 

1‘ 1551 1., {.l \I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

OF THE

MODERN EGY'PTIANS

 

 

 

GROUP OF CHILDREN IN CAIRO.

Page 6.9.

 

A PERFORMER ON THE KEMENGEH.

I

ALEXANDER GARDNER
I’ublt‘xher to Her Illajexty the Queen
Paisley and London

 

AN ACCOUNT

OF THE

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

OF TH E

MODERN EGYIYI‘IANS

WRITTEN ZN EGYPT DURING THE YEARS
1833-1835

BY

Ebwarb '(lﬂliuiam ”lane

Translator of

“ The Thousand and One Nights "

WITH SIXTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS AND TWENTY-SEVEN
FULL-PAGE ENGRAVINGS

ALEXANDER GARDNER
Publisher to Her Ala/25!}! t/ze Queen
I’AISLEY; AND 26 PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON

1895

ANTHROPOLOGY

c

:D 7170
L 3
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“BRA!!!

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

._< _ ___.__..____

DWARD WILLIAM LANE, the author of this book, was born
at Hereford on September 17, 1801. He was the third son of
the Rev. Theophilus Lane, LL.D., a prebendary of Hereford Cathedral.
He was educated privately, chieﬂy by his parents. His mother (a niece
of Gainsborough the painter) was a woman of intellect and high prin-
ciple, and to her he was greatly indebted for the development of his
mental and moral qualities. As his attainments both in classics and in
mathematics were unusually high, it was resolved that he should go to
Cambridge, with a View to entering the Church ; but after a short resi-
dence there, he abandoned the idea, and joined an elder brother in
London, who carried on business as a lithographer and engraver. At
the same time, he devoted his leisure to the study of Arabic, in which
he soon acquired great proﬁciency. The double strain of work and
study undermined his strength, and an attack of fever, which nearly
proved fatal, left his health so shattered that a residence abroad was
necessary; and he very naturally turned to the East, where he might
at once recover his health and prosecute his favourite study.

Thus it was that Lane came to take up his residence in Egypt, in
the end of 1825, when he was a young man of four-and—twenty. He
resolved to study, not the language only, but also the people. He
therefore adopted the native costume, and so complete was the disguise
that in public he was generally taken for a Turk. He engaged two
professors to instruct him in the Arabic tongue and in the Moslem
religion and law. He lived among the people as one of them, assum-
ing an Arabic name and adopting their manners and customs, and even
their opinions, so far as conscience would allow. He abstained from
eating food forbidden by their religion, and from drinking wine, and
even from habits which they thought merely disagreeable, such as the

903

viii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

use of knives and forks at meals. He mingled with them in their
houses and bazaars. He went into their mosques—even the most sacred
of them, during the most sacred seasons—when they were crowded with
Turks, and he assumed in their midst the regular postures of devotion.
To his intimate friends among them he acknowledged the hand of
Providence in the introduction and diffusion of the religion of El—Islam;
and, when interrogated, he avowed his belief in the Messiah as the
Word of God, in accordance with the words of the Kur-an.

The result was that he gained the entire conﬁdence of the Arabs.
They even forgot that he was not an Arab. They were familiar and un-
reserved toward him on every subject. They were at no pains to conceal
from him their feelings, their thoughts, or the reason of their actions.
He was thus enabled to penetrate into the inner life of the people, to
forget for the time that he was an Englishman, and to think their
thoughts in their language.

Lane’s example has been followed by more recent travellers—for
example, by Francis Parkman, the American, Who lived for some time
among the North American Indians, and by Arminius Vambéry, the
Hungarian, who travelled for two years in the disguise of a dervish
among the Tartars of Central Asia. Lane, however, has the merit of
having been the ﬁrst to make so daring an experiment, and of having
continued it for a much longer time than his successors.

Lane’s Egyptian life was merely the preparation for the great work
he had set before himself—namely, to make the Egyptians known to the
world as they never had been before. He spent upwards of three years in
the country,—at Alexandria, at Cairo, at the Pyramids, and up the Nile ;
and when he returned to England toward the end of 1828, he had with
him his “Description of Egypt ” in a complete form, and illustrated
with drawings made by himself. Though the value of the work was
recognized, he failed to ﬁnd a publisher who would incur the expense
and the risk of bringing out the book. At length, by Lord Brougham’s
advice, its publication was undertaken by the Society for the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge. Lane, however, thought that he could improve
the book by another visit to Egypt. He returned there in 1833,
and remained for two years, during which he obtained much ad—
ditional information and new insight. “THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
OF THE MODERN EGYPTIANS” was issued in 1836, in two volumes of
the Library of Entertaining Knowledge, illustrated with admirable
woodcuts drawn by the author. Its success was immediate. Its
accuracy, its fairness, and its completeness were universally recognized.
It was characterized as “the most remarkable description of a people

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ix

ever written ;” and it remains to this day the standard authority on
its subject.

Two years later, Lane published a new translation of “The Arabian
N ights,” which was the ﬁrst accurate rendering of the tales, and is still
the standard edition. The numerous Notes he appended to it were
afterwards'published as a separate work, with the title, “Arabian
Society in the Middle Ages.” In 1843, he issued a volume of “Selec-
tions from the Kur-an.” Before this work appeared, he had returned
to Egypt again (1842), for the purpose of preparing what turned out to
be the great work of his life—his “Arabic Lexicon.” He spent seven
years in the country collecting material. The expense of the under-
taking was generously borne by the fourth Duke of Northumberland,
and after his death by his widow. Lane worked incessantly at the
Lexicon for nearly twenty years before he allowed a line of it to go to
press. When at last ﬁve quarto volumes of it appeared, beginning in
1863, it was at once accepted by the scholars of Europe as a work of
the highest authority. He did not live, however, to see it ﬁnished.
He died at Worthing, Sussex, August 10, 1876, when he had about
completed his seventy—ﬁfth year. The remaining portion of the Lexicon
was published (1876—90) under the superintendence of his grand-
nephew, S. Lane—Poole, who also wrote his Life. Though no British
university recognized Lane’s merits, he was made a Doctor of Literature
at the Tercentenary of the University of Leyden ; and the Institute of
France .elected him a Corresponding Member. In his later years he
received a Civil List pension from the British Government.

(440) 2

 

INTRODUCTION :‘-— THE COUNTRY

I.

II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.

IX.

XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.

XXI.
XXII.

CONTENTS.

 

POPULATION,

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DRESS OF

TIANS,
INFANCY AND EARLY EDUCATION,
RELIGION AND LAWS,

GOVERNMENT,

DOMESTIC LIFE,

DOMESTIC LIFE—-(Contimwd),

DOMESTIC LIFE —(Continucd),

COMMON USAGES OF' SOCIETY,
LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE,
SUPERSTITIONS,
SUPERSTITIONS—(Continxucd),

MAGIC, ASTROLOGY, AND ALCHEMY,
CHARACTER,

INDUSTRY,

THE MUSLIM EGYP-

USE OF TOBACCO, COFFEE, HEMP, OPIUM, ETC.,

THE BATH,
GAMES,

MUSIC,

PUBLIC DANCERS,

SERPENT-CHARMERS, AND PERFORMERS 0F LEGERDEMAIN TRICKS,

ETC.,
PUBLIC RECITATIONS 0F ROMANCES,

PUBLIC RECITATIONS OF ROMANCES—(Continued),

AND CLIMATE »-- METROPOLIS — HOUSES -—

17

43

67

77
124
146
169
203
209
217
231
256
272
284
315
342
349
355
363
383

388
397
407

xii
XXIII.
XXIV.

XXV.
XXVI .
XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.
XXX.
XXXI.

NOTES,

CONTENTS.

PUBLIC RECITATIONS 0F ROMANCEs-(Continued),
PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.,
PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.—(Continued),
PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.-—(Conténued),
PRIVATE FESTIVITIES, ETC.,

DEATH, AND FUNERAL RITES,
THE COPTS, ,
THE JEWS OF EGYPT,
EGYPTIAN FEMALE ORNAMENTS,

EGYPTIAN WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, ...

INDEX,

420
432
462
494
505
515
533
557
561

573
580
583

THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

OF THE

MODERN EGYPTIANS.

 

INTRODUCTION.

THE COUNTRY AND CLIMATE—METROPOLIS—HOUSES—-
POPULATION.

T is generally observed that many of the most remarkable
peculiarities in the manners, customs, and character of a
nation are attributable to the physical peculiarities of the country.
Such causes in an especial manner affect the moral and social state
of the modern Egyptians, and therefore here require some pre-
liminary notice; but it will not as yet be necessary to explain
their particular inﬂuences: these will be evinced in many sub-
sequent parts of the present work.

The Nile, in its course through the narrow and winding valley
of Upper Egypt, which is conﬁned on each side by mountainous
and sandy deserts, as well as through the plain of Lower Egypt, is
everywhere bordered, excepting in a very few places, by cultivated
ﬁelds of its own formation. These cultivated tracts are not per-
fectly level, being somewhat lower towards the deserts than in i
the neighbourhood of the river. 'They are interspersed with palm
groves and villages, and intersected by numerous canals. The
copious summer rains which prevail in Abyssinia and the neigh-
bouring countries begin to show their effects in Egypt, by the

18 THE COUNTRY AND CLIMATE.

rising of the Nile, about the period of the summer solstice. By
the autumnal equinox the river attains its greatest height, which
is always sufﬁcient to ﬁll the canals by which the ﬁelds are irri—
gated, and generally to inundate large portions of the cultivable
land. It then gradually falls until the period when it again begins
to rise. Being impregnated, particularly during its rise, with
rich soil washed down from the mountainous countries whence it
ﬂows, a copious deposit is annually spread, either by the natural
inundation or by artiﬁcial irrigation, over the ﬁelds which border
it; while its bed, from the same cause, rises in an equal degree.
The Egyptians depend entirely upon their river for the fertilization
of the soil, rain being a very rare phenomenon in their country,
excepting in the neighbourhood of the Mediterranean; and as the
seasons are perfectly regular, the peasant may make his arrange-
ments with the utmost precision respecting the labour he will have
to perform. Sometimes his labodr is light, but when it consists
in raising water for irrigation it is excessively severe.

The climate of Egypt during the greater part of the year is
remarkably salubrious. The exhalations from the soil after the
period of the inundation render the latter part of the autumn less
healthy than the summer and winter, and cause ophthalmia and
dysentery and some other diseases to be more prevalent then than
at other seasons ; and during a period of somewhat more or less
than ﬁfty days (called “ el-khamz’iseen ”), commencing in April and
lasting throughout May, hot southerly winds occasionally prevail
for about three days together. These winds, though they seldom
cause the thermometer of Fahrenheit to rise above 95° in Lower
Egypt, or, in Upper Egypt, 105°, are dreadfully oppressive, even
to the natives. When the plague visits Egypt it is generally in
the spring, and this disease is most severe in the period of the
khamaseen. Egypt is also subject, particularly during the spring
and summer, to the hot wind called the “ samoom,” which is still
more oppressive than the khamaseen winds, but of much shorter
duration, seldom lasting longer than a quarter of an hour or
twenty minutes. It generally‘proceeds from the south-east or
south-south-east, and carries with it clouds of dust and sand. The
general height of the thermometer in the depth of winter in
Lower Egypt, in the afternoon and in the shade, is from 50° to 60°.

 

Page 22.

 

THE COUNTRY AND CLIIIIAIZE. 21

In the hottest season it is from 90° to 100°, and about ten degrees
higher in the southern parts of Upper Egypt. But though the
summer heat is so great it is seldom very oppressive, being generally
accompanied by a refreshing northerly breeze, and the air being
extremely dry. There is, however, one great source of discomfort
arising from this dryness—namely, an excessive quantity of dust;
and there are other plagues which very much detract from the
comfort which the natives of Egypt and visitors to their country
otherwise derive from its genial climate. In spring, summer, and
autumn ﬂies are so abundant as to be extremely annoying during
the daytime, and musquitoes are troublesome at night (unless a
curtain be made use of to keep them away), and sometimes even
in the day; and every house that contains much wood-work (as
most of the better houses do) swarms with bugs during the warm
weather. Lice are not always to be avoided in any season, but
they are easily got rid of ; and in the cooler weather ﬂeas are
excessively numerous.

The climate of Upper Egypt is more healthy, though hotter,
than that of Lower Egypt. The plague seldom ascends far above
Cairo, the metropolis, and is most common in the marshy parts
of the country near the Mediterranean. During the last ten
years, the country having been better drained, and quarantine
regulations adopted to prevent or guard against the introduction
of this disease from other countries, very few plague cases have
occurred, excepting in the parts above mentioned, and in those
parts the pestilence has not been severe.1 Ophthalmia is also
more common in Lower Egypt than in the southern parts. It
generally arises from checked perspiration, but is aggravated by
' the dust and many other causes. When remedies are promptly
employed, this disease is seldom alarming in its progress; but
vast numbers of the natives of Egypt, not knowing how to treat
it, or obstinately resigning themselves to fate, are deprived of the
sight of one or both of their eyes.

When questioned respecting the salubrity of Egypt, I have
often been asked whether many aged persons are seen among the
inhabitants. Few, certainly, attain a great age in this country ;
but how few do in our own land without more than once suffering
from an illness that would prove fatal without medical aid, which

2 2 ME T16 OPOLIS.

is obtained by a very small number in Egypt! The heat of the
summer months is sufﬁciently oppressive to occasion considerable
lassitude, while, at the same time, it excites the Egyptian to in-
temperance in sensual enjoyments; and the exuberant fertility of
the soil engenders indolence, little nourishment sufﬁcing for the
natives, and the sufﬁciency being procurable without much exertion.

The modern Egyptian metropolis, to the inhabitants of which
most of the contents of the following pages relate, is now called
“Masr,” more properly “Misr,” but was formerly named “El-
Kahireh,” whence Europeans have formed the name of Cairo. It
is situated at the entrance of the valley of Upper Egypt, midway
between the Nile and the eastern mountain range of Mukattam.
Between it and the river there intervenes a tract of land, for the
most part cultivated, which in the northern parts (where the port
of Boolak is situated) is more than a mile in Width, and at the
southern part less than half a mile wide. The metropolis occu-
pies a space equal to about three square miles, and its population
is about two hundred and forty thousand. It is surrounded by a
wall, the gates of which are shut at night, and is commanded by
a large citadel, situated at an angle of the town, near a point of
the mountain. The streets are unpaved, and most of them are
narrow and irregular : they might more properly be called lanes.

By a stranger who merely passed through the streets Cairo
would be regarded as a very close and crowded city, but that this
is not the case is evident to a person who overlooks the town from
the top of a lofty house or from the menaret of a mosque. The
great thoroughfare-streets have generally a row of shops along each
side. Above the shops are apartments which do not communicate
with them, and which are seldom occupied by the persons who rent
the shops. To the right and left of the great thoroughfares are
by-streets and quarters. Most of the by—streets are thoroughfares,
and have a large wooden gate at each end, closed at night, and
kept by a porter within, who opens to any persons requiring to be
admitted. The quarters mostly consist of several narrow lanes,
having but one general entrance, with a gate, which is also closed
at night ; but several have a by—street passing through them.

Of the private houses of the metropolis it is particularly neces-
sary that I should give a description. The accompanying engrav-

' IIIII HWIIﬂIIIIIIII
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NUIHIHIW I
Wm IIIIIIIIIm‘IIF III}

 

A STREET 1N CAIRO.

Pug: 22‘

 

HOUSES. 25

ing will serve to give a general notion of their exterior. The
foundation-walls, to the height of the ﬁrst ﬂoor, are cased exter-
nally and often internally with the soft calcareous stone of the
neighbouring mountain. The surface of the stone when newly
cut is of a light yellowish hue, but its colour soon darkens. The

aw

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,

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PRIVATE HOUSES IN CAIRO.

alternate courses of the front are sometimes coloured red and
white, particularly in large houses; as is the case with most
mosques. The superstructure, the front of which generally pro-
jects about two feet, and is supported by corbels or piers, is of
brick, and often plastered. The bricks are burnt, and of a dull ,

26 HOUSES.

red colour. The mortar is generally composed of mud in the
proportion of one half, with a fourth part of lime, and the re-
maining part of the ashes of straw and rubbish. Hence the
unplastered walls of brick are of a dirty colour, as if the bricks
were unburnt. The roof is ﬂat, and covered with a coat of plaster.

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DOOR OF A TRIVATE HOUSE IN CAIRO.

The most usual architectural style of the entrance of a private
house in Cairo is shown by the sketch here inserted. The door
is often ornamented in the manner here represented. The com-
partment in which is the inscription, and the other similarly-
shaped compartments, are painted red, bordered with White ; the

HOUSES. 27

rest of the surface of the door is painted green. The inscription,
“ He [that is, God] is the excellent Creator, the Everlasting” (the
object of which will be explained when I treat of the superstitions
of the Egyptians), is seen on many doors, but is far from being
general. It is usually painted in black or white characters. Few
doors but those of large houses are painted. They generally have
an iron knocker and a wooden lock, and there is usually a mountr
ing—stone by the side.

The ground-ﬂoor apartments next the street have small wooden
grated windows, placedsuﬁiciently high to render it impossible
for a person passing by in the street, even on horseback, to see
through them.’ The windows of the upper apartments generally
project a foot and a half or more, and are mostly formed of turned
wooden lattice-work, which is so close that it shuts out much of
the light and sun, and screens the inmates of the house from the
view of persons without, while at the same time it admits the air.
They are generally of unpainted wood, but some few are partially
painted red and green, and some are entirely painted. A window
of this kind is called a “ roshan,” or more commonly a “meshre-
beeyeh,” which latter word has another application that will be
mentioned below. Several windows of different descriptions are
represented in some of the illustrations of this work, and sketches
of the most common patterns of the lattice-work on a larger
scale are here inserted. Sometimes a window of the kind above
described has a little meshrebeeyeh, which somewhat resembles a
réshan in miniature, projecting from the front or from each side.
In this, in order to be exposed to a current of air, are placed
porous earthen bottles, which are used for cooling water by
evaporation. Hence the name of “ meshrebeeyeh,” which signiﬁes
“a place for drink ” or “ —- for drinking.” The projectng window
has a ﬂat one of lattice-work, or of grating of wood, or of coloured
glass, immediately above it. This upper window, if of lattice-
work, is often of'a more fanciful construction than the others,
exhibiting a representation of a basin with a ewer above it, or the
ﬁgure of a lion, or the name of “Allah,” or the words, “God is
my hope,” etc. Some projecting windows are wholly constructed
of boards, and a few have frames of glass in the sides. In the
better hOuses also the windows of lattice-work are now generally

28 HOUSES.

furnished with frames of glass in the inside, which in the Winter
are wholly closed; for a penetrating cold is felt in Egypt when
the thermometer of Fahrenheit is below 60°. The windows of

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SPECIMENS 0F LATTICE-WORK.

(From the centre of one row of handy to that of the nor! in there mach/mix 1‘: hem/ecu an inch
and a quarter and an inch and three-quarters.)

inferior houses are mostly of a different kind, being even with the

exterior surface of the wall. The upper part is of wooden lattice-

HOUSES. 29

work or grating, and the lower closed by hanging shutters; but
many of these have a little meshrebeeyeh for the water-bottles
projecting from the lower part.

 

 

 

 

 

 

COURT OF A PRIVATE HOUSE IN CAIRO.

The houses in general are two or three stories high, and
almost every house that is sufﬁciently large encloses an open,
unpaved court, called a “hesh,” which is entered by a passage

- 3o [10 USES.

that is constructed with one or two turnings, for the purpose of
preventing passengers in the street from seeing into it. In this
passage, just within the door, there is a long stone seat, called

 

 

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1
PAVEMENT or A “DURKA’AH.”
(About ezlgrlztfeet wide.)

“mastab'ah,” built against the back or side wall, for the porter
and other servants. In the court is a well of slightly brackish

HOUSES. 31

water, which ﬁlters through the soil from the Nile; and on its
most shaded side are commonly two water-jars, which are daily
replenished with water of the Nile, brought from the river in
skins. The principal apartments look into the court, and their
exterior walls (those which are of brick) are plastered and white-
washed. There are several doors, which are entered from the
court. One of these is called “bab el-hareem” (the door of the
hareem). It is the entrance of the stairs which lead to the apart-
ments appropriated exclusively to the women and their master
and his children.

In general there is, on the ground—ﬂoor, an apartment called a
“ mandar’ah,” in which male visitors are received. This has a.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOUNTAIN.

wide, wooden, grated window, or two windows of this kind, next
the court. A small part of the ﬂoor, extending from the door to
the opposite side of the room, is six or seven inches lower than
the rest: this part is called the “durka’ah.” In a handsome
house, the durka’ah of the mandar’ah is paved with white and
black marble, and little pieces of ﬁne red tile, inlaid in compli—
cated and tasteful patterns, and has in the centre a fountain
(called “ faskeeyeh”), which plays into a small shallow pool, lined
with coloured marbles, etc., like the surrounding pavement. I
give a sketch of the fountain. The water which falls from the
fountain is drained off from the pool by a pipe. There is generally,

32 H0 USES.

fronting the door, at the end of the durka’ah, a shelf of marble
or of common stone, about four feet high, called a “ suffeh,” sup-
ported by two or more arches, or by a single arch, under which
are placed utensils in ordinary use—such as perfuming vessels,
and the basin and ewer which are used for washing before and
after meals, and for the ablution preparatory to prayer: water- '
bottles, coffee-cups, etc, are placed upon the suffeh. In hand-
some houses the arches of the suffeh are faced with marble and
tile, like the pool of the fountain represented in the sketch above ;
and sometimes the wall over it, to the height of about four feet or
more, is also cased with similar materials—partly with large up-
right slabs, and partly with small pieces, like the durka’ah. The
raised part of the ﬂoor of the room is called “leewan” (a cor-
ruption of “el-eewan,” which signiﬁes “any raised place to sit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUFFEH.

upon,” and‘also “ a palace”). Every person slips off his shoes on
the durka’ah before he steps upon the leewan.2 The latter is
generally paved with common stone, and covered with a mat in
summer, and a carpet over the mat in winter , and has a mattress
and cushions placed against each of its three walls, composing
what is called a “ deewan,” or divan. The mattress, which is
generally about three feet wide and three or four inches thick,
is placed either on the ground or on a raised frame; and the
cushions, which are usually of a length equal to the width of the
mattress, and of a height equal to half that measure, lean against
the wall. Both mattresses and cushions are stuffed with cotton,
and are covered with printed calico, cloth, or some more expen-
sive stuff. The walls are plastered and whitewashed. There are
generally, in the walls, two or three shallow cupboards, the doors

HOUSES. 7 33

of which are composed of very small panels, on account of the
heat and dryness of the climate, which cause wood to warp and
shrink as if it were placed in an oven ; for which reason the doors

 

 

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of the apartments also are constructed in the same manner. We
observe great variety and much ingenuity displayed in the differ-
(440) 3

34 HO USES.

ent modes in which these small panels are formed and disposed.
A few specimens are here introduced. The ceiling over the
leewén is of wood, with carved beams, generally about a foot
apart, partially painted, and sometimes gilt. But that part of the
ceiling which is over the durka’ah, in a handsome house, is usually
more richly decorated ; here, instead of beams, numerous thin
strips of wood are nailed upon the planks, forming patterns

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CEILING on A DURK‘i’AIL
(JIM/t! eight/cg! 2012275,)
curiously complicated, yet perfectly regular, and having a highly-
ornamental effect. I give a sketch of the half of a ceiling thus
decorated, but not in the most complicated style. The strips are
painted yellow or gilt, and the spaces within painted green, red,
and blue. (See Jer. xxii. 14.) In the'example which I have
inserted, the colours are as indicated in the sketch of a portion of

HOUSES. 3 5

the same on a larger scale, excepting in the square in the centre
of the ceiling, where the strips are black, upon a yellow ground.
From the centre of this square a chandelier is often suspended.
There are many patterns of a similar kind, and the colours gener—
ally occupy similar places with regard to each other ,- but in some
houses these ceilings are not painted. The ceiling of a projecting
window is often ornamented in the same manner. A sketch of
one is here given. Good taste is evinced by only decorating in
this manner parts which are not always before the eyes, for to
look long at so many lines intersecting each other in various direc-
tions would be painful.

‘ *1 . XVI 3a

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K

CEILING OF A PROJECTING WINDOW,
(A6011! tight ﬁt! by three.)

 

 

 

In some houses (as in that which is the subject of the engrav—
ing on p. 29) there is another room, called a “mak’ad,” for the
same use as the mandar’ah, having an open front, with two or more
arches and a low railing; and also, on the ground-ﬂoor, a square
recess, called a “ takhtabosh,” with an open front, and generally
a pillar to support the wall above: its ﬂoor is a paved leewan 3
and there is a long wooden sofa placed along one, or two, or each
of its three walls. The court, during the summer, is frequently
sprinkled with water, which renders the surrounding apartments
agreeably cool—«or at least those on the ground-ﬂoor. All the
rooms are furnished in the same manner as that ﬁrst described.

Among the upper apartments, or those of the hareem, there
is generally one called a “ ka’ah,” which is particularly lofty. It
has two leewans—one on each hand of a person entering; one of
these is generally larger than the other, and is the more honour—
able part. A portion of the roof of this saloon, the part which is
over the durka’ah that divides the two leewans, is a little elevated
above the rest, and has in the centre a small lantern, called

36 HOUSES.

“memrak,” the sides of which are composed of lattice-work, like
the Windows before described, and support a cupola. The dur-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ké’ah is commonly Without a fountain, but is often paved in a
similar manner to that of the mandar’ah, which the ké’ah also
resembles in having a handsome suffeh, and cupboards of curious

HOUSES. ‘ 37

panel-work. There is, besides, in this and some other apartments,
a narrow shelf of wood, extending along two or each of the three
walls which bound the leewan, about seven feet or more from the
ﬂoor, just above the cupboards, but interrupted in some parts—
at least in those parts where the windows are placed 3 upon this
are arranged several vessels of china, not so much for general use
as for ornament. All the apartments are lofty, generally fourteen
feet or more in height ; but the ka’ah is the largest and most lofty
room, and in a large house it is a noble saloon.

In several of the upper rooms, in the houses of the wealthy,
there are, besides the windows of lattice—work, others of coloured
glass, representing bunches of ﬂowers, peacocks, and other gay
and gaudy objects, or merely fanciful patterns, which have a
pleasing effect. These coloured glass windows, which are termed
“kamareeyehs,” are mostly from a foot and a half to two feet
and a half in height, and from one to two feet in width, and are
generally placed along the upper part of the projecting lattice—
window, in a row ; or above that kind of window, disposed in a
group, so as to form a large square ; or elsewhere in the upper
parts of the walls, usually singly, or in pairs, side by side. They
are composed of small pieces of glass of various colours, set in
rims of ﬁne plaster, and enclosed in a frame of wood. On the
plastered walls of some apartments are rude paintings of the
temple of Mekkeh, or of the tomb of the Prophet, or of ﬂowers
and other objects, executed by native Muslim artists, who have
not the least notion of the rules of perspective, and who conse-
quently deface what they thus attempt to decorate. Sometimes
also the walls are ornamented with Arabic inscriptions, of maxims,
etc, which are more usually written on paper, in an embellished
style, and enclosed in glazed frames. No chambers are furnished
as bedrooms. The bed in the daytime is rolled up and placed
on one side, or in an adjoining closet, called “khazneh,” which
in the winter is a sleeping-place: in summer many people sleep
upon the house-top. A mat, or carpet, spread upon the raised
part of the stone ﬂoor, and a deewan’, constitute the complete
furniture of a room. For meals, a round tray is brought in and
placed upon a low stool, and the company sit round it on the
ground. There is no ﬁre—place ,‘3 the room is warmed, when

33 HOUSES.

necessary, by burning charcoal in a chaﬁng-dish. Many houses
have, at the top, a sloping shed of boards, called a “ malkaf,” di-
rected towards the north or north-west, to convey to a “ fes-hah ”
0r “fesahah” (an open apartment) below the cool breezes which
generally blow from those quarters.

Every door is furnished with a wooden lock, called a “dabbeh,”
the mechanism of which is shown by a sketch here inserted.
No. 1 in this sketch is a front View of the lock, with the bolt
drawn back ; Nos. 2, 3, and 4 are back Views of the separate
parts, and the key. A number of small iron pins (four, ﬁve,
or more) drop into corresponding holes in the sliding bolt as

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WOODEN LOCK.

soon as the latter is pushed into the hole or staple of the door-
post. The key also has small pins, made to correspond with the
holes, into which they are introduced to open the lock ; the former
pins being thus pushed up, the bolt may be drawn back. The
wooden lock of a street-door is commonly about fourteen inches
long; those of the doors of apartments, cupboards, etc., are about
seven or eight or nine inches. The locks of the gates of quarters,
public buildings, etc., are of the same kind, and mostly two feet,
or even more, in length. It is not diﬁicult to pick this kind of lock.

In the plan of almost every house there is an utter want of
regularity. The apartments are generally of different heights, so
that a person has to ascend or descend one, two, or more steps to

IZOUSES. 39

pass from one chamber to another adjoining it. The principal
aim of the architect is to render the house as private as possible,
particularly that part of it which is inhabited by the women, and
not to make any window in such a situation as to overlook the
apartments of another house. Another object of the architect, in
building a house for a person of wealth or rank, is to make a
secret door (“bab sirr”), from which the tenant may make his
escape in case of danger from an arrest, or an attempt at assas-
sination, or by which to give access and egress to a paramour ; and
it is also common to make a hiding-place for treasure (called
“ makhba ”) in some part of the house. In the hareem of a large
house there is generally a bath, which is heated in the same
manner as the public baths. ’

Another style of building has lately been very generally adopted
for houses of the more wealthy. These do not differ much from
those already described, excepting in the windows, which are of
glass, and placed almost close together. Each window of the
hareem has, outside, a sliding frame of close wooden trellis-work,
to cover the lower half The numerous glass windows are ill
adapted to a hot climate.

When shops occupy the lower part of the buildings in a street
(as is generally the case in the great thoroughfares of the metro-
polis, and in some of the by-streets), the superstructure is usually
divided into distinct lodgings, and is termed “raba.” These
lodgings are separate from each other, as well as from the shops
below, and let to families who cannot afford the rent of a whole
house. Each lodging in a raba comprises one or two sitting or
sleeping rooms, and generally a kitchen and latrina. It seldom
has a separate entrance from the street, one entrance and one
staircase usually admitting to a range of several lodgings. The
apartments are similar to those of the private houses ﬁrst de-
scribed. They are never let ready-furnished ; and it is very seldom
that a person who has not a wife or female slave is allowed to
reside in them, or in any private house : such a person (unless he
have parents or other near relations to dwell with) is usually obliged
to take up his abode in a “wekaleh,” which is a building chieﬂy
designed for the reception of merchants and their goods. Franks,
however, are now exempted from this restriction.

4o POPULATION

Very few large or handsome houses are to be seen in Egypt,
excepting in the metropolis and some other towns. The dwellings
of the lower orders, particularly those of the peasants, are of a
very mean description 3 they are mostly built of unbaked bricks,
cemented together with mud. Some of them are mere hovels.
The greater number, however, comprise two or more apartments,
though few are two stories high. In one of these apartments, in
the houses of the peasants in Lower Egypt, there is generally an
oven (“ furn ”), at the end farthest from the entrance, and occupy-
ing the whole width of the chamber. It resembles a wide bench
or seat, and is about breast-high: it is constructed of brick and
mud 5 the roof arched within, and ﬂat on the top. The inhabit-
ants of the house, who seldom have any night-covering during the
winter, sleep upon the top of the oven, having previously lighted
a ﬁre within it ; or the husband and wife only enjoy this luxury,
and the children sleep upon the ﬂoor. The chambers have small
apertures high up in the walls, for the admission of light and air
——sometimes furnished with a grating of wood. The roofs are
formed of palm branches and palm leaves, or of millet stalks, etc. ,
laid upon rafters of the trunk of the palm, and covered with a
plaster of mud and chopped straw. The furniture consists of a
mat or two to sleep upon, a few earthen vessels, and a hand-mill
to grind the corn. In many villages large pigeon-houses of a
square form, but with the walls slightly inclining inwards (like
many of the ancient Egyptian buildings), or of the form of a
sugar-loaf, are constructed upon the roofs of the huts, with crude
brick, pottery, and mud. Most of the villages of Egypt are situ—
ated upon eminences of rubbish, which rise a few feet above the
reach of the inundation, and are surrounded by palm trees, or have
a few of these trees in their vicinity. The rubbish which they
occupy chieﬂy consists of the materials of former huts, and seems
to increase in about the same degree as the level of the alluvial
plains and the bed of the river.

In a country where neither births nor deaths are registered it is
next to impossible to ascertain with precision the amount of the
population. A few years ago a calculation was made, founded on
the number of houses in Egypt, and the supposition that the in-
habitants of each house in the metropolis amount to eight persons,

ALEXANDRIA.

 

Page 41.

 

POPULA TZOZV. 4 I

and in the provinces to four. This computation approximates, I
believe, very nearly to the truth; but personal observation and
inquiry incline me to think that the houses of such towns as
Alexandria, Boolak, and Masr el-’Ateekah contain each, on the
average, at least ﬁve persons. Rasheed (or Rosetta) is half de-
serted; but as to the crowded town of Dimyat (or Damietta),
we must reckon as many as six persons to each house, or our
estimate will fall far short of what is generally believed to be the
number of its inhabitants. The addition of one or two persons
to each house in the above-mentioned towns will, however, make
little difference in the computation of the whole population of
Egypt, which was found, by this mode of reckoning, to amount
to rather more than 2,500,000 ; but it is now much reduced. Of
2,500,000 souls, say 1,200,000 are males, and one-third of this
number (400,000) men ﬁt for military service. From this latter
number the present Basha of Egypt has taken, at the least,
200,000 (that is, one-half of the most serviceable portion of the
male population) to form and recruit his armies of regular troops,
and for the service of his navy. The further loss caused by
withdrawing so many men from their wives, or preventing their
marrying, during ten years, must surely far exceed 300,000 ,' con-
sequently, the present population may be calculated as less than
two millions. The numbers of the several classes of which the
population is mainly composed are nearly as follow :— '

Muslim Egyptians (fellaheen, or peasants, and townspeople) ...1,750,000

Christian Egyptians (Copts) ................................................. 150,000
’Osmanlees, or Turks ........................................................... 10,000
Syrians ............................................................................. 5,000
Greeks .............................................................................. 5,000
Armenians ......................................................................... 2,000
Jews ................. . ............................................................ 5,000

Of the remainder (namely, Arabians, Western Arabs, Nubians,
Negro slaves, Memlooks [or white male slaves], female white
slaves, Franks, etc), amounting to about 70,000, the respective.
numbers are very uncertain and variable. The Arabs of the
neighbouring deserts ought not to be included among the popu-
lation of Egypt.

Cairo, I have said, contains about 240,000 inhabitants. We

42 POPULATION

should be greatly deceived if we judged of the population of this
city from the crowds that we meet in the principal thoroughfare-
streets and markets; in most of the by-streets and quarters very
few passengers are seen. Nor should we judge from the extent
of the city and suburbs, for there are within the walls many
vacant places, some of which, during the season of the inunda-
tion, are lakes (as the Birket el-Ezbekeeyeh, Birket el-Feel, etc).
The gardens, several burial—grounds, the courts of houses, and the
mosques, also occupy a considerable space. Of the inhabitants
of the metropolis, about 190,000 are Egyptian Muslims; about
10,000, Copts ; 3,000 or 4,000, Jews ,' and the rest, strangers from
various countries.

The population of Egypt in the times of the Pharaohs was
probably about six or- seven millions. The produce of the soil in
the present age would sufﬁce, if none were exported, for the main-
tenance of a population amounting to 4,000,000 ; and if all the
soil which is capable of cultivation were sown, the produce would
be suﬁioient for the maintenance of 8,000,000. But this would
be the utmost number that Egypt could maintain in years of
plentiful inundation. I therefore compute the ancient population,
at the time when agriculture was in a very ﬂourishing state, to
have amounted to what I ﬁrst stated ; and must suppose it to
have been scarcely more than half as numerous in the times of
the PtOlemies, and at later periods, when a great quantity of corn
was annually exported. This calculation agrees with what Dio—
dorus Siculus says (in lib. i. cap. 31)—namely, that Egypt con-
tained, in the times of the ancient kings, 7,000,000 inhabitants,
and in his own time not less than 3,000,000.

How different now is the state of Egypt from what it might
be, possessing a population of scarcely more than one quarter of the
number that it might be rendered capable of supporting! How
great a change might be effected in it by a truly enlightened
government, by a prince who (instead of impoverishing the peas
‘antry by depriving them of their lands, and by his monopolies of
the most valuable productions of the soil ; by employing the best
portion of the population to prosecute his ambitious schemes of
foreign conquest, and another large portion in the vain attempt to
rival European manufactures) would give his people a greater

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS, ETC. 43

interest in the cultivation of the ﬁelds, and make Egypt what na-
ture designed it to be—almost exclusively an agricultural country 1
Its produce of cotton alone would more than sufﬁce to procure all
the articles of foreign manufacture, and all the natural productions
of foreign countries, that the wants of its inhabitants demand.
The desired change 'may now be easily effected, for since the
above was written the Basha has been placed in a new position,
which will enable him to acquire a greater and more honourable
fame, by the cultivation of the arts of peace, than his conquests,
brilliant as they have been, have hitherto procured for him. No
one who is acquainted with the modern history of Egypt, and more
particularly with the state of the country during the period that
intervened between the French expedition and the accession of
Mohammad ’Alee to the ofﬁce of Viceroy, can doubt that he pos~
sesses extraordinary talents for government ,' and let us hope that
those talents will be rightly employed. But, as he himself afﬁrms,
some time will be required for effecting the necessary changes.

CHAPTER I.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DRESS OF THE MUSLIM
EGYPTIANS.

MUSLIMS of Arabian origin have for many centuries mainly com-
posed the population of Egypt. They have changed its language,
laws, and general manners ,' and its metropolis they have made
the principal seat of Arabian learning and arts. To the descrip-
tion of this people, and especially of the middle and higher classes
in the Egyptian capital, will be devoted the chief portion of the
present work. In every point of View Masr (or Cairo) must be
regarded as the ﬁrst Arab city of our age; and the manners and
customs of its inhabitants are particularly interesting, as they are
a combination of those which prevail most generally in the towns
of Arabia, Syria, and the whole of Northern Africa, and in a great
{degree in Turkey. There is no other place in which we can obtain
so complete a knowledge of the most civilized classes of the Arabs.

From statements made in the introduction to this work, it

44 PERSOZVAL CHARACTERISTICS

appears that Muslim Egyptians (or Arab-Egyptians) compose
nearly four-ﬁfths of the population of the metropolis (which is
computed to amount to about 240,000), and just seven-eighths of
that of all Egypt.

The Muslim Egyptians are descended from various Arab tribes
and families which have settled in Egypt at different periods—
mostly soon after the conquest of this country by ’Amr, its ﬁrst
Arab governor; but by intermarriages with the Copts and others ‘
who have become proselytes to the faith of El—Islam, as well as by
the change from a life of wandering to that of citizens or'of agri-
culturists, their personal characteristics have, by degrees, become
so much altered, that there is a strongly-marked difference between
them and the natives of Arabia. Yet they are to be regarded as
not less genuine Arabs than the townspeople of Arabia itself,
among whom has long and very generally prevailed a custom of
keeping Abyssinian female slaves, either instead of marrying their
own countrywomen, or (as is commonly the case with the opulent)
in addition to their Arab wives ,' so that they bear almost as l
strong a resemblance to the Abyssinians as to the Bedawees or
Arabs of the Desert. The term “Arab,” it should here be re-
marked, is now used wherever the Arabic language is spoken
only to designate the Bedawees collectively. In speaking of a
tribe, or of a small number of those people, the word “ ’Orban” is
also used ,' and a single individual is called “Bedawee.” In the
metropolis and other towns of Egypt, the distinction of tribes
is almost wholly lost; but it is preserved among the peasants,
who have retained many Bedawee customs, of which I shall have
to speak. The native Muslim inhabitants of Cairo commonly call
themselves “ El-Masreeyeen,” “ Owlad-Masr ” (or “Ahl—Masr ”), and
“ Owlad-el-Beled,” which signify people of Masr, children of Masr,
and children of the town : the singular forms of these appellations
are “ Masree,” “ Ibn-Masr,” and “ Ibn-el-Beled.” Of these three
terms, the last is most common in the town itself. The country
people are called “El-Fellaheen” (or the agriculturists), in the
singular “ Fellah.” The Turks often apply this term to the
Egyptians in general in an abusive sense, as meaning “ the boors ”
or “the clowns ;” and improperly stigmatize them with the ap-
pellation of “ Ahl-Far’oon,” or “ the people of Pharaoh.”

 
   
     

f {.4ND DRESS 017 THE MUSLIM EGYPTIANS. 45

In general, the Muslim Egyptians attain the height of about
3, _ve feet eight or ﬁve feet nine inches. Most of the children
finder nine or ten years of age have spare limbs and a distended
bdomen ; but as they grow up their forms rapidly improve. In
ature age most of them are remarkably well proportioned—the
finen, muscular and robust; the women, very beautifully formed
and plump ; and neither sex is too fat. I have .never seen cor-
pulent persons among them, excepting a few in the metropolis
and other towns, rendered so by a life of inactivity. In Cairo
and throughout the northern provinces, those who have not been
much exposed to the sun have a yellowish but very clear com-
plexion and Soft skin ; the rest are of a considerably darker and
coarser complexion. The people of Middle Egypt are of a more
tawny colour, and those of the more southern provinces are of a
deep bronze or brown complexion—darkest towards Nubia, where
the climate is hottest. In general, the countenance of the Muslim
Egyptian (I here speak of the men) is of a ﬁne oval form; the
forehead, of moderate size, seldom high, but generally prominent;
the eyes are deep-sunk, black, and brilliant ; the nose is straight,
but rather thick ; the mouth well formed 5 the lips are rather full
than otherwise; the teeth particularly beautiful; the beard is
commonly black and curly, but scanty. I have seen very few in-
dividuals of this race with gray eyes—0r rather, few persons sup-
posed to be of this race ; for I am inclined to think them the off—
spring of Arab women by Turks or other foreigners. The Fella-
been, from constant exposure to the sun, have a habit of half
shutting their eyes; this is also characteristic of the Bedawees.
Great numbers of the Egyptians are blind in one or both eyes.
They generally shave that part of the cheek which is above the
lower jaw, and likewise a small space under the lower lip, leaving,
however, the hairs which grow in the middle under the mouth;
or, instead of shaving these parts, they pluck out the hair. They
:also shave a part of the beard under the chili. Very few shave
”the rest of their beards, and none their moustaches.4 The former
they suffer to grow to the length of about a band’s-breadth below
"lithe chin (such, at least, is the general rule, and such was the cus-
!tom of the Prophet); and their moustaches they do not allow to
(become so long as to incommode them in eating and drinking.

46 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

The practice of dyeing the beard is not common, for a gray beard is
much respected. The Egyptians shave all the rest of the hair, or
leave only a small tuft (called “ shoosheh ”) upon the crown of the
head. This last custom (which is almost universal among them), I
have been told, originated in the fear that if the Muslim should
fall into the hands of an inﬁdel and be slain, the latter might cut
off the head of his victim, and ﬁnding no hair by which to hold it,
put his impure hand into the mouth in order to carry it ; for the
beard might not be sufﬁciently long. With the like View of avoid-
ing impurity, the Egyptians observe other customs which need not
here be described. Many men of the lower orders, and some
others, make blue marks upon their arms, and sometimes upon the
hands and chest, as the women, in speaking of whom this opera—
tion will be described.

The dress of the men of the middle and higher classes consists
of the following articles :—First, a pair of full drawers of linen or
cotton, tied round the body by a running string or band, the ends
of which are embroidered with coloured silks, though concealed
by the outer dress. The drawers descend a little below the knees
or to the ankles; but many of the Arabs will not wear long
drawers, because prohibited by the Prophet. Next is worn a
shirt, with very full sleeves reaching to the wrist ; it is made ofi
linen of a loose, open texture, or'of cotton stuﬁ, or of muslin or
silk, or of a mixture of silk and cotton, in stripes, but all white.
Over this, in winter, or in cool weather, most persons wear a
“ sudeyree,” which is a short vest of cloth, or of striped coloured,
silk and cotton, without sleeves. Over the shirt and sudeyree,é
or the former alone, is worn a long vest of striped silk and cotton:
(called “kaftan,” or more commonly “kuftan”), descending toé
the ankles, with long sleeves extending a few inches beyond the
ﬁngers’ ends, but divided from a point a little above the wrist or
about the middle of the forearm; so that the hand is generally?
exposed, though it may be concealed by the sleeve when neces—E
sary, for it is customary to cover the hands in the presence of al
person of high rank. Round this vest is wound the girdle, whicht
is a coloured shawl, or a long piece of white-ﬁgured muslin. The;
ordinary outer robe is a long cloth coat of any colour (called byf

the Turks “jubbeh,” but by the Egyptians “ gibbeh ”), the sleevesq
II

 

AND DRESS 01“ THE MUSLIM EGYPTIANS. 47

of which reach not quite to the wrist. Some persons also wear
a. “beneesh,” or “benish,” which is a. robe of cloth, with long
sleeves like those of the kuftén, but more ample. It is properly

 

MEN OF THE MIDDLE AND HIGHER CLASSES.

a. robe of ceremony, and should be worn over the other cloth coat ;
but many persons wear it instead of the gibbeh. Another robe,
called “ farageeyeh,” nearly resembles the beneesh. It has very

48 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

long sleeves, but these are not slit, and it is chieﬂy worn by men
of the learned professions. In cold or cool weather a kind of
black woollen cloak, called “ ’abayeh,” is commonly worn. Some-
times this is drawn over the head. In winter also many persons
wrap a muslin or other shawl (such as they use for a turban) about
the head and shoulders. The head- dress consists, ﬁrst, of a small,
close- ﬁtting, cotton cap, which is often changed, next, a “tar-
boosh,” which is a red cloth cap, also ﬁtting closely to the head,
with a tassel of dark-blue silk at the crown, lastly, a long piece
of white muslin, generally ﬁgured, or a Kashmeer shawl, which is
wound round the tarboosh. Thus is formed the turban. The
Kashmeer shawl is seldom worn excepting in cool weather Some
persons wear two or three tarbooshes, one over another. A
“ shereef” (or descendant of the Prophet) wears a green turban,
or is privileged to do so, but no other person , and it is not com-
mon for any but a shereef to wear a bright green dress. Stockings
are not in use, but some few persons, in cold weather, wear
woollen or cotton socks. The shoes are of thick, red morocco,
pointed and turning up at the toes. Some persons also wear inner
'shoes of soft yellow morocco, and with soles of the same. The
outer shoes are taken off on stepping upon a campet or mat ; but
not the inner, for this reasOn—the former are often worn turned
down at the heel.

On the little ﬁnger of the right hand 1s worn a seal— ring, which
is generally of silver, with a carnelian, or other stone, upon which
is engraved the wearer’s name. The name is usually accompanied
by the words “ his servant ” (signifying “ the servant or worshipper
of God”), and often by other words expressive» of the person’s
trust in God, etc. The Prophet disapproved of gold, therefore
few Muslims wear gold rings ; but the women have various orna-
ments (rings, bracelets, etc.) of that precious metal. The seal-ring
is used for signing letters and other writings, and its impression
is considered more valid than the sign—manual.* A little ink is
dabbed upon it With one of the ﬁngers, and it is pressed upon the
paper, the person who uses it having ﬁrst touched his tongue with
another ﬁnger and moistened the place in the paper which is to be

* Therefore, giving the ring to another person is the utmost mark of conﬁdence. (See
Gen. xli. 42.)

AZVD DRESS 01" THE JIUSLL/W EGYPIYANS. 49

stamped. Almost every person who can afford it has a seal—ring,
even though he be a servant. The regular scribes, literary men,
and many others, wear a silver, brass, or copper “dawayeh,”
which is a case with receptacles for ink and pens, stuck in the
girdle.* Some have, in the place of this, or in addition to it, a
case-knife or a dagger.

The Eg ptian generally takes his pipe with him wherever he
goes (‘unless it be to the mosque), or has a servant to carry it,
~ though it is not a common custom to smoke while riding or walk--
ing. The tobacco-purse he crams into his bosom, the kuftan being
large, and lapping over in front. A handkerchief, embroidered
with coloured silks and gold, and neatly folded, is also placed in
the bosom. Many persons of the middle orders, who wish to avoid
being'thought rich, conceal such a dress as I have described by a
long black gown of cotton, similar to the gown worn by most per—
sons of the lower classes.

The costume of the men of the lower orders is very simple.
These, if not of the very poorest class, wear a pair of drawers and
a long and full shirt or gown of blue linen or cotton, or of brown
woollen stuff (the former called “ ’eree,” and the latter “ zaaboot”),
open from the neck nearly to the waist, and having wide sleeves.
Over this some wear a white or red woollen girdle. Their turban
is generally composed of a white, red, or yellow woollen shawl, or
of a piece of coarse cotton or muslin wound round a tarboosh,
under which is a white or brown felt cap , but many are so poor
as to have no other cap than the latter—n0 turban, nor even
drawers nor shoes, but only the blue or brown shirt, or merely a
few rags; while many, on the other hand, wear a sudeyree under
the blue shirt; and some, particularly servants in the houses of
great men, wear a white shirt, a sudeyree, and a kuftan or gibbeh,
or both, and the blue shirt over all. The full sleeves of this shirt
are sometimes drawn up by means of cords, which pass round each
shoulder and cross behind, where they are tied in a knot. This
custom is adopted by servants (particularly grooms), who have
cords of crimson or dark-blue silk for this purpose. In cold
weather many persons of the lower classes wear an ’abayeh, like
that before described, but coarser, and sometimes (instead of being

* This is a very ancient custom. (See Ezek. ix. 2, 3, 11.)

(440) 4

,

5o PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

black) having broad stripes, brown and white, or blue and white,
but the latter rarely. Another kind of cloak, more full than the
’abayeh, of black or deep-blue woollen stuﬂ', is also very commonly

 

MEN OF THE LOWER CLASSES.

worn; it is called “diffeeyeh.” The shoes are of red or yellow

morocco, or of sheep-skin.
Several different forms of turbans are represented in some of

AND DRESS OF THE [Ill/SLIM EGYPTIAZVS 51

the engravings which illustrate this work. The Muslims are dis-
tinguished by the colours of their turbans from the Copts and the
Jews, who (as well as other subjects of the Turkish Sultan who are
not Muslims) wear black, blue, gray, or light—brown turbans, and
generally dull-coloured dresses. The distinction of sects, families,
dynasties, etc., among the Muslim Arabs, by the colour of the tur-
ban and other articles of dress, is of very early origin. When the
Imam Ibraheem Ibn-Mohammad, asserting his pretensions to the
dignity of Khaleefeh [or Caliph], was put to death by the Uma-
wee Khaleefeh Marwan, many persons of the family of El-’Al>bas
assumed black clothing in testimony of their sorrow for his fate 3
and hence the black dress and turban (which latter is now
characteristic, almost solely, of Christian and Jewish tributaries
to the ’Osmanlee, or Turkish, Sultan) became the distinguishing
costume of the ’Abbasee Khaleefehs, and of their ofﬁcers. When
an oﬂicer under this dynasty was disgraced, he was made to wear
a white dress. White was adopted by the false prophet El-
Mukanna’, to distinguish his party from the ’Abbasees ; and the
Fawatim of Egypt (or Khaleefehs of the race of Fatimeh), as
rivals of the ’AbbASees, wore a white costume. El-Melik El-
Ashraf Shaaban, a Sultan of Egypt (who reigned from the year of
the Flight 764 to 778, or A.D. 1362 to 1376), was the ﬁrst who
ordered the “shereefs” to distinguish themselves by the green
turban and dress. Some darweeshes of the sect of the Rifa’ees,
and a few, but very few, other Muslims, wear a turban of black
woollen stuff, or of a very deep olive-coloured (almost black)
muslin; but that of the Copts, Jews, etc., is generally of black
or blue muslin or linen. There are not many different forms
of turbans now worn in Egypt: that worn by most of the
servants is very formal. The kind common among the middle
and higher classes of the tradesmen and other citizens of the
metropolis and large towns is also very formal, but less so than
that just before alluded to. The Turkish turban worn in Egypt
is of a more elegant mode. The Syrian is distinguished by its
width. The ’Ulama, and men of religion and letters in general,
used to wear, as some do still, one particularly wide and formal,
called a “mukleh.” The turban is much respected. In the
houses of the more wealthy classes there is usually a chair on

t

52 PERSONAL CIIARACTERISTICS

which it is placed at night. This is often sent with the furniture
of a bride, as it is common for a lady to have one upon which to
place her head-dress. This kind of chair is never used for any
other purpose. As an instance of the respect paid to the turban,
one of my friends mentioned to me that an ’alim being thrown
off his donkey in a street of this city, his mukleh fell off and
rolled along for several yards , whereupon the passengers ran after
it, crying, “Lift up the crown of El—Islam ! ” while the poor ’alim,
whom no one came to assist, called out in anger, “Lift up the
shay/ch of El-lslam I ”

The general form and features of the women must now be
described. From the age of about fourteen to that of eighteen
or twenty, they are generally models of beauty in body and limbs,
and in countenance most of them are pleasing, and many ex-
ceedingly lovely. But soon after they have attained their perfect
growth, they rapidly decline : the bosom early loses all its beauty,
acquiring, from the relaxing nature of the climate, an excessive
length and ﬂatness in its forms, even while the face retains its full
charms ; and though, in most other respects, time does not com-
monly so soon nor so ‘much deform them, at the age of forty it
renders many, who in earlier years possessed considerable attrac-
tions, absolutely ugly. In the Egyptian females the forms of
womanhood begin to develop themselves about the ninth or tenth
year; at the age of fifteen or sixteen they generally attain their
highest degree of perfection. With regard to their complexions,
the same remarks apply to them as to the men, with only this
difference, that their faces, being generally veiled when they go
abroad, are not quite so much tanned as those of the men. They
are characterized, like the men, by a ﬁne oval countenance,
though in some instances it is rather broad. The eyes, with
very few exceptions, are black, large, and of a long, almond form,
with long and beautiful lashes, and an exquisitely soft, bewitching
expression: eyes more beautiful can hardly be conceived. Their
charming effect is much heightened by the concealment of the
other features (however pleasing the latter may be), and is
rendered still more striking by a practice universal among the
females of the higher and middle classes, and very common among
those of the lower orders, which is that of blackening the edge of

AND DRESS OF THE MUSLIM EGYPTIANS. 53'

the eyelids, both above and below the eye, with a black powder
called “kohl.” This is a collyrium commonly composed of the
smoke-black which is produced by burning a kind of “liban”——
an aromatic resin—a species of frankincense, used, I am told, in
preference to the better kind of frankincense, as being cheaper
and equally good for this purpose. Kohl is also prepared of the
smoke-black produced by burning the shells of almonds. These
two kinds, though believed to be beneﬁcial to the eyes, are used
merely for ornament ; but there are
several kinds used for their real or
supposed medical properties, par-
ticularly the powder of several
kinds of lead ore, to which are
often added sarcocolla, long pep—
per, sugar—candy, ﬁne dust of a
Venetian sequin, and sometimes
powdered pearls. Antimony, it is
said, was formerly used for paint-

ing the edges of the eyelids. The

 

' :uUK-nUL'Ans AND mmwsns.
kohl IS applled Wlth a: small prObe (Reprcxentetz' on scale: (Vane-third and a

quarter eff/ta real :izc.)

of wood, ivory, or silver, tapering
towards the end, but blunt. This is moistened, sometimes with
r0se~water, then dipped in the powder, and drawn along the edges
of the eyelids. It is called “mirwed,” and the glass vessel in
which the kohl is kept “ inuk- hul’ah. ” The custom

of thus ornamenting the eyes prevailed among

y both sexes in Egypt 111 very ancient times. This
A, mm AND EYE is shown by the sculptures and paintings in the
BR°::I::N;3‘:‘TED temples and tombs of this country, and kohl
m: iepiexentgd 1n vessels, with the probes, and even with the remains
mwmuﬂhdi’w of the black powder, have often been found in the
ancient tombs. I have two in my possession. But in many cases
the ancient mode of ornamenting with the kohl was a little
different from the modern, as shown by the subjoined sketch. I
have, however, seen this ancient mode practised in the present
day ‘in the neighbourhood of Cairo, though 1 only remember to
have noticed it in two instances. The same custom existed
among the ancient Greek ladies, and among the Jewish women

54 PERSONAL CHARA CTERISTICS

in early times.* The eyes of the Egyptian women are generally
the most beautiful of their features. Countenances altogether
handsome are far less common among this race than handsome
figures; but I have seen among them faces distinguished by a
style of beauty possessing such sweetness of expression, that they
have struck me as exhibiting the perfection of female loveliness,
and impressed me with the idea (perhaps not false) that their
equals could not be found in any other country. With such eyes
as many of them have, the face must be handsome, if its other
features be but moderately well formed. The nose is generally
straight ; the lips are mostly rather fuller than those of the men,
but not in the least degree partaking of the negro character. The
hair is of that deep, glossy black which best suits all but fair
complexions ; in some instances it is rather coarse and crisp, but
never woolly.

The females of the higher and middle classes, and many of the
poorer women, stain certain parts of their hands and feet (which
are, with very few exceptions, beautifully formed) with the leaves
of the henna tree, which impart a yellowish red or deep orange
colour. Many thus dye only the nails of the ﬁngers and toes;
others extend the dye as high as the ﬁrst joint of each ﬁnger and
toe 3 some also make a stripe along the next row of joints; and
there are several other fanciful modes of applying the henna ,' but
the most common practice is to dye the tips of the ﬁngers and
toes as high as the ﬁrst joint, and the whole of the inside of the
hand and the sole of the foot—adding, though not always, the
stripe above mentioned along the middle joints of the ﬁngers, and
a similar stripe a little above the toes. The henna is prepared
for this use merely by being powdered and mixed with a little
water, so as to form a paste. Some of this paste being spread in
the palm of the hand, and on other parts of it which are to be
. dyed, and the ﬁngers being doubled, and their extremities inserted
into the paste in the palm, the whole hand is tightly bound with
linen, and remains thus during a whole night. In a similar
manner it is applied to the feet. The colour does not disappear
until after many days : it is generally renewed after about a fort-

. * See 2 Kings ix. 30 (where, in our common version, we ﬁnd the words “painted her
; face” for “painted her eyes”), and Ezekiel xxiii. 40.

AND DRESS 01“ THE MUSLIII! EG YPTIANS. 55

night or three weeks. This custom prevails not only in Egypt
but in several other countries of the East, which are supplied with

 

A TATTUOED GIRL.

henna from the banks of the Nile. To the nails the henna imparts
a more bright, clear, and permanent colour than to the skin.

      
 

if?'ill:rfll-ll:::utwill!»

 

TATTOOED HANDS AND FOOT.

When this dye alone is applied to the nails, or to a larger portion
of the ﬁngers and toes, it may, with some reason, be regarded as

56 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

an embellishment, for it makes the general complexion of the
hand and foot appear more delicate; but many ladies stain their
hands in a manner much less agreeable to our taste-—by applying,
immediately after the removal of the paste of henna, another
paste composed of quick-lime, common smoke—black, and linseed-
oil, they convert the tint of the henna to a black, or to a blackish
olive hue. Ladies in Egypt .are often seen with their nails stained
with this colour, or with their ﬁngers of the same dark hue from
the extremity to the ﬁrst joint, red from the ﬁrst to the second
joint, and of the former colour from the second to the third joint,
with the palm also stained in a similar manner, having a broad,
dark stripe across the middle, and the rest left red; the thumb
dark from the extremity to the ﬁrst joint, and red from the ﬁrst
to the second joint. Some, after a more simple fashion, blacken
the ends of the ﬁngers and the whole of the inside of the hand.
Among the females of the lower orders, in the country towns
and villages of Egypt, and among the same classes in the metro-
polis, but in a less degree, prevails a custom somewhat similar to
that above described. It consists in making indelible marks of a
blue or greenish hue upon the face and other parts, or at least
upon the front of the chin, and upon the back of the right hand,

Inn-mu
m mun"

     

SPECIMENS 0F TATTOOING ON THE UHIN.

and often also upon the left hand, the right arm, or both arms,
the feet, the middle of the bosom, and the forehead. The most
common of these marks made upon the chin and hands are here
represented. The operation is performed with several needles
(generally seven) tied together. With these the skin is pricked in
the desired pattern, some smoke-black (of wood or oil), mixed
with milk from the breast of a woman, is then rubbed in, and
about a week after, before the skin has healed, a paste of the
pounded fresh leaves of white beet or clover is applied, and gives
a blue or greenish colour to the marks; or, to produce the same
effect in a more simple manner, some indigo is rubbed into the
punctures, instead of the smoke-black, etc. It is generally per—
formed at the age of about ﬁve or six years, and by gipsy women.

ArVD DRESS 0f Tf-[E MUSLLM EGYPTIANS. 59

with a square kerchief (called “faroodeeyeh”) of printed or
painted muslin, or one of crape, wound tightly round, composing
what is called a “rabtah.” Two or more such kerchiefs were
commonly used a short time since, and are still sometimes, to
form the ladies’ turban, but always wound in a high, ﬂat shape,
very different from that of the turban of the men. A kind of
crown, called “kurs,” and other ornaments, are attached to the

 

A LADY ADORN’ED \VITH THE KUILS AND SAFA, ETC.
(The hand 1'; far/ml!) mined mm Imma.)
ladies’ head-dress. Descriptions and engravings of these and other
ornaments of the women of Egypt will be found in the Appendix
to this work. A long piece of white muslin embroidered at
each end with coloured silks and gold, or of coloured crape orna-

60 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

mented with gold thread, etc., and spangles, rests upon the head,
and hangs down behind, nearly or quite to the ground: this is
called “tarhah”—-—it is the head-veil. The faceveil I shall pre-
sently describe. The hair, excepting over the forehead and
temples, is divided into numerous braids or plaits, generally from
eleven to twenty-ﬁve in number, but always of an uneven number :
these hang down the back. To each braid of hair are usually
added three black silk cords, with little ornaments of gold, etc.,
attached to them. For a description of these, which are called
“safa,” I refer to the Appendix. Over the forehead the hair is
cut rather short , but two full locks hang down on each side of
the face : these are often curled in ringlets, and sometimes plaited.
Few of the ladies of Egypt wear stockings or socks, but many
of them wear “ mezz ” (or inner shoes), of yellow or red morocco,
sometimes embroidered with gold. Over these, whenever they
step off the matted or carpeted part of the ﬂoor, they put on
“baboog” (or slippers) of yellow morocco, with high, pointed
toes; or use high wooden clogs or pattens, generally from four to

 

BOOTS, SHOES, AND PATTENS.

nine inches in height, and usually ornamented with mother-of—pearl
or silver, etc. These are always used in the bath by men and
women, but not by many ladies at home. Some ladies wear them
merely to keep their skirts from trailing on the ground; others,
to make themselves appear tall. Such is the dress which is worn
by the Egyptian ladies in the house.

The riding or walking attire is called “tezyeereh.” Whenever
a lady leaves the house, she wears, in addition to what has been
above described, ﬁrst a large, loose gown (called “tob,” or “ seb-
leh”), the sleeves of which are nearly equal in width to the
whole length of the gown. It is of silk, generally of a pink, or

AND DRESS OF THE MUSLIM EGYPTIANS. 6I

rose, or violet colour. Next is put on the “ burko’,” or face-veil,
which is a long strip of white muslin, concealing the whole of the
face except the eyes, and reaching nearly to the feet. It is sus-

 

LADIES ATTIIiED FOR RIDING 0R WVALKING.

pended at the top by a. narrow band, which passes up the forehead,
and which is sewed, as are also the two upper corners of the veil,
‘to a band that is tied round the head. The lady then covers
herself with a “ habarah,” which, for a married lady, is composed

62 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

of two breadths of glossy black silk, each ell-wide and three
yards long. These are sewed together, at or near the selvages
(according to the height of the person), the seam running hori-
zontally, with respect to the manner in which it is worn. A piece
of narrow black ribbon is sewed inside the upper part, about six
. inches from the edge, to tie round the head. This covering is
always worn in the manner shown by the accompanying sketch.
The unmarried ladies wear a habarah of white silk, or a shawl,

 

ORNAMENTED BLACK YEI IS.

(0111] one (fl/isle, Ma! lo the rig/Lt, :‘x a‘rw‘csmu‘ed in ifs/2:11 length.)

Some females of the middle classes, who cannot afford to purchase
a habarah, wear instead of it an “eezar,” which is a piece of
white calico, of the same form and size as the former, and is worn
in the same manner. On the feet are worn short boots or socks
(called “ khuﬁ' 7’), of yellow morocco, and over these the baboog.

' This dress, though chieﬂy designed for females of the higher
classes, who are seldom seen in public on foot, is worn by many
women who cannot often afford so far to imitate their superiors
as to hire an ass to carry them. It is extremely inconvenient as

AND DRESS OF THE MUSLIM EGYPTIANS. 63

a walking attire. Viewing it as a disguise for whatever is at-
tractive or graceful in the person and adornments of the wearer,
we should not ﬁnd fault with it for being itself deﬁcient in grace.
We must remark, however, that in one respect it fails in accom-
plishing its main purpose—displaying the eyes, which are almost
always beautiful ; making them to appear still more so by conceal
ing the other features, which are seldom of equal beauty, and
often causing the stranger to imagine a defective face perfectly
charming. The veil is of very remote antiquity,* but from the
sculptures and paintings of the ancient Egyptians it seems not to
have been worn by the females of that nation.

