licious butter in return.
I think it shows great intelligence in these people, how none of them
will any longer consult an Arab _hakeem_ if they can get a European to
physic them. They now ask directly whether the Government doctors have
been to Europe to learn _Hekmeh_, and if not they don't trust them--for
poor 'savages' and 'heathens' _ce n'est pas si bete_. I had to interrupt
my lessons from illness, but Sheykh Yussuf came again last night. I have
mastered _Abba shedda o mus beteen_--_ibbi shedda o heftedeen_, etc. Oh
dear, what must poor Arab children suffer in learning ABC! It is a
terrible alphabet, and the _shekel_ (points) are _desesperants_; but now
I stick for want of a dictionary.

Mr. Arrowsmith kindly gave me Miss Martineau's book, which I have begun.
It is true as far as it goes, but there is the usual defect--the people
are not real people, only part of the scenery to her, as to most
Europeans. You may conceive how much we are naturalized when I tell you
that I have received a serious offer of marriage for Sally. Mustapha
A'gha has requested me to 'give her to him' for his eldest son Seyyid, a
nice lad of nineteen or twenty at most. As Mustapha is the richest and
most considerable person here, it shows that the Arabs draw no
unfavourable conclusions as to our morals from the freedom of our
manners. He said of course she would keep her own religion and her own
customs. Seyyid is still in Alexandria, so it will be time to refuse
when he returns. I said she was too old, but they think that no
objection at all. She will have to say that her father would not allow
it, for of course a handsome offer deserves a civil refusal. Sally's
proposals would be quite an ethnological study; Mustapha asked what I
should require as dowry for her. Fancy Sally as Hareem of the
Sheykh-el-Beled of Luxor!

I am so charmed with my house that I begin seriously to contemplate
staying here all the time. Cairo is so dear now, and so many dead cattle
are buried there, that I think I should do better in this place. There
is a huge hall, so large and cold now as to be uninhabitable, which in
summer would be glorious. My dear old captain of steamer XII. would
bring me up coffee and candles, and if I 'sap' and learn to talk to
people, I shall have plenty of company.

The cattle disease has not extended above Minieh to any degree, and here
there has not been a case. _Alhamdulillah_! Food is very good here,
rather les