
 the account, instead of frightening him, enraged 
 him, and thus did him good service. He found
 
 CLIMBING THE PYRAMIDS. 127 
 
 that he was deahng with desperate cliaracters, 
 and feehno; that his hfe was in dancer, was 
 roused to desperation. As coolly as he could, he 
 took his revolver from his pocket, and put oi; 
 some capsVhich he carried in his vest pocket, 
 at the same time eying the scoundrels with as 
 savage a glance as he could put on. 
 
 " Go up," he said. 
 
 " Backshish. A sovereign ! " 
 
 " Go up. Not a penny ! " 
 
 " Give backslash ! — money." 
 
 " Not a farthing. Go up or I will slioot 
 you ! " 
 
 And there they sat for a moment eying each 
 other, and then the fellows, giving him their 
 hands, went muttering to the top. Mr. Percy 
 had been ill for several days with complaints 
 peculiar to the climate, and ouglit not to have 
 ascended in that condition, and when he reached 
 the top he experienced from the fatigue and ex- 
 citement all tlie emotions of violent sea-sick- 
 ness, which ended only when he had freely vom- 
 ited. 
 
 When all the party had reached the sun) mi t 
 they sang religious and pati-iotic songs, dis- 
 charged their revolvers, and entered into various 
 calculations of interest to themselves. 
 
 " Why were these pyramids erected ? " asked 
 Walter of Mr. Tenant.
 
 128 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " That is a hard question to answer. It la 
 generally supposed that they were erected either 
 to commemorate the victories of certain king's, 
 or to be their tombs when dead." 
 
 *' Do you think that the object of their erec- 
 tion?" 
 
 " It may have been that, but I think that 
 some astronomical or other scientific desimi en- 
 tered into the plan of the builder. This I judge 
 from the position of the pyramids, and their 
 bearings towards each other. But of that we 
 will talk more at some other time. 
 
 The reader may like to know the opinion of a 
 ^reat astronomer and man of science. Some of 
 die boys may have advanced far enough in tlieii 
 studies to understand a part, or the whole of 
 what he says. Walter understood it very well 
 vhen Dr. Forrestall quoted it, but Harry did 
 not. Herschel says that, " At the date of the 
 erection of the great Pyramid of Ghizeh, which 
 precedes by 3,970 years (say 4,000) the present 
 epoch, the longitudes of all the stars were less, 
 by 55° 45', than at present. Calculating, from 
 this datum, the place of the pole of the heavens 
 among the stars, it will be found to fall near a 
 Draconis ; its distance from that star being 3° 
 44' 25". This being the most conspicuous star 
 in the immediate neighborhood, was therefore the 
 pole-star at the epoch. And the latitude of
 
 CLIMBING THE PYRAMIDS. 129 
 
 Ghizeli being just 30" north, and, consequently, 
 the altitude of the north pole there also 30°, it 
 follows that the star in question must have had, 
 at its lower culmination, at Ghizeh, an altitude 
 of 26° 15' 35". Now, it is a remarkable fact, 
 ascertained by the late researches of Col. Vyse, 
 that, of the nine pyramids still existing, all have 
 narrow passages, by which alone they can be 
 entered (all which open out on the northern faces 
 of their respective pyramids), inclined to the 
 horizon, downward, at angles as follows, in three 
 of them — 
 
 Pyramid of Cheops, 26° 41/. 
 
 Pyramid of Ccphren, 25° 55/. 
 
 Pyramid of Myoerinus, 26'^ 02'. 
 
 " Of the two pyramids at Abousseir, also, which 
 alone exist in a state of sufficient preservation to 
 admit of the inclinations of their entrance-passages 
 being determined, one has the angle 27° 5', the 
 other 20^. At the bottom of every one of these 
 passages, therefore, the then j^ole star must have 
 been visible at its lower culmination : — a circum- 
 stance which can hardly be su))posed to have been 
 unintentional, and was doubtless connected (per- 
 ha])s supcrstitiously) with astronomical observa- 
 tions, of that star, of whose proximity to the pole 
 at the epoch of the erection of those wonderful 
 structures, we are thus furnished with a monu- 
 9
 
 130 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 mental record, of the most imperishable ua« 
 ture." 
 
 The descent from the pyramid was found to 
 be very easy, and assisted by the guides they 
 came leaping down the rocks with great speed, 
 and were all glad to be safe again on the 
 ground. The boys went up and came down 
 more easily than the gentlemen, the guides not 
 troubling them for backshish. 
 
 The next thing was to enter the pyramid. 
 This was more disagreeable than climUng up on 
 the outside. With lighted tapers they slid down 
 a narrow passage, at such an angle that they 
 came near breaking their necks. From this pas- 
 sage, eighty feet long, they came into a ruder one, 
 and ascended to the great gallery, and finally 
 reached the Chamber of the King, so called be- 
 cause it is supposed that Cheops there was laid 
 to rest in the unceasing sleep. It is thirty-five 
 feet long and seventeeji wide, and what is sup- 
 posed to be the sarcophagus is seven and a half 
 feet long and three broad. Near by is a smaller 
 room, called the Queen's Chamber, because 
 there the wife of Cheops is supposed to have 
 been laid. When they came out they were all 
 covered with dust and lime. 
 
 " Who was Cheops," asked Walter of Mr. 
 Butterworth. 
 
 ■' The supposed builder of this pyramid.'"
 
 CLIMBING THE PYRAMIDS. 131 
 
 " Yes, Sir. I know that ; but Avho was he ? " 
 
 *' A bloody Egyptian king, called sometimea 
 Chemmis or Chembes, who reigned here fifty 
 years." 
 
 " Did he build all the pyramids ? " 
 
 " No. It was supposed his brother Cephren 
 built the second." 
 
 " When was the entrance to this pyramid 
 found ? " 
 
 " By Caliph Mamoon in 820. He expected 
 to find great treasure here." 
 
 " Did he find it ? " 
 
 '' No." 
 
 *' Now, we will walk over, and see the 
 Sphinx," said Mr. Percy, and soon they were 
 viewing that wonder. 
 
 The young reader should know that the 
 Sphinx is a human head carved out of the solid 
 stone, sixty feet high, and the head being more 
 than a hundred feet in circumference. It was 
 probably an object of worship, but the silent lips 
 refuse to tell us by whom, and when it was 
 made. Walter was very much interested in the 
 Sphinx, and paid a man a shilling to climb to 
 the top of it, and when there he looked only like 
 a pigmy. 
 
 Near by are ranges of tom^s from which each 
 of the boys brought away a bone as a relic, and 
 among which they wandered for an hour, as
 
 132 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 gratified as their older associates with what they 
 saw. 
 
 Having spent several hours here, they re- 
 mounted their donl^ej'^s, and headed by Minnie 
 wlio had walked all around Cheops, and Wi 
 now dashed off ahead, turned towards Cairo. 
 They crossed the Nile in the same manner as 
 before, and reached Hotel d^ Orient just as the 
 sun was setting, very weary, but amply repaid 
 for all the toils they had put forth. That night 
 Walter, as he and Harry knelt before retiring, 
 thanked his Heavenly Father more earnestly 
 than usual, for the care which had spared him 
 through that day of peril and of interest.
 
 THE WONDERFUL RIVER. 133 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE "WONDERFUL RIVER. 
 
 " Oh, I wish I " 
 
 " Wish what, Walter ? " answered his fa- 
 ther. 
 
 " That we could go up the Nile." 
 
 " So do I." 
 
 " Why may we not ? " 
 
 " It is too late in the season. The river ia 
 dangerous in hot weather." 
 
 " But we can take care of ourselves." 
 
 " No ; none of the party would dare go up 
 the river so late as this. It would be very dan- 
 gerous, and I should not wish to lay my son be- 
 neath its waters." 
 
 " But, father, have you not faith in our 
 Heavenly Father ? " 
 
 " Yes, full faith in Him." 
 
 " Are not our lives in his hands ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Will He not protect us, then ? " 
 
 " No, not if we rashly violate the laws of his 
 uatural kiuiidom."
 
 134 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " Perliaps not ; but we need not violate anv 
 ws. 
 
 " The whole voyage would be a violation of 
 law." 
 
 " Probably, you are right, and I must give it 
 up ; but tell me about the Nile." 
 
 " I should be glad to give you all the infor- 
 mation in my power." 
 
 " I have heard that at certain seasons the 
 river overflows its banks and inundates the coun- 
 try. How is that ? " 
 
 " I will tell you. The river begins to rise in 
 June, and steadily goes up until the middle of 
 September, when it is found generally to have 
 reached at Cairo a level of about twenty-five 
 feet above the level whence it took its start." 
 
 "Doesn't it ever go over, or fall short of 
 that ? " 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And what is the consequence of that ? " 
 " If the river does not rise more than two thirds 
 the usual height, the land dries up, and the 
 crops are cut off. Of course famine ensues. If 
 the rise is several feet greater than usual, then 
 the opposite result is seen. The crops are swept 
 away, great damage is done to vines and trees, 
 and towns are sometimes submerged." 
 
 " How are these inundations regulated ? " 
 " You remember the island of Rhoda, which
 
 THE WONDERFUL RIVER. 135 
 
 we saw on the day we went to the Pyra- 
 mids ? " 
 
 "Yes, Sir." 
 
 " That island was formed by deposits of 
 mud." 
 
 "It was?" 
 
 " Yes ; but that is not what I was about to 
 say. On tliat island is a nilometer." 
 . " What is that ? " 
 
 " The word is from two Greek words, which 
 signify Nile and measure, and is what its name 
 imports, an instrument to measure the Nile." 
 
 " How does it do that ? What is the nilom- 
 eter hke ? " 
 
 " It is a square well, in the centre of which 
 is a graduated pillar, by which any person may 
 know how high the water has risen, as the 
 water in the well rises to the same heiffht as 
 that in the Nile." 
 
 " When the water rises, how is it con- 
 trolled ? " 
 
 " There are canals leading from the river, 
 which are closed until the water reaches tlie 
 proper height, and then they are opened, and 
 the gushing streams flow over the land." 
 
 " Is the water good to drink ? " 
 
 " Yes ; you have had it on the table everj 
 day at the hotel." 
 
 " Ah I that is good I "
 
 136 WALTER IX EGYPT. 
 
 " Yes ; when pure it is veiy sweet and good. 
 In the river it looks turbid and yellow." 
 
 " You have spoken of the deposits." 
 
 " Yes ; the Nile carries along with it a mud, 
 which, when it overflows its banks, it deposits ; 
 and thus the farmer has his land manured as 
 well as watered." 
 
 " Where does this come from ? " 
 
 " Do you mean what is its source ? " 
 
 "Yes, Sir." 
 
 *' The source of the Nile is so far away that 
 few have ever found it, and even now author- 
 ities would differ. Some of the Egyptians as- 
 sert that it takes its rise in the Mountains of 
 the Moon." 
 
 " What folly ! " 
 
 " Far above here, in the province of Soudan, 
 there is a junction of two streams. One of 
 these is called the White Nile (Bahr-el-Abiad), 
 and the other is known as the Blue Nile (Bahr- 
 el-Azrek). A traveller who penetrated the wild 
 country, found that one of these streams issued 
 from three deep springs, more than 6,000 feet 
 above the level of the sea." 
 
 " In what latitude and longitude ? " 
 
 " Latitude 10° 59' 25^ and longitude 36° 55 
 30''." 
 
 " Which stream is this ? " 
 
 « The Blue Nile."
 
 THE WONDERFUL RIVER. 137 
 
 « Why is it SO called ? " 
 " Because the water is of a blue color, arising 
 from the clay through which it passes ; or, per- 
 haps, as some scientific man has suggested, from 
 the ' infusorial insects ' that inhabit it." 
 
 " Stop, father, a moment, and let me look 
 into my pocket-dictionary and see what that 
 word means. I don't know." 
 " What word ? " 
 
 " The one you have just used — infusorial^ 
 *' I might explain it, but you will be more 
 likely to remember, if you look it up." 
 " Ah, here it is. I have found it." 
 " What is it ? " 
 
 " ' Infusoria. — Microscopic animals inhabit- 
 ing water and liquids of various kinds, having no 
 organs of motion except extremely minute hairs.' 
 Then I understand infusorial matter to be an 
 animal substance that cannot be detected by the 
 eye, but has power to color the whole stream." 
 
 " Yes ; that is about it. A microscope would 
 reveal to us that this water is full of animal 
 life," added Mr. Percy. 
 
 " Weil, where does the White Nile come 
 from ? " 
 
 " Nobody knows. Its source has never been 
 discovered, though some believe it arises from a 
 great lake called Tanganyika. I don't know as 
 you will be able to remember that hard word."
 
 1 88 WALTER LN E(;YPT. 
 
 " 1 think I can, Sir." 
 
 " A boy who travels, or who reads books of 
 travel, should accustom himself to fix names in 
 his memory distinctly. Once there, there is not 
 much danger of their being dislodged." 
 
 " You spoke about the Mountains of the Moon." 
 
 " Yes ; I believe I did." 
 
 " Does anybody believe that this river has its 
 source in the moon ? " 
 
 " No ; you did not understand me. Let me 
 explain. Far above here is a range of moun- 
 tains, called the ' Mountains of the Moon.' " 
 
 " Why so called ? " 
 
 " That is a name given them by an eminent 
 geographer in the second century, on account of 
 their snowy whiteness." 
 
 " Oh, I thought there were some superstitious 
 people who really believed that these waters 
 flowed from the moon. I am glad of the cor- 
 rection." 
 
 " Some urge that among these mountains, and 
 not in the lake, the river takes its rise." 
 
 " But have none ever tried to get at the 
 source ? " 
 
 " Yes ; many have tried, but it is still a mira- 
 cle of mystei'y." 
 
 " That explains what I read in Bayard Tay- 
 lor's book on Central Africa." 
 
