EGYPT NEWBETIRY 457 



Lower Nile Valley survivals are extraordinarily numerous. It was 

 Lady Duff Gordon who said that Egypt is a palimpsest in which 

 the Bible is written over Herodotus, and the Koran over that; the 

 ancient writing is still legible through all. There is a passage in one 

 of her letters which describes her visit to some Nubian women. 

 Their dress and ornaments were the same as those represented in 

 the ancient tomb paintings. Their hair was arranged in little plaits, 

 finished otf with lumps of yellow clay burnished like golden tags. 

 In their house Lady Duff Gordon sat on a couch of ancient 

 Egyptian design, with a semicircular headrest. They brought 

 her dates in a basket such as you may see in the British Mu- 

 seum. So closely did they and their surroundings resemble 

 the scenes of the ancient tombs that she says she felt inclined 

 to ask them how many thousand years old they were! The 

 modern worship of the people is full of the ancient; many of the 

 sacred animals and trees have taken service with Muslim saints. Up 

 to a few years ago cats were still fed by the " Servant of Cats " in 

 the Kadi's court in Cairo. Cobras are still held in great reverence in 

 the city of the Khalif s. Some time ago the director of the Zoological 

 Gardens in Cairo told me that it was most difficult to procure cobras 

 for the gardens. It was not because they were scarce, but because 

 the demand for them was so great that the price asked was far more 

 than the Government would pay. Many cobras, I was told, were 

 kept in the upper rooms of houses in the native quarters of the city. 

 The funeral customs of the people throughout the country are much 

 the same as those which prevailed in ancient times. It is not only 

 among the merchant and agricultural classes that we find the Old in the 

 New. Mrs. Poole, the sister of the Arabic scholar Edward Lane, writ- 

 ing from Cairo in 1846, describes the scenes in one of Mohammed All's 

 palaces on the death of a princess of the royal family. Immedia- 

 ately the royal lady breathed her last, her relations and slaves broke 

 up all the beautiful china and glass which had been her property. 

 "The destruction after a death," Mrs. Poole remarks, "is gener- 

 ally proportioned to the possessions of the deceased; therefore, in 

 this case, it was very extensive." Many, perhaps most, of the festi- 

 vals of the country are of ancient origin. In the Delta towns and 

 villages there are several which are similar to those that were held 

 there in ancient days. It is the same in Upper Egypt. Thebes still 

 possesses its sacred boat, and on the festival commemorating the 

 birthday of Luxor's patron saint, Abu'l Haggag, this lineal descend- 

 ant of the sacred bark of Amon decorated with flags and gaily col- 

 ored bits of cloth, is drawn around the town in procession, amid the 

 acclamations of the people. Modern Egypt has hardly been touched 

 by the anthropologist. The Government official usually holds him- 



