[[1]]
H[onorable]. I[ndia]. C[ompany]. F[rigate] Moozuffer Straits of Babel Mandeb
Dec[embe]r 17 1847
Omit as far as "At Alexandria"
My dear Father
I commence this in the hope of arriving at Aden tomorrow morning when I expect
to be so busy during our 24 hours proposed stay that I shall have no more time
than requisite for doing this & leaving it behind me. On our arrival at Alexandria, on
the morning of Saturday the 4th Lord Dalhousie took me on one side & insisted me
to belong to his suite for the future in the most kind and handsome manner & I
have accordingly (except as far as living in Cairo is concerned) been on his staff .
begin here At Alexandria where we arrived on the 4th there was little to be seen or done, & we
were glad to be off on Sunday, after Church, for Cairo. All of us were however
sorry to regretted leaving our kind hosts and companions on board the Sidon, to most
of whom we had already become much attached. Captain Henderson is one of the
mildest and most gentlemanly of men, he, with 6 or so of the officers, accompanied
us to Cairo. Our route was by steamer along the Mahmoudea [Mahmoudieh] canal,
which communicates between Alexandria and the Nile moving E[ast]. about 10
miles our conveyance was a pretty little steamer of the size, shape, & of a
Greenwich Woolwich boat; she is the pleas property of the Transit office, for the
conveyance of the overland passengers, but devoted to us for the present: There
was no comfort on board & we were much crammed with dragomen, of all sizes &
stamps officials, luggage etc. The canal was constructed by Mehmet Ali; who
forced the Egyptians to work without pay, or even bread or tools: 60000 are said to
have starved to death by the consequent famine; but this we may hope is probably
much exaggerated & being much above the [one word deleted, illeg.] number given in
the hand book of Egypt. All along the banks are bare, or where you approach the
Mareotis rushy & reedy. Except the Tamarix there are no bushes, & occasional
Dates or Acacias are the only trees. The scenery It reminded me of the Canal through
the bog of Allan; if you can suppose that wholly bare of desolate of any vegetation
except around the very scattered Egypt or Turkish houses, where are scantily
furnished gardens of Acacia, Cypress, Myrtle &c. At 10 o'clock we reached the
Nile, descending to it through a lock, it rained tremendously & we got very wet
during the embarkation. Here we were
[[2]] raised on board a very pretty steamer of the size of a Greenwich boat swift &
well built & formed; she is the pleasure packet of Ali, which he put at our disposal.
The after part was given to Ld & Lady Dalhousie; it was gorjeously[sic] fitted with
white shot satin, all coated with gold and scarlet flowers, heavy gold gilt & silver
ornaments, Turkey Carpets an inch thick & every thing in the most costly and
expensive style, short of solid gold and jewels. Only Ld & Lady Dalhousie enjoyed
this boudoir, for we messed on deck & the accommodations forward for the rest of
us, including the Prime Minister of Egypt, [one word deleted, illeg.] were
comparatively poor & consisted of little cabins, with sofas & no washing
appurtenances. We had to sleep two to each cabin; happily the weather was very
cold & for washing we were sore put to, till we devised cocked hat boxes, which
opening through the middle made 2 basins at once. Our repasts were, served in
the French fashion & with French cooking; with on silver & gold plate; but none
very good. Next morning we were half way to Cairo; the Nile looked a tame river,
but yet gave interest to its most features. It was about as broad as the Thames at
Kew Mortlake turbid & rapid, the stream flowing some 3 miles an hour, bringing
mud from, the fabled mountain of the moon, Lake Dembia & all the countries I
used to read of, years ago, in Bruce's & Salt's travels. The banks are cliffs of mud,
10 - 20 ft high, steep & showing the successive layers of deposited soil, to which
Egypt owes all its scanty store of vegetation. Along on these cliffs, or rather banks,
we saw the camel or lonely Dromedary stalk along with his Arab master before, or
upon him; the latter turbanned & clothed, as all our associations picture him. At
other places we saw observed groups of tents, with camels & donkeys around an
Acacia or Sycamore or one side of a Palm or the other, little scenes wholly oriental,
& as different from any thing English as any are those of other countries I had seen
visited, many thousand miles further from home. Beyond the immediate banks were
wide spread deserts of sand, wholly untenanted & uninhabitable, except by the
wandering Arab. here and there a little irrigation is attempted, by means of a broad
wheel, with many baskets attached to the whole circumference & worked by a
bullock. Houses were very rare, & always built near trees. the latter of Palm (Date)
Sycamore or Acacia Lebelck [Lebbeck] but of no other trees kind that I could see.
