Diary of a trip on the Nile River, 1874-1875.

urged us to do so. Drove in the opposite direction to see where Lord Brougham had lived. Walked in the afternoon. Old town very narrow & dirty. Went into Market just as they were removing the booths. Peaches, chestnuts, pears grapes, tomatoes beans &c. There is a factory of pottery here fine shapes, coarse ware, attempts at Etruscan, cheap. Saw men driving piles. Twelve men pulled ropes to lift - a heavy arrangement of iron & stone, & then let it fall upon the pile. Dreadful labor. Charming [sern?] Two months away from home today.

Oct. 23 Friday Left Cannes towards noon & should have been at Nice in an hour. Train about a half hour behind time & then a long detention in leaving station at Nice. Hotel de France, considered best cuisine in Nice, front rooms, lovely southern exposure. Walked about, - promenades Anglais, bridges over the Piglione, looked in at the Chauvain.

Oct. 24 Saturday - No letters. C. took me up stairs at the Chauvain & showed me the room occupied four years ago &c. Soon after noon went by rail three quarters of an hour to Monaco, in omnibus up the hill to the palace. Built around a hollow square, the arcades of which have tawdry frescoes of

of [blank space] century, some represent the labours of Hercules from whom Monaco is said to date. A fine marble [stoop?] going up both ways. The appartments tasteful, the floors marble of the ordinary [pachy?] colored coarse mosaics so much used in Italy, - poor portrait of family conections, some reigning in Austria, Bavaria &c. Fine bedroom where the Duke of York, brother to George the third died. The view from the windows much interesting. The garden is charming [tuassed?] on the slope of the hill, carefully laid out with the tropical vegetation to which we are becoming quite accustomed. A ten minute drive or less to Monte Carlo. We entered the casino, directly opposite the entrance a fine concert was going on in a large hall. The audience only about twenty five persons. Towards our right was a beautiful reading room in a rather Pompeian style of decoration - abundantly supplied with papers. Turning back to the left crossing a richly decorated room where no one was sitting to one still riches in something of a Moorish style when were the gambling tables - about sixty persons were sitting at them playing of whom ten were women. There might have been thirty or more looking on. Outside are gardens beautifully laid out & an excellent hotel, also a restaurant. Were back

at Nice by 5.30. The shop keepers do not find enough visitors yet for them to open their shop. Many have the shutters still closed.

Oct. 25 - Sunday. Drove to [Cimies? Cimiez]. Arrived there the road runs directly through the remains of a Roman amphitheatre continued to the church built on the site of a temple of Diana. Peeked into the cloisters of Franciscan convent adjoining. Went into cemetery. In the centre was a fine monument to an English lady. In front of the church are several magnificient trees “Chênes Verts”- Several hundred years old. Returned by way of Carabacel ( a part of Nice further removed from the sea). There seemed to be a great many villas, some of them very fine. Drove the whole length of promenade Anglais, very pretty, it took about 8 minutes. Saw Dr. [Doctor] Crosby & wife in front of his house there. Drove over bridge to the old town & got out and walked about some of the narrow streets & market places. Stepped into a house that looked finer than the rest, it had belonged to a noble family; but no[w] to some one else & seemed used in part as a sort of tenement house. After lunch went to the English church but had made a mistake in the hour of service. The church is very pretty, & neat stained glass windows, font near the door. The grave yard between the church and the street.

In the afternoon went over to the park to hear the music, partly with the hope of seeing M. Thiers who had just arrived. Drove to the old chateau, charming view, Nice lying below, and the dry bed of the torrent distinctly dividing the old & new towns a amphitheatre of hills surrounding it except where the Mediterranean stretches. Many villas on the hill sides. In front of our hotel, the date palm & Eucalyptus alternate. It is only about ten years since the first Eycalyptus were planted here & they are large trees. They seem to have leaves of two distincally different shapes, or perhaps they change in shape as the tree grows older. It only grows between Marsailles [Marseilles] & Genoa. The bark is smooth but peels of[f] even quite [cut?] on the branches giving it a ragged appearance. The pepper trees here are very pretty with their fine foliage & bright peppers hanging down. [Mosquito?] nets which began at Cannes still continue. Waiters and some of the visitors look as if in early shages of small pox.

Oct. 26. Monday - Vetterino & four horses at 8 1/2 a.m. - crossed the Pallion & directly the road began to ascend, fine views over Nice & its hills, seemed to follow the Pallion which is banked up for many miles & perfectly dry up here. The Mediterranean & its coast seam spread as a map below us -

counted fifty sails in sight at once. This coast is full of charming bays. Our departure by vetturino seemed to create some excitement among the passersby at Nice. Before we were fairly out of the city our leaders turned right round to look in the carriage window they had not been used in this way before; but afterwards went well ; we kept them about two hours. Up on our left we could see the snowy points of the Col de Lende (of the Maritime Alps) & the distant hills looked bleak, though those near we could see were often terraced to the top & planted with the vine, the fig & olive. We looked down of [on] Villefranche with its beautiful bay where our squadron wintered four years ago, then came the long projecting peninuslar of Ospizio with its lighthouse. Soon we looked down on the high isolated hill of Ese with its ruin of what must have been a fedual castle, & houses all about on the ride towards the sea. A real robber stronghold. Had a grand view of Monaco, & Monte Carlo. Passed through the village of Roccabruna, built on (Murray says) Eocene breccia, great masses of which are standing in among the houses. A very romantic place.