 " What did you read ? "
 
 THE WONDERFUL RIVER. 139 
 
 " I remember distinctly of reading a passage 
 w hich made so strong an impression on my memory 
 that I tliink I can almost repeat it. lie says in 
 reference to some one who had been exploring 
 the Nile, as near as I can recall his words : — 
 * The pictures which these recent explorations 
 present to us, add to the stately and sublime asso- 
 ciations with which the Nile is invested ; and that 
 miraculous flood will lose none of its interest when 
 the mystery which veils its origin shall finally 
 be dispelled. Although in standing upon the 
 threshold of its vast realms, I felt that I had 
 realized a portion of my dream, I could not turn 
 away from the visions of those untrodden soli- 
 tudes, crowned by the flashing streams of Kili- 
 mandjaro, the monarch of African mountains, 
 without a pang of regret. Since Columbus first 
 looked upon San Salvador, the earth has but one 
 emotion of triumj)h left in her bestowal, and that 
 she reserves for him who shall first drink from 
 the fountains of the White Nile, under the snow- 
 fields of KiHmandjaro." 
 
 " Very good, my son, you have a most excel- 
 lent memory." 
 
 " It is of great service to me sometimes." 
 
 " WeM, cuhivate it, and commit to it things 
 that are valuable, and it will be a blessing to you." 
 
 " About the island of Rhoda, father ? " 
 
 "What about it?"
 
 140 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " You said it was formed of the mud that 
 comes down the river." 
 
 " Yes ; but you know it must have taken agea 
 to have formed it. There are now palaces and 
 gardens on the island." 
 
 " I noticed them as we passed." 
 
 " If you wish to see Rhoda, we will go over 
 there. The other gentlemen will be engaged 
 awhile, and your mother and sister are also busy 
 this afternoon, but we can ride out, if you 
 wish." 
 
 " Oh, certainly I do." 
 
 " Well, run and get ready." 
 
 " Can Harry go ? " 
 
 " Yes ; call him." 
 
 Harry was called, and one or two of the gen- 
 tlemen who were not eno-ao-ed agreed to ioin the 
 party. Minnie, hearing of what was going on, 
 also claimed the privilege of going, and Mrs. 
 Percy kindly consented to do her daughter's 
 work for her. They took a carriage and drove 
 to the Nile, and crossing the water in a boat, 
 were soon on the island, which they found to be 
 a charming place. They were admitted into the 
 gardens, saw the nilometer, already described, 
 plucked flowers and gathered stones, and spent a 
 very pleasant afternoon in wandering about the 
 little island, which stands in the river like a bou 
 quet in a salver of water.
 
 THE WONDERFUL RIVER. 141 
 
 •' Do you say, father," asked Minnie, " that 
 Moses was found here ? " 
 
 " No, my daughter." 
 
 " I thought you did." 
 
 " No ; I said that Egyptian travellers fix od 
 tliis as the place where he was found." 
 
 " Is it probably the place ? " 
 
 " I cannot tell. We know that he was found, 
 and as tradition has fixed this spot, we might as 
 well regard it as the place." 
 
 " Oh, how I should like to have been the 
 dauo:hter of Pharaoh ! " 
 
 " Should you, my child ? I thought you would 
 rather be Mr. Percy's daughter." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I don't mean that. I love my 
 dear father better than anybody else in the 
 world except mother, but I would like to have 
 found Moses." 
 
 " What would you have done with him. Sis ? " 
 asked Walter. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know ; but it must have been so 
 romantic I " 
 
 " Oho ! romantic ! " 
 
 " Vos, romantic ; and the babe must have ap- 
 peared so cunning when he looked up and smiled 
 at tht king's dauffhter." 
 
 " But he did7iH look up and smile." 
 
 " How do you know ? What did he do, Mr, 
 Aliston?"
 
 142 WALTER DJ EGYPT. 
 
 " The Bible says — ' The babe wept.' " 
 
 " I didn't think of that." 
 
 " Wiiat could you have done with a crying 
 baby, Min ? " asked Harry. 
 
 " Just what the king's daughter did." 
 
 "What did she do?" 
 
 " Adopted him, of course." 
 
 *' Fine girl, you are, talking about adopting 
 children. You could find a thousand in the 
 streets at home." 
 
 " Well, there would be nothing romantic 
 about that." 
 
 "There it is again — romantic!''^ said Wal- 
 ter. 
 
 " Pa," asked the little girl, " what was the 
 name of Pharaoh's daughter who found Mo 
 ses?" 
 
 " I don't know, child." 
 
 " Do you, Mr. Tenant ? " 
 
 " No ; only I could guess.'' 
 
 " What could you guess ? " 
 
 " It might have been Bridget, Polly, Susan, 
 or — Minnie." 
 
 " Be still ; you are plaguing me ! " 
 
 " Then it might be Andromeda, Arsinoe, Si- 
 byl, Fatima, Hypatia, Kha " — 
 
 " Oh, do stop, Mr. Tenant ; you are humbug- 
 ging me. There is Dr. Forrestall. I will ask 
 him."
 
 THE WONDERFUL RIVER. 143 
 
 *' What do you want to know ? " asked that 
 gentleman, approaching the high-spirited child. 
 
 " Who was Pharaoh's daughter ? What was 
 her name ? " 
 
 " Which Pharaoh ? Which daughter ? " 
 
 " Oh, the daughter who found Moses." 
 
 *' Her name, according to Josephus, was Ther- 
 menthis." 
 
 " A pretty name." 
 
 " A jaw-breaking one," said Harry ; " hear 
 how it sounds — Miss Thermentliis Pliaraoh ! " 
 
 " Come, children," said Mr. Percy, " you 
 have had bantering enough, and it is time for 
 us to return." 
 
 Resorting to the boat, they agreed with the 
 boatmen to take them a few miles up the river, 
 at which Walter was delighted. Slowly they 
 floated on, and did not return until the shadows 
 of night had shut down on the land, and dark 
 and dismal was the ride through the cheerless, 
 deserted, uniighted streets to the hotel, but at 
 length they safely reached it, where they found 
 other members of the party who had not gone 
 with them quite anxious at their long absence 
 But all is well that ends well, so it is said.
 
 144 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 THE CONTRACT WITH ACHMET. 
 
 When travellers journey in parties through 
 Syria, tliey generally employ a dragoman, who 
 provides for all their wants, finds tents, bedding, 
 food, and the necessary guard. In no other 
 way can a party go though Palestine with any 
 economy or comfort. So common have West- 
 ern travellers become in the East, that it has be- 
 come quite a business to provide for them ; and 
 professional dragomans are found in all the large 
 towns and cities, travelling hotel-keepers, who 
 make journeying safe, easy, and expeditious. The 
 young reader may like to know that the drago- 
 man is literally an interpreter, but persons of 
 this profession in the East not only act as inter- 
 preters, but as providers for parties. One of this 
 class of men, Mohammed Achmet, had seen our 
 company when they landed at Alexandria, and 
 had followed them, as we have seen, to Cairo, 
 offerinof — but not officiously — his services to 
 them. The boys had often seen him, and had 
 taken quite a fancy to him, and the gentlemen 
 wei'e pleased with his appearance, all of which 
 has already been stated.
 
 THE CONTRACT WITH ACHMET. 145 
 
 One day this man came in and said, " I have 
 j)repared for the tour, and now engage me." 
 
 " We are ready," replied Mr. Percy. 
 
 " Who write the paper?" 
 
 " What paper ? " 
 
 " The paper that holds — you know." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; the contract. We will have it 
 ready this afternoon. Come in then." 
 
 The man retired, and one of the gentlemen, 
 at the request of the others, wrote the following 
 nstrument : — 
 
 COVENANT. 
 
 " Articles of agreement, entered into between 
 Messrs. Tenant, Percy, Forrestall, Butterworth, 
 Damrell, Dunnallan, Allston, and others on one 
 })art, and Mohammed Achmet on the other part. 
 Witness : That the said Mohammed Achmet 
 shall accompany the opposite contractors, in a 
 journey contemplated by them in Syria and 
 Palestine; — that is to say, beginning at Joppa, 
 or at any other convenient point on the coast 
 of said country, — the day to be fixed by the 
 first part, — visiting thereafter Jerusalem, the 
 Jordan and Dead Sea, Bethel, Hebron, Bethle- 
 hem, Jericho, Nazareth, Carmel, Sea of Gali- 
 lee, Damascus, and Beyroot ; any or all of said 
 places, and all other places wliicli the conven- 
 tHvc>-: and pleasure of said company shall dic' 
 10
 
 146 Walter in egypt. 
 
 tate, as tlieir dragoman ; the said Mohammed 
 Achmet agreeing; to furnish, for the comfort and 
 pleasure of said company, three large new tents, 
 a sufficient number of good and safe horses, 
 caparisoned and equipped ; to convey all theii 
 luggage in a safe and accessible way ; to fur- 
 nish good and sufficient food and drink for the 
 journey, well prepared for consumption ; iron 
 bedsteads for each and all of said company, and 
 bedding ; to furnish a sufficient and substantial 
 military guard, to defend from the perils of 
 the journey, against robbers or dangers of that 
 description : to pay all their fares at hotels or other 
 places of entertainment ; to furnish all bacJcsJiish 
 for the journey, etc., etc. 
 
 " It is the meaning and intention of the fore- 
 going that said Mohammed Achmet shall well and 
 truly supply all the wants of such a journey, as 
 a faithful dragoman, interesting himself in be- 
 half of said party, to save them from any un- 
 necessary expense. It is also understood that 
 said journey shall consume at least twenty-five 
 days, and that, should the pleasure or conven- 
 ience of the party extend the time beyond the 
 twenty-five days, the said Mohammed Achmet 
 agrees to continue with them, as herein described, 
 at the same price per diem, — as is stipulated per 
 diem, — for the said twenty-five days. 
 
 "In consideration of which service the said con-
 
 THE CONTRACT WITH ACHMET. 147 
 
 tractors of tlie first part, each agree to pay the 
 said Mohammed Achmet the sum of twenty 
 francs per diem — French currency : one moiety 
 on or before the day of saiHng from Alexan- 
 dria, and the other at the termination of said 
 journey. 
 
 " In witness whereof we, the above-named parties, 
 have appended our names severally at Cairo on 
 this, the thirtieth day of April, in the year of our 
 Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
 one." 
 
 This covenant was then carefully read aloud 
 by Dr. Forrestall, 
 
 " That will hold the Arab, if he is as tricky 
 as a fox. Doctor," said Mr. Tenant. 
 
 " It could not have been done better, if a law- 
 yer had drawn it up," remarked Mr. Percy. 
 
 " But there are some parties not named in 
 it who are interested," said Walter. 
 
 " Who, pray ? " inquired the Doctor. 
 
 " Walter Percy and Harry St. Clair, Es- 
 quires, at your service. Sir." 
 
 " Oh, we will smuggle you along." 
 
 " We think you are of no account," added 
 Mr. Tenant. 
 
 " Father don't think so, from the way I draw 
 on him for money." 
 
 *' No ; you are an expensive fellow," said hii 
 father.
 
 148 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " But, seriously, father, how do you expect 
 wc shall be able to get along ? " 
 
 " We will make an arrangement that you and 
 Harry shall go on the same terms, and per- 
 haps we shall want to admit other persons into 
 the company." 
 
 " Any way, only so that we go." 
 
 " Rap ! rap ! rap ! " 
 
 " Open the door, Walter." 
 
 Walter did as he was bid, and Mohammed 
 came in. They read the document to him, and 
 he professed himself satisfied, and proposed that 
 they should go at once to the American consul, 
 and have the thing signed before him. They 
 went to his office, which was near by, but it was 
 just three minutes after the consul's business 
 hour, and he told them he could do nothing 
 for them until the next day. 
 
 " But it will take but a moment to witness 
 the signature," urged Mr. Tenant. 
 
 " Business hours are over." 
 
 " But, Sir, we wish to be away to-morrow, 
 before business hours commence," added Mr. 
 Butterworth. 
 
 " I never do business out of hours." 
 " But you would oblige us very much," said 
 Mr. Damrell. 
 
 " Gentlemen, did you not see a placard on 
 my gate ? "
 
 THE CONTRACT WITH ACHMET. 149 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 « What did it say ? " 
 
 *' ' Office open at ten o'clock a. m., and 
 closed at four p. m.' " 
 
 " Is it not after four o'clock ? " 
 
 " Yes ; three minutes." 
 
 " Then I can do no business to-day. Good- 
 day, gentlemen." 
 
 So they were obliged to wait until the next 
 day, and then, as soon as business hours had 
 arrived, they went to the office again. The 
 gentlemen all signed the paper in the presence 
 of the consul, and the dragoman took out a seal, 
 and dijiijing it in ink stamped it on the paper. 
 The consul then added his certificate that it 
 had been signed and sealed in his presence, and 
 charged a fee of two dollars and fifty cents 
 therefor. 
 
 The party then returned to the hotel, and very 
 soon after the dragoman came again, having a 
 gayly dressed Arab with him. 
 
 " Who is this, Mohammed ? " asked Mr. Percy 
 
 " Abdalluh." 
 
 "And whois Abdalluh?" 
 
 " My partner — he go with us." 
 
 " All ri<Tht, bring him in." 
 
 Abdalluh was a fine looking Arab, as clean 
 and neat as if he had just attired himself, and his 
 appearance was greatly liked by all. His face
 
 150 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 was covered with smiles, and he seemed to be a 
 most amiable and good-natured creature. 
 
 " Have yo*i engaged a cook," asked one of the . 
 gentlemen. 
 
 " Yes, Sir." 
 
 " What is his name ? " 
 
 " Hassan — yes, here is his card." 
 
 Mohammed handed to Mr. Percy a coarse 
 piece of paper, on which was printed the fol- 
 lowing : — 
 
 MOHAMMED HASSAN SENARI, 
 
 A COAE 
 
 And Travelling Servant, 
 
 Harry looked over Mr. Percy's shouldtsr and 
 laughed. 
 
 " What is the matter, Harry ? " whispered 
 Walter. 
 
 " He's a coak, Walter." 
 
 " A what ? " 
 
 " A coak — what is that ? " 
 
 Mohammed was proftise in his praises of the 
 cook, declared him to be as good as any in 
 Egypt, — and the party afterwards thought he 
 was as good as any in Europe. 
 
 " Well, Mohammed, who else have you got to 
 go with us on this journey ? "
 
 THE CONTRACT WITH ACHMET. 151 
 
 « Hallile." 
 
 " Who is he? ' 
 
 "A table-servant — a Nubian." 
 
 " A good fellow, is he ? " 
 
 *' Oh, yes, very nice man ; do all you want him 
 to do — black boots, set table, bring water, prick 
 donkey, hold you head if you sick — do any- 
 thing." 
 
 " Well, whom else have you got ? " 
 
 " No more from here ; get more men, guard, 
 and all we want in Joppa." 
 
