Lord Mohammed, and his family, and his
companions, one and all! Thus saith the
Author, May Almighty Allah have mercy
upon him! Section one of chap. two upon
the orders of prayer, &c."

Oriental like, he revelled in giving good
counsel. ''Thou art always writing, O my
brave; what evil habit is this? Surely thou
hast learned it in the lands of the Frank.
Repent!" He loathed the English
practitioner giving advice gratis. "Thou hast
two servants to feed, O my son! The
doctors of Egypt never write A.B. without
reward. Better go and sit upon the
mountain at once, and say thy prayers day
and night." He delighted, also, in abruptly
interrupting a serious subject when it began
to weigh upon his spirits. For instance, "Now
the waters of ablution being of seven different
kinds, it results that——Hast thou a wife?
No? Then verily thou must buy thee a
female slave, O youth! This conduct is not
right, and men will say of thee—'Repentance,
I take refuge with Allah; of a truth, his
mouth watereth for the spouses of other
Moslems.'"

Passing our pilgrim's description of the
great Mohammedan ceremony and fast of
the Ramazan, and of his medical practice
and private visits in Cairo, we come to his
preparations for the desert-journey. He
began by purchasing tea, coffee, rice, loaf
sugar, dates, biscuit, oil, vinegar, tobacco,
and cooking utensils; a small bell-shaped
tent, costing twelve shillings, and three
water-skins for the desert. The provisions
were placed in a kafas, or hamper artistically
made of palm-sticks, and in a huge saharrah,
or wooden box, about three feet each way,
covered with leather and provided with a
small lid fitting into the top. The hamper,
with a pea-green box ornamented with
yellow flowers (the dervish's medicine-chest)
and saddle-bags full of clothes, hung on one
side of the camel, balanced by the huge
saharrah, Bedouins always requiring a tolerably
equal balance of weight.

The next business was to get a passport.
One after much difficulty, was
obtained through an Aghan Shaykh, for five
piastres paid to the officials, which certified
the pilgrim to be Abdullah, the son of Yusuf
(Joseph), originally from Cabool, and
described his person. After receiving it,
Abdullah took an opportunity of slipping
three dollars into the hands of the poor
Aghan divine to whom he was indebted for
his character.

The dervish Abdullah unfortunately lost
his pious character in a wrestling and drinking
bout with an Albanian captain, which
we cannot stop to describe. Having, then,
arranged with Shaykh Nassar, a Bedouin of
Tur (Mount Sinai), for the hire of two
dromedaries from Cairo to Suez, he sent on his
Indian boy and heavy luggage two days
before. On the day of departure, the
Bedouin, at three o'clock, announced that the
dromedaries were saddled. Abdullah stuck
a pistol in his belt, passed the crimson silk
cord of his pocket Koran over his shoulder
in token of being a pilgrim, distributed
a few presents to friends and servants,
mounted the camel, crossed his legs before
the pommel, and rode out of the huge gateway
of the caravanserai, while all the
bystanders, except the porter—who took
him to be a Persian heretic, and had
seen him with the drunken Albanian
—exclaimed: "Allah bless thee, O!
pilgrim, and restore thee to thy country and
thy friends!"

Passing through the city gate, he addressed
the salutation of peace to the sentry and
officer commanding the guard, who both gave
him God speed! with great cordiality. Here
his theological tutor and Hadji Wali, his
acquaintance on board the steamer, who had
accompanied him so far, took leave. The
pilgrim acknowledges to a tightening of the
heart as their honest faces faded in the
distance. But there was no time for emotion.
The pace had to be quickened; the Bedouin
shaykh appeared inclined to take the lead.
This was a trial of manliness. The pilgrim
kicked his beast into a trot; the Bedouins,
with a loud, ringing laugh, attempted to give
him the go-by; and then away they went
at full speed into the desert, like schoolboys;
with an eighty-four mile ride before
them, and an atmosphere like a furnace
blast. Presently they dropped into a more
reasonable pace. The Bedouins prepared
to smoke: they filled the traveller's
chibouque, lit it with a flint and steel, and passed
it over to him. After a few puffs, he
returned it to them, and they smoked by
turns. Then the Bedouins began to wile
away time by asking questions; by talking
about victuals—for the ever-hungry
Bedouins talk of food, as aldermen do of money
and port wine; and, lastly, they took
refuge in droning plaintive songs, of which
the burdens are bright verdure, cool
shades, and bubbling rills. The day closed
with an adventure which added to the
party, a Meccan boy named Mohammed-
Basyuni.

Next day our dervish had an adventure
with a party of Magrabi pilgrims; who first
begged water and bread for charity, and
then, encouraged by kindness, threatened
violence, but were put down by the sight of
a pistol, and certain fierce gestures. There
was no real danger for a determined man.
Mohammed Ali has made the Suez road as
safe as any out of London.

Numerous parties of Turks, Arabs,
Affghans, and a few Indians on the same errand
of pilgrimage, were passed; all welcoming
the travellers with a friendly salutation.
Toward evening the party came in sight
of Suez and a strip of glorious blue sea.
It was night when they passed the tumbling