et Ali! Ye wretched madmen, ye poor
fellahs, are ye too ready to join in this praise?

Quitting this abode of misery, my dragoman led me to "Joseph's
well," which is deeply hewn out of the rock. I descended more than
two hundred and seventy steps, and had got half-way to the bottom of
the gigantic structure. On looking downward into its depths a
feeling of giddiness came over me.

The new palace of Mehemet Ali is rather a handsome building,
arranged chiefly in the European style. The rooms, or rather the
halls, are very lofty, and are either tastefully painted or hung
with silk, tapestry, etc. Large pier-glasses multiply the objects
around, rich divans are attached to the walls, and costly tables,
some of marble, others of inlaid work, enriched with beautiful
paintings, stand in the rooms, in one of which I even noticed a
billiard-table. The dining-hall is quite European in its character.
In the centre stands a large table; two sideboards are placed
against one side of the wall, and handsome chairs stand opposite.
In one of the rooms hangs an oil-painting representing Ibrahim
Pasha, {236} Mehemet Ali's son.

This palace stands in the midst of a little garden, neither
remarkable for the rarity of the plants it contains, nor for the
beauty of their arrangement. The views from some of the apartments,
as well as that from the garden, are very lovely.

Opposite the palace a great mosque is being built as a mausoleum for
Mehemet Ali. The despot probably reckons on having some years yet
to live, for much remains to be done before the beautiful structure
is completed. The pillars and the walls of the mosque are covered
with the most splendid marble, of a yellowish-white colour.

The before-mentioned buildings, namely, Joseph's well, the palace
and gardens, and the mosque, are all situate on a high rock, to
which a single broad road leads from Cairo. Here we behold a
threefold sea, namely, of houses, of the Nile, and a sea of sand, on
which the lofty Pyramids rise in the distance like isolated rocks.
The mountains of Mokattam close the background, and a number of
lovely gardens and plantations of date-palms surround the town.
With one glance we can behold the most striking contrasts. A wreath
of the most luxurious vegetation runs round the town, and beyond
lies the dreary monotony of the desert. The colour of the Nile is
so exactly similar to that of the sand forming its shores, that at a
distance the line of