 " Where do you find horses ? " 
 
 " In Joppa." 
 
 " Are you sure you can get them there witii- 
 out trouble and delay ? " 
 
 " Yes, Sah, horses enough — plenty, plenty 
 horses. I go to a man and say, ' I am Mo- 
 hammed Achmet,' and he let me have all the 
 liorses I want." 
 
 " Your name must have considerable power." 
 
 " Yes, Sah, it has ; for everybody know I am 
 draffoman — Mohammed Achmet." 
 
 " Where are the tents and camp equipage ? " 
 
 " The tents are being made, and to-morrow 
 you go to the Red Sea, and when you come back 
 I have the tents all pitched out in trout of the 
 hotel, so that you can see all." 
 
 " Ah, that is right ; T think you will serve us 
 very well."
 
 152 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " I trj." 
 
 " There are two boys, Mohammed, tliat are to 
 go with us, whose names are not in the cov- 
 enant." 
 
 " Yes, Sah." 
 
 " I will pay you the same for each of them that 
 I pay for myself, and they are to fare like the 
 rest." 
 
 "Yes, Sah." 
 
 " They must have good beds." 
 
 " Oh, good beds — plenty, plenty, plenty." 
 
 " And o-ood horses." 
 
 " Horses plenty." 
 
 " And if we wish any other gentleman to join 
 the party, he is to come in on the same terms." 
 
 " Yes", Sah." 
 
 " Of course the more there are of us the better 
 it will be for you." 
 
 " Yes, Sah, I understand, you be my gentle 
 man. You say ' Mohammed do this,' and I do 
 it. If any other gentlemen join the party, they 
 eat, sleep, ride, like the rest, but you be my 
 gentleman — you say ' do,' and I do." 
 
 " That is it. We hire you, and you are to 
 take your orders from us — that is what you 
 mean ? " 
 
 " Yes, Sah." 
 
 " All right, we will have no trouble with you 
 on that."
 
 THE CONTRACT WITH ACHMET. 153 
 
 *' But, Sah, I see t'vo dames belong to your 
 company." 
 
 "Two what?" 
 
 " Two dames — women ; what you call 'em ? '* 
 
 " Oh, yes, two women — they belong to me." 
 
 " You two wives ; one old wife, and one young 
 wife ? " 
 
 " No," said Mr. Percy laughing, " no man in 
 our country has two wives." 
 
 " I recollect — poor people ! " 
 
 " The elder of these is my wife, and the 
 younger my daughter." 
 
 " What do with them ? — no room in tents." 
 
 " Oh, we will take care of them. 'They are not 
 to accompany us to Syria. They will embark 
 with us on board the steamer at Alexandria, and 
 instead of stopping at Joppa will keep on in the 
 steamer, and spend the time in visiting a mission- 
 ary family in Beyroot, and we shall join them 
 there." 
 
 " All right, Sah." 
 
 " It is rather a pity we cannot take ]a<lies 
 with us," remarked Mr. Tenant. " We shall ;ill 
 miss Mrs. Percy so much ; and I am sure I can 
 iiardly get along without my little cliatterbox 
 Minnie." 
 
 " I would like to have them go with us, but 
 Mrs. Percy could not stand the fatigues of the 
 horseback ride through the country. Unac-
 
 154 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 customed to sucli exercise, I should fear that she 
 would break dowu under it. Besides, slie has no 
 great desire to go. She anticipates more pleas- 
 ure in her 1 isit to Beyroot. As to Minnie, she 
 could ride as well as Walter, but it would not 
 do to separate her from her mother. She is 
 reconciled to it." 
 
 " Ladies very frequently go through the coun- 
 try on horseback, and many of them enjoy tent- 
 life very well. I have conversed with several who 
 say they were charmed with the excursion." 
 
 " Dear Father," said Minnie, entering at that 
 moment, " I am repenting." 
 
 " If you have done wrong you ought to repent. 
 But of what are you repenting ? " 
 
 *' That I relinquished the idea of going with 
 you into Syria." 
 
 " You were wise in coming to the conclusion 
 that you did. When we started from home I 
 had no idea that you would go the whole round 
 with us." 
 
 " Oh, how could you be so cruel as to deliber- 
 ately plan leaving us to the savages, while you 
 go on and enjoy yourself." 
 
 " The savages will not be on the excellent steam- 
 er, but in Syria. We leave you to keep you out of 
 the reach of savages and barbarous customs." 
 
 " But it seems to me that I must see Jeru* 
 Balem."
 
 THE CONTRACT WITH ACHMET. 155 
 
 (( 
 
 Would you leave your mother to go on to 
 Beyroot alone ? " 
 
 " She is to have the company of a family which 
 we saw at Alexandria, you know." 
 
 " Yes ; but will she not want her little gir) 
 with her ? " 
 
 " I know she will ; but, Pa, just think ! " 
 
 " I am thinkino;." 
 
 " Just think ! Here I am almost within sight 
 of the ' City of the Great King,' and am forced 
 to sail right by without looking at it." 
 
 " Well, I know it is disagreeable, but best." 
 
 " Disagreeable, Pa ; it is provoking, it is 
 awful." 
 
 " A great many things are awful to my little 
 girl, which are really for her good." 
 
 " I suppose I must agree, and had better do it 
 with good grace, but I have a very ' naughty 
 think ' about it." 
 
 Thus it was settled, that while the gentlemen 
 should take a tour of twenty-five days or more in 
 Syria, Mrs. Percy and Minnie, in company with 
 an English family, whose acquaintance she had 
 made in Alexandria, should proceed to Beyroot, 
 where they would find a home and resting-place 
 in an American flimily, connected with the 
 Mission, the lady of whom had been a warm 
 personal friend of Mrs. Percy years before. 
 This course was deemed wise and best, for the
 
 156 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 considerations suggested in the conversation just 
 given between Mr. Percy and his daughter, who, 
 always having been accustomed to equestrian 
 exercises at home, did not think it would be 
 at all arduous to ride a month over the hills and 
 through the valleys of the Holy Laud.
 
 CKOSSING THE DESERT OF SUEZ. 157 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CROSSING THE DESERT OF SUEZ. 
 
 On the morning after the conti-act was made, 
 the party started in the cars for Suez, a town on 
 tlie Red Sea. The car in which they rode was 
 full of pilgrims going to Mecca. The two boys 
 and Minnie were very much opposed to going by 
 rail. It would take off, they thought, much of 
 the romance and poetry of the desert. They 
 plead with the gentlemen to go on camels in the 
 olden way. But as it would take a lonfi time, 
 and be a very tiresome ride, it was considered 
 better to trust to locomotive power than to camel 
 speed. 
 
 The journey was enlivened by conversation 
 and singing. Mohammed, the dragoman, who 
 had concluded to go with them, gave them mucli 
 information about the country, and the manners 
 and customs of the people. 
 
 " 1 pity Mr. Allston," said Mohammed. 
 
 " Why ? " asked Mr. Butterworth. 
 
 " He must be so unhappy." 
 
 " Why ? "
 
 158 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " He has no wife." 
 
 " No, he is not unhappy on that account. Ha 
 is one of the most cheerful men of the party." 
 
 " He must be very poor not to have any wife." 
 
 " We do not judge of a man's wealth in Amer- 
 ica by his wives." 
 
 " We do in Egypt." 
 
 " That is a singular way to judge." 
 
 " If a man be very poor, he have one wife ; if 
 he is worth a house, he has two ; and if rich, he 
 has five, ten, thirty wives." 
 
 " Have you a house ? " 
 
 " Yes, an elegant house in Alexandria, with a 
 very large garden." 
 
 (" The fellow lies," whispered Harry to Walter 
 aside.) 
 
 " You must go and see it when we get to 
 Alexandria." 
 
 " I would like to," continued Mr. Butterworth. 
 
 " I will show you orange-trees, and flowers, 
 and a garden very beautiful, and house very 
 grand." 
 
 T" He lies again," whispered Harry.) 
 
 " How many wives have you ? " 
 
 " Two : one a poor one, and one a rich one." 
 
 " What do you mean by that ? " 
 
 " One brought me much money, the other 
 none. I am going to have another." 
 
 " When I go to your house I shall see them."
 
 CROSSING THE DESERT OF SUEZ. 159 
 
 "No! no! no!" 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 •' We never let anybody see our wives." 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 '* It is not good," replied he, glancing at Mrs. 
 Percy, who smiled at the look of pity he cast on 
 her, 
 
 " But if we go to your house and look about 
 the garden, they will see us." 
 
 '' No." 
 
 " How can you help it? " 
 
 " They will be shut up in the chamber." 
 
 " They may look out of the window ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " But if they do, what then ? " 
 
 " I beat them with this stick," holding up a 
 long palm-tree stick. 
 
 " But you don't beat your wives, do you ? " 
 
 " Yes ; when they don't mind me. I beat 
 the poor one very much. She brought me noth- 
 ing." 
 
 " But the rich one ? " 
 
 " I beat her but little." 
 
 " But that is all wrong." 
 
 "What is all wrong?" 
 
 " For a man to beat his wife." 
 
 " What ! 3^ou say a man have no right to 
 Leat his wife when she don't mind him ? " 
 
 " Yes ; we think it wrong to do so in America."
 
 160 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " America a very bad country. I would not 
 live there." 
 
 " If I was his wife I would like to see him 
 beat me," whispered Minnie to Harry. 
 
 " What would you do ? " 
 
 " I'd tear every hair out of his head." 
 
 " A woman's mode of fio-htino;, I believe, Min- 
 nie," said Mr. Tenant in an undertone. 
 
 " Women don't fight, Mr. Tenant." 
 
 "Don't?" 
 
 " No ; none that I ever saw. But I want to 
 hear what that barbarian says to Mr. Butter- 
 worth." 
 
 " Has Abdalluh any wives, Mohammed ? " 
 
 "Yes, Sail. Abdalluh rich — he have five 
 
 wives." 
 
 " Do they all live together ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Where do they live ? " 
 
 " One is at Alexandria — one at Cairo — one 
 up the Nile — the others I don't know where 
 they are. He knows." 
 
 The young reader had better be told here that 
 polygamy — or a plurality of wives — is common 
 in all Mahometan countries. The people do not 
 think it wrong for a man to have as many wives 
 as he can support. And often the man is sup- 
 ported by the wives — they doing the work while 
 he smokes his pipe and lounges about doing
 
 CROSSING THE DESERT OF SUEZ. 101 
 
 notliing. A man will take several wives, doing 
 nothinii for them, bnt <roino; to tliem now and tlien 
 — as they are located in different places — to take 
 their earnings for his own support. 
 
 While the above conversation was going on, 
 the cars were passing through the land of 
 (joshen — a region of country given by Pharaoh 
 to the descendants of Jacob. It is a very fruit- 
 ful and pleasant land ; but the peo])le loved 
 liberty, and God ordained their freedom, and 
 thev left their hfjroies and went out into the wil- 
 derness to wander in search of a country where 
 they could be free. Mr. Percy gave the chil- 
 dren an account of the Hebrews, which added 
 much to the interest of the ride, and there was 
 not one of the party who did not look upon that 
 pleasant country with more interest in conse- 
 quence of the comments made. 
 
 Getting beyond Goshen, they came into the 
 dreariness of the Great Desert. Nothiiiif but 
 sand could be seen as far as the eye could see : 
 now rolled up into mountains, like drifts of snow, 
 and anon stretching out in one wide, flat, scorch- 
 ed plain. 
 
 "How higii are those sand-hills. Father?" 
 asked Walter. 
 
 " I should judge them to be a hundred feet." 
 
 " Are they permanent ? " 
 
 No, always shifting ; and I am told that thii 
 11 
 
 «i
 
 162 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 sand rolls about as snow does in winter, in New 
 England. Sometimes it sweeps down upon this 
 track, delaying the cars for days." 
 
 " That is curious." 
 
 " Hallo ! hurrah ! " shouted Harry, who was 
 looking out. 
 
 " What is it?" asked a half-dozen voices. 
 
 " A water-spout." 
 
 "Nonsense!" said Dr. Forrestall. "Awater- 
 8fK)ut in the desert ! " 
 
 " It looks like it, at any rate." 
 
 " How do you know ? Have you ever seen 
 
 one r 
 
 " No, no ; but I have read of them." 
 
 " It is, it is," cried Minnie. 
 
 On looking out, the gentlemen saw — not a 
 water-spout, but a sand-spout — a column of 
 sand, from fifrv to seventv feet hiffh, wheelinor 
 along, dancing up and down, now ahead of the 
 cars, and then behind them. They saw it for 
 nearly an hour as they rode along. It was about 
 a half-mile distant, but so clear is the atmosphere 
 that it seemed much nearer. They were all very 
 much interested in it, and a very pleasant conver- 
 sation occurred in relation to the phenomenon. 
 
 " While you have been talking with Moliam- 
 med about his wives," said Mr. Dunnallan, '• I 
 have been reading about these sand-pillars." 
 
 " In what book ? " asked Walter,
 
 CROSSING Till': DESERT OF SUE/. 163 
 
 " ' Travels in the Aiiioor,' by Atkinson." 
 
 " I liave never read it." 
 
 " It is a veiy interestino- \ olunie, and the au- 
 tlior speaks of the very thing you are now hwk* 
 ino- at." 
 
 " Oh, do read to us what he says," asked 
 Minnie. 
 
 " If you two boys will come up close to nie, so 
 that I shall not be obliged to read very loud, and 
 if Minnie will ]*romise not to interrupt uie until 
 I get through, I will read a short passage." 
 
 •' Ho ! did you ever know me to intei-rupt 
 anybody ? " asked the child indignantly. 
 
