Cairo, June 29th, 1838.

Wishing to make our tour up the Nile as soon as we were relieved from quarantine, we had in part made our arrangements when that took place. On the 21st, we were called down to be inspected by the man of medical science, and were declared free from all suspicious symptoms, and entitled to mingle with the good people of the country, and travel where we pleased. It was farcical enough to see the man stand at the distance of ten or fifteen feet, and inspect our tongues, and make us move our arms, and then gravely decide that we were free from infection. Our keepers, who, on the whole, had been kind and attentive, but careful not to touch us, now approached and gave us a cordial shake of the hand, and their congratulations on our restoration to freedom. Each had to pay a small rent for the room. We had also several small fees to pay—as the board of our guardian. Through the aid of our consul a boat had been engaged, and some other preparations made for our trip up the Nile: deeming it best, after so long a delay, to lose no time in making our visit to this place. We found the boat in readiness, with such stores as were necessary; and the American flag floated in the air at the mast-head. This was to make known to all whom it might concern, that the boat was mine pro tem., and not to be searched or molested while under my protection. We were soon in readiness to leave. Several persons, however, whose animals we had used in riding from the Lazaret to the boat, and some who had brought us various articles, were to be paid. As I knew not what the usual prices were, I requested a Janissary to give each what was right. He soon settled the matter, and paid them about one-third of what they demanded of me. Thus, almost perpetually, these people try to extort from travellers more than is due, and especially if the traveller be a stranger among them.

Alexandria does not stand on the Nile, but near thirty miles west of the Rosetta branch of that river. A canal (the Mahmudieh) connects the town on the western harbour with the river, not at its mouth, but at Atfi. This place may be nearly sixty miles from Alexandria, but not so far from the mouth of the river. This canal is the work of the Pasha. Owing to the bars and shallows at the mouth of the river, much difficulty was found in loading and unloading vessels; and the trade of Egypt, which was carried on mainly through that branch, was much impeded. Possibly a wish to build up Alexandria, which was the best harbour for his navy, may have had its influence. The Pasha resolved to open a canal from some point of the Rosetta branch to Alexandria. Atfi was fixed on as the point. The course of the canal marked out, and multitudes of people from all the adjacent towns and villages, marched down to different parts of the line and set to work. The greater part had nothing to work with but their hands; but the soil was soft and no stone in it. In a few months the work was done, but it is said, many lives were lost through the hardships to which the people were subjected. Sail-boats are used on the canal; but as the wind is not always fair, they at times use the tow-line, but men, and not animals, pull it. The boats that are on the canal do not pass into the river, nor those of the river into the canal. There must of course be another boat taken at Atfi, and the baggage changed from one to the other. This consumes time and is attended with some expense.

The country through which the canal passes is nearly a dead level, and, in some places, I should think, lower than the level of the river. The banks of the canal were from eight to twelve feet above the water. They were too high to allow us to have a good view of the country over them. At some places, however, they were lower, and at others, by stopping the boat, and ascending the bank, we had fine views of the rich meadows of Egypt. For many miles after leaving Alexandria, we passed a succession of houses and gardens, along the canal, that had a very pleasant appearance. Several of them were fitted up in Frank style, with glass windows, and other fixtures indicating European society. They may have been occupied, possibly owned, by Europeans. Connected with several of these houses, were extensive gardens, and in a good state of keeping. In addition to the palm tree, which is the tree of Egypt, there were several other kinds along the canal, as the acacia. It is low, and not unlike the olive in its shape and size, but its bark and leaf approach more to the locust. It is pretty as a shady and ornamental tree, but I know not its other uses.

There are, all along the canal, water-wheels at work, raising water for irrigating the adjacent gardens and fields. The mode of making them is simple: a channel is cut into the bank, so deep that the water will flow into it; a wheel is made to turn in this cut, being suspended over it; a rope, with a set of jars, passes over this wheel, and is turned by it. This is long enough to allow the jars to pass through the water and come up full, and, in turning, the water is poured into a cistern, and thence conveyed by small troughs to the place where it is needed. The wheels are usually worked by oxen. The number of wheels is very great, and most of them are constantly in motion through the day.

