30 JOURNEY TO SUEZ. 



of princes generally, and to be thus uncere- 

 moniously dropped in the desert, with a j^ossi- 

 bility of some hours' detention there, was too 

 much for our worthy Meer, who having re- 

 lieved his feelings by ejaculations in reference 

 to the coachman and his mules, coupled with 

 allusions to the female relatives of both parties, 

 which would hardly bear translation. His High- 

 ness proposed walking on towards our destina- 

 tion, and we accordingly started ; but the Meer 

 is an indifferent pedestrian, and ere w^e had 

 advanced a couple of miles, was completely 

 knocked up, and seating himself on a rock by 

 the way-side, declared he could walk no fur- 

 ther. Fortunately at that moment I descried 

 an object far in the distance, and before long 

 our van arrived at a gallop. This restored the 

 Meer's equanimity, and w^e soon reached the 

 hotel at Suez, wherein apartments had been 

 prepared for His Highness and suite ; and It 

 was well that we had made such arrangements, 

 as nearly two hundred passengers for India and 

 Australia arrived during the night, and the 

 hotel, albeit very large, was quite inadequate to 

 accommodate such a number, so that some of the 

 ladies, even, were unable to obtain beds on the 



