Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by GEO. W. CARLETON, the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. TIBKYBA THE NEW YORK PRINTING COMPANY, NEW YORK. PROLOGUE. IN presenting this little work for the perusal of my friends, I beg to remind them that I have, as nearly as was consistent, adhered to the original design of giving a "diary" describing the manner of "living" and method of "travelling" on the Nile and through Syria, rather than entering deeply into incidents connected with the history of those countries. To those more inclined to Biblical lore and the study of antiquities, the Bible will furnish sufficient food for the Holy Land, while the profound researches of Wilkinson, Lane, and others, will go far to satisfy the curious on the statistics and archæology of Egypt. This interesting route of travel becoming more frequented, and consequently better understood, each succeeding year, naturally excites the curiosity of those having the hope of "doing" it yet in store; and, as a sequence, comes the question: How to do it? The great point is to obtain a good dragoman; and, if fortune favors you in this particular, the success of your voyage is almost assured; whereas the constant annoyances and dissatisfaction arising from having a bad one will poison, if not mar, all your joyous anticipations. Thus, on the Nile, we were happy in the selection of Mohammed-el-Adli, an Egyptian, who, we think, has not his superior; but it was far different in Syria. The dragoman engaged for this part of the route, a Syrian named Joseph Mook, but for good and sufficient reasons best known to himself, had found it necessary to call himself Joseph 77153 |