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EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
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 A volume of light verse. 
 
EGYPT 
 
 AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 BY 
 
 E. L. BUTCHER 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 THE STORY OF THE CHURCH OF EGYPT" "THINGS SEEN IN EGYPT* 
 
 "the sound of a VOICE THAT IS STILT." 
 
 ETC. ETC. 
 
 MILLS & BOON, LIMITED 
 
 49 RUPERT STREET 
 
 LONDON, W. 
 
 ^'l.y^J 
 
TO THE DEAR MEMORY 
 
 OF HIM WHO MADE CHURCH HOUSE AND GARDEN 
 
 A PLACE OF REST AND REFRESHMENT FOR 
 
 ALL HIS FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN 
 
 ^uHished igrr 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 DT70 
 
 679 
 
 CHAP 
 I. 
 
 Before the Occupation 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 1 
 
 II. 
 
 The End of the Old Rj^gime 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 III. 
 
 Concerning Robbers 
 
 
 
 
 . 27 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Events . 
 
 
 
 
 41 
 
 V. 
 
 Cholera Stories 
 
 
 
 
 49 
 
 VI. 
 
 Abu Sefayn . 
 
 
 
 
 65 
 
 VII. 
 
 An Egyptian Christening 
 
 
 
 
 79 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The Betrothal op Sophia. 
 
 
 
 
 89 
 
 IX. 
 
 Miriam's Wedding . 
 
 
 
 
 101 
 
 X. 
 
 An Egyptian Fair . 
 
 
 
 
 113 
 
 XL 
 
 A Parson of All Work 
 
 
 
 
 147 
 
 XII. 
 
 Mixed Marriages . 
 
 
 
 
 167 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Some Egyptian Stories 
 
 
 
 
 181 
 
 XIV. 
 
 The Little Old Lady 
 
 
 
 193 
 
 XV. 
 
 English Flowers in an Er. 
 
 ^yptian 
 
 Gard] 
 
 EN 
 
 207 
 
 mSIOOSO 
 
I 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 An Egyptian Garden 
 
 The Peasant of Ismail's Time 
 
 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 FACINQ PAOK 
 
 19 
 
 The Old Octroi Market 
 
 
 
 
 . 43 
 
 Orange Sellers 
 
 
 
 
 . 51 
 
 A Townswoman 
 
 
 
 
 . 67 
 
 A Country- Woman 
 
 
 
 
 . 81 
 
 The Citadel 
 
 
 
 
 . 93 
 
 Miriam 
 
 
 
 
 . 103 
 
 A Palm Grove 
 
 
 
 
 . 115 
 
 An Egyptian Village 
 
 
 
 
 . 129 
 
 The Dean . 
 
 
 
 
 . 149 
 
 The Sanctuary 
 
 
 
 
 . 169 
 
 The Choir . 
 
 
 
 
 . 177 
 
 A Slave 
 
 
 
 
 . 195 
 
 A Day that is Dead 
 
 
 
 
 . 211 
 
 vu 
 
I 
 
 BEFORE THE OCCUPATION 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 BEFORE THE OCCUPATION 
 
 There seems some excuse for writing down 
 some personal experiences of the last thirty 
 years when they have been spent in Egypt 
 during the time of its great transformation. 
 Those of us who knew Egypt in the days of 
 Ismail, may well talk of old times, though 
 not exactly from an Egyptian point of view. 
 In Egypt a century is of no account, and 
 nothing that took place after the great event 
 of the Christian world, the birth of our Lord, 
 is allowed as ancient. I remember more than 
 twenty-five years ago approaching the town 
 and temple of Denderah for the first time 
 in company with two friends. One of them 
 was reading up the subject and remarked in 
 an injured tone, *'Why this temple isn't old 
 at all, it only dates from the time of our Lord" 
 But that is one of the unexpected ways of 
 Egypt, after sleeping for four or five centuries 
 
4 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 she will suddenly wake up and proceed to make 
 history at such a rate that a quarter of a century 
 will give her chronicler material for a volume. 
 There is more diflference, I venture to say, 
 between the Egypt of Abbas and of Ismail, 
 than between the days of Ismail Pasha in 1865 
 and the days of David Pasha in 1545. 
 
 Both of us came first to Cairo in the days of 
 Ismail, though the Dean only passed through it 
 then on his way to China. I landed in Egypt in 
 February 1878, in response to a telegram from 
 my eldest brother, who had offered to make a 
 home for me in a climate which might — and did 
 — do me a great deal of good. He had just been 
 appointed Director- General of the Egyptian 
 Telegraphs, though only twenty-five years of 
 age; but he had already spent nearly eight 
 years in the Persian Gulf, and had done a good 
 deal of exploring on his own account in the 
 interior of Asia. I was as ignorant as most 
 English people of Egypt in those days. I had 
 read the books by Sir Samuel Baker, a good deal 
 about Gordon, who was then trying to save the 
 Soudan, and one or two other books ; but of 
 Cairo I knew so little that I pictured it to my- 
 self a purely native city, with perhaps some 
 twenty European residents. I was quite pre- 
 
BEFORE THE OCCUPATION 5 
 
 pared to do most of the housework myself, 
 though I did not at all like the idea. To my 
 amazement, we stepped out of a ramshackle 
 railway station into a spacious well-lighted town 
 which reminded me of Paris ; we were driven 
 away in a carriage and pair to a large stone 
 house, and ushered into a room with a bright 
 English fire blazing on the hearth, and a butler 
 in orthodox costume putting the finishing 
 touches to a charming little dinner-table, covered 
 with La France roses ! It took me some time 
 to realise how superficial was the French polish, 
 and how thin a plank separated this gay foreign 
 civilisation from the dumb misery of a half- 
 starved people. 
 
 The stone house in which we lived stood out- 
 side Cairo in a pleasant garden of its own. All 
 around stretched great wastes of desert ground, 
 almost opposite was the New Hotel, and the 
 nearest houses were half a dozen villas on the 
 way to the Nile. That house still exists*. Its 
 upper story is now the Pension Tewfik, and it 
 stands in a solid street of shops and ofiices. A 
 diagonal pathway, worn by native feet, led 
 across the desert in front of our house to the 
 bridge over the canal and the road for Boulak, 
 a separate native town then, along the banks of 
 
6 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 the Nile. In the midst of this waste sat a native 
 fakir, who lifted his voice all day in an appeal to 
 Allah for the charity of the passers-by. At one 
 corner of the waste stood the recently erected 
 English church, not even railed in, so that the 
 pariah dogs slept on its very threshold. An 
 English clergyman came out for the three winter 
 months. What his "parish" consisted of then 
 I do not know, but the number of English 
 residents was very small. The church was built 
 for, and almost entirely occupied by, tourists. 
 
 To be an Englishman at the head of a Govern- 
 ment department in those days, was to occupy 
 a position something like that of a great English 
 lord of the manor in medieval times. Our power 
 over the natives stopped short of life and death. 
 We could put people into prison, keep them 
 there for years, or take them out again, at our 
 will and pleasure, without inquiry or formality of 
 any kind. When I first went to the Pyramids, 
 with but one companion, I found two sheep 
 being roasted whole over a fire in the desert to 
 furnish our luncheon. When we travelled it 
 was in a special train, and, according to our 
 rank, provision for so many "wives" must be 
 made to accompany us. My brother, I found, 
 was entitled to eight " harem " on his train, all 
 
BEFORE THE OCCUPATION 7 
 
 of whom I represented in my own person. Once 
 when we woke up in the morning at a desert 
 station we found four specials waiting for our 
 orders. It happened in this wise. 
 
 We started on a journey of inspection at six 
 o'clock one morning, and drove to Boulak da 
 Krur. For at that time Boulak da Krur was 
 the nearest station where you could touch the 
 line to Assiout — it went no farther south — or in 
 the other direction to Tel el-Baroud, where it 
 joined the main line to Alexandria. It was to 
 Tel el-Baroud that we were bound, and our 
 journey was for the most part through desert, 
 but you could generally see the distant fringe 
 of green which marked the course of the Nile. 
 The fresh water canal, by the side of which the 
 line passes for a considerable distance, did not 
 at that time produce even the thinnest line of 
 vegetable life along the water's edge. Now, 
 thanks to my brother, the line runs through 
 miles of plantations, producing telegraph poles 
 and a particularly valuable fibre. Then, owing 
 to the loose and crumbling sand, it needed to 
 be constantly cleaned out ; and some way from 
 Cairo we passed a band of several thousand 
 fellahs engaged in that work. It was curious 
 to see them swarming like ants in the distance. 
 
8 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 for they spread thickly over a mile or two of 
 the way. They were a wild-looking and open- 
 mouthed multitude, in rags more or less pictur- 
 esque, as they paused in their slow going to and 
 fro with baskets of sand to watch us go by. 
 They had no tools, only these baskets, which 
 they filled down by the water s edge and carried 
 up to empty on the top of the bank. A dreary 
 dawdling kind of work it seemed, much as if 
 they had tried to ladle out the water with tea- 
 spoons. They were presided over by patriarchal- 
 looking old men with long flowing robes, white 
 turbans, and thick sticks. This was the *' corvde," 
 a system which we have long since abolished. 
 At one station we all got out and strolled round 
 in the sunshine to inspect the one tree in the 
 place, by an old water-wheel still in use, though 
 a steam pump had been provided close by and 
 apparently never worked. Here the land was 
 no longer desert, but stretched away on either 
 hand in a flat, green plain, covered with heavy 
 crops of beans, wheat, and barley. The native 
 villages were not half so unpicturesque as I 
 imagined they would be. It is true they are 
 merely built of dried mud with flat roofs ; but 
 they have a way of piling the housed one above 
 another on the rising ground, so that the 
 
BEFORE THE OCCUPATION 9 
 
 straight lines and small round pigeon-towers are 
 decidedly effective when relieved by a back- 
 ground of blue sky, and surmounted by the 
 straight stems and feathery crowns of the 
 palms. 
 
 By and by we reached Baroud, the limit of 
 our day's inspection. I sat in the station and 
 took a sketch of what could be seen through 
 the arches while E. was busy, and then we went 
 out and wandered about the country. As soon 
 as we could, we started on our return journey. 
 E. wanted to get back in time for a Board Meet- 
 ing the same afternoon, so we went along rather 
 fast, though when we got into the desert again 
 a strong wind was blowing the sand across the 
 line and piling it up in great drifts against the 
 few obstacles it encountered. 
 
 It was the sand which drove us off the line. 
 We had been shaking badly for some time, it 
 was very hot, and we were all silent and sleepy 
 when the shaking increased violently, there was 
 a plunge forward, a crash, and E., Mohammed, 
 Ghulamshah and I found ourselves all mixed up 
 in a heap. We were all extracted from the 
 carriage, but I soon came back again to sit inside 
 it, though at a curious angle, as nothing could 
 be done but send off messengers to the nearest 
 
10 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 station — seven miles — to telegraph and wait for 
 help. After sketching I tried to write a letter, 
 and when driven by wind and sand and noise to 
 desist, I solaced myself by reading Latimer's 
 Sermon of the Ploughers, and studying the 
 features of the scene. 
 
 It was two o'clock when we broke down, and 
 we waited till it grew dark without any change 
 in the position of affairs. It grew also very 
 cold, and as I had expected to be home in the 
 heat of the day, I had nothing except a thin 
 cloak to put over my muslin dress, and had to 
 take one of E.'s rugs. It was impossible to keep 
 the wind out of the carriage, as the jar had 
 shaken the windows, so that they did not fit 
 properly. We had candles fortunately, and out- 
 side the Arabs lighted a fire on the sand and 
 cowered round it. 
 
 No one came, and we began to think we 
 were abandoned in the desert for good, but 
 we afterwards heard that they had been busy 
 enough about us at both ends of the line. On 
 hearing the news by telegram, two specials 
 were dispatched, one after another, from 
 Alexandria ; while at Boulak, when they at 
 length heard of our accident, one of the clerks 
 got an engine and started off to our rescue. But 
 
BEFORE THE OCCUPATION 11 
 
 as we had effectually blocked the desert line he 
 had to go up the main line to Baroud and come 
 down again. Meanwhile we poor creatures were 
 rbused into life about half-past eight by the 
 welcome sound of a train whistle, and beheld the 
 lights of the first Alexandrian engine, which had 
 taken all this time to get down to us. It had 
 only a second-class carriage attached of an 
 antediluvian character — much worse than an 
 English third, and with no glass in any of the 
 windows. Altogether, as we could not get home 
 without going up to Baroud and down the main 
 line, which would have taken us half the night, 
 E. decided that we had better pass the night at 
 the station next on the way to Tel el-Baroud. 
 So we stopped there and got out in a scene of 
 wild confusion. Every one stood round with 
 lanterns and all vociferated together in Arabic. 
 E. explained to me that they wanted me to 
 go into the stationmaster's harem instead of 
 passing the night in the waiting-room. I agreed, 
 glad of the new experience, for this was a little 
 out-of-the-way desert station without even a 
 village near it. 
 
 The stationmaster, a fussy little man with a 
 shawl tied round his neck, immediately led me 
 up a rough stone staircase and battered furiously 
 
12 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 at a wooden door, shoutiog something in Arabic. 
 A woman opened the door with many exclama- 
 tions, and we came into what I suppose was a 
 kind of hall, as it was destitute of all furniture. 
 The harem consisted of four rooms all opening 
 into one another. In the second there was a 
 broad divan running half round the room and 
 a bedstead. Almost the only other thing in the 
 room was a brazier full of charcoal, which stood 
 on the floor in one corner. By the side of the 
 bed a little carpet was spread out, and upon it 
 a woman was saying her prayers in Oriental 
 fashion. She did not look round or appear in 
 any way conscious of the entrance of an English 
 stranger, though I suppose such an event could 
 never have happened before in her life. I waited 
 till her prayers were finished, when she came 
 forward and greeted me. We could not of 
 course speak to each other, as neither she nor 
 any of the rest could speak any European 
 language, and I knew exactly five words of 
 Arabic, none of which suited the present 
 emergency. By and by the stationmaster came 
 back again and took me into room No. 3, where 
 I was again seated on a divan, and through the 
 open door of No. 4 could see another woman 
 bustling about with bedclothes, and evidently 
 
BEFORE THE OCCUPATION 13 
 
 preparing her own bed for me. Meanwhile the 
 stationmaster was bundling up and down stairs 
 with quilts, etc., for E.'s comfort. I observed 
 that he never came into the inner rooms 
 without leaving his shoes on the threshold of 
 No. 3. 
 
 After a little time they had completed all 
 possible preparations in my honour, and the 
 master, nerving himself for a final effort, came 
 up to me, scrabbled at his own mouth with his 
 hand and ejaculated the beautiful French 
 sentence, *' Mungey ? Mungey ? " I politely 
 declined and spoke to him in French, but it was 
 a failure. Evidently he had exhausted all the 
 resources of his learning in that direction, so he 
 only led, me to the door of No. 4, and signed to 
 me to enter. 
 
 This room was smaller, and contained two 
 beds, one had been made up on the floor and 
 the other spread with a clean quilt for me. 
 Both had mosquito curtains of native muslin. 
 Under the bed I perceived the family store of 
 bread piled upon the floor ; there were also some 
 boxes in one corner filled with wearing apparel, 
 and a lamp in the window-sill. Here I found 
 a very pretty little woman very anxious to be 
 friendly and talkative ; but neither of us 
 
14 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 managed to make out much of what the other 
 wished to say. As soon as the women dis- 
 appeared, I seized the opportunity to get out of 
 the bed into which they had insisted on my 
 climbing just as I was, and took off my boots 
 and out-of-door things. At this juncture they 
 both reappeared, and seeing my stockinged feet 
 upon the carpet the little woman immediately 
 dived down to the bottom of one of her boxes, 
 and produced a pair of new slippers carefully 
 packed in paper, which she gave me to put on. 
 Then they led me to the toilette table in the 
 next room and pointed out to me with great 
 pride a veritable watchpocket nailed upon the 
 wall. As, however, I happened to have left my 
 watch at home, I could not gratify them by 
 making use of it, and soon retreated to my bed 
 again. In a few minutes I found them on their 
 knees again outside my curtains, through which 
 they poked up to me tiny cups of a liquid which 
 I think was meant for tea, made in a coffee-pot. 
 After this they retired, but I heard them chatter- 
 ing and laughing together in the outer room for 
 a long time before my pretty friend came in 
 and got into the other bed. I pretended then 
 to be asleep — not that I did sleep much that 
 night. 
 
BEFORE THE OCCUPATION 15 
 
 When it grew light I began to wonder what 
 was the next step. I had no means of com- 
 municating with E., and he had not told me any 
 probable time for starting. Every one else was 
 snoring peacefully, and I did not like to disturb 
 them, so I lay still. Suddenly, however, I heard 
 the stationmaster in the outer room shouting to 
 me, " Locomotive ! Coming ! " two words of 
 English with which he must have carefully 
 primed himself for the occasion. I jumped out 
 of bed and made a hasty toilet. Downstairs 
 I found E., looking rather exhausted after his 
 night on the divan of an Egyptian railway 
 station room, several natives, and Mr. A., 
 who by working all night had managed to 
 get our own special train up, and ready for 
 use. That was how four specials came to be 
 waiting for us at once in the days of Ismail 
 Pasha. 
 
 I took for granted at the time that I had 
 been in the private house of a Mohammedan, 
 but I know now that nothing could have been 
 more unlikely. In those days it was im- 
 possible to find a suflScient number of educated 
 Mohammedans for such positions ; even now, 
 after a generation of education and with every 
 desire on the part of English oflSicials to favour 
 
16 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 Mohammedans, it is not common to find a 
 Moslem stationmaster. The despised Christian 
 Egyptians of the old race are still appointed, 
 though grudgingly, to posts where both in- 
 telligence and trustworthiness are required. 
 
THE END OF THE OLD 
 REGIME 
 
A PEASANT OF ISMAIL S TIME. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE END OF THE OLD REGIME 
 
 Not long after our arrival in Egypt we Mere 
 bidden to a State Ball. Some one, whether as 
 a practical joke or not, told us that we must 
 be punctual to the minute, so precisely at the 
 hour indicated we were ushered into an enormous 
 room which at first sight seemed empty. In 
 a moment it was revealed to our horrified 
 perception that every wall was lined two or 
 three deep with solemn, staring men ; all natives 
 (as I thought), all standing in respectful ex- 
 pectant silence, all blazing with orders and 
 brilliant colours. There was not another woman 
 in the place. It was too much for E., who 
 by nature was a reserved scholar, averse to 
 all public functions and gaieties. He hastily 
 deposited me on the nearest divan and fled. 
 There I sat, a shy young woman in stiff* white 
 silk, determined not to break down ; and slowly 
 
 fanning myself as if I were accustomed to sit 
 
 19 
 
20 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 on a throne surrounded by a ring of some 
 hundred men. After a few dreadful moments 
 one of the natives, in a much ornamented 
 semi-European costume, detached himself from 
 the glittering ring and came up to talk to me. 
 I supposed he must be one of the stewards 
 of the palace, and as his manner was perfectly 
 respectful, and he evidently intended the right 
 thing, I entered into an affable French con- 
 versation. By and by he asked leave to present 
 his father to me. I had not an idea who his 
 father might be, but I thought " in for a penny, 
 in for a pound," and graciously signified my 
 willingness to receive his father. He went 
 away and returned in a moment with a little 
 waddling elderly man, still more gorgeously 
 ornamented. Fortunately, as he was an elderly 
 man, I rose and advanced a step or two to 
 meet him, and stood talking to both father 
 and son till a crowd of arrivals permitted me 
 to shrink thankfully into obscurity. I say 
 fortunately, for in the course of the evening 
 I discovered that I had been introduced by 
 Tewfik, then Crown Prince, to his father the 
 Khedive Ismail. 
 
 Those entertainments of Ismail were on a 
 colossal scale. I remember another, at Ghezireh 
 
THE END OF THE OLD REGIME 21 
 
 Palace, where we sat down to dinner a thousand 
 guests. We were arranged at tables holding 
 eight to ten, and outside the gardens were all 
 illuminated for a stroll between the dinner 
 and a ball which followed. 
 
 Ismail lived in about half a dozen palaces 
 at once, and up to the last was building more. 
 Thirty-three carriages full of ladies accompanied 
 him into exile, and even then we were told 
 that about nine hundred were left to be provided 
 for by his unfortunate successor. In the palace 
 grounds of both Ghezireh and Ghizeh (which 
 was never quite finished) there were telegraph 
 offices, with a staff of clerks. On one occasion 
 when my brother went to inspect the office, 
 he found the clerks and all the other officials 
 playing at ball in the road. On inquiry they 
 explained that some of the ladies had expressed a 
 desire to walk in the garden, so every man about 
 the place had been turned into the public road. 
 
 But under all this pomp and luxury "the 
 living foundation groaned and sighed." The 
 peasant's crops were too often left to rot in 
 the ground, because he could not afi'ord the 
 heavy bribe without which the Government 
 official refused to come and make the assess- 
 ment necessary before the cultivator was allowed 
 
2« EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 to reap them ; or they dried up and withered 
 unripe because the nearest Pasha had taken 
 all the available water. His misery is described 
 in all the historical accounts ; I will mention 
 only one significant fact, the change in the 
 popular songs since that time. 
 
 The songs of the people are generally found 
 to reflect popular feeling better than any other 
 form of expression, and Egypt is no exception 
 to the rule, though perhaps the monotonous 
 recitative of the labourers at work should rather 
 be called a chant than a song. Here are three 
 specimens from different periods. The first is 
 a translation made by one who listened to the 
 chant of the labourers at work on the Suez 
 railway when it was first built. In the time 
 of Ismail it is perhaps unnecessary to remind 
 my readers that the labour was both forced 
 
 and unpaid. 
 
 Chant op the Men 
 
 Strophe. — We are all in rags, we are all in rags, 
 Antistrophe. — That the ahiekh may be dressed in cloth. 
 
 Chani of the Children 
 
 Boys. — They starve us, they starve us ; 
 Oirh.^They beat us, they beat us ; 
 Boys. — But there's some one above, 
 
 There's some one above, 
 Oirls. — Who will punish them well, 
 Who will punish them well. 
 
THE END OF THE OLD REGIME 23 
 
 Years pass, Ismail is gone, forced labour is 
 not altogether abolished, but the labourers are 
 properly treated and paid. Here is the chant 
 of the men at work on a Government under- 
 taking under an English ofl&cial. 
 
 Strophe. — The Pasha has a thick stick. 
 Antistrophe. — But his pockets are fuU of gold. 
 
 Years pass again, and an Englishman pauses 
 to listen to the chant of the labourers at work 
 on the building of Lord Cromer's house. It is 
 very short and simple : 
 
 Strophe. — The howaga is good ; 
 Antistrophe. — The howaga is good. 
 
 The "howaga" is now a title given to any 
 European foreigner. It originally signified, I 
 believe, a merchant. 
 
 It was in June 1879 that the climax came. 
 We were told that Ismail had been ordered 
 by the Great Powers to abdicate in favour of 
 Tewfik ; and had been given a week to decide 
 whether he would obey or take the consequences. 
 That was one of the hottest weeks I ever 
 remember in Egypt. It was almost impossible 
 to go out during the day, but after dark my 
 brother and I used to drive round by Abdin 
 to obtain the latest information. It was a 
 
24 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 serious time for all of us, for no one quite 
 knew what would happen if Ismail took it 
 into his head to defy the Powers. It was 
 clear that at one time he meditated revolt. 
 Arabi, then known as a troublesome officer 
 who with several others had been dismissed 
 for insubordination and corruption, was recalled 
 to favour, and took a solemn oath to stand by 
 Ismail to the death. He was one of the first 
 to lay his homage at the feet of Tewfik forty- 
 eight hours afterwards. But Ismail, though 
 he held out till the last day and kept us all 
 in most uncomfortable suspense, was shrewd 
 enough to know that his time had come. 
 
 On the morning of the 26th, I went with 
 some friends in a carriage to see what might 
 be seen between the inner and outer gates of 
 the citadel. Within, as we knew, Ismail was 
 going through the dramatic farce of a voluntary 
 abdication in favour of the son whom he slighted 
 and disliked. The steep road was sparsely lined 
 with native soldiers, who looked as if nothing 
 could be farther from their thoughts than a 
 ** popular demonstration " in favour of the man 
 whom they had all been dragged in chains to 
 serve. But nobody quite knew what would 
 happen yet. Tewfik, as we afterwards learned. 
 
THE END OF THE OLD REGIME 25 
 
 had gone up to meet his father with very little 
 expectation that he would be allowed to leave 
 the place alive. At length, however, we heard 
 the noise of his coming, and he drove rapidly 
 past us down the steep incline, while the soldiers 
 on either side stolidly shouted the official ac- 
 clamations. No one had any suspicion of it at 
 the time, but the new ruler was a man with a 
 conscience, and so the downfall of the old regime 
 had really come. Within two years the military 
 adventurers whom he had tried to control, broke 
 out into open rebellion against the man whom 
 they could not understand. 
 
CONCERNING ROBBERS 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 CONCERNING ROBBERS 
 
 During the first year or two of our stay in 
 Egypt it was often necessary for E. to be away 
 from Cairo for days and weeks, once or twice 
 even months at a time. He took me with him 
 when he could, and my memories of those 
 journeys are both pleasant and vivid ; but some- 
 times it was not possible, and then I remained 
 alone with two native servants, and sometimes 
 hardly spoke to any one else for days. My 
 intercourse with them was mostly by signs, 
 though I soon began to pick up the Arabic 
 patois used as a means of communication between 
 the Berberin servants and their European masters. 
 E. did engage a French woman as a cook for my 
 sake to begin with ; but she was so very unsatis- 
 factory that I thankfully agreed it would be 
 better to dispense with women servants alto- 
 gether. As, however, it was hardly considered 
 
 safe for me to be quite alone at night — both the 
 
 29 
 
30 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 native servants went home after dinner — E. 
 provided me with a formidable revolver, and 
 made me promise always to sleep with it by my 
 bedside. But in my secret heart I was much 
 more afraid of that revolver than of possible 
 burglars, so, though I kept it always ready on a 
 little table by my bedside, I never loaded it. I 
 did what seemed to me a much more reasonable 
 thing; I kept it in its case. It was a strong 
 case of stiff, new leather firmly attached to 
 an equally strong leather waistbelt. I argued 
 within myself that if a robber, or a fanatical 
 murderer, did try to enter my room at night he 
 certainly would not wait for me to try and aim 
 at him with a revolver. But I felt confident 
 that if I instantly seized that belt and with a 
 whirl brought the revolver down with a crack 
 on the head of the intruder, I should be much 
 more likely to make an impression upon him than 
 by any attempt to put the weapon to its con- 
 ventional use. The years were working up to 
 the inevitable outbreak in 1882, and there was 
 really some ground for anxiety. As a matter 
 of fact I was twice waked up by the sound of 
 some one stealthily feeling their way along the 
 passage to my door, and each time on sternly 
 demanding in Arabic who was there, was 
 
CONCERNING ROBBERS 31 
 
 answered in Arabic out of the dark by a strange 
 voice. But in each case there was some excuse 
 made for the intrusion which seemed plausible, 
 and after that the native servants locked the 
 front door and took away the key at night, so 
 that I was locked into the house alone. This 
 also had its disadvantages. 
 
 We occupied a set of rooms in the house of 
 another Englishman, who with his wife and 
 daughter afterwards became my best friends in 
 Cairo. This was Alonzo Money of Indian fame, 
 who was, when I knew him, English member of 
 the Caisse de la Dette in Egypt. Now Mr. M., 
 who had been in several battles, had a brother 
 who was called Colonel M. because he had once 
 been in the Militia. Colonel M.*s door opened 
 from the same staircase as the door into our set 
 of rooms; and there was a door of communi- 
 cation between our sitting-rooms, which was 
 locked, and had a bookcase against it on our 
 side. 
 
 One night after I had retired to bed, I heard 
 some one knocking at the outer door, and 
 supposing that it meant some urgent message 
 from E., I hurried to answer the appeal. But 
 before opening the door I naturally called out 
 to know who was there. To my astonishment 
 
32 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 the suave tones of my elderly neighbour, whom 
 I hardly knew, explained that he had taken the 
 liberty of knocking at my door because he 
 wanted — in fact, he had some medicine to take, 
 and he did not think it would be nice ! He 
 would be so much obliged if I would give him 
 a lump of sugar to take after it. I replied with 
 the utmost gravity that I should have much 
 pleasure in doing so. But when I returned with 
 the sugar basin I discovered that not only was 
 the door locked, but the key was taken away, 
 and I was a prisoner in my own house. I 
 explained the situation with suitable regrets 
 and regarded the incident as closed. But the 
 suave voice on the other side only remarked 
 helplessly, " Dear me, what are we to do now ? " 
 
 ** Well," I suggested, ** if it is essential, suppose 
 you were to go down and wake up your own 
 people." 
 
 *' Oh no ! " — and there was a distinct note of 
 alarm in the voice on the other side of the door, 
 '* I should not like to disturb them." 
 
 ** Well," I said, carefully keeping all expression 
 out of my voice, " I am sorry I can't pass you 
 sugar through the keyhole, so I don't see what 
 I can do. The other door is locked too." 
 
 " Oh, but there is a key on my side to that," 
 
CONCERNING ROBBERS 33 
 
 responded the Colonel eagerly. ** That is a 
 capital idea. I can manage to open that a little, 
 and you can pass the sugar through." 
 
 So in the dead of night, and with some 
 exertion, we managed to open the connection 
 door about an inch, and I solemnly poked lumps 
 of sugar through the chink at the gallant 
 Colonel. 
 
 After all, the thief came in the day, as we might 
 have expected in Egypt. E. was away, but I 
 had already sent off a letter which I knew would 
 bring him back ; because a young man whom I 
 had never seen before suddenly walked into our 
 sitting-room, where I was sitting on the floor 
 among flying leaves of manuscript, and said that 
 his father had told him to come and stay with 
 us. When he explained who his father was, I 
 bade him welcome, and calculated how many 
 days it would be before E. could arrive. 
 
 It may have been the next day after that 
 when I came back from my daily walk before 
 breakfast to find my gold watch and almost 
 every ornament I possessed stolen from my 
 bedroom. This was the first but not the last 
 robbery from which I have sufiered in Cairo. 
 Jabr, our cook, was peacefully peeling potatoes 
 in the kitchen when I burst in upon him, and 
 
34 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 endeavoured to make him understand what had 
 happened. He fled with consternation to the 
 office to fetch an interpreter, and the house soon 
 filled with native policemen. After a long and 
 excited discussion on their part they retired, and 
 I realised to my dismay that they were taking 
 both servants with them to prison. Through 
 Mr. A., who had come up from the office, I 
 explained that I had not intended to give the 
 servants in charge, and had no reason to suppose 
 them guilty. They appeared to regard my state- 
 ment as entirely irrelevant, and supposing that 
 perhaps the procedure of the country necessitated 
 the prompt appearance of the servants at the 
 police station I let them go, merely asking if 
 they would be kept long, as it was inconvenient 
 to be left without servants. Mr. A. withdrew, 
 promising to send in some one else, and to 
 my surprise two men in uniform appeared — 
 telegraph messengers, I found they were. What 
 we did for food that day I do not remember, 
 probably took refuge with the M.'s ; but I have a 
 vivid recollection of finding when I wanted to go 
 to bed that my mosquito curtain had not been 
 let down for the night, and feeling unequal to 
 deal with it scientifically I called up one of the 
 men and made signs that I wanted it done. 
 
CONCERNING ROBBERS 35 
 
 He looked at me, and at the bed, as if I had 
 given him a problem too hard to solve. He 
 was an old man who had served in the Crimean 
 War, and it is quite possible that he had never 
 been inside a European house before. Finally 
 he stooped down and took off his boots. Then 
 he climbed up on my bed, and solemnly danced 
 on the bed till the movement had shaken the 
 curtain down all round him. I hastily retired 
 from the scene. 
 
