s in chains, two bound for Fazogloo, one for calumny and perjury,
and one for manslaughter. Hard labour for life in that climate will soon
dispose of them. The third is a petty thief from Keneh who has been a
year in chains in the Custom-house of Alexandria, and is now being taken
back to be shown in his own place in his chains. The _causes celebres_
of this country would be curious reading; they do their crimes so
differently to us. If I can get hold of anyone who can relate a few
cases well, I'll write them down. Omar has told me a few, but he may not
know the details quite exactly.

I made further inquiries about the Bedawee lady, who is older than she
looks, for she has travelled constantly for ten years. She is rich and
much respected, and received in all the best houses, where she sits with
the men all day and sleeps in the hareem. She has been in the interior
of Africa and to Mecca, speaks Turkish, and M. Mounier says he found her
extremely agreeable, full of interesting information about all the
countries she had visited. As soon as I can talk I must try and find her
out; she likes the company of Europeans.

Here is a contribution to folk-lore, new even to Lane I think. When the
coffee-seller lights his stove in the morning, he makes two cups of
coffee of the best and nicely sugared, and pours them out all over the
stove, saying, 'God bless or favour Sheykh Shadhilee and his
descendants.' The blessing on the saint who invented coffee of course I
knew, and often utter, but the libation is new to me. You see the
ancient religion crops up even through the severe faith of Islam. If I
could describe all the details of an Arab, and still more of a Coptic,
wedding, you would think I was relating the mysteries of Isis. At one
house I saw the bride's father looking pale and anxious, and Omar said,
'I think he wants to hold his stomach with both hands till the women tell
him if his daughter makes his face white.' It was such a good phrase for
the sinking at heart of anxiety. It certainly seems more reasonable that
a woman's misconduct should blacken her father's face than her husband's.
There are a good many things about hareem here which I am barbarian
enough to think extremely good and rational. An old Turk of Cairo, who
had been in Europe, was talking to an Englishman a short time ago, who
politely chaffed him about Mussulman license. The venerable Muslim
replied, 'Pray, how many women have you, who ar