ho seized the thief, and
having without further ceremony cut him into twenty pieces, forced
twenty people who came into the market on that day from the neighbouring
villages to buy a piece of thief each for a piastre; the joints of the
robber were thus distributed all over the country, and the story told by
the involuntary purchasers of these pounds of flesh had a wholesome
effect upon the minds of the cattle-stealers: the twenty piastres were
given to the woman, whose cows were not again meddled with during the
lifetime of the Defterdar. But the character of this man must not be
taken as a sample of the habits of the Turks in general. They are a
grave and haughty race, of dignified manners; rapacious they often are,
but they are generous and brave, and I do not think that, as a nation,
they can be accused of cruelty.

Nothing can be more secure and peaceable than a journey on the Nile, as
every one knows nowadays. Floating along in a boat like a house, which
stops and goes on whenever you like, you have no cares or troubles but
those which you bring with you--"coelum non animum mutant qui trans mare
currunt." I can conceive nothing more delightful than a voyage up the
Nile with agreeable companions in the winter, when the climate is
perfection. There are the most wonderful antiquities for those who
interest themselves in the remains of bygone days; famous shooting on
the banks of the river, capital dinners, if you know how to make the
proper arrangements, comfortable quarters, and a constant change of
scene.

* * * * *

The wonders of the land of Ham, its temples and its ruins, have been so
well and so often described that I shall not attempt to give any details
regarding them, but shall confine myself to some sketches of the Coptic
Monasteries which are to be seen on the rocks and deserts, either on the
banks of the river or in the neighbourhood of the valley of the Nile.

The ancient Egyptians are now represented by their descendants the
Copts, whose ancestors were converted to Christianity in the earliest
ages, and whose patriarchs claim their descent, in uninterrupted
succession, from St Mark, who was buried at Alexandria, but whose body
the Venetians in later ages boast of having transported to their island
city.[3]

The Copts look up to their patriarch as the chief of their nation: he is
elected from among the brethren of the great monastery of St. Anthony
on the borders of th