The ancient Arsinoe
stood here; a few blocks of marble with the cross attest the
presence of Venetian Christians; but now - the desolation of
desolations. Mr. Liddell and I separated from the rest, and when
we had found a sure bay for the cable, had a tremendous lively
scramble back to the boat. These are the bits of our life which I
enjoy, which have some poetry, some grandeur in them.
'May 29 (?).
'Yesterday we ran round to the new harbour [of Alexandria], landed
the shore end of the cable close to Cleopatra's bath, and made a
very satisfactory start about one in the afternoon. We had
scarcely gone 200 yards when I noticed that the cable ceased to run
out, and I wondered why the ship had stopped. People ran aft to
tell me not to put such a strain on the cable; I answered
indignantly that there was no strain; and suddenly it broke on
every one in the ship at once that we were aground. Here was a
nice mess. A violent scirocco blew from the land; making one's
skin feel as if it belonged to some one else and didn't fit, making
the horizon dim and yellow with fine sand, oppressing every sense
and raising the thermometer 20 degrees in an hour, but making calm
water round us which enabled the ship to lie for the time in
safety.
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