Notes of a visit to Egypt, by Paris, Lyons, Nismers, Marseilles and Toulon - Tapa blanda

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1857 Excerpt: ... memory, in a country so strange, and having a climate so different from our own, and presenting in the varied aspects of its people, and in the peculiarity of their manners, in the products of its vegetation, and, above all, in the extreme antiquity, grandeur and historical interest of its architectural monuments--as much of novelty and of curiosity as can be found in any part of the globe. XV. Return To Alexandria. On Saturday, January 3rd, 1857, we rose at six, and, after an early breakfast, went by a.special train to Kafr Azzayat. At the Cairo station I had an opportunity of seeing several coloured sketches of costume by Mr. George, the manager of the telegraph department. They are drawn from nature with great force and truthfulness, and if published would form admirable illustrations of the dwellers in this country, giving as they do not only the complexion and expression, but the very attitude and manner of the several persons and groups represented. We spent several hours at Kafr Azzayat, where Mr. Lee took some photographic views of the steam-ferry, while I had an opportunity of carefully examining it in all its details, both when stationary and in the course of movement across the river Nile. N The stage was also lifted so as to show the manner in which this operation is effected, by the simplest labour of a number of Arabs, who, at a single word of the resident manager, run up its sides and turn capstan screws so as to raise or lower the great platform, according as the fluctuations of the level of the waters of the Nile may require from time to time. The daily variation is from two to six inches, sometimes as much as nine inches. The greatest height of the river or " High Nile" is near the end of September; this only continues for a day or two, an...