26 THE DOWNFALL OF THE DERVISHES

indefatigable labours of the transport officers and men, many of whom were not brought by their work within the area which will be covered by the forthcoming medial.

As we sat at dinner in the cool of the evening under the palms and tamarisks, some- body chanced to look under the table and saw a number of large yellowish tarantulas waltzing about our feet. A panic ensued, and the meeting rose as one man and got upon

chairs, until these repulsive insects were driven away by the waiters. The incident forcibly

recalled the famous congress of ladies which was convened to demonstrate the Superiority of Woman over Man, and was broken up by

a small box of mice opened by a son of Belial

in the audience. These horrid spiders, whose

bite is very painful, and, in the case of young

children, occasionally fatal, seemed to be ubiquitous at Luxor; nor did they even respect

the sanctity of our bedrooms. Medical psycho- logists tell of a case in which a gentleman

suffering from hallucinations declared that he saw “pink pachyderms” in his bath, but was unable to secure a specimen owing to the rapidity of the creature’s movements. But I