chanter, and coincided curiously with the

line of Horace :

Placing me now at Athens, now at Thebes.

Ut magus, et modò me Thebis, modò ponit Athenis.

And now, far from Salamis, yet with fancy almost equally spell-bound, I am wandering on, surely though slowly, towards the bosom of "old Nile." Another night like the last, on the canal, bids fair, however, to weaken the charm.

The Nile.

Thursday, March 8th.-How delightful, this morning, to embark at last on the Nile, "that ancient river," which, at Atfeh, is a fair broad stream, pouring its beneficent waters in a swift, yet noiseless gentle course. Its banks, covered with rich vegetation; the succession, far as the eye can reach, of villages, overlooking the Nile, and shaded by groves of luxuriant graceful date-palms; spread a scene possessing every feature of rural loveliness and fertility: a land truly

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flowing with milk and honey." There is a lively variety and stir at the little port at Atfeh, or rather, at its two little ports, where goods from Cairo and from Alexandria are transferred, on the humps of camels or on the shoulders of porters, between the canal and the river. We hired here a more commodious boat, and a light breeze wafted

us cheerily on for a while towards Cairo. At the first bend, however, in the river, it became very doubtful to me if we could weather a projecting point on the right bank. Suddenly our steersman, instead of keeping as near as possible to the wind, bore up for this bank, where the boatmen proceeded to drive stakes into the ground, to which they fastened the boat, and then, deaf to all our remonstrances, lay deliberately down to sleep.

I resigned myself the more patiently to this check at starting, from the curiosity which I felt to visit a small village (Safieh) not far from the spot where we ran ashore. On entering it, the contrast between the wretchedness of the place and its sunny smiling appearance at a distance struck me even more strongly than I had anticipated. Its low huts, built of unburnt bricks, formed from the slime of the river, are tenanted by a race steeped in poverty and dirt. These Fellahs, or peasant Arabs, who inhabit fixed abodes, and are engaged in the cultivation of the ground, are looked on as a degenerate class by the wandering Arabs, who pitch their tents at will in the boundless desert, and have a term of peculiar contempt to designate the "dweller in houses." The Fellahs are remarkable for well-proportioned forms, oval faces, regular and highly expressive features. Their usual dress is a simple

frock of black or dark blue cotton or woollen stuff, open from the neck to the waist, where

The women

wear ordinarily, as a veil, a long piece of black cotton, which, descending from the crown of the head, is fastened closely around the face, and has holes cut for the eyes, reminding one of the way in which the heads of horses are sometimes clothed.

As I sauntered through the lane or avenue which seemed to be the principal thoroughfare of the village, I had an opportunity of witnessing a scene characteristic of Egyptian

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manners. A band of ten or twelve women, muffled in black garments, walked in procession, breaking forth into sobs and cries, which might have been taken to denote real woe, but for a somewhat artificial regularity of intonation. The effect of the performance was, however, solemn, as there could be no doubt respecting its object and signification. "Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets." I had the curiosity to follow the band of females, who entered a small court, and, standing before the door of a hut, redoubled their clamours and wailings. Yet here, if there had remained any question in my mind as to the fictitious character of these lamentations, it would have been removed when, at the conclusion of a long-drawn groan, one of the mourners turned her head, and, putting aside a corner of her black veil, showed to her neighbour a countenance on which was a sly laugh.

On my return to the water-side, mingled persuasions and threats induced the Raïs (or Captain) and his men to shake off drowsiness, and betake themselves to the toilsome, tedious process of towing the boat.

On the Nile. Nadir.

Friday, March 9th.-On issuing, at seven o'clock this morning, from the cabin, I perceived that our boat was fastened to the shore at a pretty village, called Kafr Zaït, on the right bank of the stream. My compa

nion, whose trip to Cairo has in view objects of business as well as of pleasure, held a long parley with a party of Bedowee Arabs, on the outskirts of the village. On his return from this conference he informed me that he had endeavoured to show them the advantages of some flint-locks for muskets, of which he was willing to contract with them for a large supply. His negotiation failed, however, as the Arabs, little given to change, prefer the match-locks used by their fathers before them. The Bedowee Arabs, lean and sinewy in frame, are smaller in stature, but far more active and robust than the Arab Fellahs. Both races have regular and white teeth, shining like ivory; eyebrows arched and well defined, and eyes deep-set, of excessive blackness and brilliancy. But the sharp prominent features, and wild, almost savage look of the Bedowee, form a contrast to the symmetrical nose, chin, and mouth, and the countenance, mild though expressive, of the Fellah. In disposition, both are reputed alike rapacious, distrustful, treacherous. The Bedowee is the more quick and resolute in character, a consequence naturally flowing from the greater freedom of his life. From age to age his occupations are the same, consisting in the care of his flocks and herds, of his camels, and, above all, of his horse, his attachment for which, and his regard to its purity of race, are proverbial.