match at the Turf Club, or a lawn-tennis tournament at the Ghezireh Palace is a visit to a "gloomy old temple," it is only natural with young people that the ancient monuments should go to the wall.

The official balls and receptions at the Khedivial Palace or the British Agency demand more than an incidental notice. The British agent always gives one grand ball during the season, and similar hospitalities are offered by the Khedive. Then several non-official dances are given by the English regiments stationed at Cairo. The invitations to the Khedivial ball are usually sent to foreign visitors through their minister or consul, and as everybody spending the winter at Cairo looks upon a ticket almost as a right, there is sometimes a certain amount of friction between the accredited representatives of the different powers and the Khedive's court officials.

According to a well-authenticated story, the Khedive once returned the proposed list of guests sent him by the United States Consul General, with an observation that only those of noble birth were eligible. The consul promptly replied that "Every American citizen considered himself a king in his own right." This brought the autocratic sovereign to his bearings, and not only was the list passed, but it is said that invitations were sent besides to all the guests at Shepheard's en bloc!

The fashionable season is a short one, lasting from January to April. The flight of the European visitors to cooler climes during this month is soon followed by the exodus of the official world and other permanent residents to Ramleh and other summer refuges. The Khedive and his household usually leave for Alexandria about the beginning of May, and this departure of the titular sovereign formally marks the close of the Cairo season. The ordinary season for tourists begins earlier, and its duration is sufficiently indicated by the period during which the principal hotels are open, which is from the beginning of November to the end of April

V.-HOTELS AND HOTEL LIFE

THE leading hotels in Cairo, headed by the historical Shepheard's and the luxurious Continental, can certainly compare favourably with the best hotels of the most fashionable Riviera watering-places. Leaving the United States out of the question, it is perhaps hardly going too far to say that no extraEuropean city of the same size offers such a wide choice of high-class and well-appointed hotels so well adapted to meet the demands of English travellers as the "City of the Caliphs." The invidious task of classifying them is fairly easy, for they naturally fall into three categories.

In the first rank are Shepheard's, Savoy, Continental, the Ghezireh Palace Hotel, and Mena House. These are all fashionable houses, with commensurate prices. There is one uniform charge of sixteen shillings (not francs) a day, for the American system of pension charges is almost universal in Cairo.

But during January, February,

and March the daily charge at these hotels would be about 18s.

The most fashionable are undoubtedly the Continental, Savoy, Shepheard's, and Ghezireh Palace, whose visitors' lists almost suggest a page out of the Almanac de Gotha. Yet as regards the clientèle, each has a distinct character of its own, and if I may attempt a somewhat invidious task, I should be inclined to say that the Savoy is more peculiarly exclusive and aristocratic, while the Continental and Shepheard's are smarter and the note of modernity is more insistent. The society at Shepheard's is essentially cosmopolitan, and it is the favourite resort of American visitors. As for the Ghezireh Palace Hotel, it may best be described as a very high class residential hotel like the Hôtel des Champs Elysée at Paris. The salient features of these establishments may perhaps be better understood by comparison with London hotels. The Savoy, then, may be compared with the Carlton or the Hyde Park, Ghezireh Palace with the Savoy, and Shepheard's with the Cecil.

The historical Shepheard's has a world-wide reputation. It must, however, be remembered that not a stone remains of the old Shepheard's, with its world-renowned balcony, its garden containing the

tree under which General Kleber was assassinated, its lofty rooms and terraces. The new Shepheard's, completely rebuilt in 1891, lacks these historical adjuncts, but the high reputation for comfort remains, and certainly in point of luxury and refinements of civilisation, in the form of electric lights, lifts, telephones, etc., there can be no comparison. No doubt there was a touch of Oriental romance, and a suggestion of the "Thousand and One Nights," in the time-honoured practice which formerly obtained at Shepheard's of summoning the dusky attendants by clapping the hands; but to the matterof-fact latter-day traveller the prosaic, but reliable, electric bell is an infinitely preferable means of communication.

Shepheard's is par excellence the American hotel, while the Savoy is more exclusively English. The latter, too, partakes more of the character of a high-class residential family hotel, its numerous elegantly appointed suites of private apartments being one of its leading features.

Shepheard's clientèle is distinctly cosmopolitan. Cairo being the starting-point for the Desert, the Nile, and Palestine, and not far off the high road to India and Australia, and also being one of those cities which no self-respecting globe-trotter can afford to omit in his round, it is much visited by