2

FIRST APPEARANCE OF ALEXANDRIA.

had made the land much too far to the westward, and the wind proving contrary, it was necessary again to put out to sea, and work nearly in the teeth of the weather towards Alexandria. In the course of the night the sailors, with their glasses, more than once caught glimpses of the land; but it did not become visible to my unpractised eye until some time after dawn, when the sun, rising behind the city, enabling us to distinguish objects much sooner than we could otherwise have done, every eminence and inequality in the line of the horizon appeared, relieved against the pure saffron sky. The first thing seen of Alexandria was the Pasha's palace, on the point of the Cape of Figs; the next Pompey's Pillar; and then the windmills and the shipping in the harbour. The land itself was so low that we seemed to descend to it from the water. For some time before we discovered the shore, the colour of the sea, by the intermixture of the waters and mud of the Nile, was changed from blue to a dirty green; a circumstance which has been remarked by former travellers, who thence infer that the line of the coast is continually advancing and gaining upon the sea, though it seems clear, from the physical conformation of the shore, that no further enlargement of Egypt can be effected by the agency of the river.

II. As we drew near the land, numerous sea-mews and other aquatic birds were observed skimming along or settling upon the water. The wind had sunk into

ENTRANCE INTO THE PORT.

3

the sun,

a light breeze; the sky was cloudless warm as during summer in our northern latitudes, cast a veil of beauty over both sea and land; and my mingled feelings of thankfulness, curiosity, and joy, strongly disposed me to invest every object around with golden hues. But independently of all this, the scene was highly interesting: pillars, obelisks, forts, palaces, with various other edifices of use or luxury, white and sparkling in the sun, lining the shore, and partly beheld through a forest of masts; merchant vessels and ships of war, with outspread sails and colours flying, entering or leaving the port; and numerous jerms, feluccas, and pilot-boats scudding with large white sails along the shore, The Bay of Aboukir, rendered memorable by the battle of the Nile, was distinctly visible on our left; and the small sandy eminences extending on the right from the city to the ancient Necropolis were surmounted by a number of windmills of a peculiar construction and not unpicturesque aspect. Presently the Arab pilots, in their characteristic and striking costume, approached the ship, and, putting one of their number on board, began to direct our movements. We were about two hours and a half in making our way into the harbour, the entrance to which is peculiarly difficult and dangerous; in fact, our vessel was more than once on the point of striking against other ships, one or two of which it actually touched in passing. As soon as we had entered the port, numerous boats,

filled with Arabs, Turks, and dirty Italians, came crowding

alongside; and when the anchor was cast, the whole of this promiscuous rabble, as motley in complexion as in garb, poured in upon the deck, chattering, bargaining, wrangling, like a herd of Jews in Change Alley. Like every other passenger, I was most anxious to be on shore, where I was received with much politeness and hospitality by the American consul. There are, in Alexandria, two hotels, kept by Italians, where all Europeans, who do not choose to be a burden on their consuls, remain during their stay in the city. They are perhaps equally respectable; but the " Aquila d'Oro," at which I myself lodged, is generally preferred, on account of its situation, on the quay of the quarantine harbour, over the whole of which it commands a prospect, from the little Pharillon to the Castle, which, according to most travellers, occupies the site of the ancient Pharos.† In the evening, when about to retire to my inn, I learned the existence of a salutary but sometimes inconvenient regulation, compelling all persons who

go

abroad after dark to have a lantern borne before

* Mr. John Gliddon.

+ Cæsar, who saw Alexandria in its most flourishing state, thus describes the light-house and island: "Pharus est in insula turris, magna altitudine, mirificis operibus exstructa, quæ nomen ab insula accepit. Hæc insula, objecta Alexandriæ, portum efficit: sed a superioribus regionibus in longitudinem passuum DCCCC in mare jactis molibus, angusto itinere et ponto, cum oppido conjungitur. In hac sunt insula domicilia Ægyptiorum, et vicus, oppidi magnitudine: quæque ubique naves imprudentia aut tempestate paululum suo cursu decesserint, has more prædonum deripere consueverunt. Iis autem invitis, a quibus Pharus tenetur, non potest esse, propter angustias, navibus introitus in portum." — De Bell, Civil. iii. 112.

POLICE REGULATION.

5

them; individuals not thus provided being liable to be arrested by the nightly guard, and detained until the morning in the guardhouse. Accordingly, the American consul, at whose house I had dined, ordered one of his Arab servants to conduct me with a lantern to my inn. It was late: few persons were in the streets; the Arab paced before me in silence: but, not knowing at which of the hotels I lodged, took me to the wrong one. This was perplexing. He understood no European language whatever; I could speak no Arabic: so we stood still in the street, looking at one another. The few persons who passed us were all natives, ignorant of every language but their own, and therefore incapable of affording aid to a stranger in such a dilemma. After turning over the matter in his mind for some time, the man seemed to derive some encouragement from my long black beard, and in an enquiring tone pronounced the word "Greco ?" I shook my head. "Franco?" I replied in the affirmative, in all the languages I knew : but this did not help us in the least. He was as far as ever from knowing whither I desired to go. At length I remembered that the Tuscan consul resided at the Golden Eagle, and upon my repeating the name of that important personage, the Arab turned round, and discovered the unknown house within five paces of where we stood.

Friday, Nov. 9.

III. I was awakened, soon after dawn, by the singular scream of the stork under my window,

mingled with the shrill voices of the Arabs, and the crowing of the cock, which does not here, as in Europe, proclaim the approach of morning, but is heard indifferently at all hours. The window of my bedchamber overlooked the ancient port, where on the left I enjoyed a view of the island on which the Pharos of Ptolemy Soter stood; and, on the right, of the modern fort, which commands the entrance into the harbour. A low ledge of rocks, commencing at the site of the Pharos, stretches out a considerable distance into the sea, and over this the waves break continually in spray and foam. Other rocks, unconnected with the former, occupy the centre of the harbour's mouth, and, opposing the course of the waves, are almost perpetually covered with snowy breakers. In compliance with the custom of travellers I this day had my head shaved, and assumed the tarboosh, an elegant red felt cap, with blue silk tassel; which, in Egypt, has almost universally superseded the turban.* To guard the head from the heat of the sun, two of these caps, with another of double calico, are worn; and as the season advances, or as we proceed farther south, a thick handkerchief is stuffed into the crown. Notwithstanding that the hair is

* But this must be regarded as a highly injudicious innovation; for, besides that the forehead, entirely exposed to the burning sun, becomes blistered and wrinkled, the eyes suffer extremely from the fierceness of the light, so that, after a few days' journey, ophthalmia frequently ensues, Broad-brimmed hats, if the Pasha could cause them to be adopted, might in part prevent the Egyptians from degenerating into a race of Cyclops.