118 DANGEROUS PASTIME.

self in the company of a young fellow-countryiman
by learning to make what might be called finger-
work courtship. He soon mastered the art ot
signals, which in that country is an expressive
language; and having, between the narrow open-
ings of a wooden lattice, some sixty yards distant
from his room, caught sight of a female figure,
commenced making trial of his skill. His signals
were returned, and he continued his foolish pas-
time. But one evening, as his telegraph was in
full action, Sonnini was alarmed by the sudden
whizzing of a musket ball close to his head! asig-
nificant warning that such proceedings would not
be unpunished in Cairo.

Happily, the expedition was soon in readiness to
proceed, and preparations were made for departure.
Sonnini exchanged his Huropean dress for the cos-
tume of a Turk. ‘ My hair,” he exclaims, ‘“ was
sacrificed—|it is the only time our adventurous
traveller uses the word]|—an enormous turban, of
the kind worn by the Druses, enveloped with
several turns my shorn head, and protected it from
the burning heat of the sun; long and ample gar-
ments, which were partly kept together by a silk
sash, covered my body without pressing it, leaving
it at perfect liberty. There is no confinement in
the oriental habit, and after an European has worn
it some time, he finds the inconvenicnce of our