 " No matter, I will read : — 'I have often wit- 
 nessed a phenomenon on the s;indy jilains of 
 Central Asia, which accounts in some measure 
 for the innumerable sandy mounds that are found 
 in some rciiious. When seen at a distance for 
 the first time, it made a strong impression upon 
 my mind. About twenty pillars were in view, 
 wheeliuii round and licklno; ui) the sand. As 
 they passed along, a cloud of dust was raised on 
 the ground, api)arently eight or ten yards in 
 diameter. This gradually assumet^ the form of a 
 cohunn that continued to increase in heijrht and 
 diameter as it moved over the plain, appearing 
 like a mighty serpent reai-ing its head aloft, and 
 -wistinji its huiie bodv into contortions in his 
 iiiorts to ascend. The pillars were of varioui
 
 164 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 sizes, some twenty or thirty feet liiii'h, otliers 
 fifty, sixty, and one hundred feet, and some as 
 cended to nearly two hundred feet. As the 
 whirlwinds began gathering up the dust, one 
 might have fancied that antediluvian monster;* 
 were rising into life and activity. The smaller 
 ones seemed to trip it lightly over the plain, 
 bending their bodies in graceftd curves as they 
 passed each other. While those of larger dimen- 
 sions revolved with gravity, swelling out their 
 trunks as they moved onward, till the sandy fab- 
 ric suddenly dissolved, forming a mound, and 
 creating a cloud of dust that was swept over the 
 desert.' " 
 
 By this time the sand-spout was out of sight, 
 and a half-hour was spent in conversation about 
 it. All at once Mr. Tenant started up, with an 
 exclamation which arrested the attention of all. 
 
 " Too bad ! too bad ! " 
 
 " What is the matter ? " asked Mr. Damrell, 
 who sat beside him, and who was about upset by 
 the violence with which Mr. Tenant rose to his 
 feet. 
 
 " Matter, matter enough I " 
 
 " What is it ? " 
 
 *' Careless man ! " 
 
 " Who ? You, or the rest of us ? " 
 
 *' Myself, of course." 
 
 ** Do tell us what the trouble is," said Mr. Percy.
 
 CROSSING THE DESERT (^F SCEZ. 165 
 
 " Why, I have kft my money-belt under the 
 pillow of my bed in the hotel at Cairo." 
 
 " Bad How uiucli did you have in it ? " 
 
 "Seven hundred dollars in English jrold ! " 
 
 (" Lucky it wasn't us, Harry," said Walter ; 
 " we never should hear the last of it. Don't you 
 remember how Mr. Butterworth left his purse 
 under his pillow in his berth on board the 
 steamer ? Lucky it w asn't us.") 
 
 "• What can I do?" asked Mr. Tenant, 
 
 " Why, you can stop at the next station, and 
 telegraph to Cairo." 
 
 This was agreed upon, and the conductor, on 
 being consulted, consented to stop long enough 
 for the despatch to be forwarded. When the 
 next station was reached, the despatch was sent, 
 and the cars went on." 
 
 " I'd like to joke Mr. Tenant," said Harry to 
 Walter. 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 " Because he has been so severe on us when 
 we have lost anything. What do you think he 
 would have said if we had left our monev-belt3 
 under our i)illows ? " 
 
 " He would have called us, in his o;ood-natured 
 wray, a couple of careless dogs." 
 
 " I'll joke him about it." 
 
 "No, not now, he feels it too keeid^." 
 
 " What need he care foi the money ? *'
 
 16G vvALTi':r{ in egypt. 
 
 " It is not so much the money as the careless 
 way in which lie left it, that he feels. Say noth- 
 ing about it, and to-morrow " 
 
 " The sea ! the sea ! " burst fiom several 
 voices. 
 
 "What sea?" asked Mr. Dunnallan, looking 
 up from his book. 
 
 " The Red Sea, of course," replied Mr. Allston. 
 
 " It cannot be ; we are two hours' lide from 
 that." But on looking out they saw what ap- 
 peared to be a A'ast body of water, just ahead of 
 the cars. 
 
 " What is it ? " cried Harry. 
 
 " Mirage," answered Mr. Percy. 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 " An optica! illusion produced by the ' unequal 
 densities and refractory powers of adjacent strata 
 of the air.' " 
 
 " But do you mean to say, Mr. Percy, that I 
 don't see water ? " 
 
 " Yes, I do say so," 
 
 " Then I can't beheve my own eyes ? " 
 
 " You cannot, if they tell you that is water." 
 
 " It must be water." 
 
 " I would sucro-est that you read somethino; 
 upon the subject, and you will find it a very in- 
 teresting subject." 
 
 " Does not the mirao-e account for all the 
 Bfories about phantom-ships ? " asked Walter.
 
 (JKOSSliS'G THE DESERT OF SULZ. 167 
 
 " Yes, my son." 
 
 Harry was soon satisfied that what he had 
 seen was an illusion, for as the cars drrve on, 
 mile after mile, the water seemed to be as far off 
 as ever. 
 
 " The mirage plays strange pranks, boys," 
 said Dr. Forrestall. " Sometime when we ai'e 
 where we can talk without screaminsi;, I will tell 
 you some stories that will astonish you." 
 
 " That is riglit, Doctor ; I want to know all 
 about this ; I never saw it before, and it's one of 
 the things old Falkiier has never enlightened us 
 on," said Harry. 
 
 '•'• Harry," said Walter, " why do you persist 
 in calling your teacher ' old Falkner ? ' He is a 
 young man, a kind man, and a good instructor." 
 
 " Oh, you are one of his favorites ! " 
 
 " No, not particularly so ; but 1 try to learn 
 all 1 can in school, and feel bound to speak of 
 him with respect." 
 
 " Quite right, Walter," said Mr. Butterworth. 
 " But where is Minnie ? " 
 
 " Asleep on mother's lap," replied Walter. 
 
 "I think, Mr. Percy, she ought to see this 
 mirage.'' 
 
 "No, let her sleep; slcej) will 'lu her more 
 good. She may wake time enough to see it ; if 
 not, let her sleep." 
 
 " Minnie must feel much disappointed in not
 
 168 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 goiii" tlii'ough Syria with us," said Harry to 
 Walter. 
 
 " Yes, I know, she is. She was told before we 
 left home that she could not ; but she expected 
 to persuade father to let her go." 
 
 " Do you think so ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and she laid all her plans to go. But 
 you know Burns has quaintly said that 
 
 ' The best laid plans 
 Of mice and men 
 Gang often wrang.* " 
 
 " So Minnie's plans have gone wrong ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 Thus talking they approached Suez, which 
 they found to be full of pilgrims on their way to 
 Mecca. Their tents, camels, and luggage filled 
 the streets, and devout Mussulmans as they were, 
 they could be seen at their devotions everywhere. 
 On reaching the hotel, Mr. Tenant found a 
 telegram from the keeper of the hotel in Cairo, 
 saying to him that his money was found, and was 
 safi.'. 
 
 Suez lies upon the shore of the Ked Sea, and 
 derives its importance mainly from the fact that 
 it is a mail-station between England and India, 
 and hence is always full of English people, going 
 or coming from the Indian provinces. Our 
 travellers found a good hotel kept by an English- 
 man, and soon were enjoying themselves in the
 
 CROSSING THE DESERT OF SUEZ. 169 
 
 coolest and most pleasant place in hot weather to 
 be found in Egypt. The breezes from the sea 
 were truly refreshing after the tedious ride of the 
 day. The distance from Cairo to Suez is about 
 eighty miles ; five hours complete the journey, 
 and the railroad rare is two cijllars ami fifty 
 cents.
 
 170 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE PASSAGE OP THE RED SEA. 
 
 Few persons ever come to the shores of the 
 Red Sea without wishing to penetrate the re- 
 gions beyond, and no sooner were our travellera 
 in Suez, than thej began to think of crossing 
 over to the other side, and following a little way 
 in the track of the fugitive Hebrews. The boys 
 were particularly clamorous for this ; and when 
 Mr. Percy told them they should get a boat and 
 go over, they seemed to lose all appetite for din- 
 ner, thinking only of the excursion. 
 
 The Red Sea is a fine sheet of water, one 
 hundred and ninety-two miles broad and one 
 thousand two hundred and thirty miles long, 
 from Suez to Bab-el- Mandeb. After dinner a 
 boat was procured, and while Mr*. Percy and her 
 daughter sought repose, the gentlemen started 
 for the shores of Asia. Instead of crossing im- 
 mediately over, as the children of Israel did, 
 they sailed down the sea, and struck the coast 
 at the wells of Elim, where were twelve wells 
 oi water and seventy palm-trees.* As they 
 
 * Exodus XV 27.
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE KED SEA. 17] 
 
 went out of the harbor of Suez, Mr. Percy en- 
 ter«-'d iut(^ conversation with the boys upon the 
 remarkable transaction which once was witnessed 
 livvii, and great was their interest as they sailed 
 on. 
 
 - Why is this called the Bed Sea, Father?" 
 asked Walter. 
 
 '' There are various suggestions." 
 
 " What are they ? " 
 
 '' One is that the sea has derived this name 
 from the innumerable animalcules that in the 
 spring of the year cover the surface and give it a 
 red a])pearance.'' 
 
 ''What is another?" 
 
 " That the name comes from Edom, which in 
 the Hebrew means red." 
 
 "And another?" 
 
 " That the term comes from the abundance of 
 red coral found here." 
 
 " Is there any other? " 
 
 "None that I think of." 
 
 " Has it always been called Med Sea ? " 
 
 " In the Scriptures it is known as Yam Soof, 
 — sea of weeds." 
 
 " Well, Pa, how wide was the sea where the 
 Hebrews crossed ? " 
 
 " The place where it is generally supposed 
 they crossed is about three thousand five hun- 
 dred feet."
 
 172 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " Is there any diversity of opinion as to the 
 place of the crossing ? " 
 
 "Not mush ; though some suppose they went 
 over eighteen miles clown the sea, wlier" the 
 width is twelve miles." 
 
 " Can you point to the place where you think 
 they went over ? " 
 
 " Yes ; you see that mountain ? " 
 
 " Yes, Sir." 
 
 " And that gorge ? " • 
 
 " Yes, Sir." 
 
 " The mountain is Tibel Attica, and down 
 through the gorge the people are supposed to 
 have come, and spread along the shore, at the 
 base of the hills. The Egyptians following 
 along the same gorge rendered escape impossi- 
 ble." 
 
 " I should like to read a description written 
 by some person who was on the spot." 
 
 " You can." 
 
 " Can I ? " 
 
 " Yes ; read the account in Exodus." 
 
 " Oh, I didn't think ! " 
 
 •' I have here in my hand a book which con- 
 tains a description of the passage, written many 
 hundred j-ears ago. Would you like to have mo 
 read it?" 
 
 " Yes, Sir." 
 
 " This is it. Artipanus, who wrote one hun-
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 173 
 
 dred and thirty years before Christ was born in 
 Bethlehem, gives the Egyptian tradition con- 
 cerning this miraculous passage. ' The Alero- 
 phites relate,' he says, ' that Moses, being well 
 acquainted with the country, watched the in- 
 flux of the tide, and made tJie multitude pass 
 through the dry bed of the sea. But the Helio- 
 politans relate that the king, with a great army, 
 accompanied by the sacred animals, pursued 
 after the Jews, who had carried off with them 
 the substance of the Egyptians ; and that Moses, 
 having been directed by a divine hand to strike 
 the sea with his rod, locked the waters, and so 
 the flood divided, and they passed over through 
 a dry way. But when the Egyj)tians entered 
 along with them, and pursued them, it is said 
 tliat fire flashed against them in front, and the 
 sea returning back overwhelmed the j)assage. 
 Thus the Egyptians perished both by Hre and 
 the influx of the tide.'" 
 
 An hour or two was occupied in the sail over 
 the sea, and at length the boat struck the shallow 
 beach, nearly an eighth of a mile Irom the 
 shore. They could get in no m-arer the dry 
 land, and so were obliged to divest themselves 
 of their clothing, and holding it in their arms, 
 wade ashore. Some of the gentlemen, wliose 
 feet were somewhat tender, soon bciran to cry 
 out with pain, the bits of coral and sharji shells
 
 174 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 which covered the bottom making it anything 
 but pleasant to walk thereon. 
 
 They reached the shore, which they foinid 
 covered with corals and beautiful siiells, and each 
 tmin at once went to work gathering some. Be- 
 tween the shore and the wells of Moses was a 
 })iece of ground which the Arabs hold sacred, 
 and across which tiiey allow no one to go with 
 covered feet. 
 
 "What I" said Mr. Percy, "have we to walk 
 a quarter of a mile over briers and hard, crusty 
 groimd with bare feet ? " 
 
 " You must," answered the dragoman. 
 
 " I sha'n't for one," was the emphatic reply. 
 
 So while the rest crossed the ground, pricking 
 their feet at every step, Mr. Percy went over in his 
 boots. But it was quite unfortunate that he did 
 so, for, knowing that he should be obliged again to 
 wade to the boat, he had not put on his stockings, 
 and his boot chafing against his bare ankle rup- 
 tured the skin, and produced a wound, of which 
 he did not rid himself for a month, Imt which 
 troubh d him throughout his sojourn in Syria. 
 Often ^^■as he the subject of joke by those who 
 took ofl[ their shoes, and especially did Mr. Ail- 
 ston dcli'dit to tell liim that if he had become a 
 Mussulman, and done as they do while he was in 
 their country, he would not have been so af- 
 flicted.
 
 THE PASSAGE (»!• THE HED SEA. 175 
 
 The wells of Elim consist of two or three 
 square pools, the wate-r now slimy and unfit to 
 ihink. Several palm-trees wave their branches 
 over them in mournful silence. The two boys 
 were reminded of an ancient custom while at the 
 wells. They saw two women grinding at a mill, 
 turning one stone upon another, making a meal, 
 a liandful of which Walter took and put into a 
 bottle and brought home with him. The boys 
 were of the opinion that the wells, or pools, could 
 never have produced good water ; but Mr. Percy 
 pointed them to a spring boiling up in the centre, 
 and told them that doubtless if the pools should 
 be cleaned out, and the spring properly taken care 
 of, the water would be sweet and j)ure. 
 
 When they had remained an hour at the wells, 
 they crossed the " Holy Field," bathed in the 
 sea, selected a few more shells from the beach, 
 waded to the boat, and, hoistirig their sails, started 
 for Suez. A wild time they had of it. The wind 
 increased, and the boat shipped so much water 
 that they were all wet to the skin, and it was 
 midnight when they reached the landing. 
 
 There was one consolation for the honors ol 
 this night-voyage, which to the boys was of great 
 interest. The remarkable phosphoric qualities of 
 the Red Sea water gave them a grand di>play. 
 Walter had never seen anything like it. With a 
 cane, he could make a capital letter, a B or an II,
 
 176 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 in the water, and for an instant it would blaze 
 with the greatest distinctness. Drops of water 
 dashed upon his clothing would sparkle like the 
 Mre-fly for a minute ; and wlien the spray came 
 dashing over the bows of the boat, it seemed like 
 a wave of fire. 
 
