78 THE PASHA AND THE NABOB. to shake off the conviction that he would meet an unspeakable Turk. Unmistakably English was the face, figure, and greeting of Apollo Belvedere Pasha, who at five-and-twenty had held and resigned Her Majesty's commission, had wrestled with the intricacies of Turkish finance, written a Greek grammar, and was now engaged in the labyrinth of Egyptian budgets. The Nabob, his brother, was apparently the senior; he had the wearied nil admirari look peculiar to Anglo-Indians, who seem ever weighted with the responsibility of governing 250,000,000 souls, and unable to descend to the consideration of smaller numbers. The Sketcher was apt to form rapid judgments, and to evolve startling theories therefrom. Like the traveller who declared all women in Belgium to be ugly and red-haired, adding, "At least the only one I ever saw was," he was apt to argue from the particular to the general. "That peculiar expression and frame of mind," he said, "is due solely to the unit of coinage. You will find that every nationality corresponds to its monetary unit. In Egypt it is a piaster; and you will admit that they are eminently a twopenny-halfpenny lot. In France it is the franc; and I confess we are trivial. In Germany, it is the mark; not very much better. In England it is the sovereign; good, solid, but heavy. In India it is the lakh; I don't know what a lakh is," he added frankly "but I believe it's a very large coin, in which the salaries of Anglo-Indian officials are paid, and it accounts for that supercilious air of superiority." But the Sketcher's judgment of character was not much more accurate than his knowledge of the Indian currency, and when he got to know the Nabob better, and had had the mysteries of the rupee explained to him, he squared his altered opinion with his theory, and found that the Anglo-Indian was, like his coin, inclined to undue self-depreciation. In the next carriage was the Admirable Crichton, English, or, more strictly, Welsh secretary, who wrote shorthand, and spoke numerous languages with a Cymric accent; and Sara Bey, prince of interpreters, the dreaded inspector of finances for Upper Egypt. As the train left the station of Boolak Dacrour, the Pasha pointed plaintively to a wooden shanty on the very edge of the station, surmounted ostentatiously by the blue and white flag of Greece. "There," he said, "you have an example of the Capitulations. That man, a Greek, has squatted on that land for some years, built that shanty, and opened a grocer's shop, paying possibly some rent to the Government year by year. The station increases, and we want the land, which is Government land; but not all the king's horses and men can make him move. For six years have we been CONSULAR PROTECTION. 79 trying to evict him, but he defies us. If we build him up, he carries off our palisade. If we try to eject him, he uses a revolver. There he reigns, paying no taxes, subject to no law, no tribunal in the country, safe in the shadow of the Capitulations." "You don't mean to say," said the Nabob, "that even his own Consul can't turn him out, or that he receives Consular protection?" "Whether he can or not, I don't know," said the Pasha; "but I do know that he won't, or at all events that he doesn't." "But," interrupted the Scribbler, "don't run away with the idea that so many have, and be led away by the words 'Consular protection,' a word which takes many astray. That Greek is not relying on Consular authority; he is relying on the absence of Consular authority. Probably his Consul is more in need of protection than he is, for his Consul has no control over him; and Dimitri will have as little compunction in putting a ball into his Consular Janissary as into the Government policeman. It is the fashion, of course, to blame the Consuls, and particularly the Greek Consul; but he is powerless. If he gives his subjects too much trouble, they have plenty of means of getting rid of him, even if they hesitate (which they wouldn't do) to use the knife. Dimitri the grocer has prob ably as much influence in Athens as the Consul, and the Government there have not much more influence over their subjects abroad than their subjects have over them." 66 "No, not quite with all; certainly not with the English, who can be tried by their Consul; but with others it is the case, though in a less aggravated form. An Italian, perhaps, would not use his knife so readily, and is more under moral control of his Consulate; but there can be no real control where, except for the pettiest offence, the venue of trial is Ancona, or Moscow, or Aix. And as for the French colony, we may thank our stars that their particular form of hostility to the Government does not take the form of homicide, for there is no Consul-General more completely under the control of his colony." The Upper Egypt line follows the left bank of the river through fields and gardens as it leaves Cairo; to the right lie thick palm-groves, with desert beyond, and here and there are seen the Pyramids of Ghizeh and Sakkarah, the Step Pyramid standing in strong relief against the horizon. On the other side, beyond the river, lies Cairo, the graceful Citadel in the distance, the effective background of the ruddy yellow Mokhattam, and nearer the hideous palaces of Ismail. The cultivation gets more scanty, and seems confined to small fields of tobacco. On the right, as we sight the Pyramids of Lisht, and later the libelled lying Pyramid of Maydoom, oldest and perhaps grandest of all, as it stands like a sentinel in the desert. And as we go farther south, we pass through Zeitoun, land of olives from oldest time; and near it see the little Coptic convent of Marazee; and through Benisouef, still the flax-growing portion of Egypt, and formerly famous for its linen fabrics, where we catch ST. GEORGE AND HORUS. 81 sight of the Pyramid of Illahoun; and Bayad, from whence starts the track. leading to the Monasteries of St. Anthony and St. Paul, in the desert. There, to our left, is the site of Heracleopolis, where dwelt the destroyers of the great Labyrinth; and Bibbeh, centre of the sugar-industry, with a Coptic Convent and an apocryphal Moslem Saint, one Bibbawee, who is no other than our good friend, George, Saint, butcher, bishop, and dragon-slayer, whose picture has been made to do service as the representative of a Moslem, thus to secure the Christian Church from sacrilege. Verily, we admit there is nothing new under the sun, when Mons. Clermont Ganneau identifies St. George of England with Horus. Feshne, Maghaga, and Aboo Girgeh are passed as we travel through sugar-lands; and Gebelel Tayr appears in the distance, the mountain that shares with another at Asyoot the legendary tale of the everwatching bird. Minieh, with its factory, and Manfalot, which the lover of tradition loves to call the "abode of Lot," are passed, and then appears in the distance the pretty town of Asyoot. CHAPTER XI. Asyoot-No kourbash, no taxes-Mosquito nets of Herodotus-Fanciful origin of the Lycopolis-Asyoot en féte-Sub-Mudir-Egyptian in authority-Turk versus Egyptian-Can the Egyptian rule?—Bazaars-Apathy of sellers-Asyoot trade past and present-Asyoot worthies-American Mission-Reform of Coptic Church from within and from without-Sincerity of converts-Education of pupils and education of people—Both ab initio-Asyoot Cemetery-View from Libyan range -Pasha and Mudir-Information at Asyoot viâ Cairo. THE HE train draws up at the station of Asyoot. Great is the bustle, for the Pasha is a man of note, and has come to inquire into matters connected with taxation. Sleek and fat Copts try in vain to assume an air of dejected misery, but the oil of good living running down their countenances betrays them. Sara himself, a Copt, has evidently a very poor opinion of them, and they as naturally have the very highest opinion of him. "They all rich as pigs," he remarks, with some confusion of metaphor; and his lips water as he thinks how remuneratively they might be bled if he were only allowed to employ the methods of the "good old days" of Ismail. "No kourbash, no taxes," is evidently still Sara's theory at heart, though he has to profess differently when he comes down to Cairo with well-filled money bags, the proceeds of the |