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30 THE WHITE SLAVE MARKET
Said, but many of these are soiled or diseased
harlots of Europe. They go on tour during
the season to (( do " the various towns. They
generally travel in hatches of three or four,
in charge of a " missus." Some of them
open houses for the season ; others put up
at second-class hotels. In either case they
usually engage what we should call " runners
"
young Egyptian youths who slink
around the mean ways of Eastern life in
search of " customers " for the harlots who
have come to town. With the work of these
women we are not at present dealing, heyond
venturing an opinion that the traffic they
pursue should he controlled so as to prevent,
among other things, diseased prostitutes of
Europe taking plague germs into Egypt.
Many of these women earn " big money," and
their trips during the season are a source of
revenue for the quack doctors of Egypt.
The "pimp," as we know him, generally
descends on Egypt with his wife, or assumed
wife, who, of course, must be good-looking
and thoroughly know her business. In many
cases the woman is an expert thief, and robs
and helps her " pimp " husband to blackmail
an old gentleman or two to cover the ex-
and his wife
penses account. The "pimp"
generally stay at the best hotels, patronised
by young Englishmen with a superabundance
of money and a poverty of brains. These
young bloods are usually sent out by their
parents to (( do " the Continent and wind up
with Egypt a big percentage get " done " and