398 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xxvi 



his good pleasure for the last scraps ; of the natives working 

 at the endless shadoofs ; of a group of listeners around a 

 professional story-teller — unfinished, for he was observed 

 sketching them. 



Egypt left a profound impression upon him. His 

 artistic delight in it apart, the antiquities and geology of 

 the country were a vivid illustration to his trained eye of the 

 history of man and the influence upon him of the surround- 

 ing country, the link between geography and history. 



He left behind him for a while a most unexpected 

 memorial of his visit. A friend not long after going to the 

 pyramids, was delighted to find himself thus adjured by a 

 donkey-boy, who tried to cut out his rival with " Not him 

 donkey, sah ; him donkey bad, sah ; my donkey good ; my 

 donkey 'Fessor-uxley donkey, sah." It appears that the 

 Cairo donkey-boys have a way of naming their animals after 

 celebrities whom they have borne on their backs. 



While at Thebes, on his way down the river again, he 

 received news of the death of the second son of Matthew 

 Arnold, to whom he wrote the following letter : — 



Thebes, March lo, 1872. 



My dear Arnold^I cannot tell you how shocked I was to 

 see in the papers we received yesterday the announcement of 

 the terrible blow which has fallen upon Mrs. Arnold and your- 

 self. 



Your poor boy looked such a fine manly fellow the last time 

 I saw him, when we dined at your house, that I had to read the 

 paragraph over and over again before I could bring myself to 

 believe what I read. And it is such a grievous opening of a 

 wound hardly yet healed that I hardly dare to think of the 

 grief which must have bowed down Mrs. Arnold and yourself. 



I hardly know whether I do well in writing to you. If such 

 trouble befel me there are very few people in the world from 

 whom I could bear even sympathy — but you would be one of 

 them, and therefore I hope that you will forgive a condolence 

 which will reach you so late as to disturb rather than soothe, 

 for the sake of the hearty affection which dictates it. 



My wife has told me of the very kind letter you wrote her. 

 I was thoroughly broken down when I left England, and did 

 not get much better until I fell into the utter and absolute 



