I have only time for a few words by Giafar Pasha, who goes early
to-morrow morning. My boat arrived all right and brought your tin box.
The books and toys are very welcome. The latter threw little Darfour
into ecstasies, and he got into disgrace for 'playing with the Sitt'
instead of minding some business on hand. I fear I shall spoil him, he
is so extremely engaging and such a baby. He is still changing his
teeth, so cannot be more than eight; at first I did not like him, and
feared he was sullen, but it was the usual _khoss_ (fear), the word that
is always in one's ears, and now that is gone, he is always coming
hopping in to play with me. He is extremely intelligent and has a pretty
baby nigger face. The Darfour people are, as you know, an independent
and brave people, and by no means 'savages.' I can't help thinking how
pleased Rainie would be with the child. He asked me to give him the
picture of the English Sultaneh out of the _Illustrated London News_, and
has pasted it inside the lid of his box.
I am better as usual, since the hot weather has begun, the last six days.
I shall leave this in a week, I think, and Mustapha and Yussuf will go
with me to Cairo. Yussuf was quite enchanted with your note to him; his
eyes glistened, and he took an envelope to keep it carefully. Omar said
such a letter is like a _hegab_ (amulet) and Yussuf said, 'Truly it is,
and I could never have one with more _baraka_ (blessing) or more like the
virtue which went out of Jesus, if ever I wore one at all; I will never
part with it.'
We had a very pretty festival for the Sheykh, whose tomb you have a
photograph of, and I spent a very pleasant evening with Sheykh Abd
el-Mootooal, who used to scowl at me, but now we are 'like brothers.' I
found him very clever, and better informed than any Arab I have met, who
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 potentate as he is, he made Yussuf Mustapha and Abdallah sit
down, and was extremely civil and simple in his manners.