the finest verdure, and enamelled with the choicest flowers; the plains embellished with flocks and herds; the air, pure and salubrious, scented with orange and lemon blossoms, which blow in luxuriance."

"I should like to live in Egypt, mamma!” exclaimed Bernard.

"But inconveniences are to be met with there, as well as every where else, my love. The heat is oppressive to all who are unused to it: indeed, the southerly winds are sometimes so sultry as to oblige the natives to immure themselves in vaults or caves; and not unfrequently these winds raise such clouds of sand as to obscure the light of the sun, and, even to those who are used to them, to be almost insupportable. The people call them poisonous winds, or winds of the Desert, and, during the three days that they generally last, the streets are forsaken; and in a melancholy condition is the unfortunate traveller, whom they surprise remote from shelter."

"I wonder," exclaimed Emily, "whether Belzoni ever encountered them. Do you think he did, mamma ?"

"I will begin my account, and then you may hear a description of the various adventures he met with."

Mrs. A. then began to relate some cir

cumstances of Belzoni's Researches in Egypt and Nubia."

"Some years after Mr. Belzoni had resided in England, he formed the resolution of going to the south of Europe; and, taking Mrs. Belzoni with him, he visited Portugal and Spain, and afterwards the small but important isle of Malta, which lies to the south of Sicily, and is celebrated for its fine port and for the strength of its fortifications, now belonging to Great Britain. Hence they embarked for Egypt, and arrived in safety at Alexandria.”

EMILY.-Here is Alexandria, mamma, on the sea-coast: I have found it marked on the map.

MRS. A.-On entering the harbour of this city, Belzoni was informed that the plague was there. To an European, who had never been in that country, this was alarming intelligence. Happily, however, it nearly ceased in a short time; and as his principal view was to go on to Cairo, he hired a boat, and they embarked with an English gentleman, who was going up the Nile.

BERNARD. Here is Cairo, the capital of Egypt, mamma: to the south of Alexandria. MRS. A.-This city is one hundred miles from the mouth of the Nile. Owing to con

trary winds, it was some days before our travellers landed at Boolac, within a mile of it. At this place a bustling scene presented itself, and the majectic appearance of Turkish soldiers in various costumes, Arabs of many tribes, boats, camels, horses, and asses, all in motion, formed a striking picture. Immediately after landing, they went to Cairo ; but, as the holy fathers of the convent of Terrasanta could not receive women within their walls, they were accommodated in an old house at Boolac, belonging to a gentleman, the interpreter of Mahomed Ali, and director of all foreign affairs. He was a man of great acuteness of understanding, and well disposed towards strangers.

BERNARD.Who is Mahomed Ali, mam

ma ?

MRS. A.-The Turkish Viceroy, or Bashaw, by whom Egypt is governed.

OWEN.-I am glad that this interpreter was agreeably disposed towards strangers, as I suppose that Belzoni had to apply through his means to the Bashaw respecting his hydraulic machine, for which purpose he went to Egypt, you know.

MRS. A.-Travellers are frequently obliged to submit to inconvenience, and so were The house they inhabited was so old and out of repair, that it appeared every moment as though ready to fall on their

ours.

heads: all the windows were shut up with broken wooden rails; the staircase was in so bad a condition, that scarcely a step was left entire; the door was merely fastened by a pole placed against it, having neither lock nor any thing else to secure the entrance. There were many rooms in the house, but the ceiling in all of them was in a most threatening state. The whole furni ture consisted of a single mat, in one of the best rooms, which they considered as the drawing-room.

BERNARD (laughing).-Oh! what a curious drawing-room! supposing ours had only a mat in it! But go on, dear mamma.

MRS. A.-No chairs are to be had in this country; so they sat on the ground, and a box and a trunk served as a table. Fortunately, they had a few plates, as well as knives and forks; and James, an Irish lad, whom they took with them, procured a set of culinary articles.

Such were the accommodations our enterprising travellers met with at Boolac!

Although Belzoni's chief object was not to see antiquities at that time, yet he felt desirous of visiting the famous pyramids. EMILY.-That was right, as he was so I think I have heard you say, that they are at the foot of those mountains which separate Europe from Libya.

near them.

MRS. A.-The English gentleman who accompanied Belzoni up the Nile obtained an escort of soldiers from the Bashaw, and went with him to the pyramids one evening, intending to ascend one of them the following morning to see the sun rise. Accordingly, they were on the top long before the dawn of day. The scene they beheld delighted them,being grand and majestic beyond description. A mist over the wide sandy plains formed a veil which vanished gradually as the sun rose, and at length opened to their view that beautiful land, once the site of Memphis. The distant view of the smaller pyramids, on the south, marked the extension of that vast capital; while the solemn spectacle of the immense sandy desert on the west, stretching as far as the eye could reach, inspired sublime feelings. The fertile land on the north, with the winding course of the Nile descending towards the sea; the rich appearance of Cairo and its glittering minarets; the beautiful plain, which extends from the pyramids to that city; the thick groves of palm-trees in the midst of the fertile valley, altogether formed a scene Belzoni was well calculated to enjoy.

BERNARD.-Mamma, I do not understand how Belzoni mounted the Pyramid.