and the marrow of life drying up within them.  In these foul and loathsome dens they must pine until the Almighty in his mercy loosens the chains which bind them to their miserable existence by a welcome death.  There is not one instance of a cure, and truly the treatment to which they are subjected is calculated to drive a half-witted person quite mad.  And yet the Europeans can praise Mehemet Ali!  Ye wretched madmen, ye poor fellahs, are ye too ready to join in this praise?

Quitting this abode of misery, my dragoman led me to “Joseph’s well,” which is deeply hewn out of the rock.  I descended more than two hundred and seventy steps, and had got half-way to the bottom of the gigantic structure.  On looking downward into its depths a feeling of giddiness came over me.

The new palace of Mehemet Ali is rather a handsome building, arranged chiefly in the European style.  The rooms, or rather the halls, are very lofty, and are either tastefully painted or hung with silk, tapestry, etc.  Large pier-glasses multiply the objects around, rich divans are attached to the walls, and costly tables, some of marble, others of inlaid work, enriched with beautiful paintings, stand in the rooms, in one of which I even noticed a billiard-table.  The dining-hall is quite European in its character.  In the centre stands a large table; two sideboards are placed against one side of the wall, and handsome chairs stand opposite.  In one of the rooms hangs an oil-painting representing Ibrahim Pasha, {236} Mehemet Ali’s son.

This palace stands in the midst of a little garden, neither remarkable for the rarity of the plants it contains, nor for the beauty of their arrangement.  The views from some of the apartments, as well as that from the garden, are very lovely.

Opposite the palace a great mosque is being built as a mausoleum for Mehemet Ali.  The despot probably reckons on having some years yet to live, for much remains to be done before the beautiful structure is completed.  The pillars and the walls of the mosque are covered with the most splendid marble, of a yellowish-white colour.

The before-mentioned buildings, namely, Joseph’s well, the palace and gardens, and the mosque, are all situate on a high rock, to which a single broad road leads from Cairo.  Here we behold a threefold sea, namely, of houses, of the Nile, and a sea of sand, on which the lofty Pyramids rise in the distance like isolated rocks.  The mountains of Mokattam close the background, and a number of lovely gardens and plantations of date-palms surround the town.  With one glance we can behold the most striking contrasts.  A wreath of the most luxurious vegetation runs round the town, and beyond lies the dreary monotony of the desert.  The colour of the Nile is so exactly similar to that of the sand forming its shores, that at a distance the line of demarcation cannot be traced.