to three yards in width, extremely tortuous and always dirty; the houses are constructed of corn-stalks, placed together and set upright, over which there is a coating of mud four or five inches in thickness; the roofs are flat, with pigeon boxes built over them, and they sleep on the bare ground with no covering, save a little straw. I noticed in several of these miserable hovels as many as twelve or fifteen human beings in a perfect state of nudity, living among yelping dogs and swarms of flies. Most of them were affected with ophthalmia, which is a disease of the country, and their only food seemed to be a few raw onions and garlic. No wonder that famine and the plague make such sad ravages among the benighted people; their mode of life, their filthiness and their indolent habits, all conspire to bring on disease in every shape, and render them miserable and degraded.

seen.

While in this quarter, we witnessed an Egyptian funeral, which was altogether different from any funeral ceremony we have ever The corpse was placed in a square coffin, covered with gaudy trappings, and borne on the shoulders of four men, accompanied by a troop of boys in front, and women behind, who were making all sorts of motions indicating distress, and shouting at the very top of their voices. When they observed us looking at them, they increased their lamentations, and seemed to make light of the ceremony, by the performance of many antics too ridiculous to mention.

The slave markets of this city are not so extensive as those at Cairo, but are conducted on a scale sufficiently large to give one some idea of the institution in this country. They are purchased in Nubia and Abyssinia, by traders, for a mere song, and sold here and elsewhere for fifty or sixty dollars, according to the age and condition. We went into one of the dépôts and saw several hundred, mostly females, that had just arrived from these countries. They were perfectly black, and looked as if they had never seen a white face before. As soon as we entered, the master closed the door upon us, and would not let us out without giving them backshish (gift). The condition of the Egyptian slave is far worse than you have any conception. They are fed on onions, garlic, and stale bread-have hardly a rag to cover themselves, and are worked very hard. Our slaves are perfect lords compared to them; and notwithstanding all that the abolitionists may say, both at home and abroad, they are

far better off than the slaves in Africa, or the laboring classes of any nation in Europe. I would not, under any circumstances, desire to agitate a question that has given rise to so much dissension of late in our happy land, but I feel it my duty to say that all Europe is against us, and more particularly the English. The subject is introduced on all occasions, and we are asked, even here, in this benighted land, if our slaves are not mal-treated and abused. Ignorant of our peculiar institution, and I may say of our country, they hold up this subject for our contemplation, and say to us that it is a system unworthy of the age. Having almost ruined and rendered bankrupt the citizens of her colonies by the abolition of slavery, they look with jealousy upon the cotton-growing region of our country, and will never rest until we dispose of the institution, or silence them in some other way.

Leaving the subject for the present, let us turn to the monuments of Alexandria, which are far, far more intresting than any thing modern. They speak of the past-the mighty past! when Egypt was in the zenith of her glory, and Europe in a state of barbarism.

Near the lake Mareotis, and on the road leading to the Mahmoudieh Canal, stands in majestic solitude Pompey's Pillar, the work of other times and other men! It rises a single shaft of ninety feet, and ten feet in diameter, surmounted by a Corinthian capital ten feet high, and is not only interesting on account of its monumental beauty, but designates the centre of the ancient city. It is far outside the present walls, and surrounded by Arab huts, in which poverty, misery and famine, and other destitution, stared me in the face. Cleopatra's Needle also stands to be admired and cherished for its antiquity. It was nearly buried at one time with sand, but recent excavations have exposed to view the centre obelisk, containing hieroglyphics yet to be interpreted, by those who pretend to have discovered the meaning of those rude signs. The obelisk is made of red granite, brought from Upper Egypt, is sixty feet in height, and entirely perfect, except the base and the top, which have been broken. On one side the characters are very distinct, and as clear as when it came from the hands of the sculptor; although on the other, the terrible sirocco, blowing upon it from the desert for so many years, has effaced some of the figures, and worn away the almost imperishable granite.

Finishing the sights of Alexandria, we called on Mr. McAuley, the American Consul General of Egypt, who is one of the most worthy representatives that I have met with from our government. He has not only furnished us with all the information and facilities for travelling in Egypt, but entertained us in the real old Virginia style.

LETTER THIRTY-EIGHT.

CAIRO, Egypt.

Departure from Alexandria-Our Boat-Canal of Mahmoudieh-The Rosetta Branch of the Nile-Cotton Farms-Villages-First View of the Pyramids-The Barrage-Desperate Affray with the Villagers of Embarbeh, and its Results.

