lO: SO little that he can only recall them on being told their mother's name.(i) He is indeed a man of large ideas, one who deals in scores where others of a more ignoble breed are content with units. For thirty years he has had a lawsuit pending with the Egyptian Government for a million pounds, on account of the wrongful restraint of himself, the death of his son Suliman, and the confiscation of his property.

But now in the evening of his days, he is turning his eyes from such mundane considerations to the expectation of what the future may have in store for him, and is contemplating a pilgrimage to Mecca. Yet still it is his fancy to look back through the narrowing vistas of the years, with intellect a little clouded and eyes not altogether unbedimmed, upon a life of strenuous endeavour, thwarted may be sometimes, yet nevertheless brightened by many a day of successful effort and triumphant achievement. Hour after hour, while reclining upon his Divan, he will recount his perilous adventures and hairbreadth escapes with unerring accuracy, never faltering for a word or hesitating for a date. And, in the aftermath that follows so many days of stress and storm, he displays in his moments of reminiscence a keenness of intellect and vividness of memory that in view of his years is amazing.

(i) One ot his sons Idris denies ihe accuracy of this slatement. As a matter of fact he has 49 sons and daughters now living.