CHAPTER III.
THE FIRST DAY ON THE DESERT.
I did not come to Egypt to study politics or war, although the extraordinary interest of recent events has led me to refer to both, even to the extent of anticipating what took place after we left Cairo. History has been making so rapidly within the last few months, that even the passing traveller could not go over the scene where so much has transpired, without at least a brief outline of events which may change the face of the Eastern world.
But my purpose in coming to Egypt was simply to take it en route to the desert. When we were in the East six years ago, we had planned to sail from Constantinople to Beirut, and make the tour of the Holy Land; but the cholera had broken out in Northern Syria, which caused such a strict quarantine to be kept along the coast, that we were warned that we should be subject to great delay when we came to leave the country to enter Egypt, and so we were obliged to sail direct to Alexandria. We spent six weeks in Egypt, going up the Nile, and then embarked for India. I consoled myself for the loss of Palestine by inwardly resolving to keep it for another time, when I might be able also to go to Mount Sinai. That time had now come, and I was in Cairo not even to enjoy, except for a few days, its picturesque scenes or its delightful climate, but simply to pass on my way to a very different country.
I had come from Naples alone, leaving my family to spend the Winter in Italy. But it would have been cheer-
