t cold, and Mabrook ceases to consider his clothes
such a grievance as they were to him at first, and takes kindly to a
rough _capote_ for the night. I have just been interrupted by my Reis
and one of my men, who came in to display the gorgeous printed calico
they have bought; one for his Luxor wife and the other for his betrothed
up near Assouan. (The latter is about eight years old, and Hosein has
dressed her and paid her expenses these five years, as is the custom up
in that district.) The Reis has bought a silk head-kerchief for nine
shillings, but that was in the marriage contract. So I must see, admire
and wish good luck to the finery, and to the girls who are to wear it.
Then we had a little talk about the prospects of letting the boat, and,
Inshallah, making some money for _el gamma_, _i.e._, 'all our company,'
or 'all of us together.' The Reis hopes that the _Howagat_ will not be
too outrageous in their ways or given to use the stick, as the solution
of every difficulty.

The young Shurafa of Abu-l-Hajjaj came from Gama'l Azhar to-day to bid me
goodbye and bring their letters for Luxor. I asked them about the
rumours that the Ulema are preaching against the Franks (which is always
being said), but they had heard nothing of the sort, and said they had
not heard of anything the Franks had done lately which would signify to
the Muslims at all. It is not the Franks who press so many soldiers, or
levy such heavy taxes three months in advance! I will soon write again.
I feel rather like the wandering Jew and long for home and rest, without
being dissatisfied with what I have and enjoy, God knows. If I _could_
get better and come home next summer.

November 21, 1866: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon

_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_.

LUXOR,
_November_ 21, 1866

DEAREST ALICK,

I arrived here on the morning of the 11th. I am a beast not to have
written, but I caught cold after four days and have really not been well,
so forgive me, and I will narrate and not apologize. We came up best
pace, as the boat is a flyer now, only fourteen days to Thebes, and to
Keneh only eleven. Then we had bad winds, and my men pulled away at the
rope, and sang about the _Reis el-Arousa_ (bridegroom) going to his
bride, and even Omar went and pulled the rope. We were all very merry,