hat difficult, but not so
serious as the ascent had been. We mounted our donkeys, and after
paying a farewell visit to the Sphinx, we returned to Cairo as we had
come, all agreeing that our expedition was one of the most agreeable
and interesting we had ever made. I confess that it was with something
of fear and trembling that I returned to the Sphinx that morning. I
feared that the impressions which I had received the night before
might be effaced by the light of day. But it was not so. The lines
were fainter, and less deeply marked, but I found, or thought I found,
the same meaning in them still.

[Sidenote: Passengers homeward bound.]

_May 10th._--We are now passing some islands, nearly opposite to Mocha:
to morrow at an early hour we shall probably reach Aden. Shall we find
any Chinese news there? And if we do, what will be its character? We
have not yet heard a syllable to induce us to think that matters will
be settled without a conflict, but then we have seen nothing official.
We met, at the station-house on the Nile, between Alexandria and
Cairo, the passengers by the last Calcutta mail-steamer. There were
some from China among them, but I could gather from them nothing of
any interest. It was a curious scene, by the way, that meeting: 260
first-class passengers, including children, pale and languid-looking,
thrown into a great barn-like refectory, in which were already
assembled our voyage companions (we ourselves had a separate room),
jovial-looking, and with roses in their cheeks, which they are
doubtless hastening to offer at the shrine of the sun. These two
opposing currents, bearing such legible records of the climes from
which they severally came, met for a moment on the banks of the Nile,
time enough to interchange a few hasty words, and then rushed on in
opposite directions. As I am not like the Englishman in 'Eothen,' who
passes his countryman in the Desert without accosting him, I had as
much talk as I could with all the persons coming from China whom I
could find, though, as I said, without obtaining any information of
value.

[Sidenote: Perim.]

_May 11th.--Seven A.M._--Before I retired last night, I saw, through
the starlight (we have little moon now) Perim. On the right is an
excellent safe channel, eleven miles wide; so that it will be
impossible to comm