The dress of a large proportion of those women of the lower
orders who are not of the poorest class consists of a pair of
trousers or drawers (similar in form to the shintiyan of the ladies,
but generally of plain white cotton or linen), a blue linen or
cotton shirt (not quite so full as that of the men), a burko’ of a
kind of coarse black crape, and a dark-blue tarhah of muslin or
linen. Some wear over the shirt, or instead of the latter, a linen
tob, of the same form as that of the ladies. The sleeves of this
are often turned up over the head, either to prevent their being
incommodious, or to supply the place of a tarhah. In addition
to these articles of dress, many women who are not of the very
poor classes wear, as a Covering, a kind of plaid, similar in form
to the habarah, composed of two pieces of cotton, woven in small
chequers of blue and white, or cross stripes, with a mixture of
red at each end. It is callec “ milayeh.” In general it is worn
in the same manner as the habarah, but sometimes like the tarhah.
The upper part of the black burko’ is often ornamented with
false pearls, small gold coins, and other little ﬂat ornaments of
the same metal (called “bark”); sometimes with a coral bead,
and a gold coin beneath ; also with small coins of base silver 3
and more commonly with a pair of chain tassels, of brass or silver
(called “’oyoon”), attached to the corners. A square black silk
kerchief (called “asbeh”), with a border of red and yellow, is
bound round the head, doubled diagonally, and tied with a single
knot behind; or, instead of this, the tarboosh and faroodeeyeh

* See Gen. xxiv. 65, and Isa. iii. 23. See also 1 Cor. xi. 10, and a marginal note on
that verse.

64 I’EIESOZVAZ, CHARA CTEIL’ISTZCS

are worn, though by very few women of the lower classes. The
best kind of shoes worn by the females of the lower orders are

 

WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF THE LOWER CLASSES.

of red morocco, turned up, but round at the toes. The burko’
and shoes are most common in Cairo, and are also worn by many
of the women throughout Lower Egypt ; but in Upper Egypt the

AND DRESS OF THE MUSLIM EGYPTIANS. 65

burko’ is very seldom seen, and shoes are scarcely less uncommon.
To supply the place of the former, when necessary, a. portion of
the tarhah is drawn before the face, so as to conceal nearly all the

 

I
A \VOMAN CLAD IN THE MILAYEIT, ETC.

countenance excepting one eye. Many of the women of the

lower orders, even in the metropolis, never conceal their faces.

Tl‘lroughout the greater part of Egypt the most common dress of
(440) 5

66 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS, ETC.

the women merely consists of the blue shirt, or 1761), and tarhah.
In the southern parts, of Upper Egypt, chieﬂy above Akhmeem,

 

A WOMAN OF THE SOUTHERN PROVINCE OF UPPER EGYPT.
(Skctched at Thebes.)

most of the women envelop themselves in a. large piece of dark-
brown woollen stuff (called a “hulaleeyeh”), wrapping it round

[NFANCY AND EARLY EDUCATION 67

the body, and attaching the upper parts together over each
shoulder; and a piece of the same they use as a tarhah. This
dull dress, though picturesque, is almost as disguising as the blue
tinge which, as I have before mentioned, the women in these
parts of Egypt impart to their lips. Most of the women of the
lower orders wear a variety of trumpery ornaments, such as ear-
rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc., and sometimes a nose—ring. De—
scriptions and engravings of some of these ornaments will be given
in the Appendix.

The women of Egypt deem it more incumbent upon them to
cover the upper and back part of the head. than the face, and
more requisite to conceal the face than most other parts of the
person. I have often seen in this country women but half covered
with miserable rags, and several times females in the prime of
womanhood, and others in more advanced age, with nothing on
the body but a narrow strip of rag bound round the hips.

CHAPTER II.
INFANCY AND EARLY EDUCATION.

IN the rearing and general treatment of their children the Mus-
lims are chieﬂy guided by the directions of their Prophet and
other religious institutors. One of the ﬁrst duties required to
be performed on the birth of a child is to pronounce the adan
(or call to prayer) in the infant’s right ear; and this should be
done by a male. Some persons also pronounce the ikameh (which
is nearly the same as the adan) in the left ear. The object of
each of these ceremonies is to preserve the infant from the inﬂu-
ence of the ginn, or genii. Another custom, observed with the
same View, is to say, “In the name of the Prophet and of his
cousin ’Alee 1”

It was a custom very common in Egypt, as in other Muslim
countries, to consult an astrologer previously to giving a name to
a child, and to be guided by his choice; but very few persons
now conform with this old usage. The father makes choice of a
name for his son, and confers it without'any ceremony ; a daughter

68 INFANCY AZVD EARLY EDUCATION

is generally named by her mother. Boys are often named after
the Prophet (Mohammad, Ahmad, or Mustaf’a), or some of the
members of his family (’Alee, Hasan, Hoseyn, etc), or his eminent
companions (’Omar, ’Osman, ’Amr, etc), or some of the prophets
and patriarchs of early times (as Ibréheem, Is-hak, Isma’eel,
Yaakoob, Moosa, Daood, Suleyman, etc), or receive a name
signifying “Servant of God,” “Servant of the Compassionate,”
7 “Servant of the Powerful,” etc. (’Abd-Allah, ’Abd-er-Rahman,
’Abd-el—Kadir). Girls are mostly named after the wives or the
favourite daughter of the Arabian Prophet, or after others of his
family (as Khadeegeh, A’isheh, A/m’neh, Fat’meh, Zeyneb), or
are distinguished by a name implying that they are “belovec,”
“blessed,” “precious,” etc. (Mahboobeh, Mebrookeh, Nefeeseh,
etc.), or the name of a ﬂower, or of some other pleasing object.

As the proper name does not necessarily or generally descend
from parent to child, persons are usually distinguished by one or
more surnames, of the following kinds: a surname of relation-
ship; as, “Aboo-?Alee” (Father of ’Alee), “Ibn-Ahmad” (Son
of Ahmad), etc.: a surname of honour, or a nickname; as,
“ Noor-ed-Deen ” (The Light of the Religion), “ Et-Taweel ” (The
Tall), etc.: an appellation relating to country, birth-place, origin,
family, sect, trade or occupation, etc; as, “Er—Rasheedee” (of
the town of Rasheed), “Es-Sabbagh” (The Dyer), “Et-Tagir”
(The Merchant). The second kind of surname, and that relating
to country, etc, are often inherited, thus becoming family names.
Each kind of surname is now generally placed (gfter the proper
name.

The dress of the children of the middle and higher orders is
similar to that of the parents, but generally slovenly. The chil-
dren of the poor are either clad in a shirt and a cotton skull-cap
or a tarboosh, or (as is mostly the case in the villages) are left
quite naked until the age of six or seven years or more, unless a
bit of rag can be easily obtained to serve them as a partial cover—
ing. Those little girls who have only a piece of ragged stuff not
large enough to cover both the head and body generally prefer
wearing it upon the head, and sometimes have the coquetry to
draw a part of it before the face as a veil, while the whole body
is exposed. Little ladies, four or ﬁve years of age, mostly wear

IrVFAjVCY AND EARLY EDUCATION 69

the white face-veil, like their mothers. When a boy is two or
three years old, or often earlier, his head is shaven, a tuft of hair
only being left on the crown, and another over the forehead , the
heads of female infants are seldom shaven.5 The young children,
of both sexes, are usually carried by their mothers and nurses, not
in the arms, but on the shoulder, seated astride, and sometimes
for a short distance on the hip.

In the treatment of their children, the women of the wealthier
classes are remarkable for their excessive indulgence; and the
poor for the little attention they bestow, beyond supplying the
absolute wants of nature. The mother is prohibited by the
Muslim law from weaning her child before the expiration of two
years from the period of its birth, unless with the consent of her
husband, which, I am told, is generally given after the ﬁrst year
or eighteen months. In the houses of the wealthy, the child,
whether boy or girl, remains almost constantly conﬁned in the
hareem (or the women’s apartments), or at least in the house ;
sometimes the boy continues thus an effeminate prisoner until a
master, hired to instruct him daily, has taught him to read and
write. But it is important to observe that an affectionate respect
for parents and elders inculcated in the hareem ﬁts the boy for an
abrupt introduction into the world, as will presently be shown.
When the ladies go out to pay a visit, or to take an airing,
mounted on asses, the children generally go with them, each
carried by a female slave or servant, or seated between her knees
upon the fore part of the saddle; the female attendants, as well
as the ladies, being usually borne by asses, and it being the cus-
tom of all the women to sit astride. But it is seldom that the
children of the rich enjoy this slight diversion , their health suffers
from conﬁnement and pampering, and they are often rendered
capricious, proud, and selﬁsh. The women of the middle classes
are scarcely less indulgent mothers. The estimation in which the
wife is held by her husband, and even by her acquaintance,
depends, in a great degree, upon her fruitfulness, and upon the
preservation of her children ; for by men and women, rich and
poor, barrenness is still considered, in the East, a curse and a
reproach, and it is regarded as disgraceful in a man to divorce,
without some cogent reason, a wife who has borne him a child,

7o [NFANCY AND EARLY EDUCATION

especially while her child is living. If, therefore, a woman desire
her husband’s love, or the respect of others, her giving birth to a
child is a source of great joy to herself and him, and her own
interest alone is a suﬂicient motive for maternal tenderness.
Very little expense is required in Egypt for the maintenance of
a numerous offspring. ’
However much the children are caressed and fondled, in general
they feel and manifest a most profound and praiseworthy respect
for their parents. Disobedience to parents is considered by the
Muslims as one of the greatest of sins, and classed, in point of
heinousness, with six other sins, which are idolatry, murder,
falsely accusing modest women of adultery, wasting the property
of orphans, taking usury, and desertion in an expedition against
inﬁdels. An undutiful child is very seldom heard of among the
Egyptians or the Arabs in general. Among the middle and higher
classes, the child usually greets the father in the morning by kiss-
ing his hand, and then stands before him in a humble attitude,
with the left hand covered by the right, to receive any order, or
to await his permission to depart; but after the respectful kiss,
is often taken on the lap: and nearly the same respect is shown
towards the mother. Other members of the family, according to
age, relationship, and station, are also similarly regarded by the
young; and hence arise that ease and propriety with which a
child, emerging from the hareem, conducts himself in every
society, and that loyalty which is often improperly regarded as
the result of Eastern despotism. Sons scarcely ever sit or eat
or smoke in the presence of the father, unless hidden to do so;
and they often even wait upon him, and upon his guests, at meals
and on other occasions. They do not cease to act thus when they
have become men. I once partook of breakfast with an Egyptian
merchant, before the door of his house, in the month of Ramadan
(and therefore a little after sunset), and though every person who
passed by, however poor, was invited to partake of the meal, we
were waited upon by two of my host’s sons—the elder about forty
years of age. As they had been fasting during the Whole of the
day, and had as yet only taken a draught of water, I begged the
father to allow them to sit down and eat with us. He immediately
told them that they might do so ; but they declined. The mothers

 

 

 

 

MOTHER AND CHILDREN.

l’mvc '1.
a I

V , b
'AFR‘I‘RQ

 

[NFANCY AN!) EARLY EDUCATION 71

generally enjoy, in a greater degree than the fathers, the affection
of their children, though they do not receive from them equal
outward marks of respect. I have often known servants to hoard
their wages for their mothers, though seldom for their fathers.

With the exception of those of the wealthier classes, the young
children in Egypt, though objects of so much solicitude, are
generally very dirty, and shabbily clad. The stranger here is dis-
gusted by the sight of them, and at once condemns the modern
Egyptians as a very ﬁlthy people, without requiring any other
reason for forming such an opinion of them; but it is often the
case that those children who are most petted and beloved are the
dirtiest and worst clad. It is not uncommon to see, in the city
in which I am writing, a lady shufﬂing along in her ample tob
and habarah of new and rich and glistening silks, and one who
scents the whole street with the odour of musk or civet as she
passes along, with all that appears of her person scrupulously clean
and delicate, her eyes neatly bordered with kohl applied in the
most careful manner, and the tip of a ﬁnger or two showing the
fresh dye of the henna, and by her side a little boy or girl, her
own child, with a face besmeared with dirt, and with clothes
appearing as though they had been worn for months without
being washed. Few things surprised me so much as sights of this
kind on my ﬁrst arrival in this country. I naturally inquired the
cause of what struck me as so strange and inconsistent, and
was informed that the affectionate mothers thus neglected the
appearance of their children, and purposely left them unwashed,
and clothed them so shabbily, particularly when they had to take
them out in public, fromfear of the evil eye, which is excessively
dreaded, and especially in the case of children, since they are
generally esteemed the greatest of blessings, and therefore most
likely to be coveted. It is partly for the same reason that many
of them conﬁne their boys so long in the hareem. Some mothers
even dress their young sons as girls, because the latter are less
obnoxious t0 envy.

The children of the poor have a yet more neglected appear-
ance. Besides being very scantily clad, or quite naked, they are,
in general, excessively dirty. Their eyes are frequently extremely
ﬁlthy : it is common to see half—a—dozen or more ﬂies in each eye,

72 [NFANCY AND EARLY EDUCATIOrV.

unheeded and unmolested. The parents consider it extremely
injurious to wash, or even touch, the eyes when they discharge
that acrid humour which attracts the ﬂies, they even affirm that
the loss of sight would result from frequently touching or washing
them when thus affected, though washing is really one of the best
means of alleviating the complaint.

At the age of about ﬁve or six years, or sometimes later, the
boy is circumcised. Previously to the performance of this rite
in the metropolis and other towns of Egypt, the parents of the
youth, if not in indigent circumstances, generally cause him to be
paraded through several streets in the neighbourhood of their
dwelling. They mostly avail themselves of the occurrence of a
bridal procession, to lessen the expenses of the parade; and, in
this case, the boy and his attendants lead the procession. He
generally wears a red Kashmeer turban, but in other respects is
dressed as a girl, with a yelek and saltah, and with a kurs, safa,
and other female ornaments, to attract the eye, and so divert it
from his person. These articles of dress are of the richest de-
scription that can be procured 3 they are usually borrowed from
some lady, and much too large to ﬁt the boy. A horse, hand-
somely caparisoned, is also borrowed to convey him ; and in his
hand is placed a folded embroidered handkerchief, which he con-
stantly holds before his mouth in his right hand, to hide part of
his face, and thus protect himself from the evil eye. He is pre-
ceded Fby a servant of the barber, who is the operator, and by
three or more musicians, whose instruments are commonly a haut
boy and drums. The foremost person in the procession is gen»
erally the barber’s servant, bearing his “heml,” which is a case
of wood, of a semi-cylindrical form, with four short legs; its
front (the ﬂat surface) covered with pieces of looking-glass and
embossed brass, and its back with a curtain. This is merely the
barber’s sign: the servant carries it in the manner represented
in the engraving here inserted. The musicians follow next (or
some of them precede the heml); and then follows the boy, his
horse led by a groom. Behind him walk several of his female
relations and friends. Two boys are often paraded together, and
sometimes borne by one horse. Of the bridal processions, with
which that above described is so often united, an account will be

INFANC Y AND EARL Y EDUCATION 73

found in the proper place. A description, also, of some further cus-
toms observed on the occasion of a circumcision, and particularly of
a more genteel but less general mode of celebrating that event, will
be given in another chapter, relating to various private festivities.

 

PARADE PREVIOUS’TO CIRCUMCISIUN.

The parents seldom devote much of their time or attention to
the intellectual education of their children, generally contenting
themselves with instilling into their young minds a few principles
of religion, and then submitting them, if they can afford to do so,
to the instruction of a schoolmaster. As early as possible the

74 [NFAIVCY AND EARLY EDUCATION

child is taught to say, “ I testify that there is no deity but God 3
and I testify that Mohammad is God’s Apostle.” He receives
also lessons of religious pride, and learns to hate the Christians,
and all other sects but his own, as thoroughly as does the Muslim
in advanced age. Most of the children of the higher and middle
classes, and some of those of the lower orders, are taught by the
schoolmaster to read and to recite and chant the whole or certain
portions of the Kur-an by memory. They afterwards learn the
most common rules of arithmetic.

Schools are very numerous, not only in the metropolis, but in
every large town, and there is one, at least, in every considerable
village. Almost every mosque, “sebeel” (or public fountain),
and “hod” (or drinking-place for cattle) in the metropolis has a
“kuttab” (or school) attached to it, in which children are in-
structed for a very triﬂing expense; the “sheykh” or “ﬁkee”
(the master of the school) receiving from the parent of each pupil
half a piaster (about ﬁve farthings of our money), or something
more or less, every Thursday. The master of a school attached
to a mosque or other public building in Cairo also generally re-
ceives yearly a tarboosh, a piece of white muslin for a turban, a
piece of linen, and a pair of shoes 3 and each boy receives, at the
same time, a linen Skullcap, four or ﬁve cubits of cotton cloth,
and perhaps half a piece (ten or twelve cubits) of linen, and a
pair of shoes, and in some cases half a piastcr or a piaster.
These presents are supplied by funds bequeathed to the school,
and are given in the month of Ramadan. The boys attend only
during the hours of instruction, and then return to their homes.
The lessons are generally written upon tablets of wood, painted
white; and when one lesson is learned, the tablet is washed and
another is written. They also practise writing upon the same
tablet. The schoolmaster and his pupils sit upon the ground,
and each boy has his tablet in his hands, or a copy of the Kur-an,
or of one of its thirty sections, on a little kind of desk of palm-
sticks. All who are learning to read, recite or chant their lessons
aloud, at the same time rocking their heads or bodies incessantly
backwards and forwards; which practice is observed by almost
all persons in reciting the Kur-an, being thought to assist the
memory. The noise may be imagined.

INFANC} AND EARLY EDUCATION 75

The boys ﬁrst learn the letters of the alphabet; next, the
vowel—points and other orthographical marks; and then the
numerical value of each letter of the alphabet. Previously to this
third stage of the pupil’s progress, it is customary for the master"
to ornament the tablet with black and red ink and green paint,
and to write upon it the letters of the alphabet in the order of
their respective numerical values, and convey it to the father, who
returns it with a piaster or two placed upon it. The like is also
done at several subsequent stages of the boy’s progress, as when
he begins to learn the Kur-an, and six or seven times as he
proceeds in learning the sacred book; each time the next lesson
being written on the tablet. When he has become acquainted
with the numerical values of the letters, the master writes for him
some simple words, as the names of men; then the ninety—nine
names or epithets of God ; next, the Fat’hah, or opening chapter
of the Kur-an, is written upon his tablet, and he reads it re-
peatedly until he has perfectly committed it to memory. He then
proceeds to learn the other chapters of the Kur-an: after the
ﬁrst chapter he learns the last ,- then the last but one,- next, the
last but two ; and so on, in inverted order, ending with the second,
as the chapters in general successively decrease in length from the
second to the last inclusively. It is seldom that the master of a
school teaches writing, and few boys learn to write unless destined
for some employment which absolutely requires that they should
do so; in which latter case they are generally taught the art of
writing, and likewise arithmetic, by a “kabbanee,” who is a per-
son employed to weigh goods in a market or bazar with the steel-
yard. Those who are to devote themselves to religion, or to any
of the learned professions, mostly pursue a regularpcourse of study
in the great mosque El-Azhar.

The schoolmasters in Egypt are mostly persons of very little
learning. Few of them are acquainted with any writings except
the Kur-an and certain prayers, which, as well as the contents of
the sacred volume, they are hired to recite on particular occasions.
I was lately told of a man who could neither read nor write
succeeding to the ofﬁce of a schoolmaster in my neighbourhood.
Being able to recite the whole of the Kur—én, he could hear the
boys repeat their lessons; to write them, he employed the

76 [NFANCY AND EARLY EDUCATION,

“’areef” (or head boy and monitor in the school), pretending
that his eyes were weak. A few days after he had taken upon
himself this ofﬁce, a poor woman brought a letter for him to read
to her from her son, who had gone on pilgrimage. The ﬁkee
pretended to read it, but said nothing; and the woman, inferring,
from his silence that the letter contained bad news, said to him,
“Shall I shriek?” He answered, “Yes.” “Shall I tear my
clothes?” she asked. He replied, “Yes.” So the poor woman
returned to her house, and with her assembled friends performed
the lamentation and other ceremonies usual on the occasion of a
death. Not many days after this her son arrived, and she asked
him what he could mean by causing a letter to be written stating
that he was dead. He explained the contents of the letter 3 and
she went to the schoolmaster and begged him to inform her why
he had told her to shriek and to tear her clothes, since the letter
was to inform her that her son was well, and he was now arrived
at home. Not at all abashed, he said, “God knows futurity!
How could I know that your son would arrive in safety? It was
better that you should think him dead than be led to expect to
see him and perhaps be disappointed.” Some persons who were
sitting with him praised his wisdom, exclaiming, “Truly, our new
fikee is a man of unusual judgment!” and for a little while he
found that he had raised his reputation by this blunder.6

Some parents employ a sheykh or ﬁkee to teach their boys
at home. The father usually teaches his son to perform the
“ wudoo ” and other ablutions, and to say his prayers, and instructs
him in other religious and moral duties to the best of his ability.
The Prophet directed his followers to order their children to say
their prayers when seven years of age, and to beat them if they
did not do so when ten years old; and at the latter age to make
them sleep in separate beds. In Egypt, however, very few persons
pray before they have attained to manhood.

The female children are very seldom taught to read or write;
and not many of them, even among the higher orders, learn to
say their prayers. Some of the rich engage a “sheykhah” (or
learned woman) to visit the hareem daily, to teach their daughters
and female slaves to say their prayers, and to recite a few chapters
of the Kur-an, and sometimes to instruct them in reading and

RELIGION AND LA WS. 77

writing; but these are very rare accomplishments for females,
even of the highest class in Egypt. There are many schools in
which girls are taught plain needlework, embroidery, etc. In
families in easy circumstances a “ m’allimeh,” or female teacher of
such kinds of work, is often engaged to attend the girls at their
own home.

CHAPTER III.
RELIGION AND LAWS.

AS the most important branch of their education, and the main
foundation of their manners and customs, the religion and laws
of the people who are the subject of these pages must be well
understood—not only in their general principles, but in many
minor points—before we can proceed to consider their social con—
dition and habits in the state of manhood.

A difference of opinion among Muslims, respecting some
points of religion and law, has given rise to four sects, which
consider each other orthodox as to fundamental matters, and call
themselves “Sunnees,” or followers of the traditions ; while they
designate all other Muslims by the term “Shiya’ees,” signifying,
according to their acceptation, “heretics.” The Sunnees alone
are the class which we have to consider. The four sects into
which they are divided are the “Hanafees,” “Shéie’ees,” “Mali-
kees,” and “Hambel'ees”—so called from the names of the re-
spective doctors whose tenets they have adopted. The Turks are
of the ﬁrst sect, which is the most reasonable. The inhabitants
of Cairo, a small. proportion excepted (who are Hanafees), are
either Shafe’ees or Malikees—and it is generally said that they
are mostly of the former of these sects, as are also the people
of Arabia; those of the Sharkeeyeh, on the east of the Delta,
Shafe’ees; those of the Garbeeyeh, or Delta, Shafe’ees, with a
few Malikees ; those of the Boheyreh, on the west of the Delta,
Malikees. The inhabitants of the Sa’eed, or the valley of Upper
Egypt, are likewise, with few exceptions, Malikees ; so also are
the Nubians and the Western Arabs. T0 the fourth sect very
few persons in the present day belong. All these sects agree in

78 RELIGION AND LAWS.

deriving their code of religion and law from four sources—namely,
the Kur-an, the traditions of the Prophet, the concordance of his
early disciples, and analogy.

The religion which Mohammad taught is generally called by
the Arabs “ El-Islam.” “ Eeman ” and “ Deen ” are the particular
terms applied, respectively, to faith and practical religion.

The grand principles of the faith are expressed in two articles,
the ﬁrst of which is this——

“ Time is no deity but God.”

God,“ who created all things in heaven and in earth, who-
preserveth all things, and decreeth all things, who is without
beginning and without end, omnipotent, omniscient, and omni~
present, is one. His unity is thus declared in a short chapter of
the Kur-an: “Say, he is God ; one [God]. God is the Eternal.
He begetteth not, nor is he begotten; and there is none equal
unto him.” He hath no partner, nor any offspring, in the creed
of the Muslim. Though Jesus Christ (whose name should not
be mentioned without adding, “on whom be peace”) is believed
to have been born of a pure Virgin, by the miraculous operation
of God, without any natural father, to be the Messiah, and “the
Word of God, which he transmitted unto Mary, and a Spirit
[proceeding] from him,” yet he is not called the Son of God, and
no higher titles are given to him than those of a Prophet and
Apostle; he is even considered of inferior dignity to Moham-
mad, inasmuch as the gospel is held to be superseded by the
Kur-an. The Muslim believes that Seyyidna ’Eesa (or “our Lord
Jesus”), after he had fulﬁlled the object of his mission, was
taken up unto God from the Jews, who sought to slay him, and
that another person, on Whom God had stamped the likeness of
Christ, was cruciﬁed in his stead. He also believes that Christ
is to come again upon the earth, to establish the Muslim religion
and perfect peace and security, after having killed Antichrist, and
to be a sign of the approach of the last day.

The other grand article of the faith, which cannot be believed
without the former, is this—

“ ﬂIo/Lammad is God’s Apostle.”

Mohammad is believed by his followers to have been the last
and greatest of prophets and apostles. Six of these—namely,

RELIGION AND LA WS. 79

Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad—are
believed each to have received a revealed law, or system of re-
ligion and morality. That, however, which was revealed to Adam
was abrogated by the next; and each succeeding law, or code of
laws, abrogated the preceding, though all are believed to have
been the same in every essential point. Therefore, those who
professed the Jewish religion from the time of Moses to that of
Jesus were true believers, and those who professed the Christian
religion (uncorrupted, as the Muslims say, by the tenet that Christ
was the Son of God) until the time of Mohammad are held, in
like manner, to have been true believers. But the copies of the
Pentateuch, the Psalms of David (which the Muslims also hold
to be of divine origin), and the Gospels now existing, are believed
to have been so much altered as to contain very little of the true
word of God. The Kur-an is believed to have suffered no altera-
tion whatever.

It is further necessary that the Muslim should believe in the
existence of angels, and of good and evil genii—the evil genii
being devils, whose chief is Iblees; also in the immortality of
the soul, the general resurrection and judgment, in future rewards
and punishments in paradise and hell, in the balance in which
good and evil works shall be weighed, and in the bridge “Es-
Sirat ” (which extends over the midst of hell, ﬁner than a hair and
sharper than the edge of a sword), over which all must pass, and
from which the wicked shall fall into hell. He believes, also, that
they who have acknowledged the faith of El-Islam and yet acted
wickedly will not remain in hell for ever, but that all of other
religions must ; that there are, however, degrees of punishments as
well as of rewards—the former consisting in severe torture by
excessive heat and cold ; and the latter, partly in the indulgence
of the appetites by most delicious meats and drinks, and in the
pleasures afforded by the company of the girls of paradise, whose
eyes will be very large and entirely black, and whose stature will
be proportioned to that of the men, which will be the height of
a tall palm tree, or about sixty feet. Such, the Muslims generally
believe, was the height of our ﬁrst parents. It is said that the
souls of martyrs reside, until the judgment, in the crops of green
birds, which eat of the fruits of paradise and drink of its rivers.

80 RELIGION AND LA WS.

Women are not to be excluded from paradise, according to the
faith of El-Islam, though it has been asserted by many Chris-
tians that the Muslims believe women to have no souls. In
several places in the Kur~an paradise is promised to all true
believers, whether males or females. It is the doctrine of the
‘ Kur-an that no person will be admitted into paradise by his own
merits, but that admission will be granted to the believers merely
by the mercy of God, on account of their faith, yet that the
felicity of each person will be proportioned to his good works.
The very meanest in paradise is promised “ eighty thousand serv-
ants” (beautiful youths, called “weleeds”), “seventy-two wives
of the girls of paradise” (“hooreeyehs”), “besides the wives he
had in this world,” if he desire to have the latter (and the good
will doubtless desire the good), “and a tent erected for him of
pearls, jacinths, and emeralds, of a very large extent ;” “and will
be waited On by three hundred attendants while he eats, and
served in dishes of gold, whereof three hundred shall be set before
him at once, each containing a different kind of food, the last
morsel of which will be as grateful as the ﬁrst.” Wine, also,
“though forbidden in this life, will yet be freely allowed to be
drunk in the next, and Without danger, since the wine of paradise
will not inebriate.” We are further told that all superﬂuities
fromthe bodies of the inhabitants of paradise will be carried off
by perspiration, which will diffuse an odour like that of musk?
and that they will be clothed in the richest silks, chieﬂy of green»
They are also promised perpetual youth, and children as many as
they may desire. These pleasures, together with the songs of the
angel Israfeel, and many other gratiﬁcations of the senses, will
charm even the meanest inhabitant of paradise. But all these
enjoyments will be lightly esteemed by those more blessed persons
who are to be admitted to the highest of all honours—that spiritual
pleasure of beholding, morning and evening, the face of God.
The Muslim must also believe in the examination of the dead
in the sepulchre by two angels, called Munkar and Nekeer, of
terrible aspect, who will cause the body (to which the soul shall,
for the time, be re—united) to sit upright in the grave, and will
question the deceased respecting his faith. The wicked they will
severely torture, but the good they will not hurt. Lastly, he.

RELIGION AND LA VVS. 8 I

should believe in God’s absolute decree of every event, both good
and evil. This doctrine has given rise to as much controversy
among the Muslims as among Christians, but the former, gener~
ally, believe in predestination as, in some respects, conditional.

The most important duties enjoined in the ritual and moral
laws are prayer, alms—giving, fasting, and pilgrimage.

The religious puriﬁcations, which are of two kinds—ﬁrst, the
ordinary ablution preparatory to pray/(39',- and secondly, the wash-
ing of the whole body, together with the performance of the former
ablution—are of primary importance ; for prayer, which is a duty
so important that it is called “ the Key of Paradise,” will not be
accepted from a person in a state of uncleanness. It is therefore
also necessary to avoid impurity by clipping the nails, and other
similar practices.

There are partial washings, or puriﬁcations, which all Muslims
perform on certain occasions, even if they neglect their prayers,
and which are considered as religious acts. The ablution called
“ el-wudoo,” which is preparatory to prayer, I shall now describe.
The puriﬁcations just before alluded to are a part of the wudoo 3
the other washings are not, of necessity, to be performed immedi-
ately after, but only when the person is about to say his prayers,
and these are performed in the mosque or in the house, in
public or in private. There is in every mosque a tank (called
“ meyda'ah ”) or a “ hanafeeyeh,” which is a raised reservoir, with
spouts round it, from which the water falls. In some mosques
there are both these. The Muslims of the Hanafee sect (of which
are the Turks) perform the ablution at the latter (which has re-
ceived its name from that cause) ; for they must do it with run-
ning water, or from a tank or pool at least ten cubits in breadth,
and the same in depth, and I believe that there is only one
meyda'ah in Cairo of that depth, which is in the great mosque
El—Azhar. A small hanafceyeh of tinned copper, placed on a low
shelf, and a large basin, or a small ewer and basin of the same
metal, are generally used in the house for the performance of the
wudoo.

The person, having tucked up his sleeves a little higher than
his elbows, says in a low voice, or inaudibly, “I purpose per-
forming the wudoo for prayer.” He then washes his hands

(440) 6

82 RELIGION AND LA WS

three times, saying, in the same manner as before, “In the name
of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful! Praise be to God,
who hath sent down water for puriﬁcation, and made El—Islam
to be a light and a conductor, and a guide to thy gardens, the
gardens of delight, and to thy mansion, the mansion of peace.”
Then he rinses his mouth three times, throwing the water into
it with his right hand ; and in doing this he says, “0 God,
assist me in the reading of thy book, and in commemorating
thee, and in thanking thee, and in worshipping thee well 1”
Next, with his right hand he throws water up his nostrils
(snuﬁing it up at the same time), and then blows it out, com-
pressing his nostrils with the thumb and ﬁnger of the left hand 3
and this also is done three times. While doing it, he says, “0
God, make me to smell the odours of paradise, and bless me
with its delights ; and make me not to smell the smell of the
ﬁres [of hell].” He then washes his face three times, throwing
up the water with both hands, and saying, “ O God, whiten my
face with thy light on the day when thou shalt whiten the
faces of thy favourites ,- and do not blacken my face on the day
when thou shalt blacken the faces of thine enemies.” 7 His right
hand and arm, as high as the elbow, he next washes three times,
and as many times causes some water to run along his arm,
from the palm of the hand to the elbow, saying as he does this,
“ O God, give me my book in my right hand ,8 and reckon with
me with an easy reckoning.” In the same manner he washes the
left hand and arm, saying, “ O God, do not give me my book in
my left hand, nor behind my back ,' and do not reckon with me
with a difﬁcult reckoning, nor make me to be one of the people
of the ﬁre.” He next draws his wetted right hand over the
upper part of his head, raising his turban or cap with his left.
This he does but once, and he accompanies the action with this
snpplication : “ O God, cover me with thy mercy, and pour down
thy blessing upon me ; and shade me under the shadow of thy
canopy on the day when there shall be no shade but its shade.”
If he have a beard, he then combs it with the wetted ﬁngers of
his right hand, holding his hand with the palm forwards, and
passing the ﬁngers through his beard from the throat upwards.
He then puts the tips of his fore-ﬁngers into his ears, and twists

?

RELIGION A ND LA I/VS. 8 3

them round, passing his thumbs at the same time round the back
of the ears, from the bottom upwards, and saying, “ O God,
make me to be of those who hear what is said, and obey what is
best ;” or, “ O God, make me to hear good.” Next he wipes his
neck with the back of the ﬁngers of both hands, making the ends
of his ﬁngers meet behind his neck, and then drawing them for-
- ward; and in doing so he says, “0 God, free my neck from the
ﬁre; and keep me from the chains, and the collars, and the
fetters.” Lastly, he washes his feet as high as the ankles, and
passes his ﬁngers between the toes. He washes the right foot
ﬁrst, saying, at the same time, “ O God, make ﬁrm my feet upon
the Sirat on the day when feet shall slip upon it.” On washing
the left foot, he says, “ O God, make my labour to be approved,
and my sin forgiven, and my works accepted, merchandise that
shall not perish, by thy pardon, 0 Mighty! 0 very Forgiving!
by thy mercy, 0 most Merciful of those who show mercy!”
After having thus completed the ablution, he says, looking to-
wards heaven, “Thy perfection, O God! [I extol] with thy
praise. I testify that there is no deity but thou alone 5 thou hast
no companion. I implore thy forgiveness, and turn to thee with
repentance.” Then looking towards the earth, he adds, “ I testify
that there is no deity but God ,' and I testify that hfohammad is
his servant and his apostle.” Having uttered these words, he
should recite, once, twice, or three times, the “ Soorat el-Kadr,”
or 97th chapter of the Kur—an.

The wudoo is generally performed in less than two minutes,
most persons hurrying through the act, as well as omitting almost
all the prayers, etc., which should accompany and follow the
actions. It is not required before each of the ﬁve daily prayers,
when the person is conscious of having avoided every kind of '
impurity since the last performance of this ablution. When water
cannot be easily procured, or would be injurious to the health of
the individual, he may perform the ablution with dust or sand.
This ceremony is called “tayemmum.” The person, in this case,
strikes the palms of his hands upon any dry dust or sand (it will
sufﬁce to do so upon his cloth robe, as it must contain some
dust), and with both hands wipes his face ; then, having struck
his hands again upon the dust, he wipes his right hand and arm

84 RELIGION AJVD LAWS.

as high as the elbow; and then the left hand and arm in the
same manner. This completes the ceremony. The washing of
the whole body is often performed merely for the sake of cleanli-
ness, but not as a religious act, excepting on particular occasions—
as on the morning of Friday, and. on the two grand festivals, etc.,
when it is called “ ghusl.”

Cleanliness is required not only in the worshipper, but also in
the ground, mat, carpet, robe, or whatever else it be, upon which
he prays. Persons of the lower orders often pray upon the bare
ground, which is considered clean if it be dry ,- and they seldom
wipe off immediately the dust which adheres to the nose and
forehead in prostration, for it is regarded as ornamental to the
believer’s face ; but when a person has a cloak or any other
garment that he can take off without exposing his person in an
unbecoming manner, he spreads it upon the ground to serve as a
prayer-carpet. The rich use a prayer-carpet (called “ seggadeh”)
about the size of a wide hearth—rug, having a niche represented
upon it, the point of which is turned towards Mekkeh. It is
reckoned sinful to pass near before a person engaged in prayer.

Prayer is called “salah.” Five times in the course of every
day is its performance required of the Muslim, but there are
comparatively few persons in Egypt who do not sometimes, or
often, neglect this duty, and many who scarcely ever pray.
Certain portions of the ordinary prayers are called “ fard,” which
are appointed by the Kur—an ; and others, “sunneh,” which are
appointed by the Prophet, without allegation of a divine order.

The ﬁrst time of prayer commences at the “maghrib,” or
sunset, or rather about four minutes later; the second, at the
“ ’eshé,” or nightfall, when the evening has closed and it is quite
dark, the third, at the “ subh 7’ or “fegr”———that is, daybreak;
the fourth, at the “ duhr,” or noon, or rather a little later, when
the sun has begun to decline ,- the ﬁfth, at the “ ’asr,” or after-
noon—that is, about mid—time between noon and nightfall. Each
period of prayer ends when the next commences, excepting that
of daybreak, which ends at sunrise. The Prophet would not have
his followers commence their prayers at sunrise, nor exactly at
noon or sunset, because, he said, inﬁdels worshipped the sun at
such times.

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Should the time of prayer arrive when they are eating, or
about to eat, they are not to rise to prayer till they have ﬁnished
their meal. The prayers should be said as nearly as possible at
the commencement of the periods above mentioned ; they may be
said after, but not before. The several times of prayer are an-
nounced by the “ mueddin” of each mosque. Having ascended
to the gallery of the “ mad’neh,” or menaret, he chants the
“adan,” or call to prayer, which is as follows :——“ God is most
Great!” (this is said four times). “I testify that there is no
deity but God l” (twice). “I testify that Mohammad is God’s
Apostle!” (twice). “Come to prayer!” (twice). “Come to
security 1” (twice). “God is most Great 3” (twice). “There is
no deity but God 1” Most of the mueddins of Cairo have har-
monious and sonorous voices, which they strain to the utmost
pitch; yet there is a simple and solemn melody in their chants
which is very striking, particularly in the stillness of night.
Blind men are generally preferred for the ofﬁce of mueddins,
that the hareems and terraces of surrounding houses may not be
overlooked from the mad’nehs.

Two other calls to prayer are made during the night, to rouse
those persons who desire to perform supererogatory acts of devo-
tion. A little after midnight, the mu‘eddins of the great royal
mosques in Cairo (that is, of each of the great mosques founded by
a Sultan, which is called “ Game’ Sultanee”), and of some other
large mosques, ascend the mad’nehs and chant the following call,
which, being one of the two night-calls not at the regular periods
of obligatory prayers, is called the “001a,” a term signifying
merely the “First.” Having commenced by chanting the com-
mon adan, with those words which are introduced in the call to
morning-prayer (“Prayer is better than sleep”), he adds, “ There
is no deity but God” (three times) “alone: he hath no com-
panion: to him belongeth the dominion; and to him belongeth
praise. He giveth life, and causeth death 3 and he is living, and
shall never die. In his hand is blessing [or good]; and he is
Almighty—There is no deity but God!” (three times) “ and we
will not worship any beside him, ‘ serving him with sincerity of
religion,’ ‘though the inﬁdels be averse’ [thereto]. There is
no deity but God! Mohammad is the most noble of the creation

88 RELIGION AND LA WS.

in the sight of God. Mohammad is the best prophet that hath
been sent, and a lord by whom his companions became lords ;
comely, liberal of gifts, perfect, pleasant to the taste, sweet, soft
to the throat [or to be drunk]. Pardon, O Lord, thy servant
and thy poor dependant, the endower of this place, and him who
watcheth it with goodness and beneﬁcence, and its neighbours,
and those who‘frequent it at the times of prayers and good acts,
0 thou Bountifull—O Lord!” (three times). “Thou art he
who ceaseth not to be distinguished by mercy : thou art liberal of
thy clemency towards the rebellious, and protectest him 3 and
concealest what is foul, and makest manifest every virtuous
action ; and thou bestowest thy beneﬁcence upon the servant, and
comfortest him, 0 thou Bountifull—O Lord!” (three times).
“My sins, when I think upon thorn, [I see to be] many ; but the
mercy of my Lord is more abundant than are my sins: I am not
solicitous on account of good that I have done ; but for the mercy
of God I am most solicitous. Extolled be the Everlasting! He
hath no companion in his great dominion. His perfection [I ex-
tol]: exalted be his name : [I extol] the perfection of God.”
About an hour before daybreak the mu'eddins of most mosques
chant the second call named the “Ebed,” and so called from the
occurrence of that word near the commencement. This call is
as follows :-——“ [I extol] the perfection of God, the Existing for
ever and ever ” (three times): “the perfection of God, the
Desired, the Existing, the Single, the Supreme: the perfection of
God, the One, the Sole: the perfection of him who taketh to
himself, in his great dominion, neither female companion, nor
male partner, nor any like unto him, nor any that is disobedient
nor any deputy, nor any equal, nor any offspring. His perfection
[I extol]: and exalted be his name! He is a Deity who knew
what hath been before it was, and called into existence what hath
been ; and he is now existing as he was [at the ﬁrst]. His per-
fection [I extol]: and exalted be his name! He is a Deity unto
whom there is none like existing. There is none like unto God,
the Bountiful, existing. There is none like unto God, the Cle-
ment, existing. There is none like unto God, the Great, existing.
And there is no deity but thou, 0 our Lord, to be worshipped, and
to be praised, and to be desired, and to be gloriﬁed. [I extol]

RELIGION AND [A WS. 89

the perfection of him who created all creatures, and numbered
them, and distributed their sustenance, and decreed the terms of
the lives of his servants: and our Lord, the Bountiful, the Cle-
ment, the Great, forgetteth not one of them. [I extol] the perfec-
tion of him who, of his power and greatness, caused the pure
water to ﬂow from the solid stone, the mass of rock : the perfec-
tion of him who spake with our lord Moosa [or Moses] upon the
mountain ; whereupon the mountain was reduced to dust, through
dread of God, whose name be exalted, the One, the Sole. There
is no deity but God. He is a just Judge. [I extol] the perfec-
tion of the First. Blessing and peace be on thee, O comely of
countenance! O Apostle of God! Blessing and peace be on
thee, 0 ﬁrst of the creatures of God! and seal of the apostles of
God! Blessing and peace be on thee, O thou Prophet! on thee
and on thy family, and all thy companions. God is most Great!
God is most Great!” etc., to the end of the call to morning-
prayer. “ O God, favour and preserve and bless the blessed
Prophet, our lord Mohammad! And may God, whose name be
blessed and exalted, be well pleased with thee, 0 our lord El-
Hasan, and with thee, 0 our lord El-Hoseyn, and with thee, O
Aboo-Farrag, O Sheykh of the Arabs, and with all the favourites
[the “ welees ”] of God. Amen.”

The prayers which are performed daily at the ﬁve periods be—
fore mentioned are said to be of so many “ rek’ahs,” or inclinations
of the head.

The worshipper, standing with his face towards the Kibleh
(that is, towards Mekkeh), and his feet not quite close together,
says, inaudibly, that he has purposed to recite the prayers of so
many rek’ahs (sunneh or fard) the morning-prayers (or the noon,
etc.) of the present day (or night), and then, raising his open
hands on each side of his face, and touching the lobes of his ears
with the ends of his thumbs, he says, “God is most Great!”
(“ Allahu Akbar”) This ejaculation is called the “ tekbeer.” He
then proceeds to recite the prayers of the prescribed number of
rek’ahs, thus :—

Still standing, and placing his hands before him, a little below
his girdle, the left within the right, he recites (with his eyes
directed towards the spot where his head will touch the ground

90 RELIGION AND LA WS.

in prostration) the Fat’hah, or opening chapter of the Kur-an, and
after it three or more other verses, or one of the short chapters,
of the Kur-an—very commonly the 112th chapter——but without
repeating the bismillah (“In the name of God,” etc.) before the
second recitation. He then says, “ God is most Great!” and
makes, at the same time, an inclination of his head and body,
placing his hands upon his knees, and separating his ﬁngers a
little. In this posture he says, “ [I extol] the perfection of my
Lord, the Great l” (three times); adding, “May God hear him
who praiseth him. Our Lord, praise be unto thee!” Then,

 

POSTURES 0F PRAYER.

raising his head and body, he repeats, “ God is most Great !”

He next drops gently upon his knees, and saying again, “ God is
most Great 1” places his hands upon the ground, a little before
his knees, and puts his nose and forehead also to the ground (the
former ﬁrst), between his two hands. During this prostration he
says, “ [I extol] the perfection of my Lord, the Most High 1”
(three times). He raises his head and body (but his knees
remain upon the ground), sinks backwards upon his heels, and
places his hands upon his thighs, saying at the same time, “God
is most Great l” and this he repeats as he bends his head a second

RELIGION AND LA WS. 91

time to the ground. During this second prostration he repeats
the same words as in the ﬁrst, and in raising his head again he
utters the tekbeer as before. Thus are completed the prayers of one
rek’ah. In all the changes of posture, the toes of the right foot
must not be moved from the spot where they were ﬁrst placed,
and the left foot should be moved as little as possible.

Having ﬁnished the prayers of one rek’ah, the worshipper rises
upon his feet (but without moving his toes from the spot where
they were, particularly those of the right foot), and repeats the
same; only he should recite some other chapter, or portion, after

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POSTURES 0F PRAYER.

the Fat’hah, than that which he repeated before, as, for instance,
the 108th chapter.

After every second rek’ah (and after the last, though there be
. an odd number, as in the evening fard), he does not immediately
raise his knees from the ground, but bends his left foot under
him, and sits upon it, and places his hands upon his thighs, with
the ﬁngers a little apart. In this posture he says, “Praises are
to God, and prayers, and good works. Peace be on thee, 0
Prophet, and the mercy of God, and his blessings! Peace be on
us, and on [all] the righteous worshippers of God I” Then raising

92 [6131;] G] ON A N1) LA W S.

the ﬁrst ﬁnger of the right hand (but not the hand itself), he
adds, “I testify that there is no deity but God , and I testify
that Mohammad is his servant and his apostle.”

After the last rek’ah of each of the prayers (that is, after the
sunneh prayers and the fard alike), after saying, “Praises are to
God,” etc, the worshipper, looking upon his right shoulder, says,
“Peace be on you, and the mercy of God !” Then looking upon
the left, he repeats the same. These salutations are considered,
by some as addressed only to the guardian angels Who watch over
the believer and note all his actions ; but others say that they
are addressed both to angels and men (that is, believers only),
who may be present: no person, however, returns them. Before
the salutations in the last prayer, the worshipper may offer up any
short petition (in Scriptural language rather than his own) ; while
he does so, looking at the palms of his two hands, which he holds
like an open book before him, and then draws over his face, from
the forehead downwards.

Having ﬁnished both the sunneh and fard prayers, the wor-
shipper, if he would acquit himself completely, or rather, perform
supererogatory acts, remains sitting (but may then sit more at his
case), and recites the “ A’yet el-Kursee,” or Throne-Verse, which
is the 256th of the 2nd chapter of the Kur—an; and adds, “0
High! 0 Great! Thy perfection [I extol].” He then repeats,
“ The perfection of God!” (thirty—three times). “ The perfection
of God, the Great, with, his praise for ever!” (once). “ Praise
be to God!” (thirty-three times). “Extolled be his dignity!
There is no deity but he!” (once). “God is most Great!”
(thirty-three times). “ God is most Great in greatness, and praise
be to God in abundance!” (once). He counts these repetitions
with a string of beads called “ sebhah” (more properly “ sub-
hah ”). The beads are ninety-nine, and have a mark between each
thirty-three. They are of aloes or other odoriferous or precious
wood, or of coral, or of certain fruit-stones or seeds, etc.

Any wandering of the eyes or of the mind, a coughing or the
like, answering a question, or any action not prescribed to be per-N
formed, must be strictly avoided (unless it be between the sunneh
prayers and the fard, or be difﬁcult to avoid, for it is held allow—
able to make three slight irregular motions, or deviations, from

 

MOSQUE OF THE SULTAN HASSAN, CAIRO.

Page 93.

 

RELIGZOJV AND LA IVS. 93

correct deportment); otherwise the worshipper must begin again,
and repeat his prayers with due reverence. It is considered ex-
tremely sinful to interrupt a man when engaged in his devotions.
The time usually occupied in repeating the prayers of four rek’ahs,
without the supererogatory additions, is less than four, or even
three, minutes. The Muslim says the ﬁve daily prayers in his
house or shop or in the mosque, according as may be most con-
.venient to him. It is seldom that a person goes from his house
to the mosque to pray excepting to join the congregation on F ri-
day. Men of the lower orders oftener pray in the mosques than
those who have a comfortable home and a mat or carpet upon
which to pray.

The same prayers are said by the congregation in the mosque
on the noon of Friday, but there are additional rites performed
by the Imam and other ministers on this occasion. The chief
reasons for ﬁxing upon Friday as the Sabbath of the Muslims
were, it is said, because Adam was created on that day, and died
on the same day of the week, and because the general resurrec-
tion was prophesied to happen on that day ; whence, particularly,
Friday was named the day of “El-Gum’ah” (or the assembly).
The Muslim does not abstain from worldly business on Friday,
excepting during the time of prayer, according to the precept of
the Kur-an, ch. lxii., ver. 9 and 10.

To form a proper conception of the ceremonials of the Friday
prayers, it is necessary to have some idea of the interior of a
mosque. A mosque in which a congregation assembles to per-
form the Friday prayers is called “ gamé’.” The mosques of Cairo
are so numerous that none of them is inconveniently crowded on
the Friday, and some of them are so large as to occupy spaces
three or four hundred feet square. They are mostly built of stone,
the alternate courses of which are generally coloured externally
red and white. Most commonly a large mosque consists of porti-
coes surrounding a square open court, in the centre of which is a
tank or a fountain for ablution. One side of the building faces
the direction of Mekkeh, and the portico on this side, being the
principal place of prayer, is more spacious than those on the three
other sides of the court. It generally has two or more rows of
columns, forming so many aisles, parallel with the exterior wall.

\

94 RELIGION AND LA WS.

In some cases this portico, like the other three, is open to the
court; in other cases it is separated from the court by partitions
of wood, connecting the front row of columns. In the centre of
its exterior wall is the “ mehrab ” (or niche) which marks the direc~
tion of Mekkeh ; and to the right of this is ’the “mimbar” (or
pulpit). Opposite the mehrab, in the fore part of the portico, or
in its central part, there is generally a platform (called “ dikkeh ”),
surrounded by a parapet, and supported by small columns; and
by it, or before it, are one or two seats, having a kind of desk to
bear a volume of the Kur-an, from which a chapter is read to the
congregation. The walls are generally quite plain, being simply
whitewashed , but in some mosques the lower part of the wall of
the place of prayer is lined with coloured marbles, and the other
part ornamented with various devices executed in stucco, but
mostly with texts of the Kur—an (which form long friezes, having
a pleasing effect), and never with the representation of anything
that has life. The pavement is covered with matting, and the
rich and poor pray side by side 3 the man of rank or wealth en-
joying no peculiar distinction or comfort, unless (which is some—
times the case) he have a prayer—carpet brought by his servant
and spread for him.

The Prophet did not forbid women to attend public prayers in
a mosque, but pronounced it better for them to pray in private.
In Cairo, however, neither femqles nor young boys are allowed to
pray with the congregation in the mosque, or even to be present
in the mosque at any time of prayer. Formerly women were
permitted (and perhaps are still in some countries), but were
obliged to place themselves apart from the men, and behind the
latter ; because, as Sale has remarked, the Muslims are of opinion
that the presence of females inspires a different kind of devotion
from that which is requisite in a place dedicated to the worship of
God. Very few women in Egypt even pray at home.

Over each of the mosques of Cairo presides a “Nazir” (or
warden), who is the trustee of the funds which arise from lands,
houses, etc., bequeathed to the mosque by the founder and others,
and who appoints the religious ministers and the inferior servants.
Two “ Imams” are employed to ofﬁciate in each of the larger
mosques: one of them, called the “ Khateeb,” preaches and prays

  

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INTERIOR OF A MOSQUE.

 

RELIGION AND LA W5. 97

before the congregation on the Friday; the other is an “ Imam
Ratib,” or ordinary Imam, who recites the ﬁve prayers of every
day in the mosque, at the head of those persons who may be there
at the exact times of those prayers. But in most of the smaller
mosques both these ofﬁces are performed y one Imam. There
are also to each mosque one or more “ mue‘ddins ” (to chant the
call to prayer) and “bowwabs” (or door-keepers), according as
there are one or more mad’nehs (or menarets) and entrances ; and
several other servants are employed to sweep the mosque, spread
the mats, light the lamps, and attend to the sakiyeh (or water-
wheel), by which the tank or fountain, and other receptacles for
water necessary to the performance of ablutions, are supplied.
The Imams, and those persons who perform the lower oﬂices, are
all paid from the funds of the mosque, and not by any contribu»
tions exacted from the people.

The condition of the Imams is very different, in most respects,
from that of Christian priests. They have no authority above
other persons, and do not enjoy any respect but what their re-
puted piety or learning may obtain them 3 nor are they a distinct
order of men set apart for religious oﬂices, like our clergy, and
composing an indissoluble fraternity, for a man who has acted as
the Imam of a mosque may be displaced by the warden of that
mosque, and, with his employment and salary, loses the title of
Imam, and has no better chance of being again chosen for a re-
ligious minister than any other person competent to perform the
ofﬁce. The Imams obtain their livelihood chieﬂy by other means
than the service of the mosque, as their salaries are very small——
that of a Khateeb being generally about a piaster (2%d. of our
money) per month, and that of an ordinary Imam about ﬁve
piasters. Some of them engage in trade; several of them are
“’attars” (or druggists and perfumers), and many of them are
schoolmasters. Those who have no regular occupations of these
kinds often recite the Kur-an for hire in private houses. They
are mostly chosen from among the poor students of the great
mosque El-Azhar.

The large mosques are open from daybreak till a little after
the ’eshé, or till nearly two hours after sunset. The others are
closed between the hours of morning and noon prayers 3 and

(440) 7

98 RELIGION AND LA WS.

most mosques are also closed in rainy weather (excepting at the
times of prayer), lest persons who have no shoes should enter and
dirt the pavement and matting. Such persons always enter by
the door nearest the tank or fountain (if there be more than one
door), that they may wash before they pass into the place of
prayer; and generally this door alone is left open in dirty weather.
The great mosque El~Azhar remains open all night, with the excep-
tion of the principal place of prayer, which is called the “ maksoo—
rah,” being partitioned off from the rest of the building. In many
of the larger mosques, particularly in the afternoon, persons are
seen lounging, chatting together, eating, sleeping, and sometimes
spinning or sewing, or engaged in some other simple craft; but
notwithstanding such practices, which are contrary to precepts of
their Prophet, the Muslims very highly respect their mosques.
There are several mosques in Cairo (as the Azhar, Hasaneyn,
etc.) before which no Frank, or any other Christian, nor a Jew,
was allowed to pass, till— of late years, since the French invasion.

On the Friday, half-an-hour before the “ duhr ” (or noon), the
mueddins of the mosques ascend to the galleries of the mad’nehs
and chant the “ Selam,” which is a salutation to the Prophet, not
always expressed in the same words, but generally in words to
the following eﬁ'ect :—“ Blessing and peace be on thee, O thou of
great dignity! O Apostle of God! Blessing and peace be on
thee, to whom the Truth said, I am God! Blessing and peace
be on thee, thou ﬁrst of the creatures of God, and seal of the
Apostles of God! From me be peace on thee, on thee and on
thy Family and all thy Companions 3” Persons then begin to
assemble in the mosques.

The utmost solemnity and decorum are observed in the public
worship of the Muslims. Their looks and behaviour in the mosque
are not those of enthusiastic devotion, but of calm and modest
piety. Never are they guilty of a designedly irregular word or
action during their prayers. The pride and fanaticism which
they exhibit in common life, in intercourse with persons of their
own or of a different faith, seem to be dropped on their entering
the mosque, and they appear wholly absorbed in the adoration of
their Creator—humble and downcast, yet without affected humility
or a forced expression of countenance.

RELIGION AND LA WS. 99

The Muslim takes off his shoes at the door of the mosque,
carries them in his left hand, sole to sole, and puts his right foot
ﬁrst over the threshold. If he have not previously performed the
preparatory ablution, he repairs at once to the tank or fountain
to acquit himself of that duty. Before he commences his prayers,
he places his shoes (and his sword and pistols, if he have such
arms) upon the matting, a little before the spot where his head
will touch the ground in prostration: his shoes are put one upon
the other, sole to sole.

The people who assemble to perform the noon prayers of Fri-
day arrange themselves in rows parallel to that side of the mosque
in which is the niche, and facing that side. Many do not go until
the adan of noon, or just before. When a person goes at, or a
little after, the Selam, as soon as he has taken his place in one of
the ranks he performs two rek’ahs, and then remains sitting, on
his knees or cross-legged, while a reader, having seated himself
on the reading-chair immediately after the Selam, is occupied in
reciting (usually without book) the Soorat el-Kahf (the 18th
chapter of the Kur-an), or a part of it; for generally he has not
ﬁnished it before the adan of noon, when he stops. All the con-
gregation, as soon as they hear the adan (which is the same as on
other days), sit on their knees and feet. When the adan is ﬁnished,
they stand up and perform, each separately, two rek’ahs, “ sun-
net el-gum’ah” (or the sunneh ordinance for Friday), which they
conclude, like the ordinary prayers, with the two salutations. A
servant of the mosque, called a “Murakkee,” then opens the
folding-doors at the foot of the pulpit-stairs, takes from behind
them a straight wooden sword, and standing a little to,the right
of the doorway, with his right side towards the kibleh, holds this
sword in his right hand, resting the point on the ground. In this
position he says, “ Verily God'favoureth, and his angels bless, the
Prophet. 0 ye who believe, bless him, and greet him with a
salutation I” Then one or more persons, called “ Muballighs,”
stationed on the dikkeh, chant the following, or similar words :—
“O God! favour and preserve and bless the most noble of the
Arabs and ’Agam [or foreigners], the Imam of Mekkeh and E1-
Medeeneh and the Temple, to whom the spider showed favour and
wove its web in the cave, and whom the dabb [lizard] saluted, and

Ioo RELIGION AND LA IVS.

before whom the moon was cloven in twain, our lord Mohammad,
and his Family and Companions 1” The Murakkee then recites
the adan (which the mue‘ddins have already chanted): after every
few words he pauses, and the Muballighs on the dikkeh repeat
the same words in a sonorous chant. Before the adan is ﬁnished,
the Khateeb, or Imam, comes to the foot of the pulpit, takes the
wooden sword from the Murakkee’s hand, ascends the pulpit, and
sits on the top step or platform. The pulpit of a large mosque
on this day is decorated with two ﬂags, with the profession of the
faith, or the names of God and Mohammad, worked upon them:
these are ﬁxed at the top of the stairs, slanting forward. The
Murakkee and Muballighs having ﬁnished the adan, the former
repeats a tradition of the Prophet, saying, “The Prophet (upon
whom be blessing and peace!) hath said, ‘If thou say unto thy
companion While the Imam is preaching on Friday, Be thou silent,
thou speakest rashly.’ Be ye silent: ye shall be rewarded ; God
shall recompense you.” _He then sits down. The Khateeb now
rises, and holding the wooden sword in the same manner as the
Murakkee did, delivers an exhortation, called “khutbet el—waaz.”
As the reader may be curious to see a translation of a Muslim
sermon, I insert one. The following is a sermon preached on the
ﬁrst Friday of the Arab year. The original, as usual, is in rhym-
ing prose.

“ Praise be to God, the renewer of years, and the multiplier of
favours, and the creator of months and days, according to the most
perfect wisdom and most admirable regulation ; who hath digniﬁed
the months of the Arabs above all other months, and pronounced
that among the more excellent of them is El-Moharram 'the
Sacred, and commenced with it the year, as he hath closed it with
Zu-LHeggeh. How propitious is the beginning, and how good is
the end! [I extol] his perfection, exempting him from the asso-
ciation of any other deity with him. He hath well considered
what he hath formed, and established what he hath contrived, and
he alone hath the power to create and to annihilate. I praise
him, extolling his perfection, and exalting his name, for the
knowledge and inspiration which he hath graciously vouchsafed ;
and I testify that there is no deity but God alone; he hath no
companion 3 he is the most holy King, the [God of] peace: and

RELIGION AND LA WS. 101

I testify that our lord and our Prophet and our friend Moham-
mad is his servant, and his apostle, and his elect, and his friend,
the guide of the way and the lamp of the dark. 0 God! favour
and preserve and bless this noble Prophet, and chief and excellent
apostle, the merciful-hearted, our lord Mohammad, and his family,
and his companions, and his wives, and his posterity, and the
people of his house, the noble persons, and preserve them amply !
O servants of God 1 your lives have been gradually curtailed, and
year after year hath passed away, and ye are sleeping on the bed
of indolence and on the pillow of iniquity. Ye pass by the tombs
of your predecessors, and fear not the assault of destiny and de—
struction, as if others departed from the world and ye must of
necessity remain in it. Ye rejoice at the arrival of new years, as
if they brought an increase to the term of life, and swim in the
seas of desires, and enlarge your hopes, and in every way exceed
other people [in presumption], and ye are sluggish in doing good.
0 how great a calamity is this! God teacheth by an allegory.
Know ye not that in the curtailment of time by indolence and
sleep there is very great trouble? Know ye not that in the cut-
ting short of lives by the termination of years is a very great
warning? Know ye not that the night and day divide the lives
of numerous souls? Know ye not that health and capacity are
two blessings coveted by many men? But the truth hath become
manifest to him who hath eyes. Ye are now between two years 2
one year hath passed away and come to an end with its evils ; and
ye have entered upon another year, in which, if it please God,
mankind shall be relieved. Is any of you determining upon dili-
gence [in doing good] in the year to come? or repenting of his
failings in the times that are passed? The happy is he who
maketh amends for the time passed in the time to come ; and the
miserable is he whose days pass away and he is careless of his time.
This new year hath arrived, and the sacred month of God hath come
with blessings to you—~the ﬁrst of the months of the year, and of
the four sacred months, as hath been said, and the most worthy of
preference and honour and reverence. Its fast is the most excel—
lent of fasts after that which is incumbent [Ramadan], and the
doing of good in it is among the most excellent of the objects of
desire. Whosoever desireth to reap advantage from it, let him

102 RELIGION AND LA WS.

fast the ninth and tenth days, looking for aid. Abstain not from
this fast through indolence, and esteeming it a hardship; but
comply with it in the best manner, and honour it with the best of
honours, and improve your time by the worship of God morning
and evening. Turn unto God with repentance before the assault
of death , he is the God who accepteth repentance of his servants
and pardoneth sins—«The Tradition—The Apostle of God (God
favour and preserve him I) hath said : ‘ The most excellent prayer,
after the prescribed, is the prayer that is said in the last third of
the night; and the most excellent fast, after Ramadan, is that of
the month of God, El—Moharram.’”

