32 A COLLECTING TRIP 
you see at Paragon Park or Revere Beach. They are 
hideous in design and color. The natives are filthy. 
All the women dress in black, with black veils over 
their faces and only their eyes exposed. We had a 
most annoying job sending the cable to Pa. The man 
could not understand English. Then we took a most 
dilapidated victoria, with a Mohammedan driver and 
two very skinny-looking horses, and went to a curious 
shop which the stewardess on the Osiris had advised 
us to patronize; there we bought two pith helmets 
each and a fascinating spangled shawl. I am sorry 
now that I did not get more than one. Tom then went 
to the post office to get some stamps, but could not 
manage to make himself understood very well; so he 
did not get anything very good. Then we went for a 
drive. Such a hole as this to live in ! When we came 
back we hired a small row boat and told the man to 
take us back to the ship (which was only a few yards 
off) but he kept shaking his head and saying ‘‘no no,”’ 
and then pointing to a sort of shed on the dock. It 
ended by Tom being compelled to go into this miser- 
able shed and seeing a doctor; this is a sort of formal- 
ity you have to go through if you land in any town 
before you ean go aboard your ship again. Then the 
doctor gives you a slip of paper which you give to the 
quarantine officer on board. Our state room is of 
very good size and very comfortable. We left Port 
Said and entered the Suez canal about one o’clock. It 
has been a most interesting trip so far. Our boat is 
larger than the Ivernia, so we can make only four 
knots an hour. We passed two caravans, one coming 
from Central Arabia and the other from Ismailia. See- 
ing them was really a great sight. We have not found 
