ey are found sticking to the rocks. The people here are very
stupid about natural objects that are of no use to them. Like with the
French small birds are all sparrows, and wild flowers there are none, and
only about five varieties of trees in all Egypt.

This is a sad year--all the cattle are dead, the Nile is now as low as it
was last July, and the song of the men watering with the _shadoofs_
sounds sadly true as they chant _Ana ga-ahn_, etc. 'I am hungry, I am
hungry for a piece of dourrah bread,' sings one, and the other chimes in,
_Meskeen_, _meskeen_ 'Poor man, poor man,' or else they sing a song about
Seyyidna Iyoob 'Our master Job' and his patience. It is sadly
appropriate now and rings on all sides as the _shadoofs_ are greatly
multiplied for lack of oxen to turn the _sakiahs_ (waterwheels). All is
terribly dear, and many are sick from sheer weakness owing to poor food;
and then I hear fifty thousand are to be taken to work at the canal from
Geezeh to Siout through the Fayoum. The only comfort is the enormous
rise of wages, which however falls heavy on the rich. The sailors who
got forty to fifty piastres five years ago now get three to five hundred
piastres a month. So I fear I must give up my project of a dahabieh. If
the new French Consul-General 'knows not Joseph' and turns me out, I am
to live in a new house which Sheykh Yussuf is now building and of which
he would give me the terrace and build three rooms on it for me. I wish
I got better or worse, and could go home. I do get better, but _so_
slowly, I cough a good deal at times, and I am very thin, but not so weak
as I was or so breathless.

February 7, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon

_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_.

LUXOR,
_February_ 7, 1867.

DEAREST ALICK,

I am enjoying a 'great indulgence of talk' with M. Prevost Paradol as
heartily as any nigger. He is a delightful person. This evening he is
coming with Arakel Bey, his Armenian companion, and I will invite a few
Arabs to show him. I sent off the proofs yesterday per passenger
steamer. I trust they will arrive safe. It is too disheartening about
letters, so many are lost. I am dreadfully disappointed in my letters, I
_really_ don't think them good--you know I don't _blaguer_ about my own
performances. I am very glad people like