wonder, for the very sight of those terrible-looking fellows, with their dark flashing eyes, gleaming white teeth, "bearded like the pard," and armed with large scimetars, is enough to intimidate at first even the boldest. Waiting a short time for the grand farce to subside, we selected a boat and started, six in number, for the custom house. The rain came down in torrents, and our umbrellas were fastened on the trunks, and the fierce-looking Arabs refused to land us without receiving their pay in advance, with the view of extorting more if they liked. Having been warned by an old traveller of such tricks, we drew our empty pistols and gave them to understand, by signs, that we would do something terrible if they refused to land, which acted on them like a charm, and caused them to take up their oars and row in quick time. Finding no other conveyance, we all mounted donkeys and charged through the narrow and muddy bazaars at full speed to l'Hôtel d'Europe on the Strada Franca. It was really an amusing sight to see six long Americans mounted on donkeys about the size of a large goat, and followed by half-naked boys punching them up in the rear every few steps with a pointed stick. My friend from South Carolina was rather unfortunate in the donkey race, as he was not only rolled into a mud hole, but rolled over both by the donkey and the boy in such rapid succession that he failed to recover without being drenched from top to toe. Arrived at our hotel, which is quite large and conducted on the European principle, we commenced the work of sight-seeing, and preparing for our voyage up the Nile. The Strada Franca, or Frank quarter, upon which my window fronts, is decidedly the best built and most interesting part of Alexandria. It is a great square occupied almost entirely by Europeans, and used on all public occasions in preference to the Turkish quarter. The roofs of the houses are flat and surmounted by enormous flag staffs, indicating the residence of some consul or foreign minister. On Sundays and festivals a prodigious quantity of square yards of banner float from these, and give a very animated aspect to the scene. In front of each hotel there is a donkey stand, and woe to the stranger that ventures outside of the door without a big stick and the resolution to use it. The boys will crowd the donkeys around him, and each one cry out with a loud voice, "Master, master, very good donkey! bone, bone, Pasha's Palace, Pompey's Pillar, Catacombs, Slave Market, Turkish bazaar, yes,

yes," and the like, in such rapid succession that the stranger has no chance without knocking some of them down or retreating precipitately into the hotel. Alexandria is situated on a narrow and flat piece of ground, between Lake Mareotis and the Mediterranean; the streets are narrow, and the houses constructed mostly of crude brick. In the Turkish quarter the streets are covered over, so as to protect the inhabitants from the burning rays of the sun; the shops are about six or eight feet square, and the merchants' goods in proportion. Here the foreigner can be initiated somewhat in the manners and customs of Eastern life. The Turk sitting with his legs crossed and his person enveloped in the smoke of a large pipe; the females passing along with their faces covered, with the exception of their eyes, which are usually covered with henna, while their persons are entirely hidden by enormous black silk robes, giving them the appearance of inflated balloons; the caravan of camels loaded with fruits from the country, and the noise created by the shouts of the wild Arabs as they move along the streets, all combine to impress one strongly that he is among a peculiar people. After roving through the bazaars we visited the Pasha's Palace, situated on the Cape of Figs. The exterior is without attraction, but the interior is fitted up in a style both comfortable and elegant; the walls are covered with figured silk, and some of the floors are made of ebony, inlaid with ivory. The present Pasha is more civilized in his mode of life than his predecessors, having ordered a bed to sleep in, of European make, instead of lying on the floor like his subjects. My donkey-boy, who could speak a little English, was our only interpreter, and it was really amusing to see him walking over the fine floors of the palace with his bare and dirty feet, leaving a print at every step, while the servants of the establishment were stepping about lightly in silk stockings, fearing they would soil or scratch the polished surface. The harem adjoins the palace, but so closely watched, and constructed so as to prevent intrusion, that the most searching eye would fail to distinguish the beauties within. After gazing awhile at the walls and indulging our own thoughts, we were admonished by the donkey-boy that there was no admittance, and started off to see the reverse of life, in the mud villages that surround Alexandria. Here we had an opportunity of seeing the habitations and mode of life among the lower classes. The streets are from one

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.

While in this quarter, we witnessed an Egyptian funeral, which was altogether different from any funeral ceremony we have ever seen. 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