TALE OF A CEOCODILE, 
5 
were the pleasant dances^ dinners^ and picnics to which we were 
invited ; and the friendliness the Europeans evinced towards us 
must ever live in our hearts. The little orange trees purchased in 
Malta were placed in two Wardian cases given to us by an English 
gentleman resident^ and many dainty plants were culled from the 
gardens of kind friends to enrich our store. At Cairo the same 
warm-hearted greetings welcomed us. Here our stay was pro- 
longed until the last day of June^ 1861. Gunpowder^ that neces- 
sary article^ shipped from England months previously by sailing 
vessel^ we were compelled to await. A fortnight previous to its 
arrival, we took possession of a fine dahabyeh, and lived entirely 
on board. At this stage of our proceedings the courage of 
Little Dorrit gave way, and, saying that a countryman of hers 
who had a business at Cairo wished to marry her, she quitted our 
service. 
Three other boats were laden with baggage. We visited the 
glorious ruins of Thebes, Karnac, &c. ; but these have been often 
described so eloquently and so graphically, that 1 refrain from 
paying my poor tribute to those magnificent relics of the past. 
In the course of three weeks we arrived at Assouan. Here is 
the first cataract, not passable except during the high Nile. We 
there left the boats, which will return to Cairo, and proceeded 
on horseback to Shallal, some two miles distant, opposite the lovely 
island of Philse. On it there are the ruins of an exquisite temple. 
At Subchaya, opposite to Harau, a surprising tale of a crocodile 
was told us, and, with a brief description of the habits of these 
reptiles, was published in No. 651 of the ^^Eield.^^ The following 
extract may be amusing to those who have not previously read it. 
With a desire to purchase a couple of saddle-horses for the use 
of my wife and self, to be occasionally ridden on the Nubian Desert, 
