is quite apart from all Franks. I was astonished to find that he
_abondait dans man sens_ in my dispute with Sheykh Abdurrachman, and said
that it was the duty of Muslims to learn what they could from us, and not
to stick to the old routine.

On Sunday the Patriarch snubbed me, and would not eat with me, and on
Monday a _Walee_ (saint) picked out tit-bits for me with his own fingers,
and went with me inside the tomb. The Patriarch has made a blunder with
his progress. He has come ostentatiously as the _protege_ and _pronem_
of the Pasha, and he has 'eaten' and beaten the fellaheen. The Copts of
Luxor have had to pay fifty pounds for the honour of his presence,
besides no end of sheep, poultry, butter, etc. If I were of a
proselytising mind I could make converts of several whose pockets and
backs are smarting, and the American missionaries will do it. Of course
the Muslims sympathize with the converts to a religion which has no
'idols,' and no monks, and whose priests marry like other folk, so they
are the less afraid. I hear there are now fifty Protestants at Koos, and
the Patriarch was furious because he could not beat them. Omar cooked a
grand dinner for him last night for our neighbour Mikaeel, and the eating
was not over till two in the morning. Our Government should manage to
put the screw on him about our Abyssinian prisoners. I dare not say who
told me all he said, but he was a truthful man and a Christian. The
Patriarch answered me sharply when I asked about the state of religion in
Abyssinia that, 'they were lovers of the faith, and his obedient
children.' Whenever there is mischief among the Copts, the priests are
at the bottom of it. If the Patriarch chose those people would be let
go; and so it would be but he hates all Europeans bitterly.

I should like to have the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ of all things, but I
don't know how it is to come here, or what the postage would cost. They
send nothing but letters above Cairo by post, as all goes on men's backs.
'Inshallah! I am the bearer of good news,' cries the postman, as he
flings the letter over the wall. I am so glad of the chance of getting
news to you quick by Giafar Pasha, who came here like a gentleman, alone,
without a retinue; he is on his way from two years in the Soudan, where
he was absolute Pasha. He is very much liked and respected, and seems a
very sensible and agreeable man, quite unlike any Turkish big-wig I have
seen. Great p