TO The Gardens of the Sun. [ch- i- 



sundown. The passage through the Canal tcikes about 

 two days, as the rate of progress is necessarily slow 

 to avoid washing down the banks, and there are frequent 

 stoppages. 



Suez is a larger town and much older than Port Said, 

 but its inhabitants depend almost entirely on the few 

 residents connected with the Canal and Eailway tc 

 Alexandria, and the pilgrims who land here on their way 

 to Mecca and Medina, the birthplace and tomb of their 

 Prophet. After leaving Suez the climate becomes hotter 



AEAB DHUM'. 



every da}'. The coast-line is backed by barren looking 

 copper-coloured mountains, and the air smells hot and 

 dry, like that of the greenhouse devoted to the cactus 

 family at Kew. Two or three steamers with pilgrims on 

 board for Suez were seen. 



Among the visitors from the coast were great brown 

 locusts, a humming-bird hawk moth, and one or two 

 small birds. A quail flew on board, and flitted about 

 the deck for two or three days. Another little bird, as 

 elegantly shaped as a lark, stayed on board for several 

 days ; it was brown in colour, with almost black wing- 



