for so long, and in such a boisterous eddy, that we began to wonder what was to be the end of it. Complicated as were the currents in this spot, we were four times saved from even grazing the rocks, when, after having nearly got through, we were borne back, and swung round to try again. The fifth time, there came a faint breath of wind, which shook our sail for a moment, and carried us over the ridge of foam. What a shout there was when we turned into still water! The last ascent but one appeared the most wonderful,-the passage was, twice over, so narrow, barely admitting the kandjia,—the promontory of rock so sharp, and the gush of water so strong: but the big rope, and the mob of haulers on the shore and the islets heaved us up steadily, and as one might say, naturally, as if the boat took her course advisedly.

Though this passage appeared to us the most dangerous, it was at the last that the Rais of the Cataract interfered to request us to step ashore. We were very unwilling; but we could not undertake the responsibility of opposing the local pilot. He said it was mere force that was wanted here, the difficulty being only from the rush of the waters, and not from any complication of currents. But no man would undertake to say that the rope would hold; and if it did not, destruction was inevitable. The rope held; we saw the boat drawn up steadily and beautifully; and the work was done. Mr. E., who has great experience in nautical affairs, said that nothing could be cleverer than the management of the whole business. He believed that the feat could be achieved nowhere else, as there are no such swimmers elsewhere.'-Ib. pp.

121-123.

The Nubians are represented as thrifty and industrious. The under lip of the women is dyed blue, and their tattoo marks, nose rings, and hair dripping with castor oil, are in the last degree distasteful to an English visitor. Their countenance, however, is open and good humoured, and the pathetic thoughtfulness of many, rendered them interesting,' to our traveller. The women wore silver bracelets, and bead necklaces, and swathed themselves in blue garments. The men had but little clothing, and the children were generally naked, save that the girls had a sort of leather fringe tied round the loins.' The villages are exceedingly diminutive, and the population, though once numerous, is now extremely scanty. The fiscal regulations of the country are thus described:

'As I understand the matter, it is thus, with regard to these Nubians. The Pasha holds the whole land and river of Egypt and Nubia in fee-simple, except as much as he has given away, for its revenues, to favoured individuals and his rents are included in what are called his taxes. In Egypt, the people pay tax on the land. In Nubia, they pay it on the sakias and palms. The palms, when large, pay a piastre and a quarter (about 3d.) each, per annum: when small, three-fourths of a piastre. Each sakia pays a tax of three hundred and fifty piastres, or 31. 10s.;.

and the payer may appropriate as much land as the sakia will water. The quantity taken is usually from eight hundred to twelve hundred square yards.'-Ib. p. 131.

We pass over Miss Martineau's description of the ruins of Thebes, and of the various other monuments which were examined, as we have already, in another article, devoted to this subject as large a space as our limits permit. Many illustrations of scripture, also, are incidentally furnished, of which we should be glad to furnish specimens, but the necessity of the case restricts us to the following, which will instantly recall to our readers one of the complaints of the Israelites against their Egyptian taskmasters. A large quantity of mud bricks was here laid out to dry. They had an unusual proportion of straw in them; so that I believe they would have burned to ashes if set fire to.'

The pyramids were of course to be explored. They had been seen from a distance, and their impression has been noted, but they were now to be ascended, and their inner chambers to be viewed. The following is our author's account of the former feat :'The Sheikh who met us on the spot, appointed our attendants ;three to each of us. Mr. E. set out first,-waving an adieu to us till we should meet aloft. He mounted with a deliberate, quiet step, such as he could keep up to the end, and reached the summit in seventeen minutes. It took me about five minutes more.