We passed some villages near the canal, but none of much size. There were some of a larger size at a distance, as we concluded, from the minarets which we could see. In several places we saw water at a distance that looked like a lake. In passing up the canal, and the same was true after we entered the river, I could not but notice how the people and the animals loved to be in the water. The children and youth were seen in it, and the cattle seemed to have a passion, not only for wading in the water, but for lying down in it, so as often to cover their whole bodies, except a small part of their heads. This may, in part, have been to keep off the flies, but mainly, I judge, to enjoy the coolness which the water imparted to them. I never before understood the force of the expression in Pharaoh's dream, where it is said, he "saw seven kine coming up out of the river." It is true to the life. They lie in the water until satisfied, then come up and feed on the low grounds or meadows near it.

We had often heard dismal accounts of the annoyances met with in the boats of the Nile; we were now to have a proof of them. On entering our boat we observed that it had recently been painted, and hoped that this betokened a deliverance from those gentry that so annoy Frank travellers. But in this we were mistaken. No sooner were our lights put out, than they came upon us from their hiding-places in such numbers, as to make it one of the most trying nights we had ever passed. And especially did they assail our children. And whether it was that they liked their young blood better, or that the children, in their sound sleep, made less resistance, I know not, but so it was, that in the morning their faces were disfigured with bites, and their eyes so swollen that they could hardly see. Fortunately, we were not doomed to spend another night in this boat. We reached Atpi during the following day, in time to transfer ourselves and baggage to a river boat, which was about leaving for Cairo. This boat was happily less infested with the gentry above referred to, and we made out pretty well as to sleeping.

Atpi is a small village at the place where the canal leaves the river. It has grown up since the canal was made. There are some stores and shops, and a number of persons who attend to the produce and goods that pass and repass from the canal to the river. We here procured a boat, and made other necessary arrangements. In all these boats we had to provide for ourselves, from the beds we slept on to the fuel with which we cooked our food. As necessary articles are not to be had at all places, and especially as the boat may not stop when you find yourself minus in some needful article, the only sure way is to keep a good stock on hand. We had our flag, as before, flying at the mast-head, and could not but feel a little national pride at the notice which it attracted.

Near Atpi, on the eastern side of the river, is a considerable town, with some pretty good buildings, and among them some occupied as factories. There was also a large building on the western side, where the red fez, now so much used throughout Turkey, are made. These manufactories are, we were told, public property. The government monopolizes all things in this land. The policy may well be questioned. Possibly in no other way could they be so soon introduced.

The average height of the banks of the Nile may be from twelve to sixteen feet. Fields of corn and sugar-cane were seen on the banks, but not in as great numbers as I had expected. This in part, however, was accounted for by the fact, that the time of the rise was at hand, and their crops were gathered off.

The productiveness of Egypt depends on the annual overflowing of the Nile. The Nile is the river, and the only river of Egypt; and beside it, it is said, there is not a brook, not a spring, of running water in Egypt. There are wells; for by digging down to nearly the level of the water in the Nile, water may be obtained at any place. There is no rain in Egypt. Near the sea coast, as at Alexandria, light showers may fall, but up in the country there are none. There may be cloudy weather during the winter, but no rain. Once every year the Nile rises so as to cover the greater part of the country. It begins in the latter part of June, and gradually continues for nearly two months, then gradually falls to its usual volume of water. The rise has now begun, but it is perceivable only to those who are acquainted with the river. The cause of this rise is supposed to be the great rains, and possibly melting of snows, in the high country in which its main stream rises; but the matter is not certain. As the Nile falls, the grain is sown on the wet ground, and produces most abundantly.

