spokesman, bade me Adieu: "You are going away across the Great Water; when you are away every day will seem like a month to us."
Talking one day to Chehatah about British occupation of Egypt, he said, "Yes, of course, some don't like it, they think we should be a nation by ourselves; but, yes, it is good, I know. It is this way. Not long ago Tax Collector used to come to me, and say, 'You pay for horses, camels, sheep, asses, farm, so much' —I pay—then he come again and again any time. Now, English Tax Collector come, he say, 'Here is the schedule, enter all you have; you pay so much'; never see him again for whole year; yes, that is very good."
Occasionally he took us into Mosques, where one has to put large yellow slippers over one's boots, but no hindrance is offered to your entrance, as might be elsewhere. "I see," I said, "many praying, but never all together, why not?" "Well, we pray when we want to, that is enough." "But I never see women praying; don't they pray?" His answer was evasive: "They might if they liked, but what good would it be? they have no souls." It is this low conception of womanhood, and the almost total absence of the idea of sin, despite their strict adherence to ritual, and the low value put on human life, which is the bane of Mahomedanism.
We saw fine specimens of Egyptian troops; it was a few months after the battle of Omdurman. Tall, thin-shanked, broad, not deep in the chest, alert, and perfect in drill, they have proved themselves worthy comrades of British troops. With British officers they will face any foe. Their pay is good, and on returning to their villages on leave, they are made much of,
