The lady-passengers, who arrived in the steamer, agreed to prosecute
the remainder of the journey in company; our party, therefore,
consisted of four, with two servants, and a baby; the latter a
beautiful little creature, of seven months old, the pet and delight of
us all. This darling never cried, excepting when she was hungry, and
she would eat any thing, and go to any body. One of the servants
who attended upon her was a Mohammedan native of India, an excellent
person, much attached to his little charge; and we were altogether a
very agreeable party, quite ready to enjoy all the pleasures, and to
encounter all the difficulties, which might come in our way.
Having formed my expectations of Alexandria from books of travels,
which describe it as one of the most wretched places imaginable, I was
agreeably disappointed by the reality. My own experience of
Mohammedan cities had taught me to anticipate much more of squalor and
dilapidation than I saw; though I confess, that both were sufficiently
developed to strike an European eye. We wended our way through
avenues ancle-deep in sand, and flanked on either side with various
descriptions of native houses, some mere sheds, and others of more
lofty and solid construction.
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