e wife of the English consul at Khartum; but no doubt her main desire
was to solve the great enigma of the Nilitic sphinx, and show that a
woman could succeed where men had failed. What an immortality of fame
would be hers if she prevailed over every obstacle and difficulty, and
penetrated, as no European yet had done, to the remote source, the
parent fountain of the waters of Egypt's great historic river! It must
be owned that, if this were her ambition, there was nothing mean or
unworthy in it.

She set out on the 9th of January, 1862, still accompanied by her mother
and her aunt, over whom her resolute nature exercised an undisputed
ascendancy, voyaging in their boats, which carried a large stock of
provisions, an ample supply of money, chiefly in copper, and a numerous
train of guides, guards, and servants. In the largest and most
commodious dahabuyah went the three ladies, with a Syrian cook and four
European servants. Alexina's journal, it is said, preserves many curious
details in unconscious illustration of the mixed character of this
expedition, which might almost have been that of a new Cleopatra going
to meet a new Mark Antony; we see the beauty there as well as the
heroine; the handsome woman, mindful of her toilette appliances, as well
as the courageous explorer, athirst for knowledge.

* * * * *

Passing in safety the first cataract, Miss Tinne's flotilla reached
Korosko, where she and her companions took temporary leave of the Nile,
of tourists, and civilization, and stuck across the sandy wastes of
Korosko to Abu-Hammed, in order to avoid the wide curve which the river
makes to the eastward. The caravan, besides Miss Tinne's domestics,
included six guides and twenty-five armed men; while a hundred and ten
camels and dromedaries were loaded with stores and provisions. The
desert did not prove so dreary as it had been painted; sand and rock
were frequently relieved by stretches of gracious verdure. The monotony
of the plains was often broken by ranges of undulating hills. Every
evening the camels found an ample supply of pasturage, and could quench
their thirst freely in the basins of water that sparkled in the hollows
of the rocks.

The passage of the Korosko Desert usually occupies eight or nine days;
but as Alexina advanced very leisurely, by daily stages not exceeding
seven or eight hours each, she consumed nearly three weeks in the
journey. Notwithstanding this easy