June 4, 1883. —... I am getting on capitally, and like this place very much. I have an admirable force under my command, nothing can be better, a remarkably fine set of men whose conduct is excellent; they are very healthy, and the number of sick is very small. Then the society is very pleasant, both foreign and native. Some of the Pashas are married d, I'Europeenne, and one Nubar, a great friend of Rivers', whom I dined with the other night, is an Armenian, and so is his wife; they are wealthy people and gave us an excellent dinner. The visits I have had to pay here have been numerous; the Khedive was almost the first I went to see. Then I called upon a cousin of his. Princess Nazli, a very attractive, clever, and agreeable young widow, who talks English as well as I do. Cigarettes and coffee are always produced at visits and are often enjoyed by the ladies as much as by the men. Pasha Hussein, a brother of the Khedive, is another of the family I have had to visit — a man of about twenty-eight or thirty, good looking, intelligent, and well dressed. He lives in a charming house on the other side of the Nile, on the road to the Pyramids, with an extremely pretty garden attached, laid out with good taste, and with many beautiful exotics. But close at hand is another garden of greater celebrity, belonging to the Khedive, upon which have been spent fabulous sums by the late Khedive, Ismail, who seems to have done his utmost to ruin Egypt by his reckless extravagance. However, I must say this, that a more beautiful garden it is difficult to imagine. I am told it cost millions. The heat is beginning to make itself felt, but up to now I do not think it is as great or as oppressive as in China; but then Canton and Hong Kong, where I mostly was, were just upon the tropics, — one just within, the other just without, — whereas Cairo is some 7 or 8 degrees more north. Then the character of the atmosphere there was moist, and the same by night as by day, whereas here it is dry, and one can always be sure of a good night's rest. Now and then a hot wind blows from the desert and makes the air very oppressive. I have not yet seen any of the numerous interesting sights (having had my time fully occupied), beyond riding through the Arab quarters and going up to the Citadel, which is historically interesting from many points of view. It contains a solid, well-built stone fortress, built by Saladin, and there is one square where Mahomet Ali massacred the Mamelukes, and the corner of a wall is shown where a solitary Mameluke is supposed to have escaped. It is almost too hot to go about sight-seeing with any comfort, and I shall probably have to put off this pleasure till the autumn or winter. The Pyramids of Gizeh are only some eight miles off, and I must manage to get there before long. Two men whom I met at dinner last night were to have ridden out there early this morning to be there in time for sun rising. One of the two was Mr. Donovan,
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who was shut up in Merv some two years ago, and whose book was a good deal read lately. He is accompanied by a Mr. Power, an artist for one of the weekly illustrated papers; in about a week they go to the Soudan and Khartoum, at the junction of the Blue and the White Niles, travelling by Suakin, about half-way down the Red Sea, and then crossing to Berber on the Nile.