 " It may have been this remarkable phosphoric 
 quality of the water," remarked Mr. Dunnallan, 
 " that gave rise to the Egyptian tradition which 
 Mr. Percy read, that fire flashed upon the armies 
 of Pharaoh, as they entered the sea." 
 
 " This is worth getting wet for, Harry," said 
 Walter. 
 
 " What is ? " 
 
 " This conversation among; the orentlemen 
 about the phosphoric light." 
 
 " That is just like you." 
 
 " What is like me ? " 
 
 " To lose your supper, get wet to your skin, 
 and endanger vour life, and think it dehVhtful 
 because you can get an idea into your head." 
 
 " Well, I think an idea is worth more than my 
 supper any time ; as to life, I don't think we have 
 been in any particular danger." 
 
 " I think supper would do me a great deal of 
 good, but I don't see what good this conversation 
 on phosphoric light can do me." 
 
 " You will learn something by it." 
 
 ** No, I shall not. I cannot learn anything
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 177 
 
 When I am hungry, and now I am hungry as a 
 bear." 
 
 " You might as well learn, for your supper you 
 will certainly lose." 
 
 Perhaps tliere was no reason to fear, but it waa 
 very dark, and they were obliged to crouch down 
 in the bottom of the boat, and every few minutes 
 a heavy wave would strike the bows, and, leap- 
 ing over, would completely drench them, and 
 glad were they when they stood again on solid 
 land. 
 
 " Now to the hotel for supper," cried 
 Harry. 
 
 " Supper ! " exclaimed Walter. 
 
 " Yes, Sir; supper, if you please." 
 
 " None will you get to-night." 
 
 " Why not f " 
 
 " Because the servants in the hotel are all 
 abed, and they will not get up to cook for 
 you." 
 
 " Perhaps not for me alone ; but these gen- 
 tlemen that are following on behind are as 
 hungry as I am. What do you bet that Mr. 
 Tenant does not get some supper ? " 
 
 " I don't bet." 
 
 Mr. Tenant now came up, and they all entered 
 
 the hotel together. Servants were found, but 
 
 they were not willing to get any supper ; but 
 
 Mr. Tenant, being a very resolute man, did get 
 
 12
 
 178 WALTER m EGYPT. 
 
 some bread and meat, and they all sat down to it 
 with a hearty relish. 
 
 The next morning the boys both slept until a 
 late hoiir, and were awakened by a cry outside 
 the door. 
 
 " Hawdgee ! Hawdgee ! " 
 
 " What is that cry, Walter?" asked Harry. 
 
 " Hark ! " 
 
 " Hawdgee ! Hawdgee I " 
 
 " It is the servant." 
 
 " What is he saying ? " 
 
 " He is calling on some traveller." 
 
 Again the call was made, and on Walter's 
 going to the door he found a servant who had been 
 sent to call him and Harry to breakfast. They 
 told him they would soon be there, and on reach- 
 ing the breakfast-room, found the whole party 
 at the table; Mr. Tenant told Harry, who 
 inquired, that " Hawdgee " meant " Christian 
 merchant," but was a title applied to all Franks. 
 
 Breakfast being soon over, a little run through 
 ♦he town was taken. They saw the same sights 
 and heard the same sounds as the day before. 
 From the minaret, at the appointed hour, they 
 heard the voice of the muezzin, chanting in the 
 same ever shrill, doleful strains, — " God is most 
 great," " There is no Deity but God," " Maho- 
 met is God's Apostle." " Come to prayer," 
 " Come to security." " God is most great."
 
 TUE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 179 
 
 " There is no Deity but God." They saw the 
 squatting Arabs in the bazaars, smoking their 
 long j)ij)es and idling away their time. They 
 caught fugitive glimpses of the dark-eyed Egyp- 
 tian maiden at the little lattice window of her 
 home, peeping out a moment, and then, like an 
 affrighted child, disappearing. They stumbled 
 over the dogs, ran against the donkeys, were 
 crowded and jostled on all sides, just as one al- 
 ways is in an Egyptian town. 
 
 They took cars and rode back again to 
 Cairo, into which city they entered after the 
 shadows of night had fallen. A dismal place it 
 is when night comes. Not a single jet of gas, 
 not a public street-lamp, but whoever goes 
 abroad must carry his lantern, to see the 
 way. Through the dark they were whirled in 
 an omnibus towards the hotel, in danger every 
 moment of running over some poor donkey, or 
 some foot-traveller who had no light, but at 
 length arriving safely there, — Mr. Tenant to 
 find his money, Walter and Harry to find a 
 delicious bath, and at length the whole party to 
 find a calm, peaceful night's repose. 
 
 "Do you know," said Walter to his young 
 friend after Harry had retired to rest that 
 night, " that in this little time we have crossed 
 from Africa to Asia, and in less than three dava 
 have actually been on three continents?"
 
 180 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 n 
 
 Ye-ye-yes. I'm sleepy. Good-night." 
 Soon Harry was sound asleep, while Walter 
 bowed his knees at his bedside, and thanked God 
 for the mercies of the day, and prayed for him- 
 self and Harry and all the party and little 
 Charley and other dear friends at home. And 
 then he went to sleep, and holy angels came 
 down to watch over the pillow of one who every 
 day remembered his Heavenly Father, and was 
 truly grateful for his daily mercies
 
 THE PORTFOLIO. 181 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE PORTFOLIO. 
 
 " You will have a leisure day, boys," said Mr. 
 Percy. " We have all some purchases to make 
 before we leave Egypt, and you may take your 
 own course to-day." 
 
 " I know what I will do," answered Walter. 
 
 *' What ? " asked Harry. 
 
 " Write a lot of letters home." 
 
 " Good ! so will I. I have hardly written a 
 letter since I started. The old man will think I 
 am dead." 
 
 " Old man ! What old man ? " 
 
 " Why, my father, of course." 
 
 " You should not speak of him in that way, 
 Harry." 
 
 " So you have told me a hundred times be- 
 fore." 
 
 " And have told you riiiht." 
 
 " So you have, Walter. You are a better 
 boy than I am, and always n'ill be." 
 
 Just then Minnie broke into the room, and 
 held up a '.etter.
 
 182 WALTER IN EGYPT 
 
 " See here ! " she cried. 
 
 j» 
 
 " What have you got ? 
 " A letter from Charley." 
 " Any come for us ? " 
 
 " No ; only this for me, and some business 
 letters for father." 
 " Do read it." 
 " I will. Here it is : — 
 
 " ' Cambridge, April 8, 1861. 
 
 *' ' Dear. Sister Minnie, — You have now- 
 been gone almost a week, and Aunt Hester tells 
 me that when my letter reaches you, you will be 
 in Egypt. I know all about that place. Rose 
 Thornton has told me. A'n't it dark in 
 Egypt ? Have you seen any crocodiles ? Have 
 you been where Joseph who was sold by his 
 brethren was put? Rose says it is all sand in 
 Egypt ; doen she know ? 
 
 " 'It seems a month since you went away, and 
 I am lonesoj le, though Aunt Hester is very kind, 
 and Rose is in here all the time. But I want to 
 see mother and father, and you, Minnie, and 
 Walter. I hope you will get home in two or 
 three v/^eeks, though Rose says you won't. Tell 
 Harry St. Clair that it is too bad that father 
 took him to Egypt instead of me. But Rose 
 says my time is coming, and that some day I 
 shall go to London and Rome and Egypt.
 
 THE PORTFOLIO. 183 
 
 ((( 
 
 ■ ' I hope you can read what I have written, for 
 the teacher says I write nicely. Do you think I 
 do, Minnie? Aunt Hester says she will look 
 over this letter, and fix it, but I have done it 
 most all. 
 
 " ' Charles Percy.' " 
 
 " Bless the little scamp I I would like to see 
 him," said Harry. 
 
 " Scamp ! Don't you call him that," an- 
 swered Minnie. 
 
 " I would like to see him, too," added Wal- 
 ter. 
 
 " Whom are you going to write to, Walter ? " 
 
 " Mr. Falkner, first." 
 
 " What, that old curmudgeon ? " 
 
 " Don't talk so, Harry." 
 
 " Well, that illustrious pedagogue, then? " 
 
 " I'o my excellent teacher, if you please." 
 
 " Have it so. I'll write to Rose Thornton 
 and the old man." 
 
 So they sat down to write, aud as they write 
 we will look over their shoulders and see what 
 they are about. 
 
 " Cairo, May 6, 1861. 
 
 "Dear Mr. Falkner, — When I ])arted with 
 you, I promised to write you one of the best let- 
 ters I could. You said you would read it to the
 
 184 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 school, if it was a good one. I don't care abcmt 
 that, but I hope I shall write so as to obtain your 
 approbation. 
 
 " We have now been in Egypt some time, and 
 I will tell you what I think of the country and 
 the people. We have seen much, and travelled 
 far, and I hope I have been profited by the tour 
 
 " Egypt is a most singular country. It is un- 
 like any other that I have visited, and every 
 object seems new and strange to me. The 
 dress of the people first arrested my attention. 
 The men wear the tarbush, which is a close- 
 fitting red Fez cap, said to be so called from a 
 place in Morocco, where they are manufactured 
 extensively. The rich and poor, the civilian and 
 the soldier, wear it. The trousers are long and 
 loose, coming down to the knees, and leaving the 
 legs bare. These trousers are simply a bag, with 
 holes for the feet to be thrust through, and are 
 awkward and uncomely in the extreme. A blue 
 or drab jacket, or a white smock or coat covers 
 the shoulders, while a pair of red shoes, with 
 pointed toes, completes the toilet. The women 
 are draped up, head and all, Avith a loose, flowing 
 robe, leaving only the eyes uncovered, and are 
 very singular in the appearance. The pooi 
 people are very negligent as to dress, some of 
 the children not wearing anything, but running 
 about naked.
 
 THE PORTFOLIO. 185 
 
 " The streets are full of beggars. Beggai-s are 
 a very common race. We found them in L(jn- 
 tlon clamoring for an *a-penny ; in France for a 
 sou; in Rome ^ovapct'd; in Egypt for a. jmstre. 
 Father says it is no use to give them anything, 
 as it only encourages vicious, indolent liabits, so 
 we never do, unless the asker is old or crijipled. 
 Then we bestow a slight charity. Sometimes I 
 think it makes me a little hard-hearted to refuse 
 so many pleas for aid, though I know many of 
 them are unworthy applicants. 
 
 " If I have not obtained many new ideas since 
 I came here, I have seen many new ways of 
 doing things. Why, Mr. Falkner, only the 
 other day we rode along by where they were 
 building a railroad ; and how do you suppose 
 they were doing it ? With trains of gravel cars, 
 and hundreds of men ? With drays and horses 
 and spades ? No, Sir, They were building a 
 railroad many miles long with their hands. Oli, 
 there were thousands of men, women, boys, and 
 girls, some of the latter not half so big as Sistt-r 
 Minnie, and they had baskets into which tlicy 
 scraped the sand with their hands and tlien liitcd 
 them upon their heads and carried tlu in to the 
 road I Some of them had little wooden hoes, but 
 none of the shovels that our laboi-ers use. I rea<l 
 the other day that when Mohammed Ali Intilt 
 the Mahmood(^eh Canal, ' an army of two liun-
 
 186 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 dred and fifty thousand persons was gathered to 
 dig this canal, the dirt being scooped out by the 
 hand or with a common hoe, and all removed in 
 sacks or baskets carried on the shoulders ; and so 
 miserable was the ])rovision of food, clothing, and 
 shelter fur this multitude of laborers, and so se- 
 vere were the daily tasks exacted of them, tliat 
 no less than twenty thousand are said to have 
 perished by accidents, hunger, and plague.' This 
 railroad was being built in the same way ; and 
 the loss of life, father says, must be enormous. 
 
 " I have been surprised to find the climate so 
 much more genial and pleasant than we ex- 
 pected. We thought we should have very hot 
 weather, but thus far have been disappointed ; 
 and as you told us we should be unable to stay 
 in Egypt on account of the intense heat, I will 
 make a quotation from my register, which will 
 show you that we have not suffered on this ac- 
 count : — 
 
 fw^ 
 
 Tuesday, ( Cairo, 12.30 o'clock, P. M. 62°. 
 
 ^ 
 
 April 30. ( " 5 " " 76°. 
 
 r Cairo, 5.30 o'clock, A. M. 62°. 
 
 Wednesday, J Pyramids, 10 " " 72 \ 
 
 May 1 . ' j The Plains, 3 " p. m. 78" 
 
 [ Cairo, 7 " " 74->. 
 
 [ Cairo, 6 o'clock, A. M. 60°. 
 
 Thursday, ! Suez, 2 " P.M. 82°. 
 
 May 2. 1 On the Red Sea, 3 o'clock, p. m.- • -90°. 
 I Wells of Elim, 6 " "... 78°
 
 lOAT UF£ Oi-^1 I Hi mil
 
 THE PORTFOLIO. 187 
 
 F "da ' C Suez, 8 o'clock, A. M. 70^ 
 
 Mays' l^^''-^' 1 " ^•^' 78°. 
 
 •'. ( " 5 " " 81°. 
 
 " This gives you a good idea of tlie tempera- 
 ture as we found it, and the heat did not seem 
 at all oppressive. Thus our fears proved false, 
 and we were highly favored by God in this re- 
 spect. 
 
 " We have seen the Nile ; sailed up and down, 
 and bathed in its waters. The 7'eis — captain — 
 who took us along the rivei* was a good sailor, 
 and knew all about the land, and could give us 
 all the information we wanted. He described to 
 father the process of irrigation and fertilization 
 in Egypt, and Mr. Tenant said he was better 
 posted about his business than many a Yankee 
 captain would be. I have sketched a view of 
 river-life which I send you. — [The reader will 
 find the sketch accomi)anying this book.] 
 
