We Might Have Performed The Whole Journey Across The
Desert In The Carriage Which Had Brought Us Thus Far, But
As one of
the ladies was a little nervous, and moreover thought the road too
rough, I readily agreed to
Choose another mode of conveyance; in fact,
I wished particularly to proceed leisurely to Suez, and in the manner
in which travellers had hitherto been conveyed.
The mighty changes which are now effecting in Egypt, should nothing
occur to check their progress, will soon render the track to India so
completely beaten, and so deeply worn by wheels, that I felt anxious
to take advantage of the opportunity now offered to traverse the
desert in a more primitive way. I disliked the idea of hurrying
through a scene replete with so many interesting recollections. I had
commenced reading the Arabian Nights' Entertainment at the age of
five years; since which period, I had read them over and over again
at every opportunity, finishing with the last published number of the
translation by Mr. Lane. This study had given me a strong taste for
every thing relating to the East, and Arabia especially. I trust that
I am not less familiar with the writings of the Old and New Testament,
and consequently it may easily be imagined that I should not find
three days in the desert tedious, and that I felt anxious to enjoy to
the uttermost the reveries which it could not fail to suggest.
In parting with our friend and the carriage, he declared that he
would indemnify himself for the constraint we had placed upon him, by
driving over two or three people at least. Fortunately, his desire
of showing off was displayed too soon; we heard, and rejoiced at
the tidings, that he upset the carriage before he got to the gate of
Cairo. Two or three lives are lost, it is said, whenever the Pasha,
who drives furiously, traverses the city in a European equipage. That
he should not trouble himself about so mean a thing as the life or
limb of a subject, may not be wonderful; but that he should permit
Frank strangers to endanger both, seems unaccountable.
No Anglo-Indian resident in either of the three presidencies thinks
of driving a wheel-carriage through streets never intended for
such conveyances. In visiting Benares, Patna, or any other of the
celebrated native cities of India, elephants, horses, palanquins,
or some other vehicle adapted for the occasion, are chosen. It,
therefore, appears to be the more extraordinary that English people,
who are certainly living upon sufferance in Egypt, should thus
recklessly expose the inhabitants to danger, to which they are not
subjected by any of their own people under the rank of princes.
Nothing can be more agreeable or safe than a drive across the desert,
and probably the time is speedily approaching in which the rich
inhabitants of Cairo will indulge, as they do at Alexandria, in the
luxury of English carriages, and for this purpose, the streets and
open spaces best adapted for driving will be improved and widened.
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