The Egyptian ladies show a want of taste in not adopting the Turkish fashion. At one of the villages, called Negila, we saw some of the dancing girls of the country. They were dressed in the national costume, but were decked off with beads and a great variety of tawdry ornaments, and were disgusting objects. Here is a large granary belonging to the Pasha, with vast stores of every kind; in our way to and from it we were beset with beggars, whose appearance exhibited the utmost wretchedness. The breeze was fresh and our boats were comfortable, and the banks and the hours glided swiftly along. We had music, we played chess, we read, we chatted, we dozed when we preferred doing so. When meal-time came we slipped the leather trunks together for a table, and brought good appetites to the repast. Cleopatra herself had not a more cheerful party than ours. Our boatmen often amused us by their agility. The sand banks at the bends of the river are planted with water-melons, and as the flood was beginning to reach the fruit, the inhabitants were busy gathering it in, though it was not yet fully ripe. The Arabs of our boat would often make a dash at these melons, and would have just time to select the best when the owners would rush with cries to the scene of plunder. Down they would all go together into the river, flouncing and tugging; the one for revenge, the other, amid so many witnesses of his exploit, struggling for fame as well as for the water-melon, and pushing it before him with all his might. Sometimes they would grapple, and in the consequent struggle of fierce passions the melon would escape from both, and glide quietly down the river: but generally the boatman succeeded in depositing it safely under the wing of the Cavass. Towards evening of the 17th we came to a range of sand hills stretching along on our right; they are the commencement of the chain that higher up assists in forming the valley of the Nile. Up to this point our view on either side took in an unbroken level as far as the eye could reach. _The Pyramids._--It was with a thrill of joy that, on the morning of the 18th, as we sat at breakfast, at an exclamation from one of our party, we looked up, and saw before us the Pyramids. We were then twenty-four miles distant, but, though thin and airy-like, they were very distinct. These monuments are most impressive when the spectator is either close beneath them or at a distance like this. On the present occasion they produced a very powerful effect. Their regularity of outline kept their impression clear on the mind as works of art; their shadowy appearance showed them to be very distant, while their great elevation at so remote a point affected the mind strongly with their astonishing vastness. They were in sight, with brief intervals, during the whole day, and to the last were grand and sublime objects.