scarcely any
rain; only one very slight shower has occurred during the last three
years at Suez, but the soil of the desert after the Nile overflow
brings forth tenfold.

The 'Sunbeam' was to start at eight o'clock, as soon as a large vessel
had passed up from Port Said. There are only certain places in the
Canal where vessels can pass one another, so one ship is always
obliged to wait for another. We landed at half-past seven. The sun was
already blazing with a burning fury, and we found it very hot riding
up to the hotel on donkeys. We had an excellent breakfast at the same
comfortable hotel, paid a very moderate bill, and left by the eleven
o'clock train for Cairo. We stopped at Zag-a-zig for an hour for
luncheon in a nice cool dark room, and started again about three
o'clock. The change in the face of the country since we were here
eight years ago is something extraordinary. A vast desert of sand has
been transformed into one large oasis of undulating fields of waving
corn, where there used to be nothing but whirlwinds of sand. All this
has been effected by irrigation. The wealth of Egypt ought greatly to
increase. How the people managed to live before is a mystery. Now
every field is full of labourers reaping and stacking the corn, women
gleaning, and in some places the patient, ugly black buffaloes
ploughing the stubble for fresh crops.

At half-past six we reached Cairo, and were conveyed in a large
_char-a-bancs_ to what was formerly Shepherd's Hotel, now partly
rebuilt and much altered for the better. Even in that short drive we
could see that the face of the capital of Egypt had altered as much
as the country, though I am not sure that it is so greatly improved.
After a refreshing dip in cool marble baths and a change of garments,
we went down to the large _table-d'hote_. Then we sat in the verandah
looking on the street until we became tired of doing nothing, after
which we started for a stroll in the Ezkebieh gardens close by. They
are beautifully laid out for evening promenade; but although the
flowers are lovely, and the turf, thanks to constant waterings, is
deliciously green, all the large trees have been cut down. There is no
seclusion, no shade, which seems a pity in a country where the
greatest desire of life is shelter from the noonday heat. To-night
both Arab and French bands were playing within the enclosure, and it
was pleasant enough listening to Offenbach's music under the beams of
the full m