520 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

that whatever money they have got is their own to spend, and the result of this knowledge has been to increase their wants, and to remove the obstacles which precluded the open display of wealth. Even a passing tourist can hardly fail to mark the obvious improvement in the physical appearance of the fellaheen. As a body, they are better fed, better dressed, better housed, and less down-trodden in their appearance. I have mentioned in a previous chapter how, thirty odd years ago, I saw gangs of fellaheen, to the number of many thousands, working sullenly, under the terror of the kurbash, at road-making to the Pyramids. Only the other day I had occasion to visit some large masonry works, now being constructed by friends of mine, for purposes of land reclamation, on the banks of the Nile. The workmen were all natives, and were all paid regularly for their day's labour, most of which was done by piece-work.

I never saw labourers working more cheerfully and more heartily, chanting and singing, for the most part, as they worked. From early dawn till after sunset they toiled on, with little or no break, except for the midday prayers, and for their work they received, on an average, sixpence a head for twelve hours' continuous labour under a broiling summer sun. Probably, as the demand for labour increases, the rate of wages will rise also ; but for the present the fellaheen are perfectly satisfied with working at what an European labourer would regard as starvation wages, so long as they can work without the fear of the kurbash.