"'Ladies and gentlemen, I beg your pardon; the crew is on a fire drill!' Those who had fainted, never forgave him for his failure to notify them of what was to happen.
"A night of excitement succeeded. About ten o'clock, while we were on deck, enjoying the balmy air of the tropics, the sharp report of a pistol was heard, its flash gleamed for an instant on the waters,—and a suicide had cast a gloom over all. A night of watching by the dead passed, and at the rising of the sun we witnessed a burial at sea. The body, enclosed in a canvas sack and weighted with iron, was laid upon a latticed bier close to the opened gangway. It was held in place by two guards lest, even in that calm sea, a sudden tilt of the ship send it into its grave before the time. The service of the Church of England was read; then the body fell heavily into the waters, there to remain until the coming of that sound which is to penetrate even the depths of old ocean.
"A few days sail brought us to the luxuriant shores of Ceylon. We spent several days driving over the beautiful island, through cocoanut and banana groves and cinnamon gardens, inhaling the spicy breezes, and sorrowing over the degradation of the people.
"From this beautiful but sin-cursed isle, our ship soon brought us through the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, and anchored at Aden, on the barren shores of Arabia. Near Aden are situated the immense tanks holding millions of gallons of water, without which the land would be uninhabitable. Continuing our voyage up the Red Sea, we passed Mocha, renowned for its coffee, and in due time arrived at the gate-entrance of the great Sinaitic Peninsula,—Suez.
"Suez, washed upon one side by the sea, is encircled upon the others by the barren wastes of the desert. No tree, shrub, or blade of grass, relieves the gloomy sterility of the landscape. We hasten on by rail. Soon a long, low line of water appears, just beside the railroad track. Behold, it is the Nile—that river cradled in the depths of mysterious caverns, forcing its way through granite ledges and mountain barriers, rushing over cataracts, foaming through narrows, then flowing gently onward, singing amid perpetual sunshine, until it empties by its seven mouths into the great blue sea. A river which has a place in history by the side of the Euphrates and the Jordan; a river which the Egyptians worshiped, and the miracle of whose waters made a Pharaoh tremble; a river on whose banks perished Thebes with her hundred gates, and Memphis with her monuments; a river that has seen the coming of Ethiopian and Persian, Macedonian and Roman, Saracen and Turk, in fulfillment of the curse God spoke through Ezekiel.
"After stopping at numerous stations where we were greeted by sights, sounds, and odors peculiar to the coarse civilization of the Orient, the minarets of Cairo and the pyramids of Gizeh looked down upon us. After a minute examination of the pyramids" (I omit a thoughtful and logical disquisition on the various problems presented by these monuments) "we drove back to Cairo under the grateful shade of the lebbekh trees, over a fine macadamized road, built in 1868 in honor of the Prince and Princess of Wales. After a pleasant and profitable talk with the American consul, who kindly came to bring us our passports, and to invite us to dine with him, we reviewed, as usual, the scenes of the day, and rested as only weary sight-seers can rest.
"Early the next morning, we drove through the Esbekeeyah, the Corso of Cairo, on our way to Heliopolis. It is easily identified from a distance by the oldest obelisk in Egypt, bearing the name of the founder of the XXII. dynasty. In Scripture, Heliopolis is called On. Moses is said to have studied here, and Joseph's father-in-law was a priest of its renowned temple. Here Plato lived for thirteen years. It seems to have been literally a city of obelisks, for it furnished all that have been transported to Europe. Its destruction was prophesied by Ezekiel.
"The way to the magnificent palace of Shoobra lies along a beautiful avenue of sycamore, fig, and acacia. The Shoobra road is the 'Rotten Row' of Cairo. It is perhaps the most republican promenade in the world. No vehicle or animal is excluded. The Khedive and his outriders are jostled in most unseemly fashion by bare-boned donkeys whipped along by ragged urchins. Ministers, consuls, bankers, money-changers, speculators, singers, actors, ballet-dancers, adventurers, and not least conspicuous, English-speaking tourists, form a curious medley. After a drive to the tombs of the Caliphs through sand that buried our carriage wheels almost to the hub, we spent a pleasant evening with the American consul and his accomplished wife in their beautiful oriental home, then slept the dreamless sleep of the weary traveler.
"In the early morning we mounted our donkeys which were ornamented gorgeously in oriental style. These donkeys, in honor of our nativity, had been christened Uncle Sam and Yankee Doodle. We expressed our appreciation of such patriotic names, when, lo! almost every donkey in Cairo, in the neighborhood of our hotel was suddenly transformed into an Uncle Sam or a Yankee Doodle. But Mr. Carr and I would not desert the first of the name.
"I wish you could have seen us flying along the Nile at the rate of the Western Lightning Express, Eli, without either bridle or mane to cling to, our English tongues crying, 'Stop! stop!'—which the Arab ears of our muleteers interpreted into, 'Faster! faster!' Our muleteers were very accommodating fellows, and their interpretation encouraged them to renewed efforts to increase the speed of our donkeys, by applying, every thirty seconds, a sharp-pointed steel instrument. Our English-speaking dragoman was too far ahead to hear our cries of distress as we rocked in the cradle of (on) the donkey.