60 AFRICAN WANDERINGS.

manufactory of Mr. Clot Bey, who, as Chef du conseil general de sante, can, in three months under him in Cairo, form out of common artisans skilful medical men, as was the case of the apothecary under my brother, who had before been a working goldsmith in Cairo ; and of another of these medicos, whom I had known before as an honest knight of the thimble. As a matter of course, such men as these were ever going wrong and committing the most fearful blunders ; but as for money-making, "jaer fas et nefas,'' they were more expert, and follow ably the example set them by all the higher officials. Often did these gentry seek to make money in an allowed but most degrading way, and among others Gaetani Bey, the private surgeon of Mohammed Ali, who in Faszogl sold at enormous prices, with his own Bey's hands, false pearls, large and small, to the negroes, and cheated them in the counting too. No one would credit the roguery and cheating that went on in the conseil general de sante itself, who was not well acquainted with the state of things in Egypt ; but all foi'med themselves after the example of their great master, and from him down to the lowest employe of his department, runs a firmly-linked chain of like-minded and like-acting oflScials.

Already are the new branding-irons fabricated by Topschi Baschi, all in readiness to mark the expected contributions of camels, horses, cattle, cotton goods, &c. ; and also tAvo iron stars have been made—horrible barbarity! — for branding the new-made slaves. Our greatest plague is again the fearful heat, especially at noon and in the afternoon ; one is ever in a constant sweat, even when sitting perfectly quiet, and everything is now wanting that could contribute to the commonest wants or enjoyments. Our Arabs are equally great admirers of tobacco as of onions, but in Taka there is as little of the one as the other, and not a single date is to be got, as here no date trees are known. Myself and brother would only too gladly advance farther into the country, and so become more closely acquainted with it, and its inhabitants, their manners, and way of life ; but with one voice all counsel us, as we regard our own heads, to await a more suitable time. No great friendship does, in truth, seem to exist between tlie inmates of the camp and the natives, as never ai-e any of tlie tribe of the Haddenda seen inside our fence, although these have -etired no further