14 THE DOWNFALL OF THE DERVISHES

vivid impression of the advancement which ts

being gradually effected in the home life of the more enlightened Egyptians, though, of course,

the liberty enjoyed by my kind hostess and her

accomplished daughters is as yet the exception

rather than the rule.

Our few days in Cairo were fully taken up with preparations for the campaign. One con- sequence of the inrush of officers and corre-

spondents was a dearth of horses. The neigh- bourhood had been ransacked for animals, and

if the demand continued it seemed as though

Ammianus’ prediction, slightly altered,. would become true of Cairo, ‘‘Creditur jam equos defuturos esse.” The price of riding horses advanced by leaps and bounds, and as the Government had been offering from £20 to 425 for them, I thought myself lucky when I

learnt from my friend, Mr. A. V. Houghton,

that he had kindly secured me a passable steed

for £17, 10s. Beasts outworn, with irregular gait and hair in scanty tufts, were being pur-

chased by despairing voyagers in default of

better horseflesh.

Then came the choice of servants, and many of the individuals who offered themselves were