The Khateeb, having concluded his exhortation, says to the
congregation, “Supplicate God.” He then sits down, and prays
privately ; and each member of the congregation at the same time
offers up some private petition, as after the ordinary prayers, hold-
ing his hands before him (looking at the palms), and then drawing
them down his face. This done, the Muballighs say, “A’meen!
A’meen! (Amen! Amen I) O Lord of all creatures!” The Kha-
teeb now rises again, and recites another Khutbeh, called “khut-
bet en-naat,” of which the following is a translation :—

“Praise be to God, abundant praise, as he hath commanded!
I testify that there is no deity but God alone: he hath no com-
panion: afﬁrming his supremacy, and condemning him who de-
nieth and disbelieveth : and I testify that our lord and our prophet
Mohammad is his servant and his apostle, the lord of mankind,
the intercessor, the accepted intercessor, on the day of assembling:
God favour him and his family as long as the eye seeth and the
ear heareth! 0 people! reverence God by doing what he hath
commanded, and abstain from that which he hath forbidden and
prohibited. The happy is he who obeyeth, and the miserable is
he Who opposeth and sinneth. Know that the present world is a
transitory abode, and that the world to come is a lasting abode.
Make provision, therefore, in your transitory state for your last-
ing state, and prepare for your reckoning and standing before
your Lord: for know that ye shall to-morrow be placed before
God, and reckoned with according to your deeds , and before the
Lord of Might ye shall be present, ‘and those who have acted
unjustly shall know with what an overthrowal they shall be over—

RELIGIOZV AND LA IVS. 103

thrown.’ Know that God, whose perfection I extol, and whose
name be exalted, hath said (and ceaseth not to say wisely, and to
command judiciously, warning you, and teaching, and honouring the
dignity of your Prophet, extolling and magnifying him), ‘Verily,
God favoureth, and his angels bless, the Prophet: 0 ye who be-
lieve, bless him, and greet him with a salutation 1’ O God I favour
Mohammad and the family of Mohammad, as thou favouredst Ibra-
heem [Abraham] and the family of Ibraheem; and bless Mohammad
and the family of Mohammad, as thou blessedst Ibraheem and the
family of Ibraheem among all creatures—for thou art praise-
worthy and glorious ! O God ! do thou also be well pleased with
the four Khaleefehs, the orthodox lords, of high dignity and
illustrious honour, Aboo-Bekr Es—Siddeek, and ’Omar, and ’Osman,
and ’Alee ; and be thou well pleased, O God! with the six who
remained of the ten noble and just persons who swore allegiance
to thy Prophet Mohammad (God favour and preserve him !) under
the tree (for thou art the Lord of piety and the Lord of pardon) 3
those persons of excellence and clemency, and rectitude and pros-
perity, Talhah, and Ez—Zubeyr, and Saad, and Sa’eed, and ’Abd-
Er-Rahman Ibn—’wa, and Aboo-’Obeydeh ’A’mir Ibn-El-Garrah ;
and with all the Companions of the Apostle of God (God favour
and preserve him I) ; and be thou well pleased, O God! with the
two martyred descendants, the two bright moons, ‘the two lords
of the youths of the people of Paradise in Paradise,’ the two
sweetsmelling ﬂowers of the Prophet of this nation, Aboo-Moham-
mad El—Hasan, and Aboo—’Abd-Allah El-Hoseyn: and be thou
well pleased, O God! with their mother, the daughter of the
Apostle of God (God favour and preserve him I), Fatimeh Ez—
Zahra, and with their grandmother Khadeegeh El—Kubra, and
with ’A’isheh, the mother of the faithful, and with the rest of the
pure wives, and with the generation which succeeded the Com-
panions, and the generation which succeeded that, with beneﬁcence
to the day of judgment! 0 God! pardon the believing men and
the believing women, and the Muslim men and the Muslim
women, those who are living, and the dead; for thou art a bearer
near, an answerer of prayers, O Lord of all creatures! O God!
aid El—Islam, and strengthen its pillars, and make inﬁdelity to
tremble, and destroy its might, by the preservation of thy servant,

104. _ RELIGION AZVD LA IVS.

and the son of thy servant, the submissive to the might of thy
majesty and glory, whom God hath aided, by the care of the
Adored King, our master the Sultan, son of the Sultan, the
Sultan Mahmood Khan: may God assist him, and prolong [his
reign] ! O God ! assist him, and assist his armies ! O thou Lord
of the religion, and of the world present, and the world to come!
0 Lord of all creatures! O God! assist the forces of the Mus-
lims, and the armies of the Unitarians! O God! frustrate the
infidels and polytheists, thine enemies, the enemies of the religion!
0 God I invert their banners, and ruin their habitations, and give
them and their wealth as booty to the Muslims! O God! un-
loose the captivity of the captives, and annul the debts of the
debtors ; and make this town to be safe and secure, and blessed
with wealth and plenty, and all the towns of the Muslims, O Lord
of all creatures! And decree safety and health to us and to all
travellers, and pilgrims, and warriors, and wanderers, upon thy
earth, and upon thy sea, such as are Muslims, O Lord of all
creatures! ‘O Lord! we have acted unjustly towards our own
souls, and if thou do not forgive us and be merciful unto us, we
shall surely be of those who perish.’ I beg of God, the Great,
that he may forgive me and you, and all the people of Moham-
mad, the servants of God. ‘Verily, God commandeth justice,
and the doing of good, and giving [what is due] to kindred; and
forbiddeth wickedness, and iniquity, and oppression: he admon-
isheth you that ye may reﬂect.’ Remember God ; he will re-
member you: and thank him; he will increase to you [your
blessings]. Praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures ! ”

During the rise of the Nile, a good inundation is also prayed
for in this Khutbeh. The Khateeb, or Imam, having ended it,
descends from the pulpit, and the Muballighs chant the “ ikameh :”
the Imam, stationed before the niche, then recites the “fard”
prayers of Friday, which consist of two rek’ahs, and are similar to
the ordinary prayers. The people do the same, but silently, and
keeping time exactly with the Imam in the various postures. Those
who are of the Malikee sect then leave the mosque, and so also
do many persons of the other sects; but some of the Shafe’ees
and Hanafees (there are scarcely any Hambel’ees in Cairo) remain,
and recite the ordinary fard prayers of noon-——forming a number

RELIGION AND LA WS. 105

of separate groups, in each of which one acts as Imam. The rich,
on going out of the mosque, often give alms to the poor outside
the door.

There are other prayers to be performed on particular occa-
sions—on the two grand annual festivals, on the nights of Rama-
dan (the month of abstinence), on the occasion of an eclipse of the
sun or moon, for rain, previously to the commencement of battle,
in pilgrimage, and at funerals.

I have spoken thus fully of Muslim worship because my coun-
trymen in general have very imperfect and erroneous notions on
this subject ; many of them even imagining that the Muslims
ordinarily pray to their Prop/Let as well as to God. Invocations
to the Prophet, for his intercession, are, indeed, frequently made,
particularly at his tomb, Where pious visitors generally say, “We
ask thy intercession, O Apostle of God 1 ” The Muslims also even
implore the intercession of their numerous saints.

The duty next in importance to prayer is that of giving alms.
Certain alms are prescribed by law, and are called “zekah 3”
others, called “sadakah,” are voluntary. The former, or obliga-
tory alms, were, in the earlier ages of El-Islam, collected by
ofﬁcers appointed by the sovereign, for pious uses, such as build-
ing mosques, etc. ; but now it is left to the Muslim’s conscience to
give them, and to apply them in what manner he thinks ﬁt—that
is, to bestow them upon whatever needy persons he may choose.
They are to be given once in every year, of cattle and sheep,
generally in the proportion of one in forty, two in a hundred and
twenty ; of camels, for every ﬁve, a ewe ; or for twenty-ﬁve, a
pregnant camel ; and likewise of money, and, among the Hana-
fees, of merchandise, etc. He who has money to the amount of
two hundred dirhems (0r drams) of silver, or twenty mitkals (that
is, thirty drains) of gold (or, among the H anafecs, the value of the
above in gold or silver ornaments, utensils, etc), must annually
give the fortieth part (“ ruba el—’oshr ”), or the value of that part.

Fasting is the next duty. The Muslim is commanded to fast
during the whole month of Ramadan every day, from the ﬁrst
appearance of daybreak, or rather from the hour when there is
sufﬁcient light for a person to distinguish plainly a white thread
from a black thread (about two hours before sunrise in Egypt),

106 ' RELIGION AND LA WS.

until sunset. He must abstain from eating, drinking, smoking,
smelling perfumes, and every unnecessary indulgence or pleasure
of a. worldly nature ; even from intentionally swallowing his spittle.
When Ramadan falls in summer, the fast is very severe, the
abstinence from drinking being most painfully felt. Persons who
are sick, or on a journey, and soldiers in time of war, are not
obliged to observe the fast during Ramadan ,' but if they do not
keep it in this month, they should fast an equal number of days
at a future time. Fasting is also to be dispensed with in the
cases of a nurse and a pregnant woman. The Prophet even dis-
approved of any person’s keeping the fast of Ramadan if not
perfectly able, and desired no man to fast so much as to injure
his health or disqualify himself for necessary labour. The modern
Muslims seem to regard the fast of Ramadan as of more import-
ance than any other religious act, for many of them keep this fast
who neglect their daily prayers ; and even those who break the
fast, with very few exceptions, pretend to keep it. Many Mus-
lims of the wealthy classes eat and drink in secret during Rama-
dan ; but the greater number strictly keep the fast, which is fatal
to numerous persons in a weak state of health. There are some
other days on which it is considered meritorious to fast, but not-
absolutely necessary. On the two grand festivals—namely, that
following Ramadan, and that which succeeds the pilgrimage—it is
unlawful to do so, being expressly forbidden by the Prophet.

The last of the four most important duties, that of pilgrimage,
remains to be noticed. It is incumbent on every Muslim to per-
form, once in his life, the pilgrimage to Mekkeh and Mount ’Ara-
fat, unless poverty or ill-health prevent him 3 or, if a Hanafee, he
may send a deputy, whose expenses he must pay. Many, how-
ever, neglect the duty of pilgrimage who cannot plead a lawful
excuse; and they are not reproached for so doing. It is not
merely by the visit to Mekkeh, and the performance of, the cere-
monies of compassing the Kaabeh seven times and kissing the
“black stone” in each round, and other rites in the Holy City,
that the Muslim acquires the title of “ el-hagg ” (or the pilgrim) :
the ﬁnal object of the pilgrimage is Mount ’Arafat, six hours’
journey distant from Mekkeh. During his performance of the
required ceremonies in Mekkeh, and also during his journey to

RELIGION/1ND LA IVS. 107

Arafat, and until his completion of the pilgrimage, the Muslim
wears a peculiar dress, called “ehram ” (vulgarly heram), generally
consisting of two simple pieces of cotton, or linen, \or woollen
cloth, without seam or ornament, one of which is wrapped round
the loins, and the other thrown over the shoulders. The instep and
heel of each foot, and the head, must be bare ,' but umbrellas are
now used by many of the pilgrims. It is necessary that the pil-
grim be present on the occasion of a Khutbeh which is recited on
Mount ’Arafat in the afternoon of the 9th of the month of Zu-l-
Heggeh. In the ensuing evening, after sunset, the pilgrims com-
mence their return to Mekkeh. Halting the following day in the
valley of Mina (or, as it is more commonly called, Muna), they
complete the ceremonies of the pilgrimage by a sacriﬁce (of one
or more male sheep, he-goats, cows, or she-camels, part of the
ﬂesh of which they eat, and part give to the poor), and by shaving
the head and clipping the nails. Every one, after this, resumes
his usual dress, or puts on a new one, if provided with such. The
sacriﬁce is called “el-ﬁda” (or the ransom), as it is performed in
commemoration of the ransom of Isma’eel (or Ishmael) by the
sacriﬁce of the ram, when he was himself about to have been
offered up by his father 3 for it is the general opinion of the
Muslims that it was this son, not Isaac, who was to have been
sacriﬁced by his father.

There are other ordinances, more or less connected with those
which have been already explained. -

The two festivals called “cl-’Eed es-Sugheiyir,” or the Minor
Festival, and “ el-’Eed el—Kebeer,” or the Great Festival, the occa-
sions of which have been mentioned above, are observed with
public prayer and general rejoicing. The ﬁrst of these lasts three
days, and the second, three or four days. The festivities with
which they are celebrated will be described in a subsequent chapter.
On the ﬁrst day of the latter festival (it being the day on which
the pilgrims perform their sacriﬁce) every Muslim should slay a
victim, if he can afford to purchase one. The wealthy person
slays several sheep, or a sheep or two, and a buffalo, and distri-
butes the greater portion of the meat to the poor. The slaughter
' may be performed by a deputy.
War against enemies of El-Islam, who have been the ﬁrst

108 RELIGION AND LA 1445'.

aggressors, is enjoined as a sacred duty, and he who loses his life
in fulﬁlling this duty, if unpaid, is promised the rewards of a
martyr. It has been said, even by some of their leading doctors,
that the Muslims are commanded to put to death all idolaters
who refuse to embrace El-Islam, excepting women and children,
whom they are to make slaves ,9 but the precepts on which this
assertion is founded relate to the pagan Arabs, who had violated
their oaths, and long persevered in their hostility to Mohammad
and his followers. According to the decisions of the most reason-
able doctors, the laws respecting other idolaters, as well as Chris-
tians and Jews, who have drawn upon themselves the hostility of
the Muslims, are different. Of such, enemies, if reduced by force
of arms, refusing to capitulate or to surrender themselves, the
men may be put to death or be made slaves, and the women and
children also, under the same circumstances, may be made slaves;
but life and liberty are to be granted to those enemies who sur-
render themselves bycapitulation or otherwise, on the condition
of their embracing El-Islam or paying a poll-tax, unless they have
acted perﬁdiously towards the Muslims, as did the Jewish tribe
of Kureydhah, who, being in league with Mohammad, went over
to his enemies and aided them against him ; for which conduct,
when they surrendered, the men were slain, and the women and V
children were made slaves. The Muslims, it may here be added,
are forbidden to contract intimate friendship with unbelievers.

There are certain prohibitory laws in the Kur-an which must
be mentioned here, as remarkably affecting the moral and social
condition of its disciples.

Wine and all inebriating liquors are forbidden, as being the
cause of “more evil than proﬁt.” Many of the Muslims, how-
ever, in the present day, drink wine, brandy, etc., in secret, and
some, thinking it no sin to indulge thus in moderation, scruple
not to do so openly ,' but among the Egyptians there are few who
transgress in this ﬂagrant manner. “ Boozeh,” or “boozah,” which
is an intoxicating liquor made with barley-bread, crumbled, mixed
with water, strained, and left to ferment, is commonly drunk by
the boatmen of the Nile, and by other persons of the lower orders.
Opium and other drugs which produce a similar effect are con-
sidered unlawful, though not mentioned in the Kur-an ; and

RELIGION AZVI) LA IVS. 109

persons who are addicted to the use of these drugs are regarded
as immoral characters; but in Egypt such persons are not very
numerous. Some Muslims have pronounced tobacco, and even
coffee, unlawful.

The eating of swine’s ﬂesh is strictly forbidden. The unwhole-
some effects of that meat in a hot climate would be a sufficient
reason for the prohibition ; but the pig is held in abhorrence by
the Muslim chieﬂy on account of its extremely ﬁlthy habits.
Most animals prohibited for food by the Mosaic law are alike
forbidden to the Muslim. The camel is an exception. The
Muslim is “forbidden [to eat] that which dieth of itself; and
blood, and swine’s ﬂesh, and that on which the name of any
beside God hath been invoked; and that which hath been
strangled or killed by a blow, or by a fall, or by the horns [of
another beast]; and that which hath been [partly] eaten by a
wild beast, except what he shall [himself] kill; and that which
hath been sacriﬁced unto idols.” An animal that is killed for
the food of man must be slaughtered in a particular manner : the
person who is about to perform the operation must say, “In the
name of God! God is most great!” and then cut its throat, at
the part next the head, taking care to divide the windpipe, gullet,
and carotid arteries ; unless it be a camel, in which case he should
stab the throat at the part next the breast. It is forbidden to
utter, in slaughtering an animal, the phrase which is so often made
use of on other occasions, “ In the name of God, the Compassion-
ate, the Merciful!” because the mention of the most benevolent
epithets of the Deity on such an occasion would seem like a
mockery of the sufferings which it is about to endure. Some
persons in Egypt, but mostly women, when about to kill an ani-
mal for food, say, “In the name of God! God is most great!
God give thee patience to endure the affliction which he hath
allotted thee!” If the sentiment which ﬁrst dictated this prayer
were always felt, it would present a beautiful trait in the char-
acter of the people who use it. In cases of necessity, when in
danger of starving, the Muslim is allowed to eat any food which
is unlawful under other circumstances. The mode of slaughter
above described is, of course, only required to be practised in the
cases of domestic animals. Most kinds of ﬁsh are lawful food ; so

110 RELIGION AND LA W5.

also are many birds, the tame kinds of which must be killed in
the same manner as cattle, but the wild may be shot. The hare,
rabbit, gazelle, etc., are lawful food, and may either be shot, or
killed by a dog, provided the name of God was uttered at the
time of discharging the arrow, etc., or slipping the dog, and he
(the dog) has not eaten any part of the prey. This animal, how-
ever, is considered very unclean. The Shafe’ees hold themselves to
be polluted by the touch of its nose, if it be wet ; and if any part
of their clothes be so touched, they must wash that part with
seven waters, and once with clean earth. Some others are only
careful not to let the animal lick, or deﬁle in a worse manner,
their persons or their dress, etc. When game has been struck
down by any weapon, but not killed, its throat must be imme-
diately cut 3 otherwise it is unlawful food.

Gambling and usury are prohibited, and all games of chance;
and likewise the making of images or pictures of anything that“
has life. The Prophet declared that every representation of this
kind would be placed before its author on the day of judgment,
and that he would be commanded to put life into it; which not
being able to do, he would be cast, for a time, into hell,\ g

The principal civil and crimmal laws remain to be stated.
Their origin we discover partly 1n customs of the pagan Arabs,
but mostly in the Jewish Scriptures and traditions.

The civil and criminal laws are chieﬂy and immediately de-
rived from the Kur-an, but in many important cases this highest
authority affords no precept. In most of these cases the Tradi-
tions of the Prophet direct the decisions of the judge. There
are, however, some important cases, and many of an inferior kind,
respecting which both the Kur-an and the Traditions are silent or
undecisive. These are determined by the explanations and ampli-
ﬁcations derived either from the concordance of the principal
early disciples or from analogy by the four great Imams or
founders of the four orthodox sects of El-Islam—generally on the
authority of the Imam of that sect to which the ruling power be-
longs, which sect, in Egypt and throughout the Turkish Empire, is
that of the Hanafees ; or, if none of the decisions of the Imam
relate to a case in dispute (which not unfrequently happens),
judgment is given in accordance with a sentence of some other

RELIGION AND LA IVS. III

eminent doctor, founded upon analogy. In general, only the
principal laws, as laid down in the Kur-an and the Traditions,
will be here stated.

The laws relating to marriage and the license of polygamy, the
facility of divorce allowed by the Kur-an, and the permission of
concubinage, are essentially the natural and necessary consequences
of the main principle of the constitution of Muslim society—the
restriction of the intercourse between the sexes before marriage.
Few men would marry if he who was disappointed in a wife whom
he had never seen before were not allowed to take another ; and
in the case of a man’s doing this, his own happiness, or that of the
former wife, or the happiness of both these parties, may require
his either retaining this wife or divorcing her.‘ But I hope that
my reader will admit a much stronger reason for these laws, re-
garding them as designed for the [Muslims As the Mosaic code
allowed God’s chosen people, for the hardness of their hearts, to
put away their wives, and forbade neither polygamy nor concubin-
age, he who believes that Moses was divinely inspired to enact
the best laws for his people must hold the permission of these
practices to be less injurious to morality than their prohibition,
among a people similar to the ancient Jews. Their permission,
though certainly productive of injurious effects upon morality and
domestic happiness, prevents a proﬂigacy that would be worse
than that which prevails to so great a degree in European countries,
where parties are united in marriage after an intimate mutual
acquaintance. As to the license of polygamy, which seems to be
unfavourable to the accomplishment of the main object for which
marriage was instituted, as well as to the exercise and improve-
ment of the nobler powers of the mind, we should remark that it
was not introduced, but limited, by the legislator of the Muslims.
It is true that he assumed to himself the privilege of having a
greater number of Wives than he allowed to others ; but in doing
so he may have been actuated by the want of male offspring, rather
than impelled by voluptuousness.

The law respecting marriage and concubinage is perfectly
explicit as to the number of wives whom a Muslim may have at
the same time, but it is not so with regard to the number of
concubine-slaves whom he may have. It is written, “Take in

112 RELIGIOZV AND LA IVS.

marriage, of the women who please you, two, three, or four; but
if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably [to so many, take] one 3 or
[take] those whom your right hands have acquired,” that is, your
slaves. Therefore many of the wealthy Muslims marry two,
three, or four wives, and keep besides several concubine—slaves;
and many of the most revered characters, even Companions of the
Prophet, are recorded to have done the same. The conduct of the
latter clearly shows that the number of concubine~slaves whom a
man may have is not limited by the law in the opinion of the
orthodox.

It is held lawful for a Muslim to marry a Christian or a Jewish
woman, if induced to do so by excessive love of her, or if he
cannot obtain a wife of his own faith ; but in this case the off-
spring must follow the father’s faith, and the wife does not in-
herit when the father dies. A Muslim’eh, however, is not allowed
under any circumstances, but when force is employed, to marry a
man who is not of her own faith. A man is forbidden by the
‘ Kur’an and the Sunneh to marry his mother, or other as eendant ;
his daughter, or other descendant; his sister, or half-sis’er; the
sister of his father or mother, or other ascendant ,' his niece, or
any of her descendants ; his foster-mother, or a woman related to
him by milk in any of the degrees which would preclude his
marriage with her if she were similarly related to him by con-
sanguinity ; the mother of his wife, even if he have not con-
summated his marriage with this wife 5 the daughter of his wife,
if hehave consummated his marriage with the latter, and she be
still his wife ; his father’s wife, and his son’s wife ; and to have at
the same time two wives who are sisters, or aunt and niece. He is
forbidden also to marry his unemancipated slave, or another man’s
slave, if he have already a free wife. It is lawful for the Muslim
to see the faces of those women whom he is forbidden to marry,
but of no others, excepting his own wives and female slaves. The
marriage of a man and woman, or of a man and a girl who has
arrived at puberty, is lawfully effected by their declaring (which
the latter generally does by a “wekeel” or deputy) their consent
to marry each other, in the presence of two witnesses (if witnesses
can be procured), and by the payment, or part-payment, of a
dowryi But the consent of a girl under the age of puberty is not

[RELIGION Az’VD LA IVS. 113

required, her father, or, if he be dead, her nearest adult male re-
lation, or any person appointed as her guardian by will or by the
Kadee, acting for her as he pleases. The giving of a dowry is
indispensable, and the least sum that is allowed by law is ten
“dirhems” (or drams of silver), which is equal to about ﬁve
shillings of our money. A man may legally marry a woman
without mentioning a dowry 3 but after the consummation of the
marriage she can, in this case, compel him to pay the sum of ten
dirhems. (See Deut. xxiv. 1.)

A man may divorce his wife twice, and each time take her
back without any ceremony, excepting in a case to be mentioned
below ; but if he divorce her the third time, or put her away by
a triple divorce conveyed in one sentence, he cannot receive
her again until she has been married and divorced by another
husband, who must have consummated his marriage with her.
When a man divorces his wife (which he does by merely saying,
“ Thou art divorced,” or “ I divorce thee”), he pays her a portion
of her dowry (generally one-third), which he had kept back from
the ﬁrst, to be paid on this occasion or at his death; and she
takes away with her the furniture, etc., which she brought at her
marriage. He may thus put her away from mere dislike, and
without assigning any reason. But a woman cannot separate her-
self from her husband against his will, unless it be for some con-
siderable fault on his part, as cruel treatment or neglect ,' and
even then, application to the Kadee’s court is generally necessary
to compel the man to divorce her, and she forfeits the above-
mentioned remnant of the dowry.

The ﬁrst and second divorce, if made without any mutual
agreement for a compensation from the woman, or a pecuniary
sacriﬁce on her part, is termed “talak reg’ee” (a divorce which
admits of return); because the husband may take back his wife,
without her consent, during the period of her “’eddeh” (which
will be presently explained), but not after, unless with her con-
sent, and by a new contract. If he divorce her the ﬁrst or second
time for a compensation, she perhaps requesting, “Divorce me
for what thou owest me,” or “— hast of mine” (that is, of the
dowry, furniture, etc.), or for an additional sum, he cannot take
her again but by her own consent, and by a new contract. This

(440) ' 8

114 RELIGION AND LA IVS.

is a “talak bain” (or separating divorce), ’and is termed “the
lesser separation,” to distinguish it from the third divorce, which
is called “the greater separation.” The “’eddeh” is the period
during which a divorced woman or a widow must wait before
marrying again—in either case, if pregnant, until delivery ; other-
wise the former must wait three lunar periods, or three months,
and the latter four months and ten days. A woman who is
divorced when in a state of pregnancy, though she may make a
new contract of marriage immediately after her delivery, must
wait forty days longer before she can complete her marriage by
receiving her husband. The man who divorces his wife must
maintain her in his own house, or in that of her parents, or else-
where, during the period of her ’eddeh, but must cease to live
with her as her husband from the commencement of that period.
A divorced woman who has a son under two years of age may
retain him until he has attained that age, and may be compelled
to do so by the law of the Shafe’ees; and by the law of the
Malikees, until he has arrived at puberty; but the Hanafee law
limits the period during which the boy should remain under her
care to seven years. Her daughter she should retain until nine
years of age, or the period of puberty. If a man divorce his wife
before the consummation of marriage, he must pay her half the
sum which he has promised to give her as a dowry ; or if he have
promised no dowry, he must pay her the half of the smallest
dowry allowed by law, which has been mentioned above, and she
may marry again immediately.

When a wife refuses to obey the lawful commands of her hus-
band, he may, and generally does, take her, or two witnesses
against her, to the Kadee’s court, to prefer a complaint against
her; and, if the case be proved, a certiﬁcate is written declaring
the woman “nashizeh,” or rebellious againstlher husband. This
process is termed “writing a woman nashizeh.” It exempts her
husband from obligation to lodge, clothe, and maintain her. He
is not obliged to divorce her, and by refusing to do this he may
prevent her marrying another man as long as; he lives ; but if she
promise to be obedient afterwards, he must take her back and
maintain her, or divorce her. It is more common, however, for a
wife whose husband refuses to divorce her, if she have parents or

RELIGION AND LA WS. 115

other relations able and willing to support her comfortably, to
make a complaint at the Kadee’s court, stating her husband’s
conduct to be of such a nature towardsher that she will not live
with him, and thus cause herself to be registered “ nashizeh,” and
separated from him. In this case the husband generally persists,
from mere spite, in refusing to divorce her.

As concubines are slaves, some account of slaves in general
may here be appropriately inserted, with a statement of the
principal laws respecting concubines and their offspring, etc.
The slave is either a person taken captive in war or carried oil?
by force from a foreign hostile country, and being at the time of
capture an inﬁdel; or the offspring of a female slave by another
slave, or by any man who is not her owner, or by her owner if he
do not acknowledge himself to be the father ,- but a person can-
not be the slave of a relation who is within the prohibited degrees
of marriage. The power of the owner is such that he may even
kill his slave with impunity for any offence ,' and he incurs but a
slight punishment (as imprisonment for a period at the discretion
of the judge) if he do so wantonly. He may give or sell his
slaves, excepting in some cases which will be mentioned; and
may marry them to whom he will, but not separate them when
married. A slave, however, according to most of the doctors,
cannot have more than two wives at the same time. As a slave
enjoys less advantages than a free person, the law, in some cases,
ordains that his punishment for an offence shall be half of that
to which the free is liable for the same offence, or even less than
half. If it be a ﬁne, or pecuniary compensation, it must be paid
by the owner, to the amount, if necessary, of the value of the
slave, or the slave must be given in compensation. An uneman-
cipated slave, at the death of the owner, becomes the property of
the heirs of the latter; and when an emancipated slave dies,
leaving no_male descendant or collateral relation, the former
owner is the heir ; or, if he be dead, his heirs inherit the slave’s
property. But an'unemancipated slave can acquire no property
without the permission of the owner. Complete and immediate
emancipation is sometimes granted to a slave gratuitously or for a
future pecuniary compensation. It is conferred by means of a
written document, Or by a verbal declaration in the presence of

116 RELIGION AND LA IVS.

two witnesses, or by presenting the slave with the certiﬁcate of
sale obtained from the former owner. Future emancipation is
sometimes covenanted to be granted on; the fulﬁlment of certain
conditions; and more frequently, to be conferred on the occasion
of the owner’s death. In the latter case, the owner cannot sell
the slave to whom he has made this promise; and as he cannot
alienate by will more than one-third of the whole property that he
leaves, the law ordains that, if the value of the said slave exceed
that portion, the slave must obtain, and pay to the owner’s heirs,
the additional sum. A Muslim may take as his concubine any of
his female slaves who is a Muslim’eh, or a Christian, or a J ewess,
if he have not married her to another man ; but he may not have
as his concubines, at the same time, two or more who are sisters,
or who are related to each other in any of the degrees which
would prevent their both being his wives at the same time if they
were free. A Christian is not by the law allowed, nor is a Jew,
to have a Muslim’eh slave- as his concubine. The master must
wait a certain period (generally from a month to three months)
after his acquisition of a female slave before he can take her as
his concubine. When a female slave becomes a mother by her
master, the child which she bears to him is free if he acknowledge
it to be his own ; but if not, it is his slave. In the former case the
mother cannot afterwards be sold or given away by her master
(though she must continue to serve him and be his concubine as long
as he desires); and she is entitled to emancipation at his death.
Her bearing a child to him is called the cause of her emancipation or
liberty ; but it does not oblige him to emancipate her as long as he
lives, though it is commendable if he do so, and make her his wife,
provided he have not already four wives, or if he marry her to an-
other man, should it be her wish. A free person cannot become the
husband or wife of his or her own slave without ﬁrst emancipating
that slave ; and the marriage of a free person with the slave of an-
other is dissolved if the former become the owner of the latter, and
cannot be renewed but by emancipation and a regular legal contract.

The most remarkable general principles of the laws of inherit-
ance are the denial of any privileges to primogeniture,* and in most

" In this the Muslim law differs from the Mosaic, which assigns a double portion to the
ﬁrst-born son. (See Dent. xxi 17.)

RELIGION AND LA WS. 117

cases awarding to a female a share equal to half that of a male of
the same degree of relationship to the deceased. A person may
bequeath one-third of his or her property, but not a larger portion,
unless he or she has no legal heir ; nor any portion to a legal heir,
excepting wife or husband, without the consent of all the other
heirs. The children of a person deceased inherit the whole of
that person’s property, or what remains after payment of the
legacies and debts, etc, and the share of a male is double the
share of a female. If the children of the deceased be only
females, two or more in number, they inherit together, by the law
of the Kur-an, two-thirds; and if there be but one child, and that
a female, she inherits by the same law half. [But the remaining
third, or half, is also assigned to the said daughters or daughter,
by a law of the Sunneh (which applies also to other cases), if there
be no other legal hein] If the deceased have left no immediate
descendant, the sons and daughters of his son or sons inherit as
immediate descendants [and so on]. If the deceased have left a
child or a son’s child [and so on], each of the parents of the
deceased inherits one-sixth. If the father be dead, his share falls
to his father. [If the mother be dead, her share falls to her
mother.] If the deceased have left no child or son’s child [and so
on], the mother has one-third of the property, or of what remains
after deducting the share of the wife or wives or husband, and the
residue is for the father ; unless the deceased has left two or more
brothers or sisters, in which case the mother inherits one—sixth,
and the father the residue, the said brothers or sisters receiving
nothing [if the deceased have left a father or any ascendant in the
male line]. A man inherits half of what remains of his wife’s
property after the payment of her legacies, etc, if she have left
no child or son’s child [and so on] ; and one-fourth if she have left
a child or son’s child [and so on]. One-fourth is the share of the
wife, or of the wives conjointly, if the deceased husband have left
no child or son’s child [and so on] ; and one-eighth if he have left
any such descendant. If the deceased have not left a father [nor
any ascendant in the male line], nor a child [nor a son’s child, and
so on], the law ordains as follows :—-1. A sole brother or sister,
only by the mother’s side, inherits one-sixth; and if there be two
or more brothers or sisters, only by the mother’s side, or one or

118 RELIGION AND LA WS.

more of such relations of each sex, they inherit collectively one-
third, which is equally divided, without distinction of male and
female. 2. If the deceased have left a sole sister by his father
and mother [and no such brother], she inherits half 3 and a man
inherits the whole property of such a sister [or what remains
after the payment of her legacies, etc], if she have left no child ;
but if she have left a male child [or son’s child, and so on], he
(the brother) inherits nothing; and if she have left a female
child, the said brother inherits what remains after deducting
that child’s share [and after the payment of the legacies, etc]. If
the deceased have left two or more sisters, by his father and
mother [and no such brother], they inherit together two—thirds.
If the deceased have left one or more brothers, and one or more
sisters, by his father and mother, they inherit the whole [or what
remains after the payment of the legacies, etc], and the share ‘of
a male is double the share of a female. 3. Brothers and sisters
by the father’s side only [when there is no brother or sister by the
father and mother] inherit as brothers and sisters by the father
and mother. No distinction is made between the child of a wife
and that borne by a slave to her master (if the master acknow-
ledge the child to be his OWn) ; both inherit equally. So also do
the child of a wife and the adopted child. A bastard inherits
only from his mother, and m'ce verscﬁ. When there is no legal
heir, or legatee, the property falls to the government treasury,
which is called “beyt el—mal.” The laws respecting certain re-
mote degrees of kindred, etc, I have not thought it necessary to
state. The property of the deceased is nominally divided into
“ keerats” (or twenty—fourth parts), and the share of each son, or
other heir, is said to be so many keerats.

The law is remarkably lenient towards debtors. “If there be
any [debtor],” says the Kur-an, “under a diﬁiculty [of paying
his debt], let [his creditor] wait till it be easy [for him to do it] 3
but if ye remit it as alms, it will be better for you.” The Muslim
is commanded (in the chapter from which the above extract is
taken), when he contracts a debt, to cause a statement of it
to be written and attested by two men, or a man and two
women, of his own faith. The debtor is imprisoned for non-
payment of his debt; but if he establish his insolvency, he is

]?EZLI GI 01V A ND LA 1/1/29. I I 9

liberated. He may be compelled to work for the discharge of 1 his
debt, if able. .

The Kur-an ordains that murder shall be punished with death ;
or rather, that the free shall die for the free, the slave for the
slave, and a woman for a woman; or that the perpetrator of the
crime shall pay to the heirs of the person whom he has killed, if
they allow it, a ﬁne, which is to be divided according to the laws
of inheritance. It also ordains that unintentional homicide shall
be expiated by freeing a believer from slavery, and paying, to the
family of the person killed, a ﬁne, unless they remit it. But
these laws are ampliﬁed and explained by the same book and by
the Imams. A ﬁne is not to be accepted for murder unless the
crime has been attended by some palliating circumstance. This
ﬁne, which is the price of blood, is a hundred camels ; or a
thousand deenars (about £500) from him who possesses gold 5
or from him who possesses silver, twelve thousand dirhems (about
£300). This is for killing a free man ; for a woman, half the
sum; for a slave, his or her value: but that must fall short
of the price of blood for the free. A person unable to free a
believer must fast two months, as in Ramadan. The accomplices
of a murderer are liable to the punishment of death. By the
Sunneh, also, a man is obnoxious to capital punishment for the
murder of a woman ,' and by the Hanafee law, for the murder of
another man’s slave. But he is exempted from this punishment
who kills his own child or other descendant, or his own slave, or
his son’s slave, or a slave of whom he is part-owner; so also are
his accomplices; and according to Esh-Shafe’ee, a Muslim, though
a slave, is not to be put to death for killing an inﬁdel, though the
latter be free. In the present day, however, murder is generally
punished with death, the government seldom allowing a com-
position in money to be made. A man who kills another in self-
defence, or to defend his property from a robber, is exempt from
all punishment. The price of blood is a debt incumbent on the
family, tribe, or association of which' the homicide is a member.
It is also incumbent on the inhabitants of an enclosed quarter,
or the proprietor or proprietors of a ﬁeld, in which the body
of a person killed by an unknown hand is found, unless the per-
son has been found killed in his own house. A woman, con-

I20 RELIGION AND LA WS.

victed of a capital crime, is generally put to death by drowning
in the Nile.

The Bedawees have made the law of the avenging of blood
terribly severe and unjust, transgressing the limits assigned by the
Kur-an 3 for, with them, any single person descended from the
homicide, or from the homicide’s father, grandfather, great
grandfather, or great-grandfather’s father, may be killed by any
of such relations of the person murdered or killed in ﬁght; but
among most tribes the ﬁne is generally accepted instead of the
blood. Cases of blood-revenge are very common among the
peasantry of Egypt, who, as I have before remarked, retain many
customs of their Bedawee ancestors. The relations of a person
who has been killed, in an Egyptian village, generally retaliate
with their own hands rather than apply to the government, and
often do so with disgusting cruelty, and even mangle and insult
the corpse of their victim. The relations of a homicide usually ﬂy
from their own to another village for protection. Even when
retaliation has been made, animosity frequently continues be-
tween the two parties for many years ; and often a case of blood-
revenge involves the inhabitants of two or more villages in
hostilities, which are renewed at intervals during the period of
several generations.

Retaliation for intentional wounds and mutilations is allowed,
like as for murder—“eye for eye,” etc. ; but a ﬁne may be
accepted instead, which the law allows also for unintentional in—
juries. The ﬁne for a member that is single (as the nose) is the
whole price of blood, as for homicide; for a member of which
there are two and not more (as a hand), half the price of blood;
for one of which there are ten (a ﬁnger or toe), a tenth of the
price of blood. But the ﬁne of a man for maiming or wounding a
woman is half of that for the same injury to a man ; and that of
a free person for injuring a slave varies according to the value of
the slave. The ﬁne for depriving a man of any of his ﬁve senses,
or dangerously wounding him, or grievously disﬁguring him for
life, is the whole price of blood.

T/Leﬂ, whether committed by a man or by a woman, according
to the Kur—an, is to be punished by cutting off the offender’s right
hand for the ﬁrst offence; but a Sunneh law ordains that this

RELIGIOZV AZVD LA I VS. I 2 I

punishment shall not be inﬂicted if the value of the stolen pro-
perty is less than a quarter of a deenar ; and it is also held neces-
sary, to render the thief obnoxious to this punishment, that the
property stolen should have been deposited in a place to which he
had not ordinary or easy access: whence it follows that a man
who steals in the house of a near relation is not subject to this
punishment, nor is a slave who robs the house of his master. For
the second offence, the left foot is to be cut off; for the third,
according to the Shafe’ee law, the left hand ; for the fourth, the
right foot; and for further offences of the same kind, the culprit
is to be ﬂogged or beaten : or, by the Hanafee code, for the third
and subsequent offences the criminal is to be punished by a long
imprisonment. A man may steal a free-born infant without
offending against the law, because it is not property; but not a
slave : and the hand is not to be cut off for stealing any article of
food that is quickly perishable, because it may have been taken to
supply the immediate demands of hunger. There are also some
other cases in which the thief is exempt from the punishments
above mentioned. In Egypt, of late years, these punishments’l,
have not been inﬂicted. Beating and hard labour have been sub- ‘1
stituted for the ﬁrst, second, or third offence, and frequently death
for the fourth. Most petty offences are usually punished by beat— ‘
ing with the “kurbag” (a thong or whip of hippopotamus’ hide, .
hammered into a round form), or with a stick, generally on the
soles of the feet. //,
Adultery is most severely visited; but to establish a charge of
this crime against a Wife, four eye-witnesses are necessary. If con-
victed thus, she is to be put to death by stoning. (See Lev. XX. 10 ; '\.
John viii. 4, 5.) I need scarcely say that cases of this kind have
very seldom occurred, from the difﬁculty of obtaining such testi- -
mony. Further laws on this subject, and still more favourable to
the women, are given in the Kur-an in the following words :—“ But
[as to] those who accuse women of reputation [of fornication or
adultery], and produce not four witnesses [of the fact], scourge
them with eighty stripes, and receive not their testimony for ever ;
for such are infamous prevaricators: excepting those who shall
afterwards repent; for God is gracious and merciful. They who
shall accuse their wives [of adultery], and shall have no witnesses

1'22 RELIGION AND LA I/VS.

[thereof] besides themselves, the testimony [which shall be required]
of one of them, [shall be] that he swear four times by God that he
speaketh the truth, and the ﬁfth [time that he imprecate] the
curse of God on him if he be a liar ; and it shall avert the punish-
ment [of the wife] if she swear four times by God that he is a liar,
and if the ﬁfth [time she imprecate] the wrath of God on her if he
speak the truth.” The commentators and lawyers have agreed
that under these circumstances the marriage must be dissolved.
In the chapter from which the above quotation is made, it is
ordained (in verse 2) that unmarried persons convicted of fornica-
tion shall be punished by scourging, with a hundred stripes ; and
a Sunneh law renders them obnoxious to the further punishment
of banishment for a whole year. Of the punishment of women
convicted of incontinence in Cairo I shall speak in the next
chapter, as it is an arbitrary act of the government, not founded
on the laws of the Kur-an or the Traditions.

Drunkenness was punished by the Prophet by ﬂogging 3 and is
still in Cairo, though not often. The “hadd,” or number of
stripes for this offence, is eighty in the case of a free man, and
forty in that of a slave.

Apostasy from the faith of El-Islam is considered a most
heinous sin, and must be punished with death, unless the apostate
will recant on being thrice warned. I once saw a woman paraded
through the streets of Cairo, and afterwards taken down to the
Nile to be drowned, for having apostatized from the faith of
Mohammad, and having married a Christian. Unfortunately, she
had tattooed a blue cross on her arm, which led to her detection
by one of her former friends in a bath. She was mounted upon
a high-saddled ass, such as ladies in Egypt usually ride, and very
respectably dressed, attended by soldiers, and surrounded by a
rabble, who, instead of commiserating, uttered loud imprecations
against her. The Kadee who passed sentence upon her exhorted
her in vain to return to her former faith. Her OWn father was
her accuser 1 She was taken in a boat into the midst of the river,
stripped nearly naked, strangled, and then thrown into the stream.
The Europeans residing in Cairo regretted that the Basha was
then at Alexandria, as they might have prevailed upon him to
pardon her. Once before, they interceded with him for a woman

RELIGION AND LA IVS. 123

who had been condemned for apostasy. The Basha ordered that L‘. g 4

she should be brought before him. He exhorted her to recant ;)
but ﬁnding her resolute, reproved her for her folly, and sent her”
home, commanding that no injury should be done to her.

Still more severe is the law with respect to blasphemy. The
person who utters blasphemy against God, or Mohammad, or
Christ, or Moses, or any prophet, is to be put to death without
delay, even though he profess himself repentant 5 repentance for
such a sin being deemed impossible. Apostasy or inﬁdelity is
occasioned by misjudgment, but blasphemy is the result of utter
depravity.

A few words may here be added respecting the sect of the
“Wahhabees,” also called “Wahabees,” which was founded less
than a century ago by Mohammad Ibn-’Abd-El-Wahhab, a pious
and learned sheykh of the province of En-Nejd, in Central Arabia.
About the middle of the last century, he had the good fortune to
convert to his creed a powerful chief of Ed-Dir’eeyeh, the capital
of En-Nejd. This chief, Mohammad Ibn—So’ood, became the sove-
reign of the new sect-——their religious and political head—and
under him and his successors the Wahhabee doctrines were spread
throughout the greater part of Arabia. He was ﬁrst succeeded
by his son, ’Abd-El-’Azeez; next, by So’ood, the son of the latter,
and the greatest of the Wahhabec leaders ,' and lastly, by ’Abd-
Allah, the son of this So’ood, who, after an arduous warfare With
the armies of Mohammad ’Alee, surrendered himself to his vic-
torious enemies, was sent to Egypt, thence to Constantinople, and
there beheaded. The wars which Mohammad ’Alee carried on
against the Wahhabees had for their chief object the destruction
of the political power of the new sect. Their religious tenets are
still professed by many of the Arabs, and allowed to be orthodox
by the most learned, of the ’Ulama of Egypt. The Wahhabees
are merely reformers, who believe all the fundamental points of
El-Islam, and all the accessory doctrines of the Kur—an and the
Traditions of the Prophet. In short, their tenets are those of
the primitive Muslims. They disapprove of gorgeous sepulchres
and domes erected over tombs ; such they invariably destroy when
in their power. They also condemn, as idolaters, those who pay
peculiar veneration to deceased saints; and even declare all other

124 GOVERNMENT.

‘ Muslims to be heretics for the extravagant respect which they pay
to the Prophet. They forbid the wearing of silk and gold orna;
ments and all costly apparel, and also the practice of smoking
tobacco. For the want of this last luxury, they console them—
selves in some degree by an immoderate use of coffee. There
iiare many learned men among them, and they have collected many
valuable books (chieﬂy historical) from various parts of Arabia
and from Egypt.

CHAPTER IV.
GOVERNMENT.

EGYPT has, of late years, experienced great political changes, and
nearly ceased to be a province of the Turkish Empire. Its pre-
sent Basha (Mohammad ’Alee), having exterminated the Ghuzz,
or Memlooks, who shared the government with his predecessors,
has rendered himself almost an independent prince. He, how-
ever, professes allegiance to the Sultan, and remits the tribute,
according to former custom, to Constantinople; he is, moreover,
under an obligation to respect the fundamental laws of the
Kur-an and the Traditions ; but he exercises a dominion otherwise
unlimited. He may cause any one of his subjects to be put to
death without the formality of a trial, or without assigning any
cause: a simple horizontal motion of his hand is sufﬁcient to
imply the sentence of decapitation. But I must not be under-
stood to insinuate that he is prone to shed blood without any
reason. Severity is a characteristic of this prince rather than
wanton cruelty, and boundless ambition has prompted him to
almost every act by which he has attracted either praise or
censure.10

In the Citadel of the metropolis is a court of judicature, called
“ed-Deewan el-Khideewee,” where, in the Basha’s absence, pre-
sides his “ Kikhya,” or deputy, Habeeb Efendee. In cases which
do not fall within the province of the Kadee, or which are sufﬁ-
ciently clear to be decided without referring them to the court‘
of that ofﬁcer or to another council, the president of the Deewan
el-Khideewee passes judgment. Numerous guard-houses have

GO VERNMENZZ 125

been established throughout the metropolis, at each of which

is stationed a body of Nizam, or regular troops. The guard is
called “Kulluk,” or, more commonly at present, “ Karakél.”
Persons accused of thefts, assaults, etc., in Cairo are given in
charge to a soldier of the guard, Who takes them to the chief
guard—house, in the Mooskee, a street in that part of the town in
which most of the Franks reside. The charges being here stated,
and committed to writing, he conducts them to the “zabit,” or
chief magistrate of the police of the metropolis. The Zébit, hav-
ing heard the case, sends the accused for trial to the Deewan el-
Khideewee. When a person denies the offence with which he is
charged, and there is not suﬂ‘lcient evidence to convict him, but
some ground of suspicion, he is generally bastinaded, in order to
induce him to confess ; and then, if not before, when the crime
is not of a nature that renders him obnoxious to a very heavy
punishment, he, if guilty, admits it. A thief, after this discipline,
generally confesses, “The devil seduced me, and I took it.” The
punishment of the convicts is regulated by a system of arbitrary
but lenient and wise policy: it usually consists in their being
compelled to labour, for a scanty sustenance, in some of the public
works, such as the removal of rubbish, digging canals, etc. ; and
sometimes the army is recruited with able-bodied young men con-
victed of petty offences. In employing malefactors in labours for
the improvement of the country, Mohammad ’Alee merits the
praises bestowed upon Sabacon, the Ethiopian conqueror and
king of Egypt, who is said to have introduced this policy. The
Basha is, however, very severe in punishing thefts, etc., committed
against himself—death is the usual penalty in such cases.

There are several inferior councils for conducting the affairs
of different departments of i the administration. The principal
of these are the following :—1. The “ Meglis el—Meshwar'ah ” (the
Council of Deliberation); also called “Meglis el-Meshwar’ah el-
Melekeeyeh” (the Council of Deliberation on the Affairs of the
State), to distinguish it from other councils. The members of
this and of the other similar councils are chosen by the Basha for
their talents or other qualiﬁcations, and consequently his will and
interest sway them in all their decisions. They are his instru-
ments, and compose a committee for presiding over the general

126 GO VERNJVIENT

government of the country, and the commercial and agricultural
affairs of the Basha. Petitions, etc., addressed to the Basha, or
to his Deewan, relating to private interests or the affairs of the
government, are generally submitted to their consideration and
judgment, unless they more properly come under the cognizance
of other councils hereafter to be mentioned. 2. The “Meglis
el-Gihadeeyeh” (the Council of the Army); also called “Meglis
el-Meshwar’ah el-’Askereeyeh” (the Council of Deliberation on
Military Affairs). The province of this court is sufﬁciently shown
by its name. 3. The Council of the “Tarskhaneh” or Navy.
4. The “Deewan et—Tuggar” (or Court of the Merchants). This
court, the members of which are merchants of various countries
and religions, presided over by the “Shah-bandar” (or chief of
the merchants of Cairo), was instituted in consequence of the
laws of the Kur-an and the Sunneh being found not sufﬁciently
explicit in some cases arising out of modern commercial trans-
actions.

The “ Kadee ” (or chief judge) of Cairo presides in Egypt only
a year, at the expiration of which term, a new Kadee having ar-
rived from Constantinople, the former returns. It was customar"
for this ofﬁcer to proceed from Cairo with the great caravan of
pilgrims to Mekkeh, perform the ceremonies of the pilgrimage,
and remain one year as Kadee of the holy city, and one year at
El—Medeeneh. He purchases his place privately of the govern-
ment, which pays no particular regard to his qualiﬁcations, though
he must be a man of some knowledge, an ’Osmanlee (that is, a
Turk), and of the sect of the Hanafees. His tribunal is called
the “ Mahkem’eh,” or Place of Judgment. Few Kadees are very
well acquainted with the Arabic language; nor is it necessary
for them to have such knowledge. In Cairo, the Kadee has little
or nothing to do but to conﬁrm the sentence of his “Naib ” (or
deputy), who hears and decides the more ordinary cases, and
whom he chooses from among the ’Ulama of Istambool, or the
decision of the “ Muftee,” (or chief doctor of the law) of his own
sect, who constantly resides in Cairo, and gives judgment in all
cases of difﬁculty. But in general the Naib is, at the best, but
little conversant with the popular dialect of Egypt; therefore, in
Cairo, where the chief proportion of the litigants at the Mah-

GOVERNMENT. 127 .

kem’eh are Arabs, the judge must place the utmost conﬁdence in
the “ Bash Turguman 7’ (or Chief Interpreter), whose place is per-
manent, and who is consequently well acquainted with all the
customs of the court, particularly with the system of bribery ; and
this knowledge he is generally very ready to communicate to
every new Kadee and Naib. A man may be grossly ignorant of
the law, and yet hold the oﬁice of Kadee of Cairo (several in-
stances of this kind have occurred) ; but the Naib must be a lawyer
of learning and experience.

When a person has a suit to prefer at the Mahkem’eh against
another individual or party, he goes thither, and applies to the
“ Bash Rusul” (or chief of the bailiffs or sergeants who execute
arrests) for a “ Rasool ” to arrest the accused. The Rasool re-
ceives a piaster or two, and generally gives half of this fee
privately to his chief. The plaintiff and defendant then present
themselves in the great hall of the Mahkem’eh, which is a large
saloon, facing a spacious court, and having an open front formed
by a row of columns and arches. Here are seated several officers
called “Shahids,” whose business is to hear and write the state-
ments of the case to be submitted to judgment, and who are
under the authority of the “ Bash Katib ” (or Chief Secretary).
The plaintiff, addressing any one of the Shahids whom he ﬁnds
unoccupied, states his case, and the Shahid commits it to writing,
and receives a fee of a piaster or more 3 after which, if the case be
of a triﬂing nature, and the defendant acknowledge the justice of
the suit, he (the Shahid) passes sentence; but otherwise he con-
ducts the two parties before the N am, who holds his court in an
inner apartment. The Naib, having heard the case, desires the
plaintiff to procure a “fetwa” (or judicial decision) from the
Muftee of the sect of the Hanafees, who receives a fee—seldom
less than ten piasters, and often more than a hundred or two
hundred. This is the course pursued in all cases but those of a
very triﬂing nature, which are settled with less trouble, and those
of great importance or intricacy. A case of the latter kind is
i tried in the private apartment of the Kadee, before the Kadee
himself, the Nail), and the Muftee of the Hanafees, who is suin-
moned to hear it, and to give his decision; and sometimes, in
cases of very great diﬂiculty or moment, several of the ’Ulama of

128 GO VERNMENT

Cairo are, in like manner, summoned. The Muftee hears the
case and writes his sentence, and the Kadee conﬁrms his judg-
ment, and stamps the paper with his seal, which is all that he has
to do in any case. The accused may clear himself by his oath
when the plaintiff has not witnesses to produce : placing his right
hand on a copy of the Kur-an, which is held out to him, he says,
“By God, the Great !” three times, adding, “By what is contained
in this of the word of God I” The witnesses must be men of good
repute, or asserted to be such, and not interested in the cause. In
every case at least two witnesses are requisite* (or one man and
two women) , and each of these must be attested to be a person
of probity by two others. An inﬁdel cannot bear witness against
a Muslim in a case involving capital or other heavy punishment ;
and evidence in favour of a son or grandson, or of a father or
grandfather, is not received; nor is the testimony of slaves;
neither can a master testify in favour of his slave.

The fees, until lately, used to be paid by the successful party;
but now they are paid by the other party. The Kadee’s fees for
decisions in cases respecting the sale of property are two per
cent. on the amount of the property 3 in cases of legacies, four
per cent, excepting when the heir is an orphan not of age, who
pays only two per cent. ; for decisions respecting property in
houses or land, when the cost of the property in question is
known, his fees are two per cent; but when the cost is not
known, one year’s rent. These are the legitimate fees; but more
than the due amount is often exacted. In cases which do not
concern property, the Kadee’s Naib ﬁxes the amount of the fees.
There are also other fees than those of the Kadee to be paid after
the decision of the case. For instance, if the Kadee’s fees be two
or three hundred piasters, a fee of about two piasters must be paid
to the Bash Turguman ; about the same to the Bash Rusul ; and
one piaster to the Rasool, or to each Rasool employed.

The rank of a plaintiff or defendant, or a bribe from either,
often inﬂuences the decision of the judge. In general the Naib
and Muftee take bribes, and the Kadee receives from his Naib.
On some occasions, particularly in long litigations, bribes are

* This law is borrowed from the Jews: see Deut. xix. 15. A man may refuse to give
his testimony.

GOVERZWVENT 129

given by each party, and the decision is awarded in favour of him
who pays highest. This frequently happens in difﬁcult law—suits ;
and even in cases respecting which the law is perfectly clear,
strict justice is not always administered, bribes and false testi-
mony being employed by one of the parties. The shocking ex-
tent to which the practices of bribery and suborning false witnesses
are carried in Muslim courts of law, and among them in the tri-
bunal of the Kadee of Cairo, may be scarcely credited on the bare
assertion of the fact. Some strong proof, resting on indubitable
authority, may be demanded ; and here I shall give such proof in
a summary of a case which was tried not long since, and which
was related to me by the Secretary and Imam of the Sheykh El-
Mahdee, who was then supreme Muftee of Cairo (being the chief
M uftee of the Hanafees), and to whom this case was referred
after judgment in the Kadee’s court. ,
A Turkish merchant, residing at Cairo, died, leaving property
to the amount of six thousand purses (about £40,000), and no
relation to inherit but one daughter. The seyyid Mohammad El-
Mahrookee, the Shah-bandar (chief of the merchants of Cairo),
hearing of this event, suborned a common fellah, who was the bow-
wab (or door-keeper) of a respected sheykh, and whose parents
(both of them Arabs) were known to many persons, to assert himself
a son of a brother of the deceased. The case was brought before the
Kadee, and as it was one of considerable importance, several of the
principal ’Ulama of the city were summoned to decide it. They
were all bribed or inﬂuenced by El—Mahrookee, as will presently
be shown. False witnesses were brought forward to swear to the
‘ truth of the bowwab’s pretensions, and others to give testimony
to the good character of these witnesses. Three thousand purses
were adjudged to the daughter of the deceased, and the other half
of the property to the bowwab. El—Mahrookee received the share
of the latter, deducting only three hundred piasters, which he
presented to the bowwab. The chief Muftee, El-Mahdee, was
absent from Cairo when the case was tried. On his return to
the metropolis, a few days after, the daughter of the deceased
merchant repaired to his house, stated her case to him, and
earnestly solicited redress. The Muftee, though convinced of the
injustice which she had suffered, and not doubting the truth of
(440) 9

130 GO VERNMENT

what she related respecting the part which El-Mahrookee had
taken in this affair, told her that he feared it was impossible for
him to annul the judgment, unless there were some informality in
the proceedings of the court, but that he would look at the record
of the case in the register of the Mahkem'eh. Having done this,
he betook himself to the Dasha, with whom he was in great favour
for his knowledge and inﬂexible integrity, and complained to him
that the tribunal of the Kadee was disgraced by the administration
of the most ﬂagrant injustice ; that false witness was admitted by
the ,’Ulama, however evident and glaring it might be ; and that a
judgment which they had given in a late case during his absence
was the general talk and wonder of the town. The Basha sum-
moned the Kadee and all the ’Ulama who had tried this case to
meet the Muftee in the Citadel; and when they had assembled
there, addressed them, as from himself, with the Muftee’s com-
plaint. The Kadee appearing, like the ’Ulama, highly indignant
at this charge, demanded to know upon what it was grounded.
The Basha replied that it was a general charge, but particularly
grounded on the case in which the court had admitted the claim
of a bowwab to a relationship and inheritance which they could
not believe to be his right. The Kadee here urged that he had
passed sentence in accordance with the unanimous decision of the
’Ulama then present. “ Let the record of the case be read,” said
the Basha. The journal being sent for, this was done ; and when
the secretary had ﬁnished reading the minutes, the Kadee, in a
loud tone of proud authority, said, “ And I judged so.” The Muf—
tcc, in a louder and more authoritative tone, exclaimed, “And
thy judgment is false 1” All eyes were fixed in astonishment, now '
at the Muftee, now at the Basha, now at the other ’Ulama. The
Kadee and the ’Ulama rolled their heads and stroked their beards.
The former exclaimed, tapping his breast, “ I, the Kadee of
Misr, pass a false sentence I” “ And we,” said the ’Ulama, “ we,
Sheykh Mahdee! we, ’Ulama el-Islam, give a false decision I”
“ O Sheykh Mahdee,” said El-Mahrookee (who, from his com—
mercial transactions with the Basha, could generally obtain a
place in his councils), “respect the ’Ulama as they respect
thee I” “ O Mahrookee l” exclaimed the Muftee, “ art thou con-
cerned in this affair? Declare what part thou hast in it, or else

G0 VERNMENZY‘ :31

hold thy peace. Go, speak in the assemblies of the merchants,
but presume not again to open thy mouth in the council of the
’Ulama l” El-Mahrookee immediately left the palace, for he saw
» how the affair would terminate, and had to make his arrangements
accordingly. The Muftee was now desired by the other ’Ulama
to adduce a proof of the invalidity of their decision. Drawing
from his bosom a small book on the laws of inheritance, he read
from it: “ To establish a claim to relationship and inheritance,
the names of the father and mother of the claimant, and those of
his father’s father and mother, and of his mother’s father and
mother, must be ascertained.” The names of the father and
mother of the pretended father of the bowwab the false wit-
nesses had not been prepared to give; and this deﬁciency in
the testimony (which the ’Ulama in trying the case purposely
overlooked) now caused the sentence to be annulled. The bow-
wab was brought before the council, and denying the imposition
of which he had been made the principal instrument, was, by
order of the Basha, very severely bastinaded; but the only con-
fession that could be drawn from him by the torture which he
endured was that he had received nothing more of the three
thousand purses than three hundred piasters. Meanwhile, El-
Mahrookee had repaired to the bowwab’s master. He told the
latter what had happened at the Citadel, and what he had foreseen
would be the result, put into his hand three thousand purses,‘and
begged him immediately to go to the council, give this sum of
money, and say that it had been placed in his hands in trust by
his servant. This was" done, and the money was paid to the
daughter of the deceased.

In another case, when the Kadee and the council of the ’Ulama
were inﬂuenced in their decision by a Basha (not Mohammad
’Alee), and passed a sentence contrary to law, they were thwarted
in the same manner by El—Mahdee. This Muftee was a rare
example of integrity. It is said that he never took a fee for a
fetwa. He died shortly after my ﬁrst visit to this country. I
could mention several other glaring cases of bribery in the court
of the Kadee of Cairo, but the above is sufficient.

There are ﬁve minor Mahkem’ehs in Cairo, and likewise one
at its principal port, Boolak, and one at its southern port, Masr

1 32 GO VE RNMENT.

El-’Ateekah. A Shahid from the great Mahkem/eh presides at
each of them, as deputy of the chief Kadee, who confirms their
acts. The matters submitted to these minor tribunals are chieﬂy
respecting the sales of property, and legacies, marriages, and
divorces: for the Kadee marries female orphans under age who
have no relations of age to act as their guardians; and wives
often have recourse to law to compel their husbands to divorce
them. In every country town there is also a Kadee, generally
a native of the place, and never a Turk, who decides all cases,
sometimes from his own knowledge of the law, but commonly on
the authority of a Muftee. One Kadee generally serves for two
or three or more Villages.

Each of the four orthodox sects of the Muslims (the Hanafees,
Shafe’ees, Malikees, and Hambel’ees) has its “Sheykh,” or re-
ligious chief, who is chosen from among the most learned of the
body, and resides in the metropolis. The Sheykh of the great
mosque El—Azhar (who is always of the sect of the Shafe’ees, and
sometimes Sheykh of that sect), together with the other Sheykhs
above mentioned, and the Kadee, the Nakeeb el»Ashraf (the
chief of the Shereefs, or descendants of the Prophet), and several
other persons, constitute the council of the ’Ulama (or learned
men), by whom the Turkish Bashas and Memlook chiefs have
often been kept in awe, and by whom their tyranny has frequently
been restricted ; but now this learned body has lost almost all its
inﬂuence over the government. Petty disputes are often, by
mutual consent of the parties at variance, submitted to the judg-
ment of one of the four Sheykhs ﬁrst mentioned, as they are the
chief Muftees of their respective sects ; and the utmost deference
is always paid to them. Diﬁicult and delicate causes, which
concern the laws‘ of the Kur-an or the Traditions, are also
frequently referred by the Basha to these Sheykhs ; but their
opinion is not always followed by him. For instance, after con-
sulting them respecting the legality of dissecting human bodies,
for the sake of acquiring anatomical knowledge, and receiving
their declaration that it was repugnant to the laws of the religion,
he, nevertheless, has caused it to be practised by Muslim students
of anatomy.

The police of the metropolis is more under the direction of the

GOVERNMENT. / [33

military than of the civil power. A few years ago it was under
the authority of the “VValee” and the “ zabit ,” but since my
ﬁrst visit to this country the ofﬁce of the former has been abolished.
He was charged with the apprehension of thieves and other
criminals; and under his jurisdiction were the public women, of
whom he kept a list, and from each of whom he exacted a tax.
He also took cognizance of the conduct of the women in general,
and when he found a female to have been guilty of a single act
of incontinence he added her name to the list of the public
women, and demanded from her the tax, unless she preferred, or
could afford, to escape that ignominy by giving to him or to his
ofﬁcers a considerable bribe. This course was always pursued,
and is still, by a person who farms the tax of the public women,
in the case of unmarried females, and generally in the case of the
married also ; but the latter are sometimes privately put to death,
if they cannot, by bribery or some other artiﬁce, save themselves.
Such proceedings are, however, in two points contrary to the law,
which ordains that a person who accuses a woman of adultery or
fornication, without producing four witnesses of the crime, shall
be scourged with eighty stripes, and decrees other punishments
than those of degradation and tribute against women convicted of
such offences.

The ofﬁce of the Zébit has before been mentioned. He is now
the chief of the police. His ofﬁcers, who have no distinguishing
mark to render them known as such, are interspersed through
the metropolis. They often visit the coffee—shops, and observe
the conduct, and listen to the conversation, of the citizens.
Many of them are pardoned thieves. They accompany the mili—
tary guards in their nightly rounds through the streets of the
metropolis. Here none but the blind are allowed to go out at
night later than about an hour and a half after sunset, without
a lantern or a light of some kind. Few persons are seen in the
streets later than two or three hours after sunset. At the ﬁfth or
sixth hour one might pass through the whole length of the metro-
polis and scarcely meet more than a dozen or twenty persons,
excepting the watchmen and guards, and the porters at the gates
of the by-streets and quarters. The sentinel, or guard, calls out
to the approaching passenger, in Turkish, “Who is that?” and

I 34 GOVERNMENT.

is answered in Arabic, “A citizen.” The private watchman, in
the same case, exclaims, “Attest the unity of God!” or merely,
“Attest the unity!” The reply given to this is, “There is no
deity but God !” which Christians, as well as Muslims, object
not to say ,' the former understanding these words in a different
sense from the latter. It is supposed that a thief or a person
bound on any unlawful undertaking would not dare to utter these
words. Some persons loudly exclaim, in reply to the summons
of the watchman, “There is no deity but God: Mohammad is
God’s Apostle.” The private watchmen are employed to guard
by night the socks (or market-streets) and other districts of the
town. They carry a nebboot (or long staff), but no lantern.

The zabit, or A’gha of the police, used frequently to go about
the metropolis by night, often accompanied only by the execu-
tioner and the “ shealeg’ee,” or bearer of a kind of torch called
“shealeh,” which is still in use. This torch burns, soon after it
is lighted, Without a ﬂame, excepting when it is waved through
the air, when it suddenly blazes forth; it therefore answers the
same purpose as our dark lantern. The burning end is sometimes
concealed in a small pot or jar, or covered with something else,
when not required to give light; but it is said that thieves often
smell it in time to escape meeting the bearer. ‘Vhen a person
without a light is met by the police at night, he seldom attempts
resistance or ﬂight : the punishment to which he is liable is beat-
ing. The chief of the police had an arbitrary power to put any
criminal or offender to death without trial, and when not obnoxious,
by law, to capital punishment, and so also had many inferior
oﬂicers, as will be seen in subsequent pages of this work; but
within the last two or three years instances of the exercise of such
power have been very rare, and I believe they would not now be
permitted. The ofﬁcers of the Zébit perform their nightly rounds
with the military guards merely as being better acquainted than
the latter with the haunts and practices of thieves and other bad
characters; and the Zétbit himself scarcely ever exercises any
penal authority beyond that of beating or ﬂogging.

