_Cairo.--May 7th._--Most of yesterday afternoon was spent in drinking coffee and smoking long pipes, two ladies partaking of the latter enjoyment after dinner at Mr. Green's. One of them told me that she had dined with the Princess (the Pacha's wife) a few days ago. She went at seven and left at half-past twelve, and with the exception of a half hour of dinner, all the rest of the time was spent in smoking and drinking coffee. After dinner, the mother of the Pacha's only child came in and joined the party. She was treated with a certain consideration as being the mother of this child, although she was not given a pipe. The Princess seemed on very good terms with her. This child (a boy three years old) has an English nurse, and this nurse has persuaded the Pacha to allow her to take the child to England on a visit. The mother, who has picked up a little English from the nurse, said to Mrs. Green, 'I am very unhappy; _young Pacha_' (her boy) 'is going away.' The mother is no more thought of in this arrangement than I am. What a strange system it is!... We passed through the wonderful Delta to-day, and certainly the people looked more comfortable than those of Alexandria. The beasts too, camels, oxen, donkeys, showed signs of the fertility of the soil in their sleekness. What might not be made of this country if it were wisely guided! [Sidenote: Crossing the Desert.] _Steamer 'Bentinck.'--Sunday, May 10th._--I write to you from the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai, which we passed at an early hour this morning, gliding through a sea of most transparent glass, with so little motion that there is hardly an excuse for bad writing.... I must, however, take you back to Cairo. We began to move at a very early hour, about three, on Saturday (yesterday) morning. We were actually in the railway carriages at half-past four. I was placed in a _coupé_ before the engine, in order that I might see the road; and in this somewhat formidable position ran over about forty miles of the Desert in about an hour and a half. It is a wonderful sight this strange barren expanse of stone and gravel, with here and there a small encampment of railway labourers, after passing through the luxuriant Valley of the Nile, teeming with production and life, animal and vegetable. In the morning air there was a healthy freshness, which was very delightful. At the end of our hour and a half we reached the termination of the part of the railway which is already completed, and embarked in two-wheeled four-horse vans (such as you see in the _Illustrated News_), to pass over about five miles of trackless desert, lying between the said terminus and a station on the regular road across the Desert, at which we were to breakfast. This part of our journey was rough work, and took us some time to execute. Our