14 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

of women, and especially of unveiled women, in any

Mahometan place of worship, is always odious to the Moslem mind. If English ladies could only realize the manner in which their intrusion into mosques is resented and criticized, even at the present day, they would be less eager to gratify feminine curiosity by pushing their way into places where the mere fact of

their presence jars upon the feelings of every follower of the Prophet. In the days of which I write, fanaticism was far more powerful and more prevalent in Cairo than it is nowadays. As our poor young countrywoman was staring at the gestures of the dervishes and listening to their harsh invocations of

Allah el Allah, one of the band killed her on the spot

with a dagger, which he plunged into her heart.

News of the outrage spread rapidly throughout the city, and soon reached the ears of Mahomet Ali, who

was in Cairo at the time. He forthwith rode down to

the Esbekieh, escorted by his guard, ordered the

dervishes to point out the member of their confra-

ternity who had struck the blow, and had him hung then and there on the tree nearest to the site of the

crime, leaving word that the body of the criminal should remain gibbeted till it rotted to pieces, as a

warning to his subjects that he would not allow any stranger to be attacked or outraged within his dominions. Notwithstanding its harshness, there can,

I think, be little doubt that the rule of Mahomet

Ali was popular with the Egyptians. He was a ruler such as Orientals understand and appreciate.