past, Belzoni went to sleep on his usual bed, a mattrass thin enough to serve as a saddle when folded up, but forming, when laid on the soft ground, as comfortable a bed as he could desire. The servant, the Hadge, and the donkey drivers kept watch in their turn, and this plan was pursued during the whole of the journey. BERNARD. What do you mean by the Hadge, mother? It is a curious name. MRS. A.-It signifies pilgrim; you may remember that he was just returned from Mecca. The next morning Belzoni again set off, and soon arrived at the pyramid. He found it was composed of burnt bricks, and about sixty feet in height, affording a fine prospect from the top. Our party then continued along the hills till they were opposite another pyramid of about the same size, surrounded by smaller tombs, and the remains of a magnificent Egyptian temple. The whole country was very fertile, and interspersed with plantations of fruit trees and roses. EMILY.-What, do roses grow in Egypt? I did not know that before! MRS. A.-This place is celebrated for the making of rose-water, which is sold in Cairo, and all over the country, for the use of the great people, who continually keep pre their apartments sprinkled with it, and sent it also to any stranger who visits them. OWEN.-I remember that when you were talking of the customs of the Egyptians, you told us that a slave generally carries a silver plate in which essences are burning, to perfume the beard and sprinkle the visitors with them. I suppose they use rosewater procured from the roses that grow in the valley around the Faioum. MRS. Å. Next morning a soldier joined the party as guide, and they advanced towards the lake Moris, but arrived only at Senures that night, a village ten miles from it. EMILY.-How very convenient maps are, mother; I can trace their route so well. Here is Benisoeuf on the Nile, where they hired the donkeys; and here is the chain of mountains, and a space left for the entrance between them into the Faioum: they have only just to cross this province to reach Birket Keroum, as the lake is called on the map; the pyramids themselves are marked, and I believe I know the very spot where the rose-trees grow, and the roses blow, but not to "Waste their sweetness on the desert air." Go on, dear mother. MRS. A.-Leaving Senures the following morning, they proceeded on their journey, and after passing through several groves of palm-trees, the view opened all at once on a wild country gradually sloping to the edge of the lake. The water extended some way on each side, and the mountains opposite had an awful and sterile appearance. At noon they reached the lake, but could observe no trace of any living being. The guide conducted them along the shore, till they arrived at a fisherman's hut situated near the place where the canal discharges itself into the lake. The hut was inhabited by a few poor fishermen, and the guide sent one of them for a boat, the only one to be had, but the shabbiest thing imaginable. It was composed of rough pieces of wood scarcely joined, and fastened by four other pieces, wrapped together by four more across, which formed the deck: no tar, no pitch, either inside or out, and the only preventive against the water coming in was a kind of weed moistened, which had settled in the joints of the wood. However, there was no alternative; Belzoni wished to cross the lake, and he was obliged to submit to what he could not help. He stepped in, and they advanced towards the west; as evening came on the plantations and groves disappeared, the lake and the mountains alone |