 The following morning H. and I went out for a 
 walk together, and having learnt a few words of 
 Arabic I ordered breakfast with eggs to be pre- 
 pared for our return. On entering the dining- 
 room later we found one egg reposing exactly in 
 the middle of the table, and arranged around it 
 one spoon, one knife, one fork. Nothing else at 
 all, not even a tablecloth on the bare oak. On 
 the whole I did not find office servants a success, 
 and was particularly thankful to see E. back 
 again. He sent orders to the police station for 
 the immediate return of his servants, and they 
 came as they had gone, without any formality of 
 any kind, nor was any attempt made to find the 
 real thief, so far as I know. Before their release 
 the servants had been nearly a week detained in 
 prison, they had been tortured, as we afterwards 
 
36 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 discovered, to try and make them confess their 
 guilt, and save the police any further trouble in 
 hunting after the real oflFender ; and yet to my 
 astonishment Jabr came meekly back and took 
 his place in the kitchen again as if nothing had 
 happened. He asked as a humble favour for five 
 francs to pay for the food he had eaten in prison. 
 We found on inquiry that the prisoners were 
 not supplied with food unless they could pay for 
 it, and that nobody saw anything at all extra- 
 ordinary in a Pasha s sending his servants to 
 prison whenever it might please him, and taking 
 them out again when he happened to need 
 their services. 
 
 While on this subject I will give an account 
 of the second time I was robbed, some nine years 
 later when we had been in charge of the country 
 about four years. It happened at Luxor when 
 I was staying at an hotel with some friends. I 
 had locked up the door of my bedroom and gone 
 out for a walk with the key in my pocket. 
 When I came back all the loose articles on my 
 table had disappeared, and the entire contents of 
 two drawers. It was particularly inconvenient, 
 as it happened, for those two drawers contained 
 the top halves or bodices of all my dresses — 
 and this was before the days of blouses. Dresses 
 
CONCERNING ROBBERS 37 
 
 were made from head to foot in the same stuff, 
 and fitted. I was left with the one I stood up in 
 and one white cotton dress, but the next day 
 I went out to tea on a dahabieh in this dress, 
 and a careless native upset the boat. I fell into 
 the Nile, and though I was promptly dragged 
 out again I had to retire to my room, like 
 Laura in Holiday House, There were no shops 
 in Luxor then, nor any possibility of buying 
 European clothes. 
 
 The same procedure was adopted on this 
 occasion by the native police. It should have 
 been evident to the meanest capacity that my 
 room, which was only a few feet above the 
 ground, had been entered by a window which 
 opened on a public way. There were even the 
 marks where some one had scrambled in ; yet 
 when the proprietor of the hotel sent for the police 
 the only thing they did was to arrest the two native 
 servants who were employed in that wing of the 
 hotel and take them off to prison. All the 
 natives of the hotel appealed to me not to let 
 them go, pointing out that it was evident that 
 the thief had entered by the window, and that I 
 had the key of the only door in my pocket. By 
 this time I knew enough Arabic to conduct my 
 own negotiations, and the only reason why I did 
 
38 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 not at once order the policemen to release the men 
 was because I thought it became me, as a repre- 
 sentative of the new system, to respect the law. 
 So I assured them that no harm was intended, 
 that the servants were only wanted to give 
 evidence, and would soon return. They did not 
 believe me, but submitted respectfully and 
 sorrowfully. The servants did not return, and 
 the proprietor of the hotel came to assure me 
 that he knew they were both respectable men, 
 and that they had had nothing to do with the 
 theft. I quite agreed with him, and said I had 
 no doubt of the result of the inquiry which was 
 doubtless being made. Next day I was informed 
 that the priest of the Coptic Church desired to see 
 me ; and found a goodly company of grave and 
 dignified elders waiting to implore my inter- 
 cession on behalf of the unfortunate servants. 
 I learned for the first time that the men in 
 question were both Christians, and as such I 
 knew there was scant chance of their obtaining 
 justice at the hands of the Mohammedan 
 authorities. Still I assured the priest that things 
 were done difi'erently under the English, and 
 since no one even pretended to believe that the 
 two servants had committed the theft, they must 
 soon be set at liberty. 
 
CONCERNING ROBBERS 39 
 
 A day or two passed and the servants did not 
 return. One evening I found three or four 
 women who wailed and beat their breasts on 
 the threshold of my door. They were the 
 wives and mothers of the youths in prison, 
 and they assured me that they were to be sent 
 off as convicts to Kenneh the next morning, and 
 were not likely ever to return. I could hardly 
 believe this, but neither could I ignore the 
 information. I went to the Mohammedan chief 
 of police, and asked if it was true that the two 
 young men would be sent as prisoners to Kenneh 
 the next day, unless I interfered. " Well, Sitt," 
 said the man in the tone of one who states a self- 
 evident proposition, *'if you do not interfere I 
 do not know who else will." 
 
 " If that is all," I replied, " I will interfere at 
 once." 
 
 I went back to my room, and wrote an order 
 in good English for the immediate return of the 
 prisoners. They came — to kiss my hands and 
 call down blessings upon me as their saviour. 
 Nothing more was said about the robbery, and, 
 of course, nothing more was ever heard of my 
 things. I have given instances which happened 
 to ourselves, but they are not singular in the 
 history of the time, 
 
40 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 Twenty years afterwards our house was 
 entered in broad daylight, and almost all the 
 ornaments I had acquired in those twenty years 
 were carried off, besides a purse of money, which 
 I had carelessly left on my dressing-table. My 
 husband and I had just sat down to luncheon 
 when I heard the front door close softly. For a 
 moment or two I took no notice, for it was the 
 custom in Cairo for English people to run in 
 and out of Church House as they pleased, and 
 just then one man was coming in to lunch 
 almost every day. As, however, he did not 
 appear, I said to Mohammed, '' Go and tell 
 
 Mr. we are in the dining-room." Mohammed 
 
 reported that no one had come in, but I still 
 thought nothing of it till I went upstairs and 
 found my room ransacked. The police made a 
 great fuss, but as usual nothing came of it, and 
 nothing was ever recovered. In this case I 
 think the thief was an expert who had come 
 over from Europe and was probably living at 
 one of the hotels. But I do not think I ever 
 heard of a burglary committed in Cairo during 
 the night, except once, when a few things were 
 snatched from my sister-in-law's bedroom while 
 she lay awake. 
 
THE EVENTS 
 
 4^ 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE EVENTS 
 
 It is an odd name, and I do not quite know how 
 it grew up, but that is how the revolution of 
 1882 was always referred to among us in Egypt. 
 A thing had happened " before the events " or 
 " after the events." Now concerning the events 
 I have no personal reminiscences because I was 
 not there, and though I took pains to be well 
 informed immediately afterwards, the information 
 I acquired belongs rather to the region of history, 
 and as such finds its proper place in the two 
 volumes I published after my marriage. Johar ' 
 was the only member of our household who 
 played any part in the events ; and his ex- 
 periences were duly related in A Black Jeivel, 
 which I wrote shortly afterwards. But though 
 I was not there during the actual outbreak, I 
 well remember the winter of unrest which 
 preceded it. If we went to an evening party, 
 a whispered rumour would circulate — only half 
 
44 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 believed and never justified — that the house had 
 been surrounded by the natives and we were all 
 to be massacred as we went home. On the 23rd 
 of January 1882 I find the entry in my diary : 
 *' Eumours of danger all about," and these 
 gathered force as the events proceeded. For 
 quite six weeks that winter we lived each with 
 a small box packed under orders to be ready to 
 take refuge at the British Agency at a moment's 
 notice if need arose. But about April things 
 seemed likely to smooth down, and the ofiicials 
 were allowed to go on leave as usual. E. had 
 not been home since he came out in the winter 
 of 1877, and it was particularly important for 
 him to get off early. On the other hand, my 
 youngest brother was coming to us from Australia, 
 and I did not at all like the idea of his coming 
 to find an empty house. So it was arranged 
 that E. should go off alone ; but I had to promise 
 him that I would follow him within the week 
 with the M.'s, unless my other brother turned up 
 by the mail for which I waited. There came 
 instead a letter to say his coming was delayed, 
 so according to promise I flung a few things into 
 a trunk, and just caught the steamer at Alexandria 
 the same afternoon. 
 This was on the 3rd of May 1882, and the 
 
THE EVENTS 45 
 
 massacres did not begin at Alexandria till 
 June 11. I could safely have waited after all 
 for my brother of seventeen, who arrived about a 
 fortnight after my departure and proceeded to 
 visit all the places of interest in Cairo with a 
 serene indifference to danger which, as I heard 
 afterwards, was at once the admiration and the 
 despair of certain oJEcials in our department who 
 felt responsible for him. 
 
 Indeed, he cannot have left Egypt many days 
 before the smouldering fires broke out. There 
 are two stories of that summer which I do not 
 think I have ever seen in print, relating to the 
 march of the British troops from Cairo. 
 
 One concerned the difiiculty of finding a guide 
 for the night march across the desert which 
 preceded Tel el-Kebir. The British force had 
 ascertained the whereabouts of the Egyptian 
 camp, and knew that the way must lie across 
 the desert ; but no one had been that way, and 
 no native guide could be trusted. In this 
 dilemma a young officer offered to lead the army 
 by the stars, and the whole expedition was thus 
 entrusted to his care. I cannot remember his 
 name.^ But I know that after abundantly 
 
 ^ It has been suggested to me that the name was Lieutenant 
 Rawson. 
 
46 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 justifying the confidence placed in him he was 
 mortally wounded during the battle, and his 
 colonel went in haste to see him. The young 
 man's face lighted up as his senior officer came 
 in. " I led them straight, didn't I, sir ? " he said, 
 and so died. 
 
 The other story relates to the first Highland 
 regiment that had been seen in Egypt within 
 the memory of man. They were for some reason 
 encamped apart from the rest of the force, and the 
 natives took it into their heads that these were 
 the wives of the English soldiers left unguarded. 
 The Oriental imagination determined that the 
 chance was too good to be missed, and hastily 
 arranged an expedition to carry ofi" the women. 
 I have heard that they were very much 
 astonished at the reception they met. After 
 that they changed their minds, and told each 
 other that among these incomprehensible English 
 the short petticoat was a robe of honour, and 
 only given to those who had proved their 
 bravery in fighting. 
 
 The sand castle of civilisation, according to 
 Ismail, having been swept away, a new era of 
 construction began. So entirely had the native 
 army disappeared that when the young officer of 
 Marines who had saved the life of the Khedive 
 
THE EVENTS 47 
 
 during the bombardment of Alexandria, was 
 told to take charge of the Egyptian army at 
 Abbassieh, he found his entire force to consist 
 of one man. I found this out when he com- 
 plained to me that he had told his army to 
 black his boots, and that the army had refused 
 to a man. 
 
CHOLERA STORIES 
 
OKANC.E SKI.I.KRS. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 CHOLERA STORIES 
 
 We came back to a very different Cairo. English 
 redcoats were everywhere, and just that first 
 winter of the occupation the individual import- 
 ance of the English residents was rather increased 
 than diminished. Lord Dufferin came over 
 from Constantinople, and managed to attend 
 to matters of real importance in Cairo in spite 
 of the necessity for drawing up an Egyptian 
 constitution on paper to send home to the 
 English Parliament. He begun the series of 
 reports which, under Lord Cromer, have taken 
 rank of the first importance for the recent 
 history of Egypt. Lord Dufferin's report is 
 almost more interesting to read now than it was 
 then, in the light of subsequent events. But 
 very soon more serious themes than the popular 
 representation of Egypt under Parliamentary 
 government absorbed our attention. The un- 
 happy country had lately known war, famine — 
 
52 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 of a kind which would now arrest the attention 
 of the civilised world, but then passed almost 
 without remark — and now she was to know 
 pestilence. Not that pestilence was a new thing 
 in Egypt ; again and again we read of terrible 
 plagues during the centuries of misgovemment 
 and oppression which followed the conquest of 
 Egypt by the Moslems. The true plague, in 
 Egypt at any rate, is a species of hunger-fever, 
 and has always, so far as I can discover, been 
 preceded by famine due either to drought or a 
 state of misgovemment which has wasted and 
 destroyed the crops. It is to be hoped that we 
 shall never know what this form of plague can 
 be so long as the British occupation lasts, though 
 we have had one or two outbreaks of a milder 
 form of plague. In the tenth century when a 
 plague of this kind broke out after a long famine 
 it is recorded that 600,000 perished in the three 
 towns of Babylon, Fostat, and Masr alone, "not 
 counting the corpses which were thrown into 
 the river." The same story recurs century after 
 century, either cholera or plague sweeps away in 
 a few months uncounted hundreds of thousands. 
 In the last two centuries the record has been 
 better, and the last great pestilence before our 
 arrival was in 1865. But all the conditions 
 
CHOLERA STORIES 53 
 
 were ripe for such an outbreak wheu we came. 
 All through 1882 and the early part of 1883, in 
 addition to all their other troubles, the Egyptians 
 had suffered from cattle plague. When the beasts 
 died the natives took off their skins, and flung 
 the diseased carcases not only into the Nile, but 
 into the drinking water canals. We English 
 cried out in horror, and month by month called 
 upon the Egyptian authorities to put a stop to 
 this suicidal folly, but to no purpose. There 
 was even a tax imposed of about three shillings 
 a head for every beast which the natives should 
 bury in the ground, though I know this sounds 
 almost incredible to English readers. So, of 
 course, the dead bodies were still thrown into 
 the water, and the water was drunk, and the 
 people remained filthy, and the cholera came. 
 
 It first appeared in Damietta, where the 
 rotting carcases drifted into heaps in the shallow 
 water, and were fed upon by fish, which the 
 people caught and ate. The native authorities 
 had but one idea, not to cure or prevent the 
 cholera, but to hinder it from spreading farther, 
 and especially from reaching Cairo. To effect 
 this, as each town or village of importance was 
 attacked, they put a ** cordon " or ring of armed 
 native police round the place to prevent any one 
 
54 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 from coming out. This cordon was no sort of 
 use, it never in any instance prevented the 
 cholera from slowly and surely fastening upon 
 every wretched village that was ripe for it ; but 
 so long as they merely kept the people in the 
 town it did not do much harm. Besides, if a 
 native wanted to leave the town and had any 
 money, he had only to bribe the policeman in an 
 unofficered part of the cordon with a few piastres, 
 and he could always get out. Mansourah 
 suffered terribly ; after a time the provisions 
 begun to fail, and the cordon prevented the 
 fellaheen round about from bringing supplies. 
 There were a few English in the town who were 
 doing what they could, and they sent urgent 
 telegrams for help to Cairo and Alexandria. 
 The English in both places, and the Khedive 
 Tewfik also in Cairo, promptly responded to the 
 appeal, and sent train after train laden with 
 provisions and medicines to Mansourah. It will 
 scarcely be believed that for several days during 
 which the people were dying of starvation as 
 well as cholera, these medicines and provisions 
 could not be got past the cordon into Mansourah. 
 Generally, however, the authorities were quite 
 willing to allow the English ** fools" to pass 
 through their cordons, into the cholera- stricken 
 
CHOLERA STORIES 55 
 
 towns, so long as they were not called upon to 
 go themselves, and so long as the foreigners did 
 not want to come out again. 
 
 One day an urgent telegram came to Cairo 
 from Shebin el Kom., then a small place where 
 there was a handful of Europeans and a native 
 town. The cholera had come there ; three of 
 the Europeans were already dead in a few hours, 
 and they wanted help ; they had neither a 
 doctor nor medicines. It was impossible to 
 spare a doctor from Cairo, no one knew when he 
 would be let out again, and it was feared that it 
 would be impossible to find a messenger who 
 would go with the required help. However, a 
 young Englishman, who is still among us, came 
 forward and offered to take the medicines and 
 stay to nurse the people. After a good deal of 
 trouble he succeeded in entering the village, and 
 stayed there some weeks. That town was very 
 slightly touched with cholera after all. Mr. 
 Hooker treated twenty-eight cases, but out of 
 those twenty- eight he lost only one. 
 
 Then we heard it had come to Cairo, and the 
 next day we were in the midst of it. It first 
 showed itself in Boulak where there were then 
 but few English. The native authorities were 
 told that the only way to stamp out the cholera 
 
56 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 in Boulak would be to build the people fresh 
 huts outside the town ; and then burn down the 
 old huts, which were so utterly bad and dirty 
 that if the cholera once got into them it would 
 never get out. One Englishman who employed 
 some hundreds of natives, at once built new huts 
 for his people outside the town, took them there 
 and then burned down the old rotten huts. 
 
 But the native authorities took the suggestion 
 in rather a different way. They made no pro- 
 vision whatever for the wretched people, but one 
 dark night they sent mounted policemen to 
 drive them all out at once from their homes, to 
 which they set fire behind them. The wretched 
 plague-stricken people, men, women and children, 
 hastily gathered up their household goods, and 
 were driven out from their burning homes with- 
 out food or shelter. The English, of course, did 
 not know of this till it was too late ; or they 
 would have prevented it. Some of these 
 people succeeded in escaping from the desert, 
 where they had been driven, and came in to 
 Cairo itself, where they spread the cholera in 
 quarters which might otherwise have escaped. 
 A few of them took refuge in a half-empty 
 building, part of which was inhabited by a 
 Frenchman. This man, instead of doing what 
 
CHOLERA STORIES 57 
 
 he could to help them, brought down his gun, 
 and pointing it at them, told them he would 
 shoot them unless they moved on directly. 
 
 The whole town was in a state of panic ; very 
 few of the native doctors would go near a cholera 
 patient. In the new Egyptian army many of 
 the soldiers died, and none of their comrades 
 would go near them. They would have died 
 like dogs, had not the English officers nursed 
 and cared for them as if they had been their 
 own people. On one occasion when a man was 
 very ill, and no doctor could be found except a 
 native one, who refused to come, two of the 
 English officers went and took that doctor by 
 force, brought him to the man's bedside, and 
 held him there till he prescribed for the man. 
 
 I am aware that this does not sound like 
 the fatalism of the Mohammedan east, and the 
 worst cases of panic w^ere generally, I think, 
 among low class Europeans ; but certainly the 
 natives did not show that confidence in Allah 
 or indifference to danger that one would have 
 looked for. I suppose a good deal of the 
 cowardice they showed must have been caused 
 by a profound fear and distrust of us as 
 Christians. In the less severe epidemics of 
 cholera we have had since that time I have 
 
58 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 always noticed that it is the remedies, and not 
 the cholera itself, of which the natives are afraid. 
 It seems impossible to persuade the uneducated 
 Oriental that those who are trying to prevent 
 the spread of a disease are not, if they happen 
 to be of a different faith, really trying to in- 
 crease it. Government officials are generally 
 objects of distrust in Egypt, even if they are 
 not Christians. The following stories, over- 
 heard in the trams or repeated to English 
 people by their servants in the outbreak of 
 1896, will illustrate this feeling. 
 
 One morning a melon seller brought a cart 
 full of fine melons to sell in the city. But as 
 he sold in the street there came one to him 
 saying, ** What do you, selling these melons. 
 There is death in them, and you must not sell 
 any more." 
 
 *' There is no death in my melons," answered 
 the melon seller. *'They are good melons, as 
 you may see for yourself." 
 
 " Nevertheless if you eat them you will die," 
 said the stranger. " See now, I will cut one 
 of your melons and you shall eat of it, and in 
 three hours you will die." 
 
 ** You lie," said the melon seller, '' and I will 
 show you what I will do. Here are my friends 
 
CHOLERA STORIES 59 
 
 and they shall see also. Behold I will cut a 
 melon, but I will cut it with my knife and not 
 with yours, and I will eat of it with my friends 
 also, and we will watch together three hours, and 
 there shall be no death among us." 
 
 So they held the stranger that he should not 
 depart ; and the melon seller divided a melon 
 and he ate of it, and his friends likewise. And 
 they waited three hours, but there was not one 
 dead. Then they rose up and took the stranger 
 to the police station with his knife, and behold 
 the knife with which he would have cut the 
 melons was poisoned. 
 
 A certain Bey had a sou who fell ill of 
 cholera. The Bey called in a doctor who gave 
 him some pills, saying, '^ Give the child two of 
 these now : I will come again this evening." 
 But after three hours the boy died. When the 
 doctor came, the Bey said to him, " How is it 
 that my child, who was not very ill, is dead ? 
 And how shall I tell his mother ? " The doctor 
 replied, "Perhaps he is asleep, do not tell 
 his mother to-night : I will come again in the 
 morning." 
 
 The next morning, when the doctor arrived, 
 the suifragi brought him a cup of coffee, into 
 which the Bey had secretly dropped two of the 
 
60 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 pills which his child should have taken. The 
 doctor drank it, and after three hours he died ; 
 upon which the Bey gave himself up to the 
 police, saying, "I have killed this man with 
 the pills with which he killed my child." And 
 he offered the remaining pills for inspection. 
 
 A young seller of arr'-es-sous (a sweet drink 
 made of liquorice) was walking along the road 
 carrying a jar of his stock in trade, when he 
 was accosted by a person whom he took to be 
 a doctor. 
 
 *' Let me put this powder into your jar,'' said 
 the doctor, showing him a white powder. 
 
 " No," replied the man. " You^ shall not put 
 that into my jar." 
 
 " Never mind," then said the doctor, " here 
 are two pounds for you : now let me put it in." 
 
 " Certainly," replied the man ; and forthwith 
 the doctor did so. 
 
 No sooner had the doctor departed, than the 
 seller, having received his two pounds, went off, 
 broke his jar, and proceeded to buy a new one 
 with part of the spoil, no doubt thinking he 
 had done a fine day's work, having both frustrated 
 the wicked doctor's intention of poisoning the 
 natives, and made a nice little sum for himself. 
 
 One evening Fatma, daughter of Ahmed the 
 
CHOLERA STORIES 61 
 
 dyer, was sent for some beans for the family's 
 supper. She got the beans and was returning 
 home when a man stopped her and asked her 
 what she was carrying. 
 
 *' Sir," said she, *' I am taking home some 
 beans for our supper," and she showed them to 
 him. 
 
 *' And where do you live ? " 
 
 *' I live with my father, Ahmed the dyer, in 
 the first house in that street," indicating one a 
 short distance off. 
 
 " How many are there of you in the house ? " 
 asked the man. 
 
 " We number ten in all." 
 
 Having got this information out of her, he 
 said — 
 
 "You are a good girl, here is backsheesh 
 for you." 
 
 While talking he had, observed by the girl, 
 put a white powder on the beans. When she 
 got home she told her father all that had hap- 
 pened, and he refused to eat the beans, or to 
 allow his family to do so. The next morning 
 the beans were full of maggots. 
 
 About eight o'clock there was a loud knocking 
 at the door, Fatma opened it, and went and told 
 Ahmed that it was the man who had put the 
 
62 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 powder in the beans and he had a cart and 
 sanitary inspectors with him. When Ahmed 
 went to the door the man said he wanted the 
 ten bodies of the people who had died of cholera 
 in the night. He was told that there was no- 
 body dead in the house, and refused to believe 
 it. Then Ahmed called all his family and said, 
 *'We did not eat those beans you put the 
 powder in, so we are all alive ; go now and take 
 the cart with you and don't try to put powder 
 in our food again." 
 
 I always found the story of 's cook very 
 
 pathetic, and never could understand why many 
 people roared with laughter when my husband 
 told it. 
 
 An Englishman of very high rank in the 
 Egyptian service wished to give a dinner party 
 in his own house to the Prime Minister and 
 various other Egyptian and English notables. 
 He was a bachelor and did not often entertain, 
 but he spoke to his servants and told them 
 that he particularly wished the dinner to be 
 a success. You can always count on your 
 Egyptian, or rather Berberin servants, in any 
 domestic crisis. They have a quick sense for 
 the honour of *'our" house, as every good 
 servant will say of his master's abode. 
 
CHOLERA STORIES 63 
 
 So the servants bestirred themselves and 
 the guests sat down to an excellent dinner 
 beautifully arranged. Good fish succeeded good 
 soup, and then there was a pause. The host 
 talked his best, but began to feel nervous. 
 However, after a delay hardly long enough 
 to attract the notice of the guests, the even 
 procession of dishes recommenced and the 
 evening was a great success. After the guests 
 had departed the host said a word of praise 
 to his head servant, and then remarked — 
 
 " By the way there was rather a long wait 
 after the fish. Why was that ? " 
 
 " May it please your Excellency the cook died 
 of cholera." 
 
 What ! ! 
 
 But investigation put the fact beyond a 
 doubt. The cook, attacked at the last moment, 
 and anxious for the honour of the house, had 
 worked on till he fell dead at his post, and 
 when that happened his body was hastily laid 
 aside and the marmiton rose to the occasion 
 and finished cooking the dinner. I heard this 
 story after the Englishman in question had 
 left the country. I never heard that any of 
 the guests suffered, or knew what had happened. 
 
ABU SEFAYN 
 
A TOWXSWDMAN. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 ABU SEFAYN 
 
 In 1887 my brother married, and for more 
 
 than a year I was absent from Egypt. Part 
 
 of this time I spent in Spain, and was interested 
 
 to trace the Arabic words and customs which 
 
 lingered there. But it is a true saying that 
 
 whoso drinks of the waters of the Nile returns 
 
 to it again, and the winter of 1888 found me 
 
 once more in Egypt. I had already begun 
 
 those studies which afterwards resulted in the 
 
 publication of my History of the Egyptian 
 
 Church', having first been led to take an 
 
 interest in the subject by Dean Butcher, whom 
 
 I afterwards married, and Dr. Butler, author 
 
 of The Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt, 
 
 who came to Egypt as tutor to the present 
 
 Khedive, and who was a great friend of my 
 
 husband's. At first, like every one else, I was 
 
 too much absorbed in the Egypt of the Pharaohs 
 
 to care much about their degenerate descendants, 
 
 67 
 
68 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 but it gradually dawned on me that I was 
 taking their degeneracy too much for granted, 
 and that when it came to a question of facts 
 no one really seemed to know anything about 
 them. But I never thought about writing any- 
 thing on the subject myself till, in the course 
 of some lectures I was giving on Egyptian 
 history, I came to the period between Julius 
 Caesar and the Arab Conquest and found myself 
 confronted by a blank, so far as any available 
 authorities in English were concerned. There 
 were a few histories dealing with the Fathers 
 of the Early Church, who were mostly, as I 
 realised with a shock of surprise, neither Greek 
 nor Latin, but Egyptian, and that was all. 
 When in the course of years I had laboriously 
 amassed a certain amount of information, it 
 occurred to me that some sort of handbook 
 of the period was really wanted and that I 
 might as well try to write it. To facilitate 
 further studies I wished to make friends with 
 the present-day Copts, other than Government 
 officials; and, knowing how suspicious long 
 centuries of oppression had made them, I was 
 puzzled at first how to approach them with- 
 out making them at once retire behind that 
 impenetrable barrier of polite acquiescence 
 
ABU SEFAYN 69 
 
 which the Oriental knows so well how to 
 assume. 
 
 I had already an acquaintance with the priest 
 of Abu Sefayn, one of the oldest Christian 
 churches in Fostat (now called Old Cairo), and 
 I knew that he was a good specimen of an 
 intelligent and broad-minded Egyptian, unspoiled 
 by contact with the ragged fringe of Western 
 civilisation. He was a widower and forbidden 
 by the laws of his Church to marry again, so 
 his little daughter Miriam, then about fifteen, 
 looked after his house, his mother, an old lady 
 past work, and a brother named Ferid, who 
 about that time had lost his young wife and 
 two children. One was a baby son, who died 
 with his mother; the other, a beautiful baby 
 girl with the lovely blue eyes sometimes found 
 among the Copts, sickened and died a few 
 months afterwards. There is not much hope 
 for Egyptian babies of either religion if the 
 mother dies. I was struck by the great 
 astonishment and interest evinced by the natives 
 when the young wife of an Englishman died 
 leaving a baby of a few weeks old, and the 
 father instead of waiting for the child to follow 
 its mother, immediately engaged a trained 
 hospital nurse to take entire charge of it. 
 
70 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 The nurse in question was a personal friend 
 of mine and often brought the baby to my 
 house, where it was an object of great attention 
 from my servants. When several months had 
 passed and the baby, instead of dying, throve 
 and prospered under the care of a woman who 
 could only give it milk out of a bottle, they 
 could not refrain from the expression of their 
 surprise. 
 
 ''With us, you know, Sitt, that baby must 
 have died," they ended. The child was a son, 
 else they would have been still more astonished 
 at the father's proceedings. 
 
 Miriam's widowed brother, Ferid, soon married 
 another pretty girl of fourteen, named Bahia, 
 who was so miserable and homesick that she 
 used to sit up in the corner of a divan most of 
 the time, hardly speaking ; so that poor Miriam's 
 hands were fuller than ever. Her principal 
 companions were a family of fatherless children 
 who were under the guardianship of her father. 
 There were two girls, Salome and Sophia — pro- 
 nounced in Egypt Saluma and Sophia, with the 
 i sounded as we sound e ; and three boys, one of 
 whom, Abd el Melek, became afterwards my 
 pupil. When in course of time he managed to 
 acquire sufficient education to be taken on as 
 
ABU SEFAYN 71 
 
 pupil teacher in the Government School, he used 
 to write me letters from the various towns to which 
 he was sent by way of improving his English. 
 
 I had noticed that the stoles worn by the 
 choir boys in Abu Sefayn were in very bad 
 condition, and it occurred to me that if I offered 
 to help the girls to do some work for their church 
 it would be a good way of making acquaintance. 
 The priest already knew me as a person who was 
 really interested in the Egyptian Church ; so I 
 called on him in his private house and offered 
 to give the material for some new stoles, and 
 come and show the girls how to embroider them 
 if he would arrange for me to have a working 
 party at his house once a week. Having obtained 
 his consent, I had next to find a helper, for I 
 knew nothing of embroidery myself But I was 
 fortunate enough to find a very pretty English 
 girl who had been brought up in the country and 
 could speak Arabic perfectly, besides knowing 
 how to embroider, and being most kindly, ready 
 to help. The Egyptian girls from first to last 
 never called me by my name. I was first ** the 
 great lady," and after my marriage "the lady 
 belonging to the great priest." But Sitt Rosa 
 and, after her marriage, another English girl who 
 kindly came to my help, Sitt Edwina, soon 
 
72 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 won and always retained their affectionate 
 admiration. 
 
 We had a good many girls at different times, 
 but most of them left off coming to the working 
 party when they married, and their place was 
 taken by younger ones who had to begin from 
 the beginning. We generally sat on the roof of 
 the high narrow house for the sake of the fresh 
 air, but sometimes it was too cold, and then we 
 sat in the best room, the only one really furnished 
 to European eyes, where all honoured guests 
 were received. It was also the highest room in 
 the house, so we had to stumble up a long and 
 narrow stone stair to get to it. On the ground 
 floor of the house there was nothing but a bare 
 entry and an oven chamber, where all the bread 
 for the church, as well as for the house, was 
 prepared. 
 
 The old Bishop of Khartoum took refuge in 
 Abu Sefayn when the dervishes took Khartoum, 
 and brought safely away with him several women, 
 among whom were two negress converts to 
 Christianity. When the English reconquered 
 Khartoum, a new bishop — the old one having 
 died in the interim — and some priests were sent 
 up at once by the Egyptian Patriarch ; and our 
 party embroidered a covering for the altar of the 
 
ABU SEFAYN 73 
 
 new church which it was his first charge 
 to rebuild. The old one, of course, had been 
 destroyed by the dervishes and most of the 
 Christians massacred. I embroidered — having 
 learned how — the five Coptic crosses in gold on 
 the centre panel of white silk, four girls did the 
 corners, four others the side pieces, and Sitt 
 Edwina embroidered the connecting links round 
 the centre piece with Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord 
 God Almighty, in four languages — English, 
 Greek, Coptic, and Arabic. 
 