 " But I must close my letter, lest you will be 
 very weary of reading it. I could tell you many 
 things we saw, but my paper is out. So I will 
 only write a description of Egypt, which I heard 
 Dr. Forrestall read much to-day. I liked it so 
 well that I got the book and copied it, and I 
 know t/oii will like it. ' Egyfit is comj)osed of 
 black earth and green plants, between a j)id- 
 verized mountain and a red sand. The distance 
 from Syene to the sea is a month's journey for a
 
 188 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 horseman. Along the valley descends a river 
 on wliicli the blessing of the Most High reposes, 
 both in the evening and morning, and which rises 
 and falls with the revolutions of the sun and 
 moon. When the annual dispensation of Prov- 
 idence unlocks the springs and fountains that 
 nourish the earth, the Nile rolls its swelling and 
 sounding waters through th^ realm of Egypt ; 
 the fields are overspread by the salutary flood ; 
 and the villages communicate with each other in 
 their painted barks. The retreat of the inunda- 
 tion deposits a fertilizing mud for the reception 
 of the various seeds ; the crowd of husbandmen 
 who blacken the land may be compared to a 
 swarm of industrious ants ; and their native indo- 
 lence is quickened by the lash of the task-master, 
 and the promise of the flowers and fruits of a 
 plentiful increase. Their hope is seldom de- 
 ceived ; but the riches which thev extract from 
 the wheat, the barley, and the rice, the fruit- 
 trees, and the cattle, are unequally shared be- 
 tween those who labor and those who possess. 
 According to the vicissitudes of the seasons, the 
 face of the country is adorned with a silver wave, 
 a verdant emerald, and the deep yellow of a (jold- 
 en harvest.' 
 
 " I assure you, Mr. Falkner, that, thougli I 
 am enjoying myself very much, I shall be 
 very glad to get back to my school and to my
 
 THE PORTFOLIO. 189 
 
 books. You will know who writes to you, 
 though I only sign my name 
 
 " Hawagee." 
 
 *' Ah, ha, hum ! " yawned Walter. 
 
 " What is the matter? " asked one or two o 
 the party who were present. 
 
 " Oh, I have been writing until 1 am tired." 
 
 *' Have you finished your letter, my son ? '* 
 asked Mr. Percy. 
 
 "Yes, Sir. Shall I read it ? " 
 
 " If you please." 
 
 Walter read his letter through, and when he 
 had closed, his mother said, — 
 
 ' Why do you sign yourself Hawdgee ? ' 
 
 " Oh, for fun." 
 
 " Do you know what it means ? " 
 
 " Yes ; it means ' Christian merchant.' " 
 
 " But you are not a merchant." 
 
 " No, Mother ; but the term is applied to all 
 Franks, or Europeans, and Mr. Falkner will 
 know what I mean." 
 
 " Very well ; I only wished to know if you 
 understood the meaning of the word. Do you 
 know what you might sign yourself, if you were 
 a Moslem trader ? " 
 
 *' Yes ; I beheve it would be Kowagee.'''' 
 
 " Riglit. You quoted something in your let- 
 ter. Whose languao-e was it ? "
 
 190 WALTER m EGYPT. 
 
 '* Amru, one of Mahomet's most distinguished 
 warriors." 
 
 " I do not remember about him." 
 
 " Well, all I know is what Mr. Butterworth 
 was saying the other day. He told about him, 
 and stated, that on one occasion he laid siege 
 to Alexandria, and was taken prisoner and 
 carried to the fortress. They did not know 
 liim, and he was about to declare who he was. 
 A slave who was taken with him, when he saw 
 what he was about to say, struck him on the 
 mouth, saying, ' Be silent in the presence of 
 your superiors.' This deceived the enemy, and 
 they supposed Amru was less than a slave ; and 
 they kept the slave, but sent him back with a 
 message, and so he got clear." 
 
 " Ttieb^ teieb, teieb, keteer!^'' said Dr. Forre- 
 stall, coming forward at that moment. 
 
 " Now, Doctor, what lingo is that ? I have 
 • heard it a thousand times since I have been 
 here." 
 
 The Doctor laughed. 
 
 " Please tell me, for I want to know. When 
 1 say anj^thing to these Arabs they shcut, ' Tib, 
 tib, tlb^ e te keter^^ or something like that." 
 
 " It means, ' Good, good, very good.' " 
 
 " Well, I am glad I know, for when I hear 
 such jargon again, I shall not be as ignorant aa 
 I have been."
 
 THE PORTFOLIO. 191 
 
 " Have you written any letters, Hariy ? * 
 asked Mr. Percy. 
 
 "Yes, Sir. Two." 
 
 " Will you read them to us ? " 
 
 *' I don't like to. If I wrote as well as Wal- 
 ter does, I would read them." 
 
 " I think I would read them, Harry," added 
 Mrs. Percy. 
 
 " If you really desire it, I will." 
 
 " We do desire it." 
 
 " Here they are, then : 
 
 " ' DoNKEYDOM, May 6, 1861. 
 
 " ' Miss Thornton, — That sounds ratlier for- 
 mal, Rose, but that pattern of propriety with whom 
 I am travelhng, — Master Waher Percy, an old 
 head on young shoulders, — would tell me that 
 it is right. I suppose it is, but how ridiculous 
 it would sound for me next winter to say to 
 you, when we are coasting, ' Jlias Thornton, 
 let me draw you up the hill ; ' or, ' Mias 
 Thornton, let me make the snowballs for you 
 to throw ; ' or, ' 3Iiss Thornton, let me strap 
 your skates.' But let that pass. You would 
 like to know what we have seen out here. I 
 couldn't tell you one half, for we have been hear- 
 ing, seeing, and enjoying ever since we left Cam- 
 bridge. We have seen donkeys by the million , 
 heard dogs bark, week in and week out ; been
 
 192 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 shaken up with the Arabs in carriages and in 
 the streets, and arc ahiiost naturahzed Egyp- 
 tians. Anyhow, this is a queer country. You 
 would laugh at the women. They look, when 
 walking in the street, like mummies done up in 
 prodigious big white bags ; and when they ride, 
 the horse — donkey^ I mean — is all covered up 
 with dry goods and fancy wares. You would 
 laugh at the men, too. They dress as Father 
 Abraham used to — you know how that was, 
 
 — and go through the streets looking like mon- 
 keys rigged up in women's clothes. You would 
 also laugh at — why there is nothing but what 
 you would laugli at. Why, if they water the 
 streets here, instead of doing it in a civilized 
 way, they do it as they probably did in the 
 times of Pharaoh — a man goes through the 
 street with the skin of a goat under his arm, 
 and squirts water from this novel machine : one 
 third upon the dust, and two thirds upon the 
 people who are passing by. Instead of having 
 buckets to hold water, they keep it for drink- 
 ing purposes in skins. Everywhere you go, you 
 find people who are shouting for ' backshish ' — 
 plaguing you to death at every step you take. 
 Do you know what ' backshish ' is ? I suppose 
 not, but I cannot stop to tell you. You never 
 can know until you hear a half-clad Egyptian, 
 
 — blind of one eye and half blind of the other.
 
 THE PORTFOLIO. 193 
 
 — shoutuig, as he runs behind you, in a poor, 
 piteous tone — '' Hawdgee^ backshish/^ Walter 
 will explain all the hard words when he gets 
 home. 
 
 " ' AYell, Rose, how are things at home ? 
 Have you been to our house, recently? Seen 
 the old gent — hey ? And Falkner — is he as 
 savage as ever ? Do you remember that time 
 when I blacked the inside of his hat ? Wasn't 
 that rich ? 
 
 " ' I don't know as I have anvthino- more to 
 write. Walter and Minnie send their love to 
 you — at least I suppose they would, if they 
 knew I was writing to you. Minnie is the 
 lite of the party. Mr. Tenant takes her under 
 liis care, and she goes to him for anything she 
 wants. She is, indeed, the favorite of all, while 
 I guess they look upon me as a clown. They 
 are about right — don't you think so? 
 
 " ' Please run into om- house, and t(?ll the old 
 gentleman and lady that their hopeful son was 
 well when last you heard from him; put a })in 
 into the cushion of Falkner's chair for me ; turn 
 Scrrei out of the pasture, and giAe father a hun 
 of half a day to find the beast, and credit the 
 exploit to me, and do as much mischief as you 
 please, in the name of 
 
 '"Harry St. Clair.'" 
 
 IS
 
 194 WALTER m EGYPT 
 
 " What will Rose think of you ? " asked Mrs. 
 Percy, as Harry folded his letter. 
 
 " Think ? — why, Rose knows me, of old." 
 
 " But what would your father think, if he 
 should see that letter ? " 
 
 " Oh, he won't. Rose promised if I would 
 write to her that nobody should see the let- 
 ters ? " 
 
 " Well, you can do as you will about send- 
 ing it, but it is not very respectful to your 
 parents, nor to Mr. Falkner." 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Percy, don't say anything about 
 old Falkner. I owe him a grudge." 
 
 *' But, Harry, he has been one of your best 
 friends ; corrected you for your faults, praised 
 you for your virtues, and instructed you kindly 
 and cheerfully." 
 
 " Well, never mind. Let him slide." 
 
 " You will slide, Harry," cried Minnie, 
 rushing into the room with her finished letter 
 in her hand. 
 
 " Ah, Minnie ; have you been writing, too?" 
 asked Mr. Tenant. 
 
 "Yes, Sir." 
 
 " Come, read it." 
 
 " I don't like to, but I suppose I must." 
 
 '"Egypt, May 6, 1861. 
 " ' Little Charley, — From this far-oif
 
 THE PORTFOLIO. 195 
 
 land Sister Minnie writes, to tell you how 
 much she loves you. Father and mother and 
 Walter are all here, and all of us are writing 
 home to-day. Madcap Harry St. Clair is also 
 writing a letter to send to his friends. And 
 now, Charley, how have you been this long 
 time ? Have you ever cried to see mother 
 and Minnie ? Ah, 1 guess you have. When 
 Hester has put you into your little bed, you 
 have wished the folks were all at home ao-ain. 
 
 IT' 
 
 It is more than a month since we left home, 
 and it seems to me a great while longer. We 
 have had many dangers on the sea and on land, 
 but are now all well, and I think we should 
 be perfectly happy, if dear little brother, whom 
 we all love so much, was with us. 
 
 " ' You promised, when we left, to keep my 
 garden clear from weeds this summer, and look 
 after my canary. Are you doing so ? You 
 must ask John, the gardener, to show you how 
 to set out the geraniums, which ought to be in 
 the ground by the time this letter reaches you. 
 Let Gip have a clean cage every day, and put 
 in clean seed, so that the dear little creature 
 may not die while I am gone. I have not 
 heard a bird sing as sweetly as Gip does, since 
 I left America. 
 
 '' • I sujipose Rose Thornton comes in to sea 
 you while we are absent. She promised to sea
 
 196 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 that you were a good boy. And now I must 
 close this letter, because I have some more to 
 write, and so, Charley, wait patiently until you 
 hear again from 
 
 " ' Minnie.' " 
 
 " You might have written some news to the 
 boy," said Walter. 
 
 " I had none to write." 
 
 " You might have told him what we have 
 seen since we have been out here." 
 
 " Oh, you must write about all that." 
 
 Thus, in writing letters and reading them, and 
 in pleasant conversation, the day was spent by 
 the children. The gentlemen made some pur- 
 chases, and prepared to leave Egypt for the 
 Holy Land. On the morrow, they were to start 
 for Alexandria, to embark at that port for Syria, 
 and as they went to sleep that night there was 
 not one of the party who did not regret that they 
 were so soon to leave this interesting country.
 
 LOOKING BACK. 197 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LOOKING BACK. 
 
 On the following morning, Walter and Harry 
 were aroused by a knocking at the door of their 
 room, and, on asking who was there, heard a 
 strange voice saying — 
 
 " Sabdl khayr 1 Sahal hliayr 1 " 
 
 " AVho is it ? " asked Walter. 
 
 " Me — Mohammed Achmet." 
 
 " What did you say ? " 
 
 " I speak to you." 
 
 " Yes, and what did you say ? — those strango 
 Arabic words ? " 
 
 " Good-morning ! Good-morninor I " 
 
 " Yes, yes, good-morning, Mohammed." 
 
 " Breakfast waits." 
 
 ** We will be ready soon." 
 
 And soon both of the boys were ready, and 
 had joined their older friends in the breakfast- 
 room. After breakfast, with luggage and an- 
 tiquities that they had collected, and accompanied 
 by Mohammed, Abdalluh Hassan, and Hallile, 
 the party took the cars for Alexandria. It was
 
 198 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 a happy party. Not a cloud rested on the spirits 
 of any one, and unalloyed enjoyment seemed to 
 be the lot of all. 
 
 The incidents of the day need not be detailed ; 
 though a car-ride of seven or eight hours in 
 Eoypt is different from a ride of the same length 
 of time in any other land, where cars and rail- 
 ways are found. Our travellers reached Alex- 
 andria wearied, and ready at once to seek the 
 repose of sleep. 
 
 The next day was the Sabbath, — a Sabbatli 
 in Egypt, — and beautiful was the hallowed 
 dawn. The sky was clear, the atmosphere pure, 
 and the sea breezes refreshing. Minnie rost, 
 earlier than the rest, and went out and took a 
 short walk before breakfast with the dragoman, 
 who was pleased to show her attention and re- 
 . spect. After the rest of the company had as- 
 sembled in the room of Mr. Dunnallan, for 
 morning religious services, which were just con- 
 cluded, Minnie came bouncing in with a shout 
 of merriment and joy. 
 
 " What is the matter, child ? " asked Mr. 
 Percy. 
 
 " Matter enough, Pa," the child replied. 
 
 " I should think so ; but do you know what 
 day it is ? " 
 
 " Fourth of July — Independence Day — gen- 
 eral muster, or something."
 
 LOOKING BACK. 199 
 
 " Stop, stop. Minnie, do you not remenibei 
 that it is Sabbath moniing ? " 
 
 " Yes, Sir, I suppose it is in New England, 
 and in Old Eno;land ; but it is not here." 
 
 " What do you mean ?" 
 
 *' Why, Father, I have been out to walk with 
 that Arab — you know who I mean, the drago- 
 man, or whatever you call him, — Mohammed 
 Ach — Aclimet, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Does going out to walk on Sabbath morning 
 make you so boisterous ? " 
 
 "No; but it is not Sabbath — it cannot be. 
 The streets are full of people, and the men and 
 boys have little cannons, and pistols, and fire- 
 crackers, and are doing just as our boys do on 
 Fourth of July." 
 
 " Is that a fact, Minnie ? " asked Harry. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 *' Then a time we'll have to-day." 
 
