--Arrival
at Cairo--Hospitable Reception by the Consul-General 14

CHAPTER III.

National Topics of Conversation--The Rising of the Nile; evil
effects of its rising too high; still worse consequences of a deficiency
of its waters--The Nilometer--Universal Alarm in August, 1833--The
Nile at length rises to the desired Height--Ceremony of
cutting the Embankment--The Canal of the Khalidj--Immense
Assemblage of People--The State Tent--Arrival of Habeeb
Effendi--Splendid Dresses of the Officers--Exertions of the Arab
Workmen--Their Scramble for Paras--Admission of the Water--Its
sudden Irruption--Excitement of the Ladies--Picturesque
Effect of large Assemblies in the East 27

CHAPTER IV.

Early Hours in the Levant--Compulsory Use of Lanterns in Cairo--Separation
of the different Quarters of the City--Custom of sleeping
in the open air--The Mahomedan Times of Prayer--Impressive
Effect of the Morning Call to Prayer from the Minarets--The
last Prayer-time, Al Assr--Bedouin Mode of ascertaining this
Hour--Ancient Form of the Mosques--The Mosque of Sultan
Hassan--Egyptian Mode of "raising the Supplies"--Sultan
Hassan's Mosque the Scene of frequent Conflicts--The Slaughter
of the Mameluke Beys in the Place of Roumayli--Escape of one
Mameluke, and his subsequent Friendship with Mohammed Ali--The
Talisman of Cairo--Joseph's Well and Hall--Mohammed
Ali's Mosque--His Residence in the Citadel--The Harem--Degraded
State of the Women in the East 35

CHAPTER V.

Interview with Mohammed Ali Pasha--Mode of lighting a Room in
Egypt--Personal Appearance of the Pasha--His Diamond-mounted
Pipe--The lost Handkerchief--An unceremonious
Attendant--View of Cairo from the Citadel--Site of Memphis;
its immense extent--The Tombs of the Caliphs--The Pasha's
Mausoleum--Costume of Egyptian Ladies--The Cobcob, or
Wooden Clog--Mode of dressing the Hair--The Veil--Mistaken
Idea that the Egyptian Ladies are Prisoners in the Harem;
their power of doing as they like--The Veil a complete Disguise--Laws
of the Harem--A Levantine Beauty--Eastern Manners--The
Abyssinian Slaves--Arab Girls--Ugliness of the Arab
Women when old--Venerable Appearance of the old Men--An
Arab Sheick 47

CHAPTER VI.

Mohammed Bey, Defterdar--His Expedition to Senaar--His Barbarity
and Rapacity--His Defiance of the Pasha--Stories of