money of the Jew,' said an old fellah to me with a tone of
scorn which I could not but echo in my heart. He has turned out his
dragoman--a respectable elderly man, very sick, and paid him his bare
wages and the munificent sum of 5 pounds to take him back to Cairo. On
board there was a doctor and plenty of servants, and yet he abandons the
man here on Mustapha's hands. I have brought Er-Rasheedee here (the sick
man) as poor Mustapha is already overloaded with strangers. I am sorry
the name of _Yahoodee_ (Jew) should be made to stink yet more in the
nostrils of the Arabs. I am very well, indeed my cough is almost gone
and I can walk quite briskly and enjoy it. I think, dear Mutter, I am
really better. I never felt the cold so little as this winter since my
illness, the chilly mornings and nights don't seem to signify at all now,
and the climate feels more delicious than ever.

Mr. Herbert, the painter, went back to Cairo from Farshoot below Keneh;
so I have no 'Frangee' society at all. But Sheykh Yussuf and the Kadee
drop in to tea very often and as they are agreeable men I am quite
content with my company.

Bye the bye I will tell you about the tenure of land in Egypt which
people are always disputing about, as the Kadee laid it down for me. The
_whole_ land belongs to the Sultan of Turkey, the Pasha being his vakeel
(representative), nominally of course as we know. Thus there are no
owners, only tenants paying from one hundred piastres tariff (1 pound)
down to thirty piastres yearly per feddan (about an acre) according to
the quality of the land, or the favour of the Pasha when granting it.
This tenancy is hereditary to children only--not to collaterals or
ascendants--and it may be sold, but in that case application must be made
to the Government. If the owner or tenant dies childless the land
reverts to the Sultan, _i.e._ to the Pasha, and _if the Pasha chooses to
have any man's land he can take it from him on payment--or without_.
Don't let any one tell you that I exaggerate; I have known it happen: I
mean the _without_, and the man received feddan for feddan of desert, in
return for his good land which he had tilled and watered.

To-morrow night is the great night of Sheykh Abu-l-Hajjaj's _moolid_ and
I am desired to go to the mosque for the benefit of my health, and that
my friends may say a prayer for my children. The kind hearty welcome I
found here has been a real pleasure, and every one was pleased