Nile.[EN#85] Then the terrible "May coupon" gave immense trouble
and annoyance to the rulers; who, so far from making merry with
the lieges, had to work in person between five a.m. and midnight.
After such exertion as this, rest was of course necessary.
Subsequently, a grand review monopolized one day; another was
spent by the Court in despatching the young Prince Fu'ad to
Switzerland; and yet another was given to his Highness the Prince
Hasan Pasha, Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian auxiliaries, who,
on the conclusion of the war, had returned to Cairo en route for
Europe.

Briefly, it was not before May 9th that the Khediv, accompanied
by the Prince heritier, Taufik Pasha, found leisure personally to
open the Exhibition--the first, by-the-by, ever honoured with the
Viceregal presence. Despite all my efforts, the rooms, which
should have been kept clear till his Highness had passed through,
were crowded at an early hour. The maps prepared at the Citadel
by Lieutenants Amir and Yusuf, with the aid of three extra hands,
were very imperfect, half finished at the last moment, and
abounding in such atrocities as "Ouorh" for "El-Wijh." The
engineer, M. Marie, when asked aloud, and with all publicity, by
the Khediv whether he was sure that such and such specimens
contained gold, shirked a direct reply, evasively declaring that
"Midian is a fine mining country." He had pointed out to me the
precious metal during our exploration of Umm el-Karayat; but such
is the wretched result of "knowing the people," instead of
telling the truth like a man. And one of the many jealous, a mild
Mephisto., whispered in the Viceregal ear, "There can't be much
gold there, or ces messieurs would have said more about it."