Christmas, 1897 59 Guardians of the Temple 61 Christmas Night-“Auld Lang Syne” 63 Thebes, January 2, 1898 67 Some Visitors 71 Vignette 74 His Highness Prince Mahomet Ali, Cairo, February 14, 1898 76 On the Bank 77 Shopping 79 Shepheard’s Hotel, Cairo 81 A Luxor Dancing-Girl 83 Camel-Back 85 The Sheik of the Pyramids 88 On Grenfell Hill The Keeper of the Tomb, Assuan, December 29, 1897 89 At the Races, Khedival Sporting Club 94 An Assuan Beggar 95 An Artist in the Mouskie 97 Our Bisharin Friends, Assuan 100 Beni-Hassan 101 At Philæ 104 “As good an imitation of Monte Carlo as the law allows” 105 “The man who has ‘been there before’” 110 In a Coffee-House, Cairo 111 At Komombos 115 SKETCHES IN EGYPT C. D. GIBSON CHAPTER FIRST [Illustration: A Son of the Desert.] EGYPT has sat for her likeness longer than any other country. Nothing disturbs her composure. Financial ruin may stare her in the face, armies may come and go, but each year the Nile rises and spreads out over her, and all traces of disturbances are gone. Newspapers may be busy telling of her troubles, but very few of those troubles seem to affect her expression. The stockholders in London worry, and send out more Englishmen to look after their interests. Sugar-factories are inspected, and the barrage is doctored. But it is all very quietly done. The French cabinet may resign on account of her, and the English army may be increased for her sake, but few signs of these compliments does she show. All is tranquil. The only disturbance seems to be made by the dragomans who meet you at the station.