volume 2 - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian History Workshop

Roman Tomb at Alexandria. 151
Works, who told me many interesting stories of General
Gordon, General Earle and other old military heroes,
and in later years assisted me greatly in Alexandria.
And I had several conversations with the Chief of the
Jesuits at Berut, who gave me much valuable information
about Syria and the places where manuscripts
were likely to be found. The voyage to Alexandria
was quite delightful and came to an end all too soon.
The fine ship kept a perfectly even keel the whole way.
The sky was cloudless, and though the days were very
hot the light easterly winds prevented the heat from
becoming oppressive. We arrived at Alexandria at
daybreak on October 2nd. I spent the day in visiting
a splendid tomb of the Roman period which had been
recently discovered a few mUes outside the city, and
was promptly called " Cleopatra's Tomb." The owner
of the grovmd in which the tomb was found was most
anxious to sell the sarcophagus in it to the British
Museum, but the price he asked for it was ridiculous.
There were very few tourists in Alexandria at the time,
and of these the most remarkable was Miss Marsden,
who was about to set out for Russia and Siberia, where
she was going (if possible) to visit all the prisons throughout
the country by special permission of the Czar.
She told me a great deal about her mission, and how she
hoped to coUect data which when published would stir
up public opinion throughout Europe and force the
Great Powers to make the Russian Government ameliorate
the condition of its prisoners and also of the lepers.
She was full of enthusiasm and of somewhat unpractical
energy, and was fully convinced that prisoners in
Russia were treated far worse than they were in the
days of John Howard, though she had no proof that
such was the case. She must have encountered great
difficulties^ in fulfilling her self-imposed task.
As there was nothing I could do in Alexandria to
^ See her On Sledge and Horseback to Outcast Siberian Lepers,
London, 1895. Her life was published by H. Johnson at London in
the same year her book appeared.