ession--A Bridal
Party--Violent mode of clearing the Road--Submissive Behaviour of
the People--Astonishing Number of Donkeys--Bedouin Arabs; their
wild and savage appearance--Early Hours--Visit to the Pasha's Prime
Minister, Boghos Bey; hospitable reception--Kawasses and Chaoushes;
their functions and powers--The Yassakjis--The Minister's Audience
Chamber--Walmas; anecdote of his saving the life of Boghos Bey.

It was towards the end of July, 1833, that I took a passage from Malta
to Alexandria in a merchant-vessel called the _Fortuna_; for in those
days there were no steam-packets traversing every sea, with almost the
same rapidity and accuracy as railway carriages on shore. We touched on
our way at Navarino to sell some potatoes to the splendidly-dressed, and
half-starved population of the Morea, numbers of whom we found lounging
about in a temporary wooden bazaar, where there was nothing to sell. In
various parts of the harbour the wrecks of the Turkish and Egyptian
ships of war, stripped of their outer coverings, and looking like the
gigantic skeletons of antediluvian animals, gave awful evidence of the
destruction which had taken place not very long before in the battle
between the Christian and Mahomedan fleets in this calm, land-locked
harbour.

On the 31st we found ourselves approaching the castle of Alexandria, and
were soon hailed by some people in a curious-looking pilot-boat with a
lateen sail. The pilot was an old man with a turban and a long grey
beard, and sat cross-legged in the stern of his boat. We looked at him
with vast interest, as the first live specimen we had seen of an Arab
sailor. He was just the sort of man that I imagine Sindbad the Sailor
must have been.

Having by his directions been steered safely into the harbour, we cast
anchor not far from the shore, a naked, dusty plain, which the blazing
sun seemed to dare any one to cross, on pain of being shrivelled up
immediately. The intensity of the heat was tremendous: the tar melted in
the seams of the deck: we could scarcely bear it even when we were under
the awning. Malta was hot enough, but the temperature there was cool in
comparison to the fiery furnace in which we were at present grilling.
However, there was no help for it; so, having got our luggage on shore,
we sweltered through the streets to an inn called the Tre Anchore--the
only hotel in Africa, I believe, in those days. It was a dismal little
pla