he had never been so sharply questioned before, and he listened with as much deference to Paul's questions and rebukes as if he had been listening to the pope of Rome, and when it was over looked perfectly crestfallen.

It was twelve o'clock when the man we had sent after the guide returned, but before this time my malady had increased to such a degree as to leave me no option; and I had resolved to abandon the Oasis, and go back to Thebes. I had great reason to congratulate myself upon my accidental detention, and still greater that the symptoms of my malady had developed themselves before I had advanced another day's journey in the desert. Still, it was with a heavy heart that I mounted my dromedary to return. I had not only the regret of being compelled abruptly to abandon a long-cherished plan, but I had great uneasiness as to what was to become of me on my arrival at Thebes. My boat was probably already gone. I knew that no other could be obtained there, and, if obliged to wait for a casual opportunity, I must live in my tent on the banks of the river, or in one of the tombs. My anxieties, however, were quickly dispelled on my arrival at Thebes, where I found the English gentleman and lady whom I had met at Cairo, and afterward at the Cataracts. They kindly took me on board their boat. And so ended my expedition to the great Oasis.

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CHAPTER XI.

A Travelling Artist and Antiquary.-Ah Egyptian Sugar-house. -Grecian Architecture.-A Melancholy Greeting.-Tyranny of the Pacha.-Amateurs of Physic.-Memphis.-Adventure with a Wild Boar.-Perils of a Pyramid.-The Catacombs of Birds.—Amor Patriæ.-Voyaging on the Nile.

I SHALL never forget the kindness of these excellent friends; and, indeed, it was a happy thing for me that my own boat had gone, and that I was thrown upon their hospitality; for, in addition to the greater comforts I found with them, I had the benefit of cheerful society under circumstances when to be alone would have been horrible. Even when we arrived at Siout, after a voyage of seven days, they would not let me leave them, but assumed the right of physicians, and prescribed that I should be their guest until perfectly restored. I remained, accordingly, three days longer with them, my little boat following like a tender to a man-of-war, and passed my time luxuriously. I had books, conversation, and a medicine-chest. But one thing troubled me. We had a cook who looked upon his profession as a liberal and enlightened science, and had attained its very highest honours. He had served various noblemen of eminent taste, had accumulated 50,000 dollars, and was now cooking at the rate of fifty dollars a month upon the Nile. Michel was an extraordi

nary man. He came from the mountains of Dalmatia, near the shores of the Adriatic; one of a small nation who had preserved the name, and form, and spirit of a republic against Italians, Hungarians, and Turks, and fell only before the irresistible arm of Napoleon. He had been a great traveller in his youth, and besides his attainments in the culinary art, was better acquainted with history, ancient and modern, than almost any man I ever met. He had two great passions, the love of liberty and the love of the fine arts (cookery included), and it was really extraordinary to hear him, with a ladle in his hand, and tasting from time to time some piquant sauce, discourse of the republics of Rome and America, of the ruins of Italy, Palmyra, and Egypt. Michel's dinners, making proper allowance for the want of a daily market, would have done honour to the best lord he ever served, and I was obliged to sit down, day after day, to my tea, rice-water, biscuit, &c., and listen to the praises of his dainties while they passed untasted from me.

It was not until within two days of Cairo that we parted, with an agreement to meet at Jerusalem and travel together to Palmyra. We did meet for a few moments at Cairo, but the plague was beginning to rage, the pacha had been putting himself into quarantine, and we had barely time to renew our engagement, which a particularly unfortunate circumstance (the illness of Mrs. S.) prevented us from keeping, and we never met again. Few things connected with my compelled depart

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ure from the Holy Land gave me more regret than this; and if these pages should ever meet their eyes, they will believe me when I say that I shall remember, to the last day of my life, their kindness on the Nile.*

The story of my journeying on this river is almost ended. Kenneh was our first stopping-place on our way down; a place of considerable note, there being a route from it across the desert to Cosseir, by which many of the pilgrims, and a great portion of the trade of the Red Sea, are conveyed.

At Ramaioum, not far below Siout, we went ashore to visit a sugar-factory belonging to the pacha. This manufactory is pointed out as one of the great improvements introduced into Egypt, and so far as it shows the capabilities of the Arabs, of which, however, no one can doubt, it may be considered useful. Formerly eighty Europeans were employed in the factory, but now the work is carried on entirely by Arabs. The principal was educated in France, at the expense of the pacha, and is one of the few who have returned to render any service to their country and master. The enlightened pacha understands thoroughly that liberal principle of political economy which consists in encouraging domestic manufactures, no matter at what expense. The sugar costs more than that

Since this was in type, Mr. Gliddon, our consul at Cairo, has arrived in this country, who informs me that on their way to Palmyra, Mr. S. and his whole party were robbed in the desert. They got back safe to Damascus, but the route to Palmyra is now entirely broken up by the atrocities of the Bedouins.

imported, and is bought by none but governors and dependants of the pacha. It is made from cane, contains a great deal of saccharine matter, and has a good taste, but a bad colour. This factory, however, can hardly be considered as influential upon the general interests of the country, for its principal business is the making of rock-candy for the ladies of the harem. They gave us a little to taste, but would not sell any except to Mrs. S., the whole being wanted for the use of the ladies. There was also a distillery attached to the factory, under the direction of another Arab, who gave satisfactory evidence, in his own person at least, of the strength of the spirit made, being more than two thirds drunk.

The same evening we came to at Beni Hassan, and the next morning landed to visit the tombs, excavated in the sides of the mountain, and, like all the tombs in Egypt, except those of the kings at Thebes, occupying the finest positions on the Nile. In construction they are different from all others in Egypt. The doors have regular Doric columns, and they are the only specimens of architecture in Egypt which at all approximate to the Grecian style. This would not be at all extraordinary, if they were constructed after the invasion of Alexander and the settlement of the Greeks in the country, but it is ascertained that they were built long before that time; and indeed it is alleged by antiquaries that these tombs and the obelisks at Heliopolis are the oldest monuments in Egypt. The interiors are large and handsomely propor