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multiplies blindness, either total or of one eye, that there is a proverbial saying that, among three Arabs, there are only four eyes. Uncleanliness and incorrigible carelessness second the ravages of this melancholy infirmity; flies, from which children are in no way protected, settle in clusters upon the unfortunate little beings, and turn their heads into hives. Their mothers will not touch them, because, though Mahomed enjoined ablutions upon true believers, he also interdicted the killing of flies,

When one sees that the mothers of these poor creatures will not be induced to clean their poor faces, one asks whether they are mad, or barbarously cruel? But they are neither; on the contrary, they are inspired by maternal love, and this monstrous superstition is explained by the religion of the -Prophet.

According to the Mussulmans, this deplorable malady is something on account' of the inevitable sum of misfortunes reserved by fate for every child of man in this world. The Fellah woman almost rejoices in the thought that this dread disease is infinitely preferable to other misfortunes of which her child might be the victim, but from which he will be preserved by thus early paying his tribute to the

sum of misfortunes due to him. Rice, corn, maize, and sugar-cane are the principal products sold in the open air market, with the exception of oranges and fruits of all kinds, with which baskets are laden, and which are given away rather than sold. Asses, camels, and buffaloes serve the purpose of booths, and women do the work of market porters, while the proprietors smoke their chibouks, or drink their coffee, lying languidly on carpets or mats. There, as indeed everywhere in the East, woman plays the part of a domestic animal, condemned to the most difficult tasks, and those most ruinous to her delicate nature. This monstrous barbarism, consecrated by the Mussulman religion, is yet far from disappearing from the East.

As I was returning from the market, I followed one of the branches of a rapid watercourse which divides the village. A carrion crow was perched on the top of one of the huge palm-trees which bordered the current; with no other motive than to test my want of skill, I fired at him, and to my astonishment hit him. His wing was broken, he fell into the water, and fought there against his lamentable fate, while I beheld the oddest possible duck hunt. Certain dogs and children, whose presence I had not

suspected, had observed me, and at once flung themselves into the river, in pursuit of the bird. Women strove to beat off the dogs with stones, and the children were whirled about by the current, while the crow fluttered from rock to rock. At last he was taken, and became the prey of the noisy rabble who had not shrank from a dangerous bath to secure such despicable game.

On the morrow, the young sheik came to bid us adieu, and we regretfully quitted this picturesque and wild country to return to Medinet.

SKETCH IX.

MEDINET-EL-FA YOUM.

Joseph's Canal-Birket Keroun-Cinderella's Slipper-A pretty Pink Pebble.

MEDINET is the chief city of Fayoum, and its name is almost always associated with that of the province. Medinet-el-Fayoum is very important from every point of view: commerce, industry, and culture are regulated and administered there by rule and even with a certain official formality. The Viceroy has a residence, and the traffic has something of the tumultuous character of that of Cairo.

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The immense Joseph's Canal traverses the whole length, of the city, and extends to Lake Birket Keroun, where it attains the proportions of a respectable river. It is so wide for a canal that men of science are not agreed upon its nature, some attributing it merely to the hand of man, and others holding it to be a derivative of the Nile. Whether Joseph ' had anything to do with the plan of it or not, or whether nature be its sole engineer, it is the principal