Two or three miles from Cairo, approached by an avenue of sycamores, is
Shubra, a favourite residence of the Pasha of Egypt. The palace, on the
banks of the Nile, is not remarkable for its size or splendour, but the
gardens are extensive and beautiful, and adorned by a Kiosk, which is
one of the most elegant and fanciful creations I can remember.

Emerging from fragrant bowers of orange trees, you suddenly perceive
before you, tall and glittering gates rising from a noble range of
marble steps. These you ascend, and entering, find yourself in a large
quadrangular colonnade of white marble. It surrounds a small lake,
studded by three or four gaudy barques fastened to the land by silken
cords. The colonnade terminates towards the water by a very noble marble
balustrade, the top of which is covered with groups of various kinds of
fish in high relief. At each angle of the colonnade, the balustrade
gives way to a flight of steps which are guarded by crocodiles of
immense size, admirably sculptured and all in white marble. On the
farther side, the colonnade opens into a great number of very brilliant
banqueting-rooms, which you enter by withdrawing curtains of scarlet
cloth, a colour vividly contrasting with the white shining marble of
which the whole Kiosk is formed. It is a favourite diversion of the
Pasha himself to row some favourite Circassians in one of the barques
and to overset his precious freight in the midst of the lake. As his
Highness piques himself upon wearing a caftan of calico, and a juba or
exterior robe of coarse cloth, a ducking has not for him the same
terrors it would offer to a less eccentric Osmanlee. The fair
Circassians shrieking with their streaming hair and dripping finery, the
Nubian eunuchs rushing to their aid, plunging into the water from the
balustrade, or dashing down the marble steps,--all this forms an
agreeable relaxation after the labours of the Divan.