The desire to sleep also arose within me, and it can be imagined how uncomfortable I felt.

But I was resolved to go to Suez; and if all my hardships had been far worse, I would not have turned back.

I summoned all my fortitude, and rode without halting for fifteen hours, from four in the afternoon until seven the next morning.
During the night we passed several trains of camels, some in motion, some at rest, often consisting of more than a hundred.

We were not exposed to the least annoyance, although we had attached ourselves to no caravan, but were pursuing our way alone.
From Cairo to Suez posts are established at every five or six hours' journey, and at each of these posts there stands a little house of two rooms for the convenience of travellers.

These huts were built by an English innkeeper established at Cairo; but they can only be used by very rich people, as the prices charged are most exorbitant.
Thus, for instance, a bed for one night costs a hundred piastres, a little chicken twenty, and a bottle of water two piastres.