A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

76 MOSQUE OF AMR.
liis favour. It was evident that they rejected him
as an unbeliever, and the poor fellow, after
having held in his breath, and squeezed himself
nearly into extinction in his strenuous endeavours
to assert his faith, was obliged to consent to be
drawn back again, quite crest-fallen. An En-
glish gentleman ^vho accompanied us, and who
has resided many years in Egypt, very gravely
condoled with him upon the fact of his having
been discovered through the unerring test to be
a Kafir, (an infidel,) and then proceeded to take
his place ; when, to the indescribable consterna-
tion of the Moslem, the Christian passed between
the pillars without an effort. This was the un-
kindest cut of all on the part of the contrary
columns,—it was " straining at a gnat, and swal-
lowing a camel;" — the man walked away in
silence from the scene of his humiliation, but as
he rode before us we heard him muttering to
himself the whole way home ; and I have no
doubt, from the expression of his countenance,
when he lifted me from my donkey at the Ho-
tel door, that chenmi faisa7it he had arrived at
the consoling conclusion, that the famous orthodox
columns of Amr's mosque, are the most arrant
pair of humbugs in the Viceroy's dominions.
Adieu !
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