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27 u chapter three E gypt, Greece, and Italy, 1895 In the winter of 1895 Lizzie was traveling with her sister Carrie, a friend, Oliver, and an in-law, Mary Jane Brinton.1 Her party was headed to Cairo, Luxor, Athens, Trieste, and Rome. Her journal and letters from that trip were full of enthusiasm for the sights. But she worried about Eckley when he was away on a trip to see the temple at Abu Simbel. She was proud of his ingenuity in avoiding the strike of cab drivers in Athens. She was admiring of his good looks as he dressed for a fancy ball at the Khedive’s palace. Eck was her constant companion and closest friend. They traveled on the Rameses, one of the steamships in the Cook Nile Service fleet.2 Lizzie 1. The exact relationship between Lizzie Coxe and Mary Jane Brinton is not known, but since Charles Brinton Coxe’s mother was a Brinton, it is believed that Mary Jane was a young niece or cousin through marriage. 2. “The itineraries of these steamers are planned in the special interest of sightseers , and for travelers of a social and gregarious disposition there can be no more comfortable and luxurious method of doing the temples and ruins of Upper Egypt. One of the fine saloon steamers of Messrs. Cook leaves Cairo every Tuesday at 10 a.m. For a twenty days’ voyage to Luxor and Assouan and back the fare, which includes all expenses, board, conveyance to or from the temples, backsheesh, service of dragoman, medical attendance . . . is 50 pounds. . . . The famous triad of Rameses steamers are reserved for the regular service. These saloon steamers are perhaps the most luxurious and best appointed river steamers in the world. They are, however, apt to be very crowded—the most popular vessel, Rameses the Great, having had every berth taken during the last six seasons.”The steamships were 220 feet long, had steel hulls and 500-horsepower engines, bathrooms with hot and cold water, electricity, ice machines, reading saloons, and an English doctor to accompany each vessel (E. A. Reynolds-Ball, Cairo of To-Day: A Practical Guide to Cairo and its Environs [London: Adam and Charles Black, 1899], 170–71). 28 Tales from the Grand Tour enjoyed the cool breezes of the Nile and remained on-board when she was not feeling up to traveling over desert sands. The trip ended at Shepheard’s Hotel in Cairo, a watering spot for British and American visitors to Egypt. Following is Lizzie’s journal entry for this trip. It is untitled. There were many interesting people on board, and we found it a comfortable way of traveling. Each of us had our own stateroom, containing every comfort, electric lights and screens, and the most deft and well trained Arab stewards in their long white gowns, red sashes and fezzes to wait upon us. The big salons and spaces for sitting on deck on all sides were charming, and the meals were generally excellent, especially the Greek pastry cooks’ desserts. Of course we got rather tired of the goat meat they called “mutton,” and the skinny pigeons, that shortly before they were cooked had been flying around the mosques and the Cross and Blackwell’s tinned butter, but that mattered little. After dinner every evening, Raschad, our magnificently dressed Arab dragoman, clapped his hands and walked between the tables, giving us the program of where we would stop and what we would see the next day; and entreating us not to get off the boat in the morning until he had arranged for the donkeys for our party.3 We tied up to the bank near some village every night, and the fragrance of the sweet bean flowers, the creaking of the sakiyeh wheels, and the sad but enchanting songs of the Arabs filled the nights. The most exciting scene always when we stopped to visit some old temple or town was when Raschad and Mohammed, a huge black assistant dragoman, went on shore and looked over all the donkeys that had been brought down for the party.4 The transaction was guarded by the 3. As Lizzie noted, a dragoman, or Arab guide, was essential to any visiting party.“In Murray’s Guide a useful list of well-recommended dragomans is given.” One expected a dragoman to make all arrangements. For example: “No doubt the most satisfactory way of visiting the great Pyramid Field . . . is to devote...

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