A SHIPWRECK OF SORTS 145 



We went to the Cairo race-course with Captain 



Prothero Smith, who was then in command out 



^ j.^j,g there, and saw a little racing. Mr. 



meeting Somerville Tattersall, who was staying 



and an 



ostrich at the Savoy Hotel, accompanied us. It 



^^^ was very interesting to see the way 



the Arabs treated their horses before and after they 



ran. They stood them in stalls, and the Arab 



attendants stood there for hours swishing off the 



flies, which some days were almost unbearable. 



Many of them washed the horses over with some 



preparation, I do not know what, after the race. 



Some of the Arab jockeys rode in rather a wild 



and erratic style, but though the fences were not 



big the horses performed fairly well. 



I paid a visit to old Cairo, which I cannot say 

 was very sanitary. Went also to the mosques, 

 which you are not allowed to enter without putting 

 on a pair of sandals : the keeper is there to do this 

 for you. There are no seats, but the inside is one 

 gorgeous display of light, and the very large circular 

 floor is beautifully carpeted. All the worshippers 

 worship on their knees. 



I saw the late Duke of Devonshire on the balcony 

 of the Gezireh Palace Hotel at about half-past four 

 in the afternoon, and His Grace was without a 

 coat. At that time of the day it is very dangerous 

 to sit about in draughts, as changes in the tempera- 

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