588 TRAVEL IN EUROPE AND AMERICA. [1869, 



in Egypt, three months of it on the Nile itself, and we 

 have avoided the chills of winter and had a season of 

 great enjoyment and interest. I passed your friend 

 Professor Marcet in Nubia, but missed visiting his 

 boat, from his sailing under the English flag, but hit 

 upon that of Mr. Naville,^ whom we saw afterwards 

 at Edfou, and were much pleased with. 



Botany on the Nile is nearly nil, yet I collected a 

 small suite of specimens, as souvenirs. Returning, we 

 had a most uncomfortable passage to Messina. . . . 

 In Naples and in the charming environs we passed a 

 fortnight and rather more, and have now had a week 

 in Rome. 



We are just now recovering the mild and charm- 

 ing weather which we left behind in Egypt. "We shall 

 stay here, I suppose, only ten days more, make a 

 short stay in Florence, also in Venice, visit the Italian 

 lakes, and, I think, go to Vienna by way of Inns- 

 bruck, to be there the first week in June. All else is 

 uncertain, except that we mean to be in Switzerland 

 in July. . . . 



Dr. Gray said he found more botany in a half day in 

 the desert than in a week in Egypt ! A country cul- 

 tivated for five thousand years had no weeds. There 

 were long walks and occasional excursions in Nubia 

 into the desert when the dahabeah was lying stiU. 



TO CHABLES WEIGHT. 



Munich, June 8, 1869. 

 ... It is hurrying and distracting work, this 

 traveling with a pair of nice young ladies, sharp for 



^ Edouard Naville, of Geneva ; distinguished Egyptologist ; since 

 1883 the representative of the Egyptian Exploration fund. 