'On looking up, it was not the magnitude of the Pyramid which made me think it scarcely possible to achieve the ascent; but the unrelieved succession,-almost infinite,-of bright yellow steps; a most fatiguing image-Three strong and respectable-looking Arabs now took me in charge. One of them, seeing me pinning up my gown in front, that I might not stumble over it, gave me his services as lady's-maid. He turned up my gown all round, and tied it in a most squeezing knot, which lasted all through the enterprise. We set out from the north-east corner. By far the most formidable part of the ascent was the first six or eight blocks. If it went on to the top thus broken and precipitous, the ascent would, I felt, be impossible. Already, it was disagreeable to look down, and I was much out of breath. One of my Arabs carried a substantial campstool, which had been given me in London with a view to this very adventure,-that it might divide the higher steps,—some of which, being four feet high, seem impracticable enough beforehand. But I found it better to trust to the strong and steady lifting of the Arabs in such places, and, above every thing, not to stop at all, if possible; or, if one must stop for breath, to stand with one's face to the Pyramid. I am sure the guides are right in taking people quickly. The height is not so great, in itself: it is the way in which it is reached that is trying to look back upon. It is trying to some heads to sit on a narrow ledge, and see a dazzling succession of such ledges for two or three hundred feet below; and there, a crowd of diminutive people look

ing up, to see whether one is coming bobbing down all that vast staircase. I stopped for a few seconds two or three times, at good broad corners or ledges.-When I left the angle, and found myself ascending the side, the chief difficulty was over; and I cannot say that the fatigue was at all formidable. The greater part of one's weight is lifted by the Arabs at each arm; and when one comes to a four feet step, or a broken ledge, there is a third Arab behind. When we arrived at a sort of recess, broken in the angle, my guides sported two of their English words, crying out Half-way!' with great glee. The last half was

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easier than the first; and I felt, what proved to be true, that both must be easier than the coming down. I arrived second, and was kindly welcomed to that extraordinary spot by Mr. E. Mrs. Y. appeared presently after and lastly, Mr. Y.;-all in good spirits.

'I was agreeably surprised to find at the top, besides blocks standing up which gave us some shade, a roomy and even platform, where we might sit and write, and gaze abroad, and enjoy ourselves, without even seeing over the edge, unless we wished it. There was only the lightest possible breeze, just enough to fan our faces, without disturbing us. The reason of our ascending the Pyramid first, before going into it, was that we might take advantage of an hour of calm, and avoid the inconvenience of the wind which might spring up at noon. And most fortunate we were in our weather, and in all other particulars. It was a glorious season, - full of new delight, without drawback ;-for I now began to think I might perhaps see the inside of the Pyramid too.'Vol. ii. pp. 65-67.

The king's chamber was subsequently examined, and its vast dimensions and sepulchral gloom made a deep impression on our travellers :

:

'I have spent,' says Miss Martineau, the greater part of two days in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky; a place generally considered awful enough but compared with this, it was like a drawing-room to a cellar. The fantastic character of its walls and roofs takes off from the impression of its vastness and gloom. Here, the symmetry and finish so deepen the gloom as to make this seem like a fit prison-house for fallen angels.'-Ib. p. 70.

This structure it must be remembered was the work of men of several thousand years ago, when the pride of modern science looks for the infancy of art, and pities the imagined helplessness of our race. The plain of Thebes may well rebuke our arrogance, as its monuments leave us in bewildered astonishment. The theme is tempting, but we must not pursue it. should be glad also to dwell on our author's account of Cairo, its streets and bazaars, its mosques and citadel, but we must forbear :

We

There are few gayer things in life,' she says, 'for one who chooses to be gay, than a visit to Cairo. The stranger must use a few precautions against the disturbance of his gaiety; and then he may surrender himself

to the most wonderful and romantic dream that can ever meet his waking senses. The most wonderful and romantic,-because there is nothing so wonderful and romantic in the whole social world as an Arabian city : and Cairo is the queen of Arabian cities. Damascus is usually ranked with Cairo; but, full of charms as Damascus is (as we may see by and by), it is charming for other reasons than its virtues as an Arabian city: on which ground it cannot for a moment stand a comparison with Cairo. The precautions against seriousness which a stranger must take are, first, to forget that he is in Egypt; to avoid looking over westwards to the Pyramids, or too far southwards, lest an array of old Egyptian ghosts should marshal themselves on the horizon, and cast a shadow of solemnity over his thoughts. He must also shake off any considerate humanity which may hang about him, and avoid inquiring what lies beneath what he sees, or thinking of any people but those whom he meets in the bazaars. A butterfly may enjoy a glorious day in hovering about an array of flower-baskets, not caring whether the flowers are growing or stuck into wet sand and the stranger in Cairo may have a short season of transport, if he will only take up with the shows of things, and forget

the roots.

