After breakfast, we received a visit from the Egyptian gentleman who
had been our fellow-passenger. He brought with him a friend, who, like
himself, had been educated in England, and who had obtained a good
appointment, together with the rank of a field officer, from the
Pasha. The manners of the gentleman were good; modest, but not shy.
He spoke excellent English, and conversed very happily upon all
the subjects broached. Our friend was still in doubt and anxiety
respecting his own destination. Mehemet Ali had left Alexandria for
one of his country residences, on the plea of requiring change of air;
but, in reality, it was said, to avoid the remonstrances of those who
advocated a policy foreign to his wishes. The new arrival could not
present himself to the minister until he should be equipped in an
Egyptian dress. The friend who accompanied him gave us the pleasing
intelligence, that a large handsome boat, with ladies' cabin detached,
and capable of carrying forty passengers, had been built by the
merchants of Alexandria, and when completed--and it only wanted
painting and fitting up--would convey travellers up the canal to
Atfee, a distance which, towed by horses, it would perform in twelve
hours. Small iron steamers were expected from England, to ply upon the
Nile, and with these accommodations, nothing would be more easy and
pleasant than a journey which sometimes takes many days to accomplish,
and which is frequently attended with inconvenience and difficulty.
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