dramatic that I regret to suppress it—"I swear if that horse trotted into our village we should say the Ameer was coming to Durbar ; but when they saw its rider our women would laugh!" That observation gives a key-note to the sentiments prevailing before and after.

The least observant of spectators felt, as he saw the Indians traverse an Arab throng, "What gentlemen they look!" To tell the whole truth here, the same remark arose when the throng traversed was of English soldiery. But our men, dirty and pallid, in the hideous unserviceable dress supplied them, bore the stamp of qualities more important than good looks. The Arab has none of them—at every point he offended the Sepoy. Disregard of that elementary respect for others, which forbids a man to tramp upon his neighbour's toes in mere carelessness and brutality, must be resented the whole world over by men who carry arms, and are ready to use them. Accordingly, we find so much courtesy universal among fighting races. The Pathan, in his native wilds, is, perhaps, the very roughest of all animals, but he has a code of manners, suggested and strictly limited by the sword. A very brief service in our ranks, among the more polished races of the plain, enlarges his ideas. But the Egyptian Arab has no check outside, and no instinct within to guide him. His nature, or his acquired nature, is more selfish and offensive than that of any people known to me, and it is unmitigated by the restraint of fear. None of his neighbours have spirit to cut him down, whatever vagaries he may play. And so he dances on their corns in cheerfulness of soul. More than that, he is sincerely astonished when susceptible people cry out.

The bond of religion must be stronger than we see it anywhere at this day to make an Indian Moslem feel that this creature is a brother. The contrast was just as striking as it could be. We hourly observed a working party of Sepoys pushing through a crowd of natives. Their loose jackets and trousers of fatigue dress were scarcely more martial, cr even more picturesque, than the ragged nightgown of the Arab. The turban, indeed, or puggri, with a loose end fluttering to the waist, is always superb. But the faces, the manner, the expression, were a cruel reproach to the African. Half a dozen Sepoys yonder are pushing a cart. Perhaps they belong to that grand regiment, the 20th N. I., distinguished by the black tips of their puggris, stately Sikhs, or giant Pathans, or lithe Rajputs. They are not working very hard. Half their energy is expended on the rear, or on either flank, where passing comrades fling banter, manly, though indecorous, as is martial wit everywhere. They laugh long and open-mouthed, throwing back their handsome heads, dis

playing snow-white teeth to drive a dentist to despair. Their eyes, large, well-opened, show the fun of spirited schoolboys in their clear light. Though the jokes they bandy are not refined, nor very witty, they are the humour of strong men who respect themselves and one another. When an officer-Sahib comes by, decorous quiet supervenes. Those disengaged, salute; the others gravely put both hands to the task. When he has gone, the jest breaks out again. So they sweep, without more notice than a shove and a frown, through the sordid, leering, hideous crowd of Arabs, halt and maim, one-eyed, foul, bestial of expression.

Observe that little group of Sepoys returning from their task-grave men these, probably Sikhs, superb in manly beauty. They walk hand in hand, talking among themselves. They laugh readily with each other, but seldom join the Pathan jokes. I remember once, when snowed up in the Kojak Pass, that a Sikh of the 26th N. I. was asked the name of his file-fellow, an Afridi. They had enlisted at the same time, and had served twelve years side by side; but neither would confess a knowledge of the other's name. There go half a dozen Madras Sappers, small men, broadchested and sturdy-limbed, looking soldiers every inch, and kindly fellows too. They have not the fine features, nor the large clear eyes, of the Aryan. Their skin is black like a negro's, and the whole type resembles the African on a smaller scale, but trimmer and brighter. In dark uniform, with a jetty handkerchief about their brows, a company of Sappers marching in the desert looks like a black square on the chess-board, moving. There are no better nor pleasanter soldiers in our army. A majority speak English more or less, and many are fluent. When they went up the Khyber, in the Afghan war, our native troops stared to hear them easily conversing with the Sahibs, and emulation stirred not a few Aryan Sepoys to undertake a fitful study of English. I fear it is quite possible that if we watched these good fellows closely, a grave and silent lurch might be remarked from time to time, for the evil correlating their docile and excellent qualities is shown in a partiality for the white man's liquor. But there are few troops whom one would stand with so confidently as the Madras Sappers.

A very different type is the Beloochi, wild and picturesque in dark green puggri and scarlet breeches. He has that wandering eye that marks the savage only half-tamed. We have few real Beloochis in our ranks, discipline is too strict for them; but a crowd of natives from the broken frontier clans-fighting men all. The long hair of some has escaped in the heat of work, and streams behind in glossy

ringlets, twisted amongst the flowing drapery of the turban. And there go troopers of the Bengal cavalry, tall, broad-shouldered, slender of waist and hips. For martial bearing they have no equal in the armies of the world, and their fine costume does them justice. The blue-striped puggri folded round a scarlet peak, the long blue coat with scarlet sash, tight yellow trousers and jack-boots, put to shame the fantastic frippery of European tailors. In their ranks, generally, we find the most devoted Moslem, for the neighbourbood of Delhi is a favourite recruiting ground. A droll incident recurs to mind. Marching once through Scindh, our little party had a local chief for guide, and a Jemadhar with two troopers for escort. The guide explained, as we rode along, certain abstruse questions of the Faith, making a delicious hash of law and prophets. Our Jemadhar was the most polite of men-what a lovely Arab he rode, by the by! But he loved Islam, and the ignorant rattle of this unorthodox Scindhi stirred his indignation. The troopers were not less angry, and they all pressed upon us, their very horses becoming unmanageable. Colonel Tucker ordered them back in vain. They would not retire until the puzzled Scindhi understood that he was talking nonsense, and then our little diversion came to an end. The path narrowing, he fell behind with the Jemadhar. It was but an instant's interruption. We heard murmurs, guttural in their emphasis, and, when our guide rejoined us, he said frankly, "I don't know much of the subject we've been talking about. But, I swear, Colonel Sahib, that no respectable man in our neighbourhood knows more."

