FKOM MARSEILLES TO THE NILE 103 



the while encouraging themselves and one another 

 with ceaseless shouting and clamour, and never 

 for one moment did they seem to take a lull. 

 The speed at which they rattled the coal into the 

 ship was something amazing, and they went on 

 and on without the slightest sign of fatigue, the 

 scene to any one looking on from above being very 

 suggestive of infernal regions, with black, clamour- 

 ing devils swarming up to board us. 



We had to clear out of our cabins at six o'clock 

 next morning, and then, in due course, came the 

 The terrors worry and struggle of getting luggage 

 °at*Port^ through the Customs and on board the 

 Said 9.55 train for Cairo. Fortunately, Shep- 

 heard's Hotel is represented at Port Said by a 

 most capable and obliging official, who saw us 

 through our trouble ; but we were like to have 

 been torn in pieces by the greedy cormorants who 

 marked us for their prey, and kept seizing on any 

 stray bag or rug under pretence of doing us service. 

 It appears, ordinarily speaking, a very simple 

 matter to get luggage conveyed to a station, but 

 here it is far otherwise, because the wildest excite- 

 ment prevails, and the crowd which besets you 

 must almost necessarily confuse a stranger to the 

 country. Persistent bootblacks even seized us by 

 the feet and endeavoured to black our boots whether 

 we would or no. Vendors of oranges pursued us, 



