will take great care of your
daughter, which he most zealously and tenderly does.

December 23, 1864: Mrs. Austin

_To Mrs. Austin_.

ON THE NILE,
_Friday_, _December_ 23, 1864.

DEAREST MUTTER,

Here I am again between Benisouef and Minieh, and already better for the
clear air of the river and the tranquil boat life; I will send you my
Christmas Salaam from Siout. While Alick was with me I had as much to do
as I was able and could not write for there was much to see and talk
about. I think he was amused but I fear he felt the Eastern life to be
very poor and comfortless. I have got so used to having nothing that I
had quite forgotten how it would seem to a stranger.

I am quite sorry to find how many of my letters must have been lost from
Luxor; in future I shall trust the Arab post which certainly is safer
than English travellers. I send you my long plaits by Alick, for I had
my hair cut short as it took to falling out by handfuls after my fever,
and moreover it is more convenient Turkish hareem fashion.

Please tell Dean Stanley how his old dragoman Mahommed Gazawee cried with
pleasure when he told me he had seen Sheykh Stanley's sister on her way
to India, and the 'little ladies' _knew his name_ and shook hands with
him, which evidently was worth far more than the backsheesh. I wondered
who 'Sheykh' Stanley could be, and Mahommed (who is a darweesh and very
pious) told me he was the _Gassis_ (priest) who was _Imam_ (spiritual
guide) to the son of our Queen, 'and in truth,' said he, 'he is _really_
a Sheykh and one who teaches the excellent things of religion, why he was
kind even to his horse! and it is of the mercies of God to the English
that such a one is the Imam of your Queen and Prince.' I said laughing,
'How dost thou, a darweesh among Muslims, talk thus of a Nazarene
priest?' 'Truly oh Lady,' he answered, 'one who loveth all the creatures
of God, him God loveth also, there is no doubt of that.' Is any one
bigot enough to deny that Stanley has done more for real religion in the
mind of that Muslim darweesh than if he had baptised a hundred savages
out of one fanatical faith into another?

There is no hope of a good understanding with Orientals until Western
Christians can bring themselves to recognise the common faith contained
in the two religions, the _