APPROACH TO ALEXANDRIA. 
Though little can be seen of this ancient city from the sea, owing to the low lands 
of the Delta, yet few spots are approached under deeper emotions than those excited 
by its historical associations with the ancient land of which it was the chief port. 
Its situation, chosen by the wisdom and power of the Macedonian conqueror, and 
bearing his name to the present hour, evince the forethought and profound judgment 
with which its local importance was estimated by him, as the outlet of commerce 
from the East, which, entering Egypt by the Red Sea, and traversing the Desert to 
Memphis, spread the luxuries of Arabia and Persia, and probably India, among the 
Egyptians. Alexander anticipated that it would become the emporium of the Western 
woi’ld. He selected the favourable position within the Island of Pharos, on the Doha 
of the Nile, that sheltered, as a breakwater, the western harbour, in which the ancient 
town of Rhacotis lay, and there raised his immortal city. It was known from a 
remote period as a place of maritime refuge, and mentioned by Homer as a watering 
station in the time of the Trojan war. The history of commerce shows that Alexandria 
became, and continued during seventeen centuries, the port through which the riches 
of the East were poured into Europe; and if the discovery of the passage to India 
by the Cape of Good Hope had not been made, that intercourse would have continued 
unbroken: but, from that time, Alexandria sunk into insignificance. In our day, 
however, after an interruption of its prosperity as a port for nearly four centuries, 
its importance has been re-established by the discovery of the powers of steam; which 
has opened a communication between Bombay and London, with greater certainty, 
and in as short a time, as during the last century a journey could have been made 
from London to Rome. Fortunately for the re-establishment of this communication 
with India, Mehemet Ali governs in Egypt. His views and policy bear some resem¬ 
blance to those of the original founder; instead of being narrowed by the bigotry and 
impolicy of his immediate predecessors, he has contributed, in allowing the transit by 
the Desert and the Nile, to the future prosperity of Egypt: and violent as may have 
been the exercise of his power in the re-establishment of Alexandria, it will become 
the least sullied portion of his fame in history. 
The antiquities of Alexandria are few; and the most remarkable,— Pompey’s Pillar 
and the Needle of Cleopatra, already drawn and described in this work,—are concealed 
in our view by the fleet of the Pasha. The chief object seen on the left of the 
fleet is the Hareem and Palace of Mehemet Ali, built on the site of that of the 
ancient governors of Alexandria; over and beyond this appears the Pharos, or light¬ 
house to the harbour,— that which was built by Ptolemy Philadelphus, many ages 
since in ruins, was of such grandeur and magnitude, that it was esteemed one of the 
seven wonders of the world, and has left its name to designate every maritime light- 
