n Luxor. All the Hareem here believe it, and the man's
human wife swears she waits on her like a slave, and backs her husband's
lie or delusion fully. I have not seen the man, but I should not wonder
if it were a delusion--real _bona fide_ visions and revelations are so
common, and I think there is but little downright imposture. Meanwhile
familiarity breeds contempt. Jinns, Afreets and Shaitans inspire far
less respect than the stupidest ghost at home, and the devil (Iblees) is
reduced to deplorable insignificance. He is never mentioned in the
pulpit, or in religious conversation, with the respect he enjoys in
Christian countries. I suppose we may console ourselves with the hope
that he will pay off the Muslims for their neglect of him hereafter.

I cannot describe to you the misery here now, indeed it is wearisome even
to think of: every day some new tax. Now every beast; camel, cow, sheep,
donkey, horse, is made to pay. The fellaheen can no longer eat bread,
they are living on barley meal, mixed with water and new green stuff,
vetches etc., which to people used to good food is terrible, and I see
all my acquaintances growing seedy and ragged and anxious. Yussuf is
clear of debt, his religion having kept him from borrowing, but he wants
to sell his little slave girl, and has sold his donkey, and he is the
best off. The taxation makes life almost impossible--100 piastres per
feddan, a tax on every crop, on every annual fruit, and again when it is
sold in the market; on every man, on charcoal, on butter, on salt, on the
dancing girls. I wonder I am not tormented for money--not above three
people have tried to beg or borrow.

Thanks for the Westminster epilogue; it always amuses me much. So
Terence was a nigger. There is no trace of the negro 'boy' in his Davus.
My nigger has grown huge, and has developed a voice of thunder. He is of
the elephantine rather than the tiger species, a very mild young savage.
I shall be sorry when Palgrave takes him. I am tempted to buy Yussuf's
nice little Dinka girl to replace him, only a girl is such an
impossibility where there is no regular hareem. In the boat Achmet is
enough under Omar; but in this large dusty house, and with errands to
run, and comers and goers to look after, pipes and coffee and the like,
it takes two boys to be comfortable. Mabrook too washes very well. It
is surprising how fast the boys learn, and how well they do their work.
Achmet, who is quite