 Considering that I am writing in Egypt of 
 things Egyptian, it will surprise no one to learn 
 that Abu Sefayn is not really the name either of 
 the church or the man so-called. The real name 
 of the church of Abu Sefayn is St. Mercurius, 
 the real name of the priest, whom we call Abu 
 Sefayn, is Abd el Melek, or Servant of the King. 
 And that again is probably merely the transla- 
 tion of his proper Christian name, just as Abd el 
 Messiah is only a translation, for common use, 
 of Christodulos. I know one man who was 
 christened Marcus, and is habitually called 
 Skander, another who was christened Vasili (the 
 Eastern form of Basil), and is always known as 
 Zeki. But of this curious custom and the reason 
 for it I have spoken in another place. 
 
74 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 The nickname of the church is the nickname 
 of the saint to whom it is dedicated. Abu 
 Sefayn, being translated, means " The father of 
 two swords." I had been much interested in 
 the legends of the Egyptian saints, and I had 
 observed that in the cases where the saint had 
 been one of the early converts from paganism 
 and bore a pagan name, a later generation of 
 Christians had refused to know them by that 
 name, though their contemporaries seem to have 
 had no scruples on this score. In the church of 
 St. Sergius and St. Bacchus, the uppermost of 
 the two churches, one above another, which the 
 tourists are taken to see, the two saints are 
 represented in the same ancient picture, but 
 poor Bacchus is never mentioned now. The 
 church is only spoken of among the Copts as 
 Abu Sergeh, and among the dragomen more 
 often by the entirely wrong name of Mari 
 Girghis. The saint to whom Abu Sefayn is 
 dedicated was a convert and martyr of the 
 time of Decius, and his name was Mercury, or 
 Mercurius. In all the pictures of this saint he 
 is represented holding two swords crossed above 
 his head, with the crowned and prostrate figure 
 of Julian the Apostate under the hoofs of his 
 horse. The picture commemorates, not the 
 
ABU SEFAYN 75 
 
 martyrdom of the saint, but his appearance to 
 Bishop Basil of Cappadocia more than a hundred 
 years afterwards. 
 
 When I first knew the Deyr of Abu Sefayn it 
 stood alone in that most desolate of deserts, the 
 broken heaps of a destroyed native town. It is 
 still only to be entered by one low doorway in 
 the wall within which the Christian community 
 lives its separate life. There is only one path 
 in the Deyr broad enough for more than two 
 people to walk abreast, and that leads between 
 the blank walls of high houses to the church of 
 Abu Sefayn — not the only church within the 
 Deyr — and beyond to the priest's house. There 
 are no shops, nor is any business carried on 
 inside the Deyr. The men of the place go out 
 every morning to their work in the Moslem city 
 of Cairo, and return to their secluded homes at 
 night. The houses are so high that no sun, 
 except at midday, can shine into this street or 
 alley. 
 
 A little beyond the priest's house is a convent 
 of nuns, under the charge of a charming old 
 Mother Superior. There are not many convents 
 in Egypt, and those that exist are practically 
 religious homes provided by the Church for the 
 poorer women whose families have not been 
 
76 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 able to give them in marriage. On most of the 
 inmates the conventional rules are only binding 
 so long as they remain in the care of the 
 Mother Superior. One of Miriam's orphan 
 friends, Salome, was a good deal among the 
 nuns, and she was the only one, I think, of our 
 girls who did not marry. Her younger sister, 
 Sophia, went to one of the new Coptic schools, 
 which much increased her matrimonial value. 
 Her guardian, the priest, had at least four 
 proposals of marriage for her before she was 
 sixteen ; but though it would have been a relief 
 to him to have one of the family provided for, 
 he refused to allow her to marry in childhood. 
 
 The girls soon became very friendly with us, 
 and used to come to tea with me either in 
 the Zoological Gardens, which delighted them 
 immensely, or in Church House garden. I had 
 to send a servant to fetch them, and escort them 
 back again, and they came shrouded to the eyes 
 like Mohammedan women, but once in my care 
 they laid their veils aside and enjoyed them- 
 selves. They had beautiful manners, gentle 
 voices and sweet faces, but only one or two of 
 them were really pretty. After a time I learned 
 enough about their fast days not to embarrass 
 them. If I asked them to come on a fast day, 
 
ABU SEFAYN 11 
 
 which I did once or twice at first without 
 knowing, they were much too polite to expose 
 my ignorance. They came and sat smilingly 
 refusing all the delicacies I had prepared for 
 them, but at last I discovered what was the 
 matter and took pains to find out beforehand 
 what days they were forbidden to eat my cakes. 
 Most of my Egyptian maidens kept strictly 
 all the fasts of their Church, and some of them 
 sufiered seriously in health. I did at last 
 persuade Miriam's father that if he wanted to 
 keep his daughter alive he must give her a 
 dispensation from fasting, and he did so, but 
 Miriam did not avail herself of the permission 
 as often as she should, and was always on the 
 verge of a breakdown. Yet I never saw her 
 idle or out of temper. Her great fear was that 
 her father, to whom she was devoted, would feel 
 it his duty to give her in marriage, which at 
 length and very reluctantly he did the pressure 
 of public opinion being too strong for him. But 
 he had the strength of mind to break off the 
 first engagement when it became evident that 
 to persist in it would be to make Miriam 
 miserable ; and eventually, I am glad to say, a 
 husband was found for her who did seem likely 
 to value and cherish her as she deserved. 
 
78 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 Miriam's wedding, however, was the last cele- 
 brated among the little band of maidens whom 
 for some years we taught and from whom we 
 learnt much. The first of their more or less 
 private religious functions which we were asked 
 to attend was the christening of Bahia's third 
 baby, a little daughter. Her two elder children 
 were sons, Shafi and Athanasius, but the second 
 only survived his birth a few weeks. By this 
 time poor Bahia had become reconciled to her 
 new home, though I think Miriam had more to 
 do with it than her husband, and she was both 
 fond and proud of her eldest son — only fifteen 
 years her junior. My husband and the Little 
 Old Lady — of whom more anon — accompanied 
 me to the christening. 
 
AN EGYPTIAN CHRISTENING 
 
 79 
 
% 
 
 A COUNTRY-WOMAN. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 AN EGYPTIAN CHRISTENING 
 
 In due time Ferid and Abd el Melek, the father 
 and godfather-to-be of the child concerned, 
 called to give me the ceremonious invitation 
 to the christening which I had promised to 
 attend. I found that it was not to take place 
 in Abu Sefayn ; but in the church where Bahia's 
 relations belonged. This was the church of 
 the Archangel Michael of the North, in the 
 village of Demerdache (Timur Tash), to which 
 there is no road. But I knew by experience 
 that our coachman would be equal to the 
 occasion, so on the appointed Monday the Dean, 
 the Little Old Lady, and myself drove out of 
 Cairo. We crossed crumbling and unguarded 
 bridges, we sidled along a sloping sandbank 
 with a wall on one hand and a deep canal on 
 the other; we backed and turned in the 
 marvellous way known only to Arab coachmen ; 
 and finally he put his horses straight at a rail- 
 
82 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 way embankment, up which they scrambled 
 like cats. A dash across the rails, a plunge 
 downwards, and we were spinning along a 
 camel track between maize and cotton, and, 
 after another jerk and a final spurt, we 
 thundered through the gates of the Deyr in 
 fine style. 
 
 The baby had not yet arrived, but the 
 service for the day was in progress, and we 
 waited in the church till a series of cries 
 announced that the christening party awaited 
 us in the baptistery, a small room at the south- 
 east corner, with a separate entrance, and open 
 on one side the sanctuary. Here the women 
 of the christening party were assembled ; 
 almost every one sat on the floor, but the 
 Little Old Lady and I sat in two red and gold 
 arm-chairs which had been specially brought 
 in, while the Dean and the priest of Abu 
 Sefayn sat on ordinary chairs. All the women 
 wore the black habara, but as they were 
 safe within Christian walls their faces were 
 unveiled. The font was one of those often 
 found in Egyptian churches, the hollowed stump 
 of a large stone pillar from the ruins of an 
 oarlier church. Abuna Butros (Father Peter), 
 who conducted the first part of the service, 
 
AN EGYPTIAN CHRISTENING 83 
 
 was in his ordinary robes and wore no 
 vestment. 
 
 Bahia was called, and, rising with her baby, 
 stood before the priest. Abuna Butros repeated 
 over her the prayer of purification ; then, 
 having asked the baby's name, pronounced 
 it aloud, and proceeded to exorcise the evil 
 spirit from the infant. This was done by 
 prayer and breathing upon her. Mother and 
 child were then anointed upon the forehead, 
 and the child also upon the palms of her tiny 
 hands. 
 
 Bahia now withdrew, and the young god- 
 father took the baby out of her arms. I 
 expected screams, but evidently the baby knew 
 Abd el Melek, and she smiled serenely at him 
 as he repeated over her head the formula of 
 renunciation and confession of faith. Then the 
 baby was given to Bahia to undress, while 
 Abuna Butros consecrated the water with 
 prayer and the sign of the cross three times 
 made with a silver hand-cross. I believe the 
 second oil was also dropped upon the water in 
 the form of a cross, and the priest breathed 
 upon the water. 
 
 At this juncture the priest, who had been 
 reading the life of Arrian when we arrived 
 
84 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 to the scanty congregation, was called in 
 from the sanctuary in his white robes for 
 the actual administration of the Sacrament — 
 I imagine because he was the only priest 
 present who was still fasting. Little Dimiana, 
 naked, and loudly protesting, was handed 
 back to her godfather, while the clothing 
 she had put off was hurried out of sight. 
 The officiating priest took her in the ex- 
 tremely awkward fashion prescribed by ritual, 
 and Dimiana' s cries during the thrice-repeated 
 immersion drowned the words of the formula. 
 Then the priest rolled her loosely in a large 
 silk handkerchief and laid her flat on the 
 floor, while he anointed her with the oil of 
 thanksgiving. 
 
 The baby was then put into the arms of her 
 godfather, who squatted on the floor to receive 
 her, and she subsided at once into silence, 
 though her trials were by no means over. For 
 no one but the priest, with the help of the 
 godfather, must dress the child after baptism 
 in its new white robes, and, as a rule, two or 
 even one garment is all that is necessary. But 
 Bahia, in the pride of her young motherhood, 
 had made and embroidered a whole set of new 
 white garments, after the fashion of an English 
 
AN EGYPTIAN CHRISTENING 85 
 
 baby's clothing. These she now produced, to 
 the evident embarrassment of both priest and 
 godfather. It was really very funny to see 
 Abd el Melek and the dignified Abuna Butros 
 sitting on the floor with the baby between 
 them solemnly staring from one to the other 
 while the two men earnestly endeavoured to 
 get all the various garments on the right 
 way. Bahia crouched silently beside them, 
 longing to do it herself, but not daring to 
 interfere. Properly speaking, the child should 
 have worn only these white garments, but at 
 the last moment Bahia produced a gorgeous 
 new pelisse of red and yellow silk, which the 
 priest good-naturedly put on over all. But 
 when she further handed to him a white bib, 
 such as all English babies wear, he was fairly 
 nonplussed. " Now, what is this ? " he ejacu- 
 lated, holding it out in both hands. "Is it 
 a hood?" 
 
 Fortunately Abd el Melek was equal to the 
 occasion, and promptly tied it round the baby's 
 neck. Then came the ancient ceremony which 
 is peculiar to the baptismal formula of the 
 Church of Egypt, and gave the Egyptian 
 Christians the nickname by which in the later 
 Middle Ages they were distinguished — " Children 
 
86 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 of the Belt." The little one was solemnly in- 
 vested by the priest with a tri-coloured ribbon 
 representing a sword-belt, in token that she 
 was prepared to defend the faith in the Triune 
 God or die for it, as the Lord might call upon 
 her. This belt must only be put on by the 
 priest, and taken off again by no one but him. 
 It used to be left on the child for three days, 
 but is now loosed from the infant when the 
 final blessing is given. Immediately after this 
 ceremony Dimiana was brought to be blessed 
 by the Dean, and then given back to her 
 mother. 
 
 The service of the Holy Communion was 
 then proceeded with, but for this we all re- 
 turned into the church, except the native 
 women, who were left sitting on the ground 
 in the baptistery, from whence they could all 
 see the altar. Our arm-chairs were carried 
 before us into the church ; for the Egyptians 
 are not supposed to sit during Divine service, 
 and the chairs were at once a concession to 
 our weakness and a tribute to our import- 
 ance. Only one member of the congregation 
 received the Sacrament besides the priest, the 
 deacon, and the newly baptized child, and 
 that was Ibrahim Bey, a man of some wealth 
 
AN EGYPTIAN CHRISTENING 87 
 
 and importance, who had recently rebuilt the 
 church at his own expense. Unfortunately for 
 the archaeologist, the gratitude of wealthy 
 Copts to God for the safety and prosperity 
 they have enjoyed since the coming of the 
 English has so often taken this form that 
 already there are few unrestored churches to 
 be found. 
 
 During the previous service we had seen 
 Ibrahim Bey in frock-coat, grey trousers, white 
 waistcoat, and spectacles, a figure which would 
 have looked far less incongruous in the streets 
 of London than squatting on the floor of an 
 Egyptian church. Since then he had struggled, 
 evidently with some difficulty, into the ecclesi- 
 astical garment of white, embroidered with red, 
 which, like the wedding garment of the New 
 Testament, must be worn by those who come 
 to the Lord's Table ; and he was pacing slowly 
 round the altar behind the young deacon, carry- 
 a lighted taper. 
 
 When all these had received, the baby 
 was called for, and held in her godfather's 
 arms while the priest administered the Sacra- 
 ment with a spoon. Dimiana did not seem to 
 mind what various experiences she was called 
 upon to undergo, so long as she felt her- 
 
88 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 self safe in the arms of Abd el Melek or her 
 mother. 
 
 When the long service was finished a gorgeous 
 cope was brought out, with which Abd el Melek, 
 the baby still in his arms, was solemnly invested. 
 Then the silver processional cross, with a lighted 
 taper fixed on its head and each arm, was borne 
 before him by the deacon, and the baptismal 
 procession moved, chanting the while, three 
 times round the church. Then Abd el Melek 
 stood in the archway of the sanctuary portal, 
 holding Dimiana to the priest for the final bless- 
 ing and dismissal. 
 
 Once more we followed our arm-chairs and 
 found them occupying the post of honour at the 
 reception in the courtyard. Ferid and the other 
 younger men served us with lemonade and 
 sweets, while the priests desired to enter into 
 conversation with us. But as I was the only 
 English person present who knew any Arabic, 
 and Abd el Melek the only Egyptian who knew 
 any English, we did not get very far. The 
 women were served separately, but I insisted on 
 going to see them before we made our elaborate 
 farewells to the men-kind and were escorted 
 by them to the entrance of the Deyr. The 
 infant heroine of the occasion did not live more 
 
AN EGYPTIAN CHRISTENING 89 
 
 than a year or two. Bahia has borne three 
 sons and two daughters, but only her eldest 
 son and youngest daughter, a very handsome 
 child who was christened Rosa, now remain 
 to her. 
 
THE BETROTHAL OF 
 SOPHIA 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE BETROTHAL OF SOPHIA 
 
 Of the three Egyptian girls whom we knew* best, 
 Sophia was the first to marry, and the news of 
 her betrothal was conveyed to me in the following 
 letter from her brother, Abd el Melek. I have 
 not altered anything except a word or two 
 where his still imperfect knowledge of English 
 obscured the sense too much. 
 
 " Sophia, my sister, will be married the 
 Sunday after next. As I know that you wish 
 to be acquainted with the manner in which the 
 Egyptian marriage is carried on, I take this 
 opportunity to tell you about everything that I 
 observed. 
 
 *' About a week ago, when I was in my study, 
 there came two old women with a young married 
 lady into ^the room where I was sitting. Being 
 ashamed (too shy) to meet them, I took my 
 book and got out of the room ; but called upon 
 my mother to come and receive them. I was 
 
 93 
 
94 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 afterwards informed that one of them was a 
 midwife and the other the grandmother of a 
 young Copt who accompanied them up to the 
 house but waited outside. The young lady was 
 his aunt. They all came with intention to see 
 Sophia and to describe to the youth her 
 personal and other qualifications. So poor 
 Sophia was ordered to be dressed out to the 
 best advantage. The wives and daughters of 
 our neighbours hurried to our house and assisted 
 her. Soon after she appeared in full state, with 
 her hair curled and arranged dexterously over 
 the eyes, with long gloves on, and with many 
 adornments and other numerous devices which 
 were to be as so many arrows to the heart of 
 the bridegroom. The two old women drew her 
 close into their bosoms one after the other, 
 flung their arms round her neck, embraced and 
 kissed her. They did that in order to feel her 
 breast and smell the odour of her mouth. They 
 make her speak to see if she had a clear and 
 sonorous voice. They watched her when she 
 laughed, but found that her mouth was not too 
 wide and that her teeth were all whole and 
 nicely arranged. The young lady remarked that 
 Sophia was perspiring, and so took out a hand- 
 kerchief and wiped her face ; but the truth was 
 
THE BETROTHAL OF SOPHIA 95 
 
 that she wanted to see whether the complexion 
 of Sophia's face was naturally or artificially 
 white. They were all convinced to their entire 
 satisfaction as to Sophia's physical beauty. 
 Then they began to test her knowledge of the 
 rules of etiquette. When she handed them the 
 cups of coffee they turned their eyes towards 
 her to witness how she ofi'ered the cup to each. 
 Sophia was on her guard, for she nicely stepped 
 towards them with the cup, held by its bottom 
 rim in her hand, and then turned back again, 
 stood erect and crossed her arms on her breast. 
 When they drank the coffee she took the cup 
 and complimented them very civilly. This 
 behaviour of hers pleased them to the highest 
 degree, and they soon proclaimed their wish to 
 have her for a wife to the young man whom 
 they represented. The midwife was sent out to 
 give him her report of what she had seen and to 
 bring him in. She described to him the girl as 
 being like a gazelle, pretty and elegant and young. 
 When she talked to him about her manners, she 
 compared her to an angel or to a Turkish 
 girl born and brought up in Constantinople (!). 
 My mother, meanwhile, went to my uncle the 
 priest and gave him notice. I was also called to 
 be present and give my advice in the matter. 
 
96 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 " The reception hall was prepared, and my uncle 
 sat in it waiting for the arrival of his guests. 
 The expectant youth was led to it by the mid- 
 wife. They all took their seats on the sofa, the 
 young married lady being by the priest. Mother 
 took a chair a little way from him. The intended 
 bridegroom and I sat at the table. I sat musing 
 and watching closely the small occurrences that 
 fell under my observation while my would-be 
 brother-in-law was anxious to see the face of 
 his future wife and to have a glance at the 
 beauty that had been described to him. My 
 ■uncle after giving the due welcome to his 
 visitors, commanded that Sophia should show 
 herself again. My cousin's wife brought her 
 out of one of the rooms to the scene of action. 
 She trod the pavement as if she were going 
 to immediate execution. She summoned up 
 courage enough to shake hands with us all, not 
 even the man excepted, and to entertain us by 
 reading a chapter from the Bible. Signs of 
 satisfaction could be seen on the countenance 
 of my uncle, for the old man was more jealous 
 for the future of his daughters and nieces than 
 for that of his sons and nephews. I listened 
 with amusement while he spared no words to 
 extol her beauty and conduct He made them 
 
THE BETROTHAL OF SOPHIA 97 
 
 understand that our daughters do not spoil their 
 husbands or lead them astray. They honour 
 and serve their mothers-in-law from their 
 hearts. He also said that there is no single 
 case which shows that one of the daughters 
 of our house divided her husband from his 
 father or asked the Ecclesiastical Court to help 
 her in obtaining an inhabitanoy or a legal 
 house.^ 
 
 " The midwife or Khatiba, as she is commonly 
 called, smiled all the while, talked in whispers 
 with the other ladies (probably commenting on 
 the charms of Sophia), and nodded an assent at 
 the end of each phrase my uncle said. She then 
 took Sophia aside and said to her, ' My daughter, 
 the youth who wishes to marry you is young, 
 graceful and elegant, as you see him. He has 
 
 ^ This sentence wiU be obscure to those who do not know 
 Egyptian customs. It is usual for two or three generations of 
 them to inhabit the family house. When a son marries, instead 
 of " leaving his father and his mother," as St. Paul recom- 
 mended, he brings his wife to the common home ; and she is 
 expected to become, in a very literal sense, one of his family. 
 But it is provided that if the woman finds her position unbear- 
 able, she may appeal to the Ecclesiastical Court, and they have 
 power to order the husband to take a separate house for her 
 But this is considered an extreme measure, only excused by 
 very strong evidence that the young woman is justified in her 
 complaint. If she makes the application without such suffi- 
 cient grounds, she is considered to have disgraced herself and 
 her family. 
 
 1 
 
98 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 plenty of money, dresses handsomely, is fond of 
 delicacies, but cannot enjoy his luxuries alone; 
 he wants you as his companion ; he will give 
 you everything that money can procure ; he is 
 a stayer-at-home, and will spend his whole time 
 with you, caressing and fondling you.' But 
 neither the man nor Sophia could ever lift eyes 
 to one another, a fact which surprised me very 
 much. Both of them seemed blinded with 
 shame, and I wondered how he saw her, and 
 upon what ground he chose her for wife. I 
 think the account of her given by the two old 
 women satisfied him ; and the eulogium of her 
 character given by so worthy a man as my uncle 
 had its due efifect upon him. Now both parties 
 began to settle the amount of the *mahr,' or 
 marriage settlement, which he was prepared to 
 make. After a little haggling, as in other 
 pecuniary transactions, they at length agreed to 
 fix it at £50. The next Sunday was appointed 
 for paying the money and performing the cere- 
 mony of the betrothal, which is properly called 
 * Kirayet Gabaniot ' (or the reading of the 
 Lord's Prayer). On inquiring who the young 
 aspirant was, we found him to be a carpenter in 
 the irrigation shops near the Barrage, under the 
 superintendence of his father, who is the fore- 
 
THE BETROTHAL OF SOPHIA 99 
 
 man of all the carpenters there. He is paid 
 twenty-four piastres a day, and his father's 
 salary is £12 a month. He and his father are 
 living together in a house of their own. On 
 the day appointed for writing the contract, the 
 bridegroom accompanied by his father, brothers 
 and friends, came to our house bringing with 
 him the dowry which he had promised to pay. 
 He and his companions were received by the 
 bride's 'wakeel.' My uncle and many friends 
 of the latter were present. The bridegroom 
 then paid the money. The service of betrothal 
 was performed and substantiated by many 
 witnesses. Another priest besides my uncle was 
 employed on this occasion. All persons pre- 
 sent then recited in an audible voice the Lord's 
 Prayer, and sang the hymn of the ' King.' The 
 contract concluded, the people who were present 
 were served with * sherbet ' or syrup and coffee. 
 The bridegroom and his friends remained to 
 dinner, while all others dispersed. Concerning 
 the dowry I may say two or three words more. 
 It was expended in furnishing Sophia with the 
 necessary outfits. We prepared for her a stock 
 of household furniture (as sofas, matting, carpets, 
 bedding, kitchen utensils, etc.), and dress. She 
 had her ornaments before. We found the dowry 
 
100 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 insufficient, and no we ourselves supplied addi- 
 tional money to make her * gahaz/ that is, the 
 articles of furniture, complete. A rich bride is 
 known from a poor one by her outfits. Amongst 
 the lowest classes of the peasantry the bride 
 enters into her bridegroom's house with a hand- 
 mill, a mat, and an earthen cooking vessel." 
 
 I was not present at Sophia's wedding, but 
 a few years afterwards I went to see Miriam 
 married in her father's church. 
 
MIRIAM'S WEDDING 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 MIRIAM'S WEDDING 
 
 Miriam was married in sunimer, and it was a 
 very hot day when the Little Old Lady and I 
 drove down to Abu Sefayn for the ceremony. 
 When we entered the Deyr we found the narrow 
 lane decorated with palms and flags and hung 
 with lanterns in readiness for the evening festivi- 
 ties. The lane was tented in for half its length, 
 and the inevitable brass band was in attendance, 
 greeting our appearance with a noisy clash of 
 welcome. We looked into the church, which 
 was already lighted up, with a special wedding 
 altar erected in front of the door in the beautiful 
 old chancel screen. Both bride and bridegroom 
 had made their communion in the early morning, 
 and the sanctuary is not used for the actual 
 wedding ceremony. The priest begged me to 
 come and see Miriam, so I went out again with 
 Abd el Melek to show me the way, for Miriam 
 
 was not in her father's house. The bridegroom 
 
 103 
 
104 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 being a stranger from a far country (about sixty 
 miles away) had to be provided with a house for 
 the wedding ceremonies, so the priest's house 
 had been made over to him. Miriam therefore 
 had to be taken out of it, and was lodging in the 
 house of a neighbouring priest, which became for 
 the occasion the house of the bride's father. 
 Both Abu Sefayn and his daughter were miser- 
 able at the parting, which they had put off as 
 long as public opinion would permit. 
 
 I found poor Miriam white as death, and 
 bearing herself with a grave mournful dignity 
 very unlike the chattering excitement of all the 
 other girls and women of whom the house was 
 full. She was being dressed by the midwife, in 
 Egypt a personage whose 'position and duties are 
 far more varied and important than the English 
 name signifies ; and I went back to await her in 
 the outer room among the matrons. In a few 
 minutes she came in, robed in flowing white 
 silk, and a long veil of clear white tulle. It has 
 become the custom among the Copts of late 
 years to wear a tulle or net veil in place of the 
 old-fashioned veil of thick white muslin which 
 no one could see through. 
 
 We waited a weary while, for the bride must 
 not leave her house until the groomsmen come 
 
MIRIAM'S WEDDING 105 
 
 to fetch her. At length the clamour of the 
 brass band, and the shrill cries of the women, 
 announced their arrival. In came Selib, the 
 eldest brother of the bridegroom, and another 
 man, each bearing a decorated wax candle nearly 
 as big as himself, and advanced with smiles to 
 the bride. But alas for poor Miriam ! There 
 was an instant's shocked pause, and then an 
 indignant exchange of reproaches between Selib 
 and the midwife. He had never seen — in his 
 "far country" — a wedding veil of the new 
 fashion, and it appeared to him most improper. 
 Was the face of his brother's bride to be stared 
 at by all the strangers in the street as she passed 
 to the church ? 
 
 The midwife angrily defended the veil as the 
 newest and most correct thing. That might be 
 — for this country, retorted Selib, but when 
 she went to her husband's village every one 
 would speak against her, and she would be 
 remembered as the woman who permitted her 
 face to be seen in the street on her wedding-day. 
 The women disclaimed all responsibility for what 
 his village (contemptuous accent) might do or 
 say. If he wanted a wife from this country, he 
 must take her according to the customs of this 
 country. On the whole Selib concluded to do 
 
106 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 so, aDd presented his arm to Miriam, who had 
 remained speechless and passive during this 
 little quarrel. They got her as far as the door 
 of the outer room, and then there was another 
 pause. It is the custom for the principal servant 
 of the house (in this case represented by the 
 church servant) to shut the door against them, 
 and declare that they shall not carry the 
 daughter of the house away. Argument failing, 
 he was appeased by money (is not this character- 
 istic), and the whole procession tumbled over 
 each other down the stairs. Miriam's brother 
 pushed and shouted till he had brought me from 
 the rear to the place of honour just behind the 
 bridesmaids. She had six little girls, one in 
 green cotton, two in blue, and three in pink. 
 Finally the procession got formed as follows : 
 the brass band, making a hideous noise ; next, a, 
 company of priests (generally it would be only 
 one or two, but at least fourteen of the father's 
 clerical friends had assembled to do him honour). 
 They were all in their ordinary black robes 
 except one, who wore a long vestment of crimson 
 velvet (the epitrachelion) edged with gold, and 
 embroidered with seven gold crosses. He also 
 carried a cross, and had a large gold one hung 
 round his neck, After them came two young 
 
MIRIAM'S WEDDING 107 
 
 groomsmen, each carrying a bouquet of flowers. 
 Just behind them, one of the blue bridesmaids 
 walked alone, triumphantly holding aloft the 
 flowers which I had brought. Next, the green 
 bridesmaid walked backwards the whole way, 
 fanning Miriam with a large fan of white 
 feathers. Then poor Miriam, held up on each 
 side by Selib and the other man. The other four 
 bridesmaids carried her train — a most necessary 
 item of ceremonial on this occasion ! Then came 
 Abd el Melek and I, and after us a confused herd 
 of women uttering the shrill piercing cries which 
 seem to denote indifierently grief or joy. 
 
 At the great door which leads down into the 
 vestibule, we had another pause for that terrible 
 heathen ceremony which both Christians and 
 Mohammedans have perpetuated from the days 
 of the Pharaohs. A young bullock was held in 
 readiness by the executioner, and poor Miriam 
 had to stand and see its throat cut before her, so 
 that the blood gushed over the threshold and 
 down the steps. ^ Then the carcase was dragged 
 away, and Miriam had to step over the running 
 blood, — indeed, we all did, — and went through 
 the vestibule into the church. 
 
