e lower breadth into a
band forming a skirt, and the upper breadth is cut smaller to form
only a cape fastened on to the waist band at the back, coming up
over the head, falling by rights over the whole upper part of the
body, but frequently cut so as to scarcely reach the elbow. The
latter is worn by the poorer classes; and by many of the older women
of the better class it is made of black crape and is tied over the
face from just below the eyes and extends to below the waist; by the
upper classes and more wealthy it was made in fine white muslin but
sufficient to disguise the features. Now it is frequently made in
chiffon.

[Illustration: BARGAINS IN ORANGES]

[Illustration: BY THE BANKS OF THE NILE]

Again, perchance, he sees the "fellahah" carrying her water jar with
ease and grace along some rough uneven track; or, may be, in company
with others bearing with agility and strength loads of mud and brick to
the builders, measuring her steps and actions to the music of some
native chant; and he is impressed with the idea of her bright existence
and her powers of perfect enjoyment.

Again he sees her, whether in city or village alike, following the bier
which is carrying all that is left of one who may or may not have been
dear to her, and he hears the shrill death wail, and he notes either the
bitterness of hopeless sorrow, or the hollowness of a make-belief grief;
and he is struck with the demonstrativeness of the women and the
peculiarity of the scene, and will try to get a snap-shot of it on his
kodak, and then he passes on to things of other interest. Thus the
tourist gets to know something of the women, it is true, but all that
lies behind these outside scenes is closed to him, and rarely known.

To the British resident the Egyptian woman is usually less interesting
than to the tourist. The novelty of her peculiarities and
picturesqueness has worn off, and between her and her more fortunate
sisters of the West there is a great gulf fixed. Very rarely is an
attempt made to bridge this gulf; language and customs apparently form
an impassable barrier, and though many English ladies live in Egypt for
years, they never enter an Egyptian house, or speak to an Egyptian
woman.

It is therefore left to the Christian missionary to know--and to know
with an ever widening knowledge--what are the disabilities and what the
capabilities as well as possibilities of these daughters of