y. A tall Bedaween woman came up to us in the field yesterday to
shake hands and look at us. She wore a white sackcloth shift and veil,
_und weiter nichts_, and asked Mrs. Hekekian a good many questions about
me, looked at my face and hands, but took no notice of my rather smart
gown which the village women admired so much, shook hands again with the
air of a princess, wished me health and happiness, and strode off across
the graveyard like a stately ghost. She was on a journey all alone, and
somehow it looked very solemn and affecting to see her walking away
towards the desert in the setting sun like Hagar. All is so Scriptural
in the country here. Sally called out in the railroad, 'There is Boaz,
sitting in the cornfield'; and so it was, and there he has sat for how
many thousand years,--and Sakna sang just like Miriam in one war-song.

_Wednesday_.--My contract was drawn up and signed by the American
Vice-Consul to-day, and my Reis kissed my hand in due form, after which I
went to the bazaar to buy the needful pots and pans. The transaction
lasted an hour. The copper is so much per oka, the workmanship so much;
every article is weighed by a sworn weigher and a ticket sent with it.
More Arabian Nights. The shopkeeper compares notes with me about
numerals, and is as much amused as I. He treats me to coffee and a pipe
from a neighbouring shop while Omar eloquently depreciates the goods and
offers half the value. A water-seller offers a brass cup of water; I
drink, and give the huge sum of twopence, and he distributes the contents
of his skin to the crowd (there always is a crowd) in my honour. It
seems I have done a pious action. Finally a boy is called to carry the
_batterie de cuisine_, while Omar brandishes a gigantic kettle which he
has picked up a little bruised for four shillings. The boy has a donkey
which I mount astride _a l'Arabe_, while the boy carries all the copper
things on his head. We are rather a grand procession, and quite enjoy
the fury of the dragomans and other leeches who hang on the English at
such independent proceedings, and Omar gets reviled for spoiling the
trade by being cook, dragoman, and all in one.

I went this morning with Hekekian Bey to the two earliest mosques. The
Touloun is exquisite--noble, simple, and what ornament there is is the
most delicate lacework and embossing in stone and wood. This Arab
architecture is even more lovely than our Gothic. The Touloun is now a