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(to whom the railway, &c., belong,) may victimise any 

 unwary traveller induced to partake of the scanty fare 

 offered without first ascertaining the charge. A very 

 moderate breakfast or luncheon will then cost him five or 

 six shillings, and if he add wine to it, he must pay in 

 proportion. The charge for the same at Alexandria or 

 Cairo would be about one-fourth of the sum. As he 

 approaches Cairo the interest considerably increases. For 

 the first time, probably, the European traveller's eyes are 

 greeted with a sight of those mighty pyramids on Avhich 

 so many centuries ago Abraham, Joseph, and Moses, had 

 so frequently gazed ; and soon after Heliopolis, the On 

 of the sacred scriptures, comes into view w4th its loft}^ and 

 most ancient obelisk. Here, Poti-pherah, the father-in-laAv 

 of Joseph, exercised his high office of prince-priest, andlrom 

 its school Solon, Thales, Plato, and others, derived much 

 of that learning and science which was afterwards to give 

 impulse to the more prolific and lofty mind of Greece- 

 The immediate impression produced by these venerable 

 structures has not passed away before Cairo or Masr el 

 Kahira, (the victorious,) comes into sight, wdth all its 

 oriental grandeur. The numerous, and much varied 

 buildings, terraced, white and glistening, seem spread out 

 on a carpet of the richest velvet verdure, with the lofty 

 and most graceful minarets rising up in every direction — 

 the whole skirted by gardens abounding in lemon, orange, 

 citron, and other fragrant trees — with groves of lofty 

 palms, and avenues of acacias and sycamores. Overtop- 

 ping all, at the extremity of the Mokattam range of 

 mountains, stands the celebrated citadel, with the palace 

 and mosque of the viceroy, the whole exhibiting " a city 

 the like of which" remarks Clot-Bey, " no where else 

 exists, a city stamped with a genuine Arab impress, a 

 true city of the Arabian nights." " Such is the city, the 

 fairest in Turkic, yet differing fi-om what it Avas, as from 