Boats were numerous, such as figured in
[[3]] Bruce's voyage journey, & many subsequent ones, though I remember none so
well. All have high sterns with sort of Homes in them, & are full of men, women &
products of the soil. Sometimes their full sails are seen descried for miles inland, & even
over the sand of the desert, from a fleet of them being on another branch of the
Delta where water runs out of sight. At 3 miles we had the first view sight of the
Pyramids on the right bank of the river, at this distance, about 40 miles, they
appear like little blue cones on the horizon, not large enough to be wonderful, as
objects of art, nor large small enough to escape observation altogether. The first
view of Cairo is very good, especially at sunset, when the sinking sun darted forth
golden beams along the desert, lighting up the Pyramids, which appear in strong
relief & gilding the white hill that overtops Cairo, as well as with the citadel, mosques
& larger buildings of the city. The fertility of the banks of the Nile increased as we
neared the city, the belt of verdure being itself very broad & the wooded portion of
it on the immediate shores being also dense becoming more dense.. A few miles before
the town are Ali's country gardens & Palace of Shoobra, a very pretty but formally
arranged spot, loaded with Orange-trees, enclosed by clipped hedges of Myrtle,
Geranium, Hibiscus & other plants, in amongst gravel walks. Cairo is well situated,
occupying as it does the base of the spur of a long range of hills, which approach
the left bank of the Nile & upon whose slope the citadel is built. The Leicester
Square Panorama gives an admirable idea of it. I cannot remember whether
correct in details or no, but the tout ensemble whole idea of the thing is excellent. The
details of my first day's residence in Cairo I sent to Elizabeth During our stay in
Cairo I visited the Rhoda Gardens (Ali Pasha's) & on the whole I was disappointed
with them, from not previously appreciating the many obstacles Egypt presents to
the foundation of a real garden of exotics. It must be near the Nile, for the sake of
water, & there it must be flooded at one season & burnt up the next; a state of
things, to which few plants will subject accommodate themselves, & for whence which
reason it is that on the fertile banks of the Nile there is little or no native vegetation,
beyond annuals, & the majority of these are planted. Mr Traill received me very
cordially, he is well off & holds a high place, I believe, in the estimation of the
Pasha. He took me through a portion of the
[[4]] gardens, but in a very hurried manner, as I had to be back to the citadel, for
presentation to the Mehemet Ali; by 2 P.M. The quantity of plants introduced by
Traill is very great, & the whole garden betrays a evinces a vast amount of care &
skill, thrown away upon promising experiments & continued to more . The hedges
are of Myrtle, Geranium, Lawsonia, & sometimes of Parkinsonia aculeata, where
delicate green & feathery foliage is particularly beautiful. Rosemary sometimes
replaces the box Box with very good effect. In such a heterogenous assemblage of
out--door plants it is sufficient to seize on any prominent feature in the cultivation &
all I can do is to give you the above brief a list of the most striking plants to me, as these
were indicated by Mr Traill; for the climate has produced such an effect upon many
that they are with difficulty recognized without a prompter *1.
Aden December 19th
My dear Father; I must finish this at some other time as I have far too much to do
here to say half my say about Egypt. This is a wonderful place. Bleak blank &
barren. I have every plant I could see but scarce one in flower & such a set of
brittle scraps as you will never were disgusted with. This is the stink season of a
stink country: but a most interesting one to look at. Dr Malcolmson is most
unfortunately gone back to Bombay *2 for good & all & is now at Scinde. Those
bulbs I would have are not above ground & every thing but Capparis reseda & a
few other things are burnt up. There is no tree, or one plant however small to a
square acre of ground. We went to X *3 today at Aden about 5 minutes walk from the
W[est]. end of the Peninsula where the ships take in coal I have sent Ld Aucklands'
parcel of seed on to Bombay for Dr Malcolmson please tell him so with my
respects. Ld D is very poorly but a most amiable exuberant fellow. But love to all
yr ever af[fectionate] son J D Hooker [signature]
ENDNOTES
1. An annotation written in another hand states: "To another friend he writes about
the same time I have been extremely delighted &c, see next letter"
2. The city formerly known as Bombay is now called Mumbai
3. "X" probably indicates church, i.e. we went to church today
Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study
electronic image(s) of this document where possible.