 The bridegroom was there already, as it is the 
 
 1 The flesh of the animal sacrificed is given to the poor. 
 
108 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 custom for him to have a sort of preparatory 
 service to himself, before the women come in. 
 He was clothed in the orthodox wedding garment, 
 which is the property of the church, and exactly 
 like a large full cope. In this case it was a 
 brocade of gold thread on broad stripes of deep, 
 bright colours. He sat in one of the two chairs 
 of state, which were placed close together in 
 front of the congregation, with a small clear 
 space between them and the temporary altar. 
 On this was placed the gospel stand, or wooden 
 frame, in the centre of which the great sealed 
 copy of the Gospels used for ceremonial purposes 
 stands upright ; and on which are fixed around 
 it, also in an upright position, the silver fans 
 and crosses belonging to the church, all stuck 
 with lighted tapers. There were also two old 
 branched candlesticks full of the same lighted 
 tapers, and on the right and left hand of all 
 these were modern china jars in which the two 
 groomsmen deposited the bouquets they had 
 carried in the procession. The little blue 
 bridesmaid also laid upon the table the roses 
 and lilies which I had bought, and then retired 
 to her fellows behind the bride. But the little 
 green bridesmaid stood solemnly in front of the 
 bride and bridegroom the whole time, with her 
 
MIRIAM'S WEDDING 109 
 
 back to the altar, fanning them slowly and 
 steadily with the feather fan. On either side 
 the archway behind the temporary altar stood 
 the choir boys, the elder ones in red garments, 
 the younger ones in white, all with the crossed 
 stoles peculiar to an Egyptian choir boy. All 
 the time the church was filling the boys chanted 
 a hymn, and during the whole service whenever 
 they were singing, the congregation chattered 
 without reserve, but whenever a priest stood up 
 to read or pray there was a general hush, and 
 they became quiet and attentive. The priests 
 sat seven on each side of the altar, in a half- 
 circle which completed the enclosure of the open 
 space. Most of them took some part in the 
 service, which consisted of lessons from the 
 Scriptures describing the duties of husband and 
 wife to each other ; prayer, praise, and blessing. 
 The actual crowning and joining of hands under 
 the wedding canopy — a long strip of embroidered 
 white placed over the heads of both together, so 
 that an embroidered cross rested on each head — 
 was done by a very old priest from the native 
 village of the bridegroom. He was almost blind, 
 and a young priest stood on either side to guide 
 his hands if necessary. He did put the bride- 
 groom's crown on backwards, and it had to be 
 
no EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 quietly reversed by the priest on his right. All 
 the priests read well and clearly, even the old 
 man managed to make himself heard. The 
 bride's father took no part in the ceremony. 
 When the long service was over, the priest in 
 the crimson velvet vestment mounted the steps 
 behind the altar for the wedding address. The 
 whole scene was most striking, as this splendid 
 figure stood above the flashing lights of the 
 silver-laden altar, with the dark background 
 behind of the dimly lighted chancel, and a group 
 of choir boys on either hand. When he sat 
 down, a young theological student in ordinary 
 dress stood up to speak. But he began, as the 
 priest had done, with the invocation " In the 
 Name of God," etc., and there was an instant 
 murmur from the priestly circle, put into words 
 of public rebuke by one of them. ** You must 
 not begin in that way ; it is only permitted to 
 the priests to speak in the Name of God." The 
 youth looked abashed, but made his short speech ; 
 and we thought all was over. But we were to 
 have another modern innovation besides the 
 transparent veil. There was a stir among the 
 women at the back, and a small boy, about six, 
 in an English knickerbocker suit, was passed 
 forward to the front. He went bashfully but 
 
MIRIAM'S WEDDING HI 
 
 unhesitatiDgly up the steps, and faced the 
 congregation with his little hands held straight 
 at his sides. Here he repeated, in a clear, 
 ringing voice, without a single mistake, an 
 address to the bride and bridegroom, in the 
 course of which he wished them many nice boys, 
 and some nice girls. The whole congregation 
 clapped him when he came down, and we all 
 poured out of the church. I knew the wedding 
 feast would last till midnight, and even then the 
 bride's fatigues are not over. At an early hour 
 next morning, she has to sit in state to receive 
 the congratulations of her relations and friends, 
 who each give her a piece of money, a sovereign 
 or half-sovereign, or less, as they can afford. To 
 each one she gives, in return, a tiny bottle of 
 scent and a muslin handkerchief. We had 
 already stayed later than we intended, so I 
 just followed Miriam upstairs to drink her 
 health (in raspberry syrup), and then bade her 
 good-bye. We made our way along the decorated 
 and crowded alley, escorted by all the principal 
 men of the Deyr, and emerged into the solemn 
 brilliance of an Egyptian afterglow. All the 
 western sky was a blaze of dull crimson behind 
 the palms, and one splendid star shone down 
 upon us like a young moon as we drove away. 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 
 
CHAPTEE X 
 
 AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 
 
 All through the length and breadth of Egypt 
 a certain saint, whose name is barely known in 
 England, is held in veneration as second only 
 to the Virgin Mary herself. In every church 
 you enter you find a picture of a young and, 
 so far as the artist can represent her, beautiful 
 woman, surrounded by forty smaller pictures, in 
 the same frame, each of a woman in the habit 
 of a nun. If the church is one of the two 
 or three occasionally visited by English and 
 American tourists, you will probably be told that 
 it represents St. Catherine. If you say in the 
 language of the people, " Indeed, who told you 
 it was St. Catherine ? " the old priest will smile 
 deprecatingly, and reply, *'Well, of course, as 
 your excellency knows, it is really Sitt Dimiana." 
 But the tourists who are vaguely conscious that 
 there is an Egyptian saint called St. Catherine, 
 and have not heard of any other, tell him that 
 
116 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 it is St. Catherine, and he is too polite to con- 
 tradict them. Who St. Catherine may be he 
 has no idea ; probably it is the English way of 
 pronouncing Dimiana. For St. Catherine of 
 Alexandria is unknown in Egypt ; if she ever 
 existed, she has no honour in her own country. 
 But there is hardly a Christian in the country 
 who cannot tell you the story of Sitt Dimiana, 
 and with wonderfully little variation in the 
 diflferent villages and towns. 
 
 "Sitt" does not mean *^ saint." The 
 Egyptians, though they have a word for saint, 
 borrowed from the Greek, never use it as a 
 prefix. For saints of the sterner sex they use the 
 Chaldean word Mar, which signifies Lord. Before 
 a consonant, or if the personal pronoun is used, 
 this becomes Mari, i.e. Mari Girghis, which we 
 render in English St. George. In the same 
 way Sitt, or almost invariably Sitte, sounding 
 the final " e," which means ** lady," or " my lady," 
 is prefixed to the names of female saints. 
 
 I have written Dimiana as it is pronounced, the 
 " i " short as in Jim, the " a " long as in Juliana ; 
 but I have little doubt that it is the feminine 
 of Damian, a& we generally write in the west the 
 name of the Egyptian physician and saint who is 
 so inseparably connected with his twin brother 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 117 
 
 Cosmas. What the Coptic root may be, I do not 
 know, but I have been told by Egyptians that 
 it is the same as that which forms the original 
 of the word we now call Damietta. 
 
 The father of Dimiana, so runs the story, was 
 the governor of one of the Egyptian provinces in 
 the reign of Diocletian. He was a Christian, 
 and so much respected both in his own province 
 and at Court that Diocletian by no means 
 desired to treat him with the rigour prescribed 
 by the edict which ushered in the ten years' 
 Reign of Terror, which is still remembered with 
 horror by the Egyptians. So indelibly was the 
 memory of this terrible time impressed on the 
 national mind that the mark of it lies now, 
 like a great dividing gulf, across their national 
 life. They date their present era, as we all know, 
 from the first year of the reign of Diocletian, 
 and they call it, with sad significance, "the era 
 of martyrs." 
 
 I have not been able to discover the name 
 of Dimiana s father. It is lost in what the 
 Egyptians consider his only title of honour — 
 his fatherhood of the young and beautiful girl 
 who from her earliest years he had dedicated to 
 the service of God, and for whom he had founded 
 a convent. Her maidens became her nuns, and 
 
118 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 others joined her, till the number had reached 
 to forty. It is said by some versions of the 
 legend that she was only fifteen when she 
 became abbess of the convent. She was already 
 there when the edict of 303 was published, and 
 not long after news was brought to her that the 
 Emperor had offered her father to continue in 
 his government and all his other honours, even 
 to worship in his own house as it pleased him, 
 so long as he allowed it to be publicly announced 
 that he had submitted to the Imperial edict and 
 embraced the religion of the State. A governor, 
 in such a case, would be able to make the edict 
 practically a dead letter in his province, and it 
 was reported to Dimiana that her father intended 
 to accept the offer of the Emperor. She sent, or 
 went, it is not clear which, to entreat her father 
 not so to imperil his immortal welfare, and by 
 her tears and prayers she prevailed with him to 
 refuse all compromise and to oflfer himself as a 
 martyr for the faith. But an able and honest 
 governor in a distant and important province 
 of the empire was not so easily replaced, and 
 Diocletian, instead of putting the father to death, 
 turned all his fury on the daughter. A troop 
 was dispatched at once to the convent, and not 
 only Dimiana, but all her nuns with her, were 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 119 
 
 given the alternative of renouncing their faith, 
 and submitting to the will of the Emperor, or 
 suffering death by torture. The nuns responded 
 to the call of their dauntless young abbess, 
 and not one failed her. The whole forty endured 
 tortures without flinching ; they died together, 
 and were buried in one grave. 
 
 That grave is still reverenced, not only by the 
 faithful few — who from generation to generation 
 have endured oppression, obloquy, and often 
 savage persecution, sooner than forsake the faith 
 of their fathers — but by all true Egyptians, 
 whether Mohammedan or Christian. A convent 
 has existed from time immemorial on the same 
 site, and to this convent once a year a vast pro- 
 cession of pilgrims — men, women, and children — 
 wend their way from all parts of Egypt. The 
 sanctity of her shrine was so great that a vigil 
 properly kept there would expel the most 
 obstinate devil, and people afflicted with fits or 
 epilepsy were brought from long distances to be 
 cured. But the greatest miracle was one which 
 was spoken of under the breath, as it were, and 
 not to be mentioned at all except to the faithful 
 — the Shadow of Sitt Dimiana — which yearly, 
 at the same day and hour, appeared to her 
 believing devotees. 
 
120 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 I had heard for years of Sitt Dimiana, and 
 one year I made up my mind that 1 would 
 myself undertake the pilgrimage. A convent of 
 nuns I knew would receive me with ready 
 courtesy and hospitality, and I was quite pre- 
 pared to rough it. It was too far to go there 
 and back in the day from Cairo, even with 
 the present extension of railways in the Delta. 
 But I was kindly welcomed to Mansourah, the 
 nearest largest town, and when I arrived there 
 found that the French judge and his daughter, 
 besides my hosts themselves and a young 
 Egyptian lawyer, who had performed this pilgrim- 
 age more than once himself, would accompany 
 us. Mr. Sideros (Isidorus) had already written 
 to the bishop of the Province to inform him that 
 our distinguished party intended to visit the fair, 
 and had received for answer that the bishop 
 himself would be unable to be present this year 
 as business had called him to Palestine (a part 
 of which is included in his diocese), but that his 
 representative would be delighted to receive us, 
 and that all the bishop's own rooms in the 
 convent would be reserved for us. 
 
 Oneof the members of the judicial bench atMan- 
 sourah was going on leave, and the night of my 
 arrival at Mansourah we went to a dinner given by 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 121 
 
 the French judge in his honour, at which I was 
 most hospitably welcomed, and where the conversa- 
 tion — in a mixture of languages — turned chiefly on 
 what we expected to see at the fair. I was anxious 
 to obtain more information about the celebrated 
 Shadow, but all I could learn was that for the 
 last six years it had ceased to appear, and that the 
 miraculous cures were therefore also in abeyance. 
 We started at noon the next day, taking with 
 us pillows, rugs, and saddles, in addition to our 
 night gear, so that one compartment was filled 
 with our luggage and servant, as well as another 
 with our party of seven, for an American lady 
 from the Mansourah mission had also joined us. 
 Wherever people travel the weather is *' ex- 
 ceptional," and our pilgrimage to Dimiana was 
 no exception to the rule. The train had hardly 
 moved away from Mansourah when it began to 
 rain hard, although it was the middle of an 
 Egyptian May and a chilly rain was flagrantly 
 out of place. -^ We knew that we should have to 
 spend an hour and a half or more at a little 
 wayside station half-way between Mansourah 
 and Bilkaas ; and we had made quite a nice 
 little plan for that halt. We would get out 
 
 ^ So I thought then. I have learned by experience that the 
 May rain is a regular feature of the year. 
 
122 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 and have a picnic tea in the shade of a palm 
 grove, and then we would explore the village 
 for Christian remains. We arrived at that 
 station in such pelting rain that the surround- 
 ings were almost invisible, but we made out 
 a cluster of desolate mud huts, which were 
 apparently rapidly resolving themselves into 
 the primitive element, some extremely white 
 children, who were taking a shower bath in front 
 of their homes, and that was all. No palm -groves, 
 apparently no cultivation of any kind, though 
 this could not have been the fact. A thin, 
 shivering lad came along the train looking for 
 me, and explained that Sheikh Mena (a Moham- 
 medan Copt, who was constructing a new 
 railway from Bilkaas, and whom I knew in 
 Cairo) had sent him to wait upon the Sitt. 
 He thankfully took refuge in the luggage 
 carriage with our servant, and meanwhile. 
 Miss L., the British judge's sister, managed, 
 somehow, to produce hot coffee in a saucepan, 
 which we much appreciated. A knot of 
 labourers, who were waiting with some empty 
 trucks, came up and interrogated our servants 
 to know what these incomprehensible Frangis 
 were doing here ; but we won their fervent 
 gratitude and approval by the distribution of 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 123 
 
 some cigarettes. Then we fell into conversation 
 again about the vanished Shadow, and here I 
 met with another instance of the difficulty one 
 has in getting the Egyptians to talk frankly of 
 their beliefs to us for fear of ridicule. They 
 know we call ourselves Christians, but then, they 
 argue, so do the Americans, who are manifestly 
 unbelievers (in bishops, sacraments, and most 
 things that the Egyptian mind regards as 
 essential to the Christian religion), who knows 
 if the English, who speak the same language, 
 are any better? Mr. Sideros had often been 
 asked about the Shadow before, and had 
 affected to know and care nothing about it ; but 
 now that he heard us seriously discussing the 
 nature of an apparition which we seemed pre- 
 pared to accept in good faith, he dropped his 
 mask of indifference and suddenly informed us 
 that he had seen it himself some years before, 
 and firmly believed in it. We eagerly asked 
 him to tell us what he had seen. 
 
 We then learnt that the vision appeared in 
 an ancient crypt or disused chapel, now nearly 
 underground, and lighted only by one opening 
 high up in the wall. At a certain hour on the 
 day of the festival a bright light shone on the 
 blank wall of this chapel, and the Shadow 
 
124 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 passed across. But a Shadow of what ? we 
 asked. 
 
 *' They say," answered Mr. Sideros, manifestly 
 becoming uncomfortable again, ** that it is the 
 Shadow of Sitt Dimiana and the Archangel 
 Michael." 
 
 " But why," I asked — " why the Archangel 
 Michael?" 
 
 Here the British judge, who had been dozing, 
 woke with a start, and looked across at me. 
 His Christian name was Michael, but France 
 hastened to explain to his colleague that it 
 was the Archangel we had called upon. Mean- 
 while Mr. Sideros was explaining to me that he 
 did not commit himself to the statement that it 
 was Sitt Dimiana or the Archangel ; all he 
 would say was that he had certainly, at the 
 appointed hour, seen the shadow of a woman 
 pass across the brilliant light, followed by " men 
 and women riding on asses," and the omen for 
 the year was favourable or not according to the 
 appearances. No one knew, he added, who, or 
 how many, would appear, but always some 
 shadows passed — who he would not himself 
 pretend to say. 
 
 It seemed to me most probable, and the rest 
 of the company agreed with me, that the 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 125 
 
 builders of the convent centuries ago must 
 either by accident or design have built a sort 
 of natural camera obscura, so contrived that 
 when the sun was exactly in the right position 
 a reflection was thrown upon the wall of the 
 people passing outside. But then, we naturally 
 asked ourselves, why should the apparition have 
 ceased for the last six or seven years to appear. 
 Further inquiry cleared up this difficulty at any 
 rate. I had observed that when the English 
 settled themselves in Egypt, and seemed likely 
 to stay there some years, the Christian 
 Egyptians had taken advantage of their 
 immunity from oppression to rebuild their 
 ancient, and, in many cases, almost ruinous 
 churches in every direction. Much as the 
 antiquarian must regret this, he would at least 
 have acknowledged that it was in many cases 
 necessary if the churches were to continue at 
 all ; and it is only fair to the Egyptians to say 
 that, whatever Vandalisms they have been 
 guilty of, they may favourably compare with 
 ourselves when we began to restore our churches 
 in the present century. Still we must all regret 
 the disappearance of curious structural relics all 
 over Egypt in the first ten years of the English 
 occupation, and among them has been the build- 
 
126 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 ing which caused the Shadow of Sitt Dimiana. 
 The whole convent was renovated, white-washed, 
 and in great part rebuilt. Even the shrine did 
 not escape. They pulled down the outer cover- 
 ing, and began to prise up an enormous stone, 
 which was said to mark the spot where the 
 forty-one corpses had been buried together, 
 when a jet of water, "white as milk," said 
 one informant, sprung out with such force 
 that the workmen were knocked down and 
 blinded. (The one who held the lever at the 
 moment is said to have remained blind some 
 time — till the gracious lady had pity on him, 
 and healed him.) This was taken as the clearest 
 possible intimation that Sitt Dimiana was 
 angry at the proposed disturbance of her 
 grave, the great stone was hastily fixed in 
 its place again, though with some difficulty, 
 and an enormous circular tomb of white plaster 
 built over it. It is with this abortive attempt 
 to open Sitt Dimiana*s tomb that the Egyptians 
 connect the disappearance of their yearly appari- 
 tion, as they fear Sitt Dimiana has not yet 
 entirely forgiven their well-meant intrusion, 
 though they hope that she will do so some 
 day. 
 
 Fortunately for us, the rain had ceased when 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 127 
 
 we arrived at Bilkaas, where we were cordially 
 welcomed by Sheikh Mena, in his flowing robes. 
 We left him and Mr. Sideros to bargain with 
 the villagers for donkeys and mules wherewith 
 to transport ourselves and our baggage to the 
 fair, and took refuge in the upper part of the 
 little Greek hotel, which appeared to be entirely 
 occupied by Sheikh Mena and his attendants, 
 though, of course, not a soul was allowed to 
 mount the outside staircase or remain in the 
 vicinity of the English ladies as soon as they 
 had ushered us upstairs. Bilkaas is a fairly 
 picturesque village, with palms above the low 
 mud houses, and a little river running by. 
 Externally the church was more imposing 
 than usual; instead of being concealed as 
 much as possible by houses built against it, 
 it stood out boldly by itself on a rising 
 ground, with even a suggestion of cloisters 
 round it. I wanted to go and see it, but 
 the day was already far spent, and it seemed 
 doubtful if we should reach the convent before 
 nightfall ; so we obediently mounted our 
 ragged steeds, who had evidently been hard 
 worked in the service of pilgrims, and filed 
 out of Bilkaas through the mud alleys which 
 serve for streets. 
 
128 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 Our way for some time lay along the bank of 
 the little river, and was not calculated to reassure 
 nervous riders. The green bank went steeply 
 down into the water on one side, and on the 
 other several feet into the fields, and the path 
 on the top of this ridge was of the narrowest. 
 On an ordinary occasion this would not have 
 mattered much, but the track was full of pilgrims 
 going and returning, most of them on foot, but 
 many of them on horses, mules, or asses. Some- 
 times, indeed, we met a whole drove of donkeys 
 returning empty for fresh burdens, and these 
 were the most troublesome of all. The only 
 safety against being jostled unceremoniously 
 into the river was to allow our boys to push the 
 donkeys right and left by main force. None of 
 them, I am thankful to say, went into the river 
 on our account, but several were plumped down 
 on the crops on the other side of the bank, and 
 left to scramble up again as they could. Every 
 one was very good-natured, however, and before 
 very long we left the bank of the river and 
 turned off across a barren and apparently 
 boundless plain. It was not a sand desert, for 
 the soil had once been very fertile, and would 
 be again under favourable circumstances. But 
 for some centuries now it has been little cared 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 129 
 
 for ; the dykes which, many miles to the north, 
 kept the sea out, have given way, and the land 
 has become strongly impregnated with salt. 
 What with the rain and the hundreds of pilgrim 
 feet that had trodden it all day, it was now in 
 many places a morass, through which our beasts 
 struggled pluckily, sinking deep at every step. 
 For miles before we reached the convent we saw 
 its high walls and white domes before us against 
 the northern sky, while the fast-dying sunlight 
 glorified the pools of water on the desolate 
 plain. By and by we made out the peaked 
 roofs of countless tents clustered round the 
 convent, and at last, just after sunset, while 
 the glow yet lingered in the sky, we rode up to 
 the seething mass of humanity which seemed so 
 strangely out of place in this otherwise life- 
 less district, and were warmly greeted by the 
 bishop's representative and the occupants of 
 the monastery. 
 
 This was my first surprise. I had always been 
 told of St. Dimiana's nuns, and nothing had 
 been said to me of monks. When and how the 
 change had taken place, I do not know — probably 
 centuries ago, but ''min zimaam" (a very long 
 time ago), my informants told me, there had 
 been monks here and no nuns. I congratulated 
 9 
 
130 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 myself that, through the kindness of the L.'s, I 
 had not come alone. 
 
 The commissary — for I cannot otherwise 
 reproduce his official title — was a courteous 
 gentleman of middle age, in the black robes and 
 turban of the Egyptian monk. He at once 
 greeted me with a special welcome, informing 
 those around him that this lady was a pilgrim 
 indeed, since he had seen me above five years 
 before visiting the holy places at Jerusalem. It 
 was quite true that I had done so, but I had no 
 recollection whatever of seeing my present host 
 anywhere in the Holy City. We were given the 
 three best rooms in the Deyr for ourselves — one 
 as dining and sitting room, one for the men and 
 one for the women to sleep in. They were 
 rather distressed to find that we had brought 
 our own provisions, assuring us that everything 
 had been prepared for us. However, we made a 
 hasty supper, and then wandered about in the 
 Deyr by ourselves, as the priests had withdrawn 
 to allow us to eat, and were now assisting at one 
 of the constant services of the week in the 
 principal church. It is quite impossible to give 
 in words a clear description of the arrangement 
 of the various churches and chapels and other 
 places within the convent walls, so I shall not 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 131 
 
 attempt it. There was a good deal of still 
 unfinished building, and bare walls where the 
 finances had not yet allowed of decoration. 
 Some of the old woodwork had been kept, but 
 we did not find any particularly good specimens 
 of ancient work, partly because the dense pilgrim 
 crowd everywhere prevented any thorough 
 researches. Every one greeted us with courtesy, 
 and no one begged of us or annoyed us in any 
 way, though we seven were by ourselves. We 
 looked at the huge round tomb under which the 
 forty martyrs are said to rest, and then wandered 
 into the crypts near, as every one else seemed 
 to be going that way. Presently we passed 
 through a narrow archway, and found ourselves 
 in the midst of a crowd of the poorest sort of 
 pilgrims, packed so tight in a perfectly barren 
 chamber, that we were at once surrounded and 
 unable to move. We were carrying candles, but 
 on our entrance there went up a general cry, 
 " Put out the light ! oh, put out the light ! we 
 must not have the light ! " 
 
 Fortunately, we all understood Arabic, and 
 were all anxious to hurt no one's feelings. By a 
 common impulse we extinguished our candles, and 
 were all at once enveloped in a darkness and 
 silence so profound that it seemed as sensibly felt 
 
132 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 as the contact of the dense mass around us. I 
 acknowledge that I slipped my hand into that 
 of the French judge, who happened to be next 
 me, determined to keep hold of some one I knew, 
 at any rate. There was a moment's dead pause, 
 and then through the darkness rose one of the 
 most pathetic wails I ever heard. It was an 
 earnest appeal to Sitt Dimiana to forgive them, 
 to be gracious unto them, and to appear to them 
 once more. No priest took any part in it or 
 countenanced it, but we found that the poorer 
 and more superstitious of the pilgrims held this 
 meeting every year since the Shadow ceased to 
 appear. One man only chanted the prayer, but 
 deep murmurs of assent broke again and again 
 from the mournful crowd. After some moments 
 a slight movement among them allowed us to 
 escape, and we went back towards the living 
 rooms of the Deyr, where we found the com- 
 missary, the monk in charge always of the 
 convent, and the priest of Mansourah. This 
 trio evidently considered us in a special sense 
 their guests, and were waiting to go outside with 
 us. Miss L. and the daughter of France were too 
 tired but the rest of us could not lose the chance. 
 
 We had already been looking down on the 
 lighted fair from our windows, and had seen one 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 133 
 
 thing which puzzled us very much. It looked 
 exactly like a Mohammedan Zikr, and I appealed 
 to our hosts to know what it meant, but they 
 were evidently disturbed at the question, and 
 turned it off, saying, that they were foolish 
 people ; it was not good ; it was nothing at all. 
 We pressed them no further, but afterwards we 
 went to see for ourselves, and then did not 
 wonder that the good priests disapproved of it. 
 It was a caricature by the Egyptian Christians 
 of a Mohammedan Zikr — a most dangerous 
 pleasantry on their part, and, I imagine, only 
 indulged in because they believe that just then, 
 while the English were new in the country, the 
 Mohammedans would not dare to attack them. 
 The leader of the Zikr wore a false nose and 
 beard, with sundry grotesque additions to his 
 dress, which, doubtless, had some special 
 signification, and the imitation went on with 
 bursts of derisive merriment, and, I think, 
 abuse of their Mohammedan masters.^ 
 
 ^ A Zikr is not an essential feature of the Mohaniniedau 
 religion ; by the better sort, I believe, such practices are con- 
 demned. It is generally performed by members of the different 
 guilds, who call themselves Dervishes, but in ordinary life are 
 peacefully inclined barbers, donkey-boys, etc. etc. One of the 
 best known examples is that which tourists used to go to see 
 every week in Old Cairo, under the names of "the howling 
 Dervishes." 
 
134 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 In deference to the evident uneasiness of our 
 hosts we turned aside from this unedifying 
 spectacle, and went by the flickering light of a 
 candle to see the sacred well — which has acquired 
 sanctity from the fact that it is the only well of 
 sweet water for miles round in this barren and 
 brackish region, and that it has never been known 
 to fail. Then we wandered in and out of the 
 lighted camp, where diversions of all kinds were 
 being carried on. Every one seemed orderly 
 and happy, there may have been plenty of bad 
 language, since that, I fear, is inseparable from 
 low-class native talk ; but we heard none, not 
 even the familiar oaths of the Cairo streets ; nor 
 did we see any one the worse for liquor, and only 
 about three beggars, I think, the whole time. 
 Our own idea would have been to linger among 
 the different groups where amusements were 
 going on, but after passing through the principal 
 street of tents our companions made it evident 
 that we were expected to leave the gay scene 
 behind us, and walk across a dark expanse of 
 desert to a cluster of faintly twinkling lights. 
 The commissary had returned to the convent, 
 but we had still the two other priests with us, 
 also the son of the priest of Mansourah and a 
 young Europeanised Copt, who was very officious. 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 135 
 
 and whom none of us liked very much. We 
 afterwards found that he hoped to interest one 
 of us to procure a Government appointment for 
 him. 
 
 We walked across the plain, and presently the 
 lights resolved themselves into a group of three 
 tents — the camp of the priest of Mansourah, 
 who had sent word that he hoped we would 
 honour him with a visit. We were received 
 by two nice-looking girls, one of whom spoke 
 French, and both dressed in a mixture of 
 European and native garments with several 
 articles of jewellery, evidently arrayed in all 
 their best to do us honour. We did not gather 
 — one must not ask direct questions on such 
 subjects — whether the priest's wife had been left 
 behind in Mansourah, or whether she was dead. 
 One of the girls was his daughter, the other a 
 relation, who had come to the fair with them. 
 Both were apparently unmarried and very shy, 
 answering only when directly addressed, and 
 sitting with downcast eyes in the presence of 
 men, though, of course, they wore no veils. 
 
 We went through the stages of sherbet, cigar- 
 ettes, and coffee, and exchange of courtesies, 
 most of which was done by the American lady, 
 who was by far the best Arabic scholar among 
 
136 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 us. Then we went back to the camp, still 
 accompanied by the priests ; but though anxious 
 not to scandalise them, and a little uncertain 
 how far they approved of such things, we could 
 not resist entering a large theatre tent where a 
 Coptic company were performing a play which 
 seemed to me to be taken from the Arabian 
 Nights. The priests entered gravely behind us, 
 and no sooner were we observed as their guests 
 than way was made for us to pass in as far as 
 the dense crowd would allow, and the men 
 nearest insisted on giving up their seats to us, 
 but all was done very quietly, and the moment 
 we were comfortably settled every one became 
 absorbed in the play again. The fisherman 
 acted with extreme vigour, the other characters, 
 who were chiefly of high rank, maintained the 
 impassive countenances and dignified movements 
 which Oriental fine manners require. But it 
 was getting late, and we did not wish to over- 
 sleep ourselves on the morrow, so we withdrew 
 after a time and sought repose on the divans. 
 Here Mr. Sideros played us just the kind of 
 trick which I might have expected, but which 
 took us all in. We were very anxious not to 
 miss the solemn celebration of the baptismal 
 service with which the last and greatest day of 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 137 
 
 the feast begins. It is a custom, evidently 
 dating from the times of persecution, to collect 
 all the babies born in the district since the pre- 
 ceding year and bring them to be baptized on 
 this day, when travelling can be done in large 
 numbers and friends easily gathered together. 
 The babies are kept in the background till the 
 ceremony is over, and it is performed early in 
 the morning ; doubtless, if there were any reason 
 to fear a Mohammedan attack, it would be gone 
 through, as so many of their great ceremonies 
 are, just after midnight. As it is, the babes and 
 their mothers are brought in to spend the night 
 in the church, as the place of greatest safety. 
 But the most touching feature is that when the 
 baptism is an accomplished fact, the greatest 
 publicity is given to it, as there is nothing a 
 good Copt dreads so much as any appearance 
 of being ashamed of his religion. In this case, 
 after the church services are over, the godfathers 
 of the children are mounted on horseback, and 
 are led in solemn procession about the camp, 
 bearing their newly christened infants in their 
 arms, that all the faithful may know that these 
 children have been duly received into the 
 Church. 
 
 We particularly wanted to see the baptisms, 
 
138 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 and asked Mr. Sideros at what hour the service 
 began. He did not believe we really wished to 
 get up so early, but thought we said so out of 
 politeness ; and told us the hour at which he 
 thought we should like to appear, namely, nine 
 o'clock. We believed him, with the result that 
 when at nine o'clock we joined the congregation 
 in the chapel, we found that Mr. Sideros himself 
 had been up since six, attending to his religious 
 duties ; and the baptisms were all over. The 
 babies still lay about on their mothers' laps, and 
 the church was still crammed, for the second 
 part of the service was about to begin — the 
 solemn first communion of the older children 
 who had been brought up by their parents for 
 that purpose. The crowd was so great about 
 the doors of the sanctuary that though every one 
 made way for us we could not have seen much ; 
 and the commissary was evidently very anxious 
 that these representatives of the strong Christian 
 power, whose sympathy the Copts are so much 
 concerned to gain, should carry away a just im- 
 pression of their services.^ There was a brief 
 whispered consultation, and then our party was 
 
 * Afl a matter of fact, besides Mr. Sideros, who was a pure 
 Egyptian of the old stock, our party consisted of one American, 
 two Anglo-Irish, two of mixed Belgian and English blood, and 
 one purely English j but we all passed as English together. 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 139 
 
 invited to pass the gates of the sanctuary, and 
 chairs were placed for us at one side, so that we 
 could see what was going on without making 
 part of the group around the altar. 
 
 The priests — only one of whom actually 
 officiated and was in full vestments — stood in a 
 semicircle round the west, north, and south, and 
 the children, boys and girls alike, stood in a 
 semicircle meeting them on the north, east, and 
 south sides, all facing the altar. Sundry male 
 guardians and friends of the children stood be- 
 hind them, along the eastern wall of the sanc- 
 tuary. The Egyptian altar always stands clear 
 in the middle of the sanctuary, and in the earlier 
 churches the seats for the elders and priests are 
 built against the wall of the apse behind the 
 altar. In a cathedral church the central seat of 
 these stone benches is the bishop's throne, and 
 elevated above the rest. 
 
 The children all carried tapers in their hands, 
 and the little girls all wore white veils — simple 
 ones of native cotton hanging down behind, but 
 not over the face ; such as they wear every day, 
 though the everyday veils are generally of col- 
 oured cotton. The service was mostly in Coptic, 
 so we understood very little, but some of our 
 party had never seen the Egyptian rite before. 
 
140 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 It is only in the Egyptian Church, I think, that 
 they retain the most primitive form of adminis- 
 tering the sacrament — a sop dipped in wine. 
 The service is very long, and the incense-laden 
 atmosphere became too much for our American 
 friend, so she retreated in a somewhat ignomini- 
 ous fashion through a side window, but the rest 
 of us waited till the children, each with his clean 
 napkin (provided by the church) held carefully 
 under his or her chin, had received the sop, and 
 the procession began to form. Then we slipped 
 out in the rear, but stood on one side to see it 
 pass us again before leaving the church, the 
 priests and choir boys chanting, the banners 
 borne before the children, and all carrying 
 lighted tapers. It was a matter of some difficulty 
 for the procession to make its way round the 
 crowded church, though the people squeezed 
 together and tried to leave a clear lane for them 
 as they came. Once one of the girl's veils caught 
 fire, but a bystander started forward, and in- 
 stantly crushed out the flame with his hands. 
 After that, he took away the tapers of the 
 smaller children and extinguished them. 
 
 The atmosphere was rather suffocating on a 
 hot day, and we had seen enough, so we quietly 
 withdrew from the church, and went out again 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 141 
 
 into the camp. We bought some beads and 
 bangles in the bazaar ; almost everything we 
 saw was imported, though some kinds of the 
 glass bangles and other things cannot be bought 
 in Europe, as they are made only for exportation. 
 Little crosses and rosaries, and gay cotton hand- 
 kerchiefs, with materials for sewing, filled most 
 of the picturesque stalls. One of our party 
 bought an article of native manufacture, very 
 difficult to get, and worth several dollars — a cup 
 carved of rhinoceros horn in one piece, and 
 almost transparent. The great merit of them in 
 Egyptian eyes is that they are supposed to show 
 by change of colour if any poison is introduced 
 into the cup. But the natives do not come to 
 Sitt Dimiana's fair to sell, though they eagerly 
 buy the foreign wares brought there for the 
 occasion by enterprising traders. 
 
