FEOM MAESEILLES TO THE NILE 105 



the circumstances it was quite a heavy job to 

 fetch up at last in the right train without losing 

 anything except Mr. Gubbins's hat. Here, how- 

 ever, we got lunch, and felt more happy. Then 

 came the journey on to Cairo, and the sight of 

 the country all around, with all sorts of strange, 

 weird-looking cattle grazing within the limits of a 

 tether — camels, donkeys, a few horses — all these 

 were there also, and countless colour efiects from 

 the various people tending stock in the field or 

 riding some home or leading others. It is a sur- 

 prising sight to any one who has not been here 

 before, and not the least interesting point to notice 

 was the irrigation and the frequent water elevators 

 worked by one animal turning a wheel. 



Advancing from Ismailia, however, alongside the 

 canal, one could so easily recall the story of the 

 war which ended at Tel-el-Kebir, and wonderful, 

 indeed, it is that any expedition should ever have 

 been sent on such an enterprise with ordinary 

 service wagons and such-like paraphernalia, which, 

 of course, sank up to their axles in the desert. 

 The lines of Tel-el-Kebir are still visible, though 

 silted over with sand, and farther on you see the 

 cemetery where some of the best were buried. 

 Then there is Tel-el-Kebir station, and what I 

 take to be the lockhouse of the canal, where the 

 late Major Dalbiac and some fifteen others lay 



