And my memory turned again homewards; and I thought it
was like the vision of a man flying from Northolt, over that little
market-place beside my own door; who can see nothing below him
but a waste as of grey forests, and the pale pattern of a cross.
CHAPTER II
THE WAY OF THE DESERT
It may truly be said, touching the type of culture at least,
that Egypt has an Egyptian lower class, a French middle class and an
English governing class. Anyhow it is true that the civilisations
are stratified in this formation, or superimposed in this order.
It is the first impression produced by the darkness and density
of the bazaars, the line of the lighted cafes and the blaze
of the big hotels. But it contains a much deeper truth in all
three cases, and especially in the case of the French influence.
It is indeed one of the first examples of what I mean by the divisions
of the West becoming clearer in the ancient centres of the East.
It is often said that we can only appreciate the work of England in a
place like India. In so far as this is true, it is quite equally true
that we can only appreciate the work of France in a place like Egypt.
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