I see many watches displayed, for there is now a craze among the peasants of Egypt to own watches. They want a cheap article, and in many cases buy a fresh watch every year. As a result the Swiss and Germans have been flooding the country with poor movements, put up in fancy German silver, nickel, and gun-metal cases, and are selling them at two dollars and upward apiece. They are not equal to our timepieces which sell at one dollar. Some of these watches are advertised as of American make, and sell the quicker on that account. I doubt not that a good American watch would sell well and displace the poor stuff now sent in by the Swiss. In one bazaar only brass articles are shown, while in another nothing but rugs are sold. The Persian Bazaar and the Turkish Bazaar are managed by men of these nations. In fact, wandering through the business parts of Cairo, one can see types of every oriental people on the globe. CHAPTER VIII INTIMATE TALKS WITH TWO KHEDIVES To-day Egypt is governed by a king. Her last sovereign had the title of sultan, and for fifty years before that she was ruled by khedives. There were four khedives in that time, and with two of them I had face-to-face chats. The first was with Tewfik Pasha, whom I met in the Abdin Palace during my second visit to Cairo. The other was with Abbas Hilmi, the son and successor of Tewfik, with whom I talked sixteen years later. Abbas Hilmi’s pro-German intrigues finally led to his being deposed by the British and to the establishment of the Protectorate, which ended in the nationalization of Egypt under a ruler with the title of king. I give you here the stories of the two interviews, reproducing the notes I made at the time. * * * * * I have just returned from a long audience with the Khedive of Egypt. Khedive is a Persian-Arabic word, meaning “king,” and Mohammed Tewfik occupies much the same position now as the Pharaohs did in the days of Moses. It is true that he is in a measure the vassal of the Sultan of Turkey to whom he pays a tribute of about three and three quarter million dollars a year, and that he has also several European advisers who keep sharp watch over the revenues of his kingdom to see that a great part of them go to the interest on the debts that he and his predecessors have contracted with the bankers of Europe. But he is, nevertheless, the king of Egypt, and as kings go to-day, he has more power than many other monarchs. His residence in Cairo is a grand palace with hundreds of rooms filled with magnificent furniture. He drives about the city with soldiers carrying swords, riding prancing horses in front of his carriage, and with a score of cavalry following behind. He has five hundred thousand dollars a year for his personal expenses, and he has several palaces besides the one he occupies in Cairo.