 The Sheikh of Bilkaas, like most of the other 
 great men in the camp, was holding a final re- 
 ception, and we were invited to enter. It was 
 like all other Egyptian receptions, two lanes of 
 men sitting along each side of the tent in their 
 picturesque robes, some on chairs, some — towards 
 the entrance, or less honourable part of the tent 
 — on the ground, while servants carried round 
 the sherbet with its embroidered towel, the 
 
142 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 cigarettes, and finally the coffee. The Egyptians 
 have learned now that English ladies do not 
 smoke, — indeed, only the married women among 
 themselves do so, — and they think it no impolite- 
 ness when we refuse ; but one of the judges did 
 not smoke, and this was a thing they did find 
 difficult to understand. Careful explanations 
 had to be made in every case, lest ofience 
 should be taken at so strange a refusal of 
 hospitality. 
 
 It was while we were in the Sheikh's tent that 
 the baptismal procession came by, and it was 
 the most picturesque and interesting sight of the 
 fair. We saw it well, for they paused opposite 
 the Sheikh's tent for some moments ; he being 
 one of the notables who was particularly desired 
 to take cognisance of the fact that the baptisms 
 had been duly p -rformed. 
 
 First came a water-carrier, off'ering to every 
 one the water of the sacred well, "without 
 money and without price." Then the 
 trumpeters, blowing on the silver trumpets 
 of the church. Behind, the great . banner, 
 followed by two smaller ones, all beautifully 
 embroidered and surmounted by old silver 
 crosses of considerable size. Then some priests 
 and other officers of the church walking, and 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 143 
 
 then two and two, mounted on horseback, the 
 godfathers of the newly baptized infants, 
 holding them in their arms for all the world to 
 see. The godfathers were clad in silken copes 
 and garments from the treasury of the church 
 for the occasion, and presented a really imposing 
 sight. We saw them several times again later, 
 as they made their slow way in and out among 
 the tents. On the outskirts of the camp a game 
 was going on, which gave occasion for a pretty 
 display of Egyptian horsemanship ; but I had 
 seen such games before, and was anxious to get 
 a rough sketch of the convent, so leaving the 
 rest to watch the players I made my way back 
 to the Deyr, got my sketching things, and went 
 out to the south-east of the convent, the camp 
 lying on the east, north, and west sides only. I 
 had to shelter myself as best I could under my 
 sunshade from the midday sun, for the desert 
 was absolutely flat and treeless for miles. A 
 good many of the pilgrims were curious to know 
 what I was doing, but as I had so pointedly 
 withdrawn myself from the camp, their good 
 manners would not permit them to follow 
 me. Only two little boys, whose father prob- 
 ably was not there to restrain them (no self- 
 respecting Egyptian boy, I fear, would pay 
 
144 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 the smallest attention to a mothers com- 
 mand), crept shyly and silently across the 
 intervening space, and took up a position 
 behind me, commenting in subdued whispers 
 on my proceedings. 
 
 I could not stay very long in the fierce sun ; 
 besides, it was growing near the time for our 
 departure. We had a hasty lunch, and then 
 some of us asked leave of our host to ascend to 
 the roof of the convent and see the view. No 
 doubt he thought it an odd fancy in the burning 
 heat of the day — the proper time to walk upon 
 the roof is sunset — but he most courteously 
 mounted up every step of the way with us, and 
 seemed pleased at our appreciation of the view, 
 though, indeed, there was nothing to be seen but 
 the busy chattering many-coloured pilgrim camp 
 below us and the far-reaching desert on every 
 hand. 
 
 But the animals were waiting, and if we did 
 not catch the one evening train from Bilkaas we 
 must spend the night there, so we descended to 
 the doorway and took leave of our kind enter- 
 tainers with genuine regret. Once more we 
 crossed the barren plain in company with a long 
 train of departing pilgrims ; once more we 
 exchanged courtesies with Sheikh Mena at 
 
AN EGYPTIAN FAIR 145 
 
 Bilkaas. By ten o'clock that night we had 
 reached the friendly English household at 
 Mansourah, and it seemed already days instead 
 of hours since we left the Shrine of Sitt 
 Dimiana. 
 
 lo 
 
A PARSON OF ALL WORK 
 
 Hr 
 
TIIK DKAN. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 A PARSON OF ALL WORK 
 
 My History of the Egyjptian Church was finished 
 just about tlie time of my marriage to the Dean, 
 else, as I afterwards told him, it would certainly 
 never have been finished at all. I had seen 
 perhaps more of his work than any one else, but 
 I soon found that the manifold activities of 
 Church House were much beyond what I had 
 realised, and would absorb my whole time and 
 energies. I left all writing, and my work parties 
 for the Egyptian girls and sundry other matters 
 came one after another to an end. The Dean 
 used to be downstairs at six o'clock, and till I 
 insisted on a change being made he took no 
 breakfast at all, except a cup of tea. He would 
 be absorbed in his writing or study till eight, 
 and then if there was not a service, or later if 
 there were, the stream of people who wanted to 
 see him about something, would begin, and go 
 
 on sometimes till luncheon time, or till he had 
 
 149 
 
150 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 to go off to see some sick person. Besides our 
 own people a great deal of his time was taken 
 up with international tramps ; people who 
 wander about the world very much as our 
 own tramps and loafers wander about England. 
 Many of them are well-dressed, most of them 
 have a sad story ready, none of them have ever 
 really settled to work, and very few have any 
 intention of doing so. They were generally of 
 uncertain nationality ; if they could not make 
 even the remotest claim to British interest 
 and sympathy, they were careful to belong 
 to some small state or province which had 
 no consulate in Cairo to whom they could be 
 referred. 
 
 Aman — I think he was an Armenian naturalised 
 British subject, who claimed to have married an 
 Abyssinian princess — brought his four parti- 
 coloured infants to sit upon our doorstep till 
 homes could be found for them ; their mother 
 being dead. A Jewess who claimed to belong 
 to, and therefore to be supported by, the 
 English Church came to Cairo to look for her 
 husband who had deserted her, bringing four 
 small children, only one of whom could speak 
 any European tongue ; and then suddenly went 
 totally blind. One woman was actually sent 
 
A PARSON OF ALL WORK 151 
 
 out by some Board of Guardians in England with 
 four penniless little girls under twelve. 
 
 But so many such families rise up in my 
 memory as I write that I cannot go on with the 
 list. The thing that struck me as odd was that 
 the number of children generally seemed to be 
 four. It seemed as if almost every year we had 
 to take charge of a family, and sometimes we 
 had hardly settled one set in private homes (there 
 were no public ones) or sent them away from the 
 country before the next came. These, of course, 
 were cases where charity was really needed, but 
 the international tramps for the most part were 
 just loafers and, generally, single men. They 
 would "look for work" in one town till they 
 had got as much money as people would give 
 them, and then they would come and apply for 
 help to get to the next town where they had 
 " heard of work," which they were sure to get if 
 only they could get the necessary railway pass. 
 I do not remember more than one woman tramp 
 of this kind, and she was an American girl, 
 young and pretty, whose particular line appeared 
 to be dancing and singing if she could get it, 
 and who was slowly tramping — or dancing — 
 round the world. She came to me for work, but 
 I could only offer her the humdrum employment 
 
152 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 of sewing (since she was clearly not qualified to 
 teach anything except dancing), and that was 
 not to her taste. I saw her about for a week 
 or two, and then she drifted away ; but she did 
 not come for money for her ticket. Besides the 
 personal help which the Dean gave from his own 
 pocket, he had the administration of a small 
 fund, left to the poor of the English church in 
 Cairo by a Syrian Christian in token of gratitude 
 for benefits received from the English. As he 
 never gave anyone money without careful inquiry, 
 and when he took up a case saw it through till 
 help was no longer required, this relief took up 
 much time. 
 
 Not only beggars and tramps and deserving 
 cases of distress came to Church House, but all 
 sorts of unexpected visitors. One morning we 
 found an extremely respectable old gentleman 
 in Oriental dress sitting placidly on our doorstep. 
 He turned out to be a Christian priest from some 
 place unknown to us in the interior of Asia, and 
 by his side stood his servant or disciple carrying 
 the rolled-up bed, which contained his travelling 
 outfit. He had to come to Cairo for some reason 
 from his remote province, and on stepping out of 
 the train at Cairo station asked for the Head of 
 the Christian Church. The Moslem Egyptians, 
 
A PARSON OF ALL WORK 153 
 
 to whom he had appealed, brought him straight 
 to my husband and left him at the gate. We 
 understood, of course, that he came to claim the 
 three days' hospitality which all over the East 
 any travelling Christian is entitled to claim from 
 another in a place where he has no friends. But 
 under the circumstances, among them the fact 
 that we had not a language in common, not even 
 Hebrew or Arabic, we felt that we must fulfil 
 our obligations by proxy. We desired our head 
 man to conduct him to an international establish- 
 ment and to arrange for his reception there at 
 our expense for three days. Mohammed the 
 Great, in some way, managed to make him 
 understand, and they went off together, followed 
 by the disciple carrying the bed. He stayed 
 his three days in the rooms provided for him 
 and then disappeared. We never knew his 
 name, or why he came, or where he went. In 
 the case of young Englishmen, of course, it was 
 only natural that, as they sometimes did, they 
 should come straight from the station to Church 
 House on arrival and ask to be shown to a 
 respectable lodging. 
 
 One day Mohammed came in to say that there 
 was a native servant outside who wanted to 
 know where he should find his master. I, not 
 
154 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 unnaturally, asked who his master was, and was 
 gravely informed that he had forgotten his 
 master's name, but had come to us because he 
 was an Englishman. I went out to the front 
 gate to investigate. There was an old native, 
 with a carro (native cart) quite full of obviously 
 English luggage, and leading a dog by a string. 
 On being questioned, he said that his master 
 was an Englishman stationed in one of the 
 provincial towns — I have forgotten which — that 
 yesterday this Englishman had received a tele- 
 gram, and had at once risen and gone to Cairo 
 by train. Then he, the servant, had received a 
 telegram bidding him pack up everything and 
 bring it to Cairo. So he had collected his 
 master's effects and come to Cairo, but the 
 people at the railway station (implied con- 
 tempt for their intelligence) could not tell 
 him where his master was, and had told him 
 to go and ask the Priest of the English. 
 And would my excellency be good enough to 
 tell him. 
 
 I again asked his master's name and was 
 told that he could not remember it. I asked 
 if he knew the department to which he belonged. 
 Yes (promptly), it was the Irrigation. I went 
 in and got the directory, from which I slowly 
 
A PARSON OF ALL WORK 155 
 
 read to the man all the names of Englishmen 
 in the Irrigation. He shook his head sadly, 
 he could not recognise one. That did not 
 surprise me, for nicknames are as common in 
 Egypt now as they were a thousand years 
 ago, and very few Englishmen are known to the 
 natives by their proper names. I then went 
 and examined the solid leather portmanteaux. 
 Not a label of any kind, not even an initial. 
 A bright idea struck me, and I called the dog 
 to examine his collar, but that too was blank. 
 But I had some reason to suppose that some 
 of the Irrigation officers would be meeting at 
 a certain house in Cairo that afternoon, so 
 finally I sent a man to guide the old native 
 to that house, and told him to sit upon the 
 doorstep till his master appeared. He went 
 off obediently, and I suppose my conjecture 
 was right, for he did not return, nor did I 
 ever discover who his master was. 
 
 A good many years ago, when we heard of 
 a new English family who had come out to 
 some of the various works in Boulak, we were 
 able to trace them with comparative ease. I 
 used generally to drive down to a certain 
 district where four roads met, and then stop 
 the carriage and ask the first respectable-looking 
 
156 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 native who passed if he could tell me in which 
 house the new Englishman was living. But 
 soon they came so thick and fast that this 
 primitive method had to be given up. On one 
 occasion I had driven down to the usual place 
 and asked the usual question of an old man 
 who passed the carriage. He lifted up his 
 eyes and glared soleiflnly at me for a moment. 
 Then with a dramatic sweep of his right arm 
 to each quarter of the compass in turn, and 
 with a rising inflection — 
 
 "There are English in that house. There 
 are English in that house. There are English 
 in that house. There are English in that house. 
 The whole world is full of English ! " and so 
 went his way. 
 
 Some of the people who came and wrote to 
 us were hardly sane. One man, a Chaldean, who 
 spoke seventeen languages, solemnly assured us 
 that he had seen the remains of Noah's ark 
 upon Mount Ararat and had photographed 
 them. The photograph had unfortunately been 
 mislaid. This gentleman put us to a good 
 deal of trouble and expense before he was 
 moved on. He described himself on his card 
 in several varieties of large type and with a 
 coronet at the top as follows :— 
 
A PARSON OF ALL WORK 157 
 
 His Majestic Holiness, The Sovereign Pontiff 
 
 Maran Mar John Joseph 
 
 The Zamourin Nouri 
 
 Chaldean Universal Patriarch 
 
 Of the Orthodox Apostolic British Empire 
 
 of Great India 
 
 with various directions added to find his 
 Patriarchal Court in India. 
 
 It took us sometimes three afternoons of 
 search, in the most insanitary streets, to find 
 new English comers whose ignorance of Cairo 
 had led them to take rooms in undesirable 
 quarters of the town. On one occasion we 
 heard that the doctor had been fetched by the 
 English family for which we were looking, so 
 my husband wrote to him to know where we 
 should find them. This was his reply : 
 
 My dear Dean, — The M.'s live in a house 
 without a number, in a street without a name, 
 next door to an Armenian butcher who, I think, 
 has no sign, west of Abdbin Palace ! The 
 staircase has eighty-seven steps. . . . 
 
 Sometimes the doctor had to be called in 
 to decide whether manifestly incapable people 
 on our doorstep were drunk or ill. I have 
 
158 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 had to call native servants to take up a drunken 
 Irishwoman, speechless and unconscious, and 
 carry her off to deposit her like a log on a 
 hospital bed to be dealt with by the nurses. 
 But I think this was the only case of a woman 
 drunkard we had to deal with, though I heard 
 tales of another Irishwoman who indulged in 
 throwing vitriol when she was in that condition, 
 but that was before I married the Dean. Male 
 drunkards were unfortunately common. 
 
 I have taken men out of prison more than 
 once in Egypt without much formality or any 
 authority but my own order ; but I only once 
 sent an Englishman to prison — or, to be accurate, 
 an Irishman, and that was not nearly such a 
 simple afiair. He came into the house at half- 
 past one at night and demanded to see the 
 Dean. There was always a servant on duty — 
 this night there happened to be two on the 
 premises — and they had instructions that no 
 English person was ever to be refused ad- 
 mittance to the Dean by night or day. But 
 having let the man into the house, the servant 
 became suspicious, and there was some parley 
 which woke me up. I got into a dressing- 
 gown and went downstairs. The Dean had 
 fallen asleep after an exhausting day and I 
 
A PATtSON OF ALL WORK 159 
 
 did not want him disturbed without good reason, 
 so I asked the man to tell me what he wanted. 
 He said it was a private matter, and no one 
 but the Dean would do. I asked if any one 
 was ill? did a baby want christening? and 
 becoming more suspicious as the man returned 
 evasive answers, I flatly refused to have the 
 Dean called up unless the man gave me some 
 reason that would not wait till the morning. 
 Then he blurted out that he wanted the price 
 of a night's lodging. By this time I was sure 
 that he had been drinking, and was not going 
 to supply him with money. I wrote an order 
 for a night's lodging on the International Home, 
 and told him to come round and see the Dean 
 in the morning. He took the paper mechani- 
 cally and began to argue, but the servants 
 now interfered and quietly but firmly elbowed 
 him out and shut the door. I went back to 
 bed, but about half-past three the door bell 
 rang violently again. I went down to find 
 the man in the house again, and the servants, 
 sulky and disgusted at having admitted him 
 before they were awake enough to recognise 
 him, were trying to make him go away without 
 calling me. He began a long and noisy appeal 
 to me — my servants had treated him abominably, 
 
160 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 he was not accustomed to this sort of thing, 
 he was a man who took his twenty pounds a 
 month, etc. I lost patience at last and told 
 him flatly he was drunk. He was silent for 
 a moment, and then said with much dignity 
 and portentous gravity, " I am very sorry to 
 hear you make such a suggestion, very sorry 
 indeed." " Tm sorry to have to make it," I 
 said, " but it's true, and I can't have you making 
 a disturbance here any longer. If you do not 
 leave the house in five minutes, I will send 
 for a policeman, and you shall go to piison." 
 He did not believe me in the least and 
 poured out a steady stream of abuse and protest, 
 with the servants standing silent and watchful 
 on either side of him. At the end of five 
 minutes I commanded one of them to go for 
 a policeman. He went, and in a few moments 
 two of the largest Egyptian policemen I ever 
 saw silently ranged themselves in front of me 
 and saluted. I told them to take the man 
 away and lock him up for the night. They 
 saluted again, and looked unhappily at the 
 Irishman, who did not in the least believe 
 they would venture to touch him. Finally 
 they pleaded with much submission that this 
 was a terrible command, and that they might 
 
A PARSON OF ALL WORK 161 
 
 get into trouble if they laid hands on an Inglesi. 
 If the Dean himself were to give the order — 
 but short of that they could not venture ! 
 
 Something had to be done to end the situation, 
 so I had to go and wake up the Dean after all 
 and bring him down. But the Dean was so 
 angry at the man's behaviour to me that after 
 a very few questions and answers he wrote an 
 order on his card for the man to go to prison. 
 Then the two policemen saluted and laid hands on 
 the Irishman with the utmost cheerfulness and 
 hauled him off. The Irishman was so taken by 
 surprise that he was out of the house before he 
 realised what had happened. But he howled 
 with fury, as if he were being murdered, all down 
 the street, till we wondered that a crowd did not 
 collect. And the next morning an officer and 
 ten men all in full uniform brought the Irishman 
 in custody to ask what it was our further pleasure 
 to do with him. But by that time, of course, 
 he was sober enough to reason with, so we told 
 them they might let him go, and they saluted 
 and retired with great promptitude. 
 
 We used to have a good many people drop in 
 
 for breakfast after the service on Fridays and 
 
 Sundays, and occasionally if we had noticed a 
 
 strange figure very regular in attendance we 
 II 
 
162 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 would conclude that lie was a new resident and 
 ask him to come in by way of making acquaint- 
 ance with him. In this way we got to know 
 stray young men who when they first arrived 
 had not many friends and were glad to come to 
 Church House. But I once nearly made a ridi- 
 culous mistake. We had noticed for several 
 Sundays a newcomer who never missed in his 
 attendance, but who was always alone and never 
 seen to speak to any one. We tried several 
 times to find out if any one of our more constant 
 visitors knew his name, but no one could tell us 
 who he was or anything about him. At length 
 I made up my mind that I would put it off no 
 longer, but on the very next Sunday would 
 speak to him myself and ask if he cared to come 
 in to breakfast. So far I had seen him nowhere 
 except in church, but in the course of this week 
 it happened that he passed as I talked with one 
 of my friends, and I again pointed him out with 
 my usual query. 
 
 " That man ? " said my friend. " Why, that's 
 Lord Edward Cecil." 
 
 I concluded that Lord Edward Cecil stood in 
 no need of my kindly attentions, and did not 
 ask him to join our Sunday breakfast party. 
 We made acquaintance with him in the ordinary 
 
A PARSON OF ALL WORK 163 
 
 way afterwards, but I never told him how much 
 solicitude we had wasted upon him. 
 
 The Berberi servants, like many good English 
 ones, have a watchful care of their master's 
 social dignity, and each household of any import- 
 ance in Egypt knows and jealously exacts any 
 privileges that belong to it. By law, of course, 
 such privileges are conferred according to the 
 " Capitulations," which know no such person as 
 the Priest of the English ; but among the natives 
 he was given very high rank, though it was some 
 time before he found it out. One rule among 
 them is that the carriage containing a man of 
 rank must not be passed by any one who is not 
 of equal or higher rank. The Dean had not till 
 the last two years of his life a carriage of his 
 own, but every carriage driver who was called 
 by the Dean — Mohammed the Great took care 
 that he had good horses — made a point of passing 
 every one else. He rather liked driving fast, but 
 never discovered the signification of this till I 
 told him, much to his amusement. One day we 
 were spinning along as usual and passing every 
 carriage on the road, when suddenly our driver 
 slackened speed and fell into the ordinary jog- 
 trot. Looking up I perceived a short colloquy 
 in lowered tones going on, and then Mohammed 
 
164 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 the Great turned round on his perch and solemnly 
 referred the problem to me. It was Lord 
 Cromer's carriage in front. Might they pass 
 him too ? With becoming gravity and firmness 
 I rebuked the revolutionary proposal. No, the 
 Dean would not pass Lord Cromer. So we pro- 
 ceeded solemnly behind his portly horses for a 
 little while, and then he turned off to the right. 
 With visible relief our driver gave the word to 
 his horses and we resumed our reckless career. 
 
 Sometimes the Egyptian respect for the Dean 
 was of real service to us. Once I remember we 
 were driving fast through the native town and 
 suddenly found ourselves swallowed up in a vast 
 religious procession (the Mahmal). There was 
 no other carriage within sight and ours seemed 
 lost in the dense native crowd. Mohammed the 
 Great was not with us, and we told the indignant 
 driver to be silent and move at a walk. But 
 even that was impossible in a few moments. 
 The people swarmed over the carriage steps and 
 horses, at first taking no more notice of us than 
 if we had been lay figures, but in spite of our- 
 selves we were an obstruction. In a short time 
 there was an ominous murmur in the crowd, then 
 a cry of " Christians I Christians ! " and some took 
 up stones to throw. Just as I was meditating 
 
A PARSON OF ALL WORK 165 
 
 an address in my best Arabic (the Dean did not 
 speak Arabic), a man, who had climbed up a little 
 way, caught sight of the Dean in the carriage and 
 recognised him. Instantly he cuffed the nearest 
 lad who was shouting '* Christians ! " and called 
 aloud to the crowd, " What are you doing ? 
 Don't you see it is the Great Priest of the 
 English ? " He added more words which I could 
 not catch, but their effect was immediate. The 
 crowd did its best to fall back, and we were able 
 to crawl along at a foot's pace for a little way. 
 Turning the corner we came plump into a large 
 body of native policemen, who were standing 
 helplessly among the crowd. But they also 
 recognised the Dean, and, with friendly grins, 
 linked arms on either side of his carriage and 
 made a lane down which we progressed safely 
 to a side street, which enabled us to escape into 
 the comparative silence of the European town. 
 
MIXED MARRIAGES 
 
 167 
 
THK SANCTIAKY. 
 
CHAPTEE XII 
 
 MIXED MARRIAGES 
 
 Considering that they were comparatively few 
 in number, a good deal of our time was taken up 
 by marriages. It is not such an easy thing as 
 you might think to be married in Egypt, except 
 for the British soldier, who has some mysterious 
 privilege of getting married " between the lines." 
 Every other outsider who wishes to do the thing 
 properly must be married twice, in some cases 
 three times, and I knew an unfortunate girl who 
 had to be married four times to the same man 
 before she could be declared altogether his wife. 
 She took two days over it. They were of different 
 nationalities, hence they had to be married in two 
 diflferent consulates. They were of different 
 religions, so they had afterwards to be married 
 in two churches. A Frenchman whose business 
 took him all over the world told us that for 
 years he had carried about with him the written 
 
 permission of his parents for his marriage in case 
 
 169 
 
170 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 he should meet with his " future " in the course of 
 his travels. Englishwomeu who marry French- 
 men without first making sure that their husband 
 has this written permission are apt to find them- 
 selves landed in serious difliculties. A Copt who 
 wished to marry an Englishwoman had first to 
 get the signed permission of his patriarch — not 
 by any means an empty form. For this couple 
 the two religious marriages would really have 
 sufficed, but as the bride's relatives could not 
 be persuaded of this, they had a third marriage 
 at the English consulate thrown in. On the 
 other hand, no amount of civil or religious cere- 
 monies can render legal a marriage between an 
 Englishwoman and a Moslem Egyptian, because 
 English law does not recognise a marriage 
 between an Englishwoman and "any member 
 of a polygamous community." This was laid 
 down first with regard to Mormon marriages, 
 but it is also applied to Mohammedan ones. 
 Some attempts have been made of late years 
 to upset this decision, and I am told that it 
 has been reversed. But even if such marriages 
 are now recognised by English law, that does not 
 make them binding on the Moslem. He can 
 still, by his own law, marry three other women 
 in addition to the first ; or divorce his English 
 
MIXED MARRIAGES 171 
 
 wife at any time and on any pretext. I re- 
 member one poor Englishwoman who had gone 
 through the ceremony of marriage with a Moslem 
 Egyptian in England. After some years, unable 
 to bear the misery of her position, she applied 
 for a divorce by English law. She could easily 
 have got one as far as her case against the man 
 went. But after taking legal advice it had to 
 be explained to the poor thing that as she was 
 not legally married, she could not be legally 
 divorced. 
 
 An Englishman who was going to marry a 
 Greek woman chose to assume that the two 
 religious marriages would suffice, as if they had 
 been two Egyptians. When, on the eve of the 
 day fixed, the guests invited, the wedding 
 feast ordered, the honeymoon leave secured, he 
 came to the Dean for some last formalities and 
 was asked about the time of the consular cere- 
 mony, the Dean discovered that he had not even 
 given notice of his proposed marriage at the 
 Consular Court. Everything had to be put off 
 for more than a fortnight, to the extreme in- 
 convenience of all concerned. 
 
 On one occasion we were told that a native 
 lady wished to speak to the Dean. My services 
 were required as interpreter, and when we went 
 
172 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 into the ante-room we found it full of Syrians, 
 the elder women in native dress, and one or two 
 young people in vulgar European dress. After 
 the usual compliments, one of the elder women 
 took the floor. 
 
 " The father and mother of this young man," 
 she began, pointing with a dramatic gesture to 
 one of the pseudo-Europeans, " do not wish him 
 to marry this young girl. The father and mother 
 of this young girl " — here she indicated one of 
 the young women — " do not wish her to marry 
 this young man. Therefore we come to the 
 Priest of the English to marry them." 
 
 The case was complete. She sat down amid 
 a murmur of applause and waited for us to 
 express our gratification. 
 
 We humbly intimated that at least one of the 
 parties had to be of English nationality before 
 they could be married in the English Church. 
 
 She dismissed the objection with an airy wave 
 of the hand. 
 
 "They are both of them quite willing to 
 belong to the English Church," she remarked. 
 
 " But that is not enough," we submitted. ** No 
 one can be married in this Church who has not 
 the right to be contracted first in the British 
 Consulate." 
 
MIXED MARRIAGES 173 
 
 *' If that is all," she said, " we will go first to 
 the British Consulate and return here." 
 
 ^' But he would not receive you," we explained. 
 "He could not, unless you were written in the 
 Book of the English {i.e. naturalised as British 
 subjects). 
 
 " Then they shall be written in the Book of 
 the English," she said proudly. " We can take 
 money to him and tell him to do so." 
 
 It took us a long time to explain to the old 
 lady that her friends could not possibly go and 
 purchase the coveted citizenship, even at a great 
 price. At length we succeeded in bowing them 
 off the premises, probably to go and inquire 
 whether any other convenient nationality might 
 not be bought for cash down. But we never 
 saw them again. 
 
 Another day we had a visit from a man who 
 spoke no English and was certainly some sort of 
 Oriental, but he called himself an Italian French 
 Protestant and desired to be married in the 
 Protestant Church. We patiently explained that 
 we were the English Church and could marry no 
 one but British subjects. 
 
 *' Then," he said, " will you kindly tell me how 
 I can get married ? I am obliged to leave Cairo 
 for months in a fortnight's time, and it is of the 
 
174 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 greatest importance that I should be married 
 before I go." 
 
 We gave him the correct procedure — legal 
 contract of marriage in both consulates — (I 
 forget the lady's nationality), and then one or 
 more religious ceremonies as they might desire. 
 
 "We both desire to be married in the 
 Protestant Church," he remarked. " As for the 
 nationality, I have lost my papers, and I cannot 
 obtain them again, as I do not know in what 
 Italian town I was born." 
 
 This sounded suspicious. But we thought it 
 possible that the consular pre-contract was not 
 insisted upon in the French Protestant Church, 
 and recommended him to go and consult the 
 French Pastor. He departed with many thanks, 
 but only to return again in an hour to say that 
 the French Pastor was away from Cairo and 
 would not return for three weeks. We expressed 
 our sympathy and suggested that he should try 
 the German Pastor. Again he posted off, and 
 again he returned in much agitation. The 
 German Pastor refused to be responsible for any 
 marriages except those of German subjects. 
 The would-be bridegroom entreated further 
 advice at our hands, and we sent him to 
 interview one of the missionaries. Then we 
 
MIXED MARRIAGES 175 
 
 hastily left the house, and did not see him again 
 till the next morning when he turned up again, 
 still apologetic and still imploring. No, the 
 English missionaries said they only married 
 members of their own congregation. How 
 could he belong to any congregation when his 
 work took him up and down the shores of the 
 Red Sea? We sent him to try the American 
 mission, and he did not return. But the same 
 afternoon one of the American ministers called 
 upon us, and we asked for the sequel. 
 
 "Ah, I was coming to speak to you about 
 that," said the minister. " I told him we would 
 marry him right enough if he would satisfy us 
 that he had no other wife living. But I am 
 afraid he did not understand and went away 
 thinking we had refused. I wanted you to 
 explain to him when he came again. You see, 
 he cannot speak either English or Arabic, so 
 there was a difficulty." 
 
 We prepared to rejoice the heart of the 
 nondescript when next he appeared, but we 
 never saw him again. Perhaps he had really 
 understood the nature of the test required of 
 him and could not satisfy it ; perhaps he had 
 decided to get married in the Greek (Oriental) 
 Church, which takes no heed of consular 
 
176 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 contracts, at any rate we never saw him again, 
 and do not know whether he succeeded in 
 getting married or not. 
 
 We have had several rather uncommon 
 weddings in our church which were not against 
 our regulations, and one of the most unusual 
 was a double one between an Egyptian who 
 belonged to his national Church and an English- 
 woman who belonged to her national Church. 
 The bride was the fatherless niece of an English 
 clergyman, who brought her out from England 
 for the occasion. There was some difficulty as 
 to the Egyptian service, because the bride- 
 groom's domicile was in Assiout, and when in 
 Cairo he generally attended the English service, 
 so that he was not a member of any Cairo 
 congregation. Finally it was agreed that both 
 the religious services should take place in the 
 English church. A small altar was prepared 
 in the Egyptian manner in the chancel, and 
 covered with white embroidered silk. On this 
 was placed the wooden frame which supports 
 the tapers in the Coptic church, and four 
 candlesticks at the corners. Besides the tapers, 
 two beautiful old silver crosses were affixed 
 to the frame in an erect position, and two of 
 the rare and beautiful silver flabella which 
 
THE CHOIK IP A TKKK. 
 
