officials "did not think much of it." Rivals opposed it with even
less ceremony. A mild "ring" in Egypt attempted in vain to run
the Hamamat and Dar-For mines (Chap. III.) against Midian.
Consequently the local Press was dosed with rumours, which,
retailed by the home papers, made the latter rife in
contradictory reports. To quote one case only. The
turquoise-gangue from Ziba (Chap. XII.) was pronounced, by the
inexpert mineralogists at the Citadel, Cairo, who attempted
criticism, to be carbonate of copper, because rich silicates of
that metal were shown at the Exposition. No one seemed to know
that the fine turquoises of Midian have been sold for years at
Suez, and even at Cairo.

There was, indeed, much to criticise in the collection, which had
been made with a marvellous carelessness. But we must not be hard
upon M. Marie. He is an engineer, utterly ignorant of mineralogy
and of assaying: he was told off to do the duty, and he did it as
well as he could--in other words, very badly. He neglected to
search for alluvial gold in the sands. Every Wady which cuts, at
right angles, the metalliferous maritime chains, should have been
carefully prospected; these sandy and quartzose beds are natural
conduits and sluice-boxes. But the search for "tailings" is
completely different from that of gold-veins, and requires
especial practice. The process, indeed, may be called purely
empirical. It is not taught in Jermyn Street, nor by the Ecole
des Mines. In this matter theory must bow to "rule of thumb:" the
caprices of alluvium are various and curious enough to baffle
every attempt at scientific induction. Thus the "habits" of the
metal, so to speak, must be studied by experiment with patient
labour, the most accomplished mineralogist may pass over rich