We arrived at Suez on Wednesday, the 9th of October, and were told to hold ourselves in readiness to embark on Friday at noon.  We were not sorry for this respite, especially as we found our hotel, which was kept by a person in the employment of Mr. Waghorn, more comfortable than could have been hoped for from its exterior.  The greatest annoyance we sustained was from the dust, which was brought in by a very strong wind through the lattices.  I endeavoured to remedy this evil, in some degree, by directing the servants of the house to nail a sheet across the upper portion of the perforated wood-work.  The windows of our chamber commanded as good a view of Suez as the place afforded; one at the side overlooked an irregular open space, which stretched between the house and the sea.  At some distance opposite, there were one or two mansions of much better appearance than the rest, and having an air of comfort imparted to them by outside shutters, of new and neat construction.  These we understood to be the abodes of officers in the Pasha’s service.  Mehemet Ali is said to be extremely unwilling to allow English people to build houses for themselves at Suez; while he freely grants permission to their residence at Alexandria and Cairo, he seems averse to their settling upon the shores of the Red Sea.  Mr. Waghorn and Mr. Hill are, therefore, compelled to be content to fit up the only residences at their disposal in the best manner that circumstances will admit.  I had no opportunity of forming any opinion respecting Mr. Hill’s establishment, but am able to speak very well of the accommodation afforded by the hotel at which we sojourned.

Judging from the exterior, for the desert itself does not appear to be less productive than Suez, there must have been some difficulty in getting supplies, notwithstanding we found no want of good things at our breakfast and dinner-table, plenty of eggs and milk, fowl and fish being supplied; every article doing credit to the skill of the cook.  Nor was the cleanliness that prevailed, in despite of all the obstacles opposed to it, less worthy of praise:  the servants were civil and attentive, and the prices charged extremely moderate.  All the guests of the hotel of course formed one family, assembling daily at meals, after the continental fashion.  The dining-room was spacious, and divided into two portions; the one ascended by a step was surrounded by divans, after the Egyptian fashion, and here were books to be found containing useful and entertaining knowledge.  A few stray numbers of the Asiatic Journal, half a dozen volumes of standard novels, files of the Bombay Times, and works illustrative of ancient and modern Egypt, served to beguile the time of those who had nothing else to do.  Meanwhile, travellers came dropping in, and the caravanserai was soon crowded.

CHAPTER VII.

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