text: '" The annoyance of this spectral warfare which continued many months had not prevented Mrs Poole (in spite of the _desagremens_ of flies "black thick-legged spiders " and handmaidens "who scarcely ever wash themselves except when they go to the bath which is once in about ten days or a fortnight") from becoming gradually at home in her Egyptian residence and tolerably familiarized with the language and manners of the country