ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT, _Nov. 24, 1851_.
I have felt more like writing you since I left Bombay, where I
confidently expected advices from friends, which I have been deprived
of for some months; and having heard indirectly, without particulars,
of the death of a beloved sister, I was anxious to arrive at this
place, where I am put in possession of that which is so highly valued
by the traveller--letters from home. From Bombay I embarked with
the Achilles down the Indian Ocean to Aden, some one thousand six
hundred and forty miles, situated near the entrance of the Straits of
Babelmandel, and recognised in her an old acquaintance, having made a
passage by her from Glasgow to Liverpool, some years since.
Aden is the coal depot of the Peninsular and Oriental Company’s line of
steamers, and here we were obliged to wait during three days for the
arrival of the steamer Erin, which replaced the Precursor, that had
been caught in a violent hurricane and disabled, at the mouth of the
river, below Calcutta. The Erin is the steamer that sunk the Pasha, by
collision off the coast of Malabar, some time ago. I feel thankful in
having escaped typhoons, hurricanes, and accidents, of which many have
occurred while I have been in the East, and hope to be favored for the
future in my peregrinations, until I once more return to my friends and
native land. Aden is a strongly fortified place, called the “Gibraltar
of the East.” It was constructed by the East India Company, in order
to resist the encroachments of the Arabs, and is situated in a desert
country, without a sign of vegetation, a portion of it being in an
extinct volcano. It is one of the most disagreeable spots in the world
for a long sojourn, with no attractions aside from the camp, and all
necessaries come from abroad when the Arabs do not choose to supply
them. The heat at times has been almost insupportable; the Red Sea is
considered the Tophet of the East by travellers. Not unfrequently in
summer, passengers become perfectly exhausted, and some sudden deaths
occur. The shores in general are barren and arid, with high volcanic
mountains at intervals, with exceptions, of course, as we sighted
Mocha, which is forty miles above the entrance of the Straits, and is
celebrated for its choice coffee. We passed the usual landing-place
for Mahometans proceeding to Mecca. We had about forty passengers
from Bombay, and northern India, mostly officers on leave, or retired
pensioners; among the number were several ladies, and twelve children,
going home to be educated, so we were not at a loss for juvenile music.
We made the passage up the Red Sea in five days and a half, and found,
as we advanced towards Suez, that the weather became cooler.
Mount Sinai and the localities designated as the spots where Moses and
the Israelitish army crossed, were pointed out and commented upon.
As we approached Suez the sea narrows, and a place some thirty miles
below, where the water is thirty fathoms, or one hundred and eighty
feet in depth, is said by the Arabs to be that where Moses crossed.
It is twenty miles wide, and the rise and fall of tide is very small;
so that the most sceptical must allow the crossing to be quite as
miraculous as the sustaining of vast bodies of people in these arid
plains and mountains for a long sojourn. The arrangements are now very
perfect in crossing the isthmus, and it scarcely merits the name of
desert in comparison with the fifteen days’ journey across the Arabian
sands to Palestine, during my former travels in the East.
The Pasha deserves great credit for his transit accommodations. At
Suez, a dirty village upon a sandy plain, is a large stone hotel, and
in approaching the town a small steamer meets and conducts you to the
wharf, where camels in large numbers are ready to convey luggage and
cargo across to Cairo, a distance of eighty-five miles. They are
started off, and passing us, we are sent in vans with two high wheels,
and a double shaft for two horses or mules, with a pair of leaders.
These vans contain six persons and their luggages, and are changed
every five miles. There are four places for supplies on the desert,
where most articles can be obtained desirable for comfort, including
couches to repose upon during the halt. I found them so much improved
since I was last in Egypt, that I was agreeably disappointed. The
road is beaten by constant travel, except that there is heavy sand in
some places. The greatest objections are the rays of the sun, and the
fiery sand, which affect the eyes; but it is of short continuance, as
we cross in sixteen hours. The supply of water, and, indeed, every
trifling article, must be carried on the backs of camels. The transit
across the isthmus and down the Nile from Grand Cairo to the canal at
Atfeh to Alexandria, is in the Pasha’s name; and arrangements are being
made for the construction of a railway between the first and last named
cities.
At Grand Cairo I found that great changes had taken place since I last
visited it, not only in the hotels, but in the general appearance of
the city. The most beautiful edifice, or monument, is the new alabaster
mosque, with its nobly gilded domes and interior decorations, its
lofty minaret towering above the citadel, and inclosing a catafalque
in one corner, with the remains of Mehemet Ali, who had massacred the
Mamelukes at a spot hard by, one only escaping by a fearful leap,
killing his horse under him. I once described to you my visit to, and
reception by, this extraordinary man, whose remains I am now gazing
upon, while a thousand reflections cross my mind. Turning my eyes from
the spot, there stood in the distance the almost imperishable pyramids,
and the Nile, flowing without change, bathing the land of Goshen as
in days gone by. The bazaars were filled as usual with an immense
multitude of men, veiled women, and children, and donkeys, and camels.
The streets being very narrow, our carriage was preceded by a runner,
cracking his heavy whip to clear the passages. I find small, but not
uncomfortable steamers now coming from Cairo to Atfeh, the termination
of the Mahmoud canal, making with the current some twelve miles per
hour; also barges for passengers, towed by small steamers on the canal,
with very fair living accommodations. Alexandria has become more like
a European city; the suburbs near the banks of the canal are occupied
with the residences of foreigners, and the vicinity of the Obelisk,
or Cleopatra’s needle, and Pompey’s pillar, looks less deserted than
formerly.