en nor women are,
however, required to undress.

A few hours later we were summoned to the iron grating which
separated us from the disinfected people. On the farther side were
seated several officers, to whom we paid the fee for our rooms and
the keepers--the charge was very trifling. My room, with
attendance, only cost me three piastres per diem. But how gladly
would every traveller pay a higher price if he could only have a
table and a few chairs in his apartment, and an attendant who
understood what was said to him!

So far as cleanliness is concerned, there is nothing to complain of;
the rooms, the staircases and the courtyard were kept very neatly,
and the latter was even profusely watered twice a day. We were not
at all annoyed by insects, and we were but little incommoded by the
heat. In the sun the temperature never exceeded 33 degress; and in
the shade the greatest heat was 22 degrees Reaumur.

August 17th.

At seven o'clock this morning our cage was at length opened. Now
all the world rushed in; friends and relations of the voyagers,
ambassadors from innkeepers, porters, and donkey-drivers, all were
merry and joyous, for every one found a friend or an acquaintance,
and I only stood friendless and alone, for nobody hastened towards
me or took an interest in me; but the envoys of the innkeepers, the
porters, and donkey-drivers, cruel generation that they were,
quarrelled and hustled each other for the possession of the solitary
one.

I collected my baggage, mounted a donkey, and rode to "Colombier,"
one of the best inns in Alexandria. Swerving a little from the
direct road, I passed "Cleopatra's Needles," two obelisks of
granite, one of which is still erect, while the other lies prostrate
in the sand at a short distance. We rode through a miserable
poverty-stricken village; the huts were built of stones, but were so
small and low that we can hardly understand how a man can stand
upright in them. The doors were so low that we had to stoop
considerably in entering. I could not discover any signs of
windows. And this wretched village lay within the bounds of the
city, and even within the walls, which inclose such an immense
space, that they not only comprise Alexandria itself, but several
small villages, besides numerous country-houses and a few
shrubberies and cemeteries.

In this village I saw many women with yellowish-brown countenances.
They looked wretched and dirty, and were all clothed