together, and face to face; the mighty sun for one-and for the other, this poor, pale, solitary self of mine that I always carry about with me. But on the eighth day, and before I had yet turned away from Jehovah for the glittering god of the Persians, there appeared a dark line upon the edge of the forward horizon, and soon the line deepened into a delicate fringe that sparkled here and there as though it were sown with diamonds. There then before me were the gardens and the minarets of Egypt, and the mighty works of the Nile, and I (the eternal Ego that I am!)—I had lived to see, and I saw them. When evening came I was still within the confines of the Desert, and my tent was pitched as usual, but one of my Arabs stalked away rapidly towards the west without telling me of the errand on which he was bent. After a while he returned: he had toiled on a graceful service; he had travelled all the way on to the border of the living world, and brought me back for a token an ear of rice, full, fresh, and green. The next day I entered upon Egypt, and floated along (for the delight was as the delight of bathing) through green wavy fields of rice, and pastures fresh and plentiful, and dived into the cold verdure of groves and gardens, and quenched my hot eyes in shade, as though in a bed of deep waters. CAIRO and Plague! During the whole time of my stay, the plague was so master of the city, and stared so plain in every street and every alley, that I can't now affect to dissociate the two ideas. * There is some semblance of bravado in my manner of talking about the plague. I have been more careful to describe the terrors of other people than my own. The truth is, that during the whole period of my stay at Cairo I remained thoroughly impressed with a sense of my danger. I may almost say that I lived under perpetual apprehension, for even in sleep, as I fancy, there remained with me some faint notion of the peril with which I was encompassed. But fear does not necessarily damp the spirits; on the contrary, it will often operate as an excitement giving rise to unusual animation; and thus it affected me. If I had not been surrounded at this time by new faces, new scenes, and new sounds, the effect produced upon my mind by one unceasing cause of alarm may have been very different. As it was, the eagerness with which I pursued my rambles among the wonders of Egypt was sharpened and increased by the sting of the fear of death. Thus my account of the matter plainly conveys an impression that I remained at Cairo without losing my cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirits. And this is the truth; but it is also true, as I have freely confessed, that my sense of danger during the whole period was lively and continuous. When, coming from the Desert, I rode through a village lying near to the city on the eastern side, there approached me with busy face and earnest gestures a personage in the Turkish dress. His long flowing beard gave him rather a majestic look, but his briskness of manner and his visible anxiety to accost me seemed strange in an oriental. The man, in fact, was French, or of French origin, and his object was to warn me of the plague, and prevent me from entering the city. Arrêtez-vous, Monsieur, je vous en prie―arrêtezvous; il ne faut pas entrer dans la ville; la Peste y règne partout. Oui, je sais, mais Mais, Monsieur, je dis la Peste-la Peste; c'est de LA PESTE qu'il est question. Oui, je sais, mais Mais, Monsieur, je dis encore LA PESTE LA PESTE. Je vous conjure de ne pas entrer dans la ville-vous seriez dans une ville empestée. Oui, je sais, mais Mais, Monsieur, je dois donc vous avertir tour bonnement que si vous entrez dans la ville, vous serez enfin vous serez COMPROMIS ! + * Anglicè for "je le sais." These answers of mine as given above are not meant as specimens of mere French, but of that fine terse nervous Continental English with which I and my compatriots make our way through Europe. The import of the word "compromised," when used in reference to contagion, is explained in page 2. Oui, je sais, mais com The Frenchman was at last convinced that it was vain to reason with a mere Englishman who could not understand what it was to be promised." I thanked him most sincerely for his kindly-meant warning. In hot countries it is very unusual indeed for a man to go out in the glare of the sun and give free advice to a stranger. When I arrived at Cairo I summoned Osman Effendi, who was, as I knew, the owner of several houses, and would be able to provide me with apartments. He had no difficulty in doing this, for there was not one European traveller in Cairo besides myself. Poor Osman! he met me with a sorrowful countenance, for the fear of the plague sat heavily on his soul. He seemed as if he felt that he was doing wrong in lending me a restingplace, and he betrayed such a listlessness about temporal matters as one might look for in a man who believed that his days were numbered. caught me, too, soon after my arrival, coming out from the public baths,* and from that time forward he was sadly afraid of me, for upon the subject of contagion he held European opinions. He * It is said that when a Mussulman finds himself attacked by the plague he goes and takes a bath. The couches on which the bathers recline would carry infection according to the notions of the Europeans. Whenever, therefore, I took the bath at Cairo (except the first time of my doing so), I avoided that part of the luxury which consists in being "put up to dry" upon a kind of bed. He was a Osman's history is a curious one. Scotchman born, and when very young, being then a drummer-boy, he landed in Egypt with Fraser's force. He was taken prisoner, and according to Mahometan custom, the alternative of death or the Koran was offered to him; he did not choose. death, and therefore went through the ceremonies necessary for turning him into a good Mahometan. But what amused me most in his history was this -that very soon after having embraced Islam, he was obliged in practice to become curious and discriminating in his new faith to make war upon Mahometan dissenters, and follow the orthodox standard of the Prophet in fierce campaigns against the Wahabees, the Unitarians of the Mussulman world. The Wahabees were crushed, and Osman, returning home in triumph from his holy wars, began to flourish in the world; he acquired property, and became effendi, or gentleman. the time of my visit to Cairo he seemed to be much respected by his brother Mahometans, and gave pledge of his sincere alienation from Christianity by keeping a couple of wives. He affected the same sort of reserve in mentioning them as is generally shown by orientals. He invited me, indeed, to see his hareem, but he made both his wives bundle out before I was admitted; he felt, as it seemed to me, that neither of them would bear criticism; and I think that this idea, rather At |