Very curious measures, such as we read of in some of the tales
of “The Thousand and One Nights,” were often adopted by the
police magistrates of Cairo, to discover an offender, before the late

- G0 VEA‘ZWVIENT. 135

innovations. I may mention an instance. The authenticity of the
following case, and of several others of a similar nature, is well ,
known. I shall relate it in the manner in which I have heard it
told. A poor man applied one day to the A’gha of the police,
and said, “Sir, there came to me to—day a woman, and she said
to me, ‘ Take this “ kurs,” and let it remain in your possession for
a time, and lend me ﬁve hundred piasters ;’ and I took it from
her, sir, and gave her the ﬁve hundred piasters, and she went
away. And when she was gone away, I said to myself, ‘Let me
look at this kurs ;’ and I looked at it, and. behold, it was yellow
brass. And I slapped my face, and said, ‘ I will go to the A'gha,
and relate my story to him ; perhaps he will investigate the affair,
and clear it up ; ’ for there is none that can help me in this matter
but thou.” The A’gha said to him, “ Hear what I tell thee, man.
Take whatever is in thy shop, leave nothing, and lock it up ;
and to-morrow morning go early, and when thou hast opened the
shop, cry out, ‘Alas for my property!’ Then take in thy hands
two clods, and beat thyself with them, and cry, ‘Alas for the
property of others 1’ And whoever says to thee, ‘What is the
matter with thee?’ do thou answer, ‘The property of others is
lost ; a pledge that I had, belonging to a woman, is lost: if it
were my own, I should not thus lament it,’ and this will clear
up the affair.” The man promised to do as he was desired. He
removed everything from his shop, and early the next morning he
went and opened it, and began to cry out, “Alas for the property
of others I ” And he took two clods, and beat himself with them,
and went about every district of the city, crying, “Alas for the
property of others! a pledge that I had, belonging to a woman,
is lost; if it were my own, I should not thus lament it.” The
woman who had given him the kurs in pledge heard of this, and
discovered that it was the man whom she had cheated; so she
said to herself, “ Go and bring an action against him.” She went
to his shop, riding on an ass, to give herself consequence, and said
to him, “Man, give me my property that is in thy possession.”
He answered, “It is lost.” “Thy tongue be cut out ! ” she cried ;
“dost thou lose my property? By Allah ! I will go to the A’gha,
and inform him of it.” “ Go,” said he; and she went and told her
case. The A’gha sent for the man, and when he had come said

136 GO VERNMENT

to his accuser, “What is thy property in his possession?” She
answered, “A kurs of red Venetian gold.” “Woman,” said the
A’gha, “I have a gold kurs here ,' I should like to show it thee.”
She said, “ Show it me, sir, for I shall know my kurs.” The
A’gha then untied a handkerchief, and taking out, of it the kurs
which she had given in pledge, said, “Look.” She looked at it
and knew it, and hung down her head. The A’gha said, “Raise
thy head, and say where are the ﬁve hundred piasters of this
man.” She answered, “Sir, they are in my house.” The execu-
tioner was sent with her to her house, but Without his sword;
and the woman, having gone into the house, brought out a purse
containing the money, and went back with him. The money was
given to the man from whom it had been obtained, and the execu-
tioner was then ordered to take the woman to the Rumeyleh (a
large open place below the Citadel), and there to behead her;
which he did.

The markets of Cairo, and the weights and measures, are under
the inspection of an oﬂicer called the “Mohtes’ib.” He occa-
sionally rides about the town, preceded by an ofﬁcer who carries a
large pair of scales, and followed by the executioners and numer-
ous other servants. Passing by shops, or through the markets,
he orders each shopkeeper, one after another, or sometimes only
one here and. there, to produce his scales, weights, and measures,
and tries whether they be correct. He also inquires the prices of
provisions at the shops where such articles are sold. Often, too,
he stops a servant, or other passenger in the street, whom he may
chance to meet carrying any article of food that he has just
bought, and asks him for what sum, or at what weight, he pur-
chased it. When he finds that a shopkeeper has incorrect scales,
weights, or measures, or that he has sold a thing deﬁcient in
weight, or above the regular market price, he punishes him on the
spot. The general punishment is beating or ﬂogging. Once I
saw a man tormented in a different way, for selling bread deﬁcient
in weight. A hole was bored through his nose, and a cake of
bread, about a span wide, and a ﬁnger’s breadth in thickness, was
suspended to it by a piece of string. He was stripped naked,
with the exception of having a piece of linen about his loins, and
tied, with his arms bound behind him, to the bars of a window of

GO VERNMENJ‘. 137

a mosque called the Ashrafeeyeh, in the main street of the metro—
polis, his feet resting upon the sill. He remained thus about
three hours, exposed to the gaze of the multitude which thronged
the street, and to the scorching rays of the sun.

A person who was appointed Mohtes’ib shortly after my former
visit to this country (Mustaf’a Kashif, a Kurd) exercised his power
in a most brutal manner, clipping men’s ears (that is, cutting off
the lobe or ear-lap), not only for the most triﬂing transgression,
but often for no offence whatever. He once met an old man
driving along several asses laden with water-melons, and pointing
to one of the largest of these fruits, asked its price. The old man
put his ﬁnger and thumb to his ear-lap, and said, “ Cut it, sir.”
He was asked again and again, and gave the same answer. The
Mohtes’ib, angry, but unable to refrain from laughing, said,
“Fellow, are you mad or deaf?” “No,” replied the old man,
“I am neither mad nor deaf ; but I know that if I were to say
the price of the melon is ten faddahs, you would say, ‘Clip his “
ear 3’ and if I said ﬁve faddahs, or one faddah, you would say,
‘Clip his ear:’ therefore clip it at once, and let me pass on.”
His humour saved him. Clipping ears was the usual punishment
inﬂicted by this Mohtes'ib ; but sometimes he tortured in a differ—
ent manner. A butcher, who had sold some meat wanting two
ounces of its due weight, he punished by cutting off two ounces
of ﬂesh from his back. A seller of “kunafeh” (a kind of paste
resembling vermicelli) having made his customers pay a triﬂe
more than was just, he caused him to be stripped, and seated
upon the round copper tray on which the kunafeh was baked, and
kept so until he was dreadfully burnt. He generally punished
dishonest butchers by putting a hook through their nose, and
hanging a piece of meat to it. Meeting one day a man carrying
a large crate full of earthen water-bottles from Semennood, which
he offered for sale as made at Kin'é, he caused his attendants to
break each bottle separately against the vendor’s head. Mustaf’a
Kashif also exercised his tyranny in other cases than those which
properly fell under his jurisdiction. He once took a fancy to
send one of his horses to a bath, and desired the keeper of a bath
in his neighbourhood to prepare for receiving it, and to wash it
well, and make its coat very smooth. The bathkeeper, annoyed

v-

138 GOVERIVMENYZ -

at so extraordinary a command, ventured to suggest that, as the
pavements of the bath were of marble, the horse might slip and

‘fall ,- and also, that it might take cold on going out ; and that it

would therefore be better for him to convey to the stable the
contents of the cistern 'of the bath in buckets, and there to per-
form the operation. Mustaf’a Kashif said, “I see how it is: you
do not like that my horse should go into your bath. ” He desired
some of his servants to throw him down, and beat him with staves
until he should tell them to stop. They did so, and beat the
poor man till he died.

A few years ago there used to be carried before the Mohtes’ib,
when going his rounds to examine the weights and measures, etc.,
a pair of scales larger than that used at present. Its beam, it is
said, was a hollow tube, containing some quicksilver 3 by means
of which the bearer, knowing those persons who had bribed his
master, and those who had not, easily made either scale prepon-
derate. -

As the Mohtes’ib is the overseer of the public markets, so
there are ofﬁcers who have a similar charge in superintending each
branch of the Basha’s trade and manufactures ; and some of these
persons have been known to perpetrate most abominable acts of
tyranny and cruelty. One of this class, who was named ’Alee
Bey, “Nazir el-Kumash” (or Overseer of the Linen), when he
found a person in possession of a private 100111, or selling the pro-
duce of such a loom, generally bound him up in a piece of his
linen soaked in oil and tar, then suspended him, thus enveloped,
to a branch of a tree, and set light to the wrapper. After having
destroyed a number of men in this horrible manner, he was him-
self, among many others, burnt to death, by the explosion of a
powder—magazine on the northern slope of the Citadel of Cairo, in
1824, the year before my ﬁrst arrival in Egypt. A friend of
mine, who spoke to me of the atrocities of this monster, added:
“ When his corpse was taken to be buried, the Sheykh El—’Aroosee
(who was Sheykh of the great mosque El-Azhar) recited the
funeral prayers over it, in the mosque of the Hasaneyn ; and I
acted as muballigh (to repeat the words of the Imam). When
the Sheykh uttered the words, ‘ Give your testimony respecting
him,’ and when I had repeated them, no one of all the persons

GO VERNMENZY I 39

present, and they were many, presumed to give the answer, ‘He
was of the virtuous ;’ all were silent. To make the circumstance
more glaring, I said again, ‘ Give your testimony respecting him 3’
but not an answer was heard, and the Sheykh, in confusion, said,
but in a very low voice, ‘ May God have mercy upon him.’ Now
we may certainly say of this cursed man,” continued my friend,
“'that he is gone to hell ; yet his wife is constantly having ‘khat-
mehs ’ (recitations of the Kur-an) performed in her house for him,
and lights two wax candles for his sake every evening at the
niche of the mosque of the Hasaneyn.”

Every quarter in the metropolis has its sheykh, called “ Sheykh
el—Harah,” whose inﬂuence is exerted to maintain order, to settle
any triﬂing disputes among the inhabitants, and to expel those
who disturb the peace of their neighbours. The whole of the
metropolis is also divided into eight districts, over each of which
is a sheykh, called “ Sheykh et-Tumn.”

The members of various trades and manufactures in the metro-
polis and other largetowns have also their respective sheykhs, to
whom all disputes respecting matters connected with those trades
or crafts are submitted for arbitration, and whose sanction is re—
quired for the admission of new members.

The servants in the metropolis are likewise under the authority
of particular sheykhs. Any person in want of a servant may
procure one by applying to one of these oﬂicers, who, for a small
fee (two or three piasters), becomes responsible for the conduct
of the man whom he recommends. Should a servant so engaged
rob his master, the latter gives information to the sheykh, who,
whether he can recover the stolen property or not, must indem-
nify the master.

Even the common thieves used, not many years since, to
respect a superior, who was called their sheykh. He was often
required to search for stolen goods, and to bring offenders to
justice, which be generally accomplished. It is very remarkable
that the same strange system prevailed among the ancient Egyp-
tians. _ \

The Coptic Patriarch, who is the head of his church, judges
petty causes among his people in the metropolis, and the inferior
clergy do the same in other places ; but an appeal may be made

140 G0 VERNMEZVYI

to the Kadee. A Muslim aggrieved by a Copt may demand jus-

tice from the Patriarch or the Kadee ; a Copt who seeks redress
from a Muslim must apply to the Kadee. The Jews are similarly
circumstanced. The Franks, or Europeans in general, are not
answerable to any other authority than that of their respective
consuls, excepting when they are aggressors against a Muslim;
they are then surrendered to the Turkish authorities, who, on the
other hand, will render justice to the Frank who is aggrieved by
a Muslim.

The inhabitants of the country towns and villages are under
the government of Turkish ofﬁcers and of their own countrymen.
The whole of Egypt is divided into several large provinces, each
of which is governed by an ’Osmanlee (or a Turk); and these
provinces are subdivided into districts, which are governed by
native ofﬁcers, with the titles of “Mamoor and Nazir.” Every
village, as well as town, has also its sheykh, called “Sheykh el-
Beled,” who is one of the native Muslim inhabitants. _ All the
officers above mentioned, excepting the last, were formerly Turks ;
and there were other Turkish governors of small districts, who
were called “Kashifs” and “Kaim-makams.” The change was
made very shortly before my present visit to this country, and the
fellaheen complain that their condition is worse than it was be-
fore ,' but it is generally from the tyranny of their great Turkish
governors that they suffer most severely.

The following case will convey some idea of the condition of
Egyptian peasants in some provinces. A Turk, infamous for
many barbarous acts, presiding at the town of Tanta, in the
Delta, went one night to the government granary of that town,
and ﬁnding two peasants sleeping there, asked them who they
were, and what was their business in that place. One of them
said that he had brought 130 ardebbs of corn from a village of
the district 3 and the other, that he had brought 60 ardebbs from
the land belonging to the town. “You rascal!” said the gover—
nor to the latter; “this man brings 130 ardebbs from the lands
of a small Village, and you but 60 from the lands of the town.”
“This man,” answered the peasant of Tanta, “brings corn but
once a week, and I am now bringing it every day.” “ Be silent!”
said the governor, and pointing to a neighbouring tree, he

 

GO VERNMENZI I41

ordered one of the servants of the granary to hang the peasant to

one ‘of its branches. The order was obeyed, and the governor.
returned to his house. The next morning he went again to the .
granary, and saw a man bringing in a large quantity of corn. He

asked who he was, and what quantity he had brought; and was

answered, by the hangman of the preceding night, “This is the

man, sir, whom I hanged by your orders last night , and he has

brought 160 ardebbs,” “What!” exclaimed the governor, “has

he risen from the dead?” He was answered, “ No, sir ; I hanged

him so that his toes touched the ground 5 and when you were

' gone, I untied the rope. You did not order me to kill him.” The

Turk muttered, “Aha! hanging and killing are different things.

Arabic is copious. Next time I will say kill. Take care of Aboo-

Da-ood.” This is his nickname.

Another occurrence may here be aptly related, as a further
illustration of the nature of the government to which the people
of Egypt are subjected. A fellah, who was appointed N azir (0r
governor) of the district of El-Manoofeeyeh (the southernmost
district of the Delta), a short time before my present visit to
Egypt, in collecting the taxes at a village, demanded of a poor
peasant the sum of sixty 1'iyals (ninety faddahs each, making a
sum total of a hundred and thirty-ﬁve piasters, which was then
equivalent to about thirty shillings). The poor man urged that
he possessed nothing but a cow, which barely afforded sustenance
to himself and his family. Instead of pursuing the method usually
followed when a fellah declares himself unable to pay the tax~
demanded of him, which is to give him a severe bastinading, the
Nazir, in this case, sent the Sheykh el-Beled to bring the poor
peasant’s cow, and desired some of the fellaheen to buy it. They
saying that they had not sufﬁcient money, he sent for a butcher
and'desired him to kill the cow, which was done; he then told
him to divide it into sixty pieces. The butcher asked for his
pay, and was given the head of the cow. Sixty fellaheen were
then called together, and each of them was compelled to purchase,
for a riyal, a piece of the cow. _The owner of the cow went,
Weeping and complaining, to the Nazir’s superior, the late Moham-
mad Bey, Deftardar. “ O my master,” said he, “I am oppressed
and in misery, I had no property but one cow, a milch cow. I

 

142 ' GO VERNMENZZ

and my family lived upon her milk ,' and she ploughed for me,
and threshed my corn; and my Whole subsistence was derived
from her. The Nazir has taken her, and killed her, and cut her
up into sixty pieces, and sold the pieces to my neighbours—to
each a piece, for one riyal ,' so that he obtained but sixty riyals
for the whole, while the value of the cow was a hundred and
twenty riyals, or more. I am oppressed and in misery, and a
stranger in the place, for I came from another village ; but the
Nazir had no pity on me. I and my family are become beggars,
and have nothing left. Have mercy upon me, and give me
justice; I implore it by thy hareem.” The Deftardar, having
caused the Nazir to be brought before him, asked him, “Where is
the cow of this fellah’l” “ I have sold it,” said the Nazir. “For
how much 2 ” “For sixty riyals.” “Why did you kill it and sell
it?” “He owed sixty riyals for land 3 so I took his cow, and
killed it, and sold it for the amount.” “Where is the butcher
that killed it?” “In Manoof.” The butcher was sent for, and
brought. The Deftardar said to him, “Why did you kill this
man’s cow?” “The Nazir desired me,” he answered, “and I
could not oppose him. If I had attempted to do so, he would
have beaten me, and destroyed my house. I killed it 3 and the
Nazir gave me the head as my reward.” “Man,” said the Deft-
ardar, “do you know the persons who bought the meat?” The
butcher replied that he did. The Deftardar then desired his
secretary to write the names of the sixty men, and an order to
the sheykh of their village to bring them to Manoof, where this
complaint was made. The Nazir and butcher were placed in con-
ﬁnement till the next morning, when the sheykh of the village
came with the sixty fellaheen. The two prisoners were then
brought’again before the Deftardar, who said to the sheykh and
the sixty peasants, “\Vas the value of this man’s cow sixty
riyals?” “Oh, our master,” they answered, “her value was
greater.” The Deftardar sent for the Kadee of Manoof, and said
to him, “ O Kadee, here is a man oppressed by this Nazir, lo
has taken his cow, and killed it, and sold its ﬂesh for sixty riyals.
What is thy judgment?” The Kadee replied, “He is a cruel
tyrant, who oppresses every one under his authority. Is not a

cow worth a hundred and twenty riyals, or more? and he has sold .

GOVERNMENT. 143

this one for sixty riyals. This is tyranny towards the owner.”
The Deftardar then said to some of his soldiers, “Take the Nazir,
and strip him, and bind him.” This done, he said to the butcher,
“Butcher, dost thou not fear God? Thou hast killed the cow

_ unjustly.” The butcher again urged that he was obliged to obey
the Nazir. “Then,” said the Deftardar, “if I order thee to do
a thing, wilt thou do it?” “ I will do it,” answered the butcher.
“ Slaughter the Nazir,” said the Deftardar. Immediately several
of the soldiers present seized the Nazir, and threw him down 3 and
the butcher cut his throat, in the regular orthodox manner of
killing animals for food. “N ow, cut him up,” said the Deftardar,
“into sixty pieces.” This was done ; the people concerned in the
affair, and many others, looking on, but none daring to speak.
The sixty peasants who had bought the meat of the cow were
then called forward, one after another, and each was made to take
a piece of the ﬂesh of the Nazir, and to pay for it two riyals ,' so
that a hundred and twenty riyals were obtained from them. They
were then dismissed ,- but the butcher remained. The Kadee was
asked what should be the reward of the butcher, and answered
that he should be paid as he had been paid by the Nazir. The .
Deftardar therefore ordered that the head of the Nazir should be
given to him ; and the butcher went away with his worse than
valueless burden, thanking God that he had not been more un-
fortunate, and scarcely believing himself to have so easily escaped
until he arrived at his village. The money paid for the ﬂesh of
the Nazir was given to the owner of the cow.

Most of the governors of provinces and districts carry their
oppression far beyond the limits to which they are authorized to
proceed by the Basha ; and even the sheykh of a village, in exe-
cuting the commands of his superiors, abuses his lawful power.
Bribes and the ties of relationship and marriage influence him
and them, and by lessening the oppression of some, who are more
able to bear it, greatly increase that of others. But the ofﬁce of
n ,iieykh of a village is far from being a sinecure. At the period
when the taxes are demanded of him, be frequently receives a
more severe bastinading than any of his inferiors ; for when the
population of a village does not yield the sum required, their sheykh
.is often beaten for their default, and not always does he produce

:44 GOVERNMENT.

his own proportion until he has been well thrashed. All the
fellaheen are proud of the stripes they receive for withholding
their contributions, and are often heard to boast of the number
of blows which were inﬂicted upon them before they would give
up their money. Animianus Marcellinus gives precisely the same
character to the Egyptians of his time.

The revenue of the Basha of Egypt is generally said to amount
to about three millions of pounds sterling. Nearly half arises
from the direct taxes on land, and from indirect exactions from
the fellaheen, the remainder principally from the custom-taxes,
the tax on palm trees, a kind of income—tax, and the sale of vari-
ous productions of the land ; by which sale the government, in
most instances, obtains a proﬁt of more than ﬁfty per cent.

The present Basha has increased his revenue to this amount
by most oppressive measures. He has dispossessed of their lands
almost all the private proprietors throughout Egypt, allotting to
each, as a partial compensation, a pension for life, proportioned
to the extent and quality of the land which belonged to him. The
farmer has therefore nothing to leave to his children but his hut,
and perhaps a few cattle and some small savings.

The direct taxes on land are proportioned to the natural ad-
vantages of the soil. Their average amount is about eight shillings
per feddan, which is nearly equal to an English acre. But the
cultivator can never calculate exactly the full amount of what the
government will require of him. He suffers from indirect exac-
- tions of quantities (differing in different years, but always levied
per feddan) of butter, honey, wax, wool, baskets of palm leaves,
ropes of the ﬁbres of the palm tree, and other commodities ; h
also obliged to pay the hire of the camels which convey his grain to
the government shooneh (or granary), and to defray various other
expenses. A portion of the produce of his land is taken by the
government, and sometimes the whole produce, at a ﬁxed and
fair price, which, however, in many parts of Egypt, is retained to
make: up for the debts of the insolvent peasants. The fellah,
to supply the bare necessaries of life, is often obliged to steal,
and convey secretly to his hut, as much as he can of the produce
of his land. He may either himself supply the seed for his land,
or obtain it as a loan from the government ; but in the latter case

GOVERMVEZVT. 145

he seldom obtains a sufﬁcient quantity, a considerable portion
being generally stolen by the persons through whose hands it
passes before he receives it. To relate all the oppressions which
the peasantry of Egypt endure from the dishonesty of the Ma-
moors and inferior ofﬁcers would require too much space in the
present work. It would be scarcely possible for them to suffer
more and live. It may be hardly necessary, therefore, to add
that few of them engage with assiduity 1n the labours of agricul—
ture unless compelled to do so by their superiors.

The Basha has not only taken possession of the lands of the
private proprietors, but he has also thrown into his treasury a con-
siderable proportion of the incomes of religious and charitable in-
stitutions, deeming their accumulated wealth superﬂuous. He ﬁrst
imposed a tax (of nearly half the amount of the regular land-tax)
upon all land which had become a “ wakf ” (or legacy inalienable
by law) to any mosque, fountain, public school, etc. ; and after-
wards took absolute possession of such lands, granting certain
annuities in lieu of them, for keeping in repair the respective
buildings, and for the maintenance of those persons attached to
them, as Nazirs (or wardens), religious ministers, inferior servants,
students, and other pensioners. He has thus rendered himself
extremely odious to most persons of the religious and learned pros
fessions, and especially to the Nazirs of the mosques, who too
generally enriched themselves from the funds intrusted to their
care, which were in most cases superabundant. The household
property of the mosques and other public institutions (the wakfs
of numerous individuals of various ranks) the Basha has hitherto

r3®ﬁnviolate

The tax upon the palm trees has been calculated to amount to
about a hundred thousand pounds sterling. The trees are rated
according to their qualities, generally at a piaster and a half each.

The income-tax, which is called “ﬁrdeh,” is generally a twelfth
or more of a man’s annual income or salary, when that can be
ascertained. The maximum, however, is ﬁxed at ﬁve hundred
piasters. In the large towns it is levied upon individuals, in the
villages upon houses. The income—tax of all the inhabitants of
the metroqus amounts to eight thousand purses, or about forty
thousand pounds sterling.

(440) , 10

'4

146 DOMESTIC L‘IFE.

The inhabitants of the metropolis and of other large towns
pay a heavy tax on grain, etc. The tax on each kind of grain is
, eighteen piasters per ardebb (or about ﬁve bushels) 3 which sum is
equal to the price of wheat in the country after a good harvest.11

CHAPTER V.
DOMESTIC LIFE.

HAVING sufﬁciently considered the foundations of the moral and
social state of the Muslims of Egypt, we may now take a View of
their domestic life and ordinary habits. And ﬁrst, let us conﬁne
our attention to the higher and middle orders.

A master of a family, or any person who has arrived at man—
hood, and is not in a menial situation, or of very low condition,
is commonly honoured with the appellation of “ the sheykh,” pre-
ﬁxed to his name. The word “sheykh” literally signiﬁes “an
elder,” or “an aged person 3” but it is often used as synonymous
with our appellation of “ Mister,” though more particularly ap-
plied to a learned man or a reputed saint. A “shereef,” or de-
scendant of the Prophet, is called “the seyd,” or “the seyyid”
(master, or lord), whatever be his station. Many shereefs are
employed in the lowest ofﬁces: there are servants, dustmen, and
beggars of the honoured race of Mohammad; but all of them
are entitled to the distinctive appellation above mentioned, and
privileged to wear the green turban. Many of them, however,
not only among those of humble station, but also among the
wealthy, and particularly the learned, assume neither of these
prerogatives, preferring the title of “ sheykh” and the white
turban. A man who has performed the pilgrimage is generally
called “the hagg,” and a woman who has alike distinguished
herself, “the haggeh ,” yet there are many pilgrims who, like
those shereefs just before alluded to, prefer the title of “ sheykh.”
The general appellation of a lady is “the sitt,” which signiﬁes
“the mistress,” or “the lady.”

Before I describe the ordinary habits of the master of a family,
I must mention the various classes of persons of whom the

DOMESTIC LIFE. :47

family may consist. The hareem, or the females of the house,
have distinct apartments allotted to them; and into these apart-
ments (which, as well as the persons to whom they are appropriated,
are called “the hareem ”) no males are allowed to enter, except-
ing the master of the family, and certain other near relations, and
children. The hareem may consist, ﬁrst, of a wife, or wives (to
the number of four); secondly, of female slaves, some of whom,
namely, white and Abyssinian slaves, are generally concubines,
and others (the black slaves) kept merely for servile ofﬁces, as
cooking, waiting upon the ladies, etc. ; thirdly, of female free
servants, who are in no case concubines, or not legitimately so.
The male dependants may consist of white and of black slaves
and free servants, but are mostly of the last-mentioned class.
Very few of the Egyptians avail themselves of the license, which
their religion allows them, of having four wives; and still smaller
is the number of those who have two or .more wives, and concu-
bines besides. Even most of those men who have but one wife
are c ntent, for the sake of domestic peace, if for no other rea—
son, Main without a concubine slave 3 but some prefer the
possession of an Abyssinian slave to the more expensive mainten-
ance of a wife, and keep a black slave-girl, or an Egyptian female
servant, to wait upon her, to clean and keep in order the apart-
ments of the hareem, and to cook. It is seldom that two or
more wives are kept in the same house; if they be, they gener-
ally have distinct apartments. Of male servants, the master of
a family keeps, if he can afford to do so, one or more to wait upon
him and his male guests; another, who is called a “sakka,” or
water—carrier, but who is particularly a servant of the hareem, and
attends the ladies when they go out _; a “bowwab,” or door-
keeper, who constantly sits at the door of the house ; and a “ sais,”
or groom, for the horse, mule, or ass. Few of the Egyptians have
“memlooks,” or male white slaves, most of these being in the
possession of rich ’Osmanlees (or Turks); and scarcely any but
Turks of high rank keep eunuchs. But a wealthy Egyptian mer—
chant is proud of having a black slave to ride or walk behind him,
and to carry his pipe.

The Egyptian is a very early riser, as he retires to sleep at an
early hour. It is his duty to be up and dressed before daybreak.

I48 DOMESTIC LIFE.

when he should say the morning prayers. In general, while the
master of a family is performing the religious ablution, and saying
his prayers, his wife or slave is preparing for him a cup of coffee,
and ﬁlling his pipe, which she presents to him as soon as he has
acquitted himself of his religious duties.

Many of the Egyptians take nothing before noon but the cup
of coffee and the pipe 5 others take a light meal at an early hour.
The meal of breakfast (“ el-fatoor”) generally consists of bread,
with eggs, butter, cheese, clotted cream, or curdled milk, etc. ; or
of a “ fateereh,” which is a kind of pastry saturated with butter,
made very thin, and folded over and over like a napkin. It is
eaten alone, or with a little honey poured over it, or sugar. A
very common dish for breakfast is “fool mudemmes,” or beans,
similar to our horse-beans, slowly boiled during a whole night in
an earthen vessel, buried, all but the neck, in the hot ashes of an
oven or a bath, and having the mouth closely stopped. They are
eaten with linseed oil, or butter, and generally with a little lime-
juice ; thus prepared, they are sold in the morning in the sooks
(or markets) of Cairo and other towns. A meal is often made (by
those who cannot afford luxuries) of bread and a mixture called
“ dukkah,” which is commonly composed of salt and pepper, with
“ zaatar ” (or wild marjoram) or mint or cumin—seed, and with one
or more, or all, of the following ingredients—namely, coriander-
seed, cinnamon, sesame, and “hommus” (or chick—peas). Each
mouthful of bread is dipped in this mixture. The bread is always
made in the form of a round ﬂat cake, generally about a span in
width and a ﬁnger’s breadth in thickness.

The pipe and the cup of coffee are enjoyed by almost all persons
who can afford such luxuries very early in the morning, and Often-
times during the day. There are many men who are scarcely ever
seen without a pipe either in their hand or carried behind them
by a servant. The smoker keeps his tobacco for daily use in a
purse or bag made of shawl—stuff, or silk, or velvet, which is often
accompanied with a small pouch containing a ﬂint and steel, and
some agaric tinder, and is usually crammed into his bosom.

The pipe (which is called by many names, as “shibuk,” “ ’ood,”
etc.) is generally between four and ﬁve feet long : some pipes are
shorter, and some are of greater length. The most common kind

Ina/wan” .

DOMESTIC LIFE. I49

used in Egypt is made of a. kind of wood called “ garmash'ak.”
The greater part of the stick (from the mouthpiece to about three—

 

 

quarters of its length) is covered with silk, which is conﬁned at

‘ each extremity by a gold thread, often intertwined with coloured

l silks, or by a tube of gilt silver ; and at the lower extremity of the

150 DOMESTIC LIFE.

covering is a tassel of silk. The covering was originally designed
to be moistened with water, in order to cool the pipe, and con-
sequently the smbke, by evaporation ; but this is only done when
the pipe is old or not handsome. Cherry-stick pipes, which are
never covered, are also used by many persons, particularly in the-
winter. In summer the smoke is not so cool from the cherry-stick
pipe as from the kind before mentioned. The bowl is of baked
earth, coloured red or brown. The mouthpiece is composed of
two or more pieces of opaque, light-coloured amber, interjoined
by ornaments of enamelled gold, agate, jasper, carnelian, or some
other precious substance. It is the most costly part of the pipy
The price of one of the kind most generally used by persons of
the middle orders is from about one to three pounds sterling. A
wooden'tube passes through it. This is often changed, as it soon
becomes foul from the oil of the tobacco. The pipe also requires
to be cleaned very often, which is done with tow, by means of a
long wire. Many poor men in Cairo gain their livelihood by going
about to clean pipes. ‘

The tobacco smoked by persons of the higher orders and some
others in Egypt is of a very mild and delicious ﬂavour. It is
mostly from the neighbourhood of El-Ladikeeyeh, in Syria. The
best kind is the “ mountain tobacco,” grown on the hills about
that town. A stronger kind, which takes its name from the town
of Soor, sometimes mixed with the former, is used by most persons
of the middle orders. In smoking, the people of Egypt and of
other countries of the East draw in their breath freely, so that
much of the smoke descends into the lungs ; and the terms which
they use to express “smoking tobacco ”‘ signify “drinking smoke,”
or “ drinking tobacco,” for the same word signiﬁes both “ smoke ”
and “tobacco.” Few of them spit while smoking ; I have very
seldom seen any do so.

Some of the Egyptians use the Persian pipe, in which the
smoke passes through water. The pipe of this kind most com-
monly used by persons of the higher classes is callec “ nargeeleh,”
because the vessel that contains the water is a cocoa-nut, of which
“ nérgeeleh 7’ is an Arabic name. Another kind, which has a glass
vase, is called ‘.‘sheesheh.” Each has a very long ﬂexible tube.
A particular kind of tobacco, called “tumbak,” from Persia, is

DOMESTIC LIFE. 151

used in the water-pipe. It is ﬁrst washed several times, and put
into the pipe-bowl while damp, and two or three pieces of live
charcoal are placed on the top. Its ﬂavour is mild, and very
agreeable; but the strong inhalation necessary in this mode of
smoking is injurious to persons of delicate lungs. In using the
Persian pipe, the person as freely draws the smoke into his lungs
as he would inhale pure air. The great prevalence of liver
complaints in Arabia is attributed to the general use of the nar-
geelch, and many persons in Egypt suffer severely from the same
cause. A kind of pipe, commonly called “gozeh,” which is
similar to the nargeeleh, excepting that it has a short cane tube

      

      
 

  
  

  
 
 
 
 

, 4" ‘J’

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,i

 

  

WATE R-PIPES.

instead of the snake (or ﬂexible one), and no stand, is used by
men of the lowest class for smoking both the tumbak and the
intoxicating “ hasheesh,” or hemp.

The coffee (“kahweh”) is made very strong, and without
sugar or milk. The coffee-cup (which is called “ ﬁngan ”) is small,
generally holding not quite an ounce and a half of liquid. i It is
of porcelain, or Dutch ware, and being without a handle is placed
within another cup (called “zarf”), of silver or brass, according
to the circumstances of the owner, and both in shape and size
nearly resembling our egg-cup. In preparing the coffee, the
water is ﬁrst made to boil ,' the coffee (freshly roasted and pounded)
is then put in and stirred ; after which the pot is again placed on

152 . DOMESTIC LIFE.

the ﬁre, once or twice, until the coffee begins to simmer, when it
is taken off, and its contents are poured out into the cups while
the surface is yet creamy. The Egyptians are excessively fond
of pure and strong coffee thus prepared, and very seldom add
sugar to it (though some do so when they are unwell), and never
milk or cream, but a little cardamom-seed is often added to “it.
It is a common custom, also, to fumigate the cup with the smoke
of mastic; and the wealthy sometimes impregnate the coffee with
the delicious fragrance of ambergris. The most general mode of
doing this is to put about a carat—weight of ambergris in a coffee-
pot and melt it over a ﬁre ; then make the coffee in another pot,
in the manner before described, and when it has settled a little,
pour it into the pot which contains the ambergris. Some persons

 

COFFEE SERVICE.

make use of the ambergris, for the same purpose, in a different
way—sticking a piece of it, of the weight of about two carats, in
the bottom of the cup, and then pouring in the coffee: a piece
of the weight above mentioned will serve for two or three weeks.
This mode is often adopted by persons who like always to have
the coffee which they themselves drink ﬂavoured with this perfume,
and do not give all their visitors the same luxury. The coffee-
pot is sometimes brought in a vessel of silver or brass (called
“ ’az’kee 7’) containing burning charcoal. This vessel is suspended
by three chains. In presenting the coffee, the servant holds the
foot of the zarf with his thumb and ﬁrst ﬁnger. In receiving
the ﬁngan and zarf, he makes use of both hands, placing the left
beneath and the right above at the same instant.

 

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EGYPTIAN ASSES.

 

 

DOMESTIC LIFE. 1 5 5

In cold weather, a brasier, or chaﬁng-dish (called “mankal,”
and vulgarly “ mankad”), of tinned copper, full of burning char—
coal, is placed on the ﬂoor, and sometimes perfume is burned in
it. The Egyptians take great delight in perfumes, and often
fumigate their apartments. The substance most commonly used
for this purpose is frankincense of an inferior quality, called
“ bakhoor el-barr.” Benzoin and aloes-wood are also used for the
same purpose.

If he can conveniently afford to keep a horse, mule, or ass, or
to hire an ass, the Egyptian is seldom seen walking far beyond
the threshold of his own house ; but very few of the people of
Cairo, or of the other towns, venture to expose themselves to the
suspicion of possessing superﬂuous wealth, and, consequently, to
greater exactions of the government than they would otherwise
suffer, by keeping horses. The modern saddle of the horse is
generally padded, and covered with cloth or velvet, embroidered
or otherwise ornamented , and the head—stall and breast-leather
are adorned with silk tassels, and coins, or other ornaments, of
silver. Wealthy/merchants, and the great ’Ulama, usually ride
mules. The saddle of the mule is generally nearly the same as
that of the ass, of which a sketch is inserted, When the rider is
one of the ’Ulama, it is covered with a “seggadeh” (or prayer—
carpet); so also, sometimes, is the ladies’ saddle, from which,
however, the former differs considerably, as will be shown here-
after. Asses are most generally used for riding through the nar-
row and crowded streets of Cairo, and there are many for hire:
their usual pace is an easy amble. Egypt has long been famed for
its excellent asses, which are, in general, larger than those of our
country, and very superior to the latter in every respect. The
usual price of one of a good breed and well trained is about three
or four pounds sterling, The ass is furnished with a stuffed
saddle, the fore part of which is covered with red leather, and
the seat, most commonly, with a kind of soft woollen lace, similar
to our coach-lace, of red, yellow, and other colours. The stirrup-
leathers are, in every case, very short. The horseman is preceded
by a servant, or by two servants, to clear the way ; and, for the
same purpose, a servant generally runs beside or behind the ass,
or sometimes before, calling out to the passengers to move out of

156 DOMESTIC LIFE.

the way to the right or left, or to take care of their backs, faces,
sides, feet, or heels. The rider, however, must be vigilant, and
not trust merely to his servant, or he may be thrown down by the
wide load of a camel, which accident, indeed, is sometimes un-
avoidable in the more narrow and crowded streets. His pipe is
generally carried by the servant, and ﬁlled and lighted if he dis-
mount at a house or a shop.

If he have no regular business to employ him, the Egyptian
spends the greater part of the day in riding, paying visits, or mak-
ing purchases ; or in smoking, and sipping coffee, and chatting with
a friend at home; or he passes an hour or more in the morning
enjoying the luxuries of a public bath. At noon he has again to
say prayers, if he fulﬁl the duties imposed on him by his religion ,'
but, as I have remarked on a former occasion, there are compar—
atively few persons among the Egyptians who do not sometimes
neglect these duties, and there are many who scarcely ever pray.
Directly after mid-day (if he has not taken a late breakfast) he
dines ; then takes a pipe and a cup of coffee, and, in hot weather,
usually indulges himself with a nap. Often he retires to recline
in the hareem, where a wife or female slave watches over his re-
pose, or rubs the soles of his feet with her hands. On such occa-
sions, and at other times when he wishes to enjoy privacy, every
person who comes to pay him a visit is told by the servant that
he is in the hareem ; and no friend expects him to be called thence,
unless on very urgent business. From the time of the afternoon
prayers until sunset (the next time of prayer) he generally enjoys
again his pipe and a cup of coffee in the society of some one or
more of his friends at home or abroad. Shortly after sunset he
sups. .

I must now describe the meals of dinner (“el-ghada”) and
supper (“ el-’asha ”), and the manner and etiquette of eating. The
same remarks will apply to both these repasts, excepting that
supper is always the principal meal. It is the general custom to
cook in the afternoon, and what remains of the supper is eaten the
next clay for dinner when there are no guests in the house. The
master of a family generally dines and sups with his wife or wives
and children ; but there are many men, particularly of the higher
classes, who are too proud to do this, or too much engaged in

 

WASHING BEFORE OR AFTER A MEAL.

 

 

DOMESTIC LIFE. I 59

society to be able to do so, unless on some few occasions; and
there are men even of the lowest class who scarcely ever eat with
their wives or children. When a person is paying a visit to a
friend, and the hour of dinner or supper arrives, it is incumbent
on the master of the house to order the meal to be brought ,-
and the same is generally considered necessary if the visitor be
a stranger.

Every person, before he sits down to the table, or rather to the
tray, washes his hands, and sometimes his mouth also, with soap
and water; or at least has some water poured upon his right
hand. A servant brings to him a basin and ewer (called “tisht”
and “ ibreek ”), of tinned copper or of brass. The former of these
has a cover pierced with holes, with a raised receptacle for the
soap in the middle; and the water, being poured upon the hands,
passes through this cover into the space below, so that when the
basin is brought to a second person, the water with which the
former one has washed is not seen. A napkin (“footah”) is
given to each person.

 

KURSEE AND SEENEEYEH.

A round tray (called “ seeneeyeh ” and “ saneeyeh ”) of tinned
copper, or sometimes of brass, generally between two and three
feet in diameter, serves as a table, being placed upon a stool
(“kursee”) about ﬁfteen inches high, made of wood, and often

16o DOMESTIC LIFE.

covered with mother-of—pearl, tortoise—shell, bone, etc. These two
pieces of furniture compose the “ sufrah.” Round cakes of bread,
such as have been before described, sometimes cut in halves across
the middle, are placed round the tray, with several limes, cut in
two, to be squeezed over any of the dishes that may require the
acid; and a spoon of box-wood, or of ebony, or tortoise—shell, is
put for each person. The bread often serves as a plate. Several
dishes of tinned copper, or of china, containing different kinds of
viands, vegetables, etc, are then placed upon the tray, according
to the common fashion of the country ; or only one dish is put on
at a time, after the Turkish mode.

The persons who are to partake of the repast sit upon the
ﬂoor around the tray, each with his napkin upon his knees , or,
if the tray be placed near the edge of a low deewan, which is
often done, some of the persons may sit on the deewan, and the
others on the ﬂoor. But if the party be numerous, the tray is
placed in the middle of the room, and they sit round it with one
knee on the ground, and the other (the right) raised, and in this
manner as many as twelve persons may sit round a tray three
feet wide. Each person bares his right arm to the elbow, or tucks
up the hanging end of his sleeve. Before he begins to eat, he
says, “ Bi-smi-llah ” (“ In the name of God ”). This is generally said
in a low but audible voice, and by the master of the house ﬁrst.
It is considered both as a grace and as an invitation to any person
to partake of the meal; and when any one is addressed with
“ Bi-smi-llah,” or “Tafaddal ” (which latter signiﬁes, in this case,
“ Do me the favour to partake of the repast”), he must reply, if
he do not accept the invitation, “ Henee'an” (or “ May it be pro-
ductive of enjoyment,” or “ beneﬁt ”), or use some similar expres-
sion, else it will be feared that an evil eye has been cast upon the
food; and they say that “in the food that is coveted” (or upon
which an envious eye has fallen) “there is no blessing.” But the
manner in which the Egyptian often presses a stranger to eat with
him shows that feelings of hospitality most forcibly dictate the
“Bivsmi—llah.” The master of the house ﬁrst begins to eat; the
guests or others immediately follow his example. Neither knives
nor forks are used—the thumb and two ﬁngers of the right hand
serve instead of those instruments; but the spoons are used for

DOMESTIC LIFE. 16:

soup or rice, or other things that cannot be easily taken Without 3'
and both hands may be used in particular cases, as will be pre-
sently explained. When there are several dishes upon the tray,
each person takes of any that he likes, or of every one in succes-
sion. When only one dish is placed upon the tray at a time, each
takes from it a few mouthfuls, and it is quickly removed, to give
place to another.* To pick out a delicate morsel and hand it to
a friend is esteemed polite. The manner of eating with the ﬁn—
’ gers, as practised in Egypt and other Eastern countries, is more
delicate than may be imagined by Europeans who have not wit-
nessed it nor heard it correctly described. Each person breaks

 

A PARTY AT DINNER 0R SUPPER.

off a small piece of bread, dips it in the dish, and then conveys it
to his mouth, together with a small portion of the meat, or other
contents of the dishi' The piece of bread is generally doubled
together, so as to enclose the morsel of meat, etc. ; and only the
thumb and ﬁrst and second ﬁngers are commonly used. When a
person takes a piece of meat too large for a single mouthful, he
usually places it upon his bread. i

The food is dressed in such a manner that it may be easily

* Our Saviour and his disciples thus ate from one dish. (See lfﬁit-_¥XVi>, 23.)
1' 61‘ he merely sops his morsel of bread in the dish. (Sée Ruth ii. 14 ; and John xiii 26.)

(440) 1 1

162 DOMESTIC LIFE.

eaten in the mode above described. It generally consists, for the
most part, of “yakhnee,” or stewed meat, with chopped onions,
or with a quantity of “ bamiyehs,” or other vegetables ,' “ kawur-
meh,” or a richer stew, with onions; “warak mahshee,” or vine-
leaves, or bits of lettuce-leaf or cabbage-leaf, with a mixture of
rice and minced meat (delicately seasoned with salt, pepper,-and
onions, and often with garlic, parsley, etc.) wrapped up in them,
and boiled ; cucumbers (“khiyar”), or black, white, or red “bad-
ingans,”* or a kind of gourd (called “ kara kooseh ”) of the size and
shape of a small cucumber, which are all “mahshee,” or stuffed,
with the same composition as the leaves above mentioned; and
“ kebab,” or small morsels of mutton or lamb, roasted on skewers.
Many dishes consist wholly, or for the most part, of vegetables,
such as cabbage, purslane, spinach, beans, lupins, chick-peas, gourd
cut into small pieces, colocasia, lentils, etc. Fish, dressed with
oil, is also a common dish. Most of the meats are cooked with
clariﬁed butter, on account of the deﬁciency of fat, and are made
very rich : the butter in the hot season is perfectly liquid. When
a fowl is placed whole on the tray, both hands are generally re-
quired to separate the joints , or two persons, each using the right
hand alone, perform this operation together ; but some will do it
very cleverly without assistance, and with a single hand. Many
of the Arabs will not allow the left hand to touch food in any
case, excepting when the right is maimed. A boned fowl, stuffed
with raisins, pistachio-nuts, crumbled bread, and parsley, is not an
uncommon dish; and even a whole lamb, stuffed with pistachio-
nuts, etc., is sometimes served up ; but the meat is easily sepa-
rated With one hand. Sweets are often mixed with stewed meat,
etc. ; as, for instance, “ ’annab ” (or jujubes), peaches, apricots, etc.,
and sugar, with yakhnee. Various kinds of sweets are also served
up, and often in no particular order with respect to other meats.
A favourite sweet dish is “ kunafeh,” which is made of wheat-ﬂour,
and resembles vermicelli, but is ﬁner: it is fried with a little clari-
ﬁed butter, and sweetened with sugar or honey. A dish of water-
melon (“batteekh”), if in season, generally forms part of the
meal. This is cut up about a quarter of an hour before, and left

* The black and white badingan are the fruits of two kinds of egg-plant; the red is the
tomato.

DOMESTIC LIFE. 163

to cool in the external air, or in a current of air, by the evapora-
tion of the juice on the surfaces of the slices; but it is always
watched during this time, lest a serpent should come to it and
poison it by its breath or bite, for'this reptile is said to be ex-
tremely fond of the water-melon, and to smell it at a great dis-
tance. VVater—melons are very abundant in Egypt, and mostly
very delicious and wholesome. A dish of boiled rice (called “ ruzz
mufelfel,” the “pilav” of the Turks), mixed with a little butter,
and seasoned with salt and pepper, is generally that from which
the last morsels are taken ; but in the houses of the wealthy this
is often followed by a bowl of “khushaf,” a sweet drink, com-
monly consisting of water with raisins boiled in it, and then
sugar: when cool a little rose-water is dropped into it. The
water-melon frequently supplies the place of this.

The Egyptians eat very moderately, though quickly. Each
person, as soon as he has ﬁnished, says, “ El—hamdu li—llah ” (“ Praise
be to God”), and gets up, without waiting till the others have done.
He then washes his hands and mouth with soap and water, the
basin and ewer being held by a servant as before.

The only beverage at meals is water of the N'le, or sometimes,
at the tables of the rich, sherbet, which will presently be described.
The Arabs drink little or no water glﬂuz‘gng a meal, but generally
take a large draught immediately after. The water of the Nile is
remarkably good, but that of all the wells in Cairo and in other
parts of Egypt is slightly brackish. In general, water is drunk
either from an earthen bottle or from a brass cup. The water-
bottles are of two kinds—one called “derak,” and the other
“ kulleh :” the former has a narrow and the latter a wide mouth.
.They are made of a grayish, porous earth, which cools the water
deliciously, by evaporation; and they are, therefore, generally
placed in a current of air. The interior is often blackened with
the smoke of some resinous wood, and then perfumed with the
smoke of “kafal” wood and mastic; the latter used last. A
small earthen vessel (called “111ibkhar’ah”) is employed in per-
forming these operations, to contain the burning charcoal, which
is required to ignite the wood and the mastic, and the water-
bottle is held inverted over it. A strip of rag is tied round the
neck of the dorak, at the distance of about an inch from the

1 64 DOMESTIC LIFE.

mOuth, to prevent the smoke—black from extending too far upon
, the exterior of the bottle. Many persons also put a little orange-
ﬂower-water into the-bottles. This gives a very agreeable ﬂavour
to their contents. The bottles have stoppers of silver, brass, tin,
wood, or palm—leaves, and are generally placed in a tray of tinned
copper, which receives the water that exudes from them. In cold
weather, china bottles are used in many houses instead of those
above described, which then render the water too cold. Some of
the drinking-cups have texts of the Kur-an, etc, engraved in the
interior, or the names of “the Seven Sleepers ,' ” but inscriptions of
the former kind I have seldom seen. Every person, before and
after drinking, repeats the same ejaculations as before and after
eating, and this he does each time that he drinks during a meal :
each friend present then says to him, “May it be productive of
enjoyment” or “beneﬁt ; ” to which the reply is, “ God cause thee
to have enjoyment.”

Though we read, in some of the delightful tales of “The Thou-
sand and One Nights,” of removing “the table of viands” and
bringing “the table of wine,” this prohibited beverage is not
often introduced in general society, either during or after the
meal, or at other times, by the Muslims of Egypt in the present
day. Many of them, however, habitually indulge in drinking
wine with select parties of their acquaintance. The servants of a
man who is addicted to this habit know such of his friends as may
be admitted, if they happen to call when he is engaged in this
unlawful pleasure ; and to all others they say that he is not at
home, or that he is in the hareem. Drinking wine is indulged in
by such persons before and after supper, and during that meal;
but it is most approved before supper, as they say that. it quickens
the appetite. The “table of wine” is usually thus prepared,
according to a penitent Muslim wine—bibber who is one of my
friends (I cannot speak on this subject from my own experience;
for, as I never drink wine, I have never been invited to join a
Muslim wine-party) :—A round japanned tray, or a glass dish, is
placed on the stool before mentioned; on this are generally ar—
ranged two cut-glass jugs, one containing Wine and the other
rosoglio, and sometimes two or more bottles besides. Several
small glasses are placed with these, and glass saucers of dried

 

, PARTY AT SUPPER.
g Page 16;.

 

 

DOMESTIC LIFE. 165

and fresh fruits, and perhaps pickles. Lastly, two candles, and
often a bunch of ﬂowers stuck in a candlestick, are put upon the
tray.

The Egyptians have various kinds of sheibets or sweet drinks.
The most common kind is merely sugar and watei, but very
sweet 3 lemonade is another; a third kind, the most esteemed, is
prepared from a hard conserve of violets, made by pounding
violet-ﬂowers and then boiling them with sugar. This violet-sher-
bet is of a green colour. A fourth kind is prepared from mul—
berries 3 a ﬁfth, from sorrel. There is also a kind of sherbet sold
in the streets which is made with raisins, as its name implies ,-
another kind, which is a strong infusion of liquorice-root, and
called by the name of that root; and a third kind, which is pre-
pared from the fruit of the locust tree, and called in like manner
by the name of the fruit. The sherbet is served in coloured glass
cups, generally called “kullehs,” containing abdut three-quarters
of a pint; some of which (the more common kind) are ornamented
with gilt ﬂowers, etc. The sherbet—cups are placed 011 a round
tray, and covered with a round piece of embroidered silk, or cloth
of gold. On the right arm of the per son who p1 esents the sherbet
is hung a 1a1 0e oblong napkin with a wide embroidered border of
gold and coloured silks at each end. This is ostensibly offered
f01 the purpose of wiping the lips after drinking the sherbet, but
it is really not so much for use as for display. The lips are seldom
01 scarcely touched with it.

The interval between supper and the “’eshé," or time of the
night-prayers, is generally passed in smoking a pipe and sipping
a cup of coffee. The enjoyment of the pipe may be interrupted
by prayer, but is continued afterwards,- and sometimes draughts
or chess or some other game, or at least conversation, contributes
to make the time glide away more agreeably. The members of
an Egyptian family in easy circumstances may pass their time
very pleasantly, but they do so in a quiet way. The men often
pay evening visits to their friends, at or after supper—time. They
commonly use, on these and similar occasions, a folding lantern
(“fanoos”), composed of waxed cloth strained over rings of Wire,
and a top and bottom of tinned copper. The common lamp (“ kan-
deel ”) is a small vessel of glass, having a little tube in the bottom,

I66 DOMESTIC LIFE.

in which is stuck a wick formed of cotton twisted round a piece
of straw. Some water is poured in ﬁrst, and then the oil. A
lamp of this kind is often hung over the entrance of a house.
By night the interiors of the houses present a more dull appear-
ance than in the day. The light of one or two candles (placed on
the ﬂoor or on a stool, and sometimes surrounded by a large glass
shade, or enclosed in a glass lantern, on account of the windows
being merely of lattice-work) is generally thought sufﬁcient for
a large’and lofty saloon. Few of the Egyptians sit up later in
summer than three or four o’clock, which is three or four hours
after sunset; for their reckoning of time is from sunset at
every season of the year. In Winter they often sit up ﬁve or
six hours. .

Thus the day is usually spent by men of moderate wealth who
have no regular business to attend to, or none that requires their
own active superintendence. But it is the habit of the tradesman
to repair soon after breakfast to his shop or warehouse, and to
remain there until near sunset. He has leisure to smoke as much
as he likes, and his customers often smoke with him. To some
of these he offers his own pipe (unless they have theirs with
them), and a cup of coffee, which is obtained from the nearest
coffee-shop. A great portion of the day he sometimes passes in
agreeable chat with customers, or with the tradesmen of the next
or opposite shops. He generally says his prayers without moving
from the shop. Shortly after the noon-prayers, or sometimes
earlier or later, he eats a light meal, such as a plate of kebab and
a cake of bread (which a boy or maid daily brings from his house
or procures in the market), or some bread and cheese or pickles,
etc., which are carried about the streets for sale; and if a customer
. be present, he is always invited, and often pressed, to partake of
this meal. A large earthen bottle of water is kept in the shop,
and replenished, Whenever necessary, by a passing “sakka,” or
water-carrier. In the evening the tradesman returns to his house,
eats his supper, and soon after retires to bed.

It is the general custom in Egypt for the husband and wife
to sleep in the same bed, excepting among the wealthy classes,
who mostly prefer separate beds. The bed is usually thus pre-
pared in the houses of persons of moderate wealth 2—A mattress

DOMESTIC LIFE. 167

stuffed with cotton, about six feet long and three or four feet in
width, is placed upon a low frame ; a pillow is placed for the head,
i and a sheet spread over this and the mattress. The only covering
in summer is generally a thin blanket, and in winter a thick quilt
stuffed with cotton. If there be no frame the mattress is placed
upon the ﬂoor, or two mattresses are laid one upon the other,
with the sheet, pillow, etc; and often a cushion of the deewan is
placed on each side. A musquito—curtain is suspended over the
bed by means of four strings, which are attached to nails in the
wall. The dress is seldom changed on going to bed; and in
winter many people sleep with all their ordinary clothes on,
excepting the gibbeh, or cloth coat , but in summer they sleep
almost or entirely unclad. In winter the bed is prepared in a
small closet (called “khazneh”); in summer, in a large room.
All the bed-clothes are rolled up in the daytime and placed on
one side, or in the closet above mentioned. During the hottest
weather, many people sleep upon the house-top, or in a “ fes-hah ”
(or “fesahah”), which is an uncovered apartment; but ophthal-
mia and other diseases often result from their thus exposing them-
selves to the external air at night. The most common kind of
frame for the bed is made of palm-sticks 3 but this harbours bugs,
which are very abundant in Egypt in the summer, as ﬂeas are
in the winter. These and other plagues to which the people of
Egypt are exposed by night and day have been before mentioned.
With regard to the most disgusting of them, the lice, it may here
be added, that though they are not always to be avoided even by
the most scrupulous cleanliness, a person who changes his linen
after two or three days’ wear is very seldom annoyed by these
vermin; and when he is, they are easily removed, not attaching
themselves to the skin—they are generally found in the linen. A
house may be kept almost clear of ﬂeas by frequent washing and
sweeping, and the ﬂies may be kept out by placing nets at the
doors and windows, but it is impossible to purify an Egyptian
house from bugs if it contain much wood-work, which is generally
the case.

The male servants lead a very easy life, with the exception of
the “ Sal‘s,” or groom, who, whenever his master takes a ride, runs
before or beside him 3 and this he will do in the hottest weather,

168 DOMESTIC £11123.

for hours together, without appearing fatigued. Almost every
wealthy person in Cairo has a “ bowwab,” or door-keeper, always
at the door of his house, and several other male servants. Most
of these are natives of Egypt 3 but many Nubians are also em-
ployed as servants in Cairo and other Egyptian towns. The
latter are mostly bowwabs, and are generally esteemed more honest
than the Egyptian servants ; but I am inclined to think, from the
opinion of several of my friends, and from my own experience,
that they have acquired this reputation only by superior cunning.
The wages of the male servants are very small, usually from one
to two dollars (or from four to eight shillings) per month ,' but
they receive many presents. On the “’eed” (or festival) after
Ramadan, the master generally gives to each of his servants part
or the whole of a new suit of clothes, consisting of an “’eree” (a
blue shirt, which is their outer dress), a “ tarboosh,” and a turban.
Other articles of dress which they require during the year (except-
ing sometimes shoes) the servants are obliged to provide for them-
selves. Besides what their master gives them, they also receive
small presents of money from his visitors, and from the trades-
people with whom he deals, particularly whenever he has made
any considerable purchase. They sleep in the clothes which they
wear during the day, each‘ upon a small mat , and in winter they
cover themselves with a cloak or blanket. In some respects they
are often familiar in their manners to their master, even laughing
and joking with him 3 in others they are very submissive, paying
him the utmost honour, and bearing corporal chastisement from
his hand with childlike patience.

The male black slave is treated with more consideration than
the free servant, and leads a life well suited to his lazy disposi-
tion. If discontented with his situation, he can legally compel
his master to sell him. Many of the slaves in Egypt wear the
Turkish military dress. They are generally the greatest fanatics
in the East, and more accustomed than any other class to insult
the Christians and every people who are not of the faith which
they have themselves adopted, without knowing more of its doc-
trines than Arab children who have been but a week at school.
Of the female slaves some account will be given in the next

chapter.

DOJVESTZC [ll/LE. 169

An acquaintance with the modern inhabitants of Egypt leads
us often to compare their domestic habits with those of Europeans
in the Middle Ages ; and perhaps in this comparison the points of
resemblance which we observe with regard to the men are more
striking than the contrasts, but the reverse will be found to be
- the case when we consider the state of the females.

CHAPTER VI.
DOMESTIC LIFE——(CONTINUED).

QUITTING the lower apartments, where we have been long de-
tained, I must enter upon a more presumptuous oﬁice than I have
yet undertaken, which is that of a guide to the “Hareem.” But
first I must give some account of marriage and the marriage cere-
monies.

To abstain from marrying when a man has attained a sufﬁcient
age, and when there is no just impediment, is esteemed by the
Egyptians improper and even disreputable. For being myself
guilty of this fault (to use no harsher term) I have suffered much
inconvenience and discomfort during my stay in this country, and
endured many reproaches. During my former visit to Egypt, hav-
lng’ occasion to remove from a house which I had occupied for some
months in a great thoroughfare-street in Cairo, I engaged another
house in a neighbouring quarter. The lease was written, and some
money paid in advance ,' but a day or two after, the agent of the
owner came to inform me that the inhabitants of the quarter, who
were mostly “ shereefs ” (or descendants of the Prophet), objected
to my living among them, because I was not married. He added,
however, that they would gladly admit me if I would even pur-
chase a female slave, which would exempt me from the opprobrium
cast upon me by the want of a wife. I replied that being merely
a sojourner in Egypt, I did not like to take either a wife or female
slave, whom I must soon abandon. The money that I had paid was
therefore returned to me. In another quarter I was less unfor-
tunate: such heavy objections on account of my being unmarried

170 ‘ DOMESTIC LIFE.

were not raised ,- I was only required to promise that no persons
wearing hats should come into the quarter to visit me; yet, after
I had established myself in my new residence, the sheykh (or
chief) of the quarter often endeavoured to persuade me to marry.
All my arguments against doing so he deemed of no weight.
“You tell me,” said he, “that in a year or two you mean to
(leave this country; now there is a young widow, who, I am
told, is handsome, living within a few doors of you, who will be
glad to become your wife, even with the express understanding
that you shall divorce her when you quit this place,—though, of
course, you may do so before if she should not please you.” This
young damsel had several times contrived to let me catch a glimpse
of a pretty face, as I passed the house in which she and her
parents lived. What answer could I return’.l I replied that I
had actually, by accident, seen her face, and that she was the last
woman I should wish to marry under such circumstances, for I
was sure that I could never make up my mind to part with her.
But I found it rather difﬁcult to silence my oﬂicious friend.—
It has been mentioned before, in the Introduction, that an un-
married man, or one who has not a female slave, is usually obliged
to dwell in a wekaleh, unless he has some near relation with
whom to reside, but that Franks are now exempted from this
restriction.

The Egyptian females arrive at puberty much earlier than the
natives of colder climates. Many marry at the age of twelve or
thirteen years 3 and some remarkably precocious girls are married
at the age of ten, but such occurrences are not common. Few
remain unmarried after sixteen years of age. An Egyptian girl at
the age of thirteen, or even earlier, may be a mother. ’ The women
of Egypt are generally very proliﬁc, but females of other countries
residing here are often childless 3 and the children of foreigners,
born in Egypt, seldom live to a mature age, even when the mother
is a native. It was on this account that the emancipated Memlooks
(or military slaves) usually adopted Memlooks.

It is very common among the Arabs of Egypt and of other
countries, but less so in Cairo than in other parts of Egypt, for a
man to marry his ﬁrst cousin. In this case the husband and
wife continue to call each other “cousin,” because the tie of blood

DOMESTIC LIFE. 171

is indissoluble, but that of matrimony very precarious. A union
of this kind is generally lasting, on account of this tie of blood,
and because mutual intercourse may have formed an attachment
between the parties in tender age ; though, if they be of the
higher or middle classes, the young man is seldom allowed to see
the face of his female cousin, or even to meet and converse with
her, after she has arrived at or near the age of puberty, until she
has become his wife.

Marriages in Cairo are generallyponducted, in the case of a
virgin, in the following manner, but in that of a widow, or a
divorced woman, with little ceremony. Most commonly, the
mother, or some other near female relation, of the youth or man
who is desirous of obtaining a wife, describes to him the personal
and other qualiﬁcations of the young women with whom she is
acquainted, and directs his choice 3* or he employs a “ khat’beh ”
or “khatibeh,” a woman whose regular business it is to assist
men in such cases. Sometimes two or more women of this pro-
fession are employed. A khat7beh gives her report conﬁdentially,
describing one girl as being like a gazelle, pretty and elegant and
young; and another as not pretty but rich, and so forth. If the
man have a mother and other near female relations, two or three
of these usually go with a khat’beh to pay visits to several hareems,
to which she has access in her professional character of a match
maker; for she is employed as much by the women as by the
men. She sometimes also exercises the trade of a “ dellaleh ” (or
broker) for the sale of ornaments, clothing, etc., which procures
her admission into almost every hareem. The women who ac-
company her in search of a wife for their relation are introduced
to the different hareems merely as ordinary visitors, and as such,
if disappointed, they soon take their leave, though the object of
their visit is of course understood by the other party ,' but if they
ﬁnd among the females of a family (and they are sure to see all
who are Inarriageable) a girl or young woman having the necessary
personal qualiﬁcations, they state the motive of their visit, and
‘ask, if the proposed match be not at once disapproved of, what
lproperty, ornaments, etc., the object of their wishes may possess.

* Abraham’s sending a. messenger to his own country to seek a wife for his son Isaac
(see Gen. xxiv.) was just such a. measure as most modern Arabs would adopt under similar
circumstances.

172 DOMESTIC LIFE.

If the father of the intended bride be dead, she may perhaps
possess one or more houses, shops, etc; and in almost every case,
a marriage-able girl of the middle or higher ranks has a set of
ornaments of gold and jewels. The women visitors, having asked
these and other questions, bring their report to the expectant
youth or man. If satisﬁed with their report, he gives a present
to the khat’beh, and sends her again to the family of his intended
wife, to make known to them his wishes. She generally gives an
exaggerated description of his personal attractions, wealth, etc.
For instance, she will say of a very ordinary young man, of scarcely
any property, and of Whose disposition she knows nothing, “My
daughter, the youth who wishes to marry you is young, graceful,
elegant, beardless, has plenty of money, dresses handsomely, is
fond of delicacies, but cannot enjoy his luxuries alone ; he wants
you as his companion , he will give you everything that money can
procure ,' he is a stayer—at-honie, and will spend his whole time _
with you, caressing and fondling you.”

The parents may betroth their daughter to whom they please,
and marry her to him without her consent, if she be not arrived
at the age of puberty , but after she has attained that age, she

_ may choose a husband for herself, and appoint any man to arrange
and effect her marriage. In the former case, however, the khat’beh
and the relations of a girl sought in marriage usually endeavour to
obtain her consent to the proposed union. Very often a father
objects to giving a daughter in marriage to a man who is not of
the same profession or trade as himself, and to marrying a younger
daughter before an elder. (See Gen. xxix. 26.) The bridegroom
can scarcely ever obtain even a surreptitious glance at the features
of his bride until he ﬁnds her in his absolute possession, unless
she belong to the lower classes of society, in which case it is easy _
enough for him to see her face. ,

When a female is about to marry, she should have a “ wekeel 7’
(or deputy) to settle the compact, and conclude the contract for
her with her proposed husband. If she be under the age of
puberty, this is absolutely necessary; and in this case, her father,
if living, or (if he be dead) her nearest adult male relation, or
a guardian appointed by will or by the Kadee, performs the
office of wekeel ; but if she be of age, she appoints her own

DOMESTIC LIFE. 1 7 3

wekeel, or may even make the contract herself, though this is
seldom done.

After a youth or man has made choice of a female to demand
in marriage, on the report of his female relations or that of the
khat’beh, and, by proxy, made the preliminary arrangements be—
fore described with her and her relations in the hareem, he re-
pairs with two or three of his friends to her wekeel. Having
obtained the wekeel’s consent to the union, if the intended bride
be under age, he asks what is the amount of the required “ mahr ”
(or dowry).

