The _gabit_
came to me sick with the fright which gave him jaundice, and about eight
men are gone in chains to Keneh on suspicion. Hajjee Baba too, a Turkish
cawass, is awfully bilious; he says he is 'sick from beating men, and
it's no use, you can't coin money on their backs and feet when they
haven't a para in the world.' Altogether everyone is gloomy, and many
desperate. I never saw the aspect of a population so changed.

January 1, 1867. God bless you, dearest Alick, and grant you many good
years more. I must finish this to go to-morrow by the steamer. I would
give a great deal to see you again, but when will that be?

January 12, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon

_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_.

LUXOR,
_January_ 12, 1867.

DEAREST ALICK,

Only two days ago I received letters from you of the 17 September and the
19 November. I wonder how many get lost and where? Janet gives me hopes
of a visit of a few days in March and promises me a little terrier dog,
whereat Omar is in raptures. I have made no plans at all, never having
felt well enough to hope to be able to travel. The weather has changed
for the better, and it is not at all old now; we shall see what the
warmth does for me. You make my bowels yearn with your account of
Rainie. If only we had Prince Achmet's carpet, and you could all come
here for a few months.

We were greatly excited here last week; a boy was shot out in the
sugar-cane field: he was with four Copts, and at first it looked ugly for
the Copts. But the Maohn tells me he is convinced they are innocent, and
that they only prevaricated from fear--it was robbers shot the poor
child. What struck and surprised me in the affair was the excessive
horror and consternation it produced; the Maohn had not had a murder in
his district at all in eight years. The market-place was thronged with
wailing women, Omar was sick all day, and the Maohn pale and wretched.
The horror of killing seems greater here than ever I saw it. Palgrave
says the same of the Arabian Arabs in his book: it is not one's notion of
Oriental feeling, but a murder in England is taken quite as a joke
compared with the scene here. I fear there will be robberies, owing to
the distress, and the numbers who are running away from the land unable
to pay their taxes. Don't fe