When the Moolid of the Sheykh came the whole family Abu-l-Hajjaj could only raise six hundred and twenty piastres among them to buy the buffalo cow, which by custom—­strong as the laws of the Medes and Persians—­must be killed for the strangers who come; and a buffalo cow is worth one thousand piastres.  So the stout old Shereef (aged 87) took his staff and the six hundred and twenty piastres, and sallied forth to walk to Erment and see what God would send them; and a charitable woman in Erment did give a buffalo cow for the six hundred and twenty piastres, and he drove her home the twenty miles rejoicing.

There has been a burglary over at Gourneh, an unheard-of event.  Some men broke into the house of the Coptic gabit (tax-gatherer) and stole the money-box containing about sixty purses—­over 150 pounds.  The gabit came to me sick with the fright which gave him jaundice, and about eight men are gone in chains to Keneh on suspicion.  Hajjee Baba too, a Turkish cawass, is awfully bilious; he says he is ’sick from beating men, and it’s no use, you can’t coin money on their backs and feet when they haven’t a para in the world.’  Altogether everyone is gloomy, and many desperate.  I never saw the aspect of a population so changed.

January 1, 1867.  God bless you, dearest Alick, and grant you many good years more.  I must finish this to go to-morrow by the steamer.  I would give a great deal to see you again, but when will that be?

January 12, 1867:  Sir Alexander Duff Gordon

To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon.  LUXOR, January 12, 1867.

Dearest Alick,

Only two days ago I received letters from you of the 17 September and the 19 November.  I wonder how many get lost and where?  Janet gives me hopes of a visit of a few days in March and promises me a little terrier dog, whereat Omar is in raptures.  I have made no plans at all, never having felt well enough to hope to be able to travel.  The weather has changed for the better, and it is not at all old now; we shall see what the warmth does for me.  You make my bowels yearn with your account of Rainie.  If only we had Prince Achmet’s carpet, and you could all come here for a few months.

We were greatly excited here last week; a boy was shot out in the sugar-cane field:  he was with four Copts, and at first it looked ugly for the Copts.  But the Maohn tells me he is convinced they are innocent, and that they only prevaricated from fear—­it was robbers shot the poor child.  What struck and surprised me in the affair was the excessive horror and consternation it produced; the Maohn had not had a murder in his district at all in eight years.  The market-place was thronged with wailing women, Omar was sick all day, and the Maohn pale and wretched.  The horror of killing seems greater here than ever I saw it.  Palgrave says the same of the Arabian