The giving of a dowry is indispensable, as I have mentioned in
a former chapter. It is generally calculated in “ riyals,” of ninety
faddahs (now equivalent to ﬁve pence and two-ﬁfths) each. The
riyal is an imaginary money, not a coin. The usual amount of
the dowry, if the parties be in possession of a moderately good
income, is about a thousand riyals (or twenty-two pounds ten
shillings), or sometimes not more than half that sum. The
wealthy calculate the dowry in purses of ﬁve hundred piasters
(now ﬁve pounds sterling) each, and fix its amount at ten purses
or more. It must be borne in mind that we are considering the
case of a virgin—bride ; the dowry of a widow or a divorced woman
is much less. In settling the amount of the dowry. as in other
pecuniary transactions, a little haggling frequently takes place. If
a thousand riyals be demanded through the wekeel, the party of
the intended bridegroom will probably make an offer of six hun-
dred ; the former party then gradually lowering the demand, and
the other increasing the offer, they at length agree to ﬁx it at eight
hundred. It is generally stipulated that-two—thirds of the dowry
shall be paid immediately before the marriage—contract is made,
and the remaining third held in reserve, to be paid to the wife in
case of divorcing her against her own consent, or in case of the
husband’s death.

1 This affair being settled, and conﬁrmed by all persons present
reciting the opening chapter of the Kur-an (the Fat’hah)», an early
day (perhaps the day next following) is appointed for paying the
money and performing the ceremony of the marriage-contract,
which is properly called “’akd ennikah." The making, this con—
tract is commonly called “ketb el-kitab” (or the writing of the

1 74 _ DOMESTIC LIFE.

writ) ,' but it is very seldom the case that any document is written
' to conﬁrm the marriage, unless the bridegroom is about to travel
to another place, and fears that he may have occasion to prove his
marriage where witnesses of the contract cannot be procured,
Sometimes the marriage-contract is concluded immediately after
the arrangement respecting the dowry, but more generally a day or
two after. On the day appointed for this ceremony, the bridegroom,
again accompanied by two or three of his friends, goes to the house
of the bride, usually about noon, taking with him that portion of
the dowry which he has promised to pay on this occasion. He and
his companions are received by the bride’s wekeel ; ‘and two or
more friends of the latter are usually present. It is necessary
that there be two witnesses (and those must be Muslims) to the
marriage-contract, unless in a situation where witnesses cannot be
procured. All persons present recite the Fat’hah, and the bride-
groom then pays the money. After this the marriage-contract is
performed. It is very simple. The bridegroom and the bride’s
wekeel sit upon the' ground, face to face, with one knee upon the
ground, and grasp each other’s right hand, raising the. thumbs
and pressing them against‘each other. A ﬁkee is generally em-
ployed to instruct them what they are to say. Having placed a
handkerchief over their joined hands, he usually prefaces the
words of the contract with a “khutbeh,” consisting of a few
words of exhortation and prayer, with quotations from the Kur-an
and Traditions on the excellency and advantages of marriage.
He then desires the bride’s wekeel to say, “I betroth [or marry]
to thee my daughter [or the female who has appointed me her
wekeel], such a one [naming the bride], the virgin [or the adult
virgin], for a dowry of such an amount.” (The words “for a
dowry,” etc., are sometimes omitted.) The bride’s wekeel having
said this, the bridegroom, prompted in the same manner by the
ﬁkee, says, “I accept from thee her betrothal [or marriage] to
myself, and take her under my care, and bind myself to afford
her my protection ; and ye who are present bear witness of this.”
The wekeel addresses the bridegroom in the same manner a
second and a third time, and each time the latter replies as before.
They then generally add, “ And blessing be on the Apostles,
and praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures. Amen ”~after

DOMESTIC LIFE. I75

which all present again repeat the Fat’hah. It is not always the
same form of khutbeh that is recited on these occasions; any
form may be used, and it may be repeated by any person. It
is not even necessary, and is often altogether omitted. The con-
tract concluded, the bridegroom sometimes (but seldom, unless he
be a person of the lower orders) kisses the hands of his friends and
others there present ; and they are presented with sherbet, and
generally remain to dinner. Each of them receives an embroidered
handkerchief, provided by the family of the bride, excepting the
ﬁkee, who receives a similar handkerchief, with a small gold coin
tied up in it, from the bridegroom. Before the persons assembled
on this occasion disperse, they settle when the “ leylet ed-dukhleh ”
is to be : this is the night when the bride is brought to the house
of the bridegroom, and the latter, for the ﬁrst time, visits her.

In general, the bridegroom waits for his bride about eight or
ten days after the conclusion of the contract. Meanwhile he
sends to her, two or three or more times, some fruit, sweetmeats,
etc, and perhaps makes her a present of a shawl or some other
article of value. The bride’s family are at the same time occupied
in preparing for her a stock of household furniture (as deewans,
matting, carpets, bedding, kitchen utensils, etc.) and dress. The
portion of the dowry which has been paid by the bridegroom,
and generally a much larger sum (the additional money, which is
often more than the dowry itself, being supplied by the bride’s
family), is expended in purchasing the articles of furniture, dress,
and ornaments for the bride. These articles, which are called
“gahaz,” are the property of the bride ; and if she be divorced,
she takes them away with her. She cannot, therefore, with truth
be said to be purchased. The furniture is sent, commonly borne
by a train of camels, to the bridegroom’s house. Often among
the articles of the gahaz is a chair for the turban or head-dress
alluded to in a former page. It is of a large size, but slight
make; the bottom and back generally of cane-work; sometimes
with a canopy. It is never used to sit upon. The turban, when
placed upon it, is covered with a kerchief of thick silk stuff, usu-
ally ornamented with gold thread. There are sometimes sent two
of these chairs—one for the husband, and the other for the wife.

The bridegroom should receive his bride on the eve of Friday

I76 DOMESTIC LIFE.

or that of Monday ,12 but the former is generally esteemed the
more fortunate period. Let us say, for instance, that the bride
is to be conducted to him on the eve of Friday. During two or
three or more preceding nights, the street or quarter in which the
bridegroom lives is illuminated with chandeliers and lanterns, or
with lanterns and small lamps, some suspended from cords drawn
across from the bridegroom’s and several other houses on each
side to the houses opposite ; and several small silk ﬂags, each of
two colours, generally red and green, are attached to these or
other cords. An entertainment is also given on each of these
nights, particularly on the last night before that on which the
wedding is concluded, at the bridegroom’s house. On these
occasions, it is customary for the persons invited, and for all
intimate friends, to send presents to his house a day or two
before the feast which they purpose or expect to attend. They
generally send sugar, coffee, rice, wax-candles, or a lamb ; the
former articles are usually placed upon a tray of copper or wood,
and covered with a silk or embroidered kerchief. The guests are
‘ entertained on these occasions by musicians and male or female
singers, by dancing—girls, or by the performance of a “ khatmeh ”
or a “ zikr.”

In the houses of the wealthy, the khat’beh or khat’behs, to-
gether with the “dayeh ” (or midwife) of the family, the “bel-
laneh” (or female attendant of the bath), and the nurse of the
bride, are each presented, a day or two after the conclusion of
the contract, with a piece of gold stuff, a Kashmeer shawl, or a
piece of striped silk, such as yeleks and shintiyans are made of ,'
and placing these over the left shoulder, and attaching the edges
together on the right side, go upon asses, with two or more men
before them beating kettledrums or tabours, to the houses of all
the friends of the bride, to invite the females to accompany her
to and from the bath, and to partake of an entertainment given on
that occasion. At every house Where they call they are treated
with a repast, having sent notice the day before of their intended
visit. They are callec “mudnat.” I have sometimes seen them
walking, and without the drums before them, but making up for
the want of these instruments by shrill, quavering cries of joy
called “ zaghareet.” I

DOMESTIC LIFE. 177

On the preceding Wednesday (or on the Saturday if the wedding
be to conclude on the eve of Monday), at about the hour of noon,
or a little later, the bride goes in state to the bath. The pro-
cession to the bath is called “ Zeff'et el—Hammam.” It is headed
by a party of musicians with a hautboy or two, and drums of
different kinds. Frequently, as I have mentioned in a former
chapter, some person avails himself of this opportunity to parade
his young son previously to circumcision; the child and his
attendants, in this case, follow next after the musicians, in the
manner already described. Sometimes at the head of the bride’s
party are two men who carry the utensils and linenused in the
bath, upon two round trays, each of which is covered with an '
embroidered or a plain silk kerchief ; also a sakka, who gives
water to any of the passengers, if asked 3 and two other persons,
one of whom bears a “ kumkum,” or bottle, of plain or gilt silver,
or of china, containing rose water or orange-ﬂower water, which
he occasionally sprinkles on the passengers—and the other a
“mibkhar’ah ” (or perfuming vessel) of silver, with aloes—wood, or
some other odoriferous substance, burning in it: but it is seldom
that the procession is thus attended. In general, the ﬁrst per-
sons among the bride’s party are several of her married female
relations and friends, walking in pairs; and next, a number of
young virgins. The former are dressed in the usual manner,
covered with the black silk habarah; the latter have white silk
habarahs, or shawls. Then follows the bride, walking under a
canopy of silk of some gay colour, as pink, rose colour, or yellow,
or of two colours composing wide stripes, often rose colour and
yellow. It is carried by four men, by means of a pole at each
corner, and is open only in front ,- and at the top of each of the
four poles is attached an embroidered handkerchief. The dress
of the bride during this procession entirely conceals her person.
She is generally covered from head to foot with a red Kashmeer
shawl, or with a white or yellow shawl, though rarely. Upon her
head is placed a small pasteboard cap or crown. The shawl is
placed over this, and conceals from the View of the public the
richer articles of her dress, her face,.and her jewels, etc., excepting
one or two “ kussahs ” (and sometimes other ornaments), generally
of diamonds and emeralds, attached to that part of the shawl

(440) 12

1 78 DOMESTIC LIFE.

which covers her forehead. She is accompanied by two or three
of her female relations within the canopy ; and often, when in hot
weather, a Woman, walking backwards before her, is constantly
employed in fanning her with a large fan of black ostrich-feathers,
the lower part of the front of which is usually ornamented with
a piece of looking—glass. Sometimes one zeffeh, with a single
canopy, serves for two brides, who walk side by side. The pro-
cession moves very slowly, and generally pursues a circuitous route,
for the sake of greater display. On leaving the house it turns to
the right. It is closed by a second party of musicians, similar to
the ﬁrst, or by two or three drummers.

In the bridal processions of the lower orders, which are often
conducted in the same manner as that above described, the women
of the party frequently utter at intervals those shrill cries of joy
called zaghareet which. I have before had occasion to mention ;
and females of the poorer classes, when merely spectators of a
zeffeh, often do the same.

The whole bath is sometimes hired for the bride and her party
exclusively. They pass several hours, or seldom less than two,
occupied in washing, sporting, and feasting ,' and frequently
“’A/l’mehs” (or female singers) are hired to amuse them in the
bath. They then return in the same order in which they came.
The expense of the zeﬁeh falls on the relations of the bride, but
the feast is supplied by the bridegroom.

Having returned from the bath to the house of her family, the
bride and her companions sup together. If ’A'l’mehs have con-
tributed to the festivity in the bath, they also return with the
bride to renew their concert. Their songs are always on the
subject of love, and of the joyous event which occasions their
presence. After the company have been thus entertained, a large
quantity of henna having been prepared, mixed into a paste, the
bride takes a lump of it in her hand, and receives contributions
(called “nukoot”) from her guests. Each of them sticks a coin
(usually of gold) in the henna which she holds upon her hand ,-
and when the lump is closely stuck with these coins, she scrapes
it off her hand upon the edge of a basin of water. Having col-
lected in this manner from all her guests, some more henna is
applied to her hands and feet, which are then bound with pieces

DOMESTIC LIFE. 179

of linen; and in this state they remain until the next morning,
when they are found to be sufﬁciently dyed with its deep orange-
red tint. Her guests make use of the remainder of the dye for
their own hands. This night is called “Leylet el-Henna,” or
“the Night of the Henna.”

It is 011 this night, and sometimes also during the latter half
of the preceding day, that the bridegroom gives his chief enter-
tainment. “Mohabbazeen” (or low farce-players) often perform
on this occasion before the house, or if it be large enough, in the
court. The other and more common performances by which the
guests are amused have been before mentioned.

On the following day the bride goes in procession to the house
of the bridegroom. The procession before described is called “the
zeﬂeh of the bath,” to distinguish it from this, which is the more
important, and which is therefore particularly called “Zeﬂ‘et el—
’Arooseh,” or “the Zeffeh of the Bride.” In some cases, to dimin-
ish the expenses of the marriage ceremonies, the bride is conducted
privately to the bath, and only honoured with a zeffeh t0 the
bridegroom’s house. This procession is exactly similar to the
former. The bride and her party, after breakfasting together,
generally set out a little after mid-day. They proceed in the
same order, and at the same slow pace, as in the zeffeh of the
bath 3 and, if the house of the bridegroom be near, they follow a
circuitous route, through several principal streets, for the sake of
display. The ceremony usually occupies three or more hours.

Sometimes before bridal processions of this kind, two swords—
men, clad in nothing but their drawers, engage each other in a
mock combat ,' or two peasants cudgel each other with nebboots,
or long staves. In the procession of a bride of a wealthy family,
any person who has the art of performing some extraordinary feat
to amuse the spectators is almost sure of being a welcome assist-
ant, and of receiving a handsome present.13 \Vhen the seyyid
’Omar, the Nakeeb el—Ashraf (or chief of the descendants of the
Prophet), who was the main instrument of advancing Blohammad
’Alee to the dignity of Basha of Egypt, married a daughter, about
twenty‘seven years since, there walked before the procession a
young man who had made an incision in his abdomen, and drawn
out a large portion of his intestines, which he carried before him

180 DOMESTIC LIFE.

on a silver tray. After the procession he restored them to their
proper place, and remained in bed many days before he recovered
from the effects of this foolish and disgusting act. Another man,
on the same occasion, ran a sword through his arm, before the
crowding spectators, and then bound over the wound, without
Withdrawing the sword, several handkerchiefs, which were soaked
with the blood. These facts were described to me by an eye-
witness. A spectacle of a more singular and more disgusting
nature used to be not uncommon on similar occasions, but is now
very seldom witnessed. Sometimes, also, “hawees” (or conjurers
and sleight-of-hand performers) exhibit a variety of tricks on these
occasions. But the most common of all the performances here
mentioned are the mock ﬁghts. Similar exhibitions are also some-
times witnessed on the occasion of a circumcision.

The bride and her party having arrived at the bridegroom’s
house, sit down to a repast. Her friends shortly after take their
departure, leaving with, her only her mother and sister, or other
near female relations, and one or two other women, usually the
bellaneh. The ensuing night is called “Leylet ed—Dukhleh,” or
“the Night of the Entrance.”

The bridegroom sits below. Before sunset he goes to the bath,
and there changes his clothes ; or he merely does the latter at
home, and, after having supped with a party of his friends, waits
till a little before the “’eshé” (or time of the night-prayer), or
until the third or fourth hour of the night, when, according to
general custom, he should repair to some celebrated mosque, such
as that of the Hasaneyn, and there say his prayers. If young, he
is generally honoured with a zeffeh on this occasion. He goes to
the mosque preceded by musicians with drums and one or more
hauthoys, and accompanied by a number of friends, and by several
men bearing “ mesh’als.” The mesh’al is a staff with a cylindrical
frame of iron at the top ﬁlled with ﬂaming wood, or having two,
three, four, or ﬁve of these receptacles for ﬁre. The party usually
proceeds to the mosque with a quick pace, and without much
order. A second group of musicians, with the same instruments,
or with drums only, closes the procession. The bridegroom is
generally dressed in a kuftan with red stripes, and a red gibbeh,
with a Kashmeer shawl of the same colour for his turban 3 and

DOMESTIC LIFE. 181 ‘

walks between two friends similarly dressed. The prayers are
commonly performed merely as a matter of ceremony 3 and it is
frequently the case that the bridegroom does not pray at all, or
prays without having previously performed the wudoo, like Mem-
looks, who say their prayers only because they fear their master.
The procession returns from the mosque with more order and dis-
play, and very slowly ; perhaps because it would be considered
unbecoming in the bridegroom to hasten home to take possession
of his bride. It is headed, as before, by musicians, and two or
more bearers of mesh’als. These are generally followed by two
men, bearing, by means of a pole resting horizontally upon their
shoulders, a hanging frame, to which are attached about sixty or
more small lamps, in four circles, one above another, the upper
most of which circles is made to revolve, being turned round
occasionally by one of the two bearers. These numerous lamps,
and several mesh’als besides those before mentioned, brilliantly
illumine the streets through which the procession passes, and
produce a remarkably picturesque effect. The bridegroom and
his friends and other attendants follow, advancing in the form of
an oblong ring, all facing the interior of the ring, and each bear-
ing in his hand one or more wax-candles, and sometimes a sprig
of henna or some other ﬂower, excepting the bridegroom and the
friend on either side of him. These three form the latter part of
the ring, which generally consists of twenty or more persons. At
frequent intervals the party stops for a few minutes, and during
each of these pauses a boy or man, one of the persons who com-
pose the ring, sings a few words of an epithalamium. The sounds
of the drums and the shrill notes of the hautboy (which the bride
hears half-an-hour or more before the procession arrives at the
house) cease during these songs. The train is closed, as in the
former case, by a second group of musicians.

In the manner above described the bridegroom’s zeffeh is most
commonly conducted ,' but there is another mode that is more
respectable, called “zeffeh Sadatee,” which signiﬁes “the gentle-
men’s zeffeh.” In this the bridegroom is accompanied by his
friends in the same manner as before related, and attended and
preceded by men bearing mesh’als, but -not by musicians. In the
place of these are about six or eight men, who, from their being

182 DOAIESTIC LIFE.

employed as singers on occasions of this kind, are called “wilad
el-l'alyalee,” or “sons of the nights.” Thus attended he goes to
the mosque ; and while he returns slowly thence to his house, the
singers above mentioned chant, or rather sing, “muweshshahs”
(or lyric odes) in praise of the Prophet. Having returned to the
house, these same persons chant portions of the Kur-an, one after
another, for the amusement of the guests , then all together recite
the opening chapter (the Fat’hah) ; after which one of them sings
a “ kaseedeh ” (or short poem) in praise of the Prophet ; lastly, all
of them again sing muweshshahs. And having thus performed,
they receive nukoot (or contributions of money) from the bride—
groom and his friends.

Soon after his return from the mosque, the bridegroom leaves
his friends in a lower apartment, enjoying their pipes and coffee
and sherbet. The bride’s mother and sister, or whatever other
female relations were left with her, are above; and the bride her-
self, and the bellaneh, in a separate apartment. If the bride-
groom be a youth or young man, it is considered proper that he,
as well as the bride, should exhibit some degree of bashfulness.
One of his friends, therefore, carries him a part of the way up to
the hareem. On entering the bride’s apartment he gives a present
to the bellaneh, and she retires. The bride has a shawl thrown
over her head; and the bridegroom must give her a present of
money, which is called “the price of the uncovering of the face,”
before he attempts to remove this, which she does not allow him
to do without some apparent reluctance, if not Violent resistance,
in order to show her maiden modesty. On removing the covering,
he says, “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,”
and then greets her with this'compliment, “ The night be blessed,”
or “is blessed ; ” to which she replies, if timidity do not choke her
utterance,.“ God bless thee.” The bridegroom now sees the face
of his bride for the ﬁrst time, and generally ﬁnds her nearly what
he has been led to expect. He remains with her but a few min—
utes longer. Having satisﬁed his curiosity respecting her personal
charms, he calls to the women (who generally collect at the door,
Where they wait in anxious suspense) to raise their cries of joy, or
zaghareet ; and the shrill sounds acquaint the persons below and
in the neighbourhood, and often, responded by other women, spread

DOMESTIC LIFE. ' 18 3

still further the news that he has acknowledged himself. satisﬁed
with his bride. He soon afterwards descends to rejoin his friends,
and remains with them an hour or more before he returns to his
wife. It very seldom happens that the husband, if disappointed
in his bride, immediately disgraces and divorces her; in general
he retains her, in this case, a week or more.

Having now described the most usual manner in which the
marriages of virgin-brides are conducted in Cairo, I may add a
few words on some of the ceremonies observed in other cases of
matrimony, both of virgins and of widows or divorced women.

The daughters of the great generally having baths in their own
houses, seldom go to the public bath previously to marriage. A
bride of a wealthy family, and her female relations and friends, if
there be not a bath in her house, go to the public bath, which is
hired for them exclusively, and to the bridegroom’s house, without
music or canopy, mounted on asses ; the bride herself generally
wearing a Kashmeer shawl, in the manner of a habarah.

If the bridegroom or the bride’s family have eunuchs, these
ride before the bride; and sometimes a man runs at the head of
the procession, crying, “Bless ye the Prophet!” This man, on
entering the house, throws down upon the threshold some leaves
of the white beet (“ salk ”), over which the ladies ride. The object
of this act is to propitiate fortune. The same man then exclaims,
“Assistance from God, and a speedy victory I ’7

Marriages among the Egyptians are sometimes conducted with—
out any pomp or ceremony, even in the case of virgins, by mutual
consent of the bridegroom and the bride’s family, or the bride
herself ; and widows and divorced women are never honoured
with a zeffeh on marrying again. The mere sentence, “I give
myself up to thee,” uttered by a female to a man who proposes to
become her husband (even without the presence of witnesses. if
none can easily be procured), renders her his legal wife, if arrived
at puberty; and marriages with widows and divorced women,
among the Muslims of Egypt and other Arabs, are sometimes
concluded in this simple manner. The dowry of such women is
generally one quarter or third or half the amount of that of a
Virgin.

In Cairo, among persons not of the lowest order, though in

 

I84 DOMESTIC LIFE.

very humble life, the marriage ceremonies are conducted in the
same manner as among the middle orders. But when the expenses
of such zeffehs as I have described cannot by any means be paid,
the bride is paraded in a very simple manner, covered with a
shawl (generally red), and surrounded by a group of her female
relations and friends, dressed in their best, or in borrowed clothes,
and enlivened by no other sounds of joy than their zaghareet,
which they repeat at frequent intervals.

The general mode of zeﬁ’eh among the inhabitants of the vil-
lages is different from those above described. The bride, usually
covered with a shawl, is seated on a camel, and s0 conveyed to the
bridegroom’s dwelling. Sometimes four or ﬁve women or girls
sit with her on the same camel, one on either side of her, and two
or three others behindmthe seat being made very wide, and usually
covered with carpets or other drapery. She is followed by a group
of women singing. In the evening of the wedding, and often
during several previous evenings, in a village, the male and female
friends of the two parties meet at the bridegroom’s house, and
pass several hours of the night in the open air, amusing themselves
with songs and a rude kind of dance, accompanied by the sounds
of a tambourine or some kind of drum. Both sexes sing, but only
the women dance. I have introduced here these few words on
the marriage ceremonies of the peasantry to avoid scattering notes
on subjects of the same nature. I now revert to the customs of
the people of Cairo.

On the morning after the marriage, “khawals” ‘or “ghazee—
yehs ” (dancing men or girls) perform in the street before the bride-
groom’s house, or in the court. On the same morning also, if the
bridegroom be a young man, the person who carried him upstairs
generally takes him and several friends to an entertainment in
the country, where they spend the whole day. This ceremony is
called “el—huroobeh,” or the ﬂight. Sometimes the bridegroom
himself makes the arrangements for it, and pays part of the
expenses, if they exceed the amount of the contributions of his
friends; for they give nukoot on this occasion. Musicians and
dancing-girls are often hired to attend the entertainment. If the
bridegroom be a person of the lower orders, he is conducted back
in procession, preceded by three or four musicians with drums and

 

DOMESTIC iJFE. 185

hautboys, his friends and other attendants carrying each a nose-
gay, as in the zeﬂ'eh of the preceding night 5 and if their return be
after sunset, they are accompanied by men bearing mesh’als, lamps,
etc., and the friends of the bridegroom carry lighted wax-candles
besides the nosegays.14 Subsequent festivities occasioned by mar-
riage will be described in a later chapter.

The husband, if he can conveniently so arrange, generally pre-
fers that his mother should reside with him and his wife, that she
may protect his wife’s honour, and consequently his own also. It
is said that the mother-in-law is, for this reason, called “hamah.”
The women of Egypt are said to be generally prone to criminal
intrigues, and I fear that in this respect they are not unjustly
accused. Sometimes a husband keeps his wife in the house of her
mother, and pays the daily expenses of both. This ought to make
the mother very careful with regard to expenditure, and strict as
to her daughter’s conduct, lest the latter should be divorced ; but
it is said that in this case she often acts as her daughter’s procur-
ess, and teaches her innumerable tricks by which to gain the upper
hand over her husband, and to drain his purse. The inﬂuence of
the wife’s mother is also scarcely less feared when she only enjoys
occasional opportunities of seeing her daughter. Hence it is held
more prudent for a man to marry a female who has neither mother
nor any near relations of her own sex ; and some wives are even
prohibited receiving any female friends but those who are relations
of the husband. They are very few, however, upon whom such
severe restrictions are imposed.

For a person who has become familiar with male Muslim
society in Cairo, without marrying, it is not so difﬁcult as might
be imagined by a stranger to obtain, directly and indirectly, correct\
and ample information respecting the condition and habits of the l,
women. Many husbands of the middle classes, and some of the _‘
higher orders, freely talk of the affairs of the hareem with one
Who professes to agree with them in their general moral senti-
ments, if they have not to converse through the medium of an :
interpreter.

Though the women have a particular portion of the house
allotted to them, the wives in general are not to be regarded as
prisoners ; for they are usually at liberty to go out and pay visits,

186 ' ’ DOMESTIC LIFE.

as well as to receive female visitors, almost as often as they please.
The slaves, indeed, being subservient to the wives as well as to
their master, or, if subject to the master only, being under an
authority almost unlimited, have not that liberty. One of the
chief objects of the master in appropriating a distinct suite of
apartments to his women, is to prevent their being seen by the
male domestics and other men without being covered in the man—
ner prescribed by their religion. The following words of the
Kur-an show the necessity under which a Muslim’eh is placed of
concealing whatever is attractive in her person or attire from all
men, excepting certain relations and some other persons 2—“ And
speak unto the believing women, that they restrain their eyes,
and preserve their modesty, and discover not their ornaments,
except what [necessarily] appeareth thereof. And let them throw
their veils over their bosoms, and not show their ornaments, un-
less to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbands’ fathers,
or their sons, or their husbands’ sons, or their brothers, or their
brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their women, or those
[captives] which their right hands shall possess, or unto such men
as attend [them] and have no need of [women], or unto children,”
“and let them not make a noise with their feet, that their orna-
ments which they hide may [thereby] be discovered.” The last
passage alludes to the practice of knocking together the anklets
which the Arab women in the time of the Prophet used to wear,
and which are still worn by many women in Egypt.

I must here transcribe two notes of eminent commentators on
the Kur—an, in illustration of the above extract, and inserted in
Sale’s translation. This I do because they would convey an
erroneous idea of modern customs with regard to the admission
or non-admission of certain persons into the —hareem. The ﬁrst is
on the above words, “or their women,” which it thus explains 2——
“That is, such as are of the Mohammadan religion ; it being
reckoned by some unlawful, or at least indecent, for a woman
who is a true believer to uncover herself before one who is an
inﬁdel, because the latter will hardly refrain from describing her
to the men. But others suppose all women in general are here
accepted, for in this particular doctors differ.” In Egypt, and
I believe in every other Muslim country, it is not now considered

 

 

 

FEMALE VISITORS.

Pay! [86.

 

DOMESTIC LIFE. _ 187

improper for any woman, whether independent, or a servant, or a
slave, a Christian, a J ewess, a Muslim’eh, or a pagan, to enter a
Muslim’s hareem. The second of the notes above alluded to is on
the words “or those captives,” and is as follows :—“Slaves of
either sex are included in this exception, and, as some think,
domestic servants who are not slaves, as those of a different
nation. It is related that Mohammad once made a present of a
man-slave to his daughter Fatimeh ; and when he brought him to
her, she had on a garment which was so scanty that she was
Obliged to leave either her head or her feet uncovered; and that
the Prophet, seeing her in great confusion on that account, told
her she need be under no concern, for that there was none present
but her father and her slave.” Among the Arabs of the desert
this may still be the case 3 but in Egypt I have never heard of an
instance of an adult male slave being allowed to see the hareem of
a respectable man, whether he belonged to that hareem or not,
and am assured that it is never permitted. Perhaps the reason
why the man-slave of a woman is allowed this privilege by the
Kur—an is, because she cannot become his lawful wife as long as
he continues her slave. But this is a poor reason for granting
him access to the hareem in such a state of society. It is re-
markable that in the verse of the Kur—an above quoted uncles are
not mentioned as privileged to see their nieces unveiled. Some
think that they are not admissible, and for this reason, lest they
should describe the persons of their nieces to their sons ; for it is
regarded as highly improper for a man to describe the features or
person of a female (as to say that she has large eyes, a straight
nose, small mouth, etc.) to one of his own sex by whom it is un—
lawful for her to be seen, though it is not considered indecorous
to describe her in general terms, as, for instance, to say, “She is
a sweet girl, and set off with kohl and henna. ”

It may be mentioned here, as a general rule, that a man is
allowed to see unveiled only his own wives and female slaves,
and those females whom he is prohibited by law from marrying,
on account of their being within certain degrees of consanguinity
or family connection, or having given him suck, or being nearly
related to his foster—mother. The high antiquity of the veil has
been alluded to in the ﬁrst chapter of this work. It has also been

188 DOMESTIC LIFE

mentioned that it is considered more necessary in Egypt for a
woman to cover the upper and back part of her head than her
face, and more requisite for her to conceal her face than most
other parts of her person. For instance, a female who cannot be
persuaded to unveil her face in the presence of men, will think it
but little shame to display the whole of her bosom or the greater
part of her leg. There are, it is true, many women among the
lower classes in this country who constantly appear in public with
unveiled face ; but they are almost constrained to do so by the
want of a burko’ (or face-veil), and the difﬁculty of adjusting the
tarhah (or head-veil), of which scarcely any woman is destitute, so
as to supply the place of the former—particularly when both their
hands are occupied in holding some burden which they are carry-
ing upon the head. When a respectable woman is, by any chance,
seen with her head or face uncovered. by a. man who is not en-
titled to enjoy that privilege, she quickly assumes or adjusts her
tarhah, and often exclaims, “Oh my misfortune!” or “Oh my
sorrow!” Motives of coquetry, however, frequently induce an
Egyptian woman to expose her face before a man when she thinks
that she may appear to do so unintentionally, or that she may be
supposed not to see him. A man may also occasionally enjoy
opportunities of seeing the face of an Egyptian lady when she
really thinks herself unobserved; sometimes at an open lattice,
and sometimes on a house—top. Many small houses in Cairo
have no apartment on the ground-ﬂoor for the reception of male
visitors, who therefore ascend to an upper room ; but as they go
upstairs they exclaim several times, “ Destoor I” (“ Permission l”),
or “ Ya Sétir ! ” (“ O Protector 1” that is, “ O protecting God ! ”),
or use some similar ejaculation, in order to warn any woman who
may happen to be in the way to retire or to veil herself ; which
she does by drawing a part of her tarhah before her face, so as to
leave, at most, only one eye visible. To such an absurd pitch do
the Muslims carry their feelingugfthe sacredness of women, that
entrance into the tombs of\s—oriie females “is de’ﬁieﬂfi't'ommen:as, for
instance, the tombs of the Prophet’s wives and other females of
his family, in the burial-ground of El-Medeeneh, into which
women are freely admitted—and a man and woman they never
bury in the same vault, unless a wall separate the bodies. Yet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DOMESTIC LIFE. 189

there are among the Egyptians a few persons who are much less
particular in this respect ; such is one of my Muslim friends here,
who generally allows me to see his mother when I call upon him.
She is a widow, of about ﬁfty years of_ age 3 but being very fat,
and not looking so old, she calls herself forty. She usually comes
to the door of the apartment of the hareem in which I am re-
ceived (there being no lower apartment in the house for male
visitors), and sits there upon the ﬂoor, but will never enter the
room. Occasionally, and as if by accident, she shows me the
whole of her face, with plenty of kohl round her eyes; and does
not attempt to conceal her diamonds, emeralds, and other orna-
ments, but rather the reverse. The wife, however, I am never
permitted to see, though once T was allowed to talk to her, in the
presence of her husband, round the corner of a passage at the top
of the stairs.

I believe that in Egypt the women are generally under less
restraint than in any other country of the Turkish Empire 3 so that
it is not uncommon to see females of the lower orders ﬂirting and
jesting with men in public, and men laying their hands upon them
very freely. Still, it might be imagined that the women of the
higher and middle classes feel themselves severely oppressed, and
are much discontented with the state of seclusion to which they
are subjected; but this is not commonly the case. On the con-
trary, an Egyptian wife who 1s attached to her husband is apt to
think, if he allows her unusual liberty, that he neglects her, and
does not sufﬁciently love her, and to envy those wives who are
kept and watched with greater strietness.

It is not very common for an Egyptian to have more than
one wife, or a concubine-slave, though the law allows him four
wives (as I have before stated), and, according to common opinion,
as many concubine—slaves as he may choose. But though a man
restrict himself to a single wife, he may change as often as he
desires; and there are certainly not many persons in Cairo who
have not divorced one wife, if they have been long married.
The husband may, whenever ‘he pleases, say to his wife, “Thou
art divorced,” if it be his wish, whether reasonable or not. she
must return to her parents or friends. This liability to an un-
merited divorcement is the source of more uneasiness to many

190 DOMESTIC LIFE.

wives than all the other troubles to which they are exposed, as
they may thereby be reduced to a state of great destitution; but
to others, who hope to better their condition, it'is, of course,
exactly the reverse. I have mentioned, in a former chapter, that
a man may divorce his wife twice, and each time receive her again
without any ceremony ; but that he cannot legally take her again
after a third divorce until she has been married and divorced by
another man. The consequences of a triple divorce conveyed in
one sentence are the same, unless the man and his wife agree to
infringe the law, or the former deny his having pronounced the
sentence; in which latter case the woman may have much difﬁ-
culty to enforce his compliance with the law, if she be inclined
to do so.

In illustration of this subject, I may mention a case in which '
an acquaintance of mine was concerned as a witness of the sen-
tence of divorce. He was sitting in a coffee-shop with two other
men, one of whom had just been irritated by something that his
wife had said or done. - After a short conversation upon this affair,
the angry husband sent for his wife, and as soon as she came
said to her, “ Thou art trebly divorced 3 ” then addressing his two
companions, he added, “You, my brothers, are witnesses.”
Shortly after, however, he repented of this act, and wished to
take back his divorced wife 3 but she refused to return to him, and
appealed to the “Shara Allah ” (or Law of God). The case was
tried at the Mahkem’eh. The woman, who was the plaintiff,
stated that the defendant was her husband 5 that he had pronounced
against her the sentence of a triple divorce 5 and that he now
wished her to return to him, and live with him as his wife, con-
trary to the law, and consequently in a state of sin. The defendant
denied that he had divorced her. “Have you witnesses?” said
the judge to the plaintiff. She answered, “I have here two wit-
nesses.” These were the men who were present in the coffee-shop
when the sentence of divorce was pronounced. They were desired
to give their evidence, and they stated that the defendant divorced
his wife by a triple sentence in their presence. The defendant
averred that she whom he had divorced in the coffee—shop was
another wife of his. The plaintiff declared that he had no other
wife; but the judge observed to her that it was impossible she

 

DOMESTIC LIFE. 191

could know that, and asked the witnesses what was the name of
the woman whom the defendant divorced in their presence.
They answered that they were ignorant of her name. They were
then asked if they could swear that the plaintiﬁ' was the woman
who was divorced before them. Their reply was that they could
not swear to a woman whom they had never seen unveiled.
Under these circumstances, the judge thought it advisable to dis-
miss the ease, and the woman was obliged to return to her hus-
band. She might have demanded that he should produce the
woman whom he professed to have divorced in the coffee—shop;
but he would easily have found a woman to play the part he re-
quired, as it would not have been necessary for her to show a
marriage certiﬁcate—marriages being almost always performed in
Egypt without any written contract, and sometimes even without
witnesses.

It not unfrequently happens that when a man who has divorced
his wife the third time wishes to take her again (she herself con~
senting to their reunion, and there being no witnesses to the
sentence of divorce), he does so without conforming with the
offensive law before mentioned. It is also a common custom for
a man under similar circumstances to employ a person to marry
the divorced woman on the condition of his resigning her, the '
day after their union, to him, her former husband, whose wife she
again becomes, by a second contract 3 though this is plainly
contrary to the spirit of the law. The wife, however, can with-
hold her consent, unless she is not of age; in which case her
father, or other lawful guardian, may marry her to whom he
pleases. A poor man (generally a very ugly person, and often
one who is blind) is usually chosen to perform this ofﬁce. He is
termed a “Mustahall,” or “Mustahill,” or a “Mohallil.” It is
often the case that the man thus employed is so pleased with the
beauty of the woman to whom he is introduced on these terms, or
with her riches, that he refuses to give her up , and the law can-
not compel him to divorce her, unless he act unjustly towards her
as her husband, which of course he takes good care not to do.
But a person may employ a mustahall without running this risk.
It is the custom of many wealthy Turks, and of some of the people
of Egypt, to make use of a slave, generally a black, their own

192 DOMESTIC LIFE.

property, to oﬂ‘iciate in this character. Sometimes a slave is
purchased for this purpose , or, if the person who requires him for
such a service be acquainted with a slave-dealer, he asks from the
latter a present of a slave, signifying that he will give him back
again. The uglier the slave the better. The Turks generally
choose one not arrived at puberty, which the tenets of their sect
allow. As soon as the woman has accomplished her “’edde ”
(or the period during which she is obliged to wait before she can
marry again), the husband who divorced her, having previously
obtained her consent to what he is about to do, introduces the
slave to her, and asks her if she will be married to him. She
replies that she Will. She is accordingly wedded to the slave, in
the presence of witnesses, and a dowry is given to her, to make
the marriage perfectly legal. The slave consummates the mar
riage, and thus becomes the woman’s legitimate husband. Im-
mediately after, or on the following morning, her former husband
presents this slave to her as her own property, and the moment
that she accepts him her marriage with him becomes dissolved;
for it is unlawful for a woman to be the wife of her own slave,
though she may emancipate a slave and then marry him. As
soon as her marriage is dissolved by her accepting the gift of the
slave, she may give back this slave to her husband; but it seldom
happens that the latter will allow a person who has been a musta-
hall for him to remain in his house. The wife, after this proceed-
ing, may, as soon as she has again accomplished her ’eddeh, become
reunited to her former husband, after having been separated from
him, by the necessity of her fulﬁlling two ’eddehs, about half a
year, or perhaps more.

That the facility of divorce has depraving effects upon both
sexes may be easily imagined. There are many men in this
country Who in the course of ten years have married as many as
twenty, thirty, or more wives ; and women not far advanced in
age who have been Wives to a dozen or more men successively.
I have heard of men who have been in the habit of marrying a
new wife almost every month. A person may do this although
possessed of very little property. He may choose, from among the
females of the lower orders in the streets of Cairo, a handsome
young widow or divorced woman who will consent to become his

DOMESTIC LIFE. 193

wife for a dowry of about ten shillings 5 and when he divorces her,
he need not give her more than double that sum to maintain her
during her ensuing ’eddeh. It is but just, however, to add that
such conduct is generally regarded as very disgraceful, and that
few parents in the middle or higher classes will give a daughter in
marriage to a man who has divorced many wives.

Polygamy, which is also attended with very injurious effects
upon the morals of the husband and the wives, and only to be
defended because it serves to prevent a'greater immorality than it
occasions, is more rare among the higher and middle classes than
it is among the lower orders, and it is not very common among
the latter. A poor man may indulge himself with two or more
wives, each of whom may be able, by some art or occupation,
nearly to provide her own subsistence ; but most persons of the
middle and higher orders are deterred from doing so by the con-
sideration of the expense and discomfort which they would incur.
A man having a wife who has the misfortune to be barren, and
being too much attached to her to divorce her, is sometimes
induced to take a second wife, merely in the hope of obtaining
offspring; and from the same motive he may take a third and
a fourth; but ﬁckle passion is the most evident and common
motive both to polygamy and repeated divorces. They are com-
paratively very few who gratify this passion by the former prac-
tice. I believe that not more than one husband among twenty
has two wives.

When there are two or more wives belonging to one man, the
ﬁrst (that is, the one ﬁrst married) generally enjoys the highest
rank, and is called “the great lady.” Hence it often happens
that when a man who has already one wife wishes to marry
another girl or woman, the father of the latter, or the female
herself who is sought in marriage, will not consent to the union
unless the ﬁrst wife he previously divorced. The women, of
course, do not approve of a man’s marrying more than one wife.
Most men of wealth, or of moderate circumstances, and even
many men of the lower orders, if they have two or more Wives,
have for each a separate house. The wife has, or can oblige her
husband to give her, a particular description of lodging, which is
either a separate house, or a suite of apartments (consisting of a

(440) 13

I 94 . DOMESTIC LIFE.

room in which to sleep and pass the day, a kitchen, and a latrina)
that are, or may be made, separate and shut out from any other
apartments in the same house. A fellow-wife is called “ durrah.”
The quarrels of durrahs are often talked of ; for it may be
naturally inferred that when two wives share the affection and
attentions of the same man, they are not always on terms of amity
with each other; and the same is generally the case with a wife
and a concubine-slave living in the same house and under similar
circumstances. If the chief lady be barren, and an inferior,
either wife or slave, bear a child to her husband or master, it
commonly results that the latter woman becomes a favourite of
the man, and that the chief wife or mistress is “despised in her
eyes,” as Abraham’s wife was in the eyes of Hagar on the same
account. It therefore not very unfrequently happens that the
ﬁrst wife loses her rank and privileges ; another becomes the chief
lady, and, being the favourite of her husband, is treated by her
rival or rivals, and by all the members and visitors of the hareem,
with the same degree of outward respect which the ﬁrst wife
previously enjoyed ,' but sometimes the poisoned cup is employed
to remove her. A preference given to a second wife is often the
cause of the ﬁrst’s being registered as “nashizeh,” either on her
husband’s or her own application at the Mahkem’eh. Yet many
instances are known of neglected wives behaving with exemplary
and unfeigned submission to their husband in such cases, and with
amiable good-nature towards the favourite.15

Some wives have female slaves who are their own property,
generally purchased for them, or presented to them, before
marriage. These cannot be the husband’s concubines Without
their mistress’s permission, which is sometimes granted (as it was
in the case of Hagar, Sarah’s bondwoman), but very seldom.
Often the wife will not even allow her female slave or slaves to
appear unveiled in the presence of her husband. Should such a
slave, without the permission of her mistress, become the con-
cubine of the husband and bear him a child, the child is a slave,
unless, prior to its birth, the mother be sold or presented to the
father.

The white female slaves are mostly in the possession of wealthy
Turks. The concubine-slaves in the houses of Egyptians of the .

DOMESTIC LIFE. 19 5

higher and middle classes are generally Abyssinians, of a deep
brown or bronze complexion. In their features, as well as their
complexions, they appear an intermediate race between the ne-
groes and white people; but the difference between them and
either of the above-mentioned races is considerable. They them-
selves, however, think that they diﬂ'er so little from the white
people, that they cannot be persuaded to act as servants, with
due obedience, to their masters’ wives ; and the black (or negro)
slave-girl feels exactly in the same manner towards the Abyssinian,
but is perfectly willing to serve the white ladies. I should here
mention that the slaves who are termed Abyssinians are not
from the country properly called Abyssinia, but from the neigh-
bouring territories of the Gallas. Most of them are handsome.
The average price of one of these girls is from ten to ﬁfteen
pounds sterling, if moderately handsome; but this is only about
half the sum that used to be given for one a few years ago.
They are much esteemed by the voluptuaries of Egypt, but are
of delicate constitution. Many of them die in this country of
consumption. The price of a white slave-girl is usually from treble
to tenfold that of an Abyssinian; and the price of a black girl
about half or two-thirds, or considerably more if well instructed in
the art of cookery. The black slaves are generally employed as
menials.

Almost all of the slaves become converts to the faith of E1-
Islam; but in general they are little instructed in the rites of
their new religion, and still less in its doctrines. Most of the
white female slaves who were in Egypt during my former visit
to this country were Greeks; vast numbers of that unfortunate
people having been made prisoners by the Turkish and Egyptian
army under Ibraheem Basha, and many of them, males and
females, including even infants scarcely able to walk, sent to
Egypt to be sold. Latterly, from the impoverishment of the
higher classes in 'this country, the demand for white slaves has
been small. A few, some of whom undergo a kind of preparatory
education (being instructed in music or other accomplishments
at Constantinople), are brought from Circassia and Georgia.
The white slaves being often the only female companions, and
sometimes the wives, of the Turkish ,grandees, and being gener-

196 DOMESTIC LIFE.

ally preferred by them before the free ladies of Egypt, hold a
higher rank than the latter in common opinion. They are
richly dressed, presented 'With valuable ornaments, indulged
frequently with almost every luxury that can be procured, and,
when it is not their lot to wait upon others, may in some cases
be happy ; as lately has been proved, since the termination of the
war in Greece, by many females of that country, captives in
Egyptian hareems, refusing their offered liberty, which all of
these cannot be supposed to have done from ignorance of the
state of their parents and other relations, or the fear of exposing
themselves to poverty. But though some of them are un-
doubtedly happy, at least for a time, their number is compara-
tively small: most are fated to wait upon more favoured fellow-
prisoners, or upon Turkish ladies, or to receive the unwelcome
caresses of a wealthy dotard, or of a man who has impaired his
body and mind by excesses of every kind; and, when their
master or mistress becomes tired of them, or dies, are sold
again (if they have not borne children), or emancipated, and
married to some person in humble life, who can afford them but
few of the comforts to which they have been accustomed. The
female slaves in the houses of persons of the middle classes in
Egypt are generally more comfortably circumstanced than those
in the hareems of the wealthy: if concubines, they are, in most
cases, without rivals to disturb their peace ,- and if menials, their
service is light, and they are under less restraint. Often, indeed,
if mutual attachment subsist between her and her master, the
situation of a concubine-slave is more fortunate than that of a
wife ; for the latter may be cast off by her husband in a moment
of anger by an irrevocable sentence of divorce, and reduced to a
state of poverty, whereas a man very seldom dismisses a female
slave without providing for her in such a manner that, if she have
not been used to luxuries, she suffers but little, if at all, by the
change; this he generally does by emancipating her, giving her a
dowry, and marrying her to some person of honest reputation, or
by presenting her to a friend. I have already mentioned that a
master cannot sell nor give away a slave who has borne him a
child, if he acknowledge it to be his own, and that she is entitled
to her freedom on his death. It often happens that such a slave,

DOMESTIC Him. 197

immediately after the birth‘ of her child, is emancipated, and
becomes her master’s wife; when she has become free, she can
no longer lawfully supply the place of a wife unless he marry her.
Many persons consider it disgraceful even to sell a female slave
who has been long in their service. Most of the Abyssinian
and black slave-girls are abominably corrupted by the Gellabs,
or slave-traders, of Upper Eg pt and Nubia, by whom they are
brought from their native countries. There are very few of the
age of eight or nine years who have not suffered brutal violence ;
and so severely do these children, particularly the Abyssinians,
and boys as well as girls, feel the treatment which they endure
from the Gellabs, that many instances occur of their drowning
themselves during the voyage down the Nile. The female slaves
of every class are somewhat dearer than the males of the same age.
Those who have not had the small—pox are usually sold for less
than the others. Three days’ trial is generally allowed to the pur-
chaser, during which time the girl remains in his or some friend’s
hareem, and the women make their report to him. Snoring, grind-
ing the teeth, or talking during sleep, are commonly considered
sufﬁcient reasons for returning her to the dealer. The dresses of
the female slaves are similar to those of the Egyptian women.

The female servants who are Egyptian girls or women are those
to Whom the lowest occupations are allotted. They generally veil
their faces in the presence of their masters with the head-veil, draw-
ing a part of this before the face, so that they leave only one eye
and one hand at liberty to see and perform what they have to do.
When a male visitor is received by the master of a house in an
apartment of the hareem (the females of the family having been
sent into another apartment on the occasion), he is usually, or
often, waited upon by a female servant, who is always veiled.

Such are the relative conditions of the various classes in the
hareem. A short account of their usual habits and employments
must be added.

The wives, as well as the female slaves, are not only often
debarred from the privilege of eating with the master of the
family, but also required to wait upon him when he dines or sups,
or even takes his pipe and coffee in the hareem. They frequently
serve him as menials : ﬁll and light his pipe, make coffee for him,

198 DOMESTIC LIFE.

and prepare his food, or at least certain dainty dishes. And if I
might judge from my own experience, I should say that most of
them are excellent cooks ; for when a dish has been recommended
to me because made by the wife of my host, I have generally found
it especially good. The wives of men of the higher and middle
classes make a great study of pleasing and fascinating their
husbands by unremitted attentions, and by various arts. Their
coquetry is exhibited, even in their ordinary gait when they go
abroad, by a peculiar twisting of the body. In the presence of
the husband they are usually under more or less restraint, and
hence they are better pleased when his visits during the day are
not very frequent or long. In his absence they often indulge in
noisy merriment.

The diet of the women is similar to that of the men, but more
frugal; and their manner of eating is the same. Many of them
are allowed to enjoy the luxury of smoking ; for this habit is not
considered unbecoming in a female, however high her rank—the
odour of the ﬁner kinds of the tobacco used in Egypt being very
delicate. Their pipes are generally more slender than those of
the men, and more ornamented ; and the mouth-piece is some-
times partly composed of coral, in the place of amber. They
generally make use of perfumes, such as musk, civet, etc, and
often also of cosmetics, and particularly of several preparations
which they eat or drink with the View of acquiring What they .
esteem a proper degree of plumpness : one of these preparations is
extremely disgusting, being chieﬂy composed of mashed beetles.
Many of them also have a habit of chewing frankincense and
labdanum, which impart a perfume to the breath. The habit of
frequent ablutions renders them cleanly in person. They spend
but little time in the operations of the toilet; and, after having
dressed themselves in the morning, seldom change their clothes
during the day. Their hair is generally braided in the bath, and
not undone afterwards for several days.

The care of their children is the primary occupation of the
ladies of Egypt; they are also charged with the superintendence
of domestic affairs, but in most families the husband alone at-
tends to the household expenses. Their leisure hours are mostly
spent in working with the needle, particularly in embroidering

 

 

DOMESTIC LIFE. 201

handkerchiefs, head-veils, etc., upon a frame called “ menseg,”
with coloured silks and gold. Many women, even in_ the houses
of the wealthy, replenish their private purses by ornamenting
handkerchiefs and other things in this manner, and employing a
“dellaleh” (or female broker) to take them to the market, or to
other hareems, for sale. The visit of one hareem to another often
occupies nearly a whole day. Eating, smoking, drinking coffee
and sherbet, gossiping, and displaying their ﬁnery, are suﬂicient
amusements to the company. On such occasions, the master of
the house is never allowed to enter the hareem, unless on some
particular and unavoidable business; and in this case he must
give notice of his approach, and let the visitors have sufﬁcient
time to veil themselves, or to retire to an adjoining room. Being
thus under no fear of his sudden intrusion, and being naturally of
a lively and an unreserved disposition, they indulge in easy gaiety,
and not unfrequently in youthful frolic. When their usual sub-
jects of conversation are exhausted, sometimes one of the party
entertains the rest with the recital of some wonderful or facetious
tale. The Egyptian ladies are very seldom instructed either in
music or dancing, but they take great delight in the performances
of professional musicians and public dancers, and often amuse
themselves and their guests, in the absence of better performers
and better instruments, by beating the “ darabukkeh ” (which is a
kind of drum) and the “tar” (or tambourine), though seldom in
houses so situated that many passengers might hear the sounds
of festivity. On the occasion of any great rejoicing among the
women (such as takes place on account of the birth of a son, or
the celebration of a circumcision or a wedding, etc), “ ’A’l’mehs”
(or professional female singers) are often introduced ; but not for
the mere amusement of the women, on common occasions, in any
respectable family, for this would be considered indecorous. Theij
“ Ghazeeyehs ” (or public dancing-girls), who exhibit in the streets ‘
with unveiled faces, are very seldom admitted into a hareem ; but
on such occasions as those above mentioned, they often perform in
front of the house or in the court, though by many persons even
this is not deemed strictly proper. The “A’latees” (or male
musicians) are never hired exclusively for the amusement of the
women, but chieﬂy for that of the men: they always perform in

l

202 DOMESTIC LIFE.

the assembly of the latter. Their concert, however, is distinctly
heard by the inmates of the hareem.

When the women of the higher or middle classes go out to
pay a visit, or for any other purpose, they generally ride upon

 

EGYPTIAN LADY RIDING.

asses. They sit astride upon a very high and broad saddle,
which is covered with a small carpet; and each is attended by
a man on one or on each side. Generally all the women of a
hareem ride out together, one behind another. Mounted as above

DOMESTZC LIFE. 203

described, they present a very singular appearance. Being raised
so high above the back of the “ homar ’alee ” (or the “ high ass ”—
for so the animal which they ride, furnished with the high saddle,
is commonly called), they seem very insecurely seated,- but I be-
lieve this is not really the case: the ass is well girthed and
sure-footed, and proceeds with a slow, ambling pace, and very
easy motion. The ladies of the highest rank, as well as those of
the middling classes, ride asses thus equipped: they are very
seldom seen upon mules or horses. The asses are generally hired.
When a lady cannot procure a homar ’alee, she rides one of the
asses equipped for the use of the men, but has a “seggadeh ” (or
prayer-carpet) placed over its saddle ; and the inferior members of
the hareem, and females of the middle orders, often do the same.
Ladies never walk abroad unless they have to go but a very short
distance. They have a slow and shufﬂing gait, owing to the difﬁ—
culty of retaining the slippers upon their feet gxand in walking
they always hold the front edges of the habarah in the manner
represented in the engraving in page 61 of this volume. Whether
walking or riding, they are regarded with much respect in public 3
no well—bred man stares at them, but rather directs his eyes an-
other way. They are never seen abroad at night, if not compelled
to go out or return at that time by some pressing and extraor-
dinary necessity: it is their usual rule to return from paying a
visit before sunset. The ladies of the higher orders never go to a
shop, but send for whatever they want 3 and there are numerous
dellalehs who have access to the hareems, and bring all kinds
of ornaments, articles of female apparel, etc., for sale. Nor do
these ladies, in general, visit the public bath, unless invited to
accompany thither some of their friends ,' for most of them have
baths in their own houses.

CHAPTER VII.
DOMESTIC LIFE—(CONTINUED).

THE domestic life of the lower orders will be the subject of the
present chapter. In most respects it is so simple, that in com-

204 DOMESTIC LIFE.

parison with the life of the middle and higher classes, of which we
have just been taking a view, it offers but little to our notice.

The lower orders in Egypt, with the exception of a very small
proportion, chieﬂy residing in the large towns, consist of Fellaheen
(or Agriculturists). Most of those in the great towns, and a few
in the smaller towns and some of the villages, are petty trades-
men or artiﬁcers, or obtain their livelihood as servants, or by
various labours. In all cases their earnings are very small——
barely sufﬁcient, in general, and sometimes insufﬁcient, to supply
them and their families with the cheapest necessaries of life.

Their food chieﬂy consists of bread (made of millet or of maize),
milk, new cheese, eggs, small salted ﬁsh, cucumbers and melons
and gourds of a great variety of kinds, onions and leeks, beans,
chick-peas, lupins, the fruit of the black egg-plant, lentils, etc.,
dates (both fresh and dried), and pickles. Most of the vegetables
they eat in a crude state. When the maize (or Indian corn) is
nearly ripe, many ears of it are plucked, and toasted or baked,
and eaten thus by the peasants Rice is too dear to be an article
of common food for the fellaheen, and ﬂesh-meat they very sel-
dom taste. There is one luxury, however, which most of them
enjoy, and that is smoking the cheap tobacco of their country,
merely dried and broken up. It is of a pale, greenish colour
when dried, and of a mild ﬂavour. Though all the articles of
food mentioned above are extremely cheap, there are many poor
persons who often have nothing with which to season their coarse
bread but the mixture called dukkah, described in a former
chapter. It is surprising to observe how simple and poor is the
diet of the Egyptian peasantry, and yet how robust and healthy
most of them are, and how severe is the labour which they can
undergo.

The women of the lower orders seldom pass a life of inactivity.
Some of them are even condemned to greater drudgery than the
men. Their chief occupations are the preparing of the husband’s
food, fetching water (which they carry in a large vessel on the
head), spinning cotton, linen, or woollen yarn, and making the
fuel called “gelleh,” which is composed of the dung of cattle,
kneaded with chopped straw, and formed into round ﬂat cakes:
these they stick upon the walls or roofs of their houses, or upon

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHILDREN DRIVING BIRDS FROM GRAIN.

Page 20;.

 

DOMESTIC LIFE. 205

the ground, to dry in the sun, and then use for heating their
ovens, and for other purposes. They are in a state of much
greater subjection to their husbands than is the case among the
superior classes. Not always is a poor woman allowed to eat
with her husband. When she goes out with him, she generally
walks behind him ; and if there be anything for either of them to
carry, it is usually borne by the wife, unless it be merely a pipe or
a stick. Some women in the towns keep shops, and sell bread,
vegetables, etc, and thus contribute as much as their husbands, or
even more than the latter, to the support of their families. When
a poor Egyptian is desirous of marrying, the chief object of his
consideration is the dowry, which is usually from about twenty
riyals (or nine shillings) to four times that amount, if consist-
ing only of money; and rather less if, as is the case throughout
a great part of Egypt, it comprise certain articles of clothing.
If he can afford to give the dowry, he seldom hesitates to marry ;
for a little additional exertion will enable him to support a wife
and two or three children. At the age of ﬁve or six years, the
children become of use to tend the ﬂocks and herds ; and at a
more advanced age, until they marry, they assist their fathers in
the operations of agriculture. The poor in Egypt have often to
depend entirely upon their sons for support in their old age ; but
many persons are deprived of these aids, and consequently re-
duced to beggary, or almost to starvation. A few months ago,
the Basha, during his voyage from Alexandria to this city (Cairo),
happening to land at a village on the bank of the Nile, a poor
man of the place ran up to him, and grasped his sleeve so tightly
that the surrounding attendants could not make him quit his
hold: he complained that, although he had been once in very
comfortable circumstances, he had been reduced to utter destitu-
tion by having his sons taken from him in his old age as recruits
for the army. The Basha (who generally pays attention to per-
sonal applications) relieved him, but it was by ordering that the
richest man in the village should give him a cow.

A young family, however, is sometimes an insupportable burden
to poor parents. Hence it is not a very rare occurrence in Egypt
for children to be publicly carried about for sale, by their mothers
or by women employed by the fathers ; but this very seldom

206 DOMESTIC LIFE.

happens, except in cases of great distress. When a mother dies,
leaving one or more children unweaned, and the father and other
surviving relations are so poor as not to be able to procure a
nurse, this singular mode of disposing of the child or children is
often resorted to g or sometimes an infant is laid at the door of a
mosque, generally when the congregation is assembled to perform
the noon prayers of Friday; and in this case it usually happens
that some member of the congregation, on coming out of the
mosque, and seeing the poor foundling, is moved with pity, and
takes it home to rear in his family, not as a slave, but as an
adopted child; or if not, it is taken under the care of some per-
son until an adoptive father or mother be found for it. A short
time ago, a woman offered for sale, to the mistress of a family
with whom a friend of mine is acquainted in this city, a child a
few days old, which she professed to have found at the door of a
mosque. The lady said that she would take the child, to rear it
for the sake of God, and in the hope that her own child, an only
one, might be spared to her as a reward for her charity, and
handed to the woman Who brought the infant ten piasters (then
equivalent to a little more than two shillings) ; but the offered re-
muneration was rejected. This shows that infants are sometimes
made mere objects of traﬂic ; and some persons who purchase
them may make them their slaves, and sell them again. I have
been informed by a slave-dealer (and his assertion has been con-
ﬁrmed to me by other persons) that young Egyptian girls are
sometimes sold as slaves from other countries, either by a parent
or by some other relation. The slave-dealer here alluded to said
that several such girls had been committed to him for sale, and
by their own consent. They were taught to expect rich dresses
and great luxuries, and were instructed to say that they had
been brought from their own country when only three or four years
of age, and that they consequently were ignorant of their native
language, and could speak only Arabic.

It often happens, too, that a fellah, in a state of great poverty,
is induced, by the offer of a sum of money, to place his son in a
situation far worse than that of ordinary slavery. When a certain
number of recruits are required from a village, the sheykh of the
village often adopts the plan that gives him the least trouble to

- DOMESTIC LIFE. 207

obtain them, which is, to take the sons of those persons who are
possessed of most property. Under such circumstances, a father,
rather than part with his son, generally offers, to one of his poorer
fellow-villagers, a sum equivalent to one or two pounds sterling, to
procure a son of the latter as a substitute for his owu ; and usually
succeeds, though the love of offspring prevails among the Egyp-
tians as much as ﬁlial piety, and most parents have a great horror
of parting with their children, particularlyif taken for recruits, as
is proved by the means to which they have recourse for the pre-
vention of such an occurrence. There is now (in 1834) seldom to
be found, in any of the villages, an able-bodied youth or young
man who has not had one or more of his teeth broken out (that
he may not be able to bite a cartridge), or a ﬁnger cut off, or an
eye pulled out or blinded, to prevent his being taken for a recruit.
01d women and others make a regular trade of going about from
village to village, to perform these operations upon the boys ; and
the parents themselves are sometimes the operators. But from
what has been said before, it appears that it is not always affection
alone that prompts the parents to have recourse to such expedi-
ents to prevent their being deprived of their children.

The Fellaheen of Egypt cannot be justly represented in a very
favourable light with regard to their domestic and social condition
and manners. In the worst points of View they resemble their
Bedawee ancestors, without possessing many of the virtues of the
inhabitants of the desert, unless in an inferior degree; and the
customs which they have inherited from their forefathers often
have a very baneful effect upon their domestic state. It has be-
fore been mentioned that they are descended from various Arab
tribes who have settled in Egypt at different periods, and that
the distinction of tribes is still preserved by the inhabitants of the
villages throughout this country. In the course of years, the de-
scendants of each tribe of settlers have become divided into numer-
ous branches, and these minor tribes have distinct appellations,
which have also often been given to the village or villages or dis-
trict which they inhabit. Those who have been longest estab-
lished in Egypt have retained less of Bedawee manners, and have
more infringed the purity of their race by intermarriages with
Copt proselytes to the Muslim faith, or with the descendants of

208 DOMESTIC LIFE.

such persons; hence they are often despised by the tribes more
lately settled in this country, who frequently, in contempt, term
the former “Fellaheen,” while they arrogate to themselves the
appellation of “ Arabs” or “Bedawees.” The latter, whenever
they please, take the daughters of the former in marriage, but
will not give their own daughters in return; and if one of them
be killed by a person of the inferior tribe, they kill two, three, or
even four, in blood-revenge. The prevalence of the barbarous
Bedawee law of blood-revenge among the inhabitants of the vil-
lages of Egypt has been mentioned in a former chapter : the homi-
cide, or any person descended from him, or from his great—grand-
father’s father, is killed by any of such relations of the person
whom he has slain 3 and when the homicide happens to be of one
tribe and the person killed of another, often a petty war breaks
forth between these two tribes, and is sometimes continued, or
occasionally renewed, during a period of several years. The same
is also frequently the result of a triﬂing injury committed by a
member of one tribe upon a person of another. In many in-
stances the blood~revenge is taken a century or more after the
commission of the act which has occasioned it, when the feud
for that time has lain dormant, and perhaps is remembered by
scarcely more than one individual. Two tribes in Lower Egypt,
which are called “Saad” and “Haram,” are most notorious for
these petty wars and feuds, and hence their names are commonly
applied to any two persons or parties at enmity with each other.
It is astonishing that in the present day such acts (which, if
committed in a town or city in Egypt, would be punished by the
death of perhaps more than one of the persons concerned) should
be allowed. Some other particulars respecting blood-revenge and
its consequences have been stated in the chapter above alluded to.
The avenging of blood is allowed by the Kur-an, but moderation
and justice are enjoined in its execution; and the petty wars
which it so often occasions in the present age are in opposition to.
a precept of the Prophet, who said, “If two Muslims contend
with their swords, the slayer and the slain will be in the ﬁre [of
hell].”

The Fellaheen of Egypt resemble the Bedawees in other re-
spects. When a Fellahah is found to have been unfaithful to her

COMMON USAGES 0F SOCIETY. 209‘

husband, in general he or her brother throws her into the Nile,
with a stone tied to her neck; or cuts her in pieces, and then
throws her remains into the river. In most instances, also, a
father or brother punishes in the same manner an unmarried
daughter or sister who has been guilty of incontinence. These
relations are considered as more disgraced than the husband by
the crime of the woman, and are often despised if they do not
thus punish her.

CHAPTER VIII.
COMMON USAGES OF SOCIETY.

THE respect in which trade is held by the Muslim greatly tends to
enlarge the circle of his acquaintance with persons of different
ranks 3 and freedom of intercourse with his fellow-men is further
and very greatly promoted by the law of the separation of the
sexes, as it enables him to associate with others, regardless of
difference of wealth or station, without the risk of occasioning
unequal matrimonial connections. The women, like the men,
enjoy extensive intercourse with persons of their own sex.

The Muslims are extremely formal and regular in their social
manners, though generally very easy in their demeanour and free
in their conversation. Several of their most common usages are
founded upon precepts of their religion, and distinguish them in
society from all other people. Among these is their custom of
greeting each other with the salutation of “Peace be on you I”
to which the proper and general reply is, “ On you be peace, and
the mercy of God, and his blessings!” This salutation is never
to be addressed by a Muslim to a person whom he knows to be
of another religion, nor vice versa. The giving it by one Muslim
to another is a duty, but one that may be omitted without sin.
The returning it is absolutely obligatory. The former is a “ sun-
neh” ordinance, and the latter “fard.” Should a Muslim, how-
ever, thus salute by mistake a person not of the same faith, the
latter should not return it; and the former, on discovering his
mistake, generally revokes his salutation: so also he sometimes
does if a Muslim refuse to return his salutation, usually say--

(440) 14

210 COMMON USAGES 0F SOCIETY:

ing, “Peace be on us, and on [all] the righteous worshippers
of God.”

