Page 315 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

2.9C) COAST OF AKA HI A. [CII.

Every facility has constantly been afforded
by the Pasha’s government to travellers p ass-
ing through his dominions, but for merchan­
dise some duty will of course be fixed;
and to this end, several negotiations, before
steam navigation was thought of, had been
set on foot with the Egyptian rulers, but
their short-sighted policy always interfered
to prevent any satisfactory arrangement.

Our influence in Egyptian affairs was not
then what it is now, and I contemplate no
difficulty in settling the matter with the pre­
sent Pasha. Five per cent, on all imported

but for them only. Let not others take alarm at such fearful
preparations: to the latter the following hints are addressed.
Camels are ungainly-looking animals. Select, however, one
rather slender, and which its owner will recommend as being a
good trotter. Look that your water-skins are sound; put your
bed across your saddle; provide yourself with one meal for
the road ; leave Suez about noon, and trot half the distance,
which will be accomplished towards eleven at night. Sup and
sleep there. Start again at daybreak, and you will arrive in
Cairo about noon of the same day. Be not alarmed at the idea of
trotting ; for although the camel's walk is execrable, its shuffling
trot will be found not more uneasy than that of a horse; and now
that the communication is becoming more general, it is to be
hoped we shall soon have wheeled carriages on this route. I
should recommend an omnibus. No fear need be entertained of
the sun’s power, or sleeping on the ground, exposed to the dew
and night airs. Fevers are almost unknown on the Desert, and
the air is at all times of uncommon purity.

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