There was little to be seen here now of native Egyptian life; it looked
as though some magician had transported a part of Medina itself to the
shores of the Nile. Men and beasts, dwellings and shops, though they had
adopted much of what they had found in this ancient land of culture,
still bore the stamp of their origin; and wherever Orion's eye fell on
one of his fellow-countrymen, he was a laborer or a scribe in the service
of the conquerors who had so quickly made themselves at home.

Before his departure for Constantinople one of his father's palm-groves
had occupied the spot where Amru's residence now stood opposite the half-
finished mosque. Where, now, thousands of Moslems, some on foot, some on
richly caparisoned steeds, were passing to and fro, turbaned and robed
after the manner of their tribe, with such adornment as they had stolen
or adopted from intercourse with splendor-loving nations, and where long
trains of camels dragged quarried stones to the building, in former times
only an occasional ox-cart with creaking wheels was to be seen, an
Egyptian riding an ass or a bare-backed nag, and now and then a few
insolent Greek soldiers. On all sides he heard the sharper and more
emphatic accent of the sons of the desert instead of the language of his
forefathers and their Greek conquerors. Without the aid of the servant
who rode at his side he could not have made himself understood on the
soil of his native land.

He soon reached Amru's house and was there informed by an Egyptian
secretary that his master was gone out hunting and would receive him,
not in the town, but at the citadel. There, on a pleasant site on the
limestone hills which rose behind the fortress of Babylon and the newly-
founded city, stood some fine buildings, originally planned as a
residence for the Prefect; and thither Amru had transported his wives,