Autobiographic Memoirs (Volume 1)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 edition. Excerpt: ... gold and amber' ornaments, tambourines and guitars, who sang in front of cafes. I went into the Mosque of El Azhar, and also that of Mohammed Ali, a new gorgeous mosque of marble, covered all over with magnificent choice rugs. Then up to the Citadel and the British barracks. At Joseph's well I met a party of pilgrims, Polish Jews, who had come from Warsaw to see Joseph's well. But it is Saladin's well for his fortress, his Arab name being' Yousoof. Cairo (Old Cairo) exceeds in oriental colour everything I had imagined. It is far larger, and utterly Eastern--the dress of men and women is most picturesque, and the women's. eyes---all you see of them--are lovely. Their bare feet and legs are often very pretty, especially with the children, and to see a baby perched on his mother's shoulder is as beautiful a sight as. an Italian Madonna. I have sent off to Olive a full account of our Desert Expedition. It was an immense success, and a wonderful experience. The weather was perfect, cold at night, not too hot in the day, and a delicious fresh breeze. J------rode off at a gallop on her white Arab right across the Desert alone, and went straight home by herself, about twenty-five miles from Cairo. Her father asked her what she would do if she met a robber. She said no robber could be so well mounted as. she was on Mashallah, and she should soon leave him behind. The Bedoween Arabs are wonderful. They never go into a house. The Sheikh has one in his back-yard called Mancourah. He comes from Medina, but having killed a man in a quarrel he has been obliged to fly. He lives in the yard under a blanket and does nothing but make coffee and sing ballads. He is very black, but with very fine features, like Abraham in...