382

1010 HISTORICAL ANNOTATION

feet wide. American Shipmaster's Association, Record of American and Foreign
Shipping ... 1888 (New York, 1888), 673; Farnie, East and West of Suez, 346--59.

428.1 blooded horsesJ Thoroughbred or pedigreed horses.

428.1 It was the month of February] In his diary of his tour of Europe and the
Near East, Douglass describes this event as occurring on 16 February 1887, FD Diary,
reel I, frames 28-29, FD Papers, DLC.

428.15-16 the motive ... English policy] The British occupation of Egypt began in
the summer of 1882, and Great Britain maintained varying degrees of control over the
region for the next seventy-four years. Britain officially claimed that its interest in
Egypt was to stabilize the region following the Egyptian Revolution of 1881, which
challenged the authority of the traditional ruler, Khedive Ismail. The khedive initially
requested British support following the financial collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the
1870s, and Britain joined with France in 1881 in asserting the necessity of retaining the
khedive in order to maintain regional stability. With the increasing importance of the
Suez Canal to world commerce, Britain found intervention necessary when the 1881
uprising threatened that stability. The British found that the economic and political
weakness of Egypt required continued occupation. The move also provided a conve-
nient stepping-stone for the British colonization of the Sudan and eventually India. H.
L. Wesseling, Divide and Rule: The Partition of Africa, 1880-1914 (Westport, Conn.,
1996), 35-53; Peter Mansfield, The British in Egypt (New York, 1971), 1-16.

428.30 Backshish] A Persian term, popularly used throughout the Near East, to
describe a tip, or small amount of money given for a service rendered, such as to a
waiter, or a charitable donation given to a beggar.

429.3 Ismalia] The site of administrative headquarters for the Suez Canal.
Ismailia was an Egyptian town of around 3,000 inhabitants in the 1880s, situated on
Lake Timsah where the Sweet Water Canal and a railroad line from Cairo intersectcd
the Suez Canal. Murray. Handbook for Travellers in Egypt, 222, 240-41; Farnie, East
and West of Suez, 125-27.

429.35 Bethlehem] Considered the historical birthplace of Jesus, this district of
Israel's West Bank is one of the Christian world's most important shrines. Located on
a hill on the western fringes of the Judean Wilderness, Bethlehem faces the Dead Sea.
Baedeker, Palestine and Syria, 101-02; Cohen, Columbia Gazetteer,1:337.

429.36 John the Baptist] An allusion to the ministry of John the Baptist, described
in Matt. 3:1-12, Mark 1:2-8, Luke 3:2-20, John 1:19-36.

429.37 Mount of Olives] The Mount of Olives consists of three ridges located
in the Central Mountain Range of Israel, which runs north to south from the Kidron
Valley to the east of Jerusalem. Associated with both Christian and Jewish traditions,
the site is mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments. Douglass references Matt.
21:1 or perhaps Matt. 24:1-25:36, which describes Jesus standing on the Mount of
Olives, prophesying to his disciples. His extended teaching on the Mount of Olives
is referred to as the Olivet Discourse. Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary,
5:13-15.