ent over his task, his short chest, with all the
ribs clearly visible, his long brown back with the vertebrae of the spine
standing out, and his lean, seesawing arms, looked skeleton-like, while
his head, supported on a small wizened throat, was adorned with such an
enormous bobbing turban, dark green in hue, that it resembled vegetation
of some sort--a colossal cabbage. Directly behind him, also on the
threshold, squatted a large gray baboon, whose countenance expressed a
fixed misanthropy. Every now and then this creature, who was secured by
a long, loose cord, ascended slowly to the top of the bales and came
down on the other side, facing his master. He then looked deeply into
the tub for several minutes, touched the water carefully with his small
black hand, withdrew it, and inspected the palm, and then returned
gravely, and by the same roundabout way over the bales, to resume his
position at the doorsill, looking as if he could not understand the
folly of such unnecessary and silly toil.

In another chamber a large, very black negro, dressed in pure white, was
seated upon the floor, with his feet stretched out in front of him, his
hands placed stiffly on his knees, his eyes staring straight before him.
He was motionless; he seemed hardly to breathe.

"What is he doing?" I said to the dragoman.

"He? Oh, he _berry_ good man; he pray."

In a chamber next to the negro two grave old Arabs were playing chess.
They were perched upon one of those Cairo settees which look like square
chicken-coops. One often sees these seats in the streets, placed for
messengers and porters, and for some time I took them for actual
chicken-coops, and wondered why they were always empty. Chickens might
well have inhabited the one used by the chess-players, for the central
court upon which all these chambers opened was covered with a layer of
rubbish and dirt several inches thick, which contained many of their
feathers. It was upon this same day that we made our search for the Khan
of Kait Bey. No dragoman knows where it is. The best way, indeed, to see
the old quarters is to select from a map the name of a street as remote
as possible from the usual thoroughfares beloved by these tasselled
guides, and then demand to be conducted thither.

[Illustration: BEFORE THE SACRED NICHE

From a photograph by Sebah, Cairo]

We did this in connection with the Khan of Kait Bey. But when we had
achieved the distinction of finding it, we discovered