No. 521.
Mr. Farman
to Mr. Evarts.
Cairo, February 12, 1878. (Received March. 8.)
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that General Grant arrived at Alexandria, Egypt, on the 5th day of January, in the United States [Page 916] ship Vandalia, accompanied by Mrs. Grant, his son, and J. Russell Young.
He was received in that city with the same honors that are paid to royal personages, and throughout Egypt with the consideration due to his personal renown and the high official position he had occupied; and the demonstrations of the people at his every appearance unmistakably showed feelings of the greatest respect for our distinguished soldier and citizen.
The Khedive had frequently inquired as to the time of the general’s arrival, and requested me to tender him his hospitalities, expressing the hope that they would be accepted. I complied with the wish of His Highness, and the general consented to be his guest while in Egypt. Special trains were furnished him for his railroad excursions, and steamers for the voyage of the Nile and the passage through the Suez Canal, and a palace on the Choubra road called “Kazrel Nuzha,” literally, “Little Palace of Pleasure,” was assigned for his residence while at Cairo.
He ascended the Nile to the first cataract, 600 miles, visiting Sakkara I (ancient Memphis), Minieh, the principal place in the district of the Khedive’s sugar plantations, Assiout, Abydos, the temple of Dendera, the ruins and tombs of the kings at ancient Thebes, the temple at Edfoo, and the quarries and ruins in the vicinity of the cataract. He was absent from Cairo eighteen days, and was much pleased with the trip and astonished at the grandeur and extent of the ruins of Upper Egypt.
Having visited the principal objects of interest in the vicinity of Cairo, he went by the railway to Suez, and thence through the canal to Port Said, where he arrived on Saturday last, the 9th instant, and immediately embarked on board the Vandalia, and after receiving the visits of the governor and canal officials, sailed for Jaffa.
The Vandalia, having disembarked him and his family at that place, returned yesterday to Port Said, to remain while he visited Jerusalem.
The night before the general’s final departure from Cairo, the Khedive gave a dinner in his honor at his palace Abdin. There were sixty person present The dinner could not be given before the excursion up the Nile on account of the court being in mourning for King Victor Emanuel.
The general Land his family expressed themselves highly pleased with the visit to Egypt and the kindly and courteous manner in which they were everywhere received.
Hoping that I have, in compliance with your instructions as well as my own wishes, added in some degree to the pleasure of the general during his sojourn in this ancient and interesting country,
I have, & c.,