The women of the lower orders seldom pass a life of inactivity. Some of them are even condemned to greater drudgery than the men. Their chief occupations are the preparing of the husband’s food, fetching water (which they carry in a large vessel on the head), spinning cotton, linen, or woollen yarn, and making the fuel called “gelleh,” which is composed of the dung of cattle, kneaded with chopped straw, and formed into round flat cakes: these they stick upon the walls or roofs of their houses, or upon the ground, to dry in the sun; and then use for heating their ovens, and for other purposes. They are in a state of much greater subjection to their husbands than is the case among the superior classes. Not always is a poor woman allowed to eat with her husband. When she goes out with him, she generally walks behind him; and if there be anything for either of them to carry, it is usually borne by the wife; unless it be merely a pipe or a stick. Some women, in the towns, keep shops; and sell bread, vegetables, etc.; and thus contribute as much as their husbands, or even more than the latter, to the support of their families. When a poor Egyptian is desirous of marrying, the chief object of his consideration is the dowry, which is usually from about twenty “riyáls” (or nine shillings) to four times that amount, if consisting only of money; and rather less, if, as is the case throughout a great part of Egypt, it comprise certain articles of clothing: if he can afford to give the dowry, he seldom hesitates to marry; for a little additional exertion will enable him to support a wife and two or three children. At the age of five or six years, the children become of use to tend the flocks and herds; and at a more advanced age, until they marry, they assist their fathers in the operations of agriculture. The poor in Egypt have often to depend entirely upon their sons for support in their old age; but many persons are deprived of these aids, and consequently reduced to beggary, or almost to starvation. A few months ago, the Básha, during his voyage from Alexandria to this city (Cairo), happening to land at a village on the bank of the Nile, a poor man of the place ran up to him, and grasped his sleeve so tightly, that the surrounding attendants could not make him quit his hold: he complained that, although he had been once in very comfortable circumstances, he had been reduced to utter destitution by having his sons taken from him in his old age as recruits for the army. The Básha (who generally pays attention to personal applications) relieved him; but it was by ordering that the richest man in the village should give him a cow.