What, indeed, are the entertainments of a large town compared to the Delta of the Nile, and many similar scenes?
The pure and perfect enjoyment afforded by the contemplation of the beauty of nature is not for a moment to be found in the ball-room or the theatre; and all the ease and luxury in the world should not buy from me my recollections of this journey.
Not far from the Delta we can behold the Libyan Desert, of which we afterwards never entirely lose sight, though we sometimes approach and sometimes recede from it.

I became conscious of certain dark objects in the far distance; they developed themselves more and more, and at length I recognised in them the wonder-buildings of ancient times, the Pyramids; far behind them rises the chain of mountains, or rather hills, of Mokattam.
Evening was closing in when we at length arrived at Bulak, the harbour of Cairo.

If we could have landed at once, I might, perhaps, have reached the town itself this evening; as the harbour is, however, always over-crowded with vessels, the captain is often compelled to wait for an hour before he can find a place to moor his craft.

By the time I could disembark it had already grown quite dark, and the town-gates were shut.

I was thus obliged to pass the night on board.
The journey from Atfe to Cairo had occupied two days and a half.
This passage had been one of the most interesting, although the heat became more and more oppressive, and the burning winds of the desert were sometimes wafted over to us.