er in his favour; but the guards were
executed for disobedience. Ever since that time Boghos Bey has continued
to be the principal minister and most confidential adviser of Mohammed
Ali Pasha.

CHAPTER II.

Rapacity of the Dragomans--The Mahmoudieh Canal--The Nile at
Atfeh--The muddy Waters of the Nile--Richness of the Soil--Accident
to the Boatmen--Night Sailing--A Collision--A Vessel run
down--Escape of the Crew--Solemn Investigation--Final
Judgment--Curious Mode of Fishing--Tameness of the Birds--Jewish
Malefactors--Moving Pillar of Sand--Arrival at Cairo--Hospitable
Reception by the Consul-General.

So long as there were no hotels in Egypt, the process of fleecing the
unwary traveller was conducted on different principles from those
followed in Europe. As he seldom understands the language, he requires
an interpreter, or dragoman, who, as a matter of course, manages all his
pecuniary affairs. The newly-arrived European eats and drinks whatever
his dragoman chooses to give him; sees through his dragoman's eyes;
hears through his ears; and, although he thinks himself master, is, in
fact, only a part of the property of this Eastern servant, to be used by
him as he thinks fit, and turned to the best account like any other real
or personal estate.

On our landing at Alexandria, my friend and I found ourselves in the
same predicament as our predecessors, and straightway fell into the
hands of these Philistines, two of whom we hired as interpreters. They
were also to act as ciceroni, and were warranted to know all about the
antiquities, and everything else in Egypt; they were to buy everything
we wanted, to spend our money, and to allow no one to cheat us except
themselves. One of these worthies was sent to engage a boat, to carry us
down the Mahmoudieh Canal to Atfeh, where the canal is separated from
the river by flood-gates, in consequence of which impediment we could
not proceed in the same boat, but had to hire a larger one to take us on
to Cairo.

The banks of the canal being high, we had no view of the country as we
passed along; but on various occasions when I ascended to the top of the
bank, while the men who towed the boat rested from their labours, I saw
nothing but great sandy flats interspersed with large pools of stagnant,
muddy water. This prospect not being very charming, we were glad to
arrive the next day on the shores of the Father of Rivers, whose swollen