They had learnt to wash, but could never properly fold the
linen. Ironing and starching were quite out of the question, and would
have been as impossible to them as algebra. Some of these girls were
rather pretty, and they knew it. In moral character Dam Zeneb and
Sallaamto were the best. Fad-el-Kereem was the most intelligent, but she
was a young woman of strong passions, either for love or war, and
required peculiar management.
They were all dressed in similar uniforms to the boys, with only a
slight difference in the length of their blouses.
We had sent little Mostoora to the care of Djiaffer Pacha at Khartoum to
be educated, before we left Tewfikeeyah. That clever little creature had
learnt English and Arabic sufficiently to converse, and although not far
removed from infancy, she was more intelligent than any of the adults.
She was much too young for a long voyage . . . Everything was ready for
the start. I left written instructions with the colonel, Raouf Bey, also
with Mr. Higginbotham, respecting the conduct of the works during my
absence. I also gave the necessary orders to Mr. Marcopolo; thus all
heads of departments knew their positions.
I sent off a detachment of 150 men to drive a herd of several thousand
cattle and sheep to a well-known rocky ravine, about six miles south,
which was to be the rendezvous.
