the
business of the continents. The huge bluffs of the Egyptian coast stood
out in bold relief in the clear air of the morning, while from the
shores opposite the sands of the great desert stretched away as far as
the eye could reach. Among the larger vessels that lay in the harbor
were an English troop-ship and an Italian man-of-war, and as we dropped
anchor we were at once surrounded by a fleet of smaller craft. After
bidding good-by to Captain Talenhorst and his officers, and seeing that
our baggage was loaded on the lighters we were transferred to the decks
of a little steamer that was to take us to the docks of Suez, some two
miles distant. Hardly had we set our feet on the shores of Egypt before
we were besieged by swarms of Arabian and Egyptian donkey-boys in
loose-fitting robes, black, white and blue, driving before them troops of
long-eared donkeys, with gaily-caparisoned and queer-looking saddles and
bridles, and mounting to our seats as quickly as possible be trotted off
to the railroad station, some four or five miles distant, and took our
places in the train that was to bear us to Cairo. Suez, the little that
we saw of it, impressed us as being about the dirtiest place on God's
green footstool, and the few Europeans that are obliged to live there
have my profound sympathy, and deserve it.

Through the village, with its dirty streets lined by huts of mud and
past little villages of the same squalid character, the train sped. Then
across the arid desert region that extends northward from Suez to
Ismalia, running parallel with the canal for a distance of thirty-five
miles, and leaving the desert we entered the rich valley of the Nile,
where the vegetation was most luxuriant. Groves of palm and acacias
dotted the fields and flocks of sheep and goats were to be seen along
the roadways of the irrigating canals that appeared to overspread the
valley like a net. Camels plodding along beneath their heavy burden and
water buffalos standing knee-deep in the clover were not uncommon sights
at every station, while the train was surrounded by motley crowds of
Bedouins, Arabs and Egyptians, the women being veiled to the eyes, a
fact for which we probably had reason to be devoutly grateful, if we but
knew it, as there was nothing in their shapeless figures to indicate any
hidden beauty.

Just as dusk we pulled into a little station some twenty miles from
Cairo, and here Ryan started a panic among the natives by dressing