es and Persians. I have had an
abominable toothache, which quite floored me, and was aggravated by the
Oriental custom, namely, that all the _beau monde_ of Thebes _would_ come
and sit with me, and suggest remedies, and look into my mouth, and make
quite a business of my tooth. Sheykh Yussuf laid two fingers on my cheek
and recited verses from the Koran, I regret to say with no effect, except
that while his fingers touched me the pain ceased. I find he _is_
celebrated for soothing headaches and other nervous pains, and I daresay
is an unconscious mesmeriser. The other day our poor Maohn was terrified
by a communication from Ali Bey (Moudir of Keneh) to the effect that he
had heard from Alexandria that someone had reported that the dead cattle
had lain about the streets of Luxor and that the place was pestilential.
The British mind at once suggested a counter-statement, to be signed by
the most respectable inhabitants. So the Cadi drew it up, and came and
read it to me, and took my deposition and witnessed my signature, and the
Maohn went his way rejoicing, in that 'the words of the Englishwoman'
would utterly defeat Ali Bey. The truth was that the worthy Maohn worked
really hard, and superintended the horrible dead cattle business in
person, which is some risk and very unpleasant. To dispose of three or
four hundred dead oxen every day with a limited number of labourers is no
trifle, and if a travelling Englishman smells one a mile off he calls us
'lazy Arabs.' The beasts could not be buried deep enough, but all were
carried a mile off from the village. I wish some of the dilettanti who
stop their noses at us in our trouble had to see or to do what I have
seen and done.

_June_ 17.--We have had four or five days of such fearful heat with a
Simoom that I have been quite knocked up, and literally could not write.
Besides, I sit in the dark all day, and am now writing so--and at night
go out and sit in the verandah, and can't have candles because of the
insects. I sleep outside till about six a.m., and then go indoors till
dark again. This fortnight is the hottest time. To-day the drop falls
into the Nile at its source, and it will now rise fast and cool the
country. It has risen one cubit, and the water is green; next month it
will be blood colour. My cough has been a little troublesome again, I
suppose from the Simoom. The tooth does not ache now. _Alhamdulillah_!
for I rather dreaded the _muzeyinn_ (barbe