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[Page 25]
& told to keep the change. They think that anyone from Australia is practically a millionaire.
However in their endeavours to sell you some thing or other, or to do something for you, they frequently make themselves an awful nuisance & at times you have to take extreme measures to rid yourself of them. Personally, I frequently gave up all hope of getting rid of them & I used to have about four Egyptian guides & advisers at times. One day a guide followed me about a mile & all my threats were of no avail, so I rushed up to a native policeman & said "If you don't get rid of this guide here" I'll throw him over that fence," & I waved my arms about a few times. He just looked at me & guessed I had gone mad, because he didn't understand English, so I went before he arrested me for talking out of my turn or something. However the guide "salaamed" very humbly & disappeared. It was also a frequent occurrence to see me in the street with about six Egyptians around me trying to find out where I wanted to go to, eventually I came to the conclusion that it was best to always have a guide that could understand English as the Gurry wallers (Cabdrivers) cannot understand it as a rule. Sometimes you tell one of them to drive you to a certain place & they say "o yes I know", & when you get there its not where you wanted to go & perhaps miles away. The trouble is the name you tell them in English