The chief rules respecting salutation, as dictated by the Prophet,
and generally observed by modern Muslims, are as follow :—The
person riding should ﬁrst salute him who is on foot; and he who
passes by, the person or persons who are sitting down or standing
still ; and a small party, or one of such a party, should give the
salutation to a large party ; and the young to the aged. As it is
sufﬁcient for one party to give, so is it also for one only to return,
the salutation. It is required, too, that a Muslim, when he enters
a house, should salute the people of that house ,2 and that he should
do the same when he leaves it. He should always salute ﬁrst,
and then talk. But to the above rules there are some exceptions.
For instance, in a crowded city, it is not necessary (indeed it
is hardly possible) to salute many of those whom one may pass,
nor on a road where one meets numerous passengers. Yet it is
usual for a wealthy or well-dressed person, or a venerable sheykh,
or any person of distinction, to salute another who appears to be
a man of rank, wealth, or learning, even in a crowded street.
Among polite people, it is customary for him who gives or returns
the salutation to place his right hand upon his breast at the same
time, or to touch his lips, and then his forehead, or turban, with
the same hand. This action is called “teymeeneh.” The latter
mode of teymeeneh, which is the more respectful, is often per-
formed to a person of superior rank, not only at ﬁrst, with the
selam (or salutation of “Peace be on you l”), but also frequently
during a conversation, and in the latter case without the selam.

A person of the lower orders, on approaching a superior, par-
ticularly if the latter be a Turk, does not always give the selam,
but only performs this teymeeneh, and he shows his respect to a
man of high rank by bending down his hand to the ground, and
then putting it to his lips and forehead, without pronouncing the
selam. It is a common custom, also, for a man to kiss the hand
of a superior (generally on the back only, but sometimes on the
back and front), and then to put it to his forehead, in order to
pay him particular respect. But in most cases the latter does not
allow this, and only touches the hand that is extended towards
his ; the other person then merely puts his own hand to his lips

COMMON USAGES 0F SOCIETY: 21:

and forehead. To testify abject submission, in craving pardon for
an offence, or interceding for another person, or begging any favour
of a superior, not unfrequently the feet are kissed instead of the
hand. The son kisses the hand of the father, the wife that of
her husband, and the slave, and often the free servant, that of
the master. The slaves and servants of a grandee kiss their lord’s
sleeve, or the skirt of his clothing.

When particular friends salute each other, they join their right
hands, and then each kisses his own hand, or puts it to his lips
and forehead, or raises it to his forehead only, or merely places
it on his breast, without kissing it; if after a long absence, and
on some other occasions, they embrace each other, each falling
upon the other’s neck, and kissing him on the right side of the
face or neck, and then on the left. Another mode of salutation
is very commonly practised among the lower orders, when two
friends or acquaintances meet after a journey: joining their
right hands, each of them compliments the other on his safety, and
expresses his wishes for his welfare by repeating alternately, many
times, the words “Selamat” and “Teiyibeen” (“I congratulate
you on your safety ; ” and “I hope you are well”). In commenc-
ing this ceremony, which is often continued for nearly a minute
before they proceed to make any particular inquiries, they join
their hands in the same manner as is usually practised by us ; and
at each alternation of the two expressions above mentioned, they
change the position of the hands. In repeating the second word,
each of the two persons turns his ﬁngers over the thumb of the
other; and in repeating the ﬁrst word again, the former position
is resumed.

In polite society various other formal salutations and com-
pliments follow the selam. To most of these there are particular
replies, or two or more different forms of reply may be used in
some cases ; but to return any that custom has not prescribed
would be considered as a proof of ignorance or vulgarity. When
a person asks his friend, “How is your health?” the latter replies,
“Praise be to God ! ” and it is only by the tone of voice in which
he makes this answer that the inquirer can infer whether he be
well or ill. When one greets the other with “Teiyibeen,” the
usual reply is, “God bless thee,” or “God preserve thee.” A

212 COMMON USAGES OF SOCIETY.

friend or acquaintance, on meeting another whom he has not seen
for several days, or for a longer period, generally says, after the
selam, “Thou hast made us desolate [by thy absence from us] ,”
and is usually answered, “May God not make [us] desolate by
thy absence.” The ordinary set compliments in use in Egyptian
society are so numerous, that a dozen pages of this work would
not sufﬁce for the mention of those which may be heard almost
every day.

When a person goes to the house of another, to pay a visit, or
for any other purpose, he never enters unawares, for this is ex-
pressly forbidden by the Kur-an ; and particularly if he have to
ascend to an upper apartment, in which case he should call out
for permission, or announce his approach, as he goes upstairs, in
the manner which I have had occasion to describe in a former
chapter. Should he ﬁnd no person below, he generally claps his
hands at the door, or in the court, and waits for a servant to
come down to him, or for permission to be given him to seat him-
self in a lower apartment, or to ascend to an upper room. On
entering the room in which the master of the house is seated, he
gives the selam. The master returns the salutation, and welcomes
the visitor with courteousness and aﬁ'ability. To his superiors,
and generally to his equals, he rises. Persons more or less above
him in rank he proceeds to meet in the court, or between the
court and the room, or at the entrance of the room, or in the
middle of the room, or a step from the place where he was sitting.
But often, to equals, he merely makes a slight motion, as if about
to rise ; and to most inferiors he remains undisturbed. To his
superiors, and often to his equals, he yields the most honourable
place, which is a corner of the deewan. It is that corner which is
to the right of a person facing the upper end of the room. This
end of the room is called the “sadr ;” and the whole of the seat
which extends along it is more honourable than those which
extend along the sides, each of which is called “gemb.” Visi—
tors inferior in rank to the master of the house never seat
themselves at the upper end, unless invited to do so by him ; and
when so invited, they often decline the offered honour. His' equals
sit at their ease, cross-legged, or with one knee raised, and recline
against the cushions. His inferiors (ﬁrst, at least) often sit upon

COMMON USAGES OF SOCIETY. 213

their heels, or take their place upon the edge of the deewan, or,
if very much beneath him in grade, seat themselves upon the mat
or carpet. In strict etiquette, the visitor should not at ﬁrst
suffer his hands to appear, when entering the room, or when
seated, but should let the sleeves fall over them ; and when he has
taken his place on the deewan, he should not stretch out his legs,
nor even allow his feet to be seen But these rules are not often
attended to, excepting in the houses of the great. Various formal
compliments and salutations are given and returned after the
selam, and some of them, particularly the expressions of “teiyi-
been ” and “ eysh hal’kum,” are repeated several times during the
same interview.

Sometimes the visitor’s own servant attends him with his pipe.
The former takes his tobacco-purse out of his bosom, and gives it
to the servant, who folds it up and returns it after having ﬁlled
the pipe, or after the termination of the visit. Otherwise, a serv-
ant of the host brings a pipe for the visitor, and one for his mas-
ter. And next a cup of coffee is presented to each ; for “ tobacco
without coffee,” say the Arabs, “is like meat without salt.” On
receiving the pipe and the coffee, the visitor salutes the master of
the house with the teymeeneh, which the latter returns 3 and~the
same is done on returning the cup to the servant. The master of
the house also salutes his guest in the same manner, if the latter
be not much beneath him in rank, on receiving and returning his
own cup of coffee. Servants often remain in the room during the
whole period of a visit, stationed at the lower end, in a respectful
attitude, with their hands joined (the left within the right), and
held before the girdle. The usual mode of summoning a servant
or other attendant who is not present is by clapping the hands,
striking the palm of the left hand with the ﬁngers of the right.
The windows being of open lattice-work, the sound is heard
throughout the house. The subjects of conversation are generally
the news of the day, the state of trade, the prices of provisions,
and sometimes religion and science. Facetious stories are often
related, and very frequently persons in the best society tell tales
and quote proverbs of the most indecent nature. In good society
people seldom talk of each other’s hareems , but intimate friends,
and many persons who do not strictly observe the rules of good

214. COMMON USAGES OF SOCIETY.

breeding, very often do so, and in a manner not always delicate.
Genteel people inquire respecting each other’s “ houses,” to ascer-
tain whether their wives and families are well. Visits not un-
frequently occupy several hours, and sometimes (especially those
of hareems) nearly a whole day. The pipes are replenished, or
replaced by others, as often as is necessary; for however long a
visitor may stay, he generally continues smoking during the whole
time; and sometimes coffee is brought again, or sherbet. The
manner in Which the coffee and sherbet are served has been before
described. A person receives the same compliment after drinking
a glass of sherbet as after taking a draught of water, and replies
to it in the same manner.

In the houses of the rich it used to be a common custom to
sprinkle the guest, before he rose to take his leave, with rose-
water or orange-ﬂower—water, and to perfume him with the smoke
of some odoriferous substance ; but of late years this practice has
become unfrequent. The scent-bottle, which is called “ kumkum,”
is of plain or gilt silver, or ﬁne brass, or china, or glass, and has
a cover pierced with a small hole. The perfuming-vessel, or
“mibkhar’ah,” is generally of one or the other of the metals
above mentioned. The receptacle for the burning charcoal is
lined, or half-ﬁlled, with gypsum-plaster, and its cover is pierced
with apertures for the emission of the smoke. The mibkhar’ah is
used last. It is presented by a servant to the visitor or master,
who wafts the smoke towards his face, beard, etc, with his right
hand. Sometimes it is opened, to emit the smoke more freely.
The substance most commonly used in the mibkhar ah is aloes—
wood, or benzoin, or cascarilla- bark. The wood is moistened be-
fore it is placed upon the burning coals. Ambergris is also used
for the same purpose, but very rarely, and only in the houses of
persons of great wealth, as it is extremely costly. As soon as
the visitor has been perfumed, he takes his leave 3 but he should
not depart without previously asking permission to do so, and
then giving the selam, which is returned to him, and paying other
set compliments, to which there are appropriate replies. If he be a
person of much higher rank than the master of the house, the latter
not only rises, but also accompanies him to the top of the stairs, or
to the door of the room. and then commends him to the care of God.

COMMON USAGES OF SOCIETY. 215

It is usual for a person, after paying a visit of ceremony, and
On some other occasions, previously to his leaving the house, to
give a small present (two or three piasters, or more, according to
circumstances) to one, or to several, of the servants. And if his
horse or mule or ass be waiting for him at the door, or in the
court, one of the servants goes with him to adjust his dress when
he mounts. This oﬁicious person particularly expects a present.
\Vhen money is thus given to a man’s servants, it is considered
incumbent upon their master to do exactly the same when he re—
turns the visit. , ,

Friends very often send presents to each other, merely for the
sake of complying with common custom. When a person' cele-
brates any private festivity, he generally receives presents from
most of his friends ,- and it is a universal rule that he should
repay the donor by a similar gift, or one of the same value, on a
similar occasion. It is common for the receiver of a present, on
such an event, even to express to the giver his hope that he may
have to repay it on the occasion of a like festivity. An acknow-
ledgment accompanied by such an allusion to the acquitment of
the obligation imposed by the gift, which would be offensive to a
generous European, is, in this country, esteemed polite. The
present is generally wrapped in an embroidered handkerchief,
which is returned, with a triﬂing pecuniary gratiﬁcation, to the
bearer. Fruit, laid upon leaves, and sweetmeats and other
dainties, placed in a dish or on a tray, and covered with a rich
handkerchief or napkin, are common presents. Very frequently
a present is given by a person to a superior with a view of obtain-
ing something more valuable in return. This is often done by a
servant to his master 3 and the gift is seldom refused, but often
paid for immediately in money more than equivalent. It is
generally with the expectation above mentioned that an Arab
gives a present to a European. The custom of giving money to
the servants of a friend, after paying him a visit, is not now so
common as it was a few years since; but it is still observed by
most persons on the occasion of a visit of ceremony, and particu-
larly on the two ’eeds, or religious festivals, and by the guests at
private festivities. Other customs of a similar nature which are
observed at these festivities will be described in a subsequent

216 COMMON USAGES OF SOCIETY.

chapter. To decline the acceptance of a present generally gives
offence, and is considered as reflecting disgrace upon the person
who has offered it.

There are many formal usages which are observed in Egypt,
not merely on the occasions of ceremonious Visits, or in the com-
pany of strangers, or at the casual meetings of friends, but also in
the ordinary intercourse of familiar acquaintances. When a man
happens to sneeze, he says, “Praise be to God 1” Each person
present (servants generally excepted) then says to him, “ God have
mercy on you!” to which the former generally replies, “God
guide us and guide you !” or he returns the compliment in words
of a similar purport. Should he yawn, he puts the back of his
left hand to his mouth, and then says, “I seek refuge with God
from Satan the accursed l” but he is not complimented on this
act, as it is one which should rather be avoided, for it is believed
that the devil is in the habit of leaping into a gaping mouth. For
a breach of good manners, it is more common to ask the pardon of
God than that of the present company, by saying, “I beg pardon
of God, the Great!” When a man has just been shaved or been
to the bath, when he has just performed the ablution preparatory
to prayer, when he has been saying his prayers or doing any other
meritorious act, when he has just risen from sleep, when he has
purchased or put on any new article of dress, and on many other
occasions, there are particular compliments to be paid to him, and
particular replies for him to make.

It is a rule with the Muslims to honour the right hand and
foot above the left ,' to use the right hand for all honourable pur~
poses, and the left for actions which, though necessary, are un-
clean, to put on and take off the right shoe before the left, and
to put the right foot ﬁrst over the threshold of a door.

The Egyptians are extremely courteous to each other, and
have a peculiar grace and dignity in their manner of salutation
and their general demeanour, combined with easiness of address,
which seem natural to them, being observable even in the peasants.
The middle and higher classes of townspeople pride themselves
upon their politeness and elegance of manners, and their wit and
ﬂuency of speech, and with some justice,- but they are not less
free in their conversation than their less accomplished fellow-

LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AZVD SCIENCE. 217

countrymen. Aﬂ‘ability is a general characteristic of the Egyptians
of all classes. It is common for strangers, even in a shop, after
mutual salutation, to enter into conversation with each other with
as much freedom as if they were old acquaintances, and for one
who has a pipe to offer it to another who has none 3 and it is not
unusual, nor is it generally considered unpolite, for persons in a
ﬁrst, casual meeting to ask each other’s names, professions or
trades, and places of abode. Lasting acquaintances are often
formed on such occasions. In the middle and higher ranks of
Egyptian society, it is very seldom that a man is heard to say
anything offensive to the feelings of another in his company 3 and
the most proﬂigate never venture to utter an expression meant
to cast ridicule upon sincere religion. Most persons, however, in
every class, are otherwise more or less licentious in their conver-
sation, and extremely fond of joking. They are generally very
lively and dramatic in their talk, but scarcely ever noisy in their
mirth. They seldom indulge in loud laughter, expressing their
enjoyment of anything ludicrous by a smile or an exclamation.

CHAPTER IX.
LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE.

THE metropolis of Egypt maintains the comparative reputation by
which it has been distinguished for many centuries, of being the
best school of Arabic literature and of Muslim theology and
jurisprudence. Learning, indeed, has much declined among the
Arabs universally, but least in Cairo; consequently the fame of
the professors of this city still remains unrivalled, and its great
collegiate mosque, the Azhar, continues to attract innumerable
students from every quarter of the Muslim world.

The Arabic spoken by the middle and higher classes in Cairo
. is generally inferior, in point of grammatical correctness and pro—
nunciation, to the dialects of the Bedawees of Arabia, and of the
inhabitants of the towns in their immediate vicinity, but much
to be preferred to those of Syria, and still more to those of the
Western Arabs. The most remarkable peculiarities in the pro-

218 LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE.

nupciation of the people of Egypt are the following :—The ﬁfth
letter of the alphabet is pronounced by the natives of Cairo, and
throughout the greater part of Egypt, as g in give; while in most
parts of Arabia, and in Syria and other countries, it receives the
sound of j in joy : but it is worthy of remark that in a part of
southern Arabia, where, it is said, Arabic was ﬁrst spoken, the
former sound is given to this letter. In those parts of Egypt
where this pronunciation of the ﬁfth letter prevails, the sound
of “hemzeh” (which is produced by a sudden emission of the
voice after a total, suppression) is given to the twenty-ﬁrst letter,
excepting by the better instructed, who give to this letter its true
sound, which I represent by “k.” In other parts of Egypt, the
pronunciation of the ﬁfth letter is the same as that of j in joy, or
nearly so 5 and the twenty-ﬁrst letter is pronounced as g in give.
By all the Egyptians, in common with most other people who
speak the Arabic language, the third and fourth letters of the
alphabet are pronounced alike, as our 25; and the eighth and
ninth, as our d. Of the peculiarities in the structure of the
Egyptian dialect of Arabic, the most remarkable are, the annexa-
tion of. the letter “ sheen” in negative phrases, in the same man-
ner as the word “pas ” is used in French; as “ma yerdash,” for
“ ma yerda” (he will not consent); “ma hoosh teiyib,” vulgarly,
“mosh teiyib,” for “ma huwa teiyib” (it is not good): the
placing the demonstrative pronoun after the word to which it
relates; as “el-beyt dé ” (this house): and a frequent unneces-
sary use of the diminutive form in adjectives ; as “ sugheiyir,” for
“sagheer” (small) ; “kureiyib,” for “kareeb ” (near).

There is not so much difference between the literary and
vulgar dialects of Arabic as some European Orientalists have
supposed: the latter may be described as the ancient dialect sim-
plified, principally by the omission of the ﬁnal vowels and other
terminations which distinguish the different cases of nouns and
some of the persons of verbs. Nor is there so great a difference
between the dialects of Arabic spoken in different countries as
some persons, who have not held intercourse with the inhabitants
of such countries, have imagined: they resemble each other more
than the dialects of some of the different counties in England.
The Arabic language abounds with synonyms; and, of a number

5‘3?

LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE. 219

of words which are synonymous, one is in common use in one
country, and another elsewhere. Thus, the Egyptian calls milk
“leben;” the Syrian calls it “haleebz” the word “leben” is
used’in Syria to denote a particular preparation of sour milk.
Again, bread is called in Egypt “’eysh,” and in other Arab
countries “khubz ;” and many examples of a similar kind might
be adduced. The pronunciation of Egypt has more softness than
that of Syria and most other countries in which Arabic is spoken.

The literature of the Arabs is very comprehensive, but the
number of their books is more remarkable than the variety. The
relative number of the books which treat of religion and juris-
prudence may be stated to be about one-fourth; next in number
are works on grammar, rhetoric, and various branches of philology ;
the third in the scale of proportion are those on history (chieﬂy
that of the Arab nation), and on geography ; the fourth, poetical
compositions. Works on medicine, chemistry, the mathematics,
algebra, and various other sciences, etc., are comparatively very
few.

There are in Cairo many large libraries, most of which are
attached to mosques, and consist, for the greater part, of works on
theology and jurisprudence, and philology. Several rich mer-
chants, and others, have also good libraries. The booksellers
of Cairo are, I am informed, only eight in number, and their
shops are but ill stocked. Whenever a valuable book comes
into the possession of one of these persons, he goes round with
it to his regular customers, and is almost sure of ﬁnding a pur-
chaser. The leaves of the books are seldom sewed together, but
they are usually enclosed in a cover bound with leather, and
mostly have, also, an outer case of pasteboard and leather. Five
sheets, or double leaves, are commonly placed together, one within
another, composing what is called a “karras.” The leaves are
thus arranged in small parcelsL without being sewed, in order that
one book may be of use to a number of persons at the same time,
each taking a karras. The books are laid ﬂat, one upon another,
and the name is written upon the front of the outer case, or upon
the edge of the leaves. The paper is thick and glazed: it is
mostly imported from Venice, and glazed in Egypt. The ink is
very thick and gummy. Reeds are used instead of pens, and

220 LANGUAGE, ZITERATURE, AND SCIENCE.

they suit the Arabic character much better. The Arab, in
writing, places the paper upon his knee, or upon the palm of his
left hand, or upon what is called a “misned'eh,” composed of a
dozen or more pieces of paper attached together at the four
corners, and resembling a thin book, which he rests on his knee.
His ink and pens are contained in a receptacle called “ dawaye ,”
mentioned in the ﬁrst chapter of this work, together with the pen-
knife and an ivory instrument (“ mikattah ”) upon which the pen
is laid to be nibbed. He rules his paper by laying under it a
piece of pasteboard with strings strained and glued across it
(called a “mistar’ah”), and slightly pressing it 0Ver each string.
Scissors are included among the apparatus of a writer ; they are
used for cutting the paper, a torn edge being considered as un-
becoming. In Cairo there
are many persons who obtain
their livelihood by copying
manuscripts. The expense
of writing a karras of twenty
pages, quarto size, with about
twenty-ﬁve lines to a page,
in an ordinary hand, is about
three piasters (or a little
more than sevenpence of our
money), but more if in an
elegant hand, and about double the sum if with the vowel
points, etc.

In Egypt, and particularly in its metropolis, those youths or
men who purpose to devote themselves to religious employments,
or to any of the learned professions, mostly pursue a course of
study in the great mosque El-Azhar, having previously learned
nothing more than to read, and perhaps to write, and to recite
the Kur-an. The Ashar, which is regarded as the principal uni-
versity of the East, is an extensive building, surrounding a large,
square court. On one side of this court, the side towards Mekkeh,
is the chief place of prayer, a spacious portico. On each of the
other three sides are smaller porticoes, divided into a number of
apartments called “ riwaks,” each of which is destined for the use
of natives of a particular country, or of a particular province of

 

WRITING MATERIALS.

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AN ARAB SCRIBE.

 

LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE. 22x

Egypt. This building is situated within the metropolis. It is
not remarkable in point of architecture, and is so surrounded by
houses that very little of it is seen externally. The students are
called “mugawireen.” Each riwak has a library for the use of
its members; and from the books which it contains, and the
lectures of the professors, the students acquire their learning.
The regular subjects of study are grammatical inﬂexion and
syntax, rhetoric, versiﬁcation, logic, theology, the exposition of
the Kur-an, the Traditions of the Prophet, the complete science
of jurisprudence, or rather of religious, moral, civil, and criminal
law, which is chieﬂy founded on the Kur-an and the Traditions,
together with arithmetic, as far as it is useful in matters of law.
Lectures are also given on algebra, and on the calculations of the
Mohammadan calendar, the times of prayer, etc. Different books
are read by students of different sects. Most of the students,
being natives of Cairo, are of the Shafe’ee sect ; and always the
sheykh, or head of the mosque, is of this sect. None of the
students pay for the instruction they receive, being mostly of the
poorer classes. Most of those who are strangers, having riwaks
appropriated to them, receive a daily allowance of food, provided
from funds chieﬂy arising from the rents of houses bequeathed for
their maintenance. Those of Cairo and its neighbourhood used
to receive a similar allowance ; but this they no longer enjoy, ex-
cepting during the month of Ramadan, for the present Basha of
Egypt has taken possession of all the cultivable land which be—
longed to the mosques, and thus the Azhar has lost the greater
portion of the property which it possessed: nothing but the
expenses of necessary repairs and the salaries of its principal
ofﬁcers are provided for by the government. The professors also
receive no salaries. Unless they inherit property, or have rela-
tions to maintain them, they have no regular means of subsistence
but teaching in private houses, copying books, etc; but they
sometimes receive presents from the wealthy. Any person who
is competent to the task may become a professor by obtaining a
license from the sheykh of the mosque. The students mostly
obtain their livelihood by the same means as the professors, or by
reciting the Kur—an in private houses and at the tombs and
other places. When sufﬁciently advanced in their studies, some

222 LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE.

of them become kadees, muftees, imams of mosques, or school-
masters, in their native villages or towns, or in Cairo ; others
enter into trade; some remain all their lifetime studying in the
Azhar, and aspire to be ranked among the higher ’Ulama. Since
the conﬁscation of the lands which belonged to the Azhar, the
number of that'class of students to whom no endowed riwak is
appropriated has very much decreased. The number of students,
including all classes excepting the blind, is (as I am informed by
one of the professors) about one thousand ﬁve hundred.

There is a chapel (called “ Zéwiyet el-’Omya’.n,” or the Chapel
of the Blind), adjacent to the eastern angle of the Azhar, and one
of the dependencies of that mosque, Where at present about three
hundred poor blind men, most of whom are students, are main-
tained from funds bequeathed for that purpose. These blind men
often conduct themselves in a most rebellious and violent manner ;
they are notorious for such conduct and for their fanaticism. A
short time ago, a European traveller entering the Azhar, and his
presence there being buzzed about, the blind men eagerly inquired,
“Mere is the inﬁdel?” adding, “ We will kill him 1” and groping
about at the; same time to feel and lay hold of him. They were the
only persons who seemed desirous of showing any violence to the
intruder. Before the accession of the present Basha, they often
behaved in a very outrageous manner whenever they considered
themselves oppressed, or scanted in their allowance of food; they
would, on these occasions, take a few guides, go about with staves,
seize the turbans of passengers in the streets, and plunder the
shops. The most celebrated of the present professors in the
Azhar, the sheykh El-Kuweysinee, who is himself blind, being
appointed a few years ago Sheykh of the zawiyet el—’Omyan, as
soon as he entered upon his ofﬁce caused every one of the blind
men there to be ﬂogged; but they rose against him, bound him,
and inﬂicted upon him a ﬂogging far more severe than that which
they had themselves endured, and obliged him to give up his ofﬁce.

Learning was in a much more ﬂourishing state in Cairo before
the entrance of the French army than it has been in later years.
It suffered severely from this invasion, not through direct oppres-
sion, but in consequence of the panic which this event occasioned
and the troubles by which it was followed. Before that period, a

/

LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE. 223

sheykh who had studied in the Azhar, if he had only two boys,
sons of a moderately rich fellah, to educate, lived in luxuryL His
two pupils served him, cleaned his house, prepared his food, and
though they partook of it with him, were his menial attendants at
every time but that of eating: they followed him whenever he
went out, carried his shoes (and often kissed them when they took
them off) on his entering a mosque, and in every case treated him
with the honour due to a prince. He was then distinguished by
an ample dress and the large formal turban called a mukleh ; and
as he passed along the street, whether on foot or mounted on an
ass or mule, passengers often pressed towards him to implore a
short ejaculatory prayer on their behalf, and he who succeeded in
obtaining this wish believed himself especially blessed. If he
passed by a Frank riding, the latter was obliged to dismount; if
he went to a butcher to procure some meat (for he found it best
to do so, and not to send another), the butcher refused to make
any charge, but kissed his hand, and received as an honour and
a blessing whatever he chose to give. The condition of a man
of this profession is now so fallen that it is with difﬁculty he
can obtain a scanty subsistence unless possessed of extraordinary
talent.

The Muslim ’Ulama are certainly much fettered in the pursuit
of some of the paths of learning by their religion, and superstition
sometimes decides a point which has been controverted for cen-
turies. There is one singular means of settling a contention on
any point of faith, science, or fact, of which I must give an in-
stance. The following anecdote was related to me by the Imam‘
of the late Muftee (the sheykh El-Mahdee) : I wrote it in Arabic,
\at his dictation, and shall here translate his words. The sheykh
Mohammad El-Bahaee (a learned man, whom the vulgar regard
as a “welee,” or especial favourite of heaven) was attending the
lectures of the sheykh El-Emeer El-Kebeer (sheykh of the sect of
the Malikees), When the professor read from the Game" es—Sagheer
of Es—Suyootee this saying of the Prophet: “Verily El-Hasan
and El-Hoseyn are the two lords of the youths of the people of
Paradise, in Paradise ; ” and proceeded to remark, in his lecture,
after having given a summary of the history of El-Hasan and El-
Hoseyn, that, as to the common opinion of the people of M asr (or

224 LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE.

Cairo) respecting the head of El—Hoseyn, holding it to be in the ‘
famous Mesh—bed in this city (the mosque of the Hasaneyn), it
was without foundation, not being established by any credible
authority, “I was affected,” says Mohammad El—Bahaee, “with
excessive grief by this remark, since I believed what is believed
by people of integrity and of intuition, that the noble head was in
this Mesh-bed ; and I entertained no doubt of it: but I would not
oppose the sheykh El-Emeer, on account of his high reputation and
extensive knowledge. The lecture terminated, and I went away
weeping , and when night overshaded the earth, I rose upon
my feet, praying and humbly supplicating my Lord, and betaking
myself to his most noble apostle (God favour and preserve him I),
begging that I might see him in my sleep, and that he would
inform me in my sleep of the truth of the matter concerning the
place of the noble head. And I dreamed that I was walking on
the way to visit the celebrated Mesh-bed El-Hoseynee in Masr,
and that I approached the kubbeh [saloon of the tomb], and saw
in it a spreading light .which ﬁlled it ; and I entered its door, and
found a shereef standing by the door , and I saluted him, and
he returned my salutation, and said to me, ‘Salute the Apostle
of God (God favour and preserve him 1).’ And I looked towards
the kibleh [niche marking the direction of Mekkeh], and saw
the Prophet (God favour and preserve him !) sitting upon a throne,
and a man standing on his right, and another man standing on
his left ; and I raised my voice, saying, ‘Blessing and peace be on
thee, O Apostle of God!’ And I repeated this several times,
weeping as I did it; and I heard the Apostle of God (God favour
and preserve him I) say to me, ‘Approach, 0 my son! '0 Mo-
hammad!’ Then the ﬁrst man took me, and conducted me
towards the Prophet (God favour and preserve him 1), and placed
me before his noble hands ; and I saluted him, and he returned
my salutation, and said to me, ‘God recompense-thee for thy visit
to the head of El-Hoseyn, my son.’ I said, ‘ O Apostle of God, is
the head of El-Hoseyn here?’ He answered, ‘Yes, it is here.’
And I became cheerful ; grief ﬂed from me, and my heart was
strengthened. Then I said, ‘0 Apostle of God, I will'relate to
thee what my sheykh and my preceptor El-Emeer hath afﬁrmed
in his lecture.’ And I repeated to him the words of the sheykh ;

LAZVGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE. 225

and he (God favour and preserve him!) looked down, and then
raised his head, and said, ‘The copyists are excused.’ I awoke
from my sleep joyful and happy ; but I found that much remained
of the night, and I became impatient of its length, longing for the
morn to shine, that I might go to the sheykh and relate to him
the dream, in the hope that he might believe me. When the
morn arose, I prayed, and went to the house of the sheykh, but
found the door shut. I knocked it violently, and the porter came
in alarm, asking, ‘Who is that'?’ but when he knew me——for he
had known my abode from the sheykh—he opened the door to
me. If it had been another person, he would have beaten him.
I entered the court of the house, and began to call out, ‘My
master! my master!’ The sheykh awoke, and asked, ‘Who is
that?’ I answered, ‘It is I, thy pupil, Mohammad El-Bahaee !’
The sheykh was in wonder at my coming at this time, and ex-
claimed, ‘God’s perfection! What is this’.l What is the news?’
thinking that some great event had happened among the people.
He then said to me, ‘Wait while I pray.’ I did not sit down
until the sheykh came down to the hall, when he said to me,
‘Come up;’ and I went up, and neither saluted him, nor'kissed
his hand, from the effect of the dream which I had seen, but said,
‘ The head of El—Hoseyn is in this well-known Mesh~hed in Masr ;
there is no doubt of it.’ The sheykh said, ‘What proof have you
of that? If it be a true record, adduce it.’ I said, ‘ From a book,
I have none.’ The sheykh said, ‘Hast thou seen a vision?’ I
replied, ‘ Yes 3 ’ and I related it to him, and informed him that the
Apostle of God (God favour and preserve him I) had acquainted
me that the man who was standing by the door was ’Alee, the son
of Aboo-Talib, and that he who was on the right of the Prophet,
by the throne, was Aboo-Bekr, and that he on his left was ’Omar,
the son of El-Khattab ; and that they had come to visit the head
of the Imam El-Hoseyn. The sheykh rose, and took me by the
hand, and said, ‘ Let us go and visit the Mesh-lied El-Hoseynee; ’
and when he entered the kubbeh, he said, ‘Peace be on thee, 0
son of the daughter of the Apostle of God! I believe that the
noble head is here, by reason of the vision which this person has
seen ; for the vision of the Prophet is true, since he hath said, —
“.Whoso seeth me in his sleep seeth me truly, for Satan cannot
(440) . 15

226 LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE.

assume the similitude of my form.” ’ Then the sheykh said to me,
‘ Thou hast believed, and I have believed ; for these lights are not
illusive.”’ The above-quoted tradition of the Prophet has often
occasioned other points of dispute to be settled in the same manner,
by a dream ; and when the dreamer is a person of reputation, no
one ventures to contend against him.

The remark made at the commencement of this chapter implies
that there are, in the present day, many learned men in the
metropolis of Egypt ; and there are some also in other towns of
this country. One of the most celebrated of the modern ’Ulama
of Cairo is the sheykh Hasan El-’Atta’.r, who is the present sheykh
of the Azhar. In theology and jurisprudence he is not so deeply
versed as some of his contemporaries, particularly the sheykh E1-
Kuweysinee, whom I have before mentioned, but he is eminently
accomplished in polite literature. He is the author of an “ Insha,”
or an excellent collection of Arabic letters on various subjects,
which are intended as models of epistolary style. This work has
been printed at Boolak. In mentioning its author, I fulﬁl a
promise which he condescended to ask of me: supposing that I
should publish, in my own country, some account of the people
of Cairo, he desired me to state that I was acquainted with him,
and to give my opinion of his acquirements. The sheykh Mo-
hammad Shihab is also deservedly celebrated as an accomplished
Arabic scholar and elegant poet. His affability and wit attract
to his house, every evening, a few friends, whose pleasures, on
these occasions, I sometimes participate. We are received in a
small but very comfortable room. Each of us takes his own pipe,
and coffee alone is presented to us: the sheykh’s conversation is
the most delightful banquet that he can offer us. There are also
several other persons in Cairo who enjoy considerable reputation
as philologists and poets. The sheykh ’Abd-Er-Rahman El-Ga-
bartee, another modern author, and a native of Cairo, particularly
deserves to be mentioned, as having written a very excellent his-
tory of the events which have taken place in Egypt since the
commencement of the twelfth century of the Flight. He died in
.1825, or 1826, soon after my ﬁrst arrival in Cairo. His family
was of El—Gabart (also called Ez—Zeyla’), a province of Abyssinia,
bordering on the ocean. The Gabartees (or natives of that coun-

LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE. 227

try) are Muslims. They have a riwak (or apartment appropriated
to such of them as wish to study) in the Azhar; and there is a
similar provision for them at Mekkeh, .and also at El-Medeeneh.

The works of the ancient Arab poets were but imperfectly
understood (in consequence of many words contained in them
having become obsolete) between two and three centuries, only,
after the time of Mohammad. It must not, therefore, be inferred,
from what has been said in the preceding paragraph, that persons
able to explain the most difﬁcult passages of the early Arab
authors are now to be found in Cairo or elsewhere. There are,
however, many in Egypt who are deeply versed in Arabic gram«
mar, rhetoric, and polite literature, though the sciences mostly
pursued in this country are theology and jurisprudence. Few of
the ’Ulama of Egypt are well acquainted with the history of their
own nation, much less with that of other people.

The literary acquirements of those who do not belong to the
classes who make literature their profession are of a very inferior
kind. Many of the wealthy tradespeople are well instructed in .
the arts of reading and writing, but few of them devote much
time to the pursuit of literature. Those who have committed to
memory the whole, or considerable portions, of the Kur-an, and
can recite two or three celebrated “kaseedehs” (or short poems),
or introduce, now and then, an apposite quotation in conversation,
are considered accomplished persons. Many of the tradesmen of
Cairo can neither read nor write, or can only read, and are obliged
to have recourse to a friend to write their accounts, letters, etc. ;
but these persons generally cast accounts, and make intricate
calculations, mentally, with. surprising rapidity and correctness.

It is a very prevalent notion among the Christians of Europe
that the Muslims are enemies to almost every branch of know-
ledge. This is an erroneous idea ; but it is true that their studies
in the present age are conﬁned within very narrow limits. Very
few of them study medicine, chemistry (for our ﬁrst knowledge’
of which we are indebted to the Arabs), the mathematics, or
astronomy. The Egyptian medical and surgical practitioners are
mostly barbers, miserably ignorant of the sciences which they
profess, and unskilful in their practice, partly in consequence of
their being prohibited by their religion from availing themselves

228 LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE.

of the advantage of dissecting human bodies. But a number of
young men, natives of Egypt, are now receiving European in-
struction in medicine, anatomy, surgery, and other sciences for
the service of the Government. Many of the Egyptians, in ill—
ness, neglect medical aid, placing their Whole reliance on Provi-
dence or charms. Alchemy is more studied in this country than
pure chemistry, and astrology more than astronomy. The astrolabe
and quadrant are almost the only astronomical instruments used
in Egypt. Telescopes are rarely seen here ; and the magnetic
needle is seldom employed, excepting to discover the direction of
Mekkeh, for which purpose convenient little compasses (called
“kibleeyehs”), showing the direction of the kibleh at various
large towns in different countries, are constructed, mostly at
Dimyat: many of these have a dial, which shows the time of
noon, and also that of the ’asr, at different places and different
seasons. Those persons in Egypt Who profess to have consider-
able knowledge of astronomy are generally blind to the true
principles of the science : to say that the earth revolves round the
sun, they consider absolute heresy. Pure astronomy they make
chieﬂy subservient to their computations of the calendar.

The Muslim year consists of twelve lunar months, the names
of which are pronounced by the Egyptians in the following
manner :— I

1. Moharram.
. Safar.
. Rabeea el-Owwal.
. Rabeea et-Tanee.
Gumad el-Owwal, or Gumada-l-Oola.
Gumad et-Tanee, or Gumada-t-Taniyeh.
. Regeb.
. Shaaban.
9. Ramadan.

10. Showwal.

11. Zu-l-Kaadeh, or El-Kaadeh.

12. Zu-l—Heggeh, or El-I—Ieggeh.16

Each of these months retrogrades through all the different
seasons of the solar year in the period of about thirty-three years
and a half; consequently they are only used for ﬁxing the anni-

mugguxwm

LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE. 229

versaries of most religious festivals, and for the dates of historical
events, letters, etc, and not in matters relating to astronomy or
the seasons. In the latter cases, the. Coptic months are still in
general use. ’ ,
With their modern names, I give the corresponding periods of
our calendar :—
1. Toot commences on the 10th or 11th of September.

2. Babeh n N 10th or 11th of October.
3. Hatoor n n 9th or 10th of November.
4. Kiyahk (vulg. Kiyak) 91th or 10th of December.
5. Toobeh n n 8th or 9th of January.
6. Amsheer n N 7th or 8th of February.
7. Barmahat n I! 9th of March.
8. Barmoodeh u n 8th of April.
9. Beshens u u 8th of May.

10. Ba—ooneh u n 7th of June.

11. Ebeeb n I! 7th Of July.

12. Misra n N 6th of August.

The Eiyam en-Nesee (intercalary days), ﬁve or six days, com-
plete the year.

These months, it will be observed, are of thirty days each.
Five intercalary days are added at the end of three successive
years, and six at the end of the fourth year. The Coptic leap—
year immediately precedes ours ; therefore the Coptic year begins
on the 11th of September only when it is the next after their
leap-year, or when our next ensuing year is a leap-year ; and, con«
sequently, after the following February the corresponding days
of the Coptic and our months will be the same as in other years.
The Copts begin their reckoning from the era of Diocletian,
A.D. 284.

In Egypt, and other Muslim countries, from sunset to sunset
is reckoned as the civil day ; the night being classed with the day
which follows it—thus the night before Friday is called the night
of Friday. Sunset is twelve o’clock ,- an hour after sunset, one
o’clock 3 two hours, two o’clock; and so on to twelve. After
twelve o’clock in the morning the hours are again named one,
two, three, and so on. The Egyptians wind up and (if necessary)
set their watches at sunset, or rather a few minutes after; gener»

23o LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE.

ally when they hear the call to evening-prayer. Their watches,
according to this system of reckoning from sunset, to be always
quite correct, should be set every evening, as the days vary in
length.

The following table shows the times of Muslim prayer, with
the apparent European time of sunset, in and near the latitude of
Cairo, at the commencement of each zodiacal month :—

 

 

Sunsct. Eshe. 12:31;- Noon. ’Asr

Mo. T. Eur.’l‘. Mo. T. Mo. T. Mo. '1'. Mo. T.

h. m. . m. h. m. h. m. h. m. h. In.

June 21 12 0 7 4 1 34 8 6 4 56 8 31

July 22 May 21 12 0 6 53 1 30 8 30 5 7 8 43
Aug. 23 April 20 12 0 6 31 1 22 9 24 5 29 9 4
Sept. 23 March 20 12 O 6 4 1 18 10 24 5 56 9 24
Oct. 23 Feb. 18 12 0 5 37 1 18 11 18 6 23 9 35
NOV. 22 Jan. 20 12 0 5 15 1 2'2 11 59 6 45 9 41
Dec. 21 12 0 5 4 1 24 12 15 6 56 9 43

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A pocket almanac is annually printed at the governmentpress
at Boolak. It comprises the period of a solar year, commencing
and terminating with the vernal equinox; and gives, for every
day, the day of the week, and of the Mohammadan, Coptic,
Syrian, and European months, together with the sun’s place in
the zodiac, and the time of sunrise, noon, and the ’asr. It is
prefaced with a summary of the principal eras and feast-days
of the Muslims, Copts, and others, and remarks and notices re-
lating to the seasons. Subjoined to it is a calendar containing
physical, agricultural, and other notices for every day in the year,
mentioning eclipses, etc., and comprising much matter suited to
the superstitions of the people. It is the work of Yahya Efendee,
originally a Christian priest of Syria, but now a Muslim.

Of geography, the Egyptians in general, and, with very few
exceptions, the best instructed among them, have scarcely any
knowledge. Having no good maps, they are almost wholly igno-
rant of the relative situations of the several great countries of
Europe. Some few of the learned venture to assert that the
earth is a globe,‘but they are opposed by a great majority of the
’Ulama. The common opinion of all classes of Muslims is, that
our earth is an almost plane expanse, surrounded by the ocean,
which, they say, is encompassed by a chain of mountains called

u

SUPERSTITIONS. ' 231

“Kaf.” They believe it to be the uppermost of seven earths;
and, in like manner, they believe that there are seven heavens,
one'above another. ' _

Such being the state of science among the modern Egyptians,
the reader will not be surprised at ﬁnding the present chapter
followed by a long account of their superstitions; a knowledge
of which is necessary to enable him to understand their character,
and to make due allowances for many of its faults. We may
hope for, and indeed reasonably expect, a very great improve-
ment in the intellectual and moral state of this people, in con—
sequence of the introduction of European sciences, by which their
present ruler has, in some degree, made amends for his oppressive
sway 3 but it is not probable that this hope will be soon realized
to any considerable extent.17

CHAPTER X.
SUPERSTITIONS.

THE Arabs are a very superstitious people, and none of them are
more so than those of Egypt. Many of their superstitions form
a part of their religion, being sanctioned by the Kur-an ,' and the
most prominent of these is the belief in “ Ginn ” or Genii—in the
singular, “Ginnee.”

The ginn are said to be of pre-Adamite origin, and, in their
general properties, an intermediate class of beings between angels
and men, but inferior in dignity to both, created of ﬁre, and cap-
able of assuming the forms and material fabric of men, brutes,
and monsters, and of becoming invisible at pleasure. They eat
and drink, propagate their species (like, or in conjunction with,
human beings), and are subject to death, though they generally
live many centuries. Their principal abode is in the chain of
mountains called “Kaf,” which are believed to encompass the
whole earth, as mentioned near the close of the preceding chapter.
Some are believers in El-Islam ; others are inﬁdels. The latter
are what are also called “Sheytans,” or devils, of whom Iblees
(that is, Satan, or the devil) is the chief; for it is the general and

232 - SUPERSTITIONS

best-supported opinion that he (like the other devils) is a ginnee,
as he was created of ﬁre; whereas the angels are created of light,
and are impeccable. Of both the classes of genii, good and evil,
the Arabs stand in great awe, and for the former they entertain
a high degree of respect. It is a common custom of this people,
on pouring water, etc., on the ground, to exclaim or mutter,
“ Destoor ”—that is, to ask the permission or crave the pardon of
any ginnee that may chance to be there ; for the ginn are supposed
to pervade the solid matter of the earth, as well as the ﬁrmament,
where, approaching the conﬁnes of the lowest heaven, they often
listen to the conversation of the angels respecting future things,
thus enabling themselves to assist diviners and magicians. They are
also believed to inhabit rivers, ruined houses, wells, baths, ovens,
and even the lamina: hence, persons, when they enter the latter
place, and when they let down a bucket into a well, or light a ﬁre,
and on other occasions, say, “Permission!” or “Permission, ye
blessed I”——which words, in the case of entering the latrina, they
sometimes preface with a prayer for God’s protection against all
evil spirits 3 but in doing this, some persons are careful not to
mention the name of God after they have entered (deeming it
improper in such a place), and only say, “ I seek refuge with Thee
from the male and female devils.” These customs present a com-
mentary on the story in “The Thousand and One Nights,” in
which a merchant is described as having killed a ginnee by throw-
ing aside the stone of a date which he had just eaten. In the
same story, and in others of the same collection, a ginnee is repre-
sented as approaching in a whirlwind of sand or dust ; and it is
the general belief of the Arabs of Egypt that the “zoba’ah,” or
whirlwind which raises the sand or dust in the form of a pillar of
prodigious height, and which is so often seen sweeping across the
ﬁelds and deserts of this country, is caused by the ﬂight of one of
these beings; or, in other words, that the ginnee “rides in the
whirlwind.” A charm is usually uttered by the Egyptians to
avert the zoba’ah, when it seems to be approaching them: some
of them exclaim, “Iron, thou unlucky l”—as genii are supposed
to have a great dread of that metal; others endeavour to drive
away the monster by exclaiming, “God is most great!” \Vhat
we call a “falling star” (and which the Arabs term “shihab”) is

SUPERSTITIOZVS. 233

commonly believed to be a dart thrown by God at an evil ginnee ,
and the Egyptians, when they see it, exclaim, “May God transﬁx
the enemy of the faith ! ” The evil ginnees are commonly termed
“ ’Efreets ,” and one of this class is mentioned in the Kur-an in
these words, “An ’efreet of the ginn answered” (ch. xxvii., ver.
39), which words Sale translates, “A terrible genius answered.”
They are generally believed to diﬂ‘er from the other ginn in being
very powerful and always malicious, but to be, in other respects,
of a similar nature. An evil ginnee of the most powerful class is
called a “ Marid.”

Connected with the history of the ginn are many fables not
acknowledged by the Kur-an, and therefore not credited by the
more sober Muslims, but only by the less instructed. All agree
that the ginn were created before mankind ; but some distinguish
another class of pre-Adamite beings of a similar nature. It is
commonly believed that the earth was inhabited, before the time
of Adam, by a race of beings differing from ourselves in form,
and much more powerful ,' and that forty (or, according to
some, seventy-two) pre-Adamite kings, each of whom bore the
name of Suleyman (or Solomon), successively governed this people.
The last of these Suleymans was named Gann Ibn-Gann ; and
from him, some think, the ginn (who are also called “gann”)
derive their name. Hence some believe the ginn to be the same
with the pre-Adamite race here mentioned ,' but others assert that
they (the ginn) were a distinct class of beings, and brought into
subjection by the other race.

Ginnees are believed often to assume, or perpetually to wear,
the shapes of cats, dogs, and other brute animals. The sheykh
Khaleel El-Medabighee, one of the most celebrated of the ’Ulama
of Egypt, and author of several works on various sciences, who
died, at a very advanced age, during the period of my former visit
to this country, used to relate the following anecdote. He had,
he said, a favourite black cat, which always slept at the foot of
his musquito-curtain. Once, at midnight, he heard a knocking at
the door of his house; and his cat went and opened the hanging
shutter of his window, and called, “Who is there?" A voice
replied, “I am such a one” (mentioning a strange name), “the
ginnee; open the door.” “The lock,” said the sheykh’s cat, “has

2 34 S UPERSTI T! 0N5.

had the name [of God] pronounced upon it.” “Then throw me
down,” said the other, “two cakes of bread.” “The bread-basket,”
answered the cat at the window, “has had the name pronounced
upon it.” “ Well,” said the stranger, “at least give me a draught
of water.” But he was answered that the water-jar had been
secured in the same manner ; and asked what he was to do, see-
ing that he was likely to die of hunger and thirst. The sheykh’s
cat told him to go to the door of the next house ; and went there
also himself, and opened the door, and soon after returned. Next
morning the sheykh deviated from a habit which he had constantly
observed: he gave to the cat half of the fateereh upon which he
breakfasted, instead of a little morsel, which he was wont to give ;
and afterwards said, “ O my cat, thou knowest that I am a poor
man ,- bring me, then, a little gold.” ,Upon which words the cat
immediately disappeared, and he saw it no more—Ridiculous as
stories of this kind really are, it is impossible, without relating one
or more, to convey a just notion of the opinions of the people
whom I am attempting to describe.

It is commonly afﬁrmed that malicious or disturbed genii very
often station themselves on the roofs or at the windows of houses
in Cairo, and other towns of Egypt, and throw bricks and stones
down into the streets and courts. A few days ago I was told of
a case of this kind, which had alarmed the people in the main
street of the metropolisfor a whole week—many bricks having
been thrown down from some of the houses every day during this
period, but nobody killed or wounded. I went to the scene of
these pretended pranks of the genii to witness them, and to make
inquiries on the subject; but on my arrival there I was told that
the “regm” (that is, the throwing) had ceased. I found no one
who denied the throwing down of the bricks, or doubted that it
was the work of genii ,- and the general remark on mentioning
the subject was, “ God preserve us from their evil doings l”

One of my friends observed to me, on this occasion, that he
had met with some Englishmen who disbeli-eved in the existence
of genii ; but he concluded that they had never witnessed a public
performance, though common in their country, of which he had
since heard, called “kumedyeh” (or comedy) ; by which term he

meant to include all {dieaﬁ'icaf performances. Addressing one of~

SUPERSTITIONS. 235

his countrymen, and appealing to me for the conﬁrmation of his
words, he then said : “An Algerine a short time ago gave me an
account of a spectacle of this kind which he had seen in London.”
Here his countryman interrupted him by asking, “ Is not England
in London? or is London a town in England?” My friend,
with difﬁdence, and looking to me, answered that London was
the metropolis of England, and then resumed the subject of the
theatre. “ The house,” said he, “in which the spectacle was ex-
hibited cannot be described. It was of a round form, with many
benches on the ﬂoor, and closets all round, in rows, one above
another, in which people of the higher classes sat ; and there was
a large square aperture, closed with a curtain. When the house
was'full of people, who paid large sums of money to be admitted,
it suddenly became very dark. It was night, and the house had
been lighted up with a great many lamps; but these became
almost entirely extinguished, all at the same time, Without being
touched by anybody. Then the great curtain was drawn up.
They heard the roaring of the sea and wind, and indistinctly per-
ceived through the gloom the waves rising and foaming, and
lashing the shore. Presently a tremendous peal of thunder was
heard, after a ﬂash of lightning had clearly shown to the specta-
tors the agitated sea; and then there fell a heavy shower of real
rain. Soon after the day broke, the sea became more plainly
visible, and two ships were seen in the distance. They approached
and fought each other, ﬁring their cannons ,' and a variety of other
extraordinary scenes were afterwards exhibited. Now it is evi-
dent,” added my friend, “that such wonders must have been the
works of genii, or at least performed by their assistance.” He
could not be convinced of his error by my explanations of these
phenomena.

During the month of Ramadan the genii, it is said, are conﬁned
in prison ; and hence, on the eve of the festival which follows that
month, some of the women of Egypt, with the view of preventing
these objects of dread from entering their houses, sprinkle salt
upon the ﬂoors of the apartments, saying as they do it, “In the
name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.”

A curious relic of ancient Egyptian superstition must here be
mentioned. It is believed that each quarter in Cairo has its

2 36 \ SUPERSTITIONS

peculiar guardian-genius, or Agathodaemon. which has the form of
a serpent. \

The ancient tombs of Egypt, and the dark recesses of the
temples, are commonly believed, by the people of this country, to
be inhabited by ’efreets. I found it impossible to persuade one
ofvmy servants to enter the Great Pyramid with me from his
having this idea. Many of the Arabs ascribe the erection of the
Pyramids, and all the most stupendous remains of antiquity in‘
Egypt, to Gann Ibn-Gann and his servants, the ginn, conceiving
it impossible that they could have been raised by human hands.

The term ’efreet is commonly applied rather to an evil ginnee
than any other being, but the ghosts of dead persons are also
called by this name ; and many absurd stories are related of
them, and great are the fears which they inspire. There are
some persons, however, who hold them in no degree of dread. I
had once a humorous cook who was somewhat addicted to the
intoxicating hasheesh. Soon after he had entered my service I
heard him one evening muttering and exclaiming on the stairs,
as if in surprise at some event, and then politely saying, “But
why are you sitting here in the draught? Do me the favour to
come up into the kitchen and amuse me with your conversation a
little.” The civil address, not being answered, was repeated and
varied several times, till I called out to the man, and asked
him to whom he was speaking. “The ’efreet of a Turkish
soldier,” he replied, “is sitting on the stairs, smoking his pipe,
and refuses to move. He came up from the well below ; pray step
and see him.” On my going to the stairs and telling the servant
that I could see nothing, he only remarked that it was because I
had a clear conscience. He was told afterwards that the house
had long been haunted ; but asserted that he had not been pre-
viously informed of the supposed cause, which was the fact of a
Turkish soldier having been murdered there. My cook professed
to see this ’efreet frequently after.

The existence of “Ghools” likewise obtains almost universal
credence among the modern Egyptians, in common with several
other Eastern nations. These beings are generally believed to
be a class of evil ginnees, and are said to appear in the forms of
various animals and in many monstrous shapes, to haunt burial-

SUPERSTITIONS 237

grounds and other sequestered spots, to feed upon dead bodies,
and to kill and devour every human creature who has the misfor-
tune to fall in their way. Hence the term “ ghool ” is applied in
general to any cannibal.

That fanciesgicli‘as these should exist in the minds of a people
so ignorant as those who are the subject of these pages cannot
reasonably excite our surprise. But the Egyptians pay a super-
stitious reverence not to imaginary beings alone; they extend it
to certain individuals of their own species, and often to those who
are justly the least entitled to such respect. An E'diot or a fool is
vulgarly regarded by them as a being Whose (mind is in heaven,
while his grosser part mingles among ordinary mortals; conse—
quently he is considered an especial favourite of heaven. What-
ever enormities a reputed saint may commit (and there are many
who are constantly infringing precepts of their religion), such acts
do not affect his fame for sanctity; for they are considered as the
results of the abstraction of his mind from worldly things—his
soul, or reasoning faculties, being wholly absorbed in devotion——
so that his passions are left without control. Lunatics who are
dangerous to society are kept in conﬁnement, but those who are
harmless are generally regarded as saints. Most of the reputed
saints of Egypt are either lunatics, or idiots, or impostors. Some
, of them go about perfectly naked, and are so highly venerated
that the women, instead of avoiding them, sometimes suﬂ'er these
wretches to take any liberty with them in the public street, and,
by the lower orders, are not considered as disgraced by such
actions, which, however, are of very rare occurrence. ‘Others are
seen clad in a cloak or long coat composed of patches of various
coloured cloths, which is called a “dilk,” adorned with numerous
strings of beads, wearing a ragged turban, and bearing a staff with
shreds of cloth of various colours attached to the top. Some of
them eat straw, or a mixture of chopped straw and broken glass,
and attract observation by a variety of absurd actions. During
my ﬁrst visit to this country I often met, in the streets of Cairo, a
deformed man, almost naked, with long matted hair, and riding
upon an ass led by another man. On these occasions he always
stopped his beast directly before me, so as to intercept my way,
recited the Fat’hah (or opening chapter of the Kur-an), and then

238 SUPERSTITZONS.

held out his hand for an alms. The ﬁrst time that he thus crossed
me I endeavoured to avoid him; but a person passing by re-
monstrated with me, observing that the man before me was a
saint, and that I ought to respect him, and comply with his
demand, lest some misfortune should befall me. Men of this
class are supported by alms, which they often receive without ask-
ing for them. A reputed saint is Commonly called “sheykh,”
“murabit,” or “welee.” If affected with lunacy or idiocy, or of
weak intellect, he is also and more properly termed “megzoo ,”
or “ mesloob.” “ Welee ” is an appellation correctly given only to
an eminent and very devout saint, and signiﬁes “a favourite of
heaven,” but it is so commonly applied to real or'pretended
idiots, that some wit has given it a new interpretation, as equiv-
alent to “beleed,” which means “a fool” or “simpleton,” re-
marking that these two terms are equivalent both in sense and in
the numerical value of the letters composing them: for “welee”
is written with the letters “ wa’w,” “ lam,” and “ yé,” of which the
numerical values are 6, 30, and 10, or, together, 46 ; and “beleed”
is written with “be,” “lam,” “yé,” and “dal,” which are 2, 30,
10, and 4, or, added together, 46. A simpleton is often jestingly
called a welee.

The Muslims of Egypt, in common with those of other coun-
tries, entertain very curious superstitions respecting the persons
whom they call welees. I have often endeavoured to obtain in-
formation on the most mysterious of these superstitions, and have
generally been answered, “You are meddling with the matters of
the ‘tareekah,’ ” or the religious course of the darweeshes ; but I
have been freely acquainted with general opinions on these sub-
jects, and such are perhaps all that may be required to be stated
in a work like the present. I shall, however, also relate what I
have been told by learned persons and by darweeshes in elucida-
tion of the popular belief.

In the ﬁrst place, if a person were to express a doubt as to the
existence of true welees, he would be branded with inﬁdelity,
and the following passage of the Kur-an would be adduced to
condemn him: “Verily, on the favourites of God no fear shall
come, nor shall they grieve.” This is considered as suﬂicient to
prove that there is a. class of persons distinguished above ordinary

SUPERSTITIONS. 239

human beings. The question then suggests itself, “Who, or of
what description, are these persons?” and we are answered,
“They are persons wholly devoted ‘to God, and possessed of
extraordinary faith; and, according to their degree of faith, en-
dowed with the power of performing miracles.”

The most holy of the welees is termed the Kutb; or, according
to some persons, there are two who have this title; and again,
according to others, four. The term “kutb” signiﬁes an awis,
and hence is applied to a welee who rules over others; they de
pending upon him, and being subservient to him. For the same
reason it is applied to temporal rulers, or any person of high
authority. The opinion that there are four kutbs, I am told, is a
vulgar error, originating from the frequent mention of “the four
kutbs,” by which expression are meant the founders of the four
most celebrated orders of darweeshes (the Rifa’eeyeh, Kadireeyeh,
Ahmedeeyeh, and Barahimeh), each of whom is believed to have
been the kutb of his time. I have also generally been told that
the opinion of there being two kutbs is a vulgar error, founded
upon two names, “Kutb el-Hakeekah” (or the Kutb of Truth),
and “ Kutb el-Ghos” (or the Kutb of Invocation for help), which
properly belong to but one person. The term “cl-Kutb el-
Mutawellee ” is applied, by those who believe in but one kutb, to
the one ruling at the present time; and by those who believe in
two, to the acting kutb. The kutb who exercises a superintend-
ence over all other welees (whether or not there be another kutb
—for if there be, he is inferior to the former) has, under his
authority, welees of different ranks to perform different ofﬁces—-
“Nakeebs,” “Negeebs,” “Bedeels,” etc—who are known only to
each other, and perhaps to the rest of the welees, as holding such
ofﬁces.

The Kutb, it is said, is often seen, but not known as such;
and the same is said of all who hold authority under him. He
always has a humble demeanour and mean dress ; and mildly
reproves those whom he ﬁnds acting impiously, particularly such
as have a false reputation for sanctity. Though he is unknown
to the world, his favourite stations are well known ,' yet at these
places he is seldom visible. It is asserted that he is almost con-
stantly seated at Mekkeh, on the roof of the Kaabeh ; and

24o SUPERSTITIONS.

though never seen there, is always heard at midnight to call
twice, “0 thou most merciful of those who show mercy 1”
which cry is then repeated from the mad’nehs of the temple by
the muéddins. But a respectable pilgrim, whom I have just
questioned upon this matter, has confessed to me that he him-
self has witnessed that this cry is made by a regular minister of
the mosque; yet that few pilgrims know this. He believes, how-
ever, that the roof of the Kaabeh is the chief “markaz” (or
station) of the Kutb. Another favourite station of this revered
and unknown person is the gate of Cairo called Bab Zuweyleh,
which is at the southern extremity of that part of the metropolis
which constituted the old city, though now in the heart of the
town ; for the capital has greatly increased towards the south, as
it has also towards the west. From its being a supposed station
of this mysterious being, the Bab Zuweyleh is commonly called
“ElMutawellee.” One leaf of its great wooden door (which is
never shut), turned back against the eastern side of the interior
of the gateway, conceals a small vacant space which is said to be
the place of the Kutb. Many persons on passing by it recite the
Fat’hah; and some give alms to a beggar ,who is generally seated
there, and who is regarded by the vulgar as one of the servants
of the Kutb. Numbers of persons afﬂicted with headache drive
a nail into the door to charm away the pain; and many
suﬁ'erers from the toothache extract a tooth and insert it in a
crevice of the door, or ﬁx it in some other way, to insure their
not being attacked again by the same malady. Some curious
individuals often try to peep behind the door, in the vain hope of
catching a glimpse of the Kutb, should he happen to be there,
and not at the moment invisible. He has also many other
stations, but of inferior celebrity, in Cairo, as well as one at the
tomb of the seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee, at Tanta; another at
El-Mahalleh (which, as well as Tanta, is in the Delta); and
others in other places. He is believed to transport himself from
Mekkeh to Cairo in an instant, and so also from any one place
to another. Though he has a number of favourite stations; he
does not abide solely at these, but wanders throughout the whole
world, among persons of every religion, whose appearance, dress,
and language he assumes, and distributes to mankind, chieﬂy

. .. “A.“‘urmamm

SUPERSTITIOAIS. 241

through the agency of the subordinate welees, evils and blessings,
the awards of destiny. When a Kutb dies, he is immediately suc~
cceded in his oﬂice by another.

Many of the Muslims say that Elijah, or Elias, whom the
vulgar confound with El-Khidr,18 was the Kutb of his time, and
that he invests the successive kutbs. For they acknowledge
that he has never died, asserting him to have drunk of the
Fountain of Life. This particular in their superstitious notions
respecting the kutbs, combined with some others which I have
before mentioned, is very curious when compared with what we
are told in the Bible of Elijah—of his being transported from
place to place by the Spirit of God, of his investing Elisha with
his miraculous powers and his ofﬁces, and of the subjection of
the other prophets to him and to his immediate successor. Some
welees renounce the pleasures of the world and the society of
mankind, and, in a desert place, give themselves up to meditation
upon heaven and prayer, depending upon Divine Providence
for their support; but their retreat becomes known, and the
Arabs daily bring them food. This again reminds us of the
history of Elijah , for, in the opinion of some critics, we should
read for the word “ravens,” in the fourth and sixth verses of the
seventeenth chapter of the second book of Kings, “Arabs.” “I
have commanded the Arabs to feed thee,” “ And the Arabs brought
him bread,” etc.

Certain welees are said to be commissioned by the Kutb to
perform ofﬁces which, according to the accounts of my inform-
ants here, are far from being easy. These are ‘termed “As-
hab ed-Darak,” which is interpreted as signifying “watchmen,”
or “ overseers.” In illustration of their employments, the following
anecdote was related to me a few days ago. A devout tradesman
in this city, who was ardently desirous of becoming a welee,
applied to a person who was generally believed to belong to this
holy class, and implored the latter to assist him to obtain the
honour of an interview with the Kutb. The applicant, after
having undergone a strict examination as to his motives, was
desired to perform the ordinary ablution (el-wudoo) very early
the next morning ; then to repair to the mosque of El-Mu-eiyad
(at an angle of which is the Bab Zuweyleh, or El-Mutawellee,

(440) 16

242 SUPERSTITIOZVS.

before mentioned), and to lay hold of the ﬁrst person whom he
should see coming out of the great door of this mosque. He did
so. The ﬁrst person who came out was an old, venerable-looking
man, but meanly clad, wearing a brown woollen gown (or zaa-
boot) ; and this proved to be the Kutb. The candidate kissed his
hand, and entreated to be admitted among the As—hab edeDarak.
After much hesitation the prayer was granted. The Kutb said,
“Take charge of the district which consists of the Darb el-Ahmar
and its immediate neighbourhooc ,” and immediately the person
thus addressed found himself to be a welee, and perceived that
he was acquainted with things concealed from ordinary mortals:
for a welee is said to be acquainted by God with all secrets
necessary for him to know. It is commonly said of a welee that
he knows what is secret or not discoverable by the senses, which
seems plainly contradictory to what we read in several places in
the Kur-an, that none knoweth what is secret (or hidden from the
senses) but God. The Muslims, however, who are seldom at a
loss in a discussion, argue that the passages above alluded to in
the Kur-an imply the knowledge of secrets in an unrestricted
sense; and that God imparts to welees such secrets only as he
thinks fit.

