to feel the fatigues and discomforts of a journey of this kind.  The swinging motion pained and fatigued me, as I had no support against which I could lean.  The desire to sleep also arose within me, and it can be imagined how uncomfortable I felt.  But I was resolved to go to Suez; and if all my hardships had been far worse, I would not have turned back.  I summoned all my fortitude, and rode without halting for fifteen hours, from four in the afternoon until seven the next morning.

During the night we passed several trains of camels, some in motion, some at rest, often consisting of more than a hundred.  We were not exposed to the least annoyance, although we had attached ourselves to no caravan, but were pursuing our way alone.

From Cairo to Suez posts are established at every five or six hours’ journey, and at each of these posts there stands a little house of two rooms for the convenience of travellers.  These huts were built by an English innkeeper established at Cairo; but they can only be used by very rich people, as the prices charged are most exorbitant.  Thus, for instance, a bed for one night costs a hundred piastres, a little chicken twenty, and a bottle of water two piastres.  The generality of travellers encamp before the house, and I followed the same plan, lying down for an hour in the sand while the camels ate their scanty meal.  My health and bodily strength are, I am happy to say, so excellent, that I am ready after a very short rest to encounter new fatigues.  After this hour of repose I once more mounted my camel to continue my journey.

August 27th.

It may easily be imagined that the whole scene by which we are here surrounded has over it an air of profound and deathlike stillness.  The sea, where we behold nothing but water around us, presents more of life to divert the mind.  The very rushing and splash of the wheels, the bounding waves, the bustle of bending or reefing sails, and the crowding of people on the steamer, brings varied pictures to temper the monotony around.  Even the ride through the stony deserts which I had traversed in Syria has not so much sameness, for there we at least hear the tramp of the horse and the sound of many a rolling stone; the traveller’s attention is, besides, kept continually on the stretch in guiding each step that his horse takes, to avoid the risk of a fall.  But all this is wanting in a journey through a sandy desert.  No bird hovers in the air, not a butterfly is here to gladden the eye, not even an insect or a worm crawls on the ground; not a living creature is, in fact, to be seen, but the little vultures preying on the carcasses of fallen camels.  Even the tread of the heavy-footed camel is muffled by the deep sand, and nothing is ever heard but the moaning of these poor animals when their driver forces them to lie down to take off their burden; most probably the exertion of stooping hurts them.  The driver beats the camel on the knee with a stick, and pulls its head towards him by a rope fastened to it like a halter.  During this operation the rider must hold very fast in order not to fall off, for suddenly the creature drops on its fore-knees, then on its hind legs, and at length sits completely down on the ground.  When you mount the animal again, it becomes necessary to keep a vigilant eye upon him, for as soon as he feels your foot on his neck he wishes to rise.