DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11448#0291
CHAP. XXXI.]
TRANSIT OF THE DESERT.
253
were then left to sleep in such peace as the wild dogs' howling
and the storm's din permitted.
Strange and African as Alexandria had appeared to me three
months before, it now seemed familiar, and almost European:
the streets were thronged with men in hats, and smooth chins;
the cafes rustled with newspapers; the walls were placarded
with announcements of the evening's opera; and, above all, the
calm sea reflecting many a British flag, lay smiling before me
with its old familiar face.
Where the post only comes in once a month, each packet's
arrival is anxiously looked for : every European eye in Alexan-
dria was watching eagerly the British Consul's flag-staff, whereon
the hoisting of the red ensign was to announce the first appear-
ance of the Oriental steamer. She was late by some days ; and
as the Syrian mail-packet waited for her arrival, I took up my
quarters in the comfortable Hotel d'Orient, and found some
pleasant acquaintances among the resident merchants, and the
numerous passengers just arrived from Suez.
The transit across the desert is now a mere party of pleasure ;
and, before leaving Cairo, I had seen some ladies with reticules
and lap-dogs into a well-appointed four-horse Suez mail, that
would not have created much surprise in Piccadilly. There are
comfortable resting-places twice on the route, and temporary
establishments every ten miles : the entire distance of eighty-five
miles is performed without fatigue by those who have made
arrangements before-hand, and I never heard a complaint of any
of the multifarious baggage of Indian passengers being lost. On
arriving at Cairo, a day or two is allowed to travellers to
examine the city, and then they are forwarded to Alexandria
by English steamers plying on the Nile and the Mahmoudieh
canal.
Hill's hotel, at Cairo, and the whole business of the transit
line from Alexandria, was until lately in English hands. By
what appeared to me an adroit manoeuvre of the Pasha's, an
Italian, named Tibaldi, now conducts the principal, if not the
entire business. He is, it is true, connected by marriage with
a highly respected English merchant, but he is, nevertheless, a
TRANSIT OF THE DESERT.
253
were then left to sleep in such peace as the wild dogs' howling
and the storm's din permitted.
Strange and African as Alexandria had appeared to me three
months before, it now seemed familiar, and almost European:
the streets were thronged with men in hats, and smooth chins;
the cafes rustled with newspapers; the walls were placarded
with announcements of the evening's opera; and, above all, the
calm sea reflecting many a British flag, lay smiling before me
with its old familiar face.
Where the post only comes in once a month, each packet's
arrival is anxiously looked for : every European eye in Alexan-
dria was watching eagerly the British Consul's flag-staff, whereon
the hoisting of the red ensign was to announce the first appear-
ance of the Oriental steamer. She was late by some days ; and
as the Syrian mail-packet waited for her arrival, I took up my
quarters in the comfortable Hotel d'Orient, and found some
pleasant acquaintances among the resident merchants, and the
numerous passengers just arrived from Suez.
The transit across the desert is now a mere party of pleasure ;
and, before leaving Cairo, I had seen some ladies with reticules
and lap-dogs into a well-appointed four-horse Suez mail, that
would not have created much surprise in Piccadilly. There are
comfortable resting-places twice on the route, and temporary
establishments every ten miles : the entire distance of eighty-five
miles is performed without fatigue by those who have made
arrangements before-hand, and I never heard a complaint of any
of the multifarious baggage of Indian passengers being lost. On
arriving at Cairo, a day or two is allowed to travellers to
examine the city, and then they are forwarded to Alexandria
by English steamers plying on the Nile and the Mahmoudieh
canal.
Hill's hotel, at Cairo, and the whole business of the transit
line from Alexandria, was until lately in English hands. By
what appeared to me an adroit manoeuvre of the Pasha's, an
Italian, named Tibaldi, now conducts the principal, if not the
entire business. He is, it is true, connected by marriage with
a highly respected English merchant, but he is, nevertheless, a