A TRIP TO EGYPT. 
75 
Custom-house officials at the entrance gates, we drive off to our 
quarters in the great city. 
Alexandria. 
This was formerly the capital, and is still one of the most 
important cities of Egypt. In the year 30 b.c., it was second 
only to Rome in magnificence ; it had the finest library in the 
world, containing 400,000 volumes or rolls. It was destroyed 
a.d. 891, and there is now little left but miles of rubbish heaps 
to show where the ancient city once stood. The only remaining 
trophy of the glory of the old city is 
Pompey’s Pillar, 
which rises like a monument above the surrounding country. It is 
built of five pieces of red granite, the shaft being of one piece, 
67ft. 7in. long, and the total height of the column, nearly 100ft., and 
forms a conspicuous object on approaching Alexandria from the sea. 
Some of the modern houses are built in the French style, and are 
of considerable magnificence. The great square, near the centre of 
the city, is ornamented with trees, fountains, and seats; the 
beautiful buildings surrounding it are occupied by the Consuls of 
different nations, the offices of business men, and some fine hotels 
and shops. There are now about 250,000 inhabitants. 
Crossing the Delta. 
Our brief stay in Alexandria thoroughly sufficed to convince us 
that we were no longer surrounded by Europeans, but were iu the 
midst of an Eastern population. The swarthy Arabs, with their 
long flowing robes of blue or white, with their red and white 
turbans, with their calm and easy gait, showed their Oriental origin. 
The language spoken throughout Egypt is Arabic, their religion 
being Mohammedan ; the Coptic section is nearest the Christian 
religion. 
There were three routes open to us to reach Cairo; one by 
road, 110 miles; another by water, by canal and the Nile, a 
journey of 170 miles; and the third, which we chose to adopt, by 
rail, the distance being 131 miles. The trains are similar to those 
in use on the Continent, except in having a double top painted 
white, and allowing a free passage of air for the sake of coolness, 
April, 1893. 
