Excerpt from A Key to the Exercises in the Spoken Arabic of Egypt

The Berberis fled from the Dervishes. The Pashas' victorias collided with the officers' dog-carts, and broke the Splash-boards and lanterns. Thousands of people came and listened to the bands in the gardens. There are tramways in the street of the Ministries and in all the large streets of Cairo. Horse saddles are one thing and donkey saddles another thing. The table servants working in the houses of the Europeans are some of them Berberis and some of them natives of Dongola, and some of them are clever and some are idle. The boatmen fell from the boats and were drowned in the sea. The robbers stole burdas and rugs and gowns from their neighbours' cupboards. Buy us three boxes of cigarettes from the tobacconists. Moslem gentlemen wear tarboushes, but of the Christians some wear tarboushes and others wear hats. I saw some Egyptians abroad wearing black tall hats. The forks, spoons, and knives are laid on the table; please seat yourself. Where are the keys of the balcony doors? Take some pincers and hammers, and pull out the nails from the hampers. The dragomans of the hotels and inns know Arabic and English and French, and other languages as well. The stairs of our house are high. I saw some poor lame children walking with crutches. We caught some mice in the traps. The scholars are contented with the schools and the masters. The French and Russian consuls travelled in the same boat: The birds are building their nests in the shutters of our windows. There are bells attached to our cat's collar. The trip would have been pleasanter without the custom-houses.

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