fond of music. I have now given you a general account of Cairo, but have reserved to the last an idea of the Citadel sight, because from it you get a coup d'œil of the whole city, the Pyramids, the valley of the Nile, and a closer view of the Mokattum range and its vast quarries, from which the stone is procured for remaking Cairo. It is therefore certainly to be visited, whether first or last I leave to your discretion. If you ask me I should say both, first to see what you are going to see, and next to take " one last fond look" at what you have seen. Besides this you see the perilous "down jump" which Emir Bey took, to avoid sharing the slaughter of the Mamelukes, and which I think would have made most of the members of the Beaufort Hunt "crane " a good deal, even if the noble master were behind him crying "Oh, get on, sir." There is also an alabaster mosque, which it is true sinks into insignificance compared with others we shall see hereafter, but supposing you are limiting your journey to Egypt, is well worth seeing.

See the Shubra Gardens also, where there is a beautiful kiosk now falling to decay; for it is not recent enough to attract the Khedive's obvious love for new things.

Time, and the necessity of getting onwards, began to be pressing me, and I dined with my friends for

the last time in Cairo. How shall I express the pang with which I parted with these able and good fellows! They were each in their several ways so kind and so genial, that I really felt, in being launched forth into an unknown world, a separation from more than friends.

So gratified was I, that I listened to the last words of wisdom from the Professor with unabated respect; laughed, I admit faintly, at Bramwell's last joke, thanked Dr. Letheby for his final chemical warning of what to "eat, drink, and avoid;" shook hands heartily with the universal Kelgour; and Fowler, my dear old engineer, constant to the last, in seeing me off the next morning, how can I thank you sufficiently? The next morning there was a clearance from Shepherd's Hotel; some to go in drabckas up the Nile, I to Suez en route for India; and wedding guests filled our places, even to the extent of sleeping on the dining table, as I was told.

CHAPTER III.

CAIRO TO BOMBAY.-SUEZ AND ADEN.

Ir is of no use describing my route from Cairo to Suez, beyond saying that I started at ten and reached Suez at half-past seven, and that there was only one young Indian officer and myself to represent in the whole train English or European independence.

It was an uneventful journey. The train stopped at most stations, and the guards had something to say to, and some tobacco to smoke with, the stationmaster at each stoppage. The line was terribly out of gauge, owing to the sand, and shook very much. We passed Ismalia and the bitter lakes, but it was almost dusk, and I can give no reliable account of them.

We cleared out of the station about eight, and proceeded, accompanied by the greatest of knaves, as he turned out, to the Suez Hotel. This is a quaint place, with a garden in the middle, and rooms round