338 LIFE WITH THE HAMRAN ARABS. 



nostril. Some of the young girls whom we saw squat- 

 ting round their small stores of seed had features that, 

 minus the colour of their skin, many a European 

 girl might with good cause envy. But of all hideous 

 forms of living humanity, it is impossible to imagine 

 anything could exceed that of the almost naked old 

 woman water-carrier, as she toils along bent nearly 

 double to support the well-filled skin she carries on her 

 back. On our return to Ali Effendi's house we received 

 a visit from a most sickly-looking Greek, who tried to be 

 on very familiar terms with us, but when he began to give 

 a minute account of his illness to Ranfurly we gave him 

 more than a hint to be off, and then we discovered that the 

 purport of his visit was to ask for money to pay for his 

 passage by our steamer. Considering the state of our 

 finances his trouble was clearly to no purpose, but he 

 was not at all disposed to believe that our position was 

 exactly similar to his own, so far as want of cash was 

 concerned. The Vakeel, or Under-governor, who first 

 received us, is still alive and w T ell, notwithstanding our 

 liberal present of medicine, and he even asked for more. 

 This time we gave him in addition six bottles of whisky 

 in return for his kindness in taking charge of the stores 

 we left here, consisting of, amongst other things, cham- 

 pagne, claret, and soda-water, and with these no one feels 

 disposed to find fault now. Besides constant relays of 

 coffee, our host Ali Effendi has given us two excellent 