MIXED MARRIAGES 177 
 
 are still found in some Egyptian churches. In 
 the centre was the great silver textus case 
 containing a sealed copy of the Gospels. The 
 English and Egyptian choirs assembled out- 
 side the vestry door, and went in procession 
 to the great door and up the church. The six 
 Egyptian boys were vested in long white 
 surplices with the crossed stoles peculiar to 
 an Egyptian choir-boy, and high caps like 
 mitres. Both the caps and stoles were of 
 crimson velvet, embroidered with gold crosses. 
 Our six English lads looked very nice in their 
 purple linen cassocks and plain white surplices. 
 I was a little nervous about them, for I knew 
 that nothing, however unexpected, would disturb 
 the solemn behaviour of an Egyptian chorister 
 on such an occasion, and our boys were all 
 rather excited. I was well aware that if they 
 giggled or otherwise departed from strict 
 decorum it would be commented upon un- 
 favourably to the English church in many an 
 Egyptian gathering, so I made a private appeal 
 to them beforehand not to let any one be able 
 to say that the Egyptian choir-boys behaved 
 better than the English ones. One of them 
 pleaded, " You see, we're more lively than they 
 are, we can't help it." But they did help it, 
 
 12 
 
178 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 and carried themselves nobly through all that 
 followed. The English processional cross was 
 carried by an Egyptian bearer in a splendid 
 cope of crimson velvet. Indeed, the only differ- 
 ence observable between the copes of the cross- 
 bearer and the officiating priest was that the 
 priest's cope was embroidered with heavy gold 
 crosses. The two English clergymen followed 
 in their usual garb — cassock, surplice, and hood, 
 with white stoles. As the procession moved up 
 the church the Egyptian choir chanted a hymn 
 in Arabic, but most of their responses were 
 made in Greek or Coptic. Two chairs were 
 placed for the bride and bridegroom during the 
 Coptic ceremony which was the first celebrated, 
 but though the bride was robed in English 
 bridal fashion, the bridegroom declined to wear 
 the wedding garments of his own nation. He 
 should also have been robed in a magnificent 
 cope. Nor did he remove his fez after the 
 English custom. They were, however, duly 
 crowned and anointed in the Egyptian ceremony, 
 and were covered with the white silk wedding 
 veil which should rest upon both heads, but in 
 this case slipped down at once to the shoulders 
 of the bride and groom. 
 
 As soon as the marriage sacrament was 
 
MIXED MARRIAGES 179 
 
 concluded the Egyptian priest solemnly disrobed 
 without leaving his place before the temporary 
 altar, and delivered the address to the bride and 
 bridegroom in his ordinary black robe. Then 
 the English marriage service followed, and was 
 also choral. The wedded pair, who had not 
 previously broken their fast, received the Com- 
 munion according to the English rite at the 
 conclusion of the double service. 
 
 This mixed marriage had a tragic end. The 
 English wife had borne two baby girls to her 
 Egyptian husband, and had been in England 
 with them for the summer. Leaving the little 
 ones to follow later she came out to join her 
 husband in Egypt by a French steamer. A few 
 hours before the ship arrived at Alexandria, 
 where her husband was waiting to meet her, she 
 was found dead in her cabin with her head 
 almost severed from her body, having been 
 brutally murdered during the night. No arrests 
 were made, the matter was never really inquired 
 into, and nothing was ever discovered to account 
 for the murder. Nothing seemed to be missing 
 from the cabin, and the only conjecture put 
 forward was that the unhappy lady had been 
 murdered by mistake ! 
 
SOME EGYPTIAN STORIES 
 
 tSx 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 SOME EGYPTIAN STORIES 
 
 In Egypt one of the first things you have to 
 learn about any thing or person is not their 
 name, but what he, she, or it is called. I am sure 
 that Lewis Carroll must have been thinking of 
 the Egyptians when he wrote the scene where 
 Alice tries to find out the name of the White 
 Knight's Song. 
 
 Every one has a nickname by which they are 
 always known among the natives. The Dean, 
 whose stature was barely five foot six, was 
 always known as the Great Priest. His succes- 
 sive curates, who were none of them less than six 
 feet, were invariably known as the Little Priest. 
 One Englishman was the Father of Beards, 
 another the Father of Moustaches, while yet a 
 third, whose temper was none of the best, 
 was known as the Father of Kicks. Professor 
 Sayce was always referred to as the ''Priest 
 
 of the River." The highest Englishman in the 
 
 183 
 
184 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 land was not exempt from this rule, though 
 in his case they did think they were call- 
 ing him by his proper name. Lord Cromer 
 was always known as " Bring." I never wrote 
 or talked Egyptian politics, but my Egyptian 
 friends could not always refrain from the 
 attempt to do so. I remember after a "crisis" 
 had just been successfully tided over, having 
 occasion to visit the priest of Abu Sefayn, 
 who took a keen interest in political and social 
 affairs. He tried to give his attention to the 
 matter in hand, but was preoccupied and 
 managed to get me aside from my companions. 
 Then he asked in an eager whisper, " Bring 
 mabsoot ? Bring mabsoot ? " (*' Is Baring satis- 
 fied?)" And when my servant solemnly an- 
 nounced " Mrs. Bring," I knew that Lady Cromer 
 would follow him round the screen. 
 
 One of the most characteristically Egyptian 
 nicknames is that for the coastguard service. I 
 once started to spend a few days with a friend 
 whose husband was in charge of a coastguard 
 station, and it was not until I had left Alexandria 
 and was travelling westward that I realised I 
 had forgotten to ask what was the Egyptian 
 nickname for the coastguard. However, I was 
 going to a small place, and I supposed that 
 
SOME EGYPTIAN STORIES 185 
 
 every one would know the Englishman's name 
 even if they did not call him by it. By and 
 by I was set down with my bag in the desert. 
 There was no apparent station, only an irregular 
 cluster of houses. I asked several natives, but 
 no one recognised my friend's name. However, 
 they pointed to a house by the sea, and said an 
 Englishman lived there. So I picked my way 
 across the sand to find an unknown English- 
 woman at work in the verandah, who to all my 
 inquiries replied, " I don't know, I'm sure ; I'm 
 a stranger here." Finally, after wandering in 
 the desert from house to house and trying to 
 explain in Arabic the nature of a coastguard so 
 as to discover his nickname, a brilliant native 
 suddenly exclaimed, " Oh, you mean a con- 
 trabando ! Of course we all know the head of 
 the contrabando service," and without further 
 ado he took me straight to my friend's house ! 
 
 It is commonly supposed that native Christians 
 and Mohammedans will not work together, but 
 under the Englishman at any rate they do so, 
 and can even take a joke at their own expense 
 from each other. An Englishman who had a 
 Coptic cook and a Moslem suffragi, one day found 
 his Mohammedan servant in fits of laughter, and 
 asked the reason. 
 
186 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 " Well," said Mustafa, " I was talking to 
 Tadrus (Theodorus), and I told him that for all 
 his fondness for the English he knew very well 
 that in his heart he believed they were heretics 
 and would go straight to hell. But he told me 
 it was not so. He explained that this question 
 had troubled the Copts a good deal, but that 
 God had revealed to a pious Copt who had 
 prayed earnestly concerning this matter, that 
 there is a large vestibule to heaven where all 
 the good English Christians go, and where they 
 are quite happy, though they are not admitted 
 into the inner heaven. So I asked him, ' What 
 about the Katolikas (Roman Catholics) and the 
 Protestants (Presbyterians) ? ' ' Oh,' he said, ' all 
 the good ones will go there too ; it is a very large 
 vestibule.' And I said, 'Then all the good 
 Mohammedans will be in the vestibule too ? ' 
 And what do you think he said to me, * Is it 
 a pig-stye f ' " 
 
 This is the version of the story which I liked 
 best. But I am bound to say that Professor 
 Sayce has published a slightly different version 
 in his paper on Egyptian folk-lore, which throws 
 the responsibility for the final question on the 
 Almighty Himself. 
 
 Our church servant belonged to the ancient 
 
SOME EGYPTIAN STORIES 187 
 
 Church of his country, and it is true that when 
 he was first engaged two of the Mohammedan 
 servants conspired together to get him disgraced 
 and dismissed. But I made them clearly under- 
 stand that if the same thing happened again not 
 only the Copt but themselves would be dismissed, 
 and the hint was quite enough. They began 
 by tolerating him, and ended by being friendly. 
 But they do not know anything of each other's 
 families, and till lately no Mohammedan would 
 be admitted into a Christian house except in 
 some cases as a servant. Yet when Suliman's 
 first child was born, and for two or three days 
 he was in miserable anxiety, as both mother and 
 child were said to be dying, his Moslem fellow- 
 servants showed him the greatest sympathy. 
 They took his work that he might be absent, 
 made suggestions of remedies to be tried, but 
 confided to me that it was quite impossible to 
 save the son at any rate. However both lived 
 — the son to be burnt to death, poor little 
 fellow, a few years later — and when both were 
 out of danger Suliman made a great feast for 
 his first-born son, probably at the choosing of 
 the child's name. He asked his fellow-servants, 
 and they came to me to ask for a relaxation of 
 the rule which forbade all the servants to be 
 
1^8 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 absent at once, even at night. The one on 
 duty, they explained, would only be absent 
 about two hours, but they very much wished 
 to accept the invitation in a body, as it was a 
 new thing for a Mohammedan to be asked to 
 a Christian household. I readily gave the per- 
 mission, and next day asked how they had 
 fared. Oh, they said, it was a very great 
 festival, everything was well done, and they 
 paid great honour to us. But in all the assembly 
 we five were the only Mohammedans. 
 
 One of the stories I liked best was, I believe, 
 a perfectly true one of inherited obligations. 
 
 When the British troops were making their 
 way up the Nile in a vain attempt to relieve 
 Khartoum and save Gordon, they came to a 
 certain town and camped for the night. Some 
 of the soldiers went off to obtain provisions and 
 appear to have behaved badly, at any rate there 
 was a brawl of some kind, and some natives were 
 injured. Order was restored, but a deputation 
 of village elders shortly appeared and insisted 
 on seeing the officer in command. To his 
 surprise, they formally remonstrated with him 
 for breach of contract. "On our side," they 
 said, " we had loyally kept and were keeping it. 
 You were allowed to camp without interference, 
 
SOME EGYPTIAN STORIES 189 
 
 and we were preparing to send you supplies. 
 Why, then, did you break your agreement and 
 send your men into our village ? " 
 
 " But," said the officer, " I have no agreement 
 with you. I never saw or heard of your village 
 before." 
 
 " iVre you not a white man and a Frangi ? " 
 asked the village elders indignantly. "It is 
 true that we did not make the contract with 
 you, our fathers made it with the white officer 
 who came before you. But we have the contract 
 still, and can show it you." 
 
 The officer naturally expressed a desire to see 
 the contract, and the deputation went away and 
 brought a letter from General Desaix of the 
 army of Napoleon in 1799, in which he under- 
 took that none of the soldiers of the advancing 
 army should at any time enter that particular 
 village as long as the camp was kept supplied 
 with provisions. I am sorry to say that the 
 story, as told to me, stopped at this tableau. But 
 I have no doubt that the English officer, whose 
 name I cannot remember, loyally accepted his 
 inherited obligations. 
 
 If it was occasionally difficult for us to 
 remember that our position was changed after 
 the British occupation, and that we were no 
 
190 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 longer entitled to exercise summary jurisdiction 
 on our own account, it was still more difficult 
 for the Turkish Pasha. As an Egyptian of the 
 lower classes said to me one day in speaking of 
 our rule : " It is very good for the fellaheen, but 
 very bad for the Bashawat. That Pasha" — 
 indicating one of the half-deserted palaces which 
 took up so many acres of ground — '* used to 
 keep a hundred servants before the English 
 came. Now he can't afford to keep ten." 
 
 But it is not only in the matter of unpaid 
 labour and gratuitous water that they have 
 lost. A certain young Pasha of high rank had 
 a difference of opinion, not many years ago, 
 with his brother-in-law. He went to discuss 
 the question with that gentleman, and finding 
 him in a public room with several other Pashas, 
 he proceeded to rebuke him with a revolver. 
 The brother-in-law caught hold of the nearest 
 Pasha as a shield; but the indignant one 
 dodged round and round shooting wildly. Most 
 of the Pashas left hurriedly — to fetch doctors, 
 they afterwards explained. One of the Min- 
 isters, according to rumour, entrenched himself 
 beneath the sofa. Finally, the brother-in-law 
 was left for dead upon the field, and the excited 
 young Turk rushed out into the street, still 
 
SOME EGYPTIAN STORIES 191 
 
 brandishing his revolver. There happened to 
 be a solitary English soldier strolling by, who 
 was subsequently called upon to give an account 
 of himself. 
 
 " Well, sir," said Tommy, ** I was walking 
 along, and I see a native rush out of a house 
 with a revolver in his hand, and a lot of people 
 shouting murder behind. So I just gave him a 
 clout on the head, and took away his revolver. 
 I hope I didn't do no harm, sir.'' 
 
 Much to the young Pasha's astonishment he 
 was sent to prison for several months. But to 
 this day he does not understand why the English 
 should take upon themselves to interfere in a 
 family quarrel. 
 
THE LITTLE OLD LADY 
 
 '3 
 
A SLAVE. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE LITTLE OLD LADY 
 
 Her full name was **the Little Old Lady who 
 stands on her head in church." But this title, 
 though sufficiently descriptive, was felt to be 
 cumbersome for general use ; so for many years 
 she was known simply as the Little Old Lady. 
 Until she died, I think few of the many to whom 
 she was a familiar figure ever realised that she 
 had any other name. Except myself, I do not 
 think any one knew how or where she lived, 
 and I did not find out for some time. She was 
 always in church before any one else and re- 
 mained till the last. It was during the celebra- 
 tion of the early communion that she indulged 
 in the remarkable performance which gave her 
 the nickname by which we all knew her. At a 
 certain moment she would double herself in two 
 between the seats, her body going upward from 
 her feet to her waist, and then straight down 
 
 with her head upon the floor — previously spread 
 
 19s 
 
196 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 carefully with a clean pocket-handkerchief. In 
 this position she would remain for a considerable 
 time. 
 
 '* Why do you call her ' the Little Old Lady 
 who stands on her head ' ? " asked a friend of 
 mine soon after she first came. 
 
 " Because she does ... in church," I replied, 
 and my friend looked rather shocked at me. But 
 a little later she came to me between distress 
 and laughter. 
 
 " You were quite right," she said, " but I did 
 not in the least believe you, and now what do 
 you think I have done." On my requiring 
 instant particulars. — " You know I stayed for 
 the midday celebration, and suddenly I saw a 
 little old lady fall on her head between two 
 seats and stick so that she could not raise her- 
 self. At least I thought so, and I couldn't 
 imagine why Dr. D. , who was not far behind her, 
 took no notice. I thought she would die if 
 no one helped her, so I went softly to Dr. D. 
 and whispered to him that an old lady in front 
 had fallen down in a fit. He just looked up, 
 and when he saw who it was, he only said, 
 * No, she's all right,' and never moved. I lost 
 patience and said, * Dr. D., can't you see she's in 
 a fit ? ' I suppose he thought it would make less 
 
THE LITTLE OLD LADY 197 
 
 fuss if he yielded, for he got up and followed 
 me meekly. When we began to touch her she 
 suddenly reared herself straight up, smiled 
 sweetly at us, and then down she went on her 
 head again. We retired in disorder, and I don't 
 know what Dr. D. thinks of me." 
 
 Naturally this was not the only time that 
 the mistake was made. I took to sitting just 
 behind the Little Old Lady at the early 
 service to restrain by a resolute gesture any 
 stranger who rose from his knees to go to her 
 assistance. The regular congregation soon 
 learned to understand and respect her eccen- 
 tricities of worship. I had hardly ever spoken 
 to her, as I believed she preferred to be 
 left alone. But one morning as she tottered 
 out into the garden after the early service, 
 I thought she looked so frail and ill that I 
 ran after her and begged her to come in to 
 breakfast and rest between the services. 
 
 " Oh, thank you very much," she said. '* Yes, 
 I should have liked it, only I really think I 
 must go back and have my bath. You see, I 
 have been out all night, and have not dressed 
 yet." 
 
 Now the night in question had been one of 
 our rare nights of storm in Egypt, and when 
 
198 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 storms do come to us they are very violent. It 
 had been thundering and lightning, and raining 
 in sheets — the roads were still like canals in 
 many places. 
 
 ** What can have happened ! " I exclaimed. 
 " It was a dreadful night for you to be out." 
 
 " Well, you see it was the Egyptian Easter 
 Eve, and I went to the Egyptian service in the 
 cathedral. That begins about seven, but I 
 wanted also to go to the Greek, as my landlord 
 had promised to take me. So I had to leave a 
 little before the Coptic service finished (it ends 
 just after midnight), but when I got home 
 (indignantly) my landlord had gone to bed, and 
 said it was too bad to go out." 
 
 My sympathies were entirely with the land- 
 lord, but I did not express them. It was evi- 
 dent that she had not followed his example, so 
 I asked what she had done. 
 
 "Oh, I went alone — what else could I do? 
 And I was absolutely obliged to take a carriage 
 instead of walking, because the streets were so 
 deep in water. And when I got there, the 
 Greek Cathedral was shut ! There were one or 
 two people standing near, and a young English- 
 man was very polite. He came up and told 
 me the service did not begin for an hour, he 
 
THE LITTLE OLD LADY 199 
 
 had made the same mistake as I had, but he 
 seemed to think I should go home." 
 
 " And you did not ? " 
 
 "Oh no ! " with mildly resentful surprise. 
 " He helped me out, and got a door open for 
 me, and I sat and waited for the service. But 
 by the time it was over, you see, I had only time 
 to come straight here, or I should have been too 
 late for our service." 
 
 " Then surely that is all the more reason 
 why you should come in at once and have some- 
 thing to eat." 
 
 '' Oh no, I must go and dress for church." 
 
 ''You surely won't come back for the 10.30 
 service ? You look ready to drop now." 
 
 " Oh yes, I must come back," said the soft, 
 obstinate voice. 
 
 And off she tottered, refusing all offers, even 
 of a carriage, and at 10.30 I saw her in her 
 accustomed place in church. But I made it my 
 business to find out about her afterwards, she 
 looked so much too ill and old to be left alone. 
 I found that she lived quite alone with some 
 Greeks, one of whom had been a waiter in some 
 hotel where she had stayed on her first arrival, 
 and she seemed to have fallen quite into their 
 power. They were continually changing their 
 
200 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 rooms, taking her with them, and she seemed to 
 be wretchedly poor. But at last I found her in 
 such a dreadful room, in a back street off the 
 native bazaar, that I made up my mind to inter- 
 fere. I told her such a place was really im- 
 possible for an Englishwoman and that she 
 must let me find her a decent room. Then I 
 ascertained what I had before suspected, that 
 she had fallen quite into the hands of these 
 Greeks, and she confessed to me that she dared 
 not tell them she was going to leave. 
 
 It was early in June, and she was already 
 ill, if she had stayed in that room all the 
 summer she would have died. So at last I 
 persuaded her to say she was going for a 
 little change to Kas el-Bahr — the cheapest place 
 I could think of — and on this excuse she could 
 take away all her luggage. I would take her 
 larger box home with me, and find her a new 
 room which she could go straight to on her re- 
 turn, so that the Greeks need not even know that 
 she had returned to Cairo. I found her a room 
 on the roof of a fairly low house near the church, 
 a piece of the roof was screened off to make a 
 sitting-room for her, and there was a kind 
 motherly sort of landlady whom I knew per- 
 sonally. I was half afraid she would say it was 
 
THE LITTLE OLD LADY 201 
 
 y too expensive, but she acknowledged that she 
 had been paying the Greeks even more. She 
 liked the look of her new quarters so much 
 that, to my amusement, she only took the seven 
 hours' journey to Ras el-Bahr, because she 
 wanted to give that as her reason for leaving 
 the Greeks. I saw her off, but after three 
 days I got a message to say she had come 
 back to her new room, and might she have 
 her box ? 
 
 On this roof she lived for years, and gradually 
 became more and more dependent on us. I 
 found out by degrees that she was the widow 
 of a Somersetshire squire, that she had a son 
 who died a young man — I assumed after run- 
 ning through everything, as I gathered that the 
 Somersetshire estate had been sold — and that 
 she had two daughters who lived in England. 
 It was not until I had for years been supplying 
 her as delicately as I could with articles of dress, 
 furniture, etc., that I found out the Little Old 
 Lady was not really badly off. I think she 
 must have taken a vow of poverty — she was 
 one of those women who had fallen years before 
 under the influence of an extreme Ritualist, 
 and had no real knowledge by which to correct 
 his assertions. She often made me think of one 
 
202 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 of the saddest letters I ever read, a letter 
 written by an aunt of mine at the age of twelve 
 to a clergyman. After giving an unconscious 
 but piteous picture of the effects of misguided 
 teaching, the poor child went on to ask a 
 practical question. Would it be sufficient if 
 she should examine herself for venial sins every 
 Wednesday, and for mortal sins every Friday ? 
 My poor Little Old Lady was so very much 
 afraid of committing a sin in the way of food or 
 drink or dress, or such personal indulgence as 
 taking a carriage when she was tired, that 
 she gradually ceased to care about the real 
 things of life and faith, or rather to perceive 
 them. 
 
 She was a vegetarian and a total abstainer 
 to begin with, so there was not much room for 
 ordinary fasting in her life. So she went in for 
 extraordinary fasting, and used to go without 
 food of any kind till three, in Lent, and then 
 eat only vegetables cooked in water, according 
 to the rules of the Egyptian Church. As she 
 grew older it became a matter of grave anxiety 
 to me each year whether she would get through 
 Lent without dying of starvation. Argument 
 was of no use. As I told her, she ought to have 
 become a Roman Catholic, for then her director 
 
THE LITTLE OLD LADY 203 
 
 would have put a stop to such proceedings on 
 the part of an old lady ; or at any rate to the 
 absolute abstinence from all food or drink which 
 she imposed upon herself from Thursday evening 
 till after early communion on Easter day. 
 But like all English people of her persuasion 
 she recognised no authority except " the Church," 
 as it had once been explained to her by some 
 individual clergyman. I never quite understood 
 how she tolerated us, except that no one ever 
 knew the Dean without recognising in him a 
 type of Christianity above all schools. Still she 
 would no more obey him in this matter than a 
 High Church parson will obey his bishop. Oddly 
 enough, I believe the services at All Saints were 
 the original cause of her wanderings coming to 
 an end at Cairo. Before that she seems to have 
 lived for some years like the Wandering Jew. 
 She had made one attempt to go back to the 
 old life before she came to her anchorage near 
 us. She disappeared from Cairo, and we were 
 told that she had been last seen " on the 
 deck of a steamer bound for Burmah." She 
 had been everywhere, and never seemed to 
 remember anything that she had seen. I believe 
 that she did everything (on principle) in so 
 uncomfortable a fashion that she was con- 
 
204 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 scious of nothing but physical discomfort when 
 travelling. 
 
 Once I remember she told me that by acci- 
 dent she had got into a steamer which brought 
 her down the Adriatic on the wrong side 
 {i.e. the side she was not intending to go). So 
 when she reached her port of destination, she 
 took another steamer straight back in order 
 to come down the right side. Another 
 summer she had casually strolled round the 
 seven churches of Asia. She travelled quite 
 alone and nearly always third class, even in the 
 East. 
 
 But though most of us knew her eccentricities, 
 not many of us were aware of the real generosity 
 which at one time was the secret reason for most 
 of them. Starving and scrimping may have 
 become a habit in her solitary old age, but it 
 began by being a very real self-denial in the 
 spirit of David, " Neither will I offer unto the 
 Lord of that which will cost me nothing." 
 
 It was the Little Old Lady who, having saved 
 the money from her income, gave the electric 
 light to All Saints' Church. It was she who 
 gave the stained-glass window in Boulak Chapel. 
 And there are many other smaller things that 
 she gave, but all under the same pledge of 
 
THE LITTLE OLD LADY 205 
 
 secrecy ; a pledge that now she has gone where 
 all secrets are made known we do not think 
 binding any more. She starved herself, but 
 for nearly two years she paid for a good meal 
 of hot meat every day for one of the poor 
 feminine waifs who, without any real qualifica- 
 tions, tried to earn their living as daily gover- 
 nesses in Cairo. Another woman preyed upon 
 her to such an extent that I had to take steps to 
 prevent it. But on herself she would spend 
 nothing. 
 
 Poor Little Old Lady, she got so much attached 
 to the room which I had found for her that she 
 never travelled again, and when after some 
 years she was turned out in spite of all I could 
 do to prevent it, the shock was too much for her. 
 She lived another year, though she was then 
 past eighty, but her mind was never quite clear 
 after the move. I found her a home with some 
 Sisters who were as kind as possible to her. 
 It required constant attention to prevent her 
 starving herself to death. Yet, though she 
 dreaded life, the strange part of her religion was 
 that she dreaded death still more. But the 
 Father whom she could not trust was very 
 merciful to her, and took her away in her sleep. 
 In that still garden of the souls where the 
 
206 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 English names outnumber now the Imng 
 population, there is a small cross on which, 
 besides the proper name which no one knew, 
 you will find the one by which we all recognised 
 her — the Little Old Lady. 
 
ENGLISH FLOWERS IN AN 
 EGYPTIAN GARDEN 
 
 «o7 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 ENGLISH FLOWERS IN AN EGYPTIAN 
 GARDEN 
 
 An American lady once said to me that tlie chief 
 thing which struck all travelled Americans about 
 us was that " wherever w& go, all over the world, 
 we find you English at horned I do not think it 
 had ever occurred to me before,but the remark was 
 both shrewd and true. It is really, perhaps, a 
 national, characteristic that though in Canada, in 
 Australia, and in New Zealand, as well as in 
 India, in Burmah, and in all the other lands 
 which go to make up the Empire, we look back 
 to the little sea-girt island which some of us 
 have never seen as ''home," still we are always 
 trying, not only in the countries where it comes 
 natural, since we really are a piece of the old 
 home over-seas, but amidst alien races, and in 
 spite of unfavourable conditions, to reproduce as 
 far as possible the atmosphere of " home." It is 
 so in India, I believe, and it is certainly so in 
 14 
 
210 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 Egypt, where we have English churches and 
 English parsonages as centres of English life 
 (to say nothing of the racecourse and cricket 
 ground), English ways in houses not unlike our 
 English ones, and English flowers in our gardens. 
 
 All the glory of the gold mohur gives us less 
 pleasure than the tiny primrose blossom which we 
 have nursed with so much difficulty ; the heavy 
 scented tuber-rose in our gardens is less valued 
 than the yellow daffodil ; and the scent of the 
 babul is chiefly loved for its resemblance to that 
 of the wallflower, which we can hardly persuade 
 to blossom. 
 
 Some of our home flowers are not at all 
 difficult to grow, and seem rather to thrive for 
 the change of climate. I do not know where the 
 sunflower originally came from, but it was 
 certainly brought here from England within the 
 last thirty years, and now you see the great 
 golden-flowered shrubs towering above the 
 agricultural crops at irregular distances out in 
 the peasants' fields all over the country. I have 
 a photograph of ourselves, standing in the shade 
 of one of our sunflowers, which measured twelve 
 feet from root to crown when it was cut down. 
 Some bulbs and tubers take very kindly to 
 the warmer clime. I do not think that 
 
AN EGYPTIAN GARDEN 211 
 
 freezias will grow out of doors in England ; but 
 here the delicate green spikes and sweet primrose- 
 coloured flowers thrive like weeds under the 
 rose-bushes, and seem to grow stronger every 
 year. Violets I could not grow at all, except 
 just under the study windows. This, however, 
 is not because they do not take kindly to the soil, 
 but because they are so much in demand in 
 the tourist season that native human nature 
 cannot resist the temptation of pilfering them 
 from any part of a garden where they can be 
 hastily gathered out of sight of the house 
 windows. I say native human nature, but 
 sometimes the tourist is the greater sinner. 
 Our garden was easily entered from the road, 
 and these gentry have even gone so far as to 
 come in when I was actually sitting out in my 
 private garden with my own friends, and walk 
 all round, passing me quite close, without a word 
 of apology for the intrusion. 
 
 White violets are very rare in Egypt, and are 
 an irresistible temptation. I took the trouble at 
 one time to import several clumps from France, 
 and at the same time sent for some white violet 
 seed from England. The clumps throve so well 
 that I sowed very little of the seed, but gave it 
 away to a friend. That year, however, I went 
 
212 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 away for a holiday, and when I came back there 
 was not a single white-violet plant left in the 
 garden. It was hard to go out to dinner and 
 meet my friend's husband with a cluster of white 
 violets in his buttonhole — which I am bound to 
 say he promptly presented to me ! I told my 
 woes, and they at once sent me some healthy 
 young plants just coming into flower, raised 
 from seed which I had given them. AfEfi and 
 Matbouli were warned that if these also dis- 
 appeared they would be held responsible. 
 
 I once managed to raise some lovely tufts of 
 primroses, the first seen in Egypt. But these 
 plants, too, mysteriously disappeared, and I did 
 not try again till, fired by the success of the 
 same friend, — who is a much better gardener 
 than I am, — I sent for some more roots from 
 England. These, I fear, died a natural death, nor 
 has any one really succeeded in keeping them. 
 
 But of all the English visitors to our gardens 
 I think we value most the sweet peas. They 
 have a sad tendency to deteriorate here, and one 
 should import fresh seed at least every other 
 year. I have generally a long row of them 
 down one side of the broad walk ; and the six 
 weeks during which their butterfly heads nod a 
 morning greeting to me as I come down the 
 
AN EGYPTIAN GARDEN 213 
 
 verandah steps into the garden are some of the 
 pleasantest in the year. They begin towards the 
 end of March, and last all through April and 
 part of May ; while at the same time the Cape 
 May, the white iris, and all the English roses 
 are in full beauty. 
 
 By the English roses I mean the more recently 
 imported kinds, which have not yet become 
 accustomed to the new conditions. They blossom 
 in a bewildered way early in March. Every- 
 thing assures them that summer has come, and 
 it is certainly warm enough ; but they do not 
 feel that their winter sleep has been sufficiently 
 long, and the fierce sun kisses their petals open 
 before the buds have come to their full size. 
 They continue blooming for two or three months, 
 and then retire disgusted from the contest with 
 the commoner roses, who seem not to know that 
 there are times and seasons for all things, and 
 that no self-respecting English rose can keep up 
 a constant supply of fine blossoms for more than 
 three months. 
 
 There is a curious difference in this respect 
 between the English and the French roses. We 
 got out a batch from each country in the same 
 year ; mostly different kinds, it is true, but even 
 when I had a rose of the same kind of each country 
 
214 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 the difference of behaviour was marked. The 
 English roses are much more vigorous of growth, 
 they made larger bushes and finer blooms. But 
 for about nine months of the year they gave us 
 nothing but leaves, or at most a solitary flower, 
 which comes out to see what is going on in this 
 new and puzzling world. The white moss-rose 
 will not even condescend so far ; I had her seven 
 years and she did not flower once, though she 
 was continually sending up fresh shoots and 
 getting them burnt brown by the sun. The 
 French roses spenfc all their strength in trying 
 to flower the whole year round, at the expense 
 of a continual deterioration in quality. It made 
 me almost sad to look at Madame Falcot. She 
 started flowering before she was a foot and a half 
 high, and she hardly ever ceased, or grew, for 
 three years. At first the flowers were long 
 yellow blooms with deepening hearts, almost like 
 a William Allen Richardson ; but they con- 
 tinually grew paler and thinner, and at last 
 were little more than yellow wild roses of a 
 particularly untidy shape. I counted eighteen 
 buds and a full-blown rose on her slender stem 
 at one time, and might find the same almost 
 every day throughout the year. 
 
 The deep-red blossoms of the Cheshunt Hybrid 
 
 
AN EGYPTIAN GARDEN 215 
 
 and the Reine Marie Henriette (also from Eng- 
 land, in spite of its name), only show themselves 
 in March, April, and May, but their long climb- 
 ing branches have covered a trellis walk nine 
 feet high, and they need continual cutting back. 
 Deep-red roses are rare here ; from the first 
 importation they begin to deteriorate in colour, 
 and after a few years they are little darker than 
 the old-fashioned cabbage rose in England. But 
 there are three roses which have taken most 
 kindly to the land which has adopted them, and 
 bloom all the year round with but little diminu- 
 tion of both size and colour. The first is La 
 France, now the staple rose in every Egyptian 
 garden, and consequently not so much valued 
 as it ought to be. In February the gardeners 
 alw^ays desire to cut every La France in the 
 garden back to four or five inches of bare stems. 
 The larkspur, nasturtiums, and white stocks are 
 covering every rose-bed in the garden at that 
 time, so that we could do without La France 
 for six weeks, but they are never allowed 
 to indulge in this wholesale operation. La 
 France is quite as well for being allowed to 
 grow two years before she is cut down ; and 
 I do not like to be without her sweet pink 
 face in the garden, even for a time, so Affifi 
 
216 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 is only allowed to cut half the beds down each 
 year. 
 