There are many canals, from four to six and eight feet deep, and wide enough to convey a considerable body of water. These pass off from the river, and from these, smaller channels pass in various directions, so as to divide much of the surface into lots or small fields. These were much more observable at some places than at others. The design of these channels, probably, was to bring the water more generally over the ground than it would otherwise come; or when the Nile did not rise high enough to cover the field, the water, by means of these small canals, would pass in so many directions through the district, as, by percolation, to moisten the ground more generally than it otherwise would do.

There were along the river a great many water-melons, cucumbers, and other vegetables. It reminded me of the complaint of Israel, in the wilderness, that they were deprived of the melons and cucumbers of Egypt. Num. xi. 5.

The Nile winds a good deal. It has many of those long sweeps that characterise the Ohio and Mississippi; and as the whole country is alluvial, the water at those turns washes away the banks against which it strikes, while, on the opposite side of the river, a shoal or a sand bank is formed. In these places, and they increased as we ascended, considerable districts lay along the edge of the water, and only a few feet above it, and on them the vegetables above named, with many others, were raised in great numbers. There was usually a small place in these garden spots built to protect a person from the rain, whose office it is to prevent pillage, and sell the vegetables to boat-men and passengers; for almost all the travelling from Alexandria to Cairo is done in boats on the Nile. It reminded me of the "cottage in a vineyard,"—"a lodge in a garden of cucumbers." A little more than half-way, from Alexandria to Cairo, on the western side of the river, we saw the end of a new and much larger canal, now being made in a more direct course to Alexandria. It will probably intersect the Mahmudieh canal, at some point south of Alexandria. The southern end is near where the sands have almost covered the district west of the Nile. Whether it will pass into the sandy district, and thus reclaim some of it, and prevent the farther encroachments of the sand, I know not. There is no doubt that tillage extended much farther to the west, in some places, formerly, than at present. The canals and means of irrigation have been neglected, and the sands have spread over considerable districts; some of these might no doubt be reclaimed, were a proper mode followed with respect to them. This will hardly be done at present, as there are large parts of Egypt now irrigated, that lie neglected; the population, with their idle habits, are not sufficient to cultivate the whole. For a considerable distance on the west of the river the sands from the desert covered the banks, and ran down to the edge of the water; it was a very white, fine sand, and easily moved by the wind.

A little below the junction of the Rosetta and Damietta branches of the Nile, which takes place twelve or fifteen miles below Cairo, the Pasha has begun a great work for the more perfect irrigation of the Delta, or the district between the rivers which is thus called. The plan is to make a strong dam across both branches of the Nile, and throw the water into a new channel, the bed of which shall be much more elevated, and thus bring the waters nearer the level of the country, and of course greatly facilitate the irrigation of the land at all seasons. The greater part of the most valuable land of Egypt lies between the rivers. This part is called the Delta from its likeness to the Greek letter of that name, which is of a triangular form. A district of land on both sides of the triangle was cultivated and productive as far as the waters of the Nile could be made to reach it; but beyond that, the long burning suns scorch up vegetation, and convert all into a waste of barren sand. At some distance in the interior, both to the east and west, water is found, and there vegetation exists, but these places are not in the valley of the Nile.

Most of the villages we passed were poor and small; the houses for the most part made of mud or unburnt brick; sometimes the brick had straw in it. We saw several places where they had establishments for hatching eggs. This practice has long prevailed in Egypt. They spread the eggs in layers on the floor; and have a way of subjecting them to such a degree and uniformity of heat as perfects the process of incubation. Their fowls seemed to me to be inferior both as to size and flavour.

The Nile seemed to me to be about as large as the Ohio at Cincinnati. It was, however, at its lowest state when I saw it. The rise began while I was at Cairo, but at first it is so slow, that a person not acquainted with the river would probably not observe it for several days. Our boat, which was not as large as a common steam-boat, grounded several times in ascending the river. The boatmen would readily get out in the water and push her off. This was easily done, as there were no rocks in the river, but mud and sand banks. The boatmen are a shameless set and were often, and especially when in the water, in a state of perfect nudity, and this was the common condition of the multitudes which we saw bathing in the river.

