e life. The value intellectually and
religiously as well as physically is incalculable. Given but one
trip, it would puzzle me to name any which can compare with that up
the Nile to Wady-Halfa. Nubia must be included. It has something of
its own which you can find neither in Egypt nor elsewhere: silence,
repose, almost total solitude, and its own peculiar people."

His companions were few in number and congenial in tastes, the
climate mild and equable, and the people and country altogether
novel. The journey, which extended into Nubia, was made in a
flat-boat, the _Sittina Miriam el Adra--Our Lady Mary the
Virgin_--the sail propelling them when the wind was fair, the crew
towing them in calm weather; when the wind was contrary they tied up
to the bank. The progress was, of course, slow, and yet his diary,
the only one written during his illness with ample entries, shows
that every day gave new enjoyment. He was provided with letters which
enabled him to say Mass at the missionary stations along the river.
The wonderful ruins of the ancient cities of Egypt gave him much
entertainment. But his mind dwelt fondly on thoughts of Abraham,
Joseph, and the chosen people, and especially upon the Holy Family,
as well as the monks of the desert. He was much interested in the
Mohammedan natives; their open practice of prayer, the instinctive
readiness with which the idea of God and of eternity was welcomed to
their thoughts, and, withal, their utter religious stagnation, which
he traced to their ignorance of the Trinity, filled his mind with
questions. How to convert these sluggish contemplatives, what type of
Catholicity would be likely to flourish in the East, and how it could
be reconciled with the stirring traits of the West, busied his mind.
He often recalls his distant friends and contrasts new America with
old Egypt. He wrote home when opportunity served, as thus to Father
Hewit:

"With the hope that this note will reach you in due season, I greet
you from this land from which Moses taught, and which our infant
Saviour trod, with a right merry Christmas and a happy New Year to
yourself and all the members of the community, all in the house, and
the parishioners of St. Paul's. In my prayers all have a share and in
the Holy Sacrifice of the altar. My heart and its affections are
present with you. Could I realize its desire, I would shed a
continuous flow of blessings on each one of you like a great river
Nile--the river whi