Among those Sowars passing, one should trace sympathy with the Arab Moslem, if it existed anywhere in our ranks. But they feel contempt for him almost furious. One trooper questioned would not admit they were his co-religionists, though mosques stared us in the face, and two believers were praying within a few yards. We did not insist on a burning question, and what the Sowar meant I cannot tell; he was a Pathan, and possibly Shiah; or, possibly, such a bad Moslem as not to recognise his fellows. One of the 6th B.C. summed up the opinion of the ranks concisely. Asked if his regiment had cut up many fugitives after Tel-el-Kebir, he answered, with the strongest disgust, "How could men use a sword against stinking jackals? We rode many down!" The peculiar justice of the description may be appreciated only by those who have visited Egypt. The screaming and barking of an Arab crowd, all in full cry at once, the shrill snarling and foaming, make a din very like that of a pack of jackals. The adjective needs no explanation; its simple truth is certified by the dullest of noses,

I had interesting talks with Monsieur Ninet, Arabi's Swiss friend, who avowedly counselled and sympathised, if he did not suggest, the uprising. He is acquainted with many Egyptians who, in all respects, would bear comparison with their fellows of the same class elsewhere. And he pins all his faith upon the fellaheen. I believe M. Ninet to be as truthful and conscientious as an enthusiast can be, and I would not join issue on this question. For, by his own account, these good people stay at home, crying woe and anathema, whilst the bad monopolise the sunshine and the public notice. As for the fellahs, the undistinguishable mass, the dumb multitude of toilers, perhaps they are virtuous. Rustics less hardworked, better fed, find little time, if they have the inclination, to concoct villany. But they are not less brutal of manner than the townspeople, and they are, if possible, yet more strangely unconscious of such primitive decency as a well-bred animal exhibits. I do not allude to the habit of stripping stark when there is work to be done. So did their forefathers in every age, and nothing more need be said. But the Sepoy was shocked above all else by habits paralleled among the wild Pathans alone in my experience of the world. And one cannot readily believe that people who do not feel or understand proprieties instinctive with all but the lowest races of humanity-or, as in the case of the Pathans, avowedly cynical and vicious--can be trusted to possess more recondite virtues. I would not speak of the impression which the enemy's behaviour in the field produced upon our Sepoys. It was not quite the same, I think, in both arms engaged. The cavalry had an unmixed joy-of gallop, at leastin racing after foes who never professed to stand, and they thought it, as one may say, a killing farce. But the infantry were struck by that awful fire which issues from the Remington, as from any breechloader. It was new to them in practice, and the horror of that din confounded, perhaps, to some degree, their just appreciation of the soldiers who raised it. They certainly return with a deeper sense than ever of English superiority in bandabust-combination, arrangement, strategy, which circumvented and nullified that hurricane of balls. It is not to be understood that the Sepoy flinched; I should feel shame to contradict such an insinuation if it were hazarded. My whole meaning is that the native infantry did not despise the Arab soldier as did the Sowar. One of these latter exclaimed, after the gallant dash into Zagazig station: "What a gymkana, Sahib !” He regarded the business as a series of military larks.

So far as we can see, the effect of despatching Sepoys to Egypt was all good-for the men themselves, for those who stayed at home, and for the Empire. But it was prudent to remove them speedily.

To leave them exposed to the influences of the country in peacetime would be a hazardous experiment. From remarks in print at Cairo and Stainboul before the war, we may feel sure that efforts will be made with increasing zeal henceforward to inculcate the sense of solidarité amongst all Moslems. And there is an important class among our Sepoys which would be likely to welcome it when offered. I refer to the Delhi Mahmudans, and all those people immediately affected by the downfall of the Moghul Empire. In strolling through the native town, after the fall of Cairo, one saw not a few men, mostly belonging to the cavalry, who had established some sort of intelligible relations with the populace. Those who can speak Arabic are very few, if any exist. More Arabs can make themselves understood in Hindustani, and if time were allowed, at some expense and trouble, interpreters in abundance might be brought from the two Hyderabads and elsewhere. Persian is another link, for a large number of Pathans speak that language more or less. However it was managed, Arab and Sepoy did contrive to talk, before we had been established many days in Cairo. We might observe knots of townspeople, mostly well dressed, surrounding a couple of our native soldiery in the Bazaar. Obsequiously they listened to the strangers' remarks, and commented on them to a gaping crowd. The rude and boisterous manners of the Egyptian are not to be repressed by any motive, since he means no harm, and does not understand why his guileless brutality should give offence. But until the Cairenes made this discovery they laboured under great disadvantages. Opposite the Shoe Bazaar one day, I observed two Sowars talking with earnestness, but with evident difficulty, to a Sayyid. He was grave enough, but the little throng crowded around laughed uproariously in a sympathetic tone. The Sowars broke away in passion, and went on, the Sayyid following. But such misunderstanding would soon have been perceived and rectified by shrewd zealots of El-Azar College and the diplomatic emissaries from Stamboul. It was well our Sepoys departed. Their loyalty in the field lies beyond suspicion. It would be long before the thought of a common cause to fight for, side by side with the "jackals," could seriously be fixed in their minds. But the seeds of a vague Panislamism would not be difficult to plant, if teacher and taught had easy means of communication. And, if they proved too feeble to overcome the contempt and disgust which Egyptian Moslem roused, they might ripen slowly under other skies to a perilous harvest. But I feel sure that the influences of the campaign have been quite the other sort up to now.

F. BOYLE.