394 CAIRO. 
Emperor Alexander. The poverty of his convent, I suspected to be 
an excuse for the delay at Cairo, while the real cause was a lurking 
hope, that he might be able to obtain some preferment in Europe, 
and thereby avoid a perpetual seclusion on Mount Sinai. We deter- 
mined to quit Cairo on the morrow, and therefore sent our baggage 
to Boulac, and hired a small boat for the cook and provisions. 
The rank which the Pacha had been pleased to bestow upon me, 
of General, and the consequence which he annexed to my arrival, 
were so far fortunate as they enabled me to see the pyramids, and 
every thing that was interesting in Cairo, but the expense which it 
brought on me was very great. The journey to the pyramids cost 
me above four hundred dollars, and the visits to the Pacha three 
hundred more, in presents to his servants. The Bedowee Arabs 
brought in many Egyptian antiquities, which I purchased under the 
guidance of my friend Signor Filippo, before whose arrival I had, 
as is usual, been most completely imposed on. My stay had been 
rendered very comfortable by the unremitting attentions of Mr. 
Macardle, a countryman by extraction, though born in Italy, and 
whose long residence in Egypt enabled him to be particularly useful 
to a stranger. My worthy friend Mr. Macgie, who had attended me 
with the utmost anxiety, during repeated indispositions, was now 
obliged to return to the ship. Chedid undertook to provide him 
with a Tackterouane, and to protect him to Suez, with the different 
articles which he had purchased for the officers and crew of the 
Panther. 
