eautiful, a thing much esteemed among Arabs. She is a
virgin and fond of travelling and of men's society, being very clever, so
she has her dromedary and goes about quite alone. No one seemed
surprised, no one stared, and when I asked if it was _proper_, our
captain was surprised. 'Why not? if she does not wish to marry, she can
go alone; if she does, she can marry--what harm? She is a virgin and
free.' She went to breakfast with the Mouniers on their boat (Mme. M. is
Egyptian born, and both speak Arabic perfectly), and the young lady had
many things to ask them, she said. She expressed her opinions pretty
freely as far as I could understand her. Mme. Mounier had heard of her
before, and said she was much respected and admired. M. Mounier had
heard that she was a spy of the Pasha's, but the people on board the boat
here say that the truth was that she went before Said Pasha herself to
complain of some tyrannical Moodir who ground and imprisoned the
_fellaheen_--a bold thing for a girl to do. To me she seems, anyhow, far
the most curious thing I have yet seen.

The weather is already much warmer, it is nine in the evening, we are
steaming along and I sit with the cabin window open. My cough is, of
course, a great deal better. _Inshallah_! Above Keneh (about another
150 miles) it will go away. To-day, for the first time, I pulled my
cloak over my head in the sun, it was so stinging hot--quite delicious,
and it is the 5th of January. _Poveri voi_ in the cold! Our captain was
prisoner for three years at Moscow and at Bakshi Serai, and declares he
never saw the sun at all--hard lines for an Egyptian. Do you remember
the cigarettes you bought for me at Eaux Bonnes? Well, I gave them to
the old Turkish Effendi, who is dreadfully asthmatic, and he is
enchanted; of course five other people came to be cured directly. The
rhubarb pills are a real comfort to travellers, for they can't do much
harm, and inspire great confidence.

Luckily we left all the fleas behind in the fore-cabin, for the benefit
of the poor old Turk, who, I hear, suffers severely. The divans were all
brand-new, and the fleas came in the cotton stuffing, for there are no
live things of any sort in the rest of the boat.

GIRGEH,
_January_ 9, 1864.

We have put in here for the night. To-day we took on board three
convict