Many thanks for your letter and for all the trouble you have taken. I
wish you were better.
There is such a group all stitching away at the big new sail; Omar, the
Reis, two or three volunteers, some old sailors of mine, and little
Darfour. If I die I think you must have that tiny nigger over; he is
such a merry little soul, I am sure you would love him, he is quite a
civilized being and has a charming temper, and he seems very small to be
left alone in the world.
I hope Maurice is not of the faction of the _ennuyes_ of this generation.
I am more and more of Omar's opinion, who said, with a pleased sigh, as
we sat on the deck under some lovely palm-trees in the bright moon-light,
moored far from all human dwellings, 'how sweet are the quiet places of
the world.'
I wonder when Europe will drop the absurd delusion about Christians being
persecuted by Muslims. It is absolutely the other way,--here at all
events. The Christians know that they will always get backed by some
Consul or other, and it is the Muslims who go to the wall invariably.
The brute of a Patriarch is resolved to continue his persecution of the
converts, and I was urged the other day by a Sheykh to go to the Sheykh
ul-Islam himself and ask him to demand equal rights for all religions,
which is the law, on behalf of these Coptic Protestants. Everywhere the
Ulema have done what they could to protect them, even at Siout, where the
American missionaries had caused them (the Ulemas) a good deal of
annoyance on a former occasion. No one in Europe can conceive how much
the Copts have the upper hand in the villages. They are backed by the
Government, and they know that the Europeans will always side with them.
_September_ 13.--Omar is crazy with delight at the idea of Maurice's
arrival, and Reis Mohammed is planning what men to take who can make
fantasia, and not ask too much wages. Let me know what boat Maurice
comes by that I may send Omar to Alexandria to meet him. Omar begs me to
give you and Sitti Rainie his best salaam, and his assurance that he will
take great care of the young master and 'keep him very tight.' I think
Maurice will be diverted with small Darfour. Mabrook now really cooks
very fairly under Omar's orders, but he is beyond belief uncouth, and
utters the wildest howls now that his voice is grown big and strong like
himself. Moreover he 'won't be spoken to,' as our servants say; but he
is honest, clean, and careful. I should not have thought any human
creature could remain so completely a savage in a civilized community. I
rather respect his savage _hauteur_, especially as it is combined with
truth and honesty.