We found a very
comfortable two-bedded room, supplied with glass windows, and
everything belonging to it in excellent repair, and apparently free
from vermin; most thankfully did we lie down to enjoy the repose which
our late exertions had rendered so needful.
Our trusty Mohammed had engaged donkeys for us the next day, and
promised to take us to every place worth seeing in the city. We were
strongly tempted to visit the Pyramids, but were deterred by the
danger of losing the steamer at Suez, and by the difficulties of the
undertaking. We were told that the Nile was not sufficiently flooded
to admit of our approach in a boat, and that we should be up to the
donkey's knees in mud if we attempted to go upon the backs of those
animals. We, therefore, reluctantly relinquished the idea, and
contented ourselves with what we could see of Cairo.
Our first visit was directed to the Citadel, a place which, I do not
scruple to say, was to me quite as interesting as any of the monuments
of ancient art that Egypt contains. The remains of ages long past, and
whose history is involved in unfathomable obscurity, excite our wonder
and admiration, and fill us with an almost painful curiosity to draw
aside the veil which time has thrown around them, and to learn secrets
that all the learning of man has hitherto been unable to unfold.
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