ENGLISH TOURISTS. 50*7 ting the necessary supplies, sent the rais to bake bread for the voyage, and then went to see the jolly, flat-nosed Governor. He received me very cordially, and had a great deal to say of the unparalleled herd of travellers on the Nile during the winter. Ninety-six vessels and eleven steamboats had reached the harbor of Assouan, and of these the greater number were Americans. " Mashallah ! your countrymen must be very rich," said the Governor.

When I left the divan, the firing of guns announced the safe arrival of the English boats below the Cataract. Yery soon I saw two burnt-faced, tarbooshed individuals, with eyeglasses in their eyes, strolling up the beach. For once I threw off the reserve which a traveller usually feels towards every one speaking his own language, and accosted them.

They met my advances half-way, and before long my brain was in a ferment of French and English politics. Europe was still quiet then, but how unlike the quiet of the Orient ! The Englishmen had plenty of news for me, but knew nothing of the news I most wanted-those of my own country. Had our positions been reversed, the result would have been different.

They left at sunset for the return to Thebes, but I was detained until noon the next day, when I set off in company with the boat of Signor Drovetti, of Alexandria, who left Khartoum a few days after me. I had six men, but only two of them were good oarsmen.

In the morning, when I awoke, the broken pylon of Ombos tottered directly over the boat. I rushed on deck in time to catch another sight of the beautiful double portico, looking down from the drifted sands. The wind blew very strongly from the north, but in the afternoon we succeeded in reaching