Saturday, April 23.—­Alhamdulillah! the sickness is going off.  I have just heard Suleyman’s report as follows:  Hassan Abou-Achmet kisses the Emeereh’s feet, and the bullets have cleaned his stomach six times, and he has said the Fathah for the Lady.  The two little girls who had diarrhoea are well.  The Christian dyer has vomited his powder and wants another.  The mother of the Christian cook who married the priest’s sister has got dysentery.  The hareem of Mustapha Abou-Abeyd has two children with bad eyes.  The Bishop had a quarrel, and scolded and fell down, and cannot speak or move; I must go to him.  The young-deacon’s jaundice is better.  The slave girl of Kursheed A’gha is sick, and Kursheed is sitting at her head in tears; the women say I must go to her, too.  Kursheed is a fine young Turk, and very good to his Hareemat.  That is all; Suleyman has nothing on earth to do, and brings me a daily report; he likes the gossip and the importance.

The reis of a cargo-boat brought me up your Lafontaine, and some papers and books from Hekekian Bey.  Sheykh Yussuf is going down to Cairo, to try to get back some of the lands which Mahommed Ali took away from the mosques and the Ulema without compensation.  He asked me whether Ross would speak for him to Effendina!  What are the Muslimeen coming to?  As soon as I can read enough he offers to read in the Koran with me—­a most unusual proceeding, as the ‘noble Koran’ is not generally put into the hands of heretics; but my ‘charity to the people in sickness’ is looked upon by Abd-el-Waris the Imam, and by Yussuf, as a proof that I have ‘received direction,’ and am of those Christians of whom Seyyidna Mohammed (upon whose name be peace) has said ’that they have no pride, that they rival each other in good works, and that God will increase their reward.’  There is no arriere pensee of conversion that they think hopeless, but charity covers all sins with Muslimeen.  Next Friday is the Djuma el-Kebeer (Good Friday) with the Copts, and the prayers are in the daytime, so I shall go to the church.  Next moon is the great Bairam, el-Eed el-Kebeer (the great festival), with the Muslimeen—­the commemoration of the sacrifice of Isaac or Ishmael (commentators are uncertain which)—­and Omar will kill a sheep for the poor for the benefit of his baby, according to custom.  I have at length compassed the destruction of mine enemy, though he has not written a book.  A fanatical Christian dog (quadruped), belonging to the Coptic family who live on the opposite side of the yard, hated me with such virulent intensity that, not content with barking at me all day, he howled at me all night, even after I had put out the lantern and he could not see me in bed.  Sentence of death has been recorded against him, as he could not be beaten into toleration.  Michail, his master’s son, has just come down from El-Moutaneh, where he is vakeel to M.