We had a daily wind up the river, which at times blew pretty strong. It usually began soon after sunrise, and increased as the day advanced. Towards night it began to abate, and nearly ceased soon after sundown. The causes which give it this regularity we leave to be explained by those wise men in philosophy who feel bound to give reasons for all the phenomena of nature. During one or two months in the year it is said to change its direction, and blow the other way.

I had several times in the south-west a fine view of the whirlwinds of the desert; several of them could often be seen at the same time. A thick column of dust and sand seemed to run up to the clouds, and then gradually disappear; at times they would pass with considerable rapidity; and while thus in quick motion, had a pretty, but rather singular appearance. While considerably below Grand Cairo, we had a view of the pyramids. Their tapering points ran high in the air, and broke the smooth outline of our southern horizon.

Grand Cairo stands on the western bank of the Nile, and at the distance of above a mile from the river. One of its large suburbs, called Bulack, is on the river, and may be considered its port. There the boats lie, and there much of the business of the town is transacted. For several miles before we reached Cairo, we were passing gardens and country-houses, some of which are of a superior kind. Cairo is rather an assemblage of towns than one great and continuous city; its parts lie contiguous to each other, as chance and caprice may have decided. Close to the south-east side of it a range of hills rises, the first and almost the only hills that we saw in Egypt—those back of the pyramids of Gheza excepted—on a part of these hills the citadel is situate, which commands the city, and is a place of considerable strength.

Between the town and the river there lies a large open space—immense piles of rubbish disfigured some parts of it. The Pasha is making improvements here that will add much to the beauty of this open space—he is levelling it, and with the rubbish filling up low places, and making wide, elevated roads across it in various directions, and having it planted with trees. A large canal crossed this place; many people were employed in cleaning it out, and putting it in order to receive the waters from the Nile. There is also within the city, and before the palace, an open space of considerable size, which has lately had much labour bestowed on it. Elevated roads or causeways are made round it and through it, and their edges set with trees, which give the whole a pretty appearance. The water from the Nile, when at its height, is let into this square; but the elevated parts are designed to be above the waters, and afford pleasant walks for the idlers and loungers, which are found even in Egypt.

The pyramids, so much talked of, lie near Grand Cairo, and it would have argued a great want of curiosity not to have visited them when so near. A few days ago, we made a visit to those of Gheza, which lie on the west side of the Nile, and in full view of the city. We set off about six in the morning, and rode up the river to the upper part of old Cairo; this took us about an hour. We then crossed the Nile in boats, to a small old village called Gheza, which gives its name to this cluster of pyramids. We then had the wide river bottom of the Nile to cross; this took us about two hours. The river being low, there was no water in the several deep and wide canals that pass through this river bottom, and we were able to cross them. This shortened our ride much. We passed several remains of villages on this plain. As we drew near the last village, which seemed little better than a pile of ruins, several Bedouin Arabs came out, with nothing but a long shirt on, and ran as hard as they could until they met us, and urged us to employ them as our guides. It now appeared, that it was a race among themselves, on the plan that those who first reached us, were considered as having the right to be employed as a guide and get the pay. As we had a cawass with us, whom we brought from Cairo to manage all such matters, and among other things to save us from the annoyance which these Bedouins at times give travellers, we left it for him to make such a bargain with them as he thought best. He engaged one or two, and let the remainder know that we did not need their aid. We saw, at a distance on our right, a line of arches on the plain, and a bridge-like place over them, the uses of which we could not ascertain.

