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The Birthday of the Prophet 227
a rich green. Was it not the tent of the Descendant and
Representative of the Prophet? Beside it, all the other
great pavilions belonging to the Ministers of the Khedive and
the various Mohammedan Orders were as nothing.
The Sheikh came forward to receive us, a small, thin, white-
faced man, who looked an ascetic and a student in his
plain black gown. His turban was, of course, of the
sacred green. When he rose to meet us he had the Prime
Minister sitting beside him, and on either side of them were
the Sheikh-ul-Azhar and the Grand Mufti. A little lower
down was the Governor of Cairo. The posts of our grand
green tent were red.
The Sheikh has nearly every distinction, open to a non-
military subject, of the Turkish Empire. He has the highest
order of the Osmaniya and the Sultan's new Order ; he
is head of all the religious bodies of Islam in Egypt ; he
is Sherif of the Asraf, the relations of the Prophet, but
his son, if he has one, will be a far holier personage than
himself, for the Sheikh married a daughter of the late
Sheikh Sadat, who was much nearer the Prophet in descent.
Presently the brother of the Khedive drove up with an
escort of Lancers on grey horses. He was offered a penny
cup of coffee in a shabby cup on a shabby tray by a shabby
man, and a glass of water, just as we had been. The
contrast between the Sheikh, with his ascetic face, which
might have been worn by fasting, and his moth-eaten beard
and severe black gown, and the handsome, plump Prince,
a European in face and in dress, except for the tarbiish
of his country, was striking. The gilt easy chairs in our
pavilion were covered with pink satin for the Prince and the
Ministers and the Mohammedan magnificoes, and with green
plush for the rest of the Sheikh's guests. Magnificent crystal
chandeliers hung down from the lofty roof; festoons of
red and white electric lights v/ere looped all round it. The
tum-tuming of drums from various points kept us in a flutter
of excitement.
I noted that the police, who had been so ready to stop
a carriage of Christians, took no notice of the bakers with