Random Recollections Of Foreign Travel.

RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS OF FOREIGN TRAVEL .

BY BRO . , T . C . PARKINSON , J . P . P . G . D . and P . D . P . G . M . Middlesex , 31 ° Ancient and Accepted Rite ; Past Grand Warden , Mark Degree ; Great Prior ' s Banner Bearer , Order of the Temple ; Grand Examiner , Red Cross of Constantino , etc ., etc .

A FEW days ago I was gratified by the receipt of a letter I am about to quote , a letter which revived pleasant memories bearing on the universality of the Craft . My correspondent , a Bombay Parsee , acted as my private secretary on board the " Great Eastern " steam ship in the early

part of the year 1870 , when I was engaged in observing and recording the incidents connected with the laying of the Submarine Telegraph Cable between India and Europe . Only yesterday morning , the 6 th of this present October , 1875 , I passed a window in Leadenhall Street , a little after 2 p . m ., and saw recorded the hours at which the

most recent messages had been received from Calcutta and Bombay , and noted that they were dated only some twenty minutes before , The sight stimulated my belief that a Masonic introduction to my friend Sorabjee ivould not be unacceptable to the readers of this Magazineand reminded

, me , alas ! that in spite of the faithful promise I made its Editor a month ago , not one word of the article he is properly counting on has so far been committed to paper by me . Permit me then without further

circumlocution , to state the circumstances which led to my knowing my friend Sorabjee . In October 1869 , 1 was honoured by an invitation from the Khedive to visit Egypt as the guest of his Highness , and to participate in the festivities connected with the opening

of the Suez Canal . My autograph book contains the documents signed " Nubar , " and sealed by the Egyptian Government , which were my passports , over railway and through palaces , during the memorable eight weeks I enjoyed in E 3 > t . Who

gp that bore part in it can ever forget the scene on the yellow sands of Port Said , where there were three temples or altars erected , from which the professors of three forms of religion offered up publicly iieir praise and thanksgiving to the Most High ' .

The queen of the hour was the Empress Eugenic . Beneath a gorgeous canopy in a state pavilion facing the bright blue Mediterranean , she sat with the Emperor of Austria , the Crown Prince of Prussia ( who , not being an actually crowned head ,

was thought to be kept rather in the background throughout the celebration , and to have displayed annoyance thereat ) ; Sir Henry Elliot , as the representative of Great Britain , the Queen of Holland ( I think ) , and other illustrious personages of greater

or less note . Facing these were three temples also erected specially for the occasion on the Mediterranean sands , and between the temples and pavilion stood a brilliant throng of naval and military officers of all nations , in full uniform , together with

civil engineers of the Staff Corps , gay in scarlet and cocks' feathers , deputylieutenants looking like field-marshals at the very least , foremost among whom was Lord Houghton , the " Dicky Milnes " of London society forty years agothe " Cool

, of the Evening" of Sydney Smith , but here in full cosmopolitan glory as the author of tho exquisite poems on Eastern Life , "Palm Leaves , " in ivhich is the very

best description of a Mohammedan mosque which has ever appeared in print . The only other English peer present was the Earl of Dudley and Ward , who was conspicuous by the absence of uniform , and for the conventional black " stove pipe " hatand ordinary blue cloth frock coat he

, wore throughout the proceedings . Listen there is the tinkling of tiny bells , and a smell of incense mingles with the sea air . There is a stir , too , in the Greek Church pavilion , and the georgeously dressed ecclesiastics are in motion . Little

boys in surplices and gaudy millinery pass up and doivn the altar steps , the priests make their obeisances before the altar , and all present join in spirit with the service carried on . This over , and the Mohammedan Mollahs risetheir turbans of sacred green

, bespeaking their rank as patriarchs Avho have made the Mecca pilgrimage , aud with a simplicity which is very impressive after the genuflexions of the Greek priests , proceed with their worship . This consists of reading or reciting passages from the

Koran , and bowing reverentially in the direction of Mecca—thanks and praise being thus rendered to the Great God ivho had permitted the mighty enterprise which