We made some excursions out of town. We went one day in the direction of Mataryeh, about five miles from Cairo, to see the Virgin’s sycamore-tree, under which the Holy Family took rest. The way leading there gives you the impression of old Bible-times. The vegetation is magnificent, cactuses, bamboos and date-palms everywhere. The grass on the lawns is more than five feet high. We went along shady avenues and crossed lotus, maize, and sugar-cane fields. The Virgin’s sycamore is enclosed by a wall which measures about a mile in length. The railing surrounding the tree is locked up. We had it opened and saw a great number of names, to which we added ours, engraved on the mighty trunk of the sycamore, all ragged by lapse of time and intertwined with branches. An ancient legend says that the Holy Family on their flight to Egypt remained two years absent, and lived at the little village of Mataryeh. About fifteen minutes’ walk from the spot was the celebrated town of Iliopel, which is mentioned in the Bible. Very few fragments remain of the town, except a high obelisk, which is supposed to be the oldest in Egypt; it is of granite, and the height is over sixty-five feet. It is there that Moses had been a priest. We continued our way to the ostrich farm built on the moving sands of the Great Desert. It is kept by a French company, but the men who are occupied with the rearing of the huge birds are all Bedouins. At the entrance there is an inscription in French “_Parc aux auturches_” (Ostrich Park.) It contains about a thousand winged creatures, perched high on their long legs. The males are covered with black curling feathers, only the tail is cream-coloured, and the females are all grey-feathered. The heads of the giant birds reach far above the grating surrounding the farm. The gathering of the feathers, which takes place once a year in May, requires great precautions. The ostriches gathered into an enclosure are pushed one by one into a kind of box placed on four posts. Closed between the four boards, the bird is unable to fling out his terrible kicks, which could easily smash the operator’s legs and arms. Eight men must hold the ostrich during the operation. The section of artificial brooding is very interesting; it is often practised, as the ostriches, sitting during forty-three days on their eggs, frequently perish. Each ostrich gives yearly about a thousand francs of profit. Before leaving the farm we bought a dozen beautiful feathers and a pair of enormous ostrich eggs. On our way back to Cairo we saw in the distance in the desert a vast English camp.