Next morning, his secretary Risk came to me to the convent. The Bey was not yet well; and the idea still remained that he had been poisoned. Risk told me the Bey had great confidence in me. I asked him how the water had operated? He said he had not yet taken any of it, that he did not know how to make it, therefore he was come at the desire of the Bey, to see how it was made.
I immediately shewed him this, by infusing some green tea in some warm water. But this was not all, he modestly insinuated that I was to drink it, and so vomit myself, in order to shew him how to do with the Bey.
I excused myself from being patient and physician at the same time, and told him, I would vomit him, which would answer the same purpose of instruction; neither was this proposal accepted.
The old Greek priest, Father Christopher, coming at the same time, we both agreed to vomit the Father, who would not consent, but produced a Caloyeros, or young monk, and we forced him to take the water whether he would or not.
As my favour with the Bey was now established by my midnight interviews, I thought of leaving my solitary mansion at the convent. I desired Mr Risk to procure me peremptory letters of recommendation to Shekh Haman, to the governor of Syene, Ibrim, and Deir, in Upper Egypt. I procured also the same from the janissaries, to these three last places, as their garrisons are from that body at Cairo, which they call their Port. I had also letters from Ali Bey, to the Bey of Suez, to the Sherriffe of Mecca, to the Naybe (so they call the Sovereign) of Masuah, and to the king of Sennaar, and his minister for the time being.
Having obtained all my letters and dispatches, as well from the patriarch as from the Bey, I set about preparing for my journey.
Cairo is supposed to be the ancient Babylon[75], at least part of it. It is in lat. 30° 21´ 30´´ north, and in long. 31° 16´ east, from Greenwich. I cannot assent to what is said of it, that it is built in form of a crescent. You ride round it, gardens and all, in three hours and a quarter, upon an ass, at an ordinary pace, which will be above three miles an hour.
The Calish[76], or Amnis Trajanus, passes through the length of it, and fills the lake called Birket el Hadje, the first supply of water the pilgrims get in their tiresome journey to Mecca.
On the other side of the Nile, from Cairo, is Geeza, so called, as some Arabian authors say, from there having been a bridge there; Geeza signifies the Passage.
About eleven miles beyond this are the Pyramids, called the Pyramids of Geeza, the description of which is in every body’s hands. Engravings of them had been published in England, with plans of them upon a large scale, two years before I came into Egypt, and were shewn me by Mr Davidson consul of Nice, whose drawings they were.