[p.167]afterwards learned,[FN#5] waited only my leaving the room to declare that the would-be Haji was one of the Infidels from India, and a council sat to discuss the case.  Fortunately for me, Omar Effendi had looked over a letter which I had written to Haji Wali that morning, and he had at various times received categorical replies to certain questions in high theology.  He felt himself justified in declaring, ex cathedra, the boy Mohammed’s position perfectly untenable.  And Shaykh Hamid, who looked forward to being my host, guide, and debtor in general, and probably cared scantily for catechism or creed, swore that the light of Al-Islam was upon my countenance, and, consequently, that the boy Mohammed was a pauper, a “fakir,” an owl, a cut-off one,[FN#6] a stranger, and a Wahhabi (heretic), for daring to impugn the faith of a brother believer.[FN#7] The scene ended with a general abuse of the acute youth, who was told on all sides that he had no shame, and was directed to “fear Allah.”  I was struck with the expression of my friends’ countenances when they saw the sextant, and, determining with a sigh to

[p.168]leave it behind, I prayed five times a day for nearly a week.

We all agreed not to lose an hour in securing places on board some vessel bound for Yambu’; and my companions, hearing that my passport as a British Indian was scarcely en regle, earnestly advised me to have it signed by the governor without delay, whilst they occupied themselves about the harbour.  They warned me that if I displayed the Turkish Tazkirah given me at the citadel of Cairo, I should infallibly be ordered to await the caravan, and lose their society and friendship.  Pilgrims arriving at Alexandria, be it known to the reader, are divided into bodies, and distributed by means of passports to the three great roads, namely, Suez, Kusayr (Cosseir), and the Hajj route by land round the Gulf of al-’Akabah.  After the division has once been made, government turns a deaf ear to the representations of individuals.  The Bey of Suez has an order to obstruct pilgrims as much as possible till the end of the season, when they are hurried down that way, lest they should arrive at Meccah too late.[FN#8] As most of the Egyptian high officials have boats, which sail up the Nile laden with pilgrims and return freighted with corn, the government naturally does its utmost to force the delays and discomforts of this line upon strangers.[FN#9] And as those who travel by the Hajj route must spend money in the Egyptian territories at least fifteen days longer than they would if allowed to

[p.169]embark at once from Suez, the Bey very properly assists them in the former and obstructs them in the latter case.  Knowing these facts, I felt that a difficulty was at hand.  The first thing was to take Shaykh Nur’s passport, which was en regle, and my own, which was not, to the Bey for signature.  He turned the papers over and over, as if unable to read them, and raised false hopes high by referring