We had but little time for sight-seeing at Athens, the “Tzar” remaining at anchor only till night. The dusty streets, the want of water and the poverty of the population left a disagreeable impression upon me, and the heat was intense. We were nearly roasted alive by the scorching sun. When passing before the Royal Palace, we were amazed by the simplicity of the railing surrounding it. In the absence of the Royal family the people are allowed to go into the palace, and a lackey offered to escort us over it. The state apartments are worth showing, but the upper suits of rooms are of Spartan simplicity. After having visited the Temple of Theseus, we drove up a long steep hill fringed with spiky cactus plants, leading to the Acropolis, the citadel of ancient Athens, which dominates the whole town. When we returned to our ship we found new passengers: Lady Denmore, the wife of a high British dignitary, whom she was going to rejoin in India, and a pleasant American pair—Mr. and Mrs. Holland—elderly, childless people, talking with a strong American accent. They were going to Cairo. In the night the sea grew rough, and we were tossed about during two days. On the third day we entered the African waters and perceived a yellow band of sand; birds, forerunners of land, were flying over our ship, and soon the outlines of the port and the mosques of Alexandria came in view. CHAPTER LVI IN PHARAOH LAND Here we are on the threshold of the Great Desert! As soon as the “Tzar” dropped anchor, stopping alongside a Russian cruiser, the “Nakhimoff,” our vessel was invaded by a crowd of natives who precipitated themselves on our luggage. They were all speaking at once, shouting and gesticulating; the scene reminded me of the attack of savages in “Aida.” We looked about us for the right sort of person to accompany us in the capacity of guide to Cairo, and finally hired for the service a dusky Arab named Mahmoud, on whose jersey was embroidered in big white letters: “I speak Russian.” Everybody went on shore, but we decided to pass the night on board and start in the morning to Cairo. We passed a very bad night, the Egyptian sun having turned our cabin into an oven and we could not open the porthole through the close proximity of the cruiser “Nakhimoff,” alongside which we were anchored. At six o’clock we took a carriage to drive us to the railway station through the broad streets of Alexandria. The inhabitants we met on our way were for the most part negroes of different shades, and blue-robed, dark-skinned Fellahs. The native women, black-shrouded and veiled, wear a piece of black lustring wrapped round their bodies, making of them formless lumps, and giving them a ghastly aspect; a black veil is suspended on a metal cylinder, which is placed between the eyes with texts out of the Koran inscribed inside.