BEING informed in Alexandria that all the good boats had been taken in Cairo, which is the usual place of commencing a voyage up the. Nile, we procured from an English gentleman in that city a large and elegant dahabich, called the Zeynt al Nile (Ornament of the Nile). The dahabieh and cangia are the boats generally used for the conveyance of passengers, and differ only in size, the former being more commodious and carrying more sail. Our boat has four cabins and three masts with lateen sails, like the generality of boats on the Nile, and managed by a Reis (captain) and fourteen Arab sailors. Several days were occupied in laying in stores for the voyage, and drawing up contracts with the owner of the boat and our dragoman, which requires as much precision and formality as a deed for a tract of land. All things being arranged to our entire satisfaction, we appointed a day for starting, and invited all our American friends down to the canal to see us off, when we drank in tolerable champagne to our country and each other, hoisted our banner and our private signal, and set sail from the famed city of Alexandria amid the cheers of our friends and the report of firearms. The Mahmoudieh canal, which connects the Rosetta branch of the Nile with the sea, is far from interesting, and the monotony of its banks is not relieved by the old-fashioned telegraphs, rising at intervals above the dreary plains, which extend on both sides of it to a seemingly endless distance. They communicate between Alexandria

and this city, but convey intelligence so slowly that they are rarely used except for government purposes. The earth thrown up from the canal forms an elevated ridge, rising high above the adjacent lands, and the only objects that interrupt the uniform level are the mounds of old towns, whose solitary and ruined appearance adds not a little to the gloominess of the scene. This canal follows part of the ancient Canopia branch of the Nile, and the old canal of Fooah. It derives its name from the late sultan Mohammed Ali, who began and completed the great work in one year, at the cost of 7,500,000f. As many as 150,000 men are said to have been employed in digging it, among whom 20,000 perished by accident, hunger, and plague. Mohammed Ali, like Napoleon, never conceived a project without carrying it through in spite of all difficulties. He was a man with but little education, but great natural powers, and did much towards elevating the character and improving the condition of his country. At Atfeh this canal connects with the Rosetta branch of the Nile by a lock, through which the boats pass, after paying toll to the government. There is sometimes considerable detention on account of the great number of forms necessary to be gone through, but a few piastres will satisfy the Bey, and boats are allowed to proceed up the river without any further trouble. Atfeh, like nearly all the villages on the river as high up as this city, is built of crude brick made of mud and straw, with narrow streets, filled with dust, smoke, dogs, and sore-eyed Arabs. The mosques in the village are quite numerous, but uninteresting, being very inferior in an architectural point of view, and so much alike, that there is no necessity of visiting but one. All the Egyptians live in the cities and villages, except a few who lead a roving life in the deserts. Every morning and evening the cultivators of the soil may be seen with their implements going to or returning from their daily labor. The fields look fresh and green, promising an abundant harvest for the Pasha, who owns every thing, and furnishing a grateful prospect to those who visit the shores of Egypt to avoid the wintry blasts of the North. The Rosetta branch of the Nile is about twice the width of the Cumberland, the banks are low and caving, and the general appearance of the country very much like that of the lower Mississippi. This is the cotton region of the country, and if properly cultivated would produce the finest staple in the world. I

went into some of the fields, and found stalks more than eight feet high, weighed down almost to the earth with cotton of a superior quality. Ten acres is about the largest quantity of land that I have seen in one field. The plough is the same as that used about three thousand years ago, and their manner of tilling the soil is so primitive, that its capabilities have never been developed. One of our southern planters might come here, and with proper attention, and our mode of cultivation, produce the finest staple in the world, The climate, the soil, and every thing conspire to make it one of the most desirable countries for the cultivation of the cotton plant on this side of the Atlantic.

On the evening of the fourth day, just above the village of Wardan, we descried for the first time the great Pyramids, which our dragoman informed us were thirty miles distant. The atmosphere was perfectly clear, the varied tints of the declining sun lingered on the horizon, and the great wonders of the world stood before our admiring gaze like huge mountains of stone in a desert where all was desolation and loneliness. We drew nearer and nearer, and on the following morning they seemed almost twice the size that they appeared when they first broke on our vision.

At the junction of the Rosetta and Damietta branches of the Nile, we passed through the barrage or dam of arches, commenced some years ago under the supervision of M. Linant, a French engineer, and still incomplete. The object of this gigantic undertaking is to retain the water of the river, in order that it may be used for irrigating the lands, when the inundation has retired, and supply the place of water wheels, which adds so much to the expense of cultivation. There are two dams, one across each branch, consisting of a number of well turned brick arches thirty feet in width. A large canal is to be carried directly through the centre of the Delta, and the quantity of water allowed to pass into this, and the two branches of the river, is to be regulated by means of sluices, according to circumstances. The principal arches of both dams are to be always kept open, but the lateral arches are to be closed when the river is low; by which means enough water will be furnished to fill the canals intended for irrigation of the interior. The entire structure is massive and graceful; but as the character of the river and soil is so much like the Mississippi, I fear that the foundations will give way, and that much