aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

CHAPTER XIX.
THE CITY OF CAIRO. — EGYPT.
Deliciously gratifying was it to gradually leave the sands,
and approach, with the lengthening shadows of the day, the
wide and fertile Valley of the Nile. It was nearly twilight
when the train reached the city ; and yet, on our way in the
carriage to the Oriental Hotel, we caught a distinct view of.
Cheops and Belzoni, — two of the great pyramids. The
sight shot a thrill of satisfaction into my being's core.
August 18. — This, in one sense at least, was an auspicious
time to reach Cairo, because the third night of the
yearly illumination in honor of the Viceroy of Egypt.
The
estimated expenditure for the display was half a million.
They dine in the East at eight o'clock. Strolling out in
evening-time, after dinner, accompanied by an Egyptian
guide and Dr. Dunn, I mentally asked, " Is not this dreamland
? the lotus-clime of the poet ? the palace realm of the
* Arabian Nights '
? " Bright globed and various colored
lights were distributed through the gardens, and along the
streets, arching the avenues, whitening the pavements, flickering
in the branches, and sending silvered shafts down into
playing fountains ; while rockets, serpents, revolving wheels,
and other kinds of fireworks, blazed out upon the night,
half paling, for a time, torch and lamps. Not only were triangular
and pyramidal-shaped figures hung with glass lanterns,
trimmed and illumined, but theaters, palaces, mosques,
up to the very summits of their minarets seemed all ablaze
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