On May 5th they arrived at Alexandria, where, all the hotels being full, they accepted the hospitality of Mr Galloway.
Believing the Viceroy to be at a palace he had built in the desert, three hours' distance from Alexandria, near the Lake Merotir, where several regiments of his soldiers were encamped, Sir Moses went there the next morning with his friends, but to his great disappointment he found the Viceroy had gone four hours farther into the desert with most of his troops, and was not expected back for a day or two.
There were only a few servants left in the palace. Sir Moses and the other gentlemen walked to His Highness's large European tent, where they remained three hours to repose and refresh the horses. About an hour after their arrival a capital dinner was sent in to them. Sir Moses himself only partook of bread and coffee.
_Thursday, May 7th._--A special train having been engaged to take the Earl of Elgin and his suite to Cairo, Sir Moses was permitted to avail himself of the same. When on board the steamboat crossing the Nile he was introduced to his Lordship, whom Sir Moses describes as a very handsome, chatty, and agreeable person.
At Cairo he received a deputation from the Hebrew congregation; visited the Synagogue, a large handsome but plain building, and called on the Governor, who had been to his house in London when His Highness Said Pasha was staying with him. Thence Sir Moses proceeded to the Citadel. He was invited to breakfast with Dr Etia, the physician of His Highness Hálim Pasha, on the occasion of a religious festivity, but was prevented from accepting the invitation by the overpowering heat of the day and the consequent fatigue he experienced.
After remaining a few days at Cairo, they left the hospitable roof of Mr Galloway, and proceeded to Jaffa, where they were received by Mr Kháyát, the British Vice-Consul, Ahmed Agha Dizdar, the former Governor of Jerusalem, and by the representatives of the community. "Jaffa," Sir Moses writes, "appears much larger, and a great number of houses have been built since we were last there, only twenty-two months ago." The English Vice-Consul had built a house with warehouses attached to it, which, he told Sir Moses, cost him £10,000. Everything had doubled in value in a few years, and houses and land could now only be bought at extravagant prices. He thought, with or without the English, there would soon be a railway to Jerusalem. Ahmed Agha Dizdar, who had brought five soldiers under his command to accompany Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore while in the Holy Land, joined their dinner party, and made them offers of valuable land.