A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

LIFE ON THE NILE. 125
and which is the first in line of succession among
the places I have already told you are to afford
me facilities of forwarding my letters to Cairo,
from whence they are sure to be sent to Europe.
We are quite at home already in the Swift,
and lead as regular and primitive a sort of life as
we could do in a country parsonage. Up at sun-
rise, breakfast at eight, (which our Egyptian cook,
Hadgee Mustapha, always contrives should be as
excellent a repast in its kind as are his dinners ;)
then we read, work, &;c., till the hour of dinner
three o'clock—or if the wind fails us during the
forenoon, and our Arabs are in consequence
obliged to track the Dahabieh, we go on shore
and our sportsmen get some good shooting in the
shape of cranes, water-fowl of various descrip-
tions, and wood-pigeons. After dinner we take
our coffee upon the deck, and sit there enjoying
the delicious atmosphere, and those glorious tran-
sitions of colouring in the horizon which here
always accompany the decline of day, until tea-
time, when our crew generally commence their
concert and ball. After which we always devote
the remainder of the evening to writing, and at
ten o'clock the cabin lights are extinguished, and
everybody is in bed. Such is life on the Nile !
Our variations to this monotonous existence
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