Tuesday 5th April 1853

Immediately proceeding on deck I saw the lights in the distance, and very speedily, the boat was laid alongside of the pier or wharf, close to the stairs which lie alongside the stone wall. The place was lighted by torches, consisting of little chauffers fixed to the top of poles, and filled with burning wood. Without delay we left the boat and getting into an omnibus drove off to Cairo, a distance of one or two miles; there passing through the gate of the city were soon safely deposited in Shepheards hotel at about 4 o’clock in the morning.
There being some difficulty in getting a bed I contented myself with taking a tepid bath instead, and a cup of tea, and before 6 o’clock, when daylight had come, was ready to go out. I found that the hotel was situated in the outer part of the town, and before it was an avenue of fine trees leading out to the gardens and the country....

...At 9 o’clock we breakfasted and at that hour four of the desert vans started with our first lot of passengers The vans are plain but strongly built carriages on two wheels, carrying six inside,the door being at the back and the seats along the sides. There were no seats for outside passengers, but one in front for the coachman, who drives four horses or two horses and two mules. As our party was the fifth in order we belonged to the second lot of vans which was not to start till one o’clock. Having a mind then to see as much as we could, another passenger and I, with two ladies set off in a barouche to visit the Pacha’s gardens at Shoubra about 4 or 5 miles distant... As we proceeded we passed fields of corn and also sugar cane and other vegetables, and we also had a view of the pyramids in the distance. Near our journey’s end we found that we were very close to the river, which we had lost sight of since we left Boulaq. We now entered the gardens which we found very beautifully laid out abounding in a great variety of trees, shrubs and flowers many of the trees were very graceful in their forms...
...Greatly pleased with our visit to the garden at Schouba we returned to Cairo and as it was soon approaching the time of our own departure the ladies of our party remained in the hotel making preparations while my fellow passenger and I went out to visit the bazaars for the purpose of making purchases. These Bazaars are simply what we should call the best streets of shops; these were considerably better than any I had seen previously: time did not permit us to visit the Turkish Bazaar but we passed through a considerable line of streets and saw a number of pretty good shop are so numerous that there is a part called ;the French Bazaar  where we made some purchases  one of these shops  was very handsome and quite in the European style , but it would appear that the shopkeepers take it easy as at a druggists shop at which I called  the master  had gone to his dinner , and at a booksellers he had gone in the  same errand and had locked his door...

...Amongst the customs of the people one attracted my notice, namely, the manner of carrying children. The mode is to set the child astride on one shoulder with its face looking towards the head of the bearer, which the little creature clasps with its hands or leans its head upon...

...Very few females comparatively were seen on the streets and these generally covered by their veils,-thus the hood of the dress is brought down so as to be stretched across the forehead just above the eyes, and another portion of the robe is stretched across the face a little below them, a perpendicular strap in the middle between the two eyes connecting the upper and lower portions, leaving two triangular spaces to see through... Some women we saw unveiled, and some girls in full veil, apparently so young that their prudery appeared rather ridiculous.

I took notice of the general appearance of the people, and was rather surprised to see the almost universal look of intelligence characterising them; it appeared to me to be far more general than in our English population of the working and labouring classes, I do not recollect of having seen a single individual whom I would characterise as stupid, loutish or boorish, or to whom I could apply any stronger term than dull.Possibly the fact that they were accustomed  to see such a variety of people of all kinds might partly account for this, as I observed that the children on the streets took no notice of us, sometimes did not lift their eyes to look at us. The observation could not but suggest reflection in my mind respecting the comparative intellectual development of the Egyptians and our own people: from it alone we might draw conclusions the very reverse of the truth: but the fact is very suggestive, and very many things are to be taken into account in drawing comparisons. Instead of coming to conclusions it would perhaps be better to suggest questions, as for instance, how much is due to political institutions? How much to religious opinion, faith or superstition? And again how far are these dependant on the character and intelligence of the people? Or how far our influences from without?...

...The hotel at Cairo was much superior to that at Alexandria, though deficient in our European ideas of comfort, the apartments being large but bare looking in many cases. We now left it for our journey across the desert. Our party consisting of six and the baby with carpet bags, shawls, plaids. It made a very tight fit into the van which started with us at 1 o'clock... Away we drove passing for a short time through cultivated country, but very soon reached the desert. The sky was clear and there was a gentle breeze which moderated the heat... After driving on at a rapid pace for about five miles we stopped to change horses at a station at which the horses were standing ready arranged along a rope lying on the ground to which each horse was attached by means of a short rope fastened round its fetlock. The ostlers who were Arabs, generally with little other clothing than a kind of shirt quickly removed the horses from the vans and yoked the fresh ones, and off we went again immediately... The whole journey from Cairo to Suez extends to about 84 miles and is divided into four principal divisions, each of these being again divided into 4 stages, so that there are 16 stages in all. At the end of each 4 stages is a station house at which the passengers come out for rest and refreshment, the table being ready spread for that purpose with meat, fowls, eggs, bread etc and in the evening tea and coffee also may be had.Wines and malt liquors can also be procured by paying for them, some of them however being rather costly- ale for instance, or porter 2/- per bottle. Fowls were a prominent feature in these repasts, but their flesh was very dry and hard.In other respects the provender was in some things pretty good, in others indifferent but on the whole not amiss in the circumstances.
We arrived at the first of the stations at about 3o'clock... we reached the second or central station shortly after sunset when it was beginning to get dark, between 7 and 8 o’clock where we stopped about an hour and a half...

...The desert is a great plain, but by no means an unbroken level; sometimes we meet with pretty extensive portions with perfectly level surface, but much more generally this undulated, and sometimes there are ridges of low hills; the plains rise towards the centre and declines again towards Suez...

The journey was far from comfortable, the air becoming cool as night advanced, and the window shutters being very troublesome to adjust properly, the means of fastening them not being very perfect and some of the occupants of our van suffering considerably from the discomfort. However in due time we reached the third station and though our progress was retarded considerably by frequent stoppages from the vans losing their way, at length, when the first dawn was beginning to appear, we drew up at the hotel at Suez.






The full journal will soon be published by Annet House Museum, Linlithgow. Waldie's journey to India forms key feature of the museum's Waldie exhibition.