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THE BOATMEN'S SONGS ON THE NILE.
"The main streets crossed each other at right angles, from wall to wall with beautiful breadth, and to the length, if it may be credited, of nearly nine miles. At their extremities the gates looked out on the gilded barges of the hill of fleets at sea, under full sail, on a harbour that sheltered navies, and a lighthouse that was the mariner's star, and the wonder of the world." Such is Campbell's description of Alexandria in Mehemet All's time. A long line of windmills on a sandy ridge, the new lighthouse and palace built by the present pasha, and the tall column of Diocletian, the only visible wreck of the ancient city, are the few prominent objects which rise above the dead level of the sea.
" The entrance to the harbour is difficult, but its spacious area is thronged with ships of war, steamers, merchantmen, and all the smaller craft incident to extended traffic. Yet the first view of Alexandria, full as it is of historical reminiscences, is, in all other respects, more unimposing than that of any other city on the Mediterranean." This is the description given of it by Mr. Bartlett,in 1845, m his "Nile Boat."
The boatmen of the Nile are not less pious in their way than the rest of the Egyptian Arabs, or less accustomed to the use of those religious forms so characteristic ofMahome-dan intercourse. Their mutual salutations are all prayers, like those of Boaz and his reapers : " Peace be upon you 'r
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