_To Mrs. Austin_.
CAIRO,
_November_ 21, 1863.

Dearest Mutter,

I shall stay on here till it gets colder, and then go up the Nile either
in a steamer or a boat. The old father of my donkey-boy, Hassan, gave me
a fine illustration of Arab feeling towards women to-day. I asked if Abd
el-Kader was coming here, as I had heard; he did not know, and asked me
if he were not _Achul en-Benat_, a brother of girls. I prosaically said
I did not know if he had sisters. 'The Arabs, O lady, call that man a
"brother of girls" to whom God has given a clean heart to love all women
as his sisters, and strength and courage to fight for their protection.'
Omar suggested a 'thorough gentleman' as the equivalent of Abou Hassan's
title. Our European _galimatias_ about the 'smiles of the fair,' etc.,
look very mean beside 'Achul en Benat,' methinks. Moreover, they carry
it into common life. Omar was telling me of some little family
tribulations, showing that he is not a little henpecked. His wife wanted
all his money. I asked how much she had of her own, as I knew she had
property. 'Oh, ma'am! I can't speak of that, shame for me if I ask what
money she got.' A man married at Alexandria, and took home the daily
provisions for the first week; after that he neglected it for two days,
and came home with a lemon in his hand. He asked for some dinner, and
his wife placed the stool and the tray and the washing basin and napkin,
and in the tray the lemon cut in quarters. 'Well, and the dinner?'
'Dinner! you want dinner? Where from? What man are you to want women
when you don't keep them? I am going to the Cadi to be divorced from