t and gravy very conveniently, in the absence of spoons and
forks.

On the 14th of July I had concluded my arrangements for the start.
There had been some difficulty in procuring camels, but the all-powerful
firman was a never-failing talisman, and as the Arabs had declined to
let their animals for hire, the Governor despatched a number of soldiers
and seized the required number, including their owners. I engaged two
wild young Arabs of eighteen and twenty years of age, named Bacheet and
Wat Gamma. The latter, being interpreted, signifies "Son of the Moon."
This in no way suggests lunacy; but the young Arab had happened to enter
this world on the day of the new moon, which was considered to be a
particularly fortunate and brilliant omen at his birth. Whether the
climax of his good fortune had arrived at the moment he entered my
service I know not; but, if so, there was a cloud over his happiness in
his subjection to Mahomet, the dragoman, who rejoiced in the opportunity
of bullying the two inferiors. Wat Gamma was a quiet, steady,
well-conducted lad, who bore oppression mildly; but the younger,
Bucheet, was a fiery, wild young Arab, who, although an excellent boy in
his peculiar way, was almost incapable of being tamed and domesticated.
I at once perceived that Mahomet would have a determined rebel to
control, which I confess I did not regret. Wages were not high in this
part of the world--the lads were engaged at one and a half dollars per
month and their keep.

Mahomet, who was a great man, suffered from the same complaint to which
great men are (in those countries) particularly subject. Wherever he
went he was attacked with claimants of relationship. He was overwhelmed
with professions of friendship from people who claimed to be connections
of some of his family. In fact, if all the ramifications of his race
were correctly represented by the claimants of relationship, Mahomet's
family tree would have shaded the Nubian desert

We all have our foibles. The strongest fort has its feeble point, as the
chain snaps at its weakest link. Family pride was Mahomet's weak link.
This was his tender point; and Mahomet, the great and the imperious,
yielded to the gentle scratching of his ear if a stranger claimed
connection with his ancient lineage. Of course he had no family, with
the exception of his wife and two children, whom he had left in Cairo.
The lady whom he had honored by admission into the domestic circle of
the Mah