 Next in order is the yellow Marshal Neil, 
 more beautiful in shape and growing freely over 
 trellis-work, but the heavy heads are almost too 
 much for the slender stems, and it is not so 
 useful for the house, though it wears much better 
 than La France in a buttonhole or on a dress. 
 
 Less beautiful in growth, but at its best in 
 the short winter, though it flowers all through 
 the year, is the sturdy Perle de Jardin, with its 
 creamy flowers and deep-red shoots. There are 
 three other roses that flower all the year, but, 
 except for an occasional bloom of the Malmaison, 
 they cannot compare with the first three. 
 
 Away to the north of Cairo a long avenue of 
 sycamore figs (yes, figs do grow upon sycamores, 
 'pace my reviewer in the Spectator) leads to a 
 deserted and half-ruined palace built for the 
 delight of Mohammed Ali. Its gardens are now 
 little more than a fragrant wilderness on the 
 banks of the Nile ; but there must once have 
 been some one who cared for it and planted many 
 lovely things in it, some of which still flourish 
 in spite of neglect. Here are spikes of the 
 Yucca gloriosa opening their green- white flowers 
 behind a tangle of shrubs ; here a path is almost 
 
AN EGYPTIAN GARDEN 217 
 
 choked with the starry blue of the plumbago, 
 which should have bordered it on either side, 
 and every year the avenue of gold mohurs 
 flames out in scarlet beauty though none be 
 there to see. 
 
 But behind that clump of moaning pines, hard 
 by the great marble bath into which the old 
 Turk loved to upset his screaming harem, you 
 will find something fairer than any flaming 
 Oriental beauty in English eyes. It is the 
 largest and most luxuriant banksia I ever saw, 
 not even excepting the one at the Castle of 
 Chillon. The Swiss banksia is yellow, but the 
 Shoubra one is pure white, like a summer snow- 
 drift over its great supporting trellis. Jessamine 
 and I had leave to gather from it for Easter 
 once, and we came back with a carriage full of 
 the long white wreaths, one of which I fondly 
 hoped might yield a white banksia for my own 
 garden. But I never succeeded in getting a 
 cutting to strike, and now, alas, owing to the 
 misbehaviour of some tourists who were let in, 
 the gates of this neglected paradise are sternly 
 shut against us all. 
 
 Carnations do not thrive well with us, and are 
 much prized by the poorest native as well as by 
 the richest foreigner. Indeed, a carnation seems 
 
218 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 as irresistible a temptation to a native as a 
 cigarette or a pinch of tea. I had managed to 
 raise a few in my garden, but though I always 
 left buds just ready to open at night, in the 
 morning I never found a flower. Finally, I 
 discovered that the house-boys used to go out 
 with the earliest sun to gather them and put 
 them in water in the pantry, or give them to 
 their wives ; in fact, I came upon one of the 
 wives in the act of receiving my carnations at 
 the outer gate. I permitted her to depart in 
 peace, but made some remarks later which put 
 an end to the practice, or at any rate reduced it 
 within reasonable limits. 
 
 Is it permissible, I wonder, to talk about 
 potatoes in connection with English flowers? 
 Certainly fresh potatoes, like fresh butter, are 
 one of the benefits conferred upon this country 
 by the English occupation. When I first arrived 
 in Egypt every potato in the market was im- 
 ported, but we soon found that potatoes throve 
 here as well as anywhere else, or better. But I 
 had a desire to eat really new potatoes, the little 
 white waxy delicacies which we distinguish by 
 that name in England. It is impossible to buy 
 them ; but, I thought to myself, why not grow 
 in a corner of the garden sufficient for a few 
 
AN EGYPTIAN GARDEN 219 
 
 dishes ? At any rate I had vivid recollections 
 of the radiant mauve-and-white blossoms which 
 fill the fields of Southern Italy in potato time, 
 and I thought that such flowers would look 
 pretty in a corner of my garden, even if the 
 tubers were no better than those in the market. 
 {N.B, — They were very much worse.) So I 
 superintended the planting of two or three rows 
 and waited. The leaves came up and seemed 
 to flourish, but just when I began to look for 
 flowers they all drooped and withered. I waited 
 again a little, and then remarked to Affifi one 
 day that I was afraid my English potatoes were 
 not going to produce anything, as they had not 
 flowered. 
 
 " But," said Affifi, with the patience of a native 
 whose Sitt is always trying foolish experiments 
 but must be humoured, " it is just because they 
 have not flowered that there may be potatoes at 
 the roots. If you had flowers you could have 
 no potatoes." 
 
 I remonstrated with Affifi. I assured him 
 that we never looked for tubers under our 
 potatoes till the flowers had bloomed and died. 
 But I could not move him from the quiet 
 assertion that I must not expect to have flowers 
 if I wanted potatoes. 
 
220 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 Well, as generally happens, the native 
 gardener was right after all. I have satisfied 
 myself by inquiry that in Egypt potatoes either 
 flower or make tubers, but consistently refuse 
 to do both. Which they elect to do is, I believe, 
 determined by the time of year at which they 
 are planted. 
 
 An Egyptian garden has one great advantage 
 over an English or German one — it is beautiful 
 the whole year round. There are show places 
 in Egypt, it is true, where the whole garden is 
 now sacrificed to a passing fashion. For three 
 months in the year it is a blaze of beauty, 
 masses of costly English flowers are put out for 
 the season in formal beds, surrounded by a green 
 expanse of "English" lawn. Then at the end 
 of the season the Pasha goes away, and the 
 whole is ploughed up and left fallow till the 
 autumn. But though this may be styled " the 
 English fashion," it is certainly not the English 
 idea of making a garden ; that pleasaunce of 
 delight with which we love to surround our 
 homes, and guard jealously from any eclipse of 
 its beauty till nature is too strong for us, and 
 our joys wither under the inexorable touch of 
 winter frost. 
 
 I am no botanist, and the only way in which 
 
AN EGYPTIAN GARDEN 221 
 
 I can describe our garden favourites is by 
 comparing them with the tree or flower they 
 most resemble in the gardens of the West. The 
 Bauhinia is like a Judas tree, a mass of pale 
 mauve-pink blossoms in spring, followed later by 
 kidney-shaped leaves. But the flowers are much 
 larger than those of any Judas tree that I have 
 seen. It comes always in March or April, and 
 is one of our floral notes of time. Most of our 
 flowers are no guide to us in that respect, as 
 they blossom the whole year round. Thus there 
 is never a day in the year when we cannot 
 gather roses and heliotrope in our garden, nor is 
 there any month without the tall grace and 
 golden burden of the sunflower. These grow to 
 a great height in our sunny land. I measured 
 one which was twelve feet high last year, and 
 this year we had one taller still. We do not 
 encourage the cheese-plate variety, ours are tall, 
 swaying shrubs, with long-stemmed blossoms 
 branching out all up the parent stalk, to the 
 number of twenty or thirty. 
 
 Almost all through the year, too, the scarlet 
 blossoms of the hibiscus open with the rays of the 
 morning sun, and close as it sinks behind the 
 locust trees which line the street. 
 
 I brought some blue larkspur seed from 
 
222 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 England, which seeds itself and overruns the 
 whole garden in the spring. But it is gradually 
 changing colour, from deep blue through every 
 shade of pink to a perfect white. 
 
 Since I lived in Egypt I have understood 
 what the bean was, up the stem of which Jack 
 clambered in search of the giant. It is of the 
 scarlet runner kind, but its flowers are dull 
 purple and its quickness of growth is incredible 
 to those who have not seen it. One day the 
 gardener flung a seed into the ground, and in a 
 day or two he tied a string round the head, and 
 then went up and tied the string round a stone 
 on the roof of the house. This seemed to me 
 premature. But before I could look round a 
 leafy stem had disappeared out of sight over the 
 parapet of the roof, and the bean went on till 
 there was shortly, not one, but a regular rope of 
 twisted stems, green with leaves and purple 
 with flowers, from the garden bed to the house- 
 top. I should have liked to send Aftifi up the 
 rope, but I had not insured his life, and thought 
 it not improbable he might prove heavier than 
 Jack. 
 
 Another of the same kind, but much prettier 
 than Jack's bean, is the shell creeper, as it is 
 aptly called. From a distance the flower is not 
 
AN EGYPTIAN GARDEN 223 
 
 much to look at, but when held in the hand it is 
 seen to be like a cluster of the most delicate 
 spiral shells, about an inch long, in just the soft 
 pearly shades of colour that you find in the 
 inside of real shells ; pale greenish yellow, 
 deepening into pink-purple, and shading again 
 into deeper yellow. This does not convey a 
 clear impression of its delicate hues, but it is 
 almost impossible to put in words the colours of 
 a shell or a sunset. 
 
 Before the Bougainvillia has paled into 
 magenta, the Cape May breaks into a white foam 
 of blossom all along the garden. We had a 
 hedge of it between the north and south 
 gardens, and, like the Bougainvillia and Bauhinia, 
 the flower comes before the new leaves. It 
 always distressed my mother (who is a botanist) 
 that I refused to refer to this shrub as the Spirea. 
 But there are many Spireas, and there is only 
 one Cape May, with its long swaying wreaths of 
 delicate white blossoms, which are generally in 
 fullest beauty about the end of April. Under- 
 neath the hedge of May there is a little runlet of 
 clear water, fringed with irises. They are all 
 white, and above their sword-like leaves the 
 delicately scented blossoms shoot up, erect and 
 graceful, all through April and May. The air is 
 
224 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 full of the scent of orange-blossom, while, far 
 above, the bluebell tree, which some people call 
 a jacaranda, sends up a cloud of shimmering 
 purple-blue against a pale dazzling sky, to be 
 replaced later by a canopy of fern-like leaves. 
 This and the gold mohur which begins to kindle 
 its glorious flames towards the end of May, are 
 two of the best shade trees in Egypt, and two of 
 the most beautiful in flowering, but they are 
 rarely seen except in private gardens. 
 
 For many years I had a laburnum tree, grown 
 from English seed in my Egyptian garden ; but 
 it never once flowered. Even with the Egyptian 
 laburnum I have not been more fortunate. It is 
 not a very common tree, and when long ago I 
 told my brother, who was a botanist, that I 
 wanted an Egyptian laburnum, he assured me 
 that there was no such thing. However, I stuck 
 to my point, that I wanted it, even if it did not 
 exist, and described it as well as I was able. A 
 few days afterwards I found a jug full of the 
 " dropping wells of fire " awaiting me and a seed 
 pod about a yard long, looking rather like a 
 mummied snake. My brother had noticed the 
 tree from the railway line, recognised it from my 
 description, marked the place, and immediately 
 on arriving in Cairo had taken a trolly and gone 
 
AN EGYPTIAN GARDEN 225 
 
 back some miles in its quest. It took some 
 time, I believe, before the astonished native 
 realised that the important English official who 
 had suddenly descended upon him only wanted 
 a flowering branch from one of the trees in his 
 garden. However, he sent a servant to gather it, 
 and added the seeds, none of which, I regret to 
 say, produced trees. Moreover, my brother in- 
 formed me that on the whole it was permissible 
 for me to call it the Egyptian laburnum, since he 
 found it was known in India as the Indian 
 laburnum. At the same time, I must not 
 imagine that it had anything to do with the 
 genus Laburnum. 
 
 Just in front of that corner of the verandah 
 where I used to arrange the flowers for the house, 
 there stood a palm tree, which, like all the others 
 in our garden, was jealously guarded from the 
 gardener s knife. For neither Affifi nor Matbouli 
 have any but an enforced toleration for my 
 sentimental ideas about palms. To the native 
 mind the date tree is a thing grown for use 
 and not for ornament. If, owing to the folly of 
 the Sitt, they cannot bear dates, they should at 
 least fulfil their equally important duty of making 
 affas ; consequently during most of the year 
 they should present the aspect of a feather brush 
 
226 EGYPT AS WE KNEW IT 
 
 from which almost all the turkey plumes have 
 been cut away. But my palm trees were 
 allowed to keep their splendid crowns untouched, 
 and one year I resolved on a further innovation. 
 I dropped a seed of the giant convolvulus at 
 the foot of the trunk, and lo ! in a week or two, 
 the delicate tendrils had run up each curving 
 palm branch, falling from one to another in 
 festoons of vivid green, while every day hundreds 
 of the bright blue cups open to the sunlight and 
 outline the whole tree with *' morning glory." 
 As the son waxes fierce they pale and droop, and 
 by three o'clock they have given up the contest, 
 and are no more seen till I come out at seven 
 o'clock the next day, and every blossom smiles 
 at me again in dazzling welcome. They may 
 well rejoice to see me, for I saved their beautiful 
 lives. One morning I found both the men 
 standing under the palm and looking up at the 
 swaying pendant blossoms with, I supposed, a 
 tardy appreciation of the Sitt's fancies. I dis- 
 covered that I was only just in time to prevent 
 their tearing down and entirely uprooting this 
 useless weed ! 
 
 The old order cliangeth, yielding place to new, 
 
 And God fulfils Himself in many ways 
 
 Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. 
 
AN EGYPTIAN GARDEN 227 
 
 Our Egyptian garden knows us no more, and 
 the Great Priest who bore rule for a quarter of a 
 century over the English church in Cairo, was 
 called to the mansions of the heavenly kingdom 
 just as he was coming home to rest. 
 
 Un watched the garden bough shall sway, 
 The tender blossom flutter down, 
 
 Till from the garden and the wild 
 A fresh association blow. 
 And year by year the landscape grow 
 
 Familiar to the stranger's child. 
 
 Our little systems have their day, 
 They have their day and cease to be. 
 They are but broken lights of Thee, 
 
 And Thou, Lord, art more than they. 
 
Printed by 
 
 Morrison & Oibb Limitid 
 
 Ediiiburgh 
 
A New Writer of Genius. 
 
 I. A. R. WYLIE Atithor of I. A. R. WYLIE 
 
 I. A. R. WYLIE '^^ H^i^h's People , ^ ^ ^ylie 
 
 and 
 
 I. A. R. WYLIE My German Year i. a. r. wylie 
 
 The Rajah's People 
 
 (Seventh Edition) 
 
 Crown 8vo. 6s. 
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 purpose, and written with a real gift 
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 and length, which the libraries like. 
 Plainly, the writer should haveacareer." 
 
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 People ' is the best Indian novel that 
 we have read since ' On the Face of the 
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 With 20 Illustrations. los. 6d. net 
 
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 ' My German Year ' with a feeling of 
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 though on a good many minor points 
 the writer is led by her enthusiasm 
 to see matters in a far too roseate light, 
 she has used her brain and her eyes to 
 
 food purpose during her 'German 
 ear,' and has written a book which 
 suffers in no way by the fact that the 
 last few years have seen the publication 
 in this country of several volumes on 
 the same subject," 
 
 The Evening Standard{3.\so a lengthy 
 notice) said: "We have seldom read 
 a more interesting book than 'My 
 German Year.' Miss Wylie's words 
 are often bitter to the taste, still more 
 bitter very often is what she leaves 
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 extremely salutary, and should be 
 read by every householder in the 
 land. ' 
 
 MILLS & BOON, therefore, hope that all readers will immediately 
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 MILLS & BOON, Ltd., 49 RUPERT STREET, W. 
 
FORTY YEARS OF A 
 SPORTSMAN'S LIFE 
 
 BY 
 
 Sir CLAUDE CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY, Bart. 
 
 With IS Illustrations, and a Portrait in Photogravure 
 
 Third Edition. Demy 8vo. I OS. 6d. net. 
 
 County Gentleman. — "'Forty Years of a Sportsman's Life' is a 
 charming book — stimulating, bracing, encouraging. Well will it be 
 for England forty years hence if many of her sons are able to write of 
 similar feats and adventures by field and flood. A treasure store of 
 sporting stories, sporting hints, and sporting lore." 
 
 Daily Telegraph. — "Few better sportsmen ever took the field than 
 Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, whose breezy, manly reminiscences 
 are here given to the world in a comely and most entertaining volume. 
 The book, from cover to cover, is of good sportsmanship all compact. 
 It is seldom indeed that one encounters so thoroughly stimulating and 
 vigorous a record as may be found between the covers of the present 
 lively and well-written volume." 
 
 Daily Chronicle. — "Amazing or nothing is the record contained in 
 these three hundred pages." 
 
 Sporting Life. — " More enthralling than the most romantic novel." 
 
 Evening Standard. — "We shall look to another instalment of these 
 memoirs, which are as bracing as a north-east wind." 
 
 Sporting Times. — " This entertaining volume will prove one of the 
 most successful sporting books of the year." 
 
 Daily Mail. — "As one reads on one can almost imagine the great 
 sportsman is sitting opposite one and just telling story after story of 
 his adventurous career as they occur to his memory. . . . From cover 
 to cover there is not a dull page in the whole book, which will be 
 welcomed by every man all the world over," 
 
 MILLS & BOON, Ltd., 49 RUPERT STREET, LONDON, W. 
 
A REMARKABLE VOLUME, 
 
 YVEHE GUILBERT '"£*."' 
 
 BY 
 
 YVETTE GUILBERT and HAROLD SIMPSON. 
 
 Profusely Illustrated. Demy 8vo. los. 6d. net. 
 
 Daily Chronicle. — " 'To God first of all.' It is the dedication of a 
 book. And the writer of it adds, ' Pour satisfier ma foi et ma 
 conscience il me faut d'abord et avant toute chose remercier Dieu . . . ma 
 destinee fut Son ouvrage, mes luttes me furent utiles pour apprecier 
 mieux mes victoires.' It is the singing note of a little street girl who 
 came from the gutter to fame, who knew Paris from its seamy side, 
 knew it so well that she sang its songs — that rather ' shocked ' London 
 with ' La Soularde ' in the nineties, and has come through the least 
 religious capital in the world with the sure belief in God. Yvette 
 Guilbert's book is fascinating." 
 
 Observer. — **This is a surprisingly fascinating book. Those who 
 connect ' Yvette ' with songs of the riskiest and long black gloves, and 
 have no clearer image of her special genius, should make haste and read, 
 first, her gallant, naif little autobiography, which begins in a burst of 
 piety sufficiently startling (in this particular connection) to the reserved 
 Briton, and goes on to recount its author's plucky struggles and 
 numerous successes with the gay and amiable exultation of a charming 
 child." 
 
 Daily Telegraph. — "The volume itself is a real delight all through. 
 Yvette Guilbert is an artist second to none, a star shedding her own 
 particular light which none has emulated, far less eclipsed, and the 
 publishers have had the admirable idea of giving us her own words on 
 the one page, with a translation on the other. The second half of the 
 volume consists of an appreciation and biography by Mr. Harold 
 Simpson, in which he includes some extremely interesting extracts from 
 the notices of great critics who have come under the spell of Madame 
 Yvette, not the least among them being a long quotation from Mr. 
 Bernard Shaw. As, in addition to these attractions, we are also given 
 many portraits of the lady in question and reproductions of caricatures 
 and paintings by notable artists, and a selection from the songs of 
 Madame Guilbert's repertoire, the book is exceptionally complete and 
 of particular value." 
 
 MILLS & BOON, Ltd., 49 RUPERT STREET, LONDON, W. 
 
A CENTURY OF BALLADS 
 
 (18I0-19I0) 
 
 THEIR COMPOSERS AND SINGERS 
 
 BY 
 
 HAROLD SIMPSON 
 
 Illustrated with 42 Facsimiles and 44 Portraits 
 
 Demy 8vo. I OS. 6d. net. 
 
 THE subject of popular songs is an engrossing one. 
 Almost all the ballads that have become famous 
 during the last hundred years have a story of some 
 kind attached to them, and the same may be said 
 of the men and women who have composed, written, 
 and sung them. 
 
 To-day the popular ballad has as firm a hold on the 
 affections of the public as ever it had, and the interest 
 which surrounds the personality of those who are 
 responsible for its creation is, if anything, wider and 
 more universal than before. 
 
 In the present book the work of modern composers 
 occupies a prominent place. Practically all those whose 
 names are household words in the world of song to-day 
 are represented, not only by portraits and autographed 
 facsimiles, but by personal reminiscences of themselves 
 and their musical careers. 
 
 MILLS & BOON, Ltd., 49 RUPERT STREET, LONDON, W. 
 
A Catalogue of Books 
 
 published by 
 
 Mills & Boon Ltd. 
 
 49. RUPERT STREET. LONDON. W. 
 
 (Close to Piccadilly Circus Tube Station.) 
 
 COLONIAL Editions are issued of all Messrs. Mills 
 & Boon's Novels, and of most of their books in 
 General Literature. 
 In the case of forthcoming books the approximate 
 published prices are given. In some cases these may 
 be altered before publication. 
 
 The Catalogue is divided into two sections : the first 
 (pages 1-22) contains announcements of books to be 
 published during the Summer and Autumn of 19 10, and 
 the second (pages 23-32) contains the books published 
 before July i, 19 10. 
 
 AUTUMN ANNOUNCEMENTS. 
 
 The Parson's Pleasance. 
 
 By P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.S.L., 
 F.R.Hist.S., Author of "The Old-time Parson," etc. 
 With 25 Illustrations, Demy 8vo. 105. 6d. net. 
 
 The lighter studies of a literary clergyman usually 
 find many readers. Mr. Ditchfield's name is well known 
 as the author of many books which have attracted a 
 large circle of admirers. He has written numerous 
 works on history, architecture, and archaeology, and 
 achieved fame with his delightful volumes on ** The 
 Parish Clerk " and the clerics of olden days. In the 
 present volume he discourses pleasantly on many sub- 
 jects, and includes in his Pleasance the charms of his 
 old rectory garden, the delights of old books, the at- 
 tractions of the village folk, their customs and super- 
 stitions. He trots out his own hobby-horses — and there 
 are several in his stable — and discourses on the quaint 
 
/ 
 
 2 Mills & Boon's Catalogue 
 
 ways of some of his revered predecessors. He has 
 culled some flowers from foreign travel, and gathered 
 in his Pleasance many choice plants. The book will 
 appeal to many and various tastes, and is well illustrated. 
 
 Wagner at Home. 
 
 Fully translated from the French of Judith Gautier by 
 EFFIE DUNREITH MASSIE. With 9 Illustrations. 
 Demy 8vo. los. 6d. net. 
 
 , ' Even had Wagner never been heard of as a composer, 
 the charm and intimate nature of this book would have 
 made it fascinating. Judith Gautier, talented daughter 
 of a famous father, has given here a picture of the 
 Wagner household at its most interesting period — at 
 the time when Wagner, driven into exile by the veno- 
 mous onslaughts of his detractors, lived in retirement 
 near Lucerne. Cosima Liszt (at the time still Frau von 
 Bulow) shared this solitude, and by her strong and 
 sympathetic personality aided in the accomplishment 
 of his work. The writer, in a style both vivid and 
 charming, has immortalised the summer days which 
 she and a little company of French disciples passed 
 with Wagner in this environment ; touching lightly 
 and feelingly upon the domestic problems and inspiring 
 the reader with her own enthusiastic partisanship. The 
 book is full of entertaining and humorous incidents 
 and characteristic anecdotes told at first hand about 
 Wagner and his illustrious guests. The translator has 
 successfully preserved the author's infectious enthusiasm 
 of style. 
 
 Yyette Guilbert : Struggles and Victories. 
 
 ^■f',f By YVETTE GUILBERT and HAROLD SIMPSON. 
 Profusely illustrated with Caricatures, Portraits, Fac- 
 similes of letters, etc. Demy 8vo. los. 6d. net. 
 
 The history of Yvette Guilbert 's career is one of 
 extreme fascination. The story of how she climbed, 
 past innumerable difficulties, to the unique position 
 which she holds to-day, possesses elements of positively 
 
Autumn Announcements, 1910 3 
 
 absorbing interest. The greatest of her discouragements 
 came from her family. They implored her to give 
 up the idea of singing. Her first engagement v/as a 
 failure, because the management was frightened at 
 the originality of her method and songs. A few years 
 afterwards the same management offered her a fabulous 
 salary to sing the very same songs. 
 
 When she came to England, in 1894, she took London 
 by storm. Public and critics raved about her. Yvette 
 Guilbert in her long black gloves was a name to conjure 
 with. 
 
 Madame Guilbert's story of her early struggles and 
 victories, of her conquest of her critics, and of her final 
 triumph in the art which she has made so peculiarly her 
 own, is an intensely human document that cannot fail 
 in its appeal to a very wide public, and will appear in 
 the original French. A complete translation of this, 
 together with a critical record of Madame Guilbert's 
 life by Harold Simpson, will also be included. 
 
 My German Year* 
 
 By I. A. R. WYLIE, Author of " The Rajah's People." 
 With 2 Illustrations in Colour and 18 from Photographs. 
 Demy 8vo. los. 6d. net. 
 
 In ** My German Year " I. A. R. Wylie has added a 
 striking and absorbing volume to the list of books which 
 have been written on Germany and the Germans. 
 The author's long and intimate acquaintance with the 
 people whom she has set out to describe, her close, 
 first-hand knowledge of the conditions in all the different 
 classes, her unprejudiced and sjnnpathetic insight have 
 made it possible for her to say much that is new and 
 interesting on an old subject. Where others have 
 dealt with statistics and politics she has penetrated 
 down to the character and spirit of the people , them- 
 selves, and revealed there the source of their greatness, 
 their aims and ideals. Written in a pleasant, almost 
 conversational style, with many reminiscences and 
 anecdotes, ** My German Year" is yet inspired v/ith 
 
4 MUls & Boon's Catalogue 
 
 a serious purpose — that of bringing about a better 
 understanding and appreciation of the German char- 
 acter, and certainly those who have wandered with the 
 author through town and country, from the Black 
 Forester's hut to the Imperial Palace, must feel that 
 they have seen their cousins in another, truer, and 
 more sympathetic light. 
 
 Forty Years of a Sportsman's Life. 
 
 By SIR CLAUDE CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY. Bart. 
 With i6 Illustrations. Demy 8vo, los. 6d. net. 
 
 Steeplechasing, Ballooning, Boxing, Big-Game Shoot- 
 ing, or acting as War Correspondent, they all come 
 alike to Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, whose life 
 has been one long series of adventures by land, sea, and 
 air. There is probably no man living who has a greater 
 contempt for danger of any kind than Sir Claude. As 
 a horseman he has probably not half a dozen superiors 
 in the world ; while his chapter of accidents is long 
 enough to fill a book. 
 
 Starting life in the Navy, he eventually entered the 
 Army, and saw service in India, where, incidentally, 
 he won many a famous steeplechase. When the Franco- 
 German War broke out he tried to get to the front, 
 and was nearly arrested as a German sp}^ In 1889, 
 at the time of the Dervish Raid, he went as a volunteer 
 to Egypt, finally acting as war correspondent ; was 
 through the Boer War, and took part in the Sotik 
 Punitive Expedition in East Africa. 
 
 The story of his adventures and the yarns he has to 
 tell of the interesting people he has met in many lands 
 make very enthralling, not to say "racy," reading. 
 
 The Story of the British Navy. 
 
 By E. KEBLE CHATTERTON, Author of " Sailing 
 Ships." Fully illustrated. Demy 8vo. 105. 6d. net. 
 
 An attempt has been made in this l)Ook to tell in 
 non-technical language for the interest of the general 
 reader the story of the British Navy from the earliest 
 times up to the present day. To the sons and daughters 
 
Autumn Announcements, 1910 5 
 
 of an island race, to the subjects of a Sailor-King, 
 whose Empire stretches beyond the Seas, such a story 
 as that of the greatest Navy of the world cannot fail 
 to be read wdth the keenest enthusiasm. It has been 
 the object of the author to relate within the limits of 
 a volume of moderate dimensions the fascinating 
 evolution of the " mightiest ocean-power on earth." 
 
 A Century of Ballads (1810—1910), Their 
 Composers and Singers. 
 
 By HAROLD SIMPSON. Fully illustrated. Demy 8vo. 
 105. 6d. net. 
 
 The story of popular songs, how they were written, 
 their singers and their composers, is one which appeals 
 to a very wide public, other than the purely musical. 
 
 In this book Mr. Simpson, after outlining the earlier 
 history and vicissitudes of English song, deals with 
 the songs and singers whose names have been " house- 
 hold words " for the past fifty years. 
 
 There is a great deal of romance attaching to the 
 subject of popular song ballads, and anecdotes of 
 composers and singers abound in this work, which is 
 written entirely from a popular and non-critical stand- 
 point. The countless thousands who have listened to 
 and delighted in Sullivan's " Lost Chord," for instance, 
 have probably no idea of the circumstances under 
 which it came to be written ; and the same may be said 
 of a host of other songs that have been sung in almost 
 every home throughout the country. 
 
 The book is profusely illustrated with portraits of 
 composers and singers, past and present, and contains 
 several original fascimiles of well-known songs. 
 
 Home Life in Hellas ; or, 
 
 Greece and the Greeks. 
 
 By Z. DUCKETT FERRIMAN. Fully illustrated. 
 Demy 8vo. 8s. net. 
 
 "Home Life in Hellas" is not a series of traveller's 
 "impressions," The a,uthor ha,s had a lon^ experience 
 
6 Mills 6t Boon's Catalogue 
 
 of the country he describes. He knows its people and 
 their tongue. 
 
 Books on the Near East are too often coloured by 
 political bias. In this instance' this is not the case. 
 The author has no axe to grind; he is no partisan. 
 He sets down things, as best he can, just as he sees 
 them. The reader will learn, at least, that Greece is 
 something more than a Museum of Antiquities. 
 
 Swiss Mountain Climbs. 
 
 By GEORGE D. ABRAHAM, Author of "British 
 Mountain Climbs," " The Complete Mountaineer." 
 Illustrated with Photographs and Diagrams. Pocket 
 size. Waterproof Cloth. Uniform with " British Moun- 
 tain Climbs." ys. 6d. net. 
 
 The average mountaineer who wishes to visit the 
 Swiss Alps usually experiences great difficulty in select- 
 ing a suitable district for his holiday. In this book 
 all the leading centres are dealt with, and the attractions 
 they offer are plainly set forth. Up-to-date and reliable 
 descriptions are given of the routes up all the most 
 important peaks, whilst the principal passes are dealt 
 with. The work, which is largely the result of personal 
 experience and exploration, will be found especially 
 helpful for those who have passed the novitiate stages 
 and wish to know something of suitable expeditions 
 for guideless attempts. 
 
 The ascents are grouped around the various centres, 
 and the best maps for these are noted. Instead of 
 graduated lists of courses the guides' tariffs for each 
 district are included. These give a capital idea of the 
 varying difficulties of the courses, and will be found 
 enlightening in other ways. For instance, the cost of 
 climbing so many peaks can be reckoned beforehand ; 
 the expensive districts stand revealed. A great deal 
 of practical information is given on other points. 
 
 Especial attention has been bestowed on the illus- 
 trations ; the bulk of these are entirely new, and pre- 
 pared especially for this work. Numerous line drawings 
 showing the principal routes help to add finish to a 
 
Autumn Announcements, 1910 7 
 
 copiously illustrated book, which is of such size that it 
 can be carried anywhere in the climber's pocket— a 
 practical, useful, and interesting companion. ^ ♦; 
 
 Home Life in Irelsmid. 
 
 By ROBERT LYND. Illustrated from photographs. 
 Third and Popular Edition, with a New Preface. CrowB 
 8vo. 6s. -r 
 
 Spectator. — " Mr. Lynd has written an entertaining and in- 
 forming book about Ireland. On the whole, he holds the balance 
 between North and South, minister and priest, and the various 
 oppositions which are to bo found in the country with an even 
 hand. There is a specially interesting chapter on ' Marriages 
 and Match-making.' We naturally have said more about points 
 of difference than about points of agreement ; but our criticisms 
 do not touch the real value of the book. It is the work of a close 
 and interested observer." 
 
