ALBERT KNOWS HIS LANGUAGE. 



245 



conversation with Albert, for he makes during the whole 

 time a peculiar whining noise, and sometimes gets so 

 excited that he looks far more like a raving lunatic than 

 a sane man. Albert runs him very close in this respect, 

 by the distortion of his features, and by the wild and 

 rapid movements of his arms. It is quite evident that 

 they must understand one another perfectly, or they 

 would not be so frequently seen going through their 

 gymnastic performances. The Arab unfortunately 

 thinks that because Albert understands him we ought 

 to be able to do so, and is rather fond of a chat with us 

 on our return home ; and as we have paid him the com- 

 pliment of learning his signs to represent the different 

 animals we shoot, and whether they are male or female, 

 we are able to tell him some news, and a few mutual 

 nods and grins help out the conversation wonderfully. 



Albert, wise in his generation, takes advantage of 

 having been born in Gibraltar, and registers himself 

 every year at the Consulate, Cairo, as an English 

 subject. For this he pays 5^., and by so doing escapes 

 other taxes. In his speech he might be mistaken for 

 an Englishman, excepting for an occasional mistake, 

 such as one last night, when he called a bee a honey- 

 fly. He says he can speak seven languages, and most 

 of them fluently. 



March 22. Surprised as we were the other day to 



