f them!

I was, however, told by a gentleman, long resident in Cairo, that there
are indications of a gradual change as regards education, the wives of a
few high officials having been educated on broader lines than mere
accomplishments; hence it is to be hoped that the leaven will work in
time. It may also be found later that the transference of the harem from
an Oriental home to a Number 9 residence on a fashionable street will
lessen the seclusion heretofore imposed.

The Nile is always a centre of interest, not only for those who explore
it to the cataracts or Khartoum, but for natives and tourists who throng
its banks to catch a glimpse of the queer sailing craft, and to watch
the never-ending procession that passes over it,--men, women, vehicles,
and animals filling every available space.

It is quite the fashion for parties of tourists to repair to the bridge
at 5 A.M. in order to watch the marketmen, venders of all kinds, and the
heavily laden donkeys and camels fulfilling their part in the labor of
supplying the city markets.

Once across the bridge, the procession from the country is even more
picturesque; and, viewed from a waiting "tram" in the late afternoon,
when all are homeward bound, the scene is most incongruous. Sometimes
four or five heavily veiled women in black robes are seen on one of the
long two-wheeled carts, drawn by an emaciated horse with a native at his
head as a propelling power; next, follow a flock of geese, two or three
score of goats, a group of sheep, four or five camels looking down with
a superior air on the donkeys, as well as pedestrians of many
complexions and of varied dress--Arabs, Bedouins, Soudanese, and
Egyptians,--their queerly shaped turbans and brilliant colors lending
the finishing touch to the scene. Nowhere else in the Orient does such a
view present itself, and its setting is the Nile!

The last glimpse of the Nile, the evening before my departure, will
never be forgotten. The occasion was an invitation to indulge in
afternoon tea at the Hotel Semiramis, near the entrance to the bridge.
We lingered on for the sunset, which first appeared as a flaming ball
of fire, succeeded by myriad shades of rainbow hues, these fading into
softer tints and later into those more delicate tones that prelude the
twilight. Then silence seemed to brood over the wonderful river, and we
departed.

If the street scenes, the bazars, and the Nile are an index to the
native life of Cair