 The German Spy System in France. 
 
 Translated from the French of Paul Lanoir. Crown 8vo. 
 55. net. 
 
 The aim of the author is to open the eyes of his 
 countrymen in France to the baneful activity of German 
 spies in their midst, and to endeavour to stimulate 
 public opinion to take the necessary counter-measures. 
 The genesis and development are traced of the up-to- 
 date and highly organised secret service now maintained 
 by Germany. This service performs the double function 
 of " political action " and spying proper, the former 
 including the subsidisation of strikes and the propa- 
 gation of anti-militarism in foreign countries, and the 
 whole organisation is a striking example of German 
 thoroughness. The features of the present organisation 
 are described in considerable detail : many sidelights 
 are thrown on famous historical personages, and the 
 numerous episodes narrated are full of human interest. 
 The book gives food for much anxious thought on the 
 part of citizens of countries in the neighbourhood of 
 the Kaiser's dominions. The possiibility of the applica- 
 
8 Mills St Boon's Catalogue 
 
 tion in England of methods similar to those whose 
 successful working in France is here described can 
 scarcely fail to suggest itself to the reader. Many little 
 incidents, personally observed or reported in the daily 
 press, assume an entirely new and interesting significa- 
 tion in the light of the revelations of this work, and a 
 perusal of its pages is not unlikely to leave many 
 readers in doubt whether their previous scorn of ** spy 
 mania " was based on altogether adequate knowledge. 
 
 Ships and Sealing Wax. 
 
 By HANSARD WATT. With 40 illustrations by L. R. 
 BRIGHTWELL. Crown 4to. 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 ** Ships and Sealing Wax " is a volume of light verse 
 by Hansard Watt, author of " Home-Made History," 
 *' Through the Loopholes of Retreat," etc. Mr. Watt's 
 verses are well known to magazine readers, and the 
 present volume contains many of his contributions to 
 Punch. As the discerning will gather from the title, 
 " Ships and Sealing Wax " deals with " manj?^ things." 
 The book is delightfully illustrated by L. R. Brightwell, 
 and makes one of the best presents of the season. 
 
 The Children's Story of Westminster Abbey. 
 
 By Miss G. E. TROUTBECK. Author of " Westminster 
 Abbey " (Little Guides). Illustrated. Popular Edition. 
 Cro\Mi 8vo. IS. net. 
 
 Scotsman. — " A volume with many merits as a gift-book for 
 the young is ' The Children's Story of Westminster Abbey,' of 
 which the author is G. E. Troutbeck. It is attractivelj' written, 
 and contains many splendid photographs. Its chief object is to 
 point out to British children how they may follow the great 
 outlines of their country's history in Westminster Abbey, from 
 the days of the far-oil legendary King Lucius." 
 
 The presentation edition at 5s. net can still be had, 
 and makes a beautiful present for children. 
 
 An Illustrated School Edition at is., with an Intro- 
 duction by G. Laurence Gomme, Clerk to the London 
 County Council, in now ready. 
 
Pocket Tip Books, 1910 9 
 
 MILLS & BOON'S 
 POCKET TIP BOOKS. 
 
 The Motorist's Pocket Tip Book. 
 
 By GEOFFREY OSBORN. Fully illustrated. 5s. net. 
 
 The author of this book, an engineer by profession, 
 has had a large and varied experience of all types of 
 cars in several countries. He has compressed his 
 knowledge into the pages of this book in such a manner 
 that the points required to be elucidated can instantly 
 be found, and if further explanation be required, the 
 reader has only to turn to the chapter immediately 
 preceding to find the reasons why and wherefore. 
 
 To make this book of the utmost possible value the 
 publishers have produced it in a handy pocket size and 
 the author has added pages for memoranda, telephone 
 numbers, maintenance charges, and the points about 
 his car which no motorist can keep in his head, such as 
 the engine and chassis numbers, French number plates, 
 etc., so that on the score of utility and appearance it 
 need never be out* of the motorist's pocket. 
 
 The Golfer's Pocket Tip Book. 
 
 By the Authors of " The Six Handicap Golfer's Com- 
 panion." Fully illustrated. 5s. net. 
 
 " The Golfer's Pocket Tip Book " provides for the 
 player who is " off " his game, a source whence he 
 may extract remedies for those faults of whose existence 
 he is only too weU aware, but for which he has hitherto 
 been unsuccessful in finding either a preventive or a 
 cure. The book contains some sixty photographs 
 illustrating the essential points of the golfing stroke, 
 and on the opposite page will be found a few short 
 sentences to explain those points to which the photo- 
 graphs are intended to call attention. 
 
 The various strokes depicted have each been chosen 
 with the definite object of demonstrating some one 
 faulty action, maybe of hand or foot ; and in many 
 
lo Mills 6t Boon's Catalogue 
 
 cases both the correct and faulty methods have been 
 illustrated and explained. It is a recognised fact that 
 correct "timing " rather than physical strength makes 
 for success in golf ; therefore great stress has been 
 laid both on the methods of playing which conduce to 
 efficiency in this respect and on those which prevent 
 it. Thus a complete series will be found in illustration 
 of perfect foot-action and the particular function of 
 hand, wrist, and body. 
 
 Special attention has been bestowed on the art of 
 putting, and the series of photographs relating thereto 
 is more complete than any which has as yet been pre- 
 sented to the student of golf. The accompanying 
 words of wisdom emanate from Jack White, who both 
 in theory and practice excels aU others in this depart- 
 ment of the game. 
 
 COMPANION SERIES. 
 
 New Volumes. 
 
 The Aviator's Companion. 
 
 By D. and HENRY FARMAN and Others. Crown 8vo. 
 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 If the public who follow Aviation as a whole would 
 take the trouble to follow the records of the various 
 makes of machines, they would be struck with the 
 practically complete immunity from accidents which 
 attends pilots of the Farman aeroplanes, and they would 
 also notice that when one Farman aeroplane is beaten 
 it is usually by another of the same make, to wit, the 
 London to Manchester flight. This book, besides 
 appealing to the " man in the street," contains Farman's 
 Theory of Flight. 
 
 The Food Reformer's Companion. 
 
 By EUSTACE MILES. M.A. Crown 8vo. 25. 6d. net. 
 
 The latest and most up-to-date work on diet from 
 the pen of Mr. Eustace Miles. The author's knowledge 
 
Companion Series, 1910 u 
 
 and bright style make the book exceptionally authori- 
 tative and interesting. 
 
 Every phase of Food Reform is touched upon, and 
 the touch is always that of the practical expert. 
 
 The book is made still more helpful by the inclusion 
 of new and carefully graded recipes in Progressive 
 Non-Flesh Cookery by an expert chef. There are also 
 valuable practical hints for beginners on such all- 
 important matters as " What to avoid," " What to 
 eat," " Quantities of Food," " How many meak a 
 day," etc. 
 
 The Lady Motorist's Companion. 
 
 By "A FOUR-INCH DRIVER." Crown 8vo. 25.6i.net. 
 This book, written mainly for women, is also useful 
 to men. The chapter on " Buying a Second-hand Car " 
 explains exhaustively how to find out the amount 
 of wear and tear, and will prevent the purchaser being 
 " done." 
 
 The Householder's Companion. 
 
 By F. MINTON. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 The Dramatic Author's Companion. 
 
 By " A THEATRICAL MANAGER'S READER." With 
 an Introduction by ARTHUR BOURCHIER. Crown 8vo.' 
 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 The Fisherman's Companion. 
 
 By E. LE BRETON MARTIN. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 The Nursery Nurse's Companion. 
 
 Compiled by HONNOR MORTEN, Author of "The 
 Nurse's Dictionary," etc. Crown 8vo, paper wrapper, 
 IS. net ; cloth, is. 6d. net. 
 
 This book is mainly designed to help the would-be 
 nurse and the would-be trainer of nurses. But it may 
 prove of use to those who have gained their experience 
 in the nursery, but would gladly bring their knowledge 
 up-to-date. 
 
13 Milis & Boon's Catalogue 
 
 EDUCATIONAL PUBLICATIONS 
 
 A First School Chemistry. 
 
 By F. M. OLDHAM. B.A., Senior Science Master at 
 Dulwich College; late Scholar of Trinity Hall, Cam- 
 bridge; Author of "The Complete School Chemistry." 
 With 71 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 2S. 6d. 
 
 The object of this book is to provide a sound elemen- 
 tary course of practical and theoretical chemistry up 
 to the standard of the Oxford and Cambridge Junior 
 Local Examination and of the Second Class Examina- 
 tion of the College of Preceptors. The instructions 
 for carrying out each experiment are followed by ques- 
 tions. In order to answer these questions the pupil 
 must think about the essential points of the experiment. 
 Special features of the book are the placing first in each 
 chapter of the practical work, which is followed by the 
 theoretical work in continuous form, and the diagram- 
 matic character of the figures, which are such as can be 
 reproduced by the pupils. The book is admirably 
 adapted to lead up to the same Author's " Complete 
 School Chemistry/' now in its Fourth Edition. 
 
 Preparatory Arithmetic. 
 
 By F. C. BOON, Principal Mathematical Master at 
 Dulwich College. Crown 8vo, is. Answers, with hints 
 on the solution of a number of the problems, 6d. net. 
 
 The author has here kept in sight the importance of 
 teaching all the fundamental processes by such methods 
 as will not have to be unlearned later, and in such quan- 
 tities that no process will be found too difficult. Recent 
 developments of arithmetical methods {e.g. the use of con- 
 tracted methods and of the decimalised form of £ s. d.) 
 as well as facility in quick and approximately correct 
 mental calculation are the chief features of the course. 
 
 A Public School Arithmetic. 
 
 By F. C. BOON. Crown 8vo. With or without answers, 
 35. 6d. 
 
 This book provides a thorough grounding in the 
 
 principles of arithmetic. It is based on the same general 
 
Educational Publications, 1910 13 
 
 foundations as the Preparatory School Arithmetic, 
 but meets the requirements of the latest developments 
 of arithmetical teaching for the University and Civil 
 Service Examinations. 
 
 A New School Geometry. 
 
 By RUPERT DEAKIN. M.A., Balliol College, Oxford, 
 and London University, Crown 8vo. is. 
 
 Practical Mathematics. 
 
 By W. E. HARRISON. A.R.C.S.. Principal of the 
 Handsworth Technical College. With 2 Plates and 
 90 Diagrams. Crown 8vo. With answers, is. 6d. With- 
 out answers, is. 3^. 
 
 A carefully graduated course beginning with measure- 
 ments and calculations based on them, and forming a 
 sound introduction to the work of the Technical Schools. 
 The course covers the Board of Education Syllabus of 
 " Practical Mathematics and Practical Drawing " as 
 given in the " Preliminary Course for Trade Students," 
 also the work for the Lancashire and Cheshire and 
 Midland Counties Union Preliminary Technical Certi- 
 ficates. 
 
 Rural Arithmetic with Household Accounts. 
 
 By RUPERT DEAKIN, M.A.. and P. J. HUMPHREYS, 
 B.Sc, of the Central Secondary and Evening Continuation 
 Schools, Birmingham. With many diagrams. Crown 
 8vo. 15. 
 
 A course of commercial arithmetic to meet the new 
 schemes for the evening continuation schools. 
 
 A Practical Course in First Year Physics. 
 
 By E. T. BUCKNELL, F.C.S., Headmaster of Kings- 
 holme School, Weston-super-Mare, and late Science 
 Master at St. Philip's Grammar School and the P.T. 
 Centre, Birmingham. With 85 Illustrations. Crown 
 8vo. 15. 
 
 This course is intended to provide a thorough ground- 
 ing in the elements of physics. It covers the syllabus 
 for the Leaving Certificate and Army Qualifying 
 Examination. 
 
14 MHIs & Boon's Catalogue 
 
 MILLS & BOON'S 
 SUMMER NOVELS. 
 
 Margaret Rutland. 
 
 By THOMAS COBB, Author of " The Anger of Olivia." 
 Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Nobody, in Margaret Rutland's case, seemed to 
 remember that " still waters run deep." It did not 
 occur to those who ought to have known her best, 
 how delicately some perfectly natural longings were 
 hidden behind the calm surface. She went her way : 
 tranquil, charitable, unsatisfied, until fate met her in 
 the person of Gilbert Hammett, who was by several 
 years her junior. 
 
 Gilbert, unfortunately, had known Prudence Farmar, 
 as well as much trouble, before he crossed Margaret 
 Rutland's path ; and though this was strewed with 
 primroses in the beginning, there was a multitude of 
 prophets to forecast its desolate end. 
 
 But although this might not be such a brilliantly 
 happy one as that of her friends Max Stainer and 
 Christobel, it was by no means entirely miserable. If 
 Margaret Rutland could have lived her life over again, 
 it is certain she would not have chosen that Gilbert 
 Hammett should have no part in it. 
 
 The Honourable Derek. 
 
 By R. A. WOOD-SEYS (Paul Gushing). Crown 8vo. 65. 
 
 " The Honourable Derek " is a novel of delight. The 
 §cene is laid in England and America, and concerns a 
 witty young Englishman and a brilliant American 
 woman. " The Honourable Derek " bears the hall 
 mark of literary genius, and is a novel full of surprises, 
 capturing the reader's curiosity from the first to the 
 last page. 
 
Summer Novels, 1910 15 
 
 Two Men and Gwenda. 
 
 By MABEL BARNES-GRUNDY, Author of " Hilary on 
 Her Own." Crown 8vo. 65. 
 
 Mrs. Barnes-Grundy, who moved to laughter a large 
 public with her " Vacillations of Hazel," has again 
 touched the humorous note in her new novel, " Two 
 Men and Gwenda " ; but this time there is pathos as 
 well. 
 
 Gwenda, a clever, gay, but very feminine and human 
 country girl, marries a Londoner, a thorough man of the 
 world. She loves him, but her smart environment irks 
 her. They gradually drift apart. How she eventually 
 wins through to happiness we leave Mrs. Barnes-Grundy 
 to relate. " Granty," with her wise sayings and pink 
 shawl with bobs, is an old lady we would much like to 
 meet. 
 
 Laughter and tears alternate throughout the book, 
 but the final note is laughter. 
 
 The Girl from his Town. 
 
 By MARIE VAN VORST, Author of "First Love," 
 " In Ambush." Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 In this altogether charming and delightful love story 
 Miss Van Vorst has taken the young man out of a 
 Montana mining town and dropped him down uncere- 
 moniously in the midst of London's smart set. There 
 he sees and hears and meets Lotty Lane, the reigning 
 comic opera success. It is she who is the Girl from 
 his Town. A clever and dashing story that will add to 
 Miss Van Vorst *s already brilliant reputation. 
 
 The Enemy of Woman. 
 
 By WINIFRED GRAHAM, Author of " Mary." Crown 
 
 Svo. 6s. [Second Edition. 
 
 To all lovers of fiction, a new novel by Winifred 
 
 Graham is always \velcome, and perhaps this, her last 
 
 work, is more powerful than any which has preceded it. 
 
i6 Aiills S: Boon's Catalogue 
 
 Invariably she holds a theory of deeply seeking into 
 character, while exposing modern evils. The raison 
 d'etre of " The Enemy of Woman " is to portray what 
 disastrous consequences are engendered by a mad 
 desire for Woman's Suffrage, and the bad effects on 
 home life of unbalancing feminine minds. The opening 
 chapters are startlingly dramatic, with an admixture of 
 tears and laughter, creating an intensely human interest. 
 Various types of women, in this engrossing story, show 
 what different forces of evil dog the footsteps of those 
 who always crave to know the " reason why " of all 
 restraint, and talk much nonsense about Women's 
 Rights. The plot reveals how well-educated, and 
 otherwise blameless, women may be led even to crime 
 by this obsession. Winifred Graham is, above all, an 
 idealist. Her book reveals the pain, horror, and aver- 
 sion she cannot conceal, of womanhood being lowered 
 and dragged through the mud by the Shrieking Sister- 
 hood. She considers women ought to be on the side of 
 the angels, not constantly straining after strife, and 
 she never uses a worn-out model. 
 
 A fine NoVet. 
 
 Rebecca Drew. 
 
 By EDITH DART. Crown 8vo. 65. 
 " Rebecca Drew " is a quiet, emotional tale, dealing 
 with the lives and characters of country folk, with the 
 exception of the Stranger. The story is filled with the 
 atmosphere and feeling of the West country, where the 
 scene is laid. The chief personages are Rebecca Drew 
 and the man who suddenly appears in her life, and 
 henceforward moulds it more or less unwillingly and 
 unconsciously. They make a striking study in contrast : 
 Rebecca, the strong, self-reliant woman, who has depths 
 unplumbed, unguessed tenderness and passion beneath 
 the surface, and the Stranger, an erratic, charming, 
 gifted creature, " all things by turn and nothing long." 
 How their lives meet, touch, part, and act upon one 
 another is the theme of the novel. To the discerning 
 
Summer Novels, 1910 17 
 
 reader the end is only apparent failure, since by suffering 
 has come, to one at least of the pair, self-knowledge and 
 life in the deepest sense. 
 
 The Glen. 
 
 By MARY STUART BOYD, Author of " Her Besetting 
 Virtue," " The Man in the Wood." Crown 8vo. 65. 
 
 The scene of this present-day novel is laid chiefly 
 in a West Highland valley, into whose remote placidity 
 drift distracting elements in the form of a group of 
 London society people, and a Norwegian sailor whose 
 disabled schooner is washed into the bay in a gale. 
 
 The plot shows deft handling of strongly contrasted 
 lives. The romantic fancy of Nannie for the phil- 
 andering Englishman reveals girlish devotion to an 
 iinaginary ideal. The reluctant wooing of the caustic- 
 tongued Elspie by her phlegmatic but persistent suitor 
 is full of amusing situations and pithy dialogue, while 
 the romance of Rachel Rothe and the Man from the 
 Sea strikes the deep note of tragic passion. 
 
 The male characters are vridely diverse. The plausible 
 gentleman of leisure, the brilliant Highland student 
 with his dogged determination to win Civil Service 
 honours, the greatly daring but simple and manly 
 young Norwegian skipper, though true to life, are poles 
 asunder. 
 
 The novel opens and closes in the glen with its sentinel 
 mountains and wave-beat shore. The intervening 
 scenes take place in London and on board the Nor- 
 wegian schooner the Skaal. Apart from its strong 
 romantic interest, the novel is full of humorous char- 
 aoterisation. 
 
 A brilliant first NoVeU 
 
 Jehanne of the Golden Lips. 
 
 By FRANCES G. KNOWLES-FOSTER. Illustrated 
 in colour. Crown 8vo. 6s. [Second Edition. 
 
 This fascinating love story of Queen Jehanne of 
 Naples has a double interest. In it accurate history 
 
t8 Mills & Boon's Catalogue 
 
 and thrilling romance are deftly welded together so 
 as to give us a splendidly human picture of Jehanne of 
 Anjou, the wonderful Mary Stuart of the South, her 
 heroism, her waywardness, her genius for dominion in 
 her relations with every one, and of her courtiers, her 
 enemies, and her one true love. Prince Louis of Taranto, 
 whose wooing of her is more passionate and daring than 
 Romeo's of Juliet. Their struggles between love and 
 honour before the murder of Jehanne's first husband, 
 Andrea of Hungary, make enthralling reading. The 
 author has caught the very spirit of fierce, luxurious, 
 intriguing Naples of 1345, by culling direct from the 
 Neapolitan archives the vivid details of such chronicles 
 as that of Tristan Caracciolo, the noble scholar who 
 heard the living Golden Lips charm all ears, and has 
 dared to give an unvarnished account of the reckless 
 gorgeous age, while remaining equally faithful to the 
 historical facts. This is a feat which no other novelist 
 on the subject has yet accomplished. There is also 
 given a new and absorbingly interesting theory as to 
 the Queen's share in her encumbering husband's murder, 
 the tale of which is told in almost haunting fashion. 
 Boccaccio's pleasant relations with the Queen, the 
 audacious, almost successful plot of the Red Count of 
 Savoy to carry her off, the rush of the Hungarian 
 forces upon Naples, and the magnificent victory of 
 Queen Jehanne and Prince Louis in the end, are only 
 a few of the salient points to be mentioned at hazard 
 in a book of which every page contains some exciting 
 incident. 
 
 The Sins of the Children. 
 
 By HORACE W. C. NEWTE, Author of "Calico Jack/' 
 " Sparrows." Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 In this remarkable novel Mr. Newte has deserted the 
 byways of London life, and has gone to the world-old 
 subject of filial ingratitude. It may be objected that 
 the last word has been said on such a theme in " King 
 
Summer Novels, 1 910 19 
 
 Lear " and " Pere Goriot," but while these acknow- 
 ledged masterpieces respectively deal with Kings and 
 Princesses, and the denizens of smart life in the Paris 
 of the Restoration, " The Sins of the Children," in 
 depicting ordinary, everyday folk, should make a con- 
 vincing appeal to the many who are moved by that 
 considerable portion of the ironic procession in which 
 average humanity lives, moves, and has its being. 
 " The Sins of the Children " is in two parts ; the first 
 deals with the youth and girlhood of a charming daugh- 
 ter of the suburbs ; of her single-hearted, devoted 
 father ; of her selfish absorption in lover and husband, 
 and of the unhappy consequences of her neglect of one 
 she should have loved and cherished. The second 
 part deals with the motherhood of the heroine, and of 
 her experiences with a selfish son, who, in behaving ±0 
 her as she did to her father, causes her to realise her 
 own ingratitude, which gives rise to poignant and un- 
 availing remorse. A romantic love story runs through 
 the work, which also contains a variety of quaint char- 
 acter studies. As " The Sins of the Children " will 
 doubtless be read by every child and parent, it should 
 make the widest of appeals 
 
 Written in the Rain. 
 
 By JOHN TREVENA, Author of "Granite." Crown 
 8vo. 6s. 
 
 " Written in the Rain " is a volume of stories by this 
 popular author. As they have all been written in that 
 part of the country where it raineth every day, the title 
 is not wholly inappropriate. There will be, in defiance 
 of superstition, thirteen items : a problem story, an 
 impossible story, two poignant reminiscences, two 
 studies of different types of broken-down gentlemen, 
 two tales of the imagination, a short comedy entitled 
 " A Comet for Sale," three light Devonshire stories 
 (Dartmoor), and a descriptive sketch, entitled " Matri- 
 mony," of a wedding at Widdicombe in the early ages. 
 
ao Mills 6t Boon's Catalogue 
 
 An Original LoVe Storp, 
 
 The Valley of Achor. 
 
 By MRS. PHILIP CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY, 
 Author of " The Coming of Aurora." Crown 8vo. 65. 
 
 " The Valley of Achor — or trouble — for a door of 
 hope," is the quotation from Hosea from which this book 
 takes its title. It is a story of modern days, so modern 
 that recent events have prompted the main idea of the 
 plot. Nigel Pitcairn returns from a voyage of explora- 
 tion, and after an enthusiastic reception, is discredited, 
 not only by the world at large, but by the woman he 
 loves, and for whose sake moreover the dangers and 
 hardships of his travels were undergone. As his creed 
 has always been that man is master of his fate, he knows 
 all will come right in the end, and only for one brief 
 moment loses heart. 
 
 How his good faith is finally proved, and his claims 
 acknowledged, remains a mystery until nearly the end 
 of the book. The characters of the two principal women 
 are widely different, Portia Quinton, coldly logical, 
 ambitious and self-centred, while Nancy Devenant is 
 quite the reverse — slightly inconsequent, but with a 
 heart of gold ; her brother Howard, a learned professor 
 and Pitcairn's rival for Portia's favour, finally clears 
 the latter's name in rather a curious manner. An 
 enthusiastic golfer and his wife, among the minor 
 characters, supply the lighter touches to the story. 
 
 The Pilgrimage of a Fool. 
 
 By J. E. BUCKROSE, Author of " A Golden Straw." 
 etc. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Readers of " A Golden Straw " may recollect how 
 superstition played a notable part in that fine story. 
 In a measure perhaps they will again be reminded of 
 that work in " The Pilgrimage of a Fool," which is 
 the simple history of a commonplace soul. In it the 
 secret longing of nearly every man's and womfin's soul 
 for ** something more " becomes to a certain extent 
 articulate. The hero's love story is interesting and 
 
Summer Novels, 1910 21 
 
 sincere, while human pathos and folly jostle good 
 thoughts in the book as they do in real life. The 
 whole thing is curiously human even in its imperfections. 
 Mills & Boon heartily recommend " The Pilgrimage 
 of a Fool " as a novel that will please even the most 
 critical reader, for its author has wit and humour and 
 a knowledge of human nature which is not surpassed 
 by any living novelist. 
 
 The Island of Souls. 
 
 By M. URQUHART, Author of "A Fool of Faery." 
 Crown 8vo. 65. 
 
 Blue-Grey Magic. 
 
 By SOPHIE COLE, Author of "A Wardour Street 
 Idyll." Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 ** Blue-Grey Magic " takes its name from some 
 mysterious letters written on blue-grey paper to Hester 
 Adean, whose sweet and gentle personality attracts 
 ** The Doctor," a strong, whimsical man, devoid of 
 sentiment, and Stella Chase, an advanced modern girl 
 of the extreme type. The situation between these 
 persons and the story of Hester's development is told 
 in that original way which readers of Miss Cole's novels 
 naturally expect from her. The secret of the letters is 
 well kept until the dramatic climax is reached. " Blue- 
 Grey Magic " is a touching and human love story with 
 a happy ending. It is certain to please the large circle 
 of readers who found " Arrows from the Dai*K " and 
 " A Wardour Street Idyll " so delightful. 
 
 The Palace of Logs. 
 
 By ROBERT BARR, Author of " Cardillac '* and 
 " The Sword Maker." Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Body and Soul. 
 
 By LADY TROUBRIDGE. Author of " The Woman 
 who Forgot," " The Cheat," etc. Crown 8vo. 65. 
 
 " Body and Soul " is a new long novel by Lady 
 Troubridge, whose popularity is rapidly increasing. This 
 is not surprising when it is remembered that Lady 
 
23 Mills A Boon's Catalogue 
 
 Troubridge writes with such easy grace and never fails to 
 give her readers a story of fascinating interest. 
 
 813. 
 
 By MAURICE LEBLANC, Author of " Arsdne Lupin." 
 Translated by ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS. 
 Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 An entirely new " Arsene Lupin " adventure of 
 absorbing interest, with never a dull page. 
 
 Sport of Gods. 
 
 By H. VAUGHAN-SAWYER. Crown 8vo. 6s, 
 A powerful Indian novel of modern life. 
 
 With Poison and Sword 
 
 By W. M. O'KANE. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 A dashing Irish romance. 
 The Vanishing Smuggler. 
 
 By STEPHEN CHALMERS. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 This is a fascinating tale of old smuggling days on the 
 Scottish coast. Smuggle-erie and his reckless band, 
 the old Coastguard, with his memories of Trafalgar 
 and Nelson, dainty Grisel and the quaint village folk 
 of Morag, are portrayed with a warmth of reality that 
 is rare in fiction. 
 
 SHILLING NET NOVELS. 
 
 Sparrows, the Story of an 
 
 Unprotected Girl. Horace W. C. Newte. 
 
 The Adventures of Captain 
 
 Jack. Max Pemberton. 
 
 The Prodigal Father. J. Storer Clouston. 
 
 D'Arcy of the Guards. L. E. Shipman. 
 
 The novel of the Play at the St. James's Theatre. 
 
General Literature 23 
 
 BOOKS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED 
 
 GENERAL LITERATURE 
 The Court of William III. 
 
 By EDWIN and MARION SHARPE GREW. With 
 many Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 155, net. 
 
 Times. — " The authors have steered most dexterously between 
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 My Thirty Years in India. 
 
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 An Art Student's Reminiscences 
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 Sporting Stories. 
 
 By THORMANBY. Fully illustrated. Demy Svo. 
 
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 Sporting Life. — " This vast storehouse of good stories." 
 
94 Mills & Boon's Catalogue 
 
 British Mountain Climbs. 
 
 By GEORGE D. ABRAHAM. Author of " The Com- 
 plete Mountaineer," Member of the CHmbers' Club, etc., 
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 Sportsman. — " Eminently a practical manual." 
 
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 In this work the aim of the author is to present a 
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 The Romance of the Oxford Colleges. 
 
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 Westminster Gazette. — " Does not contain a dull page." 
 World. — " Very agreeable and entertaining." 
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 The Bolster Book. A Book for the Bedside. 
 
 By HARRY GRAHAM, Author of " Deportmental 
 
 Ditties." With an illustrated cover by Lewis Baumer. 
 
 Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Daily Chronicle. — "Humorists are our benefactors, and 
 
 Captain Graham being not only a humorist, but an inventor 
 
 of humour, is dearer to me than that ' sweet Tuxedo girl,' of 
 
 a famous song, who, ' though fond of fun,' is ' never rude.' 
 
 I boldly assume that Biffin, like ' the Poet Budge ' and Hosea 
 
 Biglow, is a ventriloquist's doll — a doll more amusing than 
 
 any figure likely to appear in the dreams of such dull persons 
 
 as could be put to sleep by articulate laughter." 
 
General Literature 25 
 
 Letters of a Modern Golfer to 
 his Grandfather. 
 
 Being the correspondence of Richard AlKngham, Esq., 
 arranged by HENRY LEACH. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 Outlook. — "There are many people who lack the energy to 
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 instruction. Young Richard Allingham is something of a 
 philosopher as well as being an independent theorist of the 
 game of games. He also makes a nice lover. Hence we have 
 in this volume all the factors which give charm to the life of 
 the links. The volume will be an acquisition to the golfer's 
 library." 
 
 Auction Bridge. 
 
 By ARCHIBALD DUNN. Containing the Revised Rules 
 
 of the game. Handsomely bound in cloth and forming a 
 
 companion volume to " Club Bridge." Crown 8vo. 5*. net. 
 
 Sportsman. — " A study of this manual will profit them in 
 
 knowledge and in pocket." 
 
 Club Bridge. 
 
 By ARCHIBALD DUNN, Author of " Bridge and How 
 
 to Play it." Crown 8vo. 55. net. 
 Evening Standard. — " This is, in fact, ' the book.' " 
 Manchester Guardian. — " A masterly and exhaustive treatise." 
 
 The Children's Story of Westminster Abbey. 
 
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 Abbey" (Little Guides). With 4 Photogravure Plates, 
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 5^. net. (See p. 8.) 
 
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 Second Edition. Crown 4to. 3s. 6d. net. 
 
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 Daily Graphic. — '^ Mr. Graham certainly has the knack»" 
 
26 Mills & Boon*s Catalogue 
 
 Through the Loopholes of Retreat. 
 
 By HANSARD WATT. With a portrait of CovvrER in 
 photogravure. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 Kings and Queens of France. 
 
 A Concise History of France. 
 
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 Pure Folly : The Story of those Re- 
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 Told by FITZROY GARDNER. With a new song by 
 H. G. PiiLissiER. Illustrated by Geoffrey Holme. 
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 Crown 4 to. 25. 6d. net. 
 
 Popular Edition, Thirteenth Thousand 
 
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Companion Series 27 
 
 The Six- Handicap Golfer's Companion. 
 
 By " TWO OF HIS KIND." With chapters by H. S. 
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 The Mother's Companion. 
 
 By Mrs. M. A. CLOUDESLEY-BRERETON (Officier 
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 The Rifleman's Companion. 
 
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 The author is well known as a skilled *' Inter- 
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 The new book is practical, while not neglecting 
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 The Poultry Keeper's Companion. 
 
 By ARTHUR TYSILIO JOHNSON. With 60 Illus- 
 trations. Crown 8vo. 25. 6d. net. 
 
 The aim of the author has been to cater for the 
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 Orpheus in Mayhir . 
 
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 A Golden Straw 
 
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 Render unto Ciesar . 
 
 • • • 
 
 Mrs. Vere Gimpbell. 
 
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 The Last Lord Avanley 
 
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