414 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. 



The Nile, with its glowing sunsets, its squalid mud huts, with 

 tall graceful date-palms rising against the sky, is quite the Nile 

 of pictures, but washed with dust and dirt. The men are squalid 

 in the extreme, usually with one eye, the other sunk in its socket 

 and exuding moisture, afifording attraction to the numerous flies 

 that appear at all seasons to throng the air — an abundant remnant 

 of the Mosaic plague which was brought in judgment on Pharaoh 

 and his followers. The women do well to hide their faces beneath 

 the Yashmac cloth, and to Dare their legs, the latter being far 

 the more gainly of the two. Several Red-breasted Swallows 

 [Hirundo rufa) were sporting about a mud-heap at Cairo. Many 

 naturalists consider these a variety of H. domestica ; but surely 

 they are more markedly distinct from that species than are the 

 several variations of the Black Kite group and other closely 

 allied forms from one another. Besides the date-palms, two 

 other characteristic trees of Egypt, w-liich are found everywhere 

 about Cairo, and which form an umbrageous avenue along the 

 pleasantest road on the banks of the Nile, are a species of Ficus 

 allied to the Indian banyan, with large fruit, and a species of 

 Acacia with long leguminous pods. 



"We rattled quickly down about two-thirds the length of the Red 

 Sea, when a hard bi-eeze met us from the contrary direction. A 

 few Sand-Martins [Cotyle riparia) then made their appearance, 

 and followed the ship for a day or two. In passing the Straits of 

 Babelmaudel Suhe, Lari, and Steima were abundant, as also on 

 the Arabian coast near Aden. AYe arrived at Aden at dark, and 

 left ao-ain before daylight. The next day (oth November) a few 

 Swallows {Hirundo domestica) followed the ship, apparently 

 bound for the Indian coast. On the 7th and 8th a small Goat- 

 sucker (Caprimidgus asiaficus) kept about the ship. The sky 

 was cloudless, and the breeze very light. 



9th November, 200 miles off Bombay. Afternoon j little breeze. 

 Ship going ten knots. Sea leaden grey, the ship throwing purple 

 shadows on the westward side. Flying-fish rise all round in 

 parties, and splash again into the water, like* stones thrown 

 from the ship. The largest fly the furthest, raising their wings 

 hijxh over their heads, and bending their tails down towards the 

 water ; some dash askew. Four or tive Tropic Birds {Phaeton 



