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Steam Boat Hydarsse yet on
the Mediterranean Saturday 10 September
My dear Fanny There is not a breath of air in
the deep. The cabin windows are darkened by
awnings, so that it tires my old eyes to write at all.
I must therefore be short to day. It is an ill wind
that blows nobody any good. Bad steering but
not ^bad^ winds however brought us yes[ te ] rday in sight
of Upper Lybia which was as strange to the
captain and crew as to me. I account it a hand
of good fortune to have seen that desolate region
of mingled mountains and Desert. Since last eve-
ning we have corrected our pilotage and even
now coasting so far North that the land is lost.
Tomorrow morning at daylight we reach Alexandria.
I land there and go up the Nile to see the
Sphinx and the Pyramids. Then I return to
Alexandria – and pursue my way to Jaffa
from which point I shall go across the Country
to Jerusalem and other places in the Holy Lands
This done I shall proceed to Constantinople
and after a short stay there begin my long

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journey homeward. I am now in a country
very distant from you and where traveling being
uncertain and the mails very irregular. It
must excite no apprehension if two or three
or even four weeks intervene between letters. Let
it assure your mother and yourself that I am
quite well, [ and ] that the countries through which
I am to jour[ ney ] are reported now entirely healthy
The weather is very hot, but September is advancing
and the nights generally are very comfortable
This letter will be mailed at Alexandria
and will announce my arrival there. I proceed
without delay then to Cairo, from which place
I will write, but it is far inland and a fort-
night on my way deeper before your receiving
letter –
Ever your affectionate father
William H Seward.