immediately. Bekamfi, said I, pointing to her long ear-rings. She replied by a torrent of words, but as I did not understand her calculations, I showed her an Arab coin worth about ten francs. She took it, unfastened one of her earrings, and prepared to go away. This was not enough. I wanted to have the other. I succeeded in purchasing it for a similar price, and returned in triumph to the bazaar. The affair had evidently pleased her, for she became very friendly, and insisted on giving me her yellow slippers into the bargain. I accepted them, placed them next my heart, and escaped from my Cinderella.

I then went in search of some of my friends, who, gravely seated in the centre of a tobacco-shop, seemed to be holding a council of war on a question of the highest importance. The matter was indeed worthy of consideration, for it was no less than a small granite sphinx, of the purest form and the finest workmanship, without the smallest flaw. This gem of antique sculpture had charmed us all, and we most seriously discussed the condition of its purchase. The polish of the pink granite, and the astonishing preservation of this little masterpiece had struck us so much that at first we doubted its birth certificate. But one of us, who is a great amateur, and an expert

archæologist assured us of the real value of the sphinx. However, the price was beyond us, and the weight of the little monolithic Pharaoh, made us doubtful about the possibility of bringing him home to Bougival. How often we have regretted him since then, for we have had ample opportunities of learning his true value, and appreciating the opportunity which we had lost! Few of the sculptures in the Egyptian museum at the Louvre produce upon one so charming an impression as did that little sphinx, which is probably still in the recesses of the shop at Medinet, unless he has been bought by an Englishman, who has had a second made to match him, for a pair of firedogs of the 23rd dynasty.

Like all the towns in the province, Medinet is largely populated by Copts, who are Christians like ourselves, a curious remnant of the most ancient people of the country, before the establishment of El Islam in Egypt. These Copts preserve some of the ancient Greek rites in the external practices of their religion. The Mass is oddly distorted, and the most salient feature of their worship is the eating of pork and the drinking of wine under the very nose of Mahomet. An Italian monk, the last remaining member of a community which existed at Medinet,

regarded us, being foreigners, as his compatriots, and paid us a most friendly visit. He gave us some very curious details about the Christian population of Medinet in general, and his proselytes in particular. He invited us to go and see his little presbytery, which was like the house of one of our village curés, and he was affected almost to tears when we spoke to him in Italian. He gave us fruit from his garden, and wine from his little vineyard. In our turn we presented him with a jar of Liebig's extract of meat. This residuum of beef reminded him of his fatherland, and of that beloved bouillon which he had not even heard spoken of for forty-four years, for beef, bouilli, and beefsteak are as unknown in Egypt as crocodile cutlets in Paris. Buffalo is not eatable, and the Egyptian bullock, with horns reversed, and twisted hoofs, is not a tempting resource. Thanks to the importance of Medinet, we experienced considerable difficulty in finding a site for our tents. We unconsciously placed ourselves back to back with a public laundry, and a slaughter-house, and had to decamp immediately. It was not easy to find another place, for the proprietors were not enthusiastic in their welcome. We were sadly following one of the

DRAGOMAN ABSOLUTISM.

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windings of the Joseph's canal when our dragoman solved the difficulty.

A vast field, bordered with cactus and perfectly enclosed, presented a delicious aspect, and a capital soil. The centre of this attractive spot was occupied by large stacks of dried maize, arranged with great care. But a dragoman with a real sword does not enter into such details; he merely made a 'sign, and ass-drivers, camel-drivers, and servants all set to work, the hedge was escaladed, and the maize stacks were dismantled as if by enchantment. In a minute the space was clear, and our tents arose peacefully in the midst of this strangely-won field of battle.

1

We were a little uneasy about this socialistic proceeding, and the point of view of the proprietor. But our dragoman, whose obstinacy and imagination were alike sublime and oriental, determined to be beforehand with the danger, so he went to the owner of the field, and explained that the Prince whom he was escorting, did him infinite honour by condescending to take up his abode in the middle of the highly favoured field. So charmed was the proprietor by this flattering preference, that, if it had not been all done already, he would have helped our ass and camel-driver to throw his bundles of straw

over the hedge, where our camels were tranquilly

nibbling them.

We made several excursions round the city. The extraordinary fertility of this portion of the province surpasses all that we could have imagined; several harvests are reaped every year; clover, for instance, is cut three times, and grows to a height unknown in the richest European soil. There, the arable land, fertilised by the deposit from the Nile, does not need the repose which is so necessary to our cultivated soil. Hardly has the corn been reaped before the plough prepares the ground for a new seed-sowing.

The plough is generally drawn by a camel or an ass. The buffalo is especially reserved for working the wells and saquièhs. The soil is so saturated by constant irrigation that it is perfectly easy work to till it; the plough is not the massive lump of iron which, in our fields, seems to tear up the bowels of the earth; here it is a simple piece of wood which passes over furrows made beforehand for it. Everything in this wonderful country seems like a dream. Where we set up steam-machines, the fellah scratches the ground with a match.

The bullock, common in Syria, is much more rare in this part of Egypt, and is very small, with twisted