-thirstily disposed
towards them and resolved to keep order and protect our property. But
now we say _nas messakeen_ (poor people) and whisper to each other that
God will not forget what the Pasha has done. The truth of course we
shall never know. But I do know that one Pasha said he had hanged five
hundred, and another that he had sent three hundred to Fazoghlou (_comme
qui dirait Cayenne_) and all for the robbery of one Greek boat in which
only the steersman was killed. I cannot make out that anything was done
by the 'insurgents' beyond going out into the desert to listen to the
darweesh's nonsense, and 'see a reed shaken by the wind;' the party that
robbed the boat was, I am told, about forty strong. But the most horrid
stories are current among the people of the atrocities committed on the
wretched villagers by the soldiers. Not many were shot, they say, and
they attempted no resistance, but the women and girls were outraged and
murdered and the men hanged and the steamers loaded with plunder. The
worst is that every one believes that the Europeans aid and abet, and all
declare that the Copts were spared to please the _Frangees_. Mind I am
not telling you _facts_ only what the people are saying--in order to show
you their feelings. One most respectable young man sat before me on the
floor the other day and told me what he had heard from those who had come
up the river. Horrible tales of the stench of the bodies which are left
unburied by the Pasha's order--of women big with child ripped open, etc.,
etc. 'Thou knowest oh! our Lady, that we are people of peace in this
place, and behold now if one madman should come and a few idle fellows go
out to the mountain (desert) with him, Effendina will send his soldiers
to destroy the place and spoil our poor little girls and hang us--is that
right, oh Lady and Achmet el-Berberi saw Europeans with hats in the
steamer with Effendina and the soldiers. Truly in all the world none are
miserable like us Arabs. The Turks beat us, and the Europeans hate us
and say _quite right_. By God, we had better lay down our heads in the
dust (die) and let the strangers take our land and grow cotton for
themselves. As for me I am tired of this miserable life and of fearing
for my poor little girls.'

Mahommed was really eloquent, and when he threw his _melayeh_ over his
face and sobbed, I am not ashamed to say that I cried too. I know very
well that Mahommed was not quite wrong in