The pyramids stand on the first rise after leaving the river flats. The ridge of that place may be from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet. The ground on which the large one stands (the Cheops) is nearly level. The pyramid is square, and stands to the four cardinal points. Each side, its base is said to be seven hundred feet, while its height is only six hundred. It seems to be a solid mass of rock, excepting the small rooms which I shall presently mention. The plan on which it is built is singular. A large platform is laid down, seven hundred feet square—this is the first row; the stone is nearly three feet in thickness. A second row is laid on of a similar size. This row is not laid out to the edge of the other, but falls back all round about eighteen inches. The third and fourth and following rows are laid in the same manner—forming stairs. There are about two hundred rows of stones, which average nearly three feet in thickness, and terminate in a small flat at the top of about thirty feet square. The ascent is usually made at the north-east corner. About half-way up there is a small room, which seems designed as a resting place. There have evidently been some stones thrown from the top, a part of one row being left, and possibly one stone of a second row at the south-east corner. It took me not quite half an hour to ascend; this included the several stops in order to rest. From the top I had a most splendid view, as to space—Grand Cairo and all the villages and gardens about it; the valley of the Nile far to the north; the several groups of pyramids, and the palm trees that lay to the south, and in the region of ancient Memphis. The descent required about as much time, but was attended with less difficulty than the ascent. The whole, with the time spent on the top, occupied about an hour, and did not seem to have half the peril or labour that some have represented. The entrance to the interior is on the north side. We went to the mouth and examined it, but, on the whole, concluded we would not go in; the descent is long, and nothing to be seen within, but one or two empty rooms. While the rocks of which the pyramids are built, are limestone of the secondary formation, as is manifest from the shells in it, the passage is lined with polished Egyptian granite; the same is said to be the case with the rooms. The entrance of the passage may be fifty feet above the ground, but it descends as one enters.

A little to the south-west is a second pyramid, nearly as large as that of Cheops. It is sharp at the top, and cannot, with ease, be ascended. To the south is a small one. There were in all directions tombs, many of them of most enormous size. The pyramids are in the midst of a large grave-yard. We went up the hill to the north-west some distance, and visited several rooms that were full of hieroglyphics. Passing round the southern side of the pyramids, we examined several places where excavations had recently been made. Some old monuments, that had been covered with sand, were laid bare; and, from the bottom of some deep well-like places, several most beautiful sarcophagi had been raised—two of black porphyry, beautifully polished, and covered with hieroglyphics, lay on the ground; others had probably been removed. We then visited the Sphynx, and took our lunch under the shade of its head. It has a lion's body, in a couching posture, with the head and face of a Nubian female, and is of most enormous dimensions. The head about ten feet in diameter. The height from the ground, and the length of the body, in proportion. It is hewn out of a rock, which is the soft limestone, and has much disintegrated; the features are much injured. The back is almost wholly covered with sand, which has blown in from the desert. As we crossed the low grounds to the river, on our return, we had a fine specimen of that wonderful phenomenon called the mirage. From some cause, the air near the ground assumes the appearance of water; the similarity is such, that persons are often deceived, and are confident that it is water, when seen at a little distance. We had crossed the plain about nine or ten o'clock A.M., and there was no appearance of water; but now, between one and two P.M., there were many places, at some distance, that had the precise appearance of water. In some cases, the spots that had this appearance were but a few inches, or one or two feet in width, and looked precisely like puddles of water after a rain: at other places whole acres seemed covered with water, and on several occasions, it was round the roots of trees; which seemed growing out of it. I had, on one or two occasions, seen the same as I came up the Nile. At a considerable village on the western side of the river, just below where the sands come in so near the river, our boat stopped, and while the captain and part of the crew went into the village, I ascended the bank, and walked to a place at a little distance that was more elevated than the other parts of the plain. It gave me a fine view of the face of the country; but I was surprised to see, towards the north-west, an extensive portion, as far as the eye could reach, that appeared a lake of water. In several places there were clusters of palms growing out of it. I had not seen on any map a lake marked in that place, nor had I heard of any such thing. I wondered if it could be the mirage; the appearance was so perfectly like water, that it was hard to believe it could be anything else. On returning to the bank, I inquired of some one if it was water that I had seen, and was assured that there was no water in that direction, but that it was a curious appearance in the air. I will leave it to the philosopher to explain this matter. The ruins of what is said to be ancient Heliopolis lie but a short distance from Cairo; we did not, however, visit them; the remains above ground are so few, as hardly to repay the trouble of a ride to them. The sandy deserts are to the east and south of Cairo, and the whole way from that city to Suez on the Red Sea, a distance of about sixty miles, is a cheerless waste of barren sand. The remains of an old canal can be traced, it is said, most of the way from the Nile, a little south of Cairo, to Suez, and it is supposed that it might be reopened. Much has lately been said about the Pasha's making a railroad from Cairo to that point, and I was assured some materials for that purpose were brought from England; but nothing as yet has been done, and probably years will pass before the plan is carried into effect.