 *' You forget, Harry, that it is Sunday ; and 
 whatever the people here may be doing, we must 
 maintain our New England habits,'' said Walter. 
 
 " Right, Walter," said Mr. Butterworth. " I 
 am glad you think of that." 
 
 " Rap, rap, ta[)," on the door. 
 
 Harry opened it ; the dragoman was there. 
 
 " De gentlemens will take breakfast," he said. 
 
 They proceeded to the bruakfast-room, where 
 they met several English and American travel-
 
 200 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 lers who, like themselves, were bound foi- th« 
 Holy Land. After breakfast they went out, and 
 found the city in wonderful commotion, as Minnie 
 had said. Men and boys were about the sfi-eets 
 with small fire-works, and nothing resembled the 
 solemn hush of holy time. On inquiry, they 
 found the occasion of all this to be the cele- 
 bration of the Greek Pentecost. Minnie persisted 
 in saying it was the " Fourth of July," and wished 
 to go to some of the churches where the festival 
 was to be celebrated ; but the gentlemen took their 
 way to the English Church, where services were 
 held, and a sermon in English preached. The 
 day was spent as the Sabbath generally is in hea- 
 then cities ; and at night our travellers gathered 
 in one of the rooms of the hotel, and conversed 
 upon the strange sights they had seen, and upon 
 the goodness which had protected them thus far 
 on their journey. 
 
 " I have been thinking," said Mr. Tenant, 
 " how much like man's life this day has been — a 
 quiet dawn; a confused mixture of leligion and 
 profanity ; a noisy, boisterous, tumultuous surging 
 all day long ; and now, an unlighted night that 
 hushes every sound of man, and clo'Jes up the 
 whole in impenetrable darkness." 
 
 " Your remark, friend Tenant," said Mr. 
 Percy, " reminds me of a beautiful little saying 
 of Goethe."
 
 LOOKING BACK. 201 
 
 " What saying, Father ? I should hke to hear 
 something about Goethe, of whom I have heard 
 much, but Ivuow httle," said Walter. 
 
 " Goethe said," replied the gentleman, " that 
 ' man is a glorious poem ; each life a canto, each 
 day a line. The melody plays feebly at first 
 upon the trembling chords of his little heart, but 
 with time gains power and beauty as it sweeps 
 onward, until at last the final notes die away, 
 far above the world, amidst the melodies of 
 eaven. 
 
 " Poor Goethe," remarked Mr. Allston, " died 
 callino- upon the attendants to open the windows 
 and let in more light." 
 
 "Who was Goethe?" whispered Harry to 
 Minnie, who sat by his side. 
 
 " I don't know. We will ask Walter to-mor- 
 row." 
 
 Is there not some young reader of this page 
 inquisitive to know ? It will pay him to find 
 out. 
 
 The party soon began to break up for the 
 night. Mrs. Percy and Minnie retired to their 
 apartments. Walter went to the window, and 
 stood looking up upon the dark city, in which 
 not a light could be seen, when Dr. Forrestall 
 came and laid his hand upon his shoulder. 
 
 " What aro you looking at, Walter ? " he 
 asked.
 
 202 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " Nothing, Doctor," was the reply. 
 
 ** What are you thinking about, then ? " 
 
 " I was trying to recall some lines I learned 
 long ago, which are suggested to my mind by 
 the way of contrast. Here is a city of darkness. 
 A field of graves could not be more dismal ; and 
 I was thinking of some lines, written by I know 
 not whom, that picture a city at night all lighted 
 and brilliant with flaring lamps." 
 
 " Can you repeat them ? " 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " Try it. We should like to hear." 
 
 " As near as I can recall them, the words were 
 these : — 
 
 '* * The city's distant lights arrest my view, 
 And magic fancy whirls me to the scene. 
 There vice and folly run their giddy rounds ; 
 There eager crowds are hurrying to the sight 
 Of feigned distress, yet have not time to hear 
 The shivering orphan's prayer. The flaring larapa 
 Of gilded chariots, like the meteor eyes 
 Of mighty giants, famed in legends old, 
 Illume the snowy street; the silent wheels 
 On heedless passenger steal unperceived, 
 Bearing the splendid fair to flutter round 
 Amid the flowery labyrinths of the dance.'" 
 
 " That's London ! " remarked the Doctor. 
 " Or Paris," sutrsfested Mr. Butterworth 
 " Who is the author ? " asked Harry.
 
 LOOKING BACK. 203 
 
 " I don't know," said Walter. " Perhaps 
 Bome of these gentlemen can tell." 
 
 " You will be oblio-ed to give the credit of 
 your lines to Graham," said Mr. Allston. " He 
 wrote them." 
 
 Soon all had retired, and scarcely one of tho 
 party but dreamed of home and friends far away 
 in the land of the fi'ee. 
 
 The next forenoon was spent in preparation 
 for sailing ; and just before night came on, the 
 whole party were rowed out in little boats to the 
 French steamer CydnuSy that was lying in the 
 harbor, and soon they were on their way up the 
 Mediterranean Sea. The evening was very fair 
 and beautiful, and our travellers assembled on the 
 deck to enjoy it. They sang religious hymns 
 and patriotic songs. Walter declaimed one or 
 two pieces he had learned at school, and Dr. 
 Forrestall and Mr. Damrell told some stories of 
 what they had seen in other travels, and thus 
 the evening passed away. Harry thought it 
 would be a good time to ask the question which 
 he had proposed to Minnie the night before, aiul 
 so he asked, — 
 
 *' Please, Mr. Allston, who was Goethe, about 
 whom you talked last evening? " 
 
 " Goethe," said the gentleman addressed, 
 " was a German poet, born in Frankfort-on-the- 
 Main. He became very popular. Knebel says,
 
 204 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 — ' Everybody worsliipped him, especially tha 
 
 women.' " 
 
 " Ah ! " drawled Minnie. 
 
 " His life was an up-and-down one, and he 
 died at the age of eighty-three yeafs " 
 
 " He lived a long life, for a poet,'' remarked 
 Walter. 
 
 " Yes ; his frame was stout, and his disposition 
 cheerful — two requisites of a long life. In one 
 of his works, he says, — ' From my father I de- 
 rive my frame and the steady quietude of my life ; 
 and from my dear little mother, my happy dis- 
 position and love of story-telling.' He was a 
 famous writer of ballads and sono-s." 
 
 " I wish," said Walter, " we knew some of 
 them." 
 
 " I can repeat to you, boys, a little gem of 
 Goethe, that I wish was engraven on the minds 
 of both of you," said Mr. Butterworth. " I have 
 often repeated it to boys, and always with a wish 
 that they would catch its spirit." 
 
 " What is it ? " asked both the boys to- 
 gether. 
 
 Minnie came and looked up in the gentle- 
 man's face as he repeated the following lines : — 
 
 " * Without haste ! without rest ! 
 Bind the motto to thy breast : 
 Bear it with thee as a spell ; 
 Storm or sunshine guard it well I
 
 LOOKING BACK. 200 
 
 Heed not flowers that round thee bloom, 
 Bear it onward to the tomb I 
 
 " ' Haste not ! let no thoughtless deed 
 Mar for aye the spirit's speed ; 
 Ponder well and know the right, 
 Onward then with all thy might : 
 Haste not ! years can ne'er atone 
 For one reckless action done. 
 
 " * Rest not ! life is sweeping by, 
 Do and dare before you die : 
 Something mighty and sublime 
 Leave behind to conquer time 1 
 Glorious 'tis to live for aye 
 When these forms have passed away. 
 
 •* ' Haste not ! rest not ! calmly wait : 
 Meekly bear the storms of fate ! 
 Duty be thy poUir guide — 
 Do the right whate'er betide ! 
 Haste not ! rest not ! conflicts past, 
 God shall crown thy work at last.' " 
 
 " Beautiful ! " whispered the child, as the last 
 line was uttered. 
 
 " I'll write that out to-morrow," said Walter. 
 " I must keep that." 
 
 The conversation now changed from Goethe 
 to other subjects. Minnie sat on a seat, with 
 Walter on one side and Harrv on the other, and 
 there they conversed and sang until late at 
 night, nur would they then have sought their
 
 206 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 pillows, had not Mr. Percy required them to 
 do so. 
 
 The next day was beautiful. Not a ripple 
 disturbed the surface of the sea, and scarcely a 
 motion of the vessel was perceptible. She cut 
 lu;r way through the blue waters as if she were 
 a tiling of life, and left nothing but a little foamy 
 line in her wake. 
 
 About the middle of the forenoon, Walter was 
 looking over the stern of the vessel with a shade 
 of sadness on his face, when Mr. Dunnallan ap- 
 proached him. 
 
 " What are you thinking about now, my 
 lad ? " asked the gentleman ; " you look sad ? " 
 
 " T was thinking," replied Walter, " that I 
 should never see that country again." 
 
 " What country ? " 
 
 " Why, Egypt, the land of the Pharaohs." 
 
 " Does that make you sad ? " 
 
 " Yes, Sir, it does. I have been so much in- 
 terested in Egypt that I feel bad at leaving so 
 Boon. I have been charmed with this dreamy 
 land, and I should like to stay in Alexandria a 
 vear." 
 
 " It is beautiful for situation, but it has none 
 of the attractions which it had at the time when 
 Campbell describes its ' gates as looking out on 
 the gilded barges of the Nile ; on fleets at sea, 
 under full sail ; on a harbor that sheltered jiavies;
 
 LOOKING BACK. 207 
 
 and a iisht-house that was the mariner's star, and 
 the wonder of the world.' " 
 
 "I should like to have seen it then," ex- 
 claimed Walter, enthusiastically. But as it is, 
 I wish we could have remained much longer. 
 I am sad to think I shall never come back 
 here again." 
 
 " Oh, you may come back here. You are 
 but a boy yet, and as the facilities for travel- 
 ling increase every year, you may anticipate 
 another visit to this interesting land." 
 
 " I did not think of that. I may come hero 
 again, then. If I do, I will go up the Nile as 
 far as I can get a dragoman to take me." 
 
 " Hallo, Walter, you here ! I have been 
 looking for you below," cried Harry, approach- 
 
 ing- 
 
 " We have been talking here." 
 
 "What about?" 
 
 " Egypt and the Egyptians." 
 
 " Well," said Harry, " there is something I 
 would like to know about the old Egyptians, the 
 ancient people of Pharaoh's time." 
 
 " What is it vou would wish to know ? " 
 asked Mr. Dunnallan. 
 
 " Were the ancient Egyptians black or 
 white ? " 
 
 " There are various opinions as to that." 
 
 '* Can't you tell us something about thera ? '*
 
 208 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " Nothing but what I can quote from others. 
 I have given the subject no study. Denon 
 describes the ancient people of this laud, — 
 founded upon a personal examination of Egyp- 
 tian statues, busts, and bas-reliefs : ' Full, but 
 delicate and voluptuous forms; countenances 
 sedate and placid ; round and soft features ; with 
 eyes long, almond-shaped, half-shut, and lan- 
 guishing, and turned up at the outer angles, as 
 if habitually fatigued by the light and heat of the 
 sun ; cheeks round ; thick lips, full and promi- 
 nent ; mouths large, but cheerful and smiling ; 
 complexions dark, ruddy, and coppery ; and the 
 whole aspect displaying, — as one of the most 
 graphic delineators among modern travellers has 
 observed, — the genuine African character, of 
 which the negro is the exaggerated and extreme 
 representation.' " 
 
 " Is that the general opinion ? " asked Walter. 
 
 " There are so many opinions, that I do not 
 know which way the majority incline. Dr. 
 Prichard tells us ' that the ancient Egyptians 
 were a dark-colored people ; and that, at the 
 same time, great varieties of color existed among 
 them, as is the case with the modern Hindoos 
 and Abyssinians.' V.olney argues strongly that 
 they were negroes, and bases his opinion on pas- 
 sages in the works of Herodotus, jEschylus, and 
 Lucia n."
 
 LOOKING BACK. 209 
 
 "I should think the men who have paid sg 
 much attention to Egyptian sculpture," said 
 Walter, " would know to what race the ancient 
 inhabitants belonged." 
 
 " The Copts were descendants of the ancient 
 Egyptians, and Mr. Ledyard says of them : — 'I 
 suspect the Copts to have been the origin of the 
 negro race ; the nose and lips correspond with 
 those of the negro. The hair, wherever I can 
 see it among the people here, is curled, not like 
 that of the negroes, but like the mulattoes.' " 
 
 " Who were the Copts," asked Harry. 
 
 " I don't know," answered Walter. 
 
 " They are the descendants of the people who 
 lived in Egypt in the time of the Ptolemies," 
 remarked Mr. Dunnallan. " They are a very in- 
 teresting peoj)le, nominal Christians, mingling 
 with the Moslems, and at some convenient time 
 1 will give you all I know of their history. 
 There are Coptic villages all through the land." 
 
 " What color are they ? " 
 
 " A dark, deep brown, almost black. We 
 suppose this to be the color of the ancient people. 
 One writer has said, that ' If we may form an 
 idea of the complexion of the ancient Egyptians 
 from the paintings found in their tem})les and 
 tombs, the coloring of their statues and bas- 
 reliefs, and of the sycamore cases in which their 
 mummies are found enclosed, we must come to 
 14
 
 210 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 the conclusion that they were of a reddish-brown 
 color, like the existing Foulah and Kaffir tribes. 
 The male figures are invariably painted with this 
 color, and the female figures sometimes of a 
 lighter shade of the same color, and sometimes 
 yellow or yellowish-brown.' 
 
 " ' This red color,' says Dr. Prichard, * is evi- 
 dently intended to represent the complexion of 
 the people, and is not put on in the want of a 
 lighter paint, or flesh color ; for when the limbs 
 or bodies are represented as seen through a thin 
 veil, the tint used resembles the complexion of 
 Europeans. The same shade might have been 
 generally adopted, if a darker one had not been 
 preferred, as more truly representing the national 
 complexion of the Egyptian race.' " 
 
 " About these Copts," asked Walter ; " are 
 ihey real Christians ? " 
 
 " No. Far from it." 
 
 " What are they ? " 
 
 " Mostly thieves, cheats, and beggars." 
 
 " And yet Christians ? " 
 
 " Nominal Christians, as the Maronites in 
 Syria, or vile, wicked men in America are nom- 
 inal Christians ; — they are not Moslems nor 
 worshipper of idols. Do you understand?" 
 
