Sally cost me a new tin mug by letting the dog drink out of the old one,
which was used to scoop the water from the jars, forgetting that Omar and
Zeyneb could not drink after the poor beast.

_Monday_.--I went yesterday to the port of Cairo, Boulak, to see
Hassaneyn Effendi about boats. He was gone up the Nile, and I sat with
his wife--a very nice Turkish woman who speaks English to perfection--and
heard all sorts of curious things. I heard the whole story of an unhappy
marriage made by Leyla, my hostess's sister, and much Cairo gossip. Like
all Eastern ladies that I have seen she complains of indigestion, and
said she knew she ought to go out more and to walk, but custom _e contra
il nostro decoro_.

Mr. Thayer will be back in Egypt on December 15, so I shall embark about
that time, as he may want his house here. It is now a little fresh in
the early morning, but like fine English summer weather.

_Tuesday_.--Since I have been here my cough is nearly gone, and I am
better for having good food again. Omar manages to get good mutton, and
I have discovered that some of the Nile fish is excellent. The _abyad_,
six or eight feet long and very fat, is delicious, and I am told there
are still better; the eels are delicate and good too. Maurice might hook
an _abyad_, but how would he land him? The worst is that everything is
just double the price of last year, as, of course, no beef can be eaten
at all, and the draught oxen being dead makes labour dear as well. The
high Nile was a small misfortune compared to the murrain. There is a
legend about it, of course. A certain Sheykh el-Beled (burgomaster) of
some place--not mentioned--lost his cattle, and being rich defied God,
said he did not care, and bought as many more; they died too, and he
continued impenitent and defiant, and bought on till he was ruined, and