INTIMATE TALKS WITH TWO KHEDIVES In the very room where I met Tewfik Pasha I was re¬ ceived in the same cordial and informal manner by his son, the present Khedive. He does not look much like his father. He is a trifle taller and seems to have more dig¬ nity, perhaps because in place of his father's simple garb Abbas Hilmi wears the more formal frock coat and striped trousers of modern officialdom.

My conversation with His Highness covered a wide range. It dealt with the present prosperity of Egypt, and I could see that he understands both his country and its people. He thinks that the Nile valley has by no means reached the maximum of its development, and says that by increasing the dams and drainage facilities Egypt might yield much greater crops than she does now. I spoke to him about having met his father, mentioning the great interest that Tewfik Pasha showed in Egypt and its future. The Khedive expressed a similar desire to do all he could for the Egyptians, but practically the only mat¬ ters in which he has full sway are those regarding his own estates, his management of which shows great business capacity. He has an allowance of five hundred thousand dollars a year out of the public treasury, but in addition he owns thousands of acres of valuable lands, so his private property must be worth many millions of dollars. He handles this in such a way that it pays well, his experi¬ ments and improvements being the talk of farmers and business men throughout the Nile valley.

I have heard a great deal of these khedivial farms since I have been in Egypt. Abbas Hilmi inherited much land from his father, but he has other large tracts, which he himself has redeemed from the desert, and yet others which he has made good by draining. Not far from Cairo he 67