The welee above mentioned, as soon as he had entered upon
his ofﬁce, walked through his district ; and seeing a man at a shop
with a jar full of boiled beans before him, from which he was
about to serve his customers as usual, took up a large piece of
stone, and with it broke the jar. The bean—seller immediately
jumped up, seized hold of a palm stick that lay by his side, and
gave the welee a severe beating ; but the holy man complained not,
nor did he utter a cry. As soon as he was allowed he walked away.
When he was gone, the bean-seller began to try if he could gather
up some of the scattered contents of the jar. A portion of the
jar remained in its place, and on looking into this he saw a
venomous serpent in it, coiled round, and dead. In horror at
what he had done, he exclaimed, “There is no strength or power
but in God! I implore forgiveness of God, the Great! What
have I done? This man is a welee, and has prevented my selling
what would have poisoned my customers.” He looked at every
passenger all that day, in the hope of seeing again the saint whom

S UPE RS T! T] ONS. 243

he had thus injured, that he might implore his forgiveness 3 but
he saw him not, for he was too much bruised to be able to walk.
On the following day, however, with his limbs still swollen from
the blows he had received, the welee limped through his district,
and broke a great jar of milk at a shop not far from that of the
bean-seller ; and the owner treated him as the bean-seller had
done the day before. But while he was beating him, somepersons
ran up, and stopped his hand, informing him that the person
whom he was thus punishing was a welee, and relating to him the
affair of the serpent that was found in the jar of beans. “ Go,
and look,” said they, “in your jar of milk, and you will ﬁnd, at
the bottom of it, something either poisonous or unclean.” He
looked, and found in the remains of the jar a dead dog. On the
third day the welee, with the help of a staff, hobbled painfully up
the Darb el-Ahmar, and saw a servant carrying upon his head a
supper-tray covered with dishes of meat, vegetables, and fruit, for
a party who were going to take a repast in the country; where-
upon he put his staff between the man’s legs and overthrew him,
and the contents of the dishes were scattered in the street. With
a mouth full of curses, the servant immediately began to give the
saint as severe a thrashing as he himself expected to receive from
his disappointed master for this accident. But several persons soon
collected around him ,' and one of these bystanders observed a dog
eat a part of the contents of one of the dishes, and, a moment
after, fall down dead. He therefore instantly seized the hand of
the servant and informed him of this circumstance, which proved
that the man whom he had been beating was a welee. Every
apology was made to the injured saint, with many prayers for his
forgiveness ; but he was so disgusted with his new ofﬁce, that he
implored God and the Kutb to release him from it, and in an—
swer to his solicitations his supernatural powers were withdrawn,
and he returned to his shop, more contented than before. This
story is received as true by the people of Cairo, and therefore I
have inserted it; for, in treating of superstitions, we have more
to do with opinions than with facts. I am not sure, indeed, that
it is altogether false: the supposed saint might have employed
persons to introduce the dead serpent and dog into the vessels
which he broke. I am told that many a person has obtained

244 SUPERSTITIONS.

the reputation of being a welee by artiﬁces of the kind just men-
tioned.

There have been many instances in Egypt of welees afﬂicting
themselves by austerities similar to those which are often practised
by devotees in India. At the present time there is living in_ Cairo
a welee who has placed an iron collar round his neck, and chained
himself to a wall of his chamber, and it is said that he has been
in this state more than thirty years; but some persons assert that
he has often been seen to cover himself over with a blanket, as
if to sleep, and that the blanket has been removed immediately
after, and nobody found beneath it! Stories of this kind are
related and believed by persons who in many respects are en-
dowed by good sense, and to laugh or express discredit on hear-
ing them would give great offence. I was lately told that a
certain welee being beheaded for a crime of which he was not
guilty, his head spoke after it was cut off; and of another, de-
capitated under similar circumstances, that his blood traced upon
the ground, in Arabic characters, the following declaration of his
innocence : “I am a welee of God, and have died a martyr.”

It is a very remarkable trait in the character of the people of
Egypt and other countries of the East, that Muslims, Christians,
and Jews adopt each other’s superstitions, while they abhor the
more rational doctrines of each other’s faiths. In sickness, the
Muslim sometimes employs Christian and Jewish priests to pray
for him ; the Christians and Jews, in the same predicament, often
call in Muslim saints for the like purpose. Many Christians are
in the frequent habit of visiting certain Muslim saints here : kiss-
ing their hands 3 begging their prayers, counsels, or prophecies;
and giving them money and other presents.

Though their Prophet disclaimed the power of performing mir-
acles, the Muslims attribute to him many ; and several miracles
are still, they say, constantly or occasionally performed for his
sake, as marks of the divine favour and honour. The pilgrims
who have visited El-Medeeneh relate that there is seen every
night a ray or column of faint light rising from the cupola over
the grave of the Prophet to a considerable height, apparently to
the clouds, or, as some say, to Paradise; but that the observer
loses sight of it when he approaches very near the tomb. This

. ”whims. ....m

SUPERSTZTIONS. 245

is one of the most remarkable of the miracles which are related as
being still witnessed. On my asking one of the most grave and
sensible of all my Muslim friends here, who had been on a pil-
grimage and visited El-WIedeeneh, whether this assertion were
true, he averred that it was ; that he had seen it every night of
his stay in that city ; and he remarked that it was a most striking
and impressive proof of God’s favour and honour for “our lord
Mohammad.” I did not presume to question the truth of what
he asserted himself to have seen, nor to suggest that the great
number of lights kept burning every night in the mosque might
produce this effect 5 but to judge whether this might be the case,
I asked my friend to describe to me the construction of the apart-
ment of the tomb, its cupola, etc. He replied that he did not
enter it, nor the Kaabeh at Mekkeh, partly from his being in a
state of excessive nervous excitement (from his veneration for
those holy buildings, but particularly for the former, which almost
affected him with a kind of hysteric ﬁt), and partly because, being
of the sect of the Hanafees, he held it improper, after he should
have stepped upon such sacred ground, ever again to run the risk
of deﬁling his feet by walking barefooted ,' consequently he would
have been obliged always to wear leather socks, or mezz, within
his outer shoes, which he said he could not afford to do. The
pilgrims also assert that in‘ approaching El-Medeeneh from the
distance of three days’ journey or more, they always see a ﬂicker-
ing lightning in the direction of the sacred city, which they be-
, lieve to proceed from the Prophet’s tomb. They say that however
they turn, they always see this lightning in the direction of El-
Medeeneh. There is something strikingly poetical in this and in
the former statement.

A superstitious veneration, and honours unauthorized by the
Kur-an or any of the Traditions, are paid by all sects of Muslims,
excepting the Wahhabees, to deceased saints, even more than to
those who are living ; and more particularly by the Muslims of
Egypt.19 Over the graves of most of the more celebrated saints are
erected large and handsome mosques , over that of a saint of less
note (one who, by a-life of sanctity or hypocrisy, has acquired the
reputation of being a welee or devout sheykh) is constructed a
small, square, white-washed building, crowned with a cupola.

246 SUPERSTITIONS.

There is generally, directly over the vault in which the corpse is
deposited, an oblong monument of stone or brick (called “tar-
kebeeh ”) or wood (in which case it is called “taboot”) ; and this
is usually covered with silk or linen, with some words from the
Kur-an worked upon it, and surrounded by a railing or screen, of
wood or bronze, called “maksoorah.” Most of the sanctuaries of
saints in Egypt are tombs, but there are several which only con-
tain some inconsiderable relic of the person to whom they are
dedicated, and there are a few which are mere cenotaphs. The
most sacred of all these sanctuaries is the mosque of the Hasaneyn,
in which the head of the martyr El-Hoseyn, the son of the Imam
'Alee and grandson of the Prophet, is said to be buried. Among
others but little inferior in sanctity are the mosques of the sey-
yideh Zeyneb (daughter of the Imam ’Alee and grand-daughter of
the Prophet), the seyyideh Sekeeneh (daughter of the Imam E1-
Hoseyn), the seyyideh Nefeeseh (great-granddaughter of the Imam
El-Hasan), and the Imam Esh—Shafe’ee, already mentioned as the
author of one of the four great Muslim sects, that to which most
of the people of Cairo belong. The buildings above mentioned,
with the exception of the last two, are within the metropolis ; the
last but one is within a southern suburb of Cairo, and the last in
the great southern cemetery.

The Egyptians occasionally visit these and other sanctuaries of
their saints, either merely with the view of paying honour to the
deceased, and performing meritorious acts for the sake of these
venerated persons, which they believe will call down a blessing on
themselves, or for the purpose of urging some special petition, as
for the restoration of health, or for the gift of offspring, etc.,——
in the persuasion that the merits of the deceased will insure a
favourable reception of the prayers which they offer up in such
consecrated places. The generality of the Muslims regard their
deceased saints as intercessors with the Deity, and make votive
offerings to them. The visitor, on arriving at the tomb, should
greet the deceased with the salutation of peace, and should utter
the same salutation on entering the burial—ground ; but I believe
that few persons observe this latter custom. In the former case,
the visitor should front the face of the dead, and consequently
turn his back to the kibleh. He walks round the maksoorah or

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE MOSQUE OF AMROU, CAIRO.

Page 246.

 

SUPERSTITIONS. 247

the monument from left to right, and recites the Fat’hah, inaudibly
or in a very low voice, before its door, or before each of its four
sides. Sometimes a longer chapter of the Kur-an than the ﬁrst
(or F at’hah) is recited afterwards, and sometimes a “ khatmeh”
(or recitation of the whole of the Kur-an) is performed on such an
occasion. These acts of devotion are generally performed for the
sake of the saint, though merit is likewise believed to reﬂect upon
the visitor who makes a recitation. He usually says at the close
of this, “ [Extol] the perfection of thy Lord, the Lord of Might,
exempting him from that which they [that is, the unbelievers]
ascribe to him ” (namely, the having a son, or a partaker of his
godhead); and adds, “And peace be on the Apostles, and praise
be to God, the Lord of all creatures. O God, I have transferred
the merit of what I have recited from the excellent Kur-an to the
person to whom this place is dedicated,” or.—“ to the soul of this
welee.” Without such a declaration, or an intention to the same
effect, the merit of the recital belongs solely to the person who
performs it. After this recital, the visitor, if it be his desire, offers
up any prayer for temporal or spiritual blessings, generally using
some such form as this—“ 0 God, I conjure thee by the Prophet,
and by him to whom this place is dedicated, to grant me such and
such blessings 3 ” or, “ My burdens be on God and on thee, O thou
to whom this place is dedicated.” In doing this, some persons
face any side of the maksoorah. It is said to be more proper to
face the maksoorah and the kibleh; but I believe that the same
rule should be observed in this case as in the salutation. During
the prayer the hands are held as in the private supplications after
the ordinary prayers of every day, and afterwards they are drawn
down the face. Many of the visitors kiss the threshold of the
building, and the walls, windows, maksoorah, etc. This, how-
ever, the more strict disapprove, asserting it to be an imitation
of a custom of the Christians. The rich, and persons in easy
circumstances, when they visit the tomb of a saint, distribute
money or bread to the poor, and often give money to one or more
water-carriers to distribute water to the poor and thirsty, for the
sake of the saint. There are particular days of the week on
which certain tombs are more generally visited : thus, the mosque
of the Hasaneyn is mostly visited by men on Tuesday, and by

248 SUPERSTITIOMS'.

women on Saturday ; that of the seyyideh Zeyneb, on Wednesday;
that of the Imam Esh-Shafe’ee, on Friday. 011 these occasions it
is a common custom for the male visitors to take with them sprigs
of myrtle. They place some of these on the monument, or on the
ﬂoor within the maksoorah, and take back_the remainder, which
they distribute to their friends. The poor sometimes place
“khoos” (or palm leaves), as most persons do upon the tombs of
their friends and relations. The women of Cairo, instead of the
myrtle or palm leaves, often place roses, ﬂowers of the henna-tree,
jasmine, etc.

At almost every village in Egypt is the tomb of some favourite
or patron saint, which is generally visited on a particular day of
the Week by many of the inhabitants, chieﬂy women, some of
whom bring thither bread, which they leave there for poor travel-
lers or any other persons. Some also place small pieces of money
in these tombs. These gifts are offerings to the sheykh, or given
for his sake. Another custom common among the peasants is to
make votive sacriﬁces at the tombs of their sheykhs. For in—
stance, a man makes a vow (“nedr”) that if he recover from a
sickness, or obtain a son or any other speciﬁc object of desire, he
will give to a certain sheykh (deceased) a goat, or a lamb, or a
sheep, etc. If he attain his object, he sacriﬁces the animal which
he has vowed at the tomb of the sheykh, and makes a feast with
its meat for any persons who may choose to attend. Having
given the animal to the saint, he thus gives to the latter the
merit of feeding the poor. Little kids are often vowed as future
sacriﬁces, and have the right ear slit, or are marked in some other
way. It is not uncommon, too, without any deﬁnite View but
that of obtaining general blessings, to make these vows, and
sometimes a peasant vows that he will sacriﬁce, for the sake of a
saint, a calf which he possesses, as soon as it is full grown and
fatted. It is let loose, by consent of all his neighbours, to pasture
where it will, even in ﬁelds of young wheat; and at last, after it
has been sacriﬁced, a public feast is made with its meat. Many a
large bull is thus given away.

Almost every celebrated saint deceased is honoured by an
anniversary birthday festival, which is called “ moolic,” or more
properly “molid.” On the occasions of such festivals many per-

SUPERSTITIONS. 249

sons visit the tomb, both as a duty and as a supposed means of
obtaining a special blessing; ﬁkees are hired to recite the Kur—an,
for the sake of the saint; fakeers often perform zikrs, and the
people living in the neighbourhood of the tomb hang lamps before
their doors, and devote half the night to such pleasures as those
of smoking, sipping coffee, and listening to story—tellers at the
coffee-shops, or to the recitals of the Kur—an and the zikrs. I have
now a cluster of lamps hanging before my door, in honour of the
moolid of a sheykh who is buried near the house in which I am
living. Even the native Christians often hang up lamps on these
occasions. The festivities often continue several days. The most
famous moolids celebrated in Cairo, next to that of the Prophet,
are those of the Hasaneyn and the seyyideh Zeyneb, accounts of
which will be found in a subsequent chapter on the periodical
public festivals, etc. , of the people of Egypt. Most of the Egyp-
tians not only expect a blessing to follow their visiting the tomb
of a celebrated saint, but they also dread that some misfortune
will befall them if they neglect this act. Thus, while I am writing
these lines, an acquaintance of mine is suffering from an illness
which he attributes to his having neglected, for the last two years,
to attend the festivals of the seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee, at Tanta,
this being the period of one of these festivals. The tomb of this
saint attracts almost as many visitors, at the periods of the great
annual festivals, from the metropolis, and from various parts of
Lower Egypt, as Mekkeh does pilgrims from the whole of the
Muslim world. Three moolids are celebrated in honour of him
every year—one, about the tenth of the Coptic month of Toobeh
(17th or 18th of January); the second, at or about the vernal
equinox; and the third, or great moolid, about a month after
the summer solstice (or about the middle of the Coptic month of
Ebeeb), when the Nile has risen considerably, but the dams of the
canals are not yet cut. Each lasts one week and a day, beginning
on a Friday, and ending on the afternoon of the next Friday ; and
on each night there is a display of ﬁreworks. One week after
each of these is celebrated the moolid of the seyyid Ibraheem Ed-
Dasookee, at the town of Dasook, on the east bank of the western
branch of the Nile. The seyyid Ibraheem was a very famous
saint, next in rank to the seyyid El-Bedawee. These moolids,

250 SUPERSTITIONS.

both of the seyyid El—Bedawee and of the seyyid Ibraheem, are
great fairs as well as religious festivals. At the latter, most of
the visitors remain in their boats; and some of the Saadeeyeh
darweeshes of Rasheed exhibit their feats with serpents—some
carrying serpents with silver rings in their mouths, to prevent
their biting ; others partly devouring these reptiles alive. The
religious ceremonies at both are merely zikrs, and recitals of the
Kur-an. It is customary among the Muslims, as it was among
the Jews, to rebuild, whitewash, and decorate the tombs of their
saints, and occasionally to put a new covering over the tarkeebeh
or taboot ; and many of them do this from the same pharisaic
motives which actuated the Jews. (See Matt. xxiii. 29.)

“ Darweeshes ” are very numerous in Egypt ,' and some of them
who conﬁne themselves to religious exercises, and subsist by alms,
are much respected in this country, particularly by the lower
orders. Various artiﬁces are employed by persons of this class to
obtain the reputation of superior sanctity, and of being endowed
with the power of performing miracles. Many of them are re-
garded as welees.

A direct descendant of Aboo-Bekr, the ﬁrst Khaleefeh, having
the title of “Esh-Sheykh el-Bekree,” and regarded as the repre-
sentative of that prince, holds authority over all orders of dar—
weeshes in Egypt. The present Sheykh el-Bekree, who is also
descended from the Prophet, is Nakeeb el-Ashraf, or chief of the
Shereefs. I may here add that the second Khaleefeh, Omar, has
likewise his representative, who is the sheykh of the ’Enaneeyeh
or Owlad ’Enan, an order of darweeshes so named from one of
their celebrated sheykhs, Ibn—7Enan. ’Osman has no representa-
tive, having left no issue. The representative of ’Alee is called
Sheykh es—Sadat, or Sheykh of the Seyyids or Shereefs—a title
of less importance than that of Nakeeb of the Shereefs. Each of
these three sheykhs is termed the occupant of the “seggadeh”
(or prayer-carpet) of his great ancestor. So also the sheykh of
an order of darweeshes is called the occupant of the seggadeh of
the founder of the order. The seggadeh is considered as the
spiritual throne. There are four great seggadehs of darweeshes
in Egypt, which are those of four great orders about to be men-
tioned.

SUPERSTITIONS. 251

The most celebrated orders of darweeshes in Egypt are the
following :—1. The “Rifa’eeyeh” (in the singular “Rifa’ee ”):
This order was founded by the seyyid Ahmad Rifa’ah El-Kebeer.
Its banners and the turbans of its members are black; or the
latter are of a very deep blue woollen stuff, or muslin of a very
dark greenish hue. The Rifa’ee darweeshes are celebrated for the
performance of many wonderful feats. The “’Ilwaneeyeh,” or
“ Owlad ’Ilwan,” who are a sect of the Rifa’ees, pretend to thrust
iron spikes into their eyes and bodies without sustaining any in-
jury; and in appearance they do this, in such a manner as to
deceive any person who can believe it possible for a man to do
such things in reality. They also break large masses of stone on
their chests, eat live coals, glass, etc. ; and are said to pass swords
completely through their bodies, and packing-needles through both
their cheeks, without suffering any pain or leaving any wound ,'
but such performances are now seldom witnessed. I am told that
it was a common practice for a darweesh of this order to hollow
out a piece of the trunk of a palm tree, ﬁll it with rags soaked
with oil and tar, then set ﬁre to these contents, and carry the
burning mass under his arm in a religious procession (wearing only
drawers), the ﬂames curling over his bare chest, back, and head,
and apparently doing him no injury. The “ Saadeeyeh,” an order
founded by the sheykh Saaded—Deen El-Gibawee, .are another
and more celebrated sect of the Rifa’ees. Their banners are
green, and their turbans of the same colour, or of the dark hue
of the Rifa’ees in general. There are many darweeshes of this
order who handle with impunity live venomous serpents, and
scorpions, and partly devour them. The serpents, however, they
render incapable of doing any injury by extracting their venomous
fangs; and doubtless they also deprive the scorpions of their
poison. On certain occasions (as, for instance, on that of the
festival of the birth of the Prophet) the sheykh of the Saadeeyeh
rides on horseback over the bodies of a number of his darweeshes
and other persons, who throw themselves on the ground for the
purpose; and all assert that they are not injured by the tread of
the horse. This ceremony is called the “doseh.” Many Rifa’ee
and Saadee darweeshes obtain their livelihood by going about to
charm away serpents from houses. Of the feats of these modern

252 SUPERSTZTIONS.

Psylli an account will be given in another chapter. 2. The
“Kadireeyeh,” an order founded by the famous seyyid ’Abd-El-
Kadir El-Geelanec. Their banners and turbans are white. Most
of the Kadireeyeh of Egypt are ﬁshermen; these, in religious pro-
cessions, carry upon poles nets of various colours (green, yellow,
red, white, etc), as the banners of their order. 3. The “Ahme-
deeyeh,” or order of the seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee, whom I have
lately mentioned. This is a very numerous and highly-respected
order. Their banners and turbans are red. The “Beiyoomee-
yeh” (founded by the seyyid ’Alee El-Beiyoomee), the “Shaara—
weeyeh” (founded by the sheykh Esh-Shaarawee), the “Shinna-
weeyeh ” (founded by the seyyid ’Alee Esh-Shinnawec), and many
other orders, are sects of the Ahmedeeyeh. The Shinnaweeyeh
train an ass to perform a strange part in the ceremonies of the
last day of the moolid of their great patron saint, the seyyid
Ahmad El-Bedawee, at Tanta. The ass, of its own accord, enters
the mosque of the seyyid, proceeds to the tomb, and there stands,
while multitudes crowd around it, and each person who can ap-
proach near enough to it plucks off some of its hair, to use as a
charm, until the skin of the poor beast is as bare as the palm of a
man’s hand. There is another sect of the Ahmedeeyeh, called
“Owlad Nooh,” all young men, who wear “tartoors” (or high
caps), with a tuft of pieces of various coloured cloth on the top,
wooden swords, and numerous strings of beads, and carry a kind of
whip (called “ ﬁrkilleh ”), a thick twist of cords. 4. The “ Bara-
himeh ” or “ Burhameeyeh,” the order of the seyyid Ibraheem Ed-
Dasookee, whose moolid has been mentioned above. Their banners
and turbans are green. There are many other classes of darweeshes,
some of whom are sects of one or other of the above orders. Among
the more celebrated of them are the “ Hefnaweeyeh,” the “ ’Afee—
feeyeh,” the “Demirdasheeyeh,” the “Nakshibendeeyeh,” the “139k-
reeyeh,” and the “ Leyseeyeh.”

It is impossible to become acquainted with all the tenets, rules,
and ceremonies of the darweeshes, as many of them, like those of
the freemasons, are not to be divulged to the uninitiated. A dar-
weesh with whom I am acquainted thus described to me his taking
the “ ’ahd,” or initiatory covenant, which is nearly the same in all
the orders. He was admitted by the sheykh of the Demirda-

SUPERSTITJONS. 253

sheeyeh. Having ﬁrst performed the ablution preparatory to
prayer (the wudoo), he seated himself upon the ground before the
sheykh, who was seated in like manner. The sheykh and he (the
“mureed,” or candidate) then clasped their right hands together
in the manner which I have described as practised in making the
marriage-contract. In this attitude, and with their hands covered ’
hy the sleeve of the, sheykh, the candidate took the covenant, re-
peating after the sheykh the following words, commencing with
the form of a common oath of repentance :——“ I beg forgiveness of
God, the Great ” (three times); “than whom there is no other
deity; the Living, the Everlasting. I turn to him with repentance,
and beg his grace, and forgiveness, and exemption from the ﬁre.”
The sheykh then said to him, “ Dost thou turn to God with re-
pentance?” He replied, “I do turn to God with repentance;
and I return unto God ; and I am grieved for what I have done
[amiss], and I'determine not to relapse ”—and then repeated, after
the sheykh, “I beg for the favour of God, the Great, and the
noble Prophet; and I take as my sheykh, and my guide unto God
(whose name be exalted), my master ’Abd Er-Raheem Ed-Demir—
dashee El-Khalwet’ee Er—Rifa’ee En—Nebawee ;~ not to change,
nor to separate; and God is our witness. By God, the Great 1”
(this oath was repeated three times) ; “there is no deity but God”
(this also was repeated three times). The sheykh and the mureed
then recited the Fat’hah together, and the latter concluded the
ceremony by kissing the sheykh’s hand.

The religious exercises of the darweeshes chieﬂy consist in the
performance of zikrs. Sometimes standing in the form of a cir-
cular or oblong ring, or in two rows, facing each other, and some-
times sitting, they exclaim, or chant, “ La ilaha illa-llah ” (“There
is no deity but God ”), or, “Allah ! Allah I Allah 1 ” (“God I God 1
God! ”), or repeat other invocations, etc, over and over again, until
their strength is almost exhausted, accompanying their ejaculations
or chants with a motion of the head, or of the whole body, or of
the arms. From long habit they are able to continue these exer-
cises for a surprising length of time without intermission. They
are often accompanied at intervals by one or more players upon
a kind of ﬂute called a “nay,” or a double reed-pipe called “ar-
ghool,” and by persons singing religious odes; and some darweeshes

254 SUPERSTITIONS.

use a little drum, called “ baz,” or a tambourine, during their zikrs.
Some also perform a peculiar dance, the description of which, as
well as of several different zikrs, I reserve for future chapters.
Some of the rites of darweeshes (as forms of prayer, modes of
zikr, etc.) are observed only by particular orders ; others, by mem-
bers of various orders. Among the latter may be mentioned the
rites of the “Khalwet’ees” and “Shazilees,” two great classes,
each of which has its sheykh. The chief difference between these
is that each has its particular form of prayer to repeat every
morning, and that the former distinguish themselves by occasional
seclusion ; whence their appellation of Khalwet’ees. The prayer
of this class is repeated before daybreak, and is called “wird es-
sahar ; ” that of the Shazilees, which is called “ hezb esh-Shazilee,”
after daybreak. Sometimes a Khalwet’ee enters a solitary cell,
and remains in it forty days and nights, fasting from daybreak till
sunset the whole of this period. Sometimes also a number of the
same class conﬁne themselves, each in a separate cell, in the se-
pulchral mosque of the sheykh Ed-Demirdashee, on the, north of
Cairo, and remain there three days and nights, on the occasion of
the moolid of that saint, and only eat a little rice, and drink a
cup of sherbet in the evening. They employ themselves in repeat-
ing certain forms of prayer, etc., not imparted to the uninitiated,
only coming out of their cells to unite in the ﬁve daily prayers in
the mosque, and never answering any one who speaks to them but
by saying, “There is no deity but God.” Those who observe the
forty days’ fast, and seclucle themselves during that long period,
practise nearly the same rules, and employ their time in repeating
the testimony of the faith, imploring forgiveness, praising God, etc.
Almost all the darweeshes of Egypt are tradesmen or artisans
or agriculturists, and only occasionally assist in the rites and
ceremonies of their respective orders. But there are some who
have no other occupations than those of performing zikrs at the
festivals of saints and at private entertainments, and of chanting
in funeral processions. These are termed “fukara,” or “fakeers,”
which is an appellation given also to the poor in general, but
especially to poor devotees. Some obtain their livelihood as
water—carriers, by supplying the passengers in the streets of Cairo
and the visitors at religious festivals with water, which they carry

SUPERSTZTIONS. 25 5

in an earthen vessel, or a goat’s skin on the back. A few lead
a wandering life, and subsist on alms, which they often demand
with great importunacy and eﬁ'rontery. Some of these distinguish
themselves in the same manner as certain reputed saints before
mentioned, by the “dilk,” or coat of patches, and the staff with
shreds of cloth of different colours attached to the top 3 others
wear fantastic dresses of various descriptions.

Some Rifa’ee darweeshes (besides those who follow the occupa~
tion of charming away serpents from houses) pursue a wandering
life, travelling about Egypt, and proﬁting by a ridiculous supersti-
tion which I must here mention. A venerated saint called See
Da-ood El—’Azab (or Master David the Bachelor), who lived at
Tefahineh, a village in Lower Egypt, had a calf, which always
attended him, brought him water, etc. Since his death, some
Rifa’ee darweeshes have been in the habit of rearing a number,
of calves at his native place or burial-place above named, teach-
ing them to walk upstairs, to lie down at command, etc., and then
going about the country, each with his calf, to obtain alms. The
calf is called “’Egl El-’Azab” (the Calf of El-’Azab, or of the
Bachelor). I once called into my house one of these darweeshes,
with his calf, the only one I have seen. It was a buffalo calf, and
had two bells suspended t0 it—one attached to a collar round its
neck, and the other to a girth round its body. It walked up the
stairs very well, but showed that it had not been very well trained
in every respect. The ’Egl El-’Azab is vulgarly believed to bring
into the house a blessing from the saint after whom it is called.

There are numerous wandering Turkish and Persian darweeshes
in Egypt, and to these, more than to the few Egyptian darweeshes
who lead a similar life, must the character for impudence and
importunacy be ascribed. Very often, particularly in Ramadan,
a foreign darweesh goes to the mosque of the Hasaneyn, which is
that most frequented by the Turks and Persians, at the time of the
Friday-prayers, and when the Khateeb is reciting the ﬁrst khut-
beh, passes between the ranks of persons who are sitting upon the
ﬂoor, and places before each a little slip of paper, upon which are
written a few words, generally exhortative to charity (as “ He who
giveth alms will be provided for ”—“The poor darweesh asketh
an. aims,” etc.) ; by which proceeding he usually obtains from each,

256 SUPERSTITIOZVS.

or almost every person, a piece of ﬁve or ten faddahs, or more.
Many of the Persian darweeshes in Egypt carry an oblong bowl
of cocoanut or wood or metal, in which they receive their alms
and put their food, and a wooden spoon ; and vmost of the foreign
darweeshes wear dresses peculiar to their respective orders. They
are chieﬂy distinguished by the cap. The most common description
of cap is of a sugar-loaf or conical shape, and made of felt. The
other articles of dress are generally a vest and full drawers or
trousers, or a shirt and belt, and a coarse cloak or long coat.
The Persians here all affect to be Sunnees. The Turks are the
more intrusive of the two classes.

Here I may mention another superstition of the Egyptians,
and of the Arabs in general—namely, their belief that birds and
beasts have a language by which they communicate their thoughts
to each other, and celebrate the praises of God.

' CHAPTER XI.

SUPERSTITIONS

 

(CONTI N U ED).

ONE of the most remarkable traits in modern Egyptian super-
stition is the belief in written charms. The composition of most
of these amulets is founded upon magic, and occasionally employs
the pen of almost every village schoolmaster in Egypt. A person
of this profession, however, seldoms pursues the study of magic
further than to acquire the formulae of a few charms, most com—
monly consisting, for the greater part, of certain passages of the
Kur—an, and names of God, together with those of angels, genii,
prophets, or eminent saints, intermixed with combinations of nu-
merals, and with diagrams, all of which are supposed to have great
secret virtues.

The most esteemed of all “ hegabs” (or charms) is a “ mus—haf ”
(or copy of the Kur-an). It used to be the general custom of the
Turks of the middle and higher orders, and of many other Mus-
lims, to wear a small mus—haf in an embroidered leather or velvet
case, hung upon the right side by a silk string, which passed over
the left shoulder. But this custom is not now very common.

SUPERSTITIONS. 257

During my former visit to this country, a respectable Turk, in the
military dress, was seldom seen without a case of this description
upon his side, though it often contained no hegab. The mus-hat
and other hegabs are still worn by many women, generally enclosed
in cases of gold, or of gilt or plain silver. To the former, and to
many other charms, most extensive efﬁcacy is attributed , they are
esteemed preservatives against disease, enchantment, the evil eye,
and a variety of other evils. The charm next in point of estima-
tion to the mus—haf is a book or scroll containing certain chapters
of the Kur-an, as the 6th, 18th, 36th, 44th, 55th, 67th, and 78th,
or some others, generally seven. Another charm, which is be-
lieved to protect the wearer (who usually places it within his cap)
from the devil and all evil genii, and many other objects of fear,
is a piece of paper inscribed with the following passages from the
Kur—én :~—“ And the preservation of both [heaven and earth] is no
burden unto Him. He is the High, the Great” (chap. ii., ver. 256).
“But God is the best protector; and he is the most merciful of
those who show mercy” (chap. xii, ver. 64). “They watch him
by the command of God” (chap. xiii, ver. 12). “And we guard
them from every devil driven away with stones ” (chap. xv., ver.
17). “And a guard against every rebellious devil” (chap. xxxvii.,
ver. 7). “And a guard. This is the decree of the Mighty, the
Wise” (chap. lxi., ver. 11). “And God encompasseth them be-
hind. Verily it is a glorious Kur—an, [written] on a preserved
tablet” (chap. lxxxv., ver. 20, 21, 22). The ninety-nine names
or epithets of God, comprising all the divine attributes, if fre—
quently repeated, and written on a paper, and worn on the person,
are supposed to make the wearer a particular object for the exer-
cise of all the beneﬁcent attributes. In like manner it is believed
that the ninety-nine names, or titles, etc., of the Prophet, written
upon anything, compose a charm which (according to his own as-
sertion, as recorded by his cousin and son-in-law the Imam ’Alee)
will, if placed in a house, and frequently read from beginning to
end, keep away every misfortune, pestilence, and all diseases, in-
ﬁrmity, the envious eye, enchantment, burning, ruin, anxiety,
grief, and trouble. After repeating each of these names, the
Bluslim adds, “ God favour and preserve him !”20 Similar virtues

are ascribed to a charm composed of the names of the " As—hz’rb el-
(440) j 7

2 58 _ S UPERS TI TI 0N5.

Kahf ” (or Companions of the Cave, also called the Seven Sleepers),
together with the name of their dog. These names are sometimes
engraved in the bottom of a drinking-cup, and more commonly on
the round tray of tinned copper which, placed on a stool, forms
the table for dinner, supper, etc. Another charm, supposed to
have similar efﬁcacy, is composed of the names of those paltry
articles of property which the Prophet left at his decease. These
relics were two “ sebhahs” (or rosaries), his “mus-haf” (in unar-
ranged‘ fragments), his “ muk-hulz’th” (or the vessel in which he
kept the black powder with which he painted the edges of his eye-
lids), two “seggadehs” (or prayer~carpets), a hand-mill, a staff, a
tooth-stick, a suit of clothes, the ewer which he used in ablution, a
pair of sandals, a “ burdeh ” (or a kind of woollen covering), three

  

CHARMS.

  

mats, a coat of mail, a long woollen coat, his white mule “ed-
duldul,” and his she—camel “ el-’adba.” Certain verses of the Kur-
an are also written upon slips of paper, and worn upon the person
as safeguards against various evils, and to procure restoration to
health, love and friendship, food, etc. These and other charms,
enclosed in cases of gold, silver, tin, leather, or silk, etc, are worn
by many of the modern Egyptians, men, women, and children.

It is very common to see children in this country with a charm
against the evil eye, enclosed in a case, generally of a triangular
form, attached to the top of the cap ,' and horses often have
similar appendages. The Egyptians take many precautions
against the evil eye, and anxiously endeavour to avert its
imagined consequences. When a person expresses what is con-
sidered improper or envious admiration of anything, he is generally

SUPERSTZTIONS. 259

. reproved by the individual whom he has thus alarmed, who says
to him, “Bless the Prophet!” and if the envier obeys, saying,
“0 God, favour him 1” no ill effects are apprehended. It is con-
sidered very improper for a person to express his admiration of
another, or of any object whichis not his own property, by
saying, “God preserve us!” “How pretty!” or, “ Very pretty!”
The most approved expression in such cases is “Ma shaa-llah ! ”
(or “What God willeth [cometh to pass] 1 ”), which implies both
admiration and submission to, or approval of, the will of God. A
person who has exclaimed “ How pretty 1” or used similar words,
is often desired to say rather, “ Ma shaa-llah l” as well as to bless
the Prophet. In the second chapter of this work a remarkable
illustration has been given of the fear which mothers in Egypt
entertain of the effect of the evil eye upon their children. It is
the custom in this country, when a person takes the child of

another into his arms, to say, “In the name of God, the Com-
passionate, the Merciful ! ” and, “ O God, favour our lord Moham—
mad!” and then to add, “Ma shaa-llahl” It is also a common
custom of the people of Egypt, when admiring a child, to say, “I
seek refuge with the Lord of the Day—break for thee ! ” alluding to
the Chapter of the Day—break (the 113th chapter of the Kur—an),
in the end of which protection is implored against the mischief
of the envious. The parents, when they see a person stare at
or seem to envy their young offspring, sometimes cut off a piece
of the skirts of his clothes, burn it with a little salt (to which
some add coriander-seed, alum, etc. ), and fumigate with the smoke
and sprinkle with the ashes the child or children. This, it is said,
should be done a little before sunset, when the sun becomes red.

Alum is very generally used, in the following manner, by the
people of Egypt, to counteract the effects of the evil eye. A piece
of about the size of a walnut is placed upon burning coals, and
left until it has ceased to bubble. This should be done a short
time before sunset; and the person who performs the operation
should repeat three times, while the alum is burning, the ﬁrst
chapter of the Kur-an, and the last three chapters of the same,
all of which are very short. On taking the alum off the ﬁre, it
will be found (we are told) to have assumed the form of the person
whose envy or malice has given occasion for this process: it is

26o SUPERSTZTIONS.

then to be pounded, put into some food, and given to a black dog
to be eaten. I have once seen this done, by a maniwho suspected
his wife of having looked upon him with an evil eye , and in this
case the alum did assume a form much resembling that of a
woman, in what the man declared was a peculiar posture in which
his wife was accustomed to sit. But the shape which the alum
takes depends almost entirely on the disposition of the coals, and
can hardly be such that the imagination may not see in it some
resemblance to a human being. Another supposed mode of
obviating the effects of the envious eye is to prick a paper with
a needle, saying at the same time, “ This is the eye of such a one,
the envier;” and then to burn the paper. Alum is esteemed a
very efﬁcacious charm against the evil eye: sometimes a small,
ﬂat piece of it, ornamented with tassels, is hung to the top of a
child’s cap. A tassel of little shells and beads is also used in the
same manner, and for the same purpose. The small shells called
cowries are especially considered preservatives against the evil eye,
and hence, as well as, for the sake of ornament, they are often
attached to the trappings of camels, horses, and other animals, and
sometimes to the caps of children. Such appendages are evidently
meant to attract the eye to themselves, and so to prevent observa-
tion and envy of the object which they are designed to protect.

To counteract the effects of the evil eye, many persons in
Egypt, but mostly women, make use of What is called “mey’ah
mubarakah” (or blessed storax), which is a mixture of various
ingredients that will be mentioned below, prepared and sold only
during the ﬁrst ten days of the month of Moharram. During
this period we often see in the streets of Cairo men carrying
about this mixture of mey’ah, etc., for sale, and generally crying
some such words as the following: “Mey’ah mubarakah! A
new year and blessed ’A/shooral The most blessed of years
[may this be] to the believers! Ya mey’ah mubarakahl” The
man who sells it bears upon his head a round tray, covered with
different coloured sheets of paper——red, yellow, etc—upon which
is placed the valuable mixture. In the middle is a large heap of
“tiﬂ” (or refuse) of a dark reddish material for'dyeing, mixed
with a little “mey’ah” (or storax), coriander-seed, and seed of
the fennel~ﬂowe‘r. Round this large heap are smaller heaps: one

SUPERSTITIONS. 261

consisting of salt dyed blue with indigo ; another, of salt dyed red ;
a third, of salt dyed yellow; a fourth, of “sheeh” (a kind of
wormwood) ; a ﬁfth, of dust of “liban” (or frankincense). These
are all the ingredients of the mey’ah mubarakah. The seller
is generally called into the house of the purchaser. Having
placed his tray before him, and received a plate or a piece of
paper in which to put the quantity to be purchased, he takes a
little from one heap, then from another, then from a third, and so
on, until he has taken some from each heap 5 after which, again
and again, he takes an additional quantity from each kind. While
he does this he chants a long spell, generally commencing thus:
“ In the name of God! and by God! There is no conqueror that
conquereth God, the Lord of the East and the West: we are all
his servants: we must acknowledge his unity: his unity is an
illustrious attribute.” After some words on the virtues of salt,
he proceeds to say: “ I charm thee from the eye of girl, sharper
than a spike 5 and from the eye of woman, sharper than a pruning-
knife; and from the eye of boy, more painful than a Whip ; and
from the eye of man, sharper than a chopping-knife ;” and so on.
Then he relates how Solomon deprived the evil eye of its in-
ﬂuence, and afterwards enumerates every article of property
that the house is likely to contain, and that the person who pur-
chases his wonderful mixture may be conjectured to possess, all
of which he charms against the inﬂuence of the eye. Many of
the expressions which he employs in this spell are very ridiculous,
words being introduced merely for the sake of rhyme. The mey’ah
mubarakah, a handful of which may be purchased for ﬁve faddahs,
is treasured up by the purchaser during the ensuing year; and
whenever it is feared that a child or other person is affected by
the evil eye, a little of it is thrown upon some burning coals in
a chaﬁng-dish, and the smoke which results is genfrally made to
ascend upon the supposed sufferer.

It is a custom among the higher and middle classes in Cairo,
0n the occasion of a marriage, to hang chandeliers in the street
before the bridegroom’s house; and it often happens that a crowd
is collected to see a very large and handsome chandelier sus-
pended: in this case it is a common practice to divert the atten—
tion of the spectators by throwing down and breaking a large jar,

262 SUPERSTITIONS.

or by some other artiﬁce, lest an envious eye should cause the
chandelier to fall. Accidents which conﬁrm the Egyptians in
their superstitions respecting the evil eye often occur : for instance,
a friend of mine has just related to me that a short time ago he
saw a camel carrying two very large jars of oil 3 a woman stopped
before it, and exclaimed, “God preserve us! What large jars!”
The conductor of the camel did not tell her to bless the Prophet;
and the camel, a few minutes after, fell, and broke both the jars
and one of its own legs.

While writing these notes on modern Egyptian superstitions, I
have been amused by a complaint of one of my Masree [Caireen]
friends, which will serve to illustrate what I have just stated. “The
Basha,” he said, “having, a few days ago, given up his monopoly
of the meat, the butchers now slaughter for their own shops 3 and
it is quite shocking to see ﬁne sheep hung up in the streets, quite
whole, tail and all, before the public eye, so that every beggar who
passes by envies them; and one might, therefore, as well eat poison
as such meat.” My cook has made the same complaint to me ; and
rather than purchase from one of the shops near at hand, takes the
trouble of going to one in a distant quarter, kept by a man who
conceals his meat from the view of the passengers in the street.

Many of the tradesmen of the metropolis, and of other towns
of Egypt, place over their shops (generally upon the hanging
shutter which is turned up in front) a paper inscribed with the
name of God, or that of the Prophet, or both, or the profession of
the faith (“There is no deity but God: Mohammad is God’s
Apostle”), the words, “In the name of God, the Compassionate,
the Merciful,” or some maxim of the Prophet, or a verse of the
Kur-an (as, “Verily we have granted thee a manifest victory 7’
[ch. xlviii., ver. 1], and “Assistance from God, and a speedy vic—
tory; and do thou bear good tidings to the believers” [ch. lxi.,
ver. 13]), or an invocation to the Deity, such as, “ 0 Thou Opener
[of the doors of prosperity, or subsistence]! 0 Thou Wise! 0
Thou Supplier of our wants! 0 Thou Bountiful!” This invo-
cation is often pronounced by the tradesman when he ﬁrst opens
his shop in the morning, and by the pedestrian vendor of small
commodities, bread, vegetables, etc., when he sets out on his
daily rounds. It is a custom also among the lower orders to put

SUPERSTITIONS. 263

the ﬁrst piece of money that they receive in the day to the lips
and forehead before putting it in the pocket.

Besides the inscriptions over shops, we often see in Cairo the
invocation “O God l” sculptured ov‘er the door of a private
house, and the words “The Excellent Creator is the Everlasting,”
or, “He is the Excellent Creator, the Everlasting,” painted in
large characters upon the door, both as a charm and to remind
the master of the house, whenever he enters it, of his own mor-
tality. These words are often inscribed upon the door of a house
when its former master, and many or all of its former inhabitants,
have been removed by death.

The most approved mode of charming away sickness or disease
is to write certain passages of the Kur-an on the inner surface of
an earthenware cup or bowl; then to pour in some water, and
stir it until the writing is quite washed oﬂ‘ ; when the water, with
the sacred words thus infused in it, is to be drunk by the patient.
These words are as follow: “And he will heal the breasts of the
people who believe ” (chap. iX., ver. 14). “0 men, now hath an
admonition come unto you from your Lord, and a remedy for what
is in your breasts ” (chap. X., ver. 58). “Wherein is a remedy
for men” (chap. xvi, ver. 71). “We send down, of the Kur-an,
that which is a remedy and mercy to the believers” (chap. xvii,
ver. 84). “And when I am sick he healeth me ” (chap. xxii., ver.
80). “Say, It is, to those who believe, a guide and a remedy ”
(chap. xli., ver. 44). Four of these verses, notwithstanding they
are thus used, refer not to diseases of the body but of the
mind; and another (the third) alludes to the virtues of honey!
On my applying to my sheykh (or tutor) to point out to me in
what chapters these verses were to be found, he begged me not to
translate them into my own language, because the translation of
the Kur-an, unaccompanied by the original text, is prohibited:
not that he Seemed ashamed of the practice of employing these
words as a charm, and did not wish my countrymen to be in—
formed of the custom ; for he expressed his full belief in their
efﬁcacy, even in the case of an inﬁdel patient, provided he had
proper conﬁdence in their virtue. “Seeing,” he observed, “that
the Prophet (God favour and preserve him!) has said, ‘If thou
conﬁde in God with true conﬁdence, he will sustain thee as he

264 SUPERSTITIONS.

sustaineth the birds.’ ”

I silenced his scruples on the subject of
translating these verses by telling him that we had an English
translation of the whole of the Kur-an. Sometimes, for the cure
of diseases, and to counteract poisons, etc, a draught of water
from a metal cup, having certain passages of the Kur-an and
talismanic characters and ﬁgures engraved in the interior, is
administered to the patient. I have a cup of this description,
lately given to me here (in Cairo), much admired by my Muslim
acquaintances. On the exterior is an inscription enumerating its
virtues: it is said to possess charms that will counteract all
poisons, etc., and the evil eye, and cure “all sicknesses and
diseases, excepting the sickness of death.” I have seen here
another cup which appeared to have been exactly similar to that
above mentioned, but its inscriptions were partly effaced. The
secret virtues of the Kur-an are believed to be very numerous.
One day on my refusing to eat of a dish that I feared would do
me harm, I was desired to repeat the Soorat Kureysh (106th
chapter of the Kur-an) to the end of the words “ supplieth them
with food against hunger,” and to repeat these last words three
times. This, I was assured, would be a certain preventive of any
harm that I might have feared.

There are various things which are regarded in the same light
as written charms—such as dust from the tomb of the Prophet,
water from the sacred well of Zemzem in the Temple of Mekkeh,
and pieces of the black brocade covering of the Kaabeh.21 The
water of Zemzem is much valued for the purpose of sprinkling
upon grave-clothes. An Arab to Whom I had given some medicine
which had been beneﬁcial to him, in the Sa’eed, during my former
visit to this country, heard me inquire for some Zemzem water
(as several boats full of pilgrims on their return from Mekkeh
were coming down the Nile), and perhaps thought, from my
making this inquiry, that I was a pious Muslim: accordingly, to
show his gratitude to me, he gave me what I was seeking to
obtain. Having gone to the house of a friend, he returned to
my boat, bringing a small bundle, which he opened before me.
“Here,” said he, “are some things which I know you will value
highly. Here are two tin ﬂasks of the water of Zemzem : one of
them you shall have ; you may keep it to sprinkle your grave-

SUPERSTITIONS. 265

clothing with it. This is a ‘ miswak ’ (a tooth-stick) dipped in the
water of Zemzem ,- accept it from me. Clean your teeth with
it, and they will never ache nor decay. And here,” he added
(showing me three small oblong and ﬂat cakes of a kind of
grayish earth, each about an inch in length, and stamped with
Arabic characters, “In the name of God! Dust of our land
[mixed] with the saliva of some of us”), “these are composed of
earth from over the grave of the Prophet (God favour and preserve
him l). I purchased them myself in the noble tomb, on my return
from the pilgrimage. One of them I give to you—you will ﬁnd
it a cure for every disease ; the second I shall keep for myself ,-
the third we will eat together.” Upon this he broke in halves
one of the three cakes; and we each ate our share. I agreed
with him (though I had read the inscription) that it was delicious ;
and I gladly accepted his presents. I was afterwards enabled to
make several additions to my Mekkeh curiosities, comprising a
piece of the covering of the Kaabeh, brought from Mekkeh by
the sheykh Ibraheem (Burckhardt), and given to me by his legatee
Osman. A cake composed of dust from the Prophet’s tomb is
sometimes sewed up in a leather case and worn as an amulet.
It is also formed into lumps of the shape and size of a small pear,
and hung to the railing or screen which surrounds the monument
over the grave of a saint, or to the monument itself, or to the
windows or door of the apartment which contains it.

So numerous are the charms which the Egyptians employ to
insure good fortune, or to prevent or remove evils of every kind,
and so various are the superstitious practices to which they have
recourse with these views, that a large volume would scarcely
sufﬁce to describe them in detail. These modes of endeavouring
to obtain good and to avoid or dispel evil, when they are not
founded upon religion or magic or astrology, are termed matters
of “’ilm er—rukkeh,” or the science of the distaff‘ (that is, of the
women) ; which designation is given to imply their absurdity, and
because women are the persons who most conﬁde in them. This
term is considered by some as a vulgar corruption of “’ilm
er—rukyeh,” or “the science of enchantment_;” by others it is
supposed to be substituted for the latter term by way of a
pun. Some practices of the nature just described have already

266 SUPERSTITIONS.

been incidentally mentioned ,' I shall only give a few other
specimens. ,

It is a very common custom in Cairo to hang an aloe plant
over the door of a house, particularly over that of a new house,
or over a door newly built; and this is regarded as a charm to
insure long and ﬂourishing lives to the inmates, and long con-
tinuance to the house itself. The women also believe that the
Prophet visits the house where this plant is suspended. The aloe,
thus hung without earth or water, will live for several years, and
even blossom. Hence it is called “sabr,” which signiﬁes “patience.”

When any evil is apprehended from a person, it is customary
to break a piece of pottery behind his back. This is also done
with the view of preventing further intercourse with such a person.

As ophthalmia is very prevalent in Egypt, the ignorant people
of this country resort to many ridiculous practices of a super-
stitious nature for its cure. Some for this purpose take a piece
of dried mud from the bank of the Nile at or near Boolak, the
principal port of Cairo, and crossing the river deposit it on the
opposite bank, at Imbabeh. This is considered sufﬁcient to insure
a cure. Others, with the same view, hang to the head—dress, over
the forehead or over the diseased eye, a Venetian sequin; but
it must be one of a particular description, in which the ﬁgures on
each side correspond, head to head and feet to feet. Yet if a
person having a Venetian sequin or a dollar in his pocket enter
the room of one who is suffering from ophthalmia, or fever, his
presence is thought to aggravate the complaint. It is also a
general belief here that if an individual in a state of religious
uncleanness enter a room in which is a person afﬂicted with
ophthalmia, the patient’s disease will consequently be aggravated,
and that a speck will appear in one or each of his eyes. A man
with whom I am acquainted has, at the time I write this, just
come out of a room in which he had conﬁned himself, while
suffering from ophthalmia, for about three months, from this fear 5
never allowing any person to enter—his servant always placing
his food outside the door. He has, however, come out with a
speck in one of his eyes.

Another practice, which is often adopted in similar cases, but
mostly by women, and frequently with the view of preventing

S UPERSTITIONS. ’ 26 7

barrenness, is very singular and disgusting. The large open place
called the Rumeyleh, on the west of the citadel of Cairo, is a
common scene of the execution of criminals ; and the decapitation
of persons convicted of capital offences in the metropolis was
formerly almost always performed there rather than in any other
part of the town. On the south of this place is a. building called
“Maghsil es-Sultan,” or the Sultan’s washing-place for the dead,
where is a table of stone, upon which the body of every person
who is decapitated is washed, previously to its burial, and there
is a trough to receive the water, which is never poured out, but
remains tainted with the blood, and fetid. Many a woman goes
thither, and for the cure of ophthalmia, or to obtain offspring,
or to expedite delivery in the case of a protracted pregnancy,
without speaking (for silence is deemed absolutely necessary),
passes under the stone table above mentioned, with the left foot
foremost, and then over it 3 and does this seven times; after
which she washes her face with the polluted water that is in the
trough, and gives ﬁve or ten faddahs to an old man and his wife
who keep the place; then goes away, still without speaking.
Men, in the case of ophthalmia, often do the same. The Maghsil
is‘said to have been built by the famous Beybars before he be-
came Sultan, in consequence of his observing that the remains of
persons decapitated in Cairo were often kicked about, and buried
without being previously washed.

Some women step over the body of a decapitated man seven
times, without speaking, to become pregnant ; and some, with the
same desire, dip in the blood a piece of cotton wool, of which they
afterwards make use in a manner I must decline mentioning.

A ridiculous ceremony is practised for the cure of a pimple on
the edge of the eyelid, or what we commonly call a “stye,” and
which is termed in Egypt “shahhateh,” a word which literally
signiﬁes “a female beggar.” The person affected with it goes to
any seven women of the name of Fat’meh, in seven different
houses, and begs from each of them a morsel of bread ; these
seven morsels constitute the remedy. Sometimes, in a similar
case, and for the same purpose,‘a person goes out before sunrise,
and without speaking walks round several tombs from right to
left, which is the reverse of the regular course made in visiting ‘

268 S UPERST Y T] 0N5.

tombs. Another supposed mode of cure in a case of the same
kind is to bind a bit of cotton on the end of a stick, then to dip
it in one of the troughs out of which the dogs drink in the streets
of Cairo, and to wipe the eye with it. The patient isithus careful
to preserve his hand from the polluted water when he is about
to apply this to another part of his person.

As an imaginary cure for ague, some of the women of Egypt
(I mean those of the Muslim faith) hang to their necks the ﬁnger
of a Christian or Jew, cut off a corpse and dried. This and
other practices mentioned before are striking proofs of the de-
grading eﬂ‘ects of superstition, and of its powerful inﬂuence over
the mind ; for in general the Muslims are scrupulously careful
to conform with that precept of their religion which requires them
to abstain from everything polluting or unclean.

When a child is unable to walk after having attained the age
when it is usual to begin to do so, it is a common custom for the
mother to bind its feet together with a palm leaf tied in three
knots, and to place it at the door of a mosque during the period
when the congregation are engaged in performing the Friday prayers.
When the prayers are ended, she asks the ﬁrst, second, and third
persons who come out of the mosque to untie each a knot of the
palm leaf; and then carries the child home, conﬁdent that this i
ceremony will soon have the effect of enabling the little one to walk.

There are several pretended antidotes for poison, and remedies
for certain diseases, to which the Egyptians often have recourse,
and which may perhaps have some efﬁcacy ; but superstition
attributes to them incredible Virtues. The bezoar-stone is used
as an antidote for poison, by rubbing it in a cup with a little
water 3 the cup is then ﬁlled with water, which the patient drinks.
In the same manner, and for the same purpose, a cup made of
the horn of the rhinoceros is used ; a piece of the same material
(the horn) is rubbed in it. As a cure for the jaundice, many
persons in Cairo drink the water of a well in this city, called
“beer el-yarakan,” or “ the well of the jaundice.” It is the
property of an old woman, who reaps considerable advantage
from it; for it has two mouths, under one of which is a dry
receptacle for anything that may be thrown down, and the old '
woman desires the persons who come to use the medicinal water

SUPERSTITIONS. _ 269

to drop through this mouth whatever she happens to be in need
of—as sugar, coffee, etc. _

The Muslims have recourse to many superstitious practices to
determine them when they are in doubt as to any action which
they contemplate—whether they shall do it or not. Some apply
for an answer to a table called a “za'l‘rgeh.” There is a table
of this kind ascribed to Idrees, or Enoch. It is divided into a
hundred little squares, in each of which is written some Arabic
letter. The person who consults it repeats three times the open-
ing chapter of the Kur-an, and the 59th verse of the Soorat e1-
An’am (or 6th chapter)—“ With Him are the keys of the secret
things: none knoweth them but he: and he knoweth whatever
is on the land and [what is] in the sea: and there falleth not a
leaf but he knoweth it, nor a grain in the dark parts of the earth,
nor a moist thing nor a dry thing, but [it is noted] in a distinct
writing.” Having done this, without looking directly at the table,
he places his ﬁnger upon it ; he then looks to see upon what letter
his ﬁnger is placed, writes that letter, the ﬁfth following it, the ﬁfth
following this, and so on, until he comes again to the ﬁrst which
he wrote 3 and these letters together compose the answer. The
construction of the table may be shown by translating it, thus——

 

270 SUPERSTITIOZVS

For an example, suppose the ﬁnger to be placed on the letter e
in the sixth line: we take from the table the letters enjoypeace
abstainand, which compose this sentence— “ Abstain, and
enjoy peace ;” the sentence always commencing with the ﬁrst of
the letters taken from the uppermost line. It will be seen that
thevtable gives only ﬁve answers; and that, if we proceed as
above directed, we must obtain one of these answers with what-
ever letter of the table we commence. It will also be observed
that the framer of the table, knowing that men very frequently
wish to do what is wrong, and seldom to do what is right, and
that it is generally safer for them to abstain when in doubt, has
given but one afﬁrmative answer and four negative.

Some persons have recourse to the Kur-an for an answer to
their doubts. This they call making an “istikharah,” or appli-
cation for the favour of Heaven, or for direction in the right
course. Repeating three times the opening chapter, the 112th
chapter, and the verse above quoted, they let the book fall open,
or open it at random, and from the seventh line of the right—hand
page draw their answer. The words often will not convey a
direct answer, but are taken as afﬁrmative or negative according
as their general tenor is good or bad—promising a blessing or
denouncing a threat, etc. Instead of reading the seventh line
of this page, some count the number of the letters “kha” and

’ )7

“sheen ” which occur in the Whole page, and if the “khas pre-
dominate, the inference is favourable: “kha ” represents “ kheyr,”
or “ good 3” “ sheen,” “ sharr,” or “ evil.”

There is another mode of istikharah, which is to take hold
of any two points of a “sebhah ” (or rosary), after reciting the
Fat’hah three times, and then to count the beads between these
two points, saying, in passing the ﬁrst bead through the ﬁngers,
“ [I extol] the perfection of God ;” in passing the second,
“Praise be to God ,” in passing the third, “There is no deity
but God ;” and repeating these expressions in the same order to
the last bead. If the ﬁrst expression fall to the last bead, the
answer is afﬁrmative and favourable; if the second, indifferent;
if the last, negative. This is practised by many persons.

Some, again, in similar cases, on lying down to sleep at night,
beg of God to direct them by a dream; by causing them to see

S UPERS TI TI ONS. 2 7 I

something white or green, or water, if the action which they con-
template be approved, or if they are to expect approaching good
fortune ,' and if not, by causing them to see something black or
red, or ﬁre. They then recite the Fat’hah ten times, and continue
to repeat these words, “0 God, favour our lord Mohammad!”
until they fall asleep. -

The Egyptians place great faith in dreams, which often direct
them in some of the most important actions of life. They have
two large and celebrated works on the interpretation of dreams,
by Ibn-Shaheen and Ibn—Seereen, the latter of Whom was the
pupil of the former. These books are consulted, even by many
of the learned, with implicit conﬁdence. When one person says
to another, “I have seen a dream,” the latter usually replies,
“Good” (that is, may it be of good omen), or, “Good, please
God.” When a person has had an evil dream, it is customary for
him to say, “0 God, favour our lord Mohammad!” and to spit
over his left shoulder three times, to prevent an evil result.

In Egypt, as in most other countries, superstitions are enter-
tained respecting days of the week, some being considered for-
tunate and others unfortunate. The Egyptians regard Sunday
as an unfortunate day, on account of the night which follows
it. This night, which (according to the system already men—
tioned) is called the night of .Monday, the learned Muslims, and
many of the inferior classes, consider unfortunate, because it was
that of the death of their Prophet; but some regard it as for-
tunate, particularly for the consummation of marriage, though
not so auspicious for this affair as the eve of Friday. The day
following it is also considered by some as fortunate, and by
others as unfortunate. Tuesday is generally thought unfortunate,
and called “the day of blood,” as it is said that several eminent
martyrs were put to death on this day ; and hence, also, it is
commonly esteemed a proper day for being bled. Wednesday is
regarded as indtﬁerent. Thursday is called “ el-mubarak ” (or
the blessed), and is considered fortunate, particularly deriving
a blessing from the following night and day. The eve or night
of Friday is very fortunate, especially for the consummation of
marriage. Friday is blessed above all other days as being the
Sabbath of the Muslims. It is called “el-fadeeleh” (or the

272 MAGIC, ASTROLOGY, AND ALCHEMY.

excellent). Saturday is the most unfortunate of days. It is
considered very wrong to commence a journey, and, by most
people in Egypt, to shave, or cut the nails, on this day. A friend
of mine here was doubting whether he should bring an action
against two persons on so unfortunate a day as Saturday. He
decided at last that it was the best day of the week for him to
do this, as the ill fortune must fall upon one of the two parties
only, and doubtless upon his adversaries, because they were two
to one. There are some days of the year which are esteemed
very fortunate—as those of the two grand festivals, etc. ; and
some which are regarded as unfortunate—as, for instance, the
last Wednesday in the month of Safar, when many persons make a
point of not going out of their houses, from the belief that numer-
ous afﬂictions fall upon mankind on that day. Some persons
draw lucky or unlucky omens from the ﬁrst object they see on
going out of the house in the morning 5 according as that object is
pleasant or the reverse, they say, “ Our morning is good ” or “ —
bad.” A one-eyed person is regarded as of evil omen, and espe-
cially one who is blind'of the left eye.

CHAPTER XII.
MAGIC, ASTROLOGY, AND ALCHEMY.

IF we might believe some stories which are commonly related in
Egypt, it would appear that in modern days there have been, in
this country, magicians not less skilful than Pharaoh’s “ Wise men
and sorcerers,” of whom we read in the Bible.

The more intelligent of the Muslims distinguish two kinds of
magic, which they term “ Er-Roohanee” (valgo, “Rowhanee”)
and “ Es—Seemiya.” The former is spiritual magic, which is be-
lieved to effect its wonders by the agency of angels and genii, and
by the mysterious virtues of certain names of God and other
supernatural means; the latter is natural and deceptive magic,,
and its chief agents the less credulous Muslims believe to be cer-
tain perfumes and drugs, which affect the vision and imagination
nearly in the same manner as opium. This drug, indeed, is sup—

MAGIC, ASTROLOGY, AND AZCHEMY. 273

posed by some persons to be employed in the operations of the
latter branch of magic.

“ Er—Roohanee,” which is universally considered among the
Egyptians as true magic, is of two kinds—“ ’ilwee ” (or high) and
“suﬂee ” (or low), which are also called “rahmanee” (or divine,
or literally relating to “the Compassionate,” which is an epithet
of God) and “ sheytanee ” (or satanic). The 2ilwee, or rahmanee,
is said to be a science founded on the agency of God, and of his
angels and good genii, and on other lawful mysteries, to be always
employed for good purposes, and only attained and practised by
men of probity, who, by tradition or from books, learn the names
of those superhuman agents and invocations which insure com-
pliance with their desires. The writing of charms for good
purposes belongs to this branch of magic and to astrology, and
to the science of the mysteries of numbers. The highest attain-
ment in divine magic consists in the knowledge of the “ Ism el-
Aazam.” This is “the most great name” of God, which is
generally believed by the learned to be known to none but
prophets and apostles of God. A person acquainted with it can,
it is said, by merely uttering it, raise the dead to life, kill the
living, transport himself instantly wherever he pleases, and per-
form any other miracle. Some suppose it to be known to eminent
welees. The suﬂee is believed to depend on the agency of the
devil and other evil genii, and to be used for bad purposes and by
bad men. To this branch belongs the science called by the Arabs
“ es-sehr,” which is a term they give only to wicked encliantment.
Those who perform what is called “ darb el-mendel ” (of which I
propose to relate some examples) profess to do it by the agency of
genii——that is, by the science called er-roohanee; but there is
another opinion on this subject which will be presently mentioned.
One of the means by which genii are believed to assist magicians
has been explained in the second paragraph of Chapter X.

“ Es-Seemiya ” is generally pronounced by the learned to be a
false science and deceptive art, which produces surprising effects
by those natural means which have been above mentioned ,' and
the “darb el-mendel,” as perfumes are employed in the performance
of it, is considered by such persons as pertaining to es-seemiya.

“ ’Ilm en-Nugoom,” or Astrology, is studied by many persons

(440) 18

274 zllAGlC, ASTROLOGY, AND ALCHEMK

in Egypt. It is chieﬂy employed in casting nativities, in deter-
mining fortunate periods, etc,, and very commonly to divine by
what sign of the zodiac a person is inﬂuenced; which is usually
done by a calculation founded upon the numerical values of the
letters composing his or her name and that of the mother. This
is often done in the case of two persons who contemplate .becom-
ing man and wife, with the View of ascertaining whether they will
agree. The science called “ darb er-ramal,” or geomancy, by
which, from certain marks made at random on paper, or on sand
(whence, according to some, its name), the professors pretend to
discover past, passing, and future events, is, I am informed, mainly
founded on astrology.

“El-Keemiya,” or Alchemy, is also studied by many persons
in Egypt, and by some possessed of talents by which they might
obtain a better reputation than this pursuit procures them, and
who, in spite of the derision which they experience from a few
men of sounder minds, and the reproaches of those whom they
unintentionally make their dupes, continue to old age their fruitless
labours. Considerable knowledge of chemistry is, however, some-
times acquired in the study of this false science ; and in the present
degraded state of physical knowledge in this country it rather evinces
a superior mind when a person gives his attention to alchemy.

There is, or was, a native of Egypt very highly celebrated for
his performances in the higher kind of that branch of magic called
er-roohanee—the sheykh Isma’eel Aboo—Ru—oos, of the town of
Dasook. Even the more learned and sober of the people of
this country relate most incredible stories of his magical skill, for
which some of them account by asserting his having been married
to a “ ginnceyeh ” (or female ginnee); and others, merely by his
having “ ginn” at his service, whom he could mentally consult
and command, Without making use of any such charm as the lamp
of ’Ala-ed-Deen. He is said to have always employed this super~
natural power either for good or innocent purposes, and to have
been much favoured by the present Basha, who, some say, often
consulted him. One of the most sensible of my Muslim friends in
this place (Cairo) informs me that he once visited Aboo-Ru-oos
at Dasook, in company with the sheykh El-Emeer, son of the
sheykh El-Emeer El-Kebeer, sheykh of the sect of the Malikees.

