At length came a little skiff, bringing two guardians (servants of the hospital), and with them the news that we must remain in the hospital ten days from the period of our entrance, but that we could not disembark to-day, as it was Sunday.

Excepting at the arrival of the English packet- boats, the officials have no time to examine vessels on Sundays or holidays,--a truly Egyptian arrangement.

Why could not an officer be appointed for these days to take care of the poor travellers?
Why should fifty persons suffer for the convenience of one, and be deprived of their liberty for an extra day?
We came from Beyrout furnished with a Teshkeret (certificate of health) by the government, besides the voucher of our personal appearance, and yet we were condemned to a lengthened imprisonment.

But Mehemet Ali is far more mighty and despotic in Egypt than the Sultan in Constantinople; he commands, and what can we do but obey, and submit to his superior power?
From the deck of our ship I obtained a view of the city and the desert region around.

The town seems tolerably spacious, and is built quite in European style.
Of the Turkish town, which lies in the background, we can distinguish nothing; the proper harbour, situate at the opposite side of the city, is also invisible, and its situation can only be discerned from the forest of masts that towers upwards.