APPENDIX. 357 



of battle ebb and flow, whicb resulted in the defeat of the hith- 

 erto invincible Mamelukes. This little spot upon the summit of 

 the Pyramid of Cheops has been trodden for centuries by the stu- 

 dents and scientists of all nations. Every stone upon it is carved 

 with the names of persons more or less known to the world, and 

 probably no single spot on the face of the globe — not even the 

 Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem — has been visited, viewed, and 

 studied with greater interest. Near the Pyramids of Ghizeh 

 stands the Sphynx, one of the nine wonders of the world, and in 

 Cairo the Government museum of sculptures, mummies, and other 

 remains from the tombs of the ancient Egyptians, furnishes ma- 

 terial for a most interesting study. The ruins of the Upper 

 Nile, for which Cairo is the starting-point, are also most interest- 

 ing, but I was obliged to content myself with a study of these 

 from a distance. 



From Cairo we proceeded to Alexandria, the chief seaport of 

 Egypt, over a railroad built by George Stephenson, the rails of 

 which are laid on iron sleepers, and which is said to be the smooth- 

 est running road in the world. The historical associations of 

 Alexandria are most interesting to the tourist, but he looks in 

 vain for the evidences of antiquity with which its history has 

 fiUed his memory. Here the first light-house was constructed to 

 guide mariners to a safe harbor — the " Pharos," and the fame of 

 "Pharos light "has been handed down to all succeeding ages. 

 The Alexandria of to-day is a bustling, modern city, with scarcely 

 anything, excepting Pompey's Pillar and an Egyptian obelisk 

 known as " Cleopatra's ISTeedle," to testify to its greatness in by- 

 gone ages. As an evidence of an extensive business, however, I 

 may mention that I counted twenty-six steamers lying at its 

 wharves, most of which were busily engaged in taking in or dis- 

 charging cargo, and there was besides to be seen a not insignifi- 

 cant fleet of sailing vessels. 



From Alexandria we sailed for Constantinople by the way of 

 Smyrna. The latter is the chief commercial city of Turkey in 

 Asia, a curious old town with narrow, dirty streets, teeming with 

 the smells that seem inseparable from Turkish cities. The streets 

 are very narrow and are paved with large stone blocks which are 

 terriblyuneven, and make them almost impassable for carriages. 



