e, and proceeded through
the streets in all the pomp of scarlet and gold outriders, troops in
brilliant uniforms and a general environment of state which compelled
unusual respect from the impassive Oriental onlookers. Royal honours
were given to the Prince on his arrival, and he was met by some 5,000
troops and the strains of the British national anthem, while the Court
itself was brilliant in blue and gold uniforms and rich in the
luxuriance of gold and gems upon every possible article of service or
personal use. In the evening the Prince dined with his Vice-regal host
on a yacht in the river, and the Minister of Finance gave a brilliant
banquet, at which were present the great officers of state, such as
Shereef Pasha, Zulfikar Pasha, Abdallah Pasha and others, together with
British visitors or members of the Royal suite, such as Lord Carington,
Lord Huntly, Lord Gosford, Prince Louis of Battenberg, Sir Samuel Baker
and Colonel Teesdale, V.C.

This event closed the visit to Cairo and, after formal farewells on the
following morning, the train was taken for Suez, where the Royal
visitors were received by the Governor and M. de Lesseps. In the morning
they left for Ismaila amidst all possible honours, and accompanied by
the great canal promoter. There a triumphal arch had been erected and a
crowd of people and troops were found lining the route through the city.
They were driven out to the Khedive's chalet on Lake Timsah, where
dinner was served and the night spent, and thence back to Ismaila, and,
in a steamer, down the Suez Canal to Port Said. The great enterprise was
not then completed, and, in fact, the opening of the canal did not take
place for many months, but the Royal tourists were fortunate in seeing
the pioneer activities of creation in full operation and of being able
to understand something of the immense initial difficulties which had
been overcome by the genius and energy of De Lesseps.

Alexandria was reached on March 27th, and visits were paid to
Ras-el-Teen, the old palace of Mehemet Ali, to Cleopatra's Needle and
Pompey's Pillar. Then the _Ariadne_ was boarded once more and a farewell
dinner given to Mourad Pasha, the representative of the Egyptian
Government, who had done so much for the comfort of the Royal guests;
the health of the Khedive was drunk and the last word said to the
ancient land of the Nile and the Pyramids. The impressions left by this
visit to Egypt were pleasant to the Prince of Wa