On their arrival at Alexandria, the same means of travelling are provided for passengers, as described in a previous part of this work; but the passenger, in this case, having only hitherto paid for his sea-journey to Malta £27 10s.—a further sum of £12 10s. has to be paid for passage from Malta to Alexandria, and then he has to make his arrangement with the Egyptian Transit Company, in order that he may reach Suez in time to embark in the East India Company's steamer at that port, which conveys the mail to Bombay.
The Transit Company have established the following rates:—
| From Alexandria to Suez, and vice versâ. | ||||
| A lady | In vans across desert | £12 | ||
| A gentleman | 12 | |||
| A child above ten years | 12 | |||
| A child of five years and under ten | 8 | |||
| A child of two years and under five | 6 | |||
| A child of under two years | free | |||
| A European female servant | 10 | |||
| A European man-servant or mechanic | 8 | |||
| A native female servant | 8 | |||
Two cwt. of baggage is allowed at the £12 rate, and one cwt. for all below it, and 16s. per cwt. is charged for any excess on that weight.
Provisions are liberally supplied on the journey; but hotel expenses at Alexandria, Cairo and Suez, as well as wines, beer and spirits, are not included in the sum charged by the Transit Company. The following may be considered a fair estimate of the cost of the trip:—
| £ | s. | |
| Transit | 12 | 0 |
| One cwt. of extra luggage | 0 | 16 |
| One day's board at Alexandria | 0 | 8 |
| Wine and beer | 0 | 7 |
| Ditto on journey to Cairo | 0 | 7 |
| One day at Cairo | 0 | 8 |
| Wine and beer | 0 | 7 |
| Ditto in the Desert | 0 | 7 |
| Half a day at Suez | 0 | 5 |
| One bottle of beer | 0 | 2 |
| Boat-hire on landing, and, probably, donkey-hire for sight-seeing | 0 | 10 |
| £15 | 17 | |
This amount will vary, of course, according to the mode of living and views of the passenger, but 15s. per day may be taken as a fair average for living, and 5s. additional, well managed, will pay the expense of seeing the sights of interest in or about Cairo, if a prolonged stay be contemplated or practicable.
Arrived at Suez, the passenger will have to secure his accommodation to Bombay, according to the regulations in the following pages.
East India Company's rules for the engagement of passages and accommodation of passengers in the Government steam-packets between Bombay and Suez.