stant a piece of money is thrown overboard, every
canoe becomes emptied, and twenty human beings disappear from sight like
a flash. Down, down go the divers, and in the depths struggle together
for the trifle, some one of the throng being sure to rise to the surface
with the coin displayed between his teeth. Nothing but otters and seals
could be keener sighted or more expert in the water.

The general aspect of Aden from the sea, though picturesque, is not
inviting, giving one an idea of great barrenness. The mountains and
rocks have a peaked appearance, like a spear pointed at one, as much as
to say, "better keep off." People who land, however, for the first time,
are agreeably disappointed by finding that every opportunity for
encouraging the growth of vegetation and imparting its cheerful effect
to the hard rocky soil has been carefully improved.

Our course after leaving Aden is nearly north; the headlands of
Abyssinia are long visible on our port side, while on the other we have
a distant view of Arabia. Jeddah, the seaport of Mecca, with its bright
minarets, is to be seen in the distance. In coasting along the shores of
Nubia, the dense air from off the land is like a sirocco, suffocatingly
hot. Suez is reached at last, a place which is all waste and barrenness,
so we hasten on by railway to Cairo, a distance of two hundred miles.

Long after leaving Suez we see only a sandy desert, the yellow soil
quivering in the heated atmosphere. It is a picture of desolation. Not a
blade of grass, not a shrub or tree, until by and by we come upon gently
undulating and fertile soil, enriched by the annual deposits from the
Nile, where intelligent cultivation produces its natural results. Small
herds of brown buffaloes or Eastern oxen are seen, and peasants plying
the irrigating-buckets. The pastures become alive with sheep and goats
and dromedaries. While we are approaching Cairo, and are yet two or
three leagues away, the dim outlines of the everlasting pyramids are
seen through the shimmering haze, softly outlined against the evening
sky. It is impossible not to recall the words of the Humpback, in the
Thousand and One Nights, as we see the pyramids and glistening minarets
of the Oriental city coming into view; "He who hath not seen Cairo hath
not seen the world; its soil is golden; its Nile is a wonder; its women
are like the black-eyed virgins of Paradise; its houses are palaces; and
its air is soft,--its odor surpassing