 " Yes, Sir." 
 
 The trio was now joined by some other per- 
 sons of the party, and the conversation about the
 
 LOOKING BACK. 211 
 
 Copts was continued, and the boys treasured up 
 a great many facts in relation to that strange but 
 very interesting people. They were very much 
 surprised to hear that there were sixty thousand 
 ot" them in Cairo alone. They had supposed 
 tiiat the people of Cairo were almost all Mussul- 
 mans. 
 
 There are few passages more delightful than 
 the sail from Alexandria to Joppa in fair 
 weather in summer ; and so great was the con- 
 trast between this smooth, quiet voyage and the 
 rough, wild passage from Marseilles, that the 
 boys seemed beside themselves with joy. The 
 heavens above seemed clearer, and the sea bluer, 
 and the weather more delightful, than they eve) 
 saw it before. They had on board people of al- 
 most all nations, but as they were almost the only 
 Franks, great attention was shown them. Harrv 
 made the acquaintance of almost everybody who 
 could speak a word of English. Walter was 
 much interested in an Englishman on board, who 
 was well acquainted with the great traveller and 
 discoverer, Austen Henry Layard, who exhumed 
 the remains of the past at Nimrod, and brought 
 to view so many relics of forgotten ages. 
 
 " How did he travel ? " asked Walter ; " as we 
 do, — with little baggage, — or with a large 
 number of people and much baggage ? " 
 
 " He tra\ielled," said the Englishman, " in the
 
 212 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 best way ; taking little or nothing with him, but 
 drawing his suppHes from the country through 
 which he passed." 
 
 " I should think a rich man would feel the 
 privations of such regions as Layard passed 
 through so much that it would be no pleasure 
 to travel." 
 
 " No, my lad ; to a traveller anywhere much 
 lu-o-crao-e is not a comfort, but a burden. A 
 traveller does not miss the comforts of home. I 
 judge you have a good home ; but do you think 
 it a hardship to travel ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, Sir; it is a great pleasure. The 
 very privations are pleasures." 
 
 " So it was to my friend Layard. He him- 
 self says : — 'I had been wandering through 
 Asia Minor and Syria, scarcely leaving untrod 
 one spot hallowed by tradition, or unvisited one 
 ruin consecrated by history. I was accompanied 
 by one no less curious and enthusiastic than my- 
 self We were both equally careless of comfort 
 and unmindful of danger. We rode' alone; our 
 arms were our only protection ; a valise behind 
 our saddles was our wardrobe ; and we tended 
 our own horses, except when relieved from the 
 luty by the hospitable inha,bitants of a Turcoman 
 village or an Arab tent. Thus unembarrassed 
 by needless luxuries, and uninfluenced by the 
 opinions or prejudices of others, we mixed
 
 LOOKING BACK. 213 
 
 amongst the people, acquired without effort their 
 manners, and enjoyed witliout alloy those emo- 
 tions Avhich scenes so novel and spots so rich in 
 varied association cannot fail to produce.' " 
 
 " Then he was glad to be without needless 
 luxuries." 
 
 " Yes ; as every traveller is. There is a great 
 care upon a man who has trunks and boxes to 
 look after, and I never should want to travel 
 with them." 
 
 " That is the way we are to travel in Syria ; 
 we shall have nothing but one bag apiece." 
 
 " You will be more comfortable for it, and 
 liave more pleasure in looking back upon your 
 tour afterwai'd. Mr. Layard, in whom you 
 seem to take so much interest, — and that interest 
 pleases me, for he is a dear friend of mine, — 
 said, years after : — 'I look back with feelings 
 of grateful delight to those happy days, when, 
 free and unheeded, we left at dawn the humble 
 cottage or cheerful tent, and lino-ering as we 
 listed, unconscious of distance and of the hour, 
 found ourselves, as the sun went down, under 
 some hoary ruin tenanted by the wandering 
 Arab, or in some crumbling village still bearing 
 a well-known name. No experienced dragoman 
 measured our distances, and appointed our sta- 
 tions. We were honored with no conversations 
 by pachas, nor did we seek any civihties from
 
 214 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 governors. We neither drew tears nor cursea 
 irom the villagers bj seizing their horses, or 
 searching their houses for provisions ; their wel- 
 come was sincere ; their scanty fare was placet! 
 before ns ; we ate, and came and went in 
 peace.' " 
 
 " Where can I read something about Mr. 
 Layard ? " 
 
 " You can read what he says of himself in his 
 great work on Nineveh, which contains a hun- 
 dred splendid engravings of moinnnents and 
 sculptures and ruins which he saw." 
 
 " I must read it. I wonder I have not read it 
 before." 
 
 This English gentleman became much inter- 
 ested in Walter, and told him many things about 
 countries throucrh which he himself had travelled, 
 and the boy persisted in calling his father, that 
 he might introduce to him his new friend. Mr. 
 Percy was much pleased with the gentleman, 
 who proved to be a wealthy merchant, who had 
 acquired a great fund of information, and who 
 was very felicitous in his manner of communi- 
 cating it. 
 
 " What a very disagreeable man that was that 
 you have just been talking with," said Min- 
 nie, as the Englishman turned away. 
 
 " Disagreeable ? " asked the boy in swr* 
 prise.
 
 LOOKING BACK. 215 
 
 "Yes, Mr. Wonder." 
 
 *' Far from it. He is one of the most 
 agreeable men I have met since I left home." 
 
 " I should think he was ! He talks about 
 nothing but old statues and sculpture and 
 such thincrs." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; he talks about many things. He 
 is a connoisseur of poetry and painting, and 
 the fine arts." 
 
 " I don't want to know anything about fine 
 arts." 
 
 " You are much like George II.," said Mr. 
 Damrell, advancing. 
 
 " How am I like him ? " asked the girl. 
 
 " Why, it was he, I believe, who said, ' / 
 hate boetry and bahiting.'' " 
 
 " No, Mr. Damrell, I do not hate poetry 
 and painting, but these old statues without 
 heads, faces without noses, and all that. Oh, 
 dear, it is so dry." 
 
 " So Kino; George thought." 
 
 " Plague take King George ! " 
 
 The shades of evening were now approach- 
 ing, and the two boys were eager that the sun 
 should set and the ni<;ht be gone, for on the 
 morrow they expected to see the shores of 
 Palestine. Harrv remained on deck long after 
 many of the passengers had gone to rest, and 
 Walter sat up writing in his Journal. While
 
 216 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 he is writing we will look over his shoiilder, 
 and see what he is about : — 
 
 " Steamship Cydnus, 
 •' Off the Sliores of Palestine. 
 
 " I am thinkino; of home ! I often think of 
 home, though my dearest earthly friends are 
 with me here upon the Mediterranean Sea. It 
 is now late at night, and the passengers are 
 mostly in their berths. Minnie has been in 
 dreamland two long hours, but Harry is still 
 on deck, trying to talk with the Arabs, who 
 cannot understand a word he says. Overhead 
 I hear low voices in conversation, but the 
 tongue is a strano-e one, and the sound reaches 
 my ear like a silver ripple of melody. I 
 hear the waters gliding beneath the keel, or 
 rippling against tlie vessel's sides. On be- 
 fore us is Jerusalem, and the land once trod 
 by the blessed footsteps of the Son of Mary 
 and Joseph, — the Son of God. Far away be- 
 hind is Egypt, land of mythology and art, — 
 but how changed ! Who would ever have sup- 
 posed this dreary region we have left to have 
 once been the queen-land of the «{vrth ? Who 
 would ever have supposed that this country 
 Was once the home of Plato and Solon ? 
 
 " ' Egypt, thy halls are desolate ! The steps 
 Of man scai'ce wake thy death-like Solitudes.
 
 LOOKING BACK. 217 
 
 No throng in might and beauty gathers here ; 
 No pealing anthems from thy temples rise ; 
 No sound of music tails upon the ear : 
 But hollow winds in mournful murmurs sweep, 
 Wailing a requiem for the buried Past.' 
 
 " I wonder if London will ever become like 
 Memphis, and Paris like Thebes ? Sometimes 
 when I think and read, it seems to me that 
 nations come up to greatness and die out. I 
 wonder if the United States will ever sink 
 down into the degradation of Egypt ? What 
 if Cambridge should become like Heliopolis, 
 and Boston like Cairo ! What an insult to the 
 ' hub of the universe ' the suj)position is ! But 
 when I remember that Rome and Babylon 
 and Nineveh have all fallen, I do not see why 
 modern cities may not be given to decay. 
 
 " I can hardly realize that I am ajiproaching 
 Jerusalem, where I shall see so many things 
 connected with Bible history. I wonder if I 
 shall find things as my fancy has jiainted them? 
 I wonder if the Garden of Gethsemane and 
 Mount Calvary will look as ministers have de- 
 scribed them ? I seem to be dreaming over 
 the tour we are takiniJi;. Well, we shall see in 
 a few days wjiat Jerusalem looks like; whether 
 it is as it is spoken of in the Scriptures. Oh, 
 with what delightful emotions shall " —
 
 218 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " Up yet, Walt ? " said Harry, opening the 
 door of the state-room. 
 
 *' Yes. I do not feel like sleeping.'' 
 
 " What are you doing ? " 
 
 " Jotting down some thoughts." 
 
 " Hang your thoughts, Walter. Herj you 
 sit up, keeping your pen scratching over the 
 paper all night most, and who is the wiser for 
 it?" 
 
 " I am." 
 
 " I doubt that." 
 
 " We shall see after we get home. Writ- 
 ing out what we see has several advantages." 
 
 " I'd like to know what they are." 
 
 " I'll tell you. In the first place, what I 
 write down I remember better than if I do 
 not write. The process of writing seems to 
 fix names, dates, distances, and such matters in 
 my memory." 
 
 " Names and dates ! — what do you want to 
 remember them for ? " 
 
 " They will be important for me at some 
 ftiture time." 
 
 " You may write if you will, but I won't." 
 
 " You may want to tell what you have 
 seen after you get home, and if you have your 
 notes, you may be able to make youx'self more 
 interesting to those with whom you con- 
 verse."
 
 LOOKING BACK. 219 
 
 " Perhaps I should write some, as I prom- 
 ised the old man " — 
 
 " Old man ! '' 
 
 " Father, I mean — that I would write a fulj 
 account of all I saw." 
 
 " You should keep your promise, then." 
 
 " I can't, so there is the end of it. I was 
 never made for a literary character." 
 
 " That is true ; but what were you made 
 for?" 
 
 " To make money." 
 
 " Why didn't you say, ' to spend it ' ? " 
 
 " Both, if you like." 
 
 " My father has taught me that there is a 
 higher, grander object of life than the accumu- 
 lation of money," 
 
 " Your father is odd, and too high in his 
 notions." 
 
 " Not too hio-h in his notions. You will find 
 at some future time that father's high moral 
 princij)le is ^'orth more than gold." 
 
 " Oh, I wouldn't say one word against your 
 father. I hope you didn't think so. But I mean 
 that he is too — too — I don't know what." 
 
 " Certainly, you don't know what." 
 
 " But I feel what I am unable to express 
 about it." 
 
 " Well, you will find that my father is a 
 true friend and adviser."
 
 220 WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 " I know he is, Walter ; but I have nevei 
 been restrained much, and the notions of my 
 father are different from the ideas in which you 
 have been brought up. I have been aHowed to 
 be reckless in speech, and have had my own 
 way. Father does not pay much attention 
 to my behavior. He wants me to sow all 
 my wild oats while I am young. So he 
 says." 
 
 " My father says that those who sow ' wild 
 oats,' — as you call them, — when they are 
 young, will generally keep on wrong all through 
 life." 
 
 " But I don't do anything bad." 
 
 " Of course not ; but, Harry, if you were 
 thrown into bad associations you might do bad 
 things. You are reckless of consequences, and 
 thoughtless as to what you do." 
 
 " I know it. I am very impulsive." 
 
 " Yes, you are ; and Mr. Stanhope, the 
 Superintendent of oxu' Sabbath-School, told 
 me once, that a boy who was impulsive 
 ought to have double guard over his con- 
 duct, as he was in more danger of doing 
 wrong and speaking wrong, than if he was 
 less impulsive. And Mr. Falkner has said 
 repeatedly " — 
 
 "Oh, get out. Mr. Falkner all the time. 
 I don't want to hear anything about him."
 
 LOOKING BACK. 221 
 
 *' There it is again. You burst out in- 
 to a flame most always." 
 
 " I can't help it. You keep quoting Falk- 
 ner all the time, and it vexes me, because 
 he has never treated me well." 
 
 " Nonsense ! " 
 
 " It is not nonsense. My father says, lie 
 does not understand me, nor anybody else who 
 is not prim and dignified, as you are." 
 
 " I have never so seen it." 
 
 " No ; you are one of his pets. How he 
 scolded me that time for showing Rose Thorn- 
 ton how to do her sum ! " 
 
 " You were wrong, and he was right in 
 that." 
 
 " I don't know but I was ; but he should 
 not have been so savage about it." 
 
 " He spoke sternly to you, but not sav- 
 agely." 
 
 " Well, let it go now." 
 
 " I think it is time for us to go to bed 
 now." 
 
 " I guess it is." 
 
 " Shall I say prayers before we go to 
 sleep ? " 
 
 *' I have no objections, if you wish to. I 
 never was accustomed to pray at home, but 1 
 rather like it." 
 
 " I have always been accustomed to pray to
 
 222 ■ WALTER IN EGYPT. 
 
 my Heavenly Father. I should not dare lie 
 down to sleep without committing my body 
 and soul to my Maker." 
 
 " Yes ; I somehow feel safer after you have 
 prayed." 
 
 " I have heard it said that John Quincy 
 Adams — who was President of the United 
 States — up to his dying day, never went to 
 sleep at night without repeating the ' Lord's 
 Prayer,' and saying a little verse which hia 
 mother taught him when a child." 
 
 " What verse ? " 
 
 " It is this : — 
 
 " ' Now I lay me down to sleep ; 
 I pray the Lord my soul to keep. 
 If I should die before I wake, 
 I pray the Lord my soul to take.' " 
 
 Walter then bowed his knees, and offered up 
 his evening prayer, and the two boys sought 
 their rest. 
 
 We leave them asleep, while the huga 
 engines working below impel the steamer tow- 
 ards the blessed shore of the Holy I^and. 
 
 THE Eia>.
 
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