THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE. 149 



With regret we leave a large portion of this part of Africa 

 unexplored, and turn our thoughts and our steps in an 

 easterly direction, towards Egypt and the Holy Land. 



When we reach the busy town of Alexandria which, from 

 its sandy soil, and its situation without the Delta, seems 

 scarcely to belong to Egypt we are struck by the pictu- 

 resque contrast of the spreading Palms and the low-roofed 

 houses, and are amused for a little while with all the stir 

 and bustle that is going on ; but we feel no great induce- 

 ment to spend our time in the new town, with its narrow 

 ill-paved streets, crowded with awkward-looking camels, 

 laden with leathern sacks of water ; we get tired of meeting 

 bearded, swarthy-faced men, with turbans and long robes 

 (though indeed such picturesque costumes are going out of 

 fashion), and of wondering at the phantom-like women we 

 occasionally meet, of whom we can see nothing but two eyes 

 looking through a long piece of drapery; and we wander 

 on to the ruins of the ancient town, to linger for a little by 

 the Pillar of Pompey, or by Cleopatra's Baths, where, amidst 

 all the ruined grandeur, the Palm-tree is still found growing, 

 and owls may sit and hoot there, and bats may flit, and 

 jackals wander unmolested. Around is nothing to be seen 

 but a sandy, flat, and barren soil ; the only plants which 



