deal to do with it is the fact that during dinner on one occasion a rather stout and pompous senior general, sitting at table with his wife and daughters, was very affectionately greeted, embraced, and kissed by an hilarious youth from the southern seas. [Illustration: THE WALL OF THE CITADEL. From which the Mameluke leaped. The twin minarets are those of the Mehemet Ali Mosque. _Photo. by Sergt. Arundel._] [Illustration: THE GREAT PYRAMID. _From the plan by C. Piazzi Smyth._] At the commencement of all tours guides were offering freely, and were often required. They were of two kinds. The genuine type was usually a graduate of one of the educational institutions, and would arrange and conduct, more or less satisfactorily, any expedition--were it to visit the Cairo Museum, the Pyramids and other monuments, or to go duck shooting near Alexandria or gazelle hunting in the Fayum. The other type of guide hailed from somewhere at the back of the bazaars; he was loudly importunate, proclaimed himself as named Macpherson, Abdullah, or Johnson, and stated that he was "dinkum." The possibilities with him seemed extensive. Anyone who employed this kind of person, and expected to have a kind of Arabian Nights entertainment, returned richer by his experience but, usually, unless he was very very careful, with the sensations of having just emerged from a garbage pit. The Australian's interest in Egypt was immense. He had no marked admiration for the existing inhabitants, but his reading had given him an insatiable longing to know more of the ancients and their great works. He let no opportunity, therefore, escape him of viewing and studying the monuments which had withstood the ravages of time for so many centuries. Various expeditions were arranged by bands of friends who, after engaging a dragoman, would often pool their resources in order that the day might be as pleasant as it was instructive. As a rule the first expedition was to the great Pyramids at Gizeh--distant glimpses of which can be obtained from points not far from Abbasia. Situated about eight miles from Cairo, the route to this objective lies through the city, across the Nile bridge, and along the delightful causeway said to have been built by the Khedive Ismail for use by the Empress Eugenie during her visit on the occasion of the opening of the Suez Canal. On arrival at the village, camels and donkeys are used to traverse the stretch of heavy sand which intervenes between the road and the plateau upon which the Pyramids stand.