h watching the strings of camels, tied one behind the other
with ropes, and laden with large bales of cotton. There were sometimes
as many as sixteen camels in one string; then we saw donkeys laden with
various things for sale, and numbers of people carrying goods of
different kinds. We saw a great many people, too, working in the fields.
The country is fertile, and we thought the villages very pretty, peeping
out from their groves of palm-trees.

As we came near Alexandria the country became more sandy and less
pretty.

"Alexander the Great built Alexandria, did he not?" said Hugh.

"Yes. And in old times it was very famous for its library."

"Oh, yes," said Hugh, "I remember that; it had a museum with a library
of I do not know how many volumes."

"Yes, and besides the museum library there was another library in a
splendid building called the 'Serapion.' The museum library was burnt
during the wars of Julius Caesar with the Alexandrians, and the
'Serapion' library was destroyed by the orders of the Caliph Omar."

"Why?" asked Hugh, in astonishment.

"The caliph said that if the writings in these books agreed with those
in the Koran they were useless, and that if they did not they were
mischievous; so in any case they would be better destroyed than kept."

"I think his reasoning was very foolish, though I suppose he meant it as
very wise."

"So do I. Two thousand of the volumes had belonged to the kings of
Pergamos, and had been given by Marc Antony to Cleopatra."

It was too late to see anything that evening, but we set off early the
next morning. We first visited the pacha's palace. It faces the harbour,
and has a fine view of it. We went through a small garden up a
staircase, and then, on the upper floor, came to the pacha's apartments;
these were very handsomely furnished. We saw beds with rich curtains of
cloth of gold and silver, and large divans which were very handsome. In
the dining-room the floor was of inlaid wood. The view from the balcony
was very fine; but one of the things which we admired most was a
beautiful table of Roman mosaic, representing all the most interesting
monuments in Rome.

After leaving the palace we went to see a garden belonging to the pacha.
The garden was pretty, and we very much enjoyed our drive along the
Mahmoudieh canal. We had some friends who lived in a villa not far off,
and we called on them. After lunch the lady asked if we had ever ridden
on a dromedary.

We