No Anglo-Indian resident in either of the three presidencies thinks of driving a wheel-carriage through streets never intended for such conveyances. In visiting Benares, Patna, or any other of the celebrated native cities of India, elephants, horses, palanquins, or some other vehicle adapted for the occasion, are chosen. It, therefore, appears to be the more extraordinary that English people, who are certainly living upon sufferance in Egypt, should thus recklessly expose the inhabitants to danger, to which they are not subjected by any of their own people under the rank of princes. Nothing can be more agreeable or safe than a drive across the desert, and probably the time is speedily approaching in which the rich inhabitants of Cairo will indulge, as they do at Alexandria, in the luxury of English carriages, and for this purpose, the streets and open spaces best adapted for driving will be improved and widened.
I cannot take leave of Cairo without paying the tribute due to the manner in which the streets are kept. In passing along the narrow lanes and avenues before-mentioned, not one of the senses was shocked; dust, of course, there is every where, but nothing worse to be seen at least; and the sight and smell were not offended, as at Paris or even in London, when passing through the by-ways of either. Altogether, if I may venture to pronounce an opinion, after so short a residence, I should say that, if our peaceful relations with Egypt should continue to be kept up, in no place will travellers be better received or entertained than in Cairo.
Equipage for crossing the Desert--Donkey-chairs--Sense of calmness and tranquillity on entering the Desert--Nothing dismal in its aspect--The Travellers' Bungalow--Inconvenient construction of these buildings--Kafila of the Governor of Jiddah and his Lady--Their Equipage--Bedouins--Impositions practised on Travellers--Desert Travelling not disagreeable--Report of the sailing of the Steamer--Frequency of false reports--Ease with which an infant of the party bore the journey--A wheeled carriage crossing the Desert--Parties of Passengers from Suez encountered--One of Mr. Hill's tilted Caravans--Difficulty of procuring water at the Travellers' Bungalow--A night in the Desert--Magnificent sunrise--First sight of the Red Sea and the Town of Suez--Miserable appearance of the latter--Engagement of a Passage to Bombay.