The mere spectacle of the streets I relished more and more to the last. As for the rest, I could not keep my heart and mind in abeyance for many days; and before I left, I felt that there is hardly a spot in what I have seen of the countries of the world where I would not rather live than in Cairo. The more I liked the Arabs, and the more I admired their gem of a city, the more impossible I felt it would be to live there, for any other reason than a strong call of duty. The mere spectacle of the streets became, however, as I said, more bewitching every day.'— Ib. p. 116.

Miss Martineau visited two harems, one at Cairo, and another at Damascus, and the twenty-second chapter of the first part of her work, furnishes a brief statement of what she saw. It is a melancholy tale, full of lamentation and woe, and we are glad she did not permit any false sentiment to induce her to suppress it. The general result is thus summed up:

'I had been struck by the view taken by Mr. Milnes in his beautiful poem of the Hareem ;' and I am sure I did meet this subject with every desire to investigate the ideas and general feelings involved in it. I learned a very great deal about the working of the institution; and I believe I apprehend the thoughts and feelings of the persons concerned in it: and I declare that if we are to look for a hell upon earth, it is where polygamy exists and that, as polygamy runs riot in Egypt, Egypt is the lowest depth of this hell. I always before believed that every arrangement and prevalent practice had some one fair side,-some one redeeming quality and diligently did I look for this fair side in regard to polygamy: but there is none. The longer one studies the subject, and the deeper one penetrates into it,—the more is one's mind confounded with the intricacy of its iniquity, and the more does one's heart feel as if it would break.'—Ib. p. 148.

Of Egypt, generally, the account given is by no means favorable. The information communicated is indeed scanty, and not without reason, as it appears to be in the last degree difficult to obtain accurate intelligence respecting either its population or its social state. Miss Martineau does not forget the brighter colorings of the picture. The people appeared to us,' she says, 'sleek, well-fed, and cheerful. I am not sure that I saw an ill-fed person in all Egypt. There is hardship enough of other kinds, -abundance of misery to sadden the heart of the traveller; but not that, as far as we saw, of want of food. . . . I have seen more emaciated, and stunted, and depressed men, women, and children, in a single walk in England, than I observed from end to end of the land of Egypt.' This is the bright side of Egyptian life, and our readers may infer the other from the following brief extract:

'I find in my journal the following complaint. One pregnant fact here is that one can get no reliable information from the most reliable men. About matters on which there ought to be no difference of statement, we meet with strange contradictions; such as the rate and amount of tax, etc. In fact, there are no data; and there is little free communication. Even a census does not help. The present census, we are told, will be a total failure-so many will bribe the officials to omit their names, because of the poll-tax.' Thus it is that neither I nor any other traveller can give accounts of any value of the actual material condition of the people of Egypt. But we have a substantial piece of knowledge in this very negation of knowledge. We know for certain that a government is bad, and that the people are unprosperous and unhappy in a country where there is a great ostentation of civilization and improvement, side by side with mystery as to the actual working of social arrangements, and every sort of evasion on the part of the people. We have a substantial piece of knowledge in the fact that men of honour, • men of station, men of business, men of courage, who have all the means of information which the place and time permit, differ in opinion and statement about every matter of importance on which they converse with inquiring strangers. I saw several such men. They were quite willing to tell me what they knew; and they assigned frankly the grounds of their opinions and statements: but what I obtained was merely a mass of contradictions so extraordinary that I cannot venture to give any details and if I give any general impressions, it can be only under the guard of a declaration that I am sure of nothing, and can offer only what I suppose on the whole to be an indication of the way in which the government of Mohammed Alee works.'-Ib. p. 168.

The second part of her work brings Miss Martineau into more immediate contact with the history of Moses and the Israelites; and it is painful to see how the scripture narrative is diluted, and its miraculous interpositions are overlooked. She does not formally contest them. There would have been