Beginning of letter missing.]
I find that the Prince (the Prince of Wales) asked him in the said letter to introduce me as a personal friend of his to the Viceroy, adding that he would be obliged by anything he (Col. Stanton) could do for me. This was more than I had expected from what Col. Tait also had written me. Well, to make a long story short, I communicated to Col. S. the ambitious desires that Smart had stirred up in me, assuring him, however, that I should never have dreamt of entertaining them of my own accord. He took my case in hand at once, by asking for an audience, which the Viceroy granted as soon as he should have returned to Cairo; he was too busy to see me at Alexandria. Meanwhile Col. Stanton hinted to the secretary of H.H. what my wish was, but nothing was said to the Viceroy himself. Wednesday being fixed for my reception, I went to his palace of Abbassia with Col. S., and was there received in a pavilion in the open air, which overlooked a tract of country covered with tents in which some 5000 men were quartered. Round His Highness' pavilion were the tents of his chief ministers in attendance. It was rather a picturesque sight. The Viceroy was alone, and, having received us very courteously, and asked after the health of the P. and Pcess. of Wales, made us sit down. He then clapped his hands, and on a word from him long tchibouques were brought, of which the amber mouthpieces were enriched with enormous diamonds and emeralds. A little conversation on general matters then followed between him and Col. S., after which he questioned me about my projects; and after asking whether he could assist me, and Col. S. throwing out a little hint about a steam tug to get me on quicker, he said, "Would you not rather have a steamer to go in? it is the same to me, and you will be more comfortable." Here Col. Stanton, very judiciously and promptly, said he was sure the P. of Wales would be much gratified by this mark of favour to me; so that I have only to name the day, and the vessel will be at my orders, and I shall do all I wish in half the time, or less, it would otherwise have taken me. I bowed myself out with my best thanks, and went home much pleased at my good fortune and at everybody's kindness. I should not forget to say also that Mr. Ross (Lady Duff Gordon's son-in-law, you know) was full of empressement and kindness to me, and Lady D.G. lent me a gun for the Nile. I start in ten days or thereabouts, and hope before that to hear from you, for no letters will follow me and I shall lose sight of everybody for nearly two months. I will write again before I start; meanwhile, when you write which it will be no use your doing till November, address, please New Hotel, Cairo, Egypt.
And believe me, meanwhile, with best love to Taily, your affte. son,
Fred.
Happily, while Leighton lost sight "of everybody for nearly two months," he kept the following diary:—
Wednesday, October 14, 1868.—Went on board, dined and slept.
Thursday, 15th.—Started at about 7 A.M. There had been a storm in the night, and the east was still heavy with clouds; but the western sky was pure and soft.
At about ten caught up the Sterlings, becalmed in their dahabyeh; their crew was making a futile attempt to tow them against the current. I let out a rope and tugged them as far as Benisoëf, which, owing to the additional weight, I did not reach till Friday morning (16th).
The first day's journey up the Nile is enchanting, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The sky was bright, but tempered by a glimmering haze which produced the loveliest effects; those of the early morning were the most striking. The course of the river being nearly due north, the western bank was glowing in varied sunny lights; the other seemed made up of shadowy veils of gauze fainting gradually towards the horizon. The boats that passed on the left, dark in the blaze of light, looked, with their outspread wings, like large moths of dusky brown; those on the right shone against the violet sky like gilded ivory. The keynote of this landscape is a soft, variant, fawn-coloured brown, than which nothing could take more gratefully the warm glow of sunlight or the cool purple mystery of shadow; the latter perhaps especially, deep and powerful near the eye (the local brown slightly overruling the violet), but fading as it receded into tints exquisitely vague, and so faint that they seem rather to belong to the sky than to the earth. At this time of year the broad coffee-coloured sweep of the river is bordered on either side by a fillet of green of the most extraordinary vivacity, but redeemed from any hint of crudity by the golden light which inundates it. The brightest green is that of the Indian corn—the softest and most luminous that of an exquisite grass, tall as pampas (perhaps it is a kind of pampas, I have not seen it close yet), and like it crowned with a beautiful plume-like blossom of the most delicate hue; seen against a dark shady bank, and with the sun shining through it, it shimmers with the sheen of gossamer.
Frequent villages animate the river's edge; they are built of unbaked bricks coated with mud, and have a most striking effect. The simplicity and variety of the shapes of the houses, with their slightly sloping sides and flat roofs, give them a certain dignity in their picturesqueness which delights me; the colour, too, is particularly agreeable, and is the most beautiful foil to the bronze-brown of the naked, or nearly naked, fellaheen and the indigo of the robes of their wives; to the sparkling white of the doves that swarm in the gardens, and to the cinder-colour of the buffaloes that wink and snooze along the bank. Every village nestles in a dense grove of date-palms, and one cannot conceive a lovelier harmony than that which is made by the combination of the browns below with the sea-green of the sweeping branches and the flame-like orange of the fruit. The acacia (here a large, massive tree, with a vigorous dark green foliage) is frequent in the villages.