MAGIC, ASTROLOGY, AND ALCHEMY. 275

My friend’s companion asked their host to show them some proof of
his skill in magic, and the latter complied with the request. “Let
coffee be served to us,” said the sheykh El—Emeer, “in my father’s
set of ﬁngans and zarfs, which are in Masr.” They waited a few
minutes, and then the coffee was brought; and the sheykh El-
Emeer looked at the ﬁngans and zarfs, and said they were certainly
his father’s. He was next treated with sherbet, in what he declared
himself satisﬁed were his father’s kullehs. He then wrote a letter
to his father, and giving it to Aboo-Ru-oos, asked him to procure
an answer to it. The magician took the letter, placed it behind a
cushion of his deewan, and a few minutes after, removing the cushion,
showed him that this letter was gone, and that another was in its
place. The sheykh El-Emeer took the latter, opened and read it,
and found in it, in a handwriting which he said he could have
sworn to be that of his father, a complete answer to what he had
written, and an account of the state of his family which he proved,
on his return to Cairo a few days after, to be perfectly true.

A curious case of magic fell under the cognizance of the
government during my former visit to this country, and became
a subject of general talk and wonder throughout the metropolis.
I shall give the story of this occurrence precisely as it was related
to me by several persons in Cairo, without curtailing it of any of
the exaggerations with which they embellished it, not only because
I am ignorant how far it is true, but because I would show how
great a degree of faith the Egyptians in general place in magic, or
enchantment.

Mustaf’a Ed-Digwee, chief secretary in the Kadee’s court in
this city, was dismissed from his ofﬁce, and succeeded by another
person of the name of Mustaf’ a, who had been a seyrefee, or
money—changer. The former sent a petition to the Basha, begging
to be reinstated; but before he received an answer, he was
attacked by a severe illness, which he believed to be the effect of
enchantment. He persuaded himself that Mustaf’a the seyrefee
had employed a magician to write a spell which should cause him
to die, and therefore sent a second time to the Basha, charging
the new secretary with this crime. The accused was brought
before the Basha, confessed that he had done so, and named the
magician Whom he had employed. The latter was arrested, and

276 MAGIC, ASTROLOGY, AND ALCHEMY.

not being able to deny the charge brought against him, was
thrown into prison, there to remain until it should be seen whether
or not Ed-Digwee would die. He was locked up in a small cell,
and two soldiers were placed at the door, that one of them might
keep watch while the other slept. Now for the marvellous part
of the story. At night, after one of the guards had fallen asleep,
the other heard a strange, niurmuring noise, and looking through
a crack of the door of the cell, saw the magician sitting in the
middle of the ﬂoor, muttering some words which he (the guard)
could not understand. Presently the candle which was before
him became extinguished, 'and at the same instant four other
candles appeared, one in each corner of the cell. The magician
then rose, and standing on one side of the cell, knocked his
forehead three times against the wall , and each time that he did
so the wall opened, and a man appeared to come forth from it.
After the magician had con‘versed for some minutes with the three
personages whom he thus produced, they disappeared, as did also
the four candles, and the candle that was in the midst of the cell
became lighted again as. at ﬁrst. The magician then resumed his
position on the ﬂoor, and all was quiet. Thus the spell that was
to have killed Ed-Digwee was dissolved. Early the next morning,
the invalid felt himself so much better that he called for a basin
and ewer, performed the ablution, and said his prayers ; and from
that time he rapidly recovered. He was restored to his former
ofﬁce, and the magician was banished from Egypt. Another en-
chanter (or “sahhar ”) was banished a few days after, for writing
a charm which caused a Muslim’eh girl to be affected with an
irresistible love for a Copt Christian.

A few days after my ﬁrst arrival in this country, my curiosity
was excited on the subject of magic by a circumstance related to
me by Mr. Salt, our consul-general. Having had reason to believe
that one of his servants was a thief, from the fact of several
articles of property having been stolen from his house, he sent for
a celebrated Maghrab'ee magician, with the View of intimidating
them, and causing the guilty one (if any of them were guilty) to
confess his crime. The magician came, and said that he would
cause the exact image of the person who had committed the thefts
to appear to any youth not arrived at the age of puberty, and

AIAGZC, ASTROLOGY, AND ALCIJEﬂ/IY. 277

desired the master of the house to call in any boy whom he might
choose. As several boys were then employed in a garden adjacent
to the house, one of them was called for this purpose. In the palm
of this boy’s right hand the magician drew with a pen a certain
diagram, in the centre of which he poured a little ink. Into this
ink he desired the boy steadfastly to look. He then burned some
incense, and several bits of paper inscribed with charms, and at the
same time called for various objects to appear in the ink. The boy
declared that he saw all these objects, and, last of all, the image of
the guilty person. He described his stature, countenance, and
dress, said that he knew him, and directly ran down into the
garden and apprehended one of the labourers, who, when brought
before the master, immediately confessed that he was the thief.
The above relation made me desirous of witnessing a similar
performance during my ﬁrst Visit to this country; but not being
acquainted with the name of the magician here alluded to, or his
place of abode, I was unable to obtain any tidings of him. I
learned, however, soon after my return to England, that he had
become‘ known to later travellers in Egypt, was residing in Cairo,
and that he was called the sheykh ’Abd—El-Kadir El—Maghrab'ee.
A few weeks after my second arrival in Egypt, my neighbour
’Osman, interpreter of the British consulate, brought him to me 3
and I ﬁxed a day for his Visiting me, to give me a proof of the
skill for which he is so much famed. He came at the time
appointed, about two hours before noon, but seemed uneasy,
frequently looking up at the sky through the window, and re-
marked that the weather was unpropitious: it was dull and
cloudy, and the‘wind was boisterous. The experiment was per-
formed with three boys, one after another. With the ﬁrst it was
partly successful, but with the others it completely failed. The
magician said that he could do nothing more that day, and that he
would come in the evening of a subsequent day. He kept his
appointment, and admitted that the time was favourable. While
waiting for my neighbour before mentioned to come and witness
the performances, we took pipes and coffee, and the magician
chatted with me on indifferent subjects. He is a ﬁne, tall, and
stout man, of a rather fair complexion, with a dark-brown beard 5
is shabbily dressed, and generally wears a large green turban, being

278 MAGIC, ASTROLOGY; AND ALCHEMY.

a descendant of the Prophet. In his conversation he is affable
and unaffected. He professed to me that his wonders were effected
by the agency of good spirits, but to others he "has said the re-
verse—that his magic is satanic.

In preparing for the experiment of the magic mirror of ink,
which, like some other performances of a similar nature, is here
termed “darb el-mendel,” the magician ﬁrst asked me for a reed-
pen andink, a piece of paper, and a pair of scissors; and having
cut off a narrow strip of paper, wrote upon it certain forms of
invocation, together with another charm, by which he professes
to accomplish the object of the experiment. He did not attempt
to conceal these ; and on my asking him to give me copies of them,
he readily consented, and immediately wrote them for me, explain-
ing to me, at the same time, that the object he had in View was
accomplished through the inﬂuence of the two ﬁrst words, “Tar-
shun” and “Taryooshun,” which he said were the names of two
genii, his “familiar spirits.” I compared the copies with the
originals, and found that they exactly agreed. Facsimiles of them
are here inserted, with a translation.

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MAGIC, ASTROLOGY, AND ALCHEMY. 279

“ Tarshun ! Taryooshun I Come down !
Come down ! Be present ! Whither are gone
the prince and his troops? \Vhere are El-Ahmar
the prince and his troops? Be present
ye servants of these names I”

“ And this is the removal. ‘And we have removed from thee
thy veil; and thy sight to-day
is piercing.’ Correct : correct.”

Having written these, the magician cut off the paper containing
the forms of invocation from that upon which the other charm was
written, and cut the former into six strips. He then explained to
me that the object of the latter charm (which contains part of the
2lst verse of the Soorat Kaf, or 50th chapter of the Kur—an) was
to open the boy’s eyes in a supernatural manner—to make his
sight pierce into what is to us the invisible world.

I had prepared, by the magician’s direction, some frankincense
and coriander-seed, and a chaﬁng-dish with some live charcoal in
it. These were now brought

 

 

 

into the room, together with 7

the boy who was to be em- [L V
ployed. He had been called a

in, by my desire, from among v 1

some boys in the street, re-
turning from a manufactory,
and was about eight or nine
years of age. In reply to
my inquiry respecting the

 

description of persons who
could see in the magic mir—
ror of ink, the magician said
, that they were a boy not

arrived at puberty, a Vir— LA I .1
gin, a black female slave,
and a pregnant woman.
The chaﬁng-dish was placed before him and the boy, and the latter
was placed on a seat. The magician now desired my servant to
put some frankincense and coriander-seed into the chaﬁng—dish,
then taking hold of the boy’s right hand, he drew in the palm of
it a magic square, of which a copy is here given.” The ﬁgures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAGIC SQUARE AND MIRROR 0F INK.

28o MAGIC, ASTROLOGY; VAND ALCHEMY.

which it contains are Arabic numerals. In the centre he poured
a little ink, and desired the boy to look into it, and tell him if he
could see his face reﬂected in it. The boy replied that he saw his
face clearly. The magician, holding the boy’s hand all the while,
told him to continue looking intently into the ink, and not to raise
his head.

He then took one of the little strips of paper inscribed with
the forms of invocation, and dropped it into the chaﬁng-dish, upon
the burning coals and perfumes, which had already ﬁlled the room
with their smoke ; and as he did this he commenced an indistinct
muttering of words, which he continued during the whole process,
excepting when he had to ask the boy a question, or to tell him
what he was to say. The piece of paper containing the words
from the Kur—an he placed inside the fore part of the boy’s
takeeyeh, or skull-cap. He then asked him if he saw anything in
the ink, and was answered, “N o ;” but about a minute after, the
boy, trembling and seeming much frightened, said, “I see a man
sweeping the ground.” “When he has done sweeping,” said the
magician, “tell me.” Presently the boy said, “He has done.”
The magician then again interrupted his muttering to ask the boy
if he knew what a “ beyrak” (or flag) was; and being answered
“Yes,” desired him to say, “Bring a ﬂag.” The boy did so, and
soon said, “He has brought a ﬂag.” “ What colour is it?” asked
the magician. The boy replied, “ Red.” He was told to call for
another ﬂag, which he did 3 and soon after he said that he saw
another brought, and that it was black. In like manner he was
told to call for a third, fourth, ﬁfth, sixth, and seventh ; which he
described as being successively brought before him, specifying
their colours as white, green, black, red, and blue. The magician
then asked him (as he did also each time that a new ﬂag was
described as being brought), “ How many ﬂags have you now before
you?” “Seven,” answered the boy. While this was going on,
the magician put the second and third of the small strips of paper
upon which the forms of invocation were written into the chaﬁng-
dish; and fresh frankincense and coriander-seed having been
repeatedly added, the fumes became painful to the eyes. When
the boy had described the seven ﬂags as appearing to him, he was
desired to say, “ Bring the Sultan’s tent, and pitch it.” This he

MAGIC, ASTROLOGY; AND ALCIIEJIIY. 281

did,- and in about a minute after, he said, “Some men have
brought the tent, a large green tent: they are pitching it ,” and
presently he added, “They have set it up.” “Now,” said the
magician, “order the soldiers to come, and to pitch their camp
around the tent of the Sultan.” The boy did as he was desired,
and immediately said, “I see a great many soldiers, with their
tents. They have pitched their tents.” He was then told to
order that the soldiers should be drawn up in ranks , and having
done so, he presently said that he saw them thus arranged. The
magician had put the fourth of the little strips of paper into the
chafing-dish, and soon after he did the same with the ﬁfth. He
now said, “Tell some of the people to bring a bull.” The boy
gave the order required, and said, “I see a bull—it is red ; four
men are dragging it along, and three are heating it.” He was
told to desire them to kill it, and cut it up, and to put the meat
in saucepans, and cook it. He did as he was directed, and
described these operations as apparently performed before his
eyes. “Tell the soldiers,” said the magician, “to eat it.” The
boy did so, and said, “They are eating it. They have done, and
are washing their hands.” The magician then told him to call for
the Sultan ,- and the boy having done this, said, “I see the
Sultan riding to his tent on a bay horse, and he has on his head
a high red cap. He has alighted at his tent, and sat down within
it.” “Desire them to bring coffee to the Sultan,” said the
magician, “and to form the court.” These orders were given by
the boy, and he said that he saw them performed. The magician
had put the last of the six little strips of paper into the chaﬁng-
dish. In his mutterings I distinguished nothing but the words of
the written invocation frequently repeated, excepting on two or
three occasions, when I heard him say, “ If they demand informa-
tion, inform them; and be ye veracious.” But much that he
repeated was inaudible, and as I did not ask him to teach me his
art, I do not pretend to assert that I am fully acquainted with his
invocations.

He now addressed himself to me, and asked me if I wished the
boy to see any person who was absent or dead. I named Lord Nel~
son, of whom the boy had evidently never heard ,' for it was with
much difﬁculty that he pronounced the name, after several trials.

282 MAGIC, ASTROLOGY, AND ALCHEMK

The magician desired the boy to say to the Sultan, “My master
salutes thee, and desires thee to bring Lord Nelson. Bring him
before my eyes, that I may see him, speedily.” The boy then
said so, and almost immediately added, “A messenger is gone,
and has returned, and brought a man dressed in a black suit of
European clothes. The man has lost his left arm.” He then .
paused for a moment or two, and looking more intently and more
closely into the ink, said, “ No 3 he has not lost his left arm, but
it is placed to his breast.” This correction made his description
more striking than it had been without it, since Lord Nelson
generally had his empty sleeve attached to the breast of his
coat; but it was the right arm that he had lost. Without saying
that I suspected the boy had made a mistake, I asked the magician
whether the objects appeared in the ink as if actually before the
eyes, or as if in a glass, which makes the right appear left. He
answered that they appeared as in a mirror. This rendered
the boy’s description faultless.

The next person I called for was a native of Egypt, who has
been for many years resident in England, where he has adopted
our dress, and who had been long conﬁned to his bed by illness
before I embarked for this country. I thought that his name,
one not very uncommon in Eg pt, might make the boy describe
him incorrectly; though another boy, on the former visit of the
magician, had described this same person as wearing a European
‘ dress, like that in which I last saw him. In the present case the
boy said, “ Here is a man brought on a kind of bier, and wrapped
up in a sheet.” This description would suit, supposing the person
in question to be still conﬁned to his bed, or if he be dead. The
boy described his face as covered, and was told to order that it
should be uncovered. This he did, and then said, “His face is
pale, and he has moustaches but no beard ”—which is correct.

Several other persons were successively called for; but the
boy’s descriptions of them were imperfect, though not altogether
incorrect. He represented each object as appearing less distinct
than the preceding one, as if his sight were gradually becoming
dim. He was a minute or more before he could give any account
of the persons he professed to see towards the close of the per-
formance ; and the magician said it was useless to proceed with

MAGIC, ASTROLOGY, AND ALCHEMY. 283

him. Another boy was then brought in, and the magic square,
etc., made in his hand 5 but he could see nothing. The magician
said he was too old.

Though completely puzzled,’I was somewhat disappointed with
his performances, for they fell short of what he had accomplished,
in many instances, in presence of certain of my friends and coun-
trymen. On one of these occasions an Englishman present ridi-
culed the performance, and said that nothing would satisfy him
but a correct description of the appearance of his own father, of
whom, he was sure, no one of the company had any knowledge.
The boy, accordingly, having called by name for the person alluded
to, described a man in a Frank dress, with his hand placed to his
head, wearing spectacles, and with one foot on the ground, and the
other raised behind him, as if he were stepping down from a seat.
The description was exactly true in every respect: the peculiar
position of the hand was occasioned by an almost constant head-
ache ; and that of the foot or leg, by a stiff knee, caused by a fall
from a horse in hunting. I am assured that on this occasion the
boy accurately described each person and thing that was called for.
On another occasion, Shakespeare was described with the most
minute correctness, both as to person and dress ; and I might add
several other cases in which the same magician has excited as-
tonishment in the sober minds of Englishmen of my acquaintance.
A short time since, after performing in the usual manner, by means
of a boy, he prepared the magic mirror in the hand of a young
English lady, who, on looking into it for a little while, said that
she saw a broom sweeping the ground without anybody» holding it,
and was so much frightened that she would look no longer.

I have stated these facts partly from my own experience and
partly as they came to my knowledge on the authority of respect-
able persons. The reader may be tempted to think that in each
instance the boy saw images produced by some reﬂection in the
ink, but this was evidently not the case 3 or that he was a con-
federate, or guided by leading questions. That there was no col-
lusion I satisfactorily ascertained by selecting the boy who per-
formed the part above described in my presence from a number
of others passing by in the street, and by his rejecting a present
which I afterwards offered him with the view of inducing him to

284 CHARACTER.

confess that he did not really see what he had professed to have
seen. I tried the veracity of another boy on a subsequent occa—
sion in the same manner, and the result was the same. The ex-
periment often entirely fails ; but when the boy employed is right
in one case, he generally is so in all; When he gives at ﬁrst, an
account altogether wrong, the magician usually dismisses him at
once, saying that he is too old. The perfumes, or excited imagina-
tion, or fear, may be supposed to affect the vision of the boy who
describes objects as appearing to him in the ink; but if so, why
does he see exactly what is required, and objects of which he can
have had no previous particular notion? Neither I nor others
have been able to discover any clue by which to penetrate the
mystery ,' and if the reader be alike unable to give the solution, I
hope that he will not allow the above account to induce in his
mind any degree of scepticism with respect to other portions of
this work.23

, CHAPTER XIII.
CHARACTER.

THE natural or innate character of the modern Egyptians is
altered in a remarkable degree by their religion, laws, and gov-
ernment, as well as by the climate and other causes ; and to form
a just opinion of it is, therefore, very difﬁcult. We may, how-
ever, conﬁdently state that they are endowed, in a higher degree
than most other people, with some of the more important mental
qualities, particularly quickness of apprehension, a ready wit,
and a retentive memory. In youth they generally possess these
and other intellectual powers, but the causes above alluded to
gradually lessen their mental energy.

Of the leading features of their character none is more remark-
able than their religious pride. They regard persons of every
other faith as the children of perdition ; and such the Muslim is
early taught to despise.* It is written in the Kur-an, “ 0 ye who
have believed, take not the Jews and Christians as friends. They

* I am credibly informed that children in Egypt are often taught at school a regular
set of curses to denounce upon the persons and property of Christians, Jews, and all other
unbelievers in the religion of Mohammad. (See Appendix C.)

CHARACTER. 285

are friends one to another, and whosoever of you taketh them as
his friends, verily he. is [one] of them.” From motives of polite-
ness or selﬁsh interest, these people will sometimes talk with appa-
rent liberality of sentiment, and even make professions of friend-
ship, to a Christian (particularly to a European), whom in their
hearts they contemn. But as the Muslims of Egypt judge of the
Franks in general from the majority of those in their towns, some
of whom are outcasts from their native countries, and others
(though not all the rest, of course) men under no moral restraint,
they are hardly to be blamed for despising them. The Christians
are, however, generally treated with civility by the people of
Egypt, the Muslims being as remarkable for their toleration as
for their contempt of unbelievers.

It is considered the highest honour among the Muslims to be
religious; but the desire to appear so leads many into hypocrisy
and pharisaical ostentation. When a Muslim is unoccupied by
business or amusement or conversation, he is often heard to utter
some pious ejaculation. If a wicked thought, or the remembrance
of a wicked action that he has committed, trouble him, he sighs
forth, “ I beg forgiveness of God, the Great l” The shopkeeper,
when not engaged with customers, nor enjoying his pipe, often
employs himself, in the sight and hearing of the passengers in the
street, in reciting a chapter of the Kur-an, or in repeating to him-
self those expressions in praise of God which often follow the ordi-
nary prayers, and are counted with the beads; and in the same
public manner he prays. The Muslims frequently swear by God
(but not irreverently), and also by the Prophet, and by the head
or beard of the person they address. When one is told anything
that excites his surprise and disbelief, he generally exelaims,
“VVa—llah?” or “Wa-llahi?” (by God 2); and the other replies,
“ VVa-llahi I ” As on ordinary occasions before eating and drinking,
so also on taking medicine, commencing a writing or any import-
ant undertaking, and before many a triﬂing act, it is their habit
to say, “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful 3”
and after the act, “Praise be to God.” When two persons make
any considerable bargain, they recite together the ﬁrst chapter of
the Kur-an (the Fat’hah). In case of a debate on any matter of
business or of opinion, it is common for one of the parties, or a

286 CHARA CTER.

third person who may wish to settle the dispute or to cool the
disputants, to exclaim, “Blessing on the Prophet!” “O God,
favour him ! ” is said in a 10W voice by the other or others; and
they then continue the argument, but generally with moderation.

Religious ejaculations often interrupt conversation upon trivial
and even licentious subjects in Egyptian society, sometimes in
such a manner that a person not well acquainted with the charac-
ter of this people would perhaps imagine that they intended to
make religion a jest. In many of their most indecent songs the
name of God is frequently introduced ; and this is certainly done
without any profane motive, but from the habit of often mention-
ing the name of the Deity in vain, and of praising him on every
triﬂing occasion of surprise, or in testimony of admiration of any-
thing uncommon. Thus, a libertine, describing his impressions on
the ﬁrst sight of a charming girl (in one of the grossest songs I
have ever seen or heard even in the Arabic language), exclaims,
“ Extolled be He who formed thee, 0 full moon l” And this and
many similar expressions are common in many other songs and
odes 3 but what is most remarkable in the song particularly alluded
to above is a profane comparison with which it terminates. I
shall adduce, as an example of the strange manner in which
licentiousnessand religion are often blended together in vulgar
Egyptian poetry and rhyming prose, a translation of the last three
stanzas of an ode on love and wine :—

“ She granted me a reception, the graceful of form, after her distance and
coyness. I kissed her teeth and her cheek, and the cup rang in her hand. The
odours of musk and ambergris were diffused by a person Whose form surpassed
the elegance of a straight and slender branch. She spread a bed of brocade,
and I passed the time in uninterrupted happiness. A Turkish fawn enslaved me.

“ Now I beg forgiveness of God, my Lord, for all my faults and sins, and
for all that my heart hath said. My members testify against me. Whenever
grief oppresseth me, O Lord, thou art my hope from whatever afflicteth me.
Thou knOWest what I say and what I think. Thou art the Bountiful. the For-
giving ! I implore thy protection ; then pardon me.

“ And I praise that benignant being [the Prophet] Whom a cloud was wont to
shade, the comely ; how great was his comeliness ! He will intercede for us on
the day of judgment, when his haters, the vile, the polytheists, shall be repentant.
Would that I might always, as long as I live, accompany the pilgrims, to per-
form the circuits and worship and courses, and live in uninterrupted happiness ! ”

In translating the ﬁrst of the above stanzas, I have substituted
the feminine for the masculine pronoun; for in the original the

CEARA CTER. 287

former is meant, though the latter is used, as is commonly the case
in similar compositions of the Egyptians. One of my Muslim
_ friends having just called on me after my writing the above re-
marks, I read to him the last four stanzas of this ode, and asked
him if he considered it proper thus to mix up religion with de-
bauchery. He answered, “Perfectly proper. A man relates his
having committed sins, and then prays to God for forgiveness, and
blesses the Prophet.” “But,” said I, “this is an ode written to
be chanted for the amusement of persons who take pleasure in
unlawful indulgences. And see here, when I close the leaves, the
page which celebrates a debauch comes in contact, face to face,
with that upon which are written the names of the Deity. The
commemoration of the pleasures of sin is placed upon the prayer
for forgiveness.” “That is nonsense,” replied my friend: “turn
the book over, place that side upwards which is now downwards,
and then the case will be the reverse—sin covered by forgiveness ,-
and God, whose name be exalted, hath said in the Excellent Book,
‘Say, 0 my servants, who have transgressed against your own
souls, despair not of the mercy of God, seeing that God forgiveth
all sins [unto those who repent], for he is the Very Forgiving, the
Merciful.” His answer reminds me of what I have often ob—
served—that the generality of Arabs, a most inconsistent people,
are every day breaking their law in some point or other, trusting
that two words (“ Astaghﬁr Allah,” or “ I beg forgiveness of God ”)
will cancel every transgression. He had a copy of the Kur-an in
his hand, and on my turning it over to look for the verse he had
quoted, I found in it a scrap of paper containing some words from
the venerated volume. He was about to burn this piece of paper,
lest it should fall out and be trodden upon 3 and on my asking
him whether it was allowable to do so, he answered that it might
either be burnt or thrown into running water, but that it was
better to burn it, as the words would ascend in the ﬂames, and be
conveyed by angels to heaven. Sometimes the Kur-an is quoted
in jest, even by persons of strict religious principles. For in-
stance, the following equivocal and evasive answer was once .sug-
gested to me on a person’s asking of me a present of a watch,
which, I must previously mention, is called “ sa’ah,” a word which
signiﬁes an “ hour,” and the “ period of the general judgment ”—

288 CHARACTER.

“‘Verily, the ‘sa’ah’ shall come: I will surely make it to appear”
(chap. xx., ver. 15).

There are often met with in Egyptian society persons who will
introduce an apposite quotation from the Kur-an or the Traditions
of the Prophet in common conversation, whatever be the topic;
and an interruption of this kind is not considered, as it would be
in general society in our own country, either hypocritical or an-
noying, but rather occasions expressions, if not feelings, of admira-
tion, and often diverts the hearers from a trivial subject to matters
of a more serious nature. The Muslims of Egypt, and I believe
those of other countries, are generally fond of conversing on re-
ligion ; and the most prevalent mode of entertaining a party of
guests among the higher and middle ranks in this place (Cairo) is
the recital of a khatmeh (or the whole of the Kur—an), which is
chanted by ﬁkees hired for the purpose ; or the performance of
a zikr, which has been before mentioned. Few persons among
them would venture to say that they prefer hearing a concert of
music to the performance of a khatmeh or zikr, and they certainly
do take great pleasure in the latter performances. The manner
in which the Kur-an is sometimes chanted is indeed very pleas
ing, though I must say that a complete khatmeh is to me ex-
tremely tiresome. With the religious zeal of the Muslims I am
daily struck, yet I have often wondered that they so seldom
attempt to make converts to their faith. On my expressing my
surprise, as I have frequently done, at their indiﬁ’erence with re-
spect to the propagation of their religion, contrasting it with the
conduct of their ancestors of the early ages of El—Islam, I have
generally been answered, “Of what use would it be if I could
convert a thousand inﬁdels”.l Would it increase the number of the
faithful? By no means. The number of the faithful is decreed
by God, and no act of man can increase or diminish it.” The con-
tending against such an answer would have led to an interminable
dispute, so I never ventured a reply. I have heard quoted, by
way of apolog for their neglecting to make proselytes, the follow-
ing words of the Kur—an, “Dispute not against those who have
reeeived the Scriptures ” (namely, the Christians and Jews), with-
out the words immediately following—“ unless in the best man-
ner, except against such of them as behave injuriously [towards

CHARACTER. 289

you], and say [unto them], We believe in [the revelation] that
hath been sent down unto us, and [also in that] which hath been
sent down unto you ; and our God and your God is one.” If this
precept were acted upon by the Muslims, it might perhaps lead to
disputes which would make them more liberal-minded and much
better informed.

The respect which most modern Muslims pay to their Prophet
is almost idolatrous. They very frequently swear by him ; and
many of the most learned, as well as the ignorant, often implore
his intercession. Pilgrims are generally much more affected on
visiting his tomb than in performing any other religious rite.
There are some Muslims who will not do anything that the
Prophet is not recorded to have done, and who particularly abstain
from eating anything that he did not eat, though its lawfulness be
undoubted. The Imam Ahmad Ibn—Hambal would not even eat
water-melons, because, although he knew that the Prophet ate
them, he could not learn whether he ate them with or without the
rind, or whether he broke, bit, or cut them ,' and he forbade a
woman, who questioned him as to the propriety of the act, to spin
by the light of torches passing in the street by night, which were
not her own property, because the Prophet had not mentioned
whether it was lawful to do so, and was not known to have ever
availed himself of a light belonging to another person without that
person’s leave. I once, admiring some very pretty pipe-bowls,
asked the maker why he did not stamp them with his name. He
answered, “ God forbid ! My name is Ahmad ” (one of the names
of the Prophet). “ Would you have me put it in the ﬁre?” 1
have heard adduced as one of the subjects of complaint against the
present Basha, his‘causing the camels and horses of the govern—
ment to be branded with his names, “ Mohammad ’Alee.” “ In
the ﬁrst place,” said a friend of mine, who mentioned this fact to
me, “ the iron upon which are engraved these names, names which
ought to be so much venerated, the names of the Prophet (God
favour and preserve him I) and his cousin (may God be well
pleased with him l), is put into the ﬁre, which is shocking ; then it
is applied to the neck of a camel, and causes blood which is im—
pure to ﬂow, and to pollute the sacred names both upon the iron
and upon the animal’s skin. And when the wound is healed, how

(440) 19

290 CHARACTER.

probable is it, and almost certain and unavoidable, that the camel
will, when he lies down, lay his neck upon something unclean !”

A similar feeling is the chief reason why the Muslims object
to printing their books. They have scarcely a book (I do not re—
member to have seen one) that does not contain the name of God.
It is a rule among them to commence every book with the words,
“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,” and to
begin the preface or introduction by praising God and blessing
the Prophet; and they fear some impurity might be contracted
by the ink that is applied to the name of the Deity in the process
of printing, or by the paper to be impressed with that sacred name,
and perhaps with words taken from the Kur—an. They fear also
that their books, becoming very cheap by being printed, would fall
into the hands of inﬁdels ,' and are much shocked at the idea of
using a brush composed of hogs’ hair (which was at ﬁrst done
here) to apply the ink to the name, and often to the words, of God.
Hence books have hitherto been printed in Egypt only by order
of the government 3 but two or three persons have lately applied
for and received permission to make use of the government-press.
I am acquainted with a bookseller here who has long been desirous
of printing some books which he feels sure would bring him con-
siderable proﬁt, but cannot overcome his scruples as to the lawful—
ness of doing so.

The honour which the Muslims show to the Kur-an is very
striking. They generally take care never to hold it or suspend it
in such a manner as that it shall be below the girdle; and/they
deposit it upon a high and clean place, and never put another book,
or anything else, on the top of it. On quoting from it, they
usually say, “ He whose name be exalted ” (or, “God, whose name
be exalted”) “hath said in the Excellent Book." They consider
it extremely improper that the sacred volume should be touched
by a Chl istian or a Jew, or any other person not a believer in its
doctrines, though some of them are induced by covetousness, but
very rarely, to sell copies of it to such persons. It is even forbid< ‘
den to the Muslim to touch it unless he be in a state of legal purity;
and hence these words of the book itself, “None shall touch it
but they who are puriﬁed,” are often stamped upon the cover.
The same remarks apply, also, to anything upon which is inscribed

CHARA CTER. 291

a passage of the Kur-an. It is remarkable; however, that most
of the old Arab coins bear inscriptions of words from the Kur-an,
or else the testimony of the faith (“There is no deity but God:
Mohammad is God’s Apostle”), notwithstanding they were in
tended for the use of Jews and Christians as well as Muslims;
but I have heard this practice severely condemned. On my once
asking one of my Muslim friends whether ﬁgs were esteemed
wholesome in Egypt, he answered, “Is not the ﬁg celebrated in
the Kur-an’.l God swears by it; ‘By the ﬁg and the olive!”’
(chap. xcv., ver. 1).

There is certainly much enthusiastic piety in the character of
the modern Muslims, notwithstanding their inconsistencies and
superstitions; such, at least, is generally the case. There are, I
believe, very few professed Muslims who are really unbelievers;
and these dare not openly declare their unbelief, through fear
of losing their heads for their apostasy. I have heard of two or
three such, who have been rendered so by long and intimate
intercourse with Europeans; and have met with one materialist,
who has often had long discussions with me. In preceding
chapters of this work, several practices indicative of the religious
feeling which prevails among the Muslims of Egypt have been
incidentally mentioned. Religious appeals are generally used by
the beggars in this country ,- some examples of these will be
given hereafter. Of a similar nature, also, are the cries of many
of the persons who sell vegetables, etc. The cry of the nightly
watchman in the quarter in which I lived in Cairo during my
ﬁrst visit struck me as remarkable for its beauty and sublimity—
“ I extol the perfection of the living King, who sleepeth not nor
dieth.” The present Watchman in the same quarter exclaims,
“O Lord! 0 Everlasting!” Many other illustrations of the re-
ligious character of the people whom I am endeavouring to
portray might be added. I must, however, here acknowledge
that religion has much declined among them and most others of
the same faith. Whoever has been in the habit of conversing
familiarly with the modern Muslims must often have heard them
remark, with a sigh, “It is the end of time!” “The world has
fallen into inﬁdelity.” They are convinced that the present state
of their religion is a proof that the end of the world is near.

292 CHARACTER.

The mention which I have made in a former chapter of some of
the tenets of the Wahhabees, as being those of the primitive Mus-
lims, shows how much the generality of the modern professors of
the faith of the Kur-an have deviated from the precepts originally
delivered to its disciples.

Inﬂuenced by their belief in predestination, the men display,
in times of distressing uncertainty, an exemplary patience, and,
after any afflicting event, a remarkable degree of resignation and
fortitude, approaching nearly to apathy, generally exhibiting
their sorrow only by a sigh and the exclamation of “Allah
kereem!” (“ God is bountifull”) ; but the women, on the contrary,
give vent to their grief by the most extravagant cries and shrieks.
While the Christian blames himself for every untoward event
which he thinks he has brought upon himself or might have
avoided, the Muslim enjoys a remarkable serenity of mind in all
the vicissitudes of life. When he sees his end approaching, his
resignation is still conspicuous ; he exclaims, “Verily to God we
belong, and verily to him we return!” and to those who inquire
respecting his state, in general his reply is, “Praise be to God!
Our Lord is bountiful!” His belief in predestination does not,
however, prevent his taking any step to attain an object that he
may have in View, not being perfectly absolute or unconditional ;
nor does it in general make him careless of avoiding danger, for he
thinks himself forbidden to do so by these words of the Kur—an,
“Throw not yourselves into perdition,” excepting in some cases,
as in those of pestilence and other sicknesses, being commanded
by the Prophet not to go into a city where there is a pestilence,
nor to come out from it. The lawfulness of quarantine is contested
among Muslims, but the generality of them condemn it.

The same belief in predestination renders the Muslim utterly
devoid of presumption with regard to his future actions or to any
future events. He never speaks of anything that he intends to
do, or of any circumstance which he expects and hopes may come
to pass, without adding, “If it be the will of God ;” and in like
manner, in speaking of a past event of which he is not certain, he
generally prefaces or concludes what he says with the expression,
“God is all-knowing ” (or “ -— most knowing ” .

Benevolence and charity to the poor are Virtues which the

CHARACTER. 293

Egyptians possess in an eminent degree, and which are instilled
into their hearts by religion ; but from their own profession it ap-
pears that they are as much excited to the giving of alms by the
expectation of enjoying corresponding rewards in heaven as by pity
for the distresses of their fellow-creatures, or a disinterested wish
to do the will of God. It may be attributed, in some measure, to
the charitable disposition of the inhabitants that beggars are so
numerous in Cairo. The many handsome “Sebeels,” or public
fountains (buildings erected and endowed for the gratuitous supply
of water to passengers), which are seen in this city, and the more
humble structures of the same kind in the villages and ﬁelds, are
monuments of the same virtue.

In my earlier intercourse with the people of Egypt, I was much
pleased at observing their humanity to dumb animals; to see a
person who gathered together the folds of his loose clothes to
prevent their coming in contact with a dog, throw to the impure
animal a portion of the bread which he was eating. Murders,
burglaries, and other atrocious crimes were then very rare among
them. Now, however,- I ﬁnd the generality of the Egyptians very
much changed for the worse, with respect to their humanity to
brutes and to their fellow-creatures. The increased severity of
the government seems, as might be expected, to have engendered
tyranny and an increase of every crime in the people ; but I am
inclined to think that the conduct of Europeans has greatly con—
duced to produce this effect, for I do not remember to have seen
acts of cruelty to dumb animals excepting in places where Franks
either reside or are frequent visitors—as Alexandria, Cairo, and
Thebes. It is shocking to see the miserable asses which are
used for carrying dust, etc., in Cairo, many of them with large
crimson wounds like carbuncles, constantly chafed by rough
ropes of the ﬁbres of the palm tree which are attached to the
back part of the pack-saddle. The dogs in the streets are fre-
quently beaten, both by boys and men, from mere wantonness ;
and I often see children amusing themselves with molesting the
cats, which were formerly much favoured.24 Robberies and
murders, during two or three months after my last arrival here,
were occurrences of almost every week. Most of the Turkish
governors of districts used to exercise great oppression over the

294 CHAR/1 C TEE.

Fellaheen ; but since persons of the latter class have been put in the
places of the former, they have exceeded their predecessors in
tyranny, and it is a common remark that they are “ more execrable
than the Turks.”

Though I now frequently see the houseless dogs beaten in the
streets of Cairo, and that when quite inoffensive and quiet, I still
often observe men feeding them with bread, etc. ; and the persons
who do so are mostly poor men. In every district of this city are
many small troughs, which are daily replenished with water for
the dogs. In each street where there are shops, a sakka receives
a small monthly sum from each shopman for sprinkling the
street and ﬁlling the trough or troughs for the dogs in that
street. There is also a dogs’ trough under almost every shop of
a sharbetlee, or seller of sherbets. It may here be mentioned
that the dogs of Cairo, few of which have masters, compose
regular and distinct tribes ; and the dogs of each tribe conﬁne
themselves to a certain district ’or quarter, from which they
invariably chase away any strange dog that may venture to
intrude. These animals are very numerous in Cairo. They are
generally careful to avoid coming in contact with the men, as if
they knew that the majority of the people of the city regard them
as unclean; but they often bark at persons in the Frank dress,
and at night they annoy every passenger. They are of use in eat-
ing the offal thrown out from the butchers’ shops and from houses.
Many dogs also prowl about the mounds of rubbish around the
metropolis, and these, with the vultures, feed upon the carcasses of
the camels, asses, etc, that die in the town. They are mostly of
a sandy colour, and seem to partake of the form and disposition of
the jackal.

The general opinion of the Muslims, which holds the dog to be
unclean, does not prevent their keeping this animal as a house-
guard, and sometimes even as a pet. A curious case of this kind
occurred a short time ago. A woman in this city, who had neither
husband nor child nor friend to solace her, made a dog her com-
panion. Death took this only associate from her, and in her grief
and her affection for it she determined to bury it ; and not merely
to commit it to the earth without ceremony, but to inter it as a
Muslim in a respectable tomb in the cemetery of the Imam Esh-

CHARACTER. 29 5

Shafe’ee, which is regarded as especially sacred. She washed the
dog according to the rules prescribed to be observed in the case of
a deceased Muslim, wrapped it in handsome grave-clothes, sent
for a bier, and put it in, then hired several wailing-women, and
with them performed a regular lamentation. This done (but
not without exciting the wonder of her neighbours, who could
not conjecture what person in her house was dead, yet would not
intrude, because she never associated with them), she hired a
number of chanters to head the funeral procession, and schoolboys
to sing and carry the Kur—an before the bier ; and the train went
forth in respectable order, herself and the hired wailing-women
following the bier and rending the air with their shrieks. But the
procession had not advanced many steps when one of the female
neighbours ventured to ask the afﬂicted lady who the person was
that was dead, and was answered, “It is my poor child.” The
inquirer charged her with uttering a falsehood, and the bereaved
lady confessed that it was her dog, begging at the same time that
her inquisitive neighbour would not divulge the secret ,' but for
an Egyptian woman to keep a secret, and such a secret, was im-
possible. It was immediately made known to the by—standers,
and a mob, in no good-humour, soon collected and put a stop to
the funeral. The chanters and singing-boys and wailing-women
vented their rage against their employer (as soon as they had
secured their money) for having made fools of them, and if the
police had not interfered, she would probably have fallen a victim
to popular fury.25

It is a curious fact that in Cairo houseless cats are fed at the
expense of the Kadee, or rather almost wholly at his expense.
Every afternoon a quantity of offal is brought into the great court
before the Mahkem’eh, and the cats are called together to eat.
The Sultan Ez-Zahir Beybars (as I learn from the Bash Katib of
the Kadee) bequeathed a garden, which is called “ gheyt el-kuttah ”
(or the garden of the cat), near his mosque, on the north of
Cairo, for the beneﬁt of the cats; but this garden. has been
sold over and over again, by the trustees and purchasers: the
former sold it on pretence of its being too much out of order to
be rendered productive, excepting at a considerable expense; and
it now produces only a “hekr” (or quit-rent) of ﬁfteen piasters

296 CHARACTER.

a year, to be applied to the maintenance of the destitute cats.
Almost the whole expense of' their support has, in consequence,
fallen upon the Kadee, who, by reason of his ofﬁce, is the guardian
of this and all other charitable and pious legacies, and must
suffer for the neglect of his predecessors. Latterly,’however,
the duty of feeding the cats has been very inadequately per-
formed. Many persons in Cairo, when they wish to get rid of a
cat, send or take it to the Kadee’s house, and let it loose in the
great court.

The affability of the Egyptians towards each other has been
mentioned in a preceding chapter. Towards foreigners who do
not conform with their manners and customs, and profess the
same way of thinking, they are polite in their address, but cold and
reserved, or parasitical, in conversation. With such persons, and
even among themselves, they often betray much impertinent
curiosity. They are generally extremely afraid of making to
themselves enemies, and this fear frequently induces them to up-
hold each other, even when it is criminal to do so.

Cheerfulness is another remarkable characteristic of this people.
Some of them profess a great contempt for frivolous amusements,
but most take pleasure in such pastimes ; and it is surprising to
see how easily they are amused. Wherever there are crowds, noise,
and bustle they are delighted. In their public festivals there is
little to amuse a person of good education; but the Egyptians
enjoy them as much as we do the best of our entertainments.
Those of the lower orders seem to be extremely happy with their
pipes and coffee, after the occupations of the day, in the society of
the coffee-shop.

Hospitality is a virtue for which the natives of the East in
general are highly and deservedly admired, and the people of
Egypt are well entitled to commendation on this account. A
word which signiﬁes literally “a person on a journey” (“ musaﬁr”)
is the term most commonly employed in this country in the sense
of a visitor or guest. There are very few persons here who would
think of sitting down to a meal, if there were a stranger in the
house, without inviting him to partake of it, unless the latter were
a menial, in which case he would be invited to eat with the serv-
ants. It would be considered a shameful violation of good

CHARACTER. 297

manners if a Muslim abstained from ordering the table to be
prepared at the usual time because a visitor happened to be
present. Persons of the middle classes in this country, if living in
a retired situation, sometimes take their supper before the door of
their house, and invite every passenger of respectable appearance
to eat with them. This is very commonly done among the lower
orders. In cities and large towns, claims on hospitality are un—
frequent, as there are many wekalehs, or khans, where strangers
may obtain lodging, and food is very easily procured; but in the
villages, travellers are often lodged and entertained by the sheykh
or some other inhabitant,—and if the guest be a person of the
middle or higher classes, or even not very poor, he gives a present
to his host’s servants, or to the host himself. In the desert, how-
ever, a present is seldom received from a guest. By a Sunneh law
a traveller may claim entertainment, of any person able to afford it
to him, for three days. The account of Abraham’s entertaining
the three angels, related in the Bible, presents a perfect picture of
the manner in which a modern Bedawee sheykh receives travellers
arriving. at his encampment. He immediately orders his wife or
women to make bread, slaughters a sheep or some other animal,
and dresses it in haste ; and bringing milk and any other provisions
that he may have ready at hand, with the bread and the meat
which he has dressed, sets them before his guests. If these be per-
sons of high rank, he stands by them while they eat, as Abraham
did in the case above alluded to. Most Bedawees will suffer
almost any injury to themselves or their families rather than allow
their guests to be ill-treated while under their protection. There
are Arabs who even regard the chastity of their wives as not too
precious to be sacriﬁced for the gratiﬁcation of their guests, and at
an encampment of the Bishareen I ascertained that there are many
persons in this great tribe (which inhabits a large portion of the
desert between the Nile and the Red Sea) who offer their unmarried
daughters to their guests, merely from motives of hospitality, and
not for hire.

There used to be in Cairo a numerous class of persons called
“ Tufeyleeyeh ” or “ Tufeylees ” (that is, Spongers), who, taking
advantage of the hospitality of their countrymen, subsisted entirely
by sponging; but this class has of late very much decreased in

298 CHARACTER.

number. Wherever there was an entertainment, some of these
worthies were almost sure to be found, and it was only by a
present of money that they could be induced to retire from the
company. They even travelled about the country without the
smallest coin in their pockets, intruding themselves into private
houses whenever they wanted a meal, or practising various tricks
for this purpose. Two of them, I was told, a little While since,
determined to go to the festival of the seyyid El-Bedawee at
Tanta, an easy journey of two days and a half from Cairo. Walk-
ing at their leisure, they arrived at the small town of Kalyoob at
the end of their ﬁrst day’s journey, and there found themselves at
a loss for a supper. One of them went to the Kadee, and after
saluting him, said, “O Kadee, I am a traveller from the Sharkeeyeh,
going to Masr ; and I have a companion who owes me ﬁfty purses,
which he has with him at present, and refuses to give me, and I
am actually in want of them.” “Where is he '1” said the Kadee.
“Here, in this town,” answered the complainant. The Kadee
sent a rasool to bring the accused, and in the meantime, expecting
considerable fees for a' judgment in such a case, ordered a good
supper to be prepared, which Kadees of country towns or villages
generally do under similar circumstances. The two men were
invited to sup and sleep before the case was tried. Next morn—
ing the parties were examined. The accused admitted that he
had in his possession the ﬁfty purses of his companion, and said
that he was ready to give them up, for they were an encumbrance
to him, being only the paper purses in which coﬂ'ee was sold.
“We are Tufeylees,” he added ; and the Kadee in anger dismissed
them.

The natives of Egypt in general, in common with the Arabs
of other countries, are (according to our system of morals) justly
chargeable with a fault which is regarded by us as one of great
magnitude: it is want of gratitude.26 But this I am inclined to
consider a relic of the Bedawee character, and as arising from the
very common practice of hospitality and generosity, and from the
prevailing opinion that these virtues are absolute duties which it
would be disgraceful and sinful to neglect.

The temperance and moderation of the Egyptians with regard
to diet are very exemplary. Since my ﬁrst arrival in Egypt I

CHARACTER. 299

have scarcely ever seen a native of this country in a state of
intoxication, unless it were a musician at an entertainment, or a
dancing-girl, or a. low prostitute. It hardly need be added that
they are extremely frugal. They show a great respect for bread
as the staff of life, and on no account suﬁ'er the smallest portion
of it to be wasted, if they can avoid it. I have often observed
an Eg ptian take up a small piece of bread which had by accident
fallen in the street or road, and, after putting it before his lips
and forehead three times, place it on one side, in order that a dog
might eat it, rather than let it remain to be trodden under foot.
The following instance of the excessive and unreasonable respect
of the Egyptians for bread has been related to me by several
persons, but I must say that I think it hardly credible :—TWO
servants were sitting at the door of their master’s house, eating
their dinner, when they observed a Memlook Bey, with several of
his oﬂicers, riding along the street towards them. One of these
servants rose from respect to the grandee, who, regarding him
with indignation, exclaimed, “Which is the more worthy of
respect—the bread that is before you, or myself?” Without
waiting for a reply, he made, it is said, a well~understood signal
with his hand, and the unintending offender was beheaded on the
spot.

The higher and middle orders of Muslims in Egypt are scrupu-
lously cleanly, and the lower orders are more so than in most
other countries ; but were not cleanliness a point of their religion,
perhaps it would not be so much regarded by them. From what
has been said in a former chapter of this work, it appears that
we must not judge of them with respect to this quality from the
dirty state in which they generally leave their children. Their
religious ablutions were certainly very wisely ordained, personal
cleanliness being so conducive to health in a hot climate. The
Egyptians in general are particularly careful to avoid whatever
their religion has pronounced unclean and polluting. One of
their objections against wine is that it is unclean 5 and I believe
that very few of them, if any, could be induced by any means,
unless by a considerable bribe, to eat the smallest piece of pig’s
ﬂesh, excepting the peasants of the Boheyreh (the province on
the west of the western branch of the Nile), many of whom eat

300 CHARACTER.

the ﬂesh of the wild boar and rats. I was once amused with the
remark of a Muslim on the subject of pork. He observed that
the Franks were certainly a much-calumniated people ,' that it was
well known they were in the habit of eating swine’s ﬂesh, but
that some slanderous persons here asserted that it was not only
the ﬂesh of the unclean beast that was eaten by the Franks, but
also its skin and its entrails and its very blood. On being
answered that the accusation was too true, he burst forth with
a most hearty curse upon the inﬁdels, devoting them to the lowest
place in hell.

Many of the butchers who supply the Muslim inhabitants of
the metropolis with meat are Jews. A few years ago, one of the
principal ’Ulama here complained of this fact to the Basha, and
begged him to put a stop to it. Another of the ’Ulama, hearing
that this person had gone to make the complaint above mentioned,
followed him, and urged before the Basha that the practice was
not unlawful. “Adduce your proof,” said the former. “Here,”
answered the other, “is my proof, from the Word of God: ‘Eat
of that whereon the name of God hath been commemorated.”
The chief of the Jewish butchers was then summoned, and asked
whether he said anything previously to slaughtering an animal.
He answered, “Yes : we always say as the Muslims, ‘ In the name
of God! God is most great!’ and we never kill an animal in any
other way than by cutting its throat.” The complaint was con-
sequently dismissed.

A few days ago, a man purchasing a fateereh of a baker in this
city saw him take out of his oven a dish of pork which he had
been baking for 2. Frank ,' and supposing that the other things in
the oven might have been in contact with the unclean meat, and
thus contaminated, immediately brought a soldier from the nearest
guard-house, and caused the baker (who was in no slight alarm,
and protested that he was ignorant of there being any pig’s ﬂesh
in his oven) to be conducted before the zabit. This magistrate
considered the case of sufficient importance to be referred to the
Basha’s deewan; and the president of this council regarded it as
of too serious and difﬁcult a nature for him to decide, and accord-
ingly sent the accused to be judged at the Mahkem'eh. The
Kadee desired the opinion of the Muftee, who gave the following

CHARACTER. 30,1 '

sentence: That all kinds of food not essentially or radically im~
pure were puriﬁed of any pollution which they might have con—
tracted by ﬁre, and consequently that whatever thing of this
description was in the oven, even if it had been in contact with
the pork, was clean as soon as it had been baked.

A short time since, the Basha received from Europe a set of
mattresses and cushions stuffed with horse-hair, to form a deewan
for his hareem. The ladies opened one of the cushions to ascertain
what was the substance which rendered them so agreeably elastic,
and, disgusted in the highest degree at seeing What they supposed
to be hogs’ hair, insisted upon throwing away the whole deewan.

A Frenchman who was employed here a few years ago to
reﬁne sugar, by the present Basha, made use of blood for this pur-
pose,- and since that, very few of the people of this country have
ventured to eat any sugar made by the Franks. The Basha was
also obliged to prohibit the use of blood in his own sugar-bakeries,
and the white of eggs has been employed in its stead. Some of
the Egyptians, seeing the European sugar to be very superior to
that made here, use it, holding the doctrine that what is originally
clean may become clean again after pollution 3 but I am obliged
to keep the coarse Egyptian sugar for the purpose of making
sherbet for my visitors, some of whom hold long discussions with
me on this subject.

It is a general custom among the Egyptians after washing
clothes to pour clean water upon them, and to say in doing so,
“I testify that there is no deity but God; and I testify that
Mohammad is God’s apostle.” In speaking of their religion, I
have mentioned several other practices instituted for the sake of
cleanliness, most of which are universally observed. But not-
withstanding these cleanly practices and principles, and their
custom of frequently going to the bath, the Egyptians do not
change their linen so often as some people of more northern
climates, who need not so much to do this frequently. They often
go to the bath in a dirty shirt, and, after a thorough washing, put
on the same again. _

Filial piety is one of the more remarkable virtues of this people.
The outward respect which they pay to their parents I have
already had occasion to mention. Great respect is also shown

302 CHARACTER.

by the young to those far advanced in age, particularly to such
as are reputed men of great piety and learning. (See Lev. xix. 32.)
Love of their country, and more especially of ko-me, is another
predominant characteristic of the modern Egyptians. In general,
they have a great dread of quitting their native land. I have
heard of several determining to visit a foreign country, for the
sake of considerable advantages in prospect; but when the time
of their intended departure drew near, their resolution failed them.
Severe oppression has lately lessened this feeling, which is doubt-
less owing in a great degree to ignorance of foreign lands and
their inhabitants. It was probably from the same feeling prevail-
ing among the Arabs of his time that Mohammad was induced to
promise such high rewards in a future world to those who ﬂed
their country for the sake of his religion. I have heard it re-
marked as a proof of the extraordinary love which the Egyptians
have for their native place, that a woman or girl in this country
will seldom consent, or her parents allow her, to marry a man
who will not promise to reside with her in her native town or
village ,- but I rather think that the reluctance to change the
place of abode in this case arises from the risk which the female
incurs of wanting the protection of her relations. The Bedawees
are so attached to their deserts, and have so great a contempt for
people who reside in towns and for agriculturists, that it is a
matter of surprise that so many of them were induced to settle
even upon the fertile banks of the Nile. The modern Egyptians,
though mostly descended from Bedawees, while they resemble
their ancestors in love of their native country, have a horror of
the desert. One journey in the desert furnishes them with tales
of exaggerated hardships, perils, and wonders, which they are
extremely fond of relating to their less experienced countrymen.
Indolence pervades all classes of the Egyptians, excepting those
who are obliged to earn their livelihood by severe manual labour.
It is the result of the climate, and of the fecundity of the soil.
Even the mechanics, who are extremely greedy of gain, will gener-
ally spend two days in a work which they might easily accomplish
in one, and will leave the most lucrative employment to idle away
their time with the pipe ; but the porter, the groom who runs
before his master’s horse, and the boatmen, who are often employed

CHARACTER. 303

in towing the vessels up the river during calm and very hot
weather, as well as many other labourers, endure extreme fatigue.

The Egyptians are also excessively obstinate. I have men-
tioned in a former chapter that they have been notorious from
ancient times—that is, from the period of the Roman domination
——for refusing to pay their taxes until they have been severely
beaten, and that they often boast of the number of stripes which
they have received before they would part with their money.
Such conduct is very common among them. I was once told
that a fellah from whom the value of about four shillings was
demanded by his governor endured so severe a bastinading rather
than pay this paltry sum, which he declared he did not possess,
that the governor ordered him to be dismissed; but striking him
on his face as he limped away, there fell out of his mouth a gold
coin of the exact value of the sum demanded of him, so that his
beating, terrible as it was, fell short of what was necessary to
make him pay. This disposition seems a strange peculiarity in
their character 3 but it is easily accounted for by the fact that
they know very well the more readily they pay the more will be
exacted from them. In other respects, however, they are ex—
tremely obstinate and difﬁcult to govern, though very obsequious
in their manners and professions. It is seldom that an Egyptian
workman can be induced to make a thing exactly to order. He
will generally follow his own opinion in preference to that of his
employer, and will scarcely ever ﬁnish his work by the time he
has promised.

Though very submissive to their governors, the Fellaheen of
Egypt are not deﬁcient in courage when excited by feuds among
each other, and they become excellent soldiers.

In sensuality, as far as it relates to the indulgence of libidinous
passions, the Egyptians, as well as other natives of hot climates,
certainly exceed more northern nations; yet this excess is not to
be attributed merely to the climate, but more especially to the
institution of polygamy, to the facility with which divorcements
are accomplished Whenever a man may wish to marry a new wife,
and to the custom of concubinage. It is even said, and I believe
with truth, that in this respect they exceed the neighbouring
nations whose religion and civil institutions are similar ; and that

304 CHARA CTER.

their country still deserves the appellation of “the abode of the
wicked,” which in the Kur-an is, according to the best commen-
tators, applied to ancient Egypt, if we take the word here trans-
lated “wicked” in its more usual modern sense of “debauchees.”
A vice for which the Memlooks who governed Egypt were in-
famous was so spread by them in this country as to become not
less rare here than in almost any other country of the East, but
of late years it is said to have much decreased.

The most immodest freedom of conversation is indulged in by
persons of both sexes and of every station of life in Egypt, even
by the most virtuous and respectable women, with the exception
of a very few, who often make use of coarse language but not
unchaste. From persons of the best education expressions are
often heard so obscene as only to be ﬁt for a low brothel ; and
things are named and subjects talked of by the most genteel
women, without any idea of their being indecorous, in the hearing
of men, that many prostitutes in our country would abstain from
mentioning.

The women of Egypt have the character of being the most
licentious in their feelings of all females who lay any claim to be
considered as members of a civilized nation, and this character
is freely bestowed upon them by their countrymen even in con-
versation with foreigners. Numerous exceptions doubtless exist,
and I am happy to insert the following words translated from a
note by my friend the sheykh Mohammad ’Eiyad Et-Tantawee,
on a passage in “The Thousand and One Nights ” :—“Many
persons reckon marrying a second time among the greatest of
disgraceful actions. This opinion is most common in the country
towns and villages; and the relations of my mother are thus
characterized, so that a woman of them, when her husband dies
while she is young or divorces her while she is young, passes her
life, however long it may be, in widowhood, and never marries a
second time.” But with respect to the majority of the Egyptian
women, it must, I fear, be allowed that they are very licentious.
What liberty they have, many of them, it is said, abuse; and
most of them are not considered safe unless under lock and key,
to which restraint few are subjected. It is believed that they
possess a degree of cunning in the management of their intrigues

CHARACTER. 305

that the most prudent and careful husband cannot guard against,
and consequently that their plots are seldom frustrated, how-
ever great may be the apparent risk of the undertakings in which
they engage. Sometimes the husband himself is made the un»
conscious means of gratifying his wife’s criminal propensities.
Some of the stories of the intrigues of Women in “ The Thousand
and One Nights” present faithful pictures of occurrences not
unfrequent in the modern metropolis of Egypt. Many of the
men of this city are of opinion that almost all the women would
intrigue if they could do so without danger, and that the greater
proportion of them do. I should be sorry to think that the
former opinion was just, and I am almost persuaded that it is
over-severe, because it appears, from the customs with regard to
women generally prevailing here, that the latter must be false.
The difﬁculty of carrying on an intrigue with a female in this
place can hardly be conceived by a person who is not moderately
well acquainted with Eastern customs and habits. It is not only
difﬁcult for a. woman of the middle or higher classes to admit her
paramour into the house in which she resides, but it is almost
impossible for her to have a private interview with a man who
has a hareem in his own house, or to enter the house of a man
who is neither married nor has a concubine-slave, without attract-
ing the notice of the neighbours and causing their immediate
interference. But as it cannot be denied that many of the
women of Egypt engage in intrigues notwithstanding such risks,
it may be supposed that the difﬁculties which lie in the way are
the chief bar to most others. Among the females of the lower
orders intrigues are more easily accomplished and frequent.

The libidinous character of the generality of the women of
Egypt, and the licentious conduct of a great number of them, may
be attributed to many causes—partly to the climate, and partly
to their want of proper instruction and of innocent pastimes and
employments 5 but it is more to be attributed to the conduct of
the husbands themselves, and to conduct far more disgraceful
to them than the utmost severity that any of them is known to
exercise in the regulations of his hareem. The generality of hus-
bands in Egypt endeavour to increase the libidinous feelings of
their wives by every means in their power, though at the same

(440) ‘20

306 CHARACTER.

time they assiduously study to prevent their indulging those feel-
ings unlawfully. The women are permitted to listen, screened
behind their windows of wooden lattice-work, to immoral songs
and tales sung or related in the streets by men whom they pay
for this entertainment, and to view the voluptuous dances of the
ghawazee and of the effeminate khawals. The ghawazee, who are
professed prostitutes, are not unfrequently introduced into the
hareems of the wealthy, not merely to entertain the ladies with
their dances, but to teach them their voluptuous arts; and even
indecent puppets are sometimes brought into such hareems for
the amusement of the inmates. Innumerable stories of the
artiﬁces and intrigues of the women of Egypt have been related
to me. The following narratives of late occurrences will serve as
specimens :—

A slave-dealer who had been possessed of property which
enabled him to live in comfort, but had lost the greater part of
it, married a young and handsome woman in this city Who had
sufﬁcient wealth to make up for his losses. He soon, however,
neglected her ; and as he was past the prime of life, she became
indifferent to him, and placed her affections upon another man,
a dustman, who had been in the habit of coming to her house.
She purchased for this person a shop close by her house; gave
him a sum of money to enable him to pursue a less degraded
occupation as a seller of grain and fodder; and informed him that
she had ’contrived a plan for his visiting her in perfect security.
Her hareem had a window with hanging shutters, and almost
close before this window rose a palm tree out-topping the house.
This tree, she observed, would afford her lover a means of access
to her, and of egress from her apartment in case of danger. She
had only one servant, a female, who engaged to assist her in the
accomplishment of her desires. Previously to her lover’s ﬁrst
visit to her, she desired the servant to inform her husband of
what was about to take place in the ensuing night. He deter-
mined to keep watch, and having told his wife that he was going
out and should not return that night, concealed himself in a lower
apartment. At night the maid came to tell him that the visitor
was in the hareem. He went up, but found the hareem door shut.
On his trying to open it his Wife screamed, her lover at the same

CHARACTER. 307

time escaping from the window by means of the palm tree. She
called to her neighbours, “Come to my assistance—pray come!
there is a robber in my house!” Several of them soon came;
and ﬁnding her locked in her room, and her husband outside the
door, told her there was nobody in the house but her husband and
maid. She said that the man they called her husband was a
robber ,' that her husband was gone to sleep out. The latter then
informed them of what had passed, and insisted that a man was
with her. He broke open the door and searched the room; but,
ﬁnding no man, was reprimanded by his neighbours, and abused
by his wife for uttering a slander. The next day his wife, taking
with her as witnesses of his having accused her of a criminal
intrigue two of the neighbours who had come in on hearing her
screams for assistance, arraigned her husband at the Mahkem'eh
as the slanderer of a virtuous woman without the evidence of his
own sight or of other witnesses. Being convicted of this offence,
he was punished with eighty stripes, in accordance with the or-
dinance of the Kur-an. His wife now asked him if he would
divorce her, but he refused. For three days after this event they
lived peaceably together. On the third night the wife, having
invited her lover to visit her, bound her husband hand and foot
while he was asleep, and tied him down to the mattress. Shortly
after, her lover came up, and waking the husband, threatened him
with instant death if he should call, and remained with the wife
for several hours in his presence. As soon as the intruder had
gone, the husband was unbound by his wife, and called out to his
neighbours, beating her at the same time with such violence that
she also began to call for assistance. The neighbours, coming in
and seeing him in a fury, easily believed her assertion that he had «
become raving mad, and trying to soothe him with kind words
and prayers that God would restore him to sanity, liberated her
from his grasp. She procured as soon as possible a rasool from
the Kadee, and went with him and her husband and several of
her neighbours who had witnessed the beating that she had re—
ceived, before the judge. The neighbours unanimously declared
their opinion that her husband was mad, and the Kadee ordered
that he should be conveyed to the Maristan (or common mad-
house) ; but the wife, affecting to pity him, begged that she might

308 CHARACTER.

be allowed to chain him in an apartment in her house, that she
might alleviate his sufferings by waiting upon him. The Kadee
assented, praising the benevolence of the woman, and praying that
God might reward her. She accordingly procured an iron collar
and a chain from the Maristan, and chained him in a lower apart-
ment of her house. Every night in his presence her lover visited
her, after which she importuned him in vain to divorce her 5 and
when the neighbours came in daily to ask how he was, the only
answer he received to his complaints and accusations against his
wife was, “God restore thee! God restore thee!” Thus he con-
tinued about a month ; and his wife, ﬁnding that he still persisted
in refusing to divorce her, sent for a keeper of the Maristan to
take him. The neighbours came round as he left the house. One
exclaimed, “There is no strength nor power but in God! God
restore thee!” Another said, “How sad! He was really a
worthy man.” A third remarked, “ Badingans are very abundant
just now.” While he was conﬁned in the Maristan, his wife came
daily to him, and asked him if he would divorce her. On his
answering “ No,” she said, “Then chained you may lie until you
die, and my lover shall come to me constantly.” At length, after
seven months’ conﬁnement, he consented to divorce her; upon
which she procured his liberation, and he fulﬁlled his promise.
Her lever was of too low a grade to become her husband, so she
remained unmarried, and received him whenever she pleased ; but
the maid revealed the true history of this affair, and it soon
became a subject of common talk.

When the wife of a man of wealth or rank engages in a crimi-
nal intrigue, both she and her paramour generally incur great
danger. Last year the Wife of an ofﬁcer of high rank in the army
took advantage of the absence of her husband from the metro-
polis (where he always resided with her when not on military
duty) to invite a Christian merchant, of whom she had been in
the habit of buying silks, to pay her a visit. He went to her
house at the time appointed, and found a eunuch at the door, who
took him to another house, disguised him in the loose outer gar«
ments and veil of a lady, and then brought him back, and intro-
duced him to his mistress. He passed nearly the whole of the
night with her; and, rising before she awoke, put into his pocket

CHARACTER. 309

a purse which he had given