Now, at Esneh the men were to bake again. Great, therefore, was Reïs Hassan’s anxiety to get in first, secure the oven and buy the flour before dusk. The reïs of the Fostât and he of the Bagstones were equally anxious, and for the same reasons. Our men, meanwhile, were wild with excitement, watching every maneuver of the other boats; hanging on to the shoghool like a swarm of bees; and obeying the word of command with unwonted alacrity. As we neared the goal the race grew hotter. The honor of the boats was at stake, and the bread question was for the moment forgotten. Finally all three dahabeeyahs ran in abreast and moored side by side in front of a row of little open cafés, just outside the town. Esneh (of which the old Egyptian civil name was Sni, and the Roman name Latopolis) stands high upon the mounds of the ancient city. It is a large place--as large, apparently, as Minieh, and, like Minieh, it is the capital of a province. Here dragomans lay in provision of limes, charcoal, flour and live stock for the Nubian journey; and crews bake for the last time before their return to Egypt. For in Nubia food is scarce and prices are high, and there are no public ovens. It was about five o’clock on a market day when we reached Esneh and the market was not yet over. Going up through the usual labyrinth of windowless mud-alleys where the old men crouched, smoking, under every bit of sunny wall, and the children swarmed like flies, and the cry for backshîsh buzzed incessantly about our ears, we came to an open space in the upper part of the town, and found ourselves all at once in the midst of the market. Here were peasant-folk selling farm produce; stall-keepers displaying combs, looking-glasses, gaudy printed handkerchiefs and cheap bracelets of bone and colored glass; camels lying at ease and snarling at every passer-by; patient donkeys; ownerless dogs; veiled women; blue and black robed men; and all the common sights and sounds of a native market. Here too, we found Reïs Hassan bargaining for flour, Talhemy haggling with a charcoal dealer; and the M. B.’s buying turkeys and geese for themselves and a huge store of tobacco for their crew. Most welcome sight of all, however, was a dingy chemist’s shop, about the size of a sentry-box, over the door of which was suspended an Arabic inscription; while inside, robed all in black, sat a lean and grizzled Arab, from whom we bought a big bottle of rose-water to make eye-lotion for L----’s ophthalmic patients.