rifles and following us a group of men carrying sheep—one alive! chickens, fruit, vegetables, eggs, etc., to stock our larder. We tie up every eve about 8 o'clock, pegging the boat in the mud. The Arabs are fine: our Reis, or pilot, is a direct descendant, I am sure, of Rameses II, judging from his face. After washing himself he spreads his prayer mat at the bow of the boat and says his prayers with the really beautiful somatic ritual of the Muslem. The old Pasha, by the way, is a very holy man and has been to Mecca where he keeps two lamps perpetually burning and tended by two eunuchs. He is holy enough to do the early morning prayer from 4 to 6 a.m. with some 2000 sentences from the Koran. It is a great religion—no wonder Moslem rules in the East. Wonderful crops up here—sugar cane, cotton, beans and wheat. These poor devils work hard but now they have the satisfaction of knowing they are not robbed. We are never out of sight of the desert and the mountains come close on one side or the other. Today we were for miles close under limestone heights—800-1000 feet, grey and desolate. The river is a ceaseless panorama—the old Nile boats with curved prows and the most remarkable sails, like big jibs, swung on a boom from the top of the masts, usually two and the foresail the larger. I saw some great books in the Khedival Library —monster Korans superbly illuminated. The finer types have been guarded jealously from the infidel, and Moritz, the librarian, showed me examples of the finer forms that arc- not in any European libraries. Then he looked up a reference and said — " You have in the Bodleian three volumes of a unique and most important 16 cent, arabic manuscript dealing with Egyptian antiquities. We have the other two volumes. Three of the five WOt taken from Egypt in the 17th century. We would give almost anything to get the others." And then he showed me two of the most sumptuous Korans, about 3 It. in height, every page ablaze with gold, which he said they
