New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-01-08
Ar,.ra twelve o'clock breakfast at the hotel'

Yide sir. here IL good donkey "SehGner
Eselw " Prende.e II MIC brrnco and you
are INN ediately nade the vortex Of whirlpool
ofdonkevs. The one-eyed donkey-boys hight, the
donk0s kict and there is no rest til you have
hes,rdden one Of the lille beasts. The driver
then eives his tail twist and his rum2 thwack,
and YOU are carried of IN triumph. The animal
= 90 small thatyou seem the more silly Of the
two. when you have mounted, but after &c has
carried you for an hour IN a rapid gallOp, you re-
cover your dignity IN your respoctfor him
The spotess blue Of the sky and the delicious
elasticity Of the air were truly intoxicating, as
We ralloped between gardens Of da,e-'rees, Ia
den with ripe fruit, 70 the city gate, and through
itia,o a broad road iringed with acacias, lead
ing TO the Mahmondieh Canal. But on the south,
On rise Of dry, sandy soil stood the Pillar OF
Diocletian-nst Of Pompey, whose name II bears
tits a simple column. % feet IN hight, but the
shat, Is a single block OF red granite, and stands
superbly against the background Of such sky
and such sea. 1t is the only relic OF the an
cient Alexandria worthy OF It's fame, bat you
could not wish for one more imposing and elo-
ouent The glowing white houses OF Alexan-
dria the minarets, the palms and the acaclas Ill
the landscape, but II stands apart from them, IN
the sand, and looks only to the sea and the de-
sert.
We three chance companions fraternlzed so
agreeably that we Determined 20 hire boat 10Y
cairo, IN preference to waiting for the next
steamer, which Will not leave for several days
We accordingly rode over to the Mahmondleh
Canal, accompanied by Iorahim, to inspect the
barks. Like all dragomen, Ibrahim had his
private preferences and conducted US on board
boat belonging to a friend of his grizzly rais
or captain. The craft was a small dahdbieh, with
large lateen sail at the bow and little one
at the stern. 1t was not very new, but looked
clean, and the rals demanded 800 piastres for the
voyage As shall have to deal entirely with
piastres hereafter, | should apprlse you that
piastre is about five cents, and that consequent
ly the price named would be Sl5 in American
money We made an appointment, to meet the
ras this morning, and then set of for the ba-
zaars
After seeing Smyrna the bazaars OF Alexan.
dris appear insignificant. There is neither the
pleasant MONDAY twilight, the spicy odors nor
the picturesque merchants. We inspected the
contents of several shops. but found nothing to
tempt us, and concluded our walk by visiting the
slave market. There were a dozen Nubans and
Abyssinlans in the cOurt-cheiy girls from eight
otwelve years OF age. They Immediately sur
rounded us, crying " Backstish Howadaf and
stretching their greasy hands toward US. The
Abyssinans were tall and ell-formed, and each
wore gold coin on the middle Of her forehead
the Nublans were short, thIck-hp ped, and their
woody hair, twisted INTO many little strings,
was abundanty plastered with mutton-lat.-
Their faces were exceedingly stupid but too
good natured to be disagreeable. We divided a
handful of small copper COINS among them and
left, quite satisfied with what we had seen of
Oriental slave markets.
In the evening we took donkeys again and
rode out of the town to a cafe on the banks Of
the canal. A sunset OF burning rose and orange
sank over the desert behind Pompey's pillar.
and the bamest OF breezes stole toward us
from the sea, through palm.gardens. A Swiss
gentleman, NJ de Gonzenbach, whose kindness
shall always gratefully remember, accompanied
us As we sat under the acacas, slipping
the black Turkish coffee, the steamer for Cairo
II,
foul smoke, and marring the delicious repose OF
the landscape IN such wise that we vowed we
would have nothing to do with steam so long as
we voyaged on the Nile. Our dOnkey-driyeTs
patiently held the br dies OF our long cared char
gers till we were ready to return II was dark,
and not seeing at first my attendant, little one
eyed imp called at random "Abdallah ;"
This, i, happened, was actually his name, and
he came trotting up, holding the stiuup ready
for me to mount. The quickness with which
these young Arabs pick up languages, IS truly
astonishing. Come =. ckiamaie y' (what's your
name y asked of Abdalah as we rode home
ward. The words were new to him, but final
" made him understand their meaning, where
upon he PUT his knowledge into practice by ask.
Ing me Cone u ohiamats l' Abbas Pasha,'
replied "Oh, well" was his pr ompt rejoin-
der, If you are Ahbas Pashs, then am Sayd
Pasha" A baeksh.sh of five paras (about half
cent? made him quite happy, on our return
This morning he was at the door with his don
key, which fully intended to mount, but be
came entangled IN a wilderness of donkeys, out
OF which Ibrahim eXtricaied me by hosting me
on another animal AS rode away, caugh,
glimpse of the little fellow, crying Justify over
the miShap.
To. day we have been employed IN arranging
for our departure, which we hope 10 accomplish
this evening NJ. de Gonsenbaehs servant has
engaged boat fer 2}5 p!sstres, and the con-
tract, written IN Arabic, has been signed at the
Austrian Consulate. Ibrahirn m the bazsar
buying knives an3 forks, coffee. sugar, rice and
other necessary articles Tor the Journey. As
nearly as can calculate, the entire cost OF the
tIip viii be about Sl3 each. The steamer charges
SIS, but Is only twensy-iour hours on the way
We are all new hands al this sort OF house
keeping and shall no doubt find many things