t height, we had seen through a gap
in the sand hills from many miles to westward. But most of the buildings
were single-roomed, flat-roofed huts, with tiny slits for windows. The
troops were not allowed into the town but a glimpse could be obtained
from without of the few streets, paved only with the desert sand. From a
little distance, however, el Arish was surprisingly beautiful. It
matched exactly with the grey yellow of the sand, which swept up to it
and rose behind it unrelieved by the distraction of scrub, while the
white dome of a little tomb, the faded plaster of the mosque and the
occasional dark green of a low tree among the buildings, gave just the
right contrast in colour. Seen in the clear light of dawn, or in the
evening glow, it had a haunting beauty which all who knew it will
remember.

The inhabitants were a picturesque set of villains; dressed in their
flowing robes surmounted by ancient goat skins, and with a dark fillet
round their head-dresses, they brought back to one memories of old Bible
pictures--and there was hardly one of the men whose bearded features
would not have made a splendid model for a picture of Judas Iscariot.
The women were usually veiled, and those of them at any rate who were
allowed outside the walls presented no very startling attractions. But
the old crones who came down to draw water at the wells would burst into
scandalised but very human cackles of merriment, when the gallant
Lowlander on well-guard filled their water jars with a cheerful "Saida
bint"--"Good day, maiden." A knowledge of Arabic by the way was an
acquisition on which every man prided himself; and the writer lost much
ground in the estimation of his batman for his refusal to arrest a
wandering member of the Egyptian Labour Corps, whom that zealous youth
asserted to be a German spy, "because he could not understand Egyptian."
The el Arish children were as friendly and talkative as children all the
world over, though one regretted their inveterate habit of demanding
backsheesh. The fair hair of some of them led our historians to daring
theories about French great-grandfathers who had tarried and wooed while
on Napoleon's lightning expedition. For the information of future
travellers it is only fair to state that there will be no Scotch
ancestors. It was a real pleasure to see human beings living their
ordinary lives, catching fish and watering crops in unmilitary and
restful unconcern. We lay in the el Arish ar