We had several pleasant interviews with the mission families at Cairo; less, however, than we had hoped, and would have had, but for the sickness of some of their number. They are mostly Germans, in the employ of the Church Missionary Society. Their attention is principally, but not exclusively, directed to the Christian sects in the country. Miss H. has lately, at the special invitation of the Pasha, opened a school in the harem, and is giving instruction to the females of the Pasha's family. Thus far it has been well received; what may be its result, time alone will show. About the time we reached Cairo, several of the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, who had for some years been labouring in Abyssinia, returned from that country. Some difficulty had arisen, growing out of the intrigues of persons unfriendly to them, which made it advisable for them, for a time at least, to leave that country. It was hoped that before long they would be able to return and resume their labours.

The Pasha has a number of schools at this place, and various manufactories and establishments, which no doubt are doing good. Whether the good will equal what has been expected from them, may be doubted. His improvements and innovations are certainly tending to produce changes in the Moslem manners, habits, and modes of thinking, which will in part remove the obstacles in the way of introducing the gospel among them; "but he meaneth not so, neither does his heart think so." While the great body of the Egyptians are Moslems, there are a number of the Christian sects to be found here—as the Armenians, Greeks, Copts, Latins, and perhaps some others. The state of all these sects is much like what it is through the East—the life and power of the gospel is not known. The Church Missionary Society have for many years maintained a mission at Grand Cairo; they have distributed the Scriptures and other books, published at their mission press at Malta—conducted schools—talked and preached to the people. Their success has been but moderate. At present, their schools are in a pretty prosperous condition, and their field of usefulness seems more encouraging.

Grand Cairo is much the largest town in Egypt, but its precise population is not known. A fire broke out in the Frank quarter, (the place where most of the Franks live,) a few days before we arrived, and destroyed several hundred houses and much property.

The Copts have a curious custom about making their Patriarch. He is always taken from a particular monastic establishment. When chosen, he refuses to serve, and they literally beat him until he gives his consent. The Abyssinians receive their Patriarch from Egypt; and after having been chosen, and even gone into Abyssinia, he will refuse to serve, and deny that he is the person sent to be their Patriarch, until they give him a sound drubbing, when he will agree to receive the office. There is a strange mixture of childish folly and weakness in such a practice.

I was much struck with the immense numbers of water-carriers, employed in bringing water from the Nile; some to deal out to individuals by the cupful, some to sell to families by the load, and others to water the streets before the houses of their employers. There were hundreds, and possibly thousands, thus employed. The common goat-skins, taken off nearly whole, and sewed up, excepting a small place, was the usual vessel. This they generally carried on their backs, but some used donkeys, and others had camels, with enormous leather bags, made much like saddle-bags, that would carry a barrel or more of water.

The range of the thermometer at Alexandria was from 74° to 76°. There was great uniformity, except when a sherack prevailed, which raised it several degrees. We had one while in the lazaretta, which covered us with dust, and increased the heat six or eight degrees; it did not last long. As we ascended the river, there was a considerable rise of the thermometer; and at this place it stands from 92° to 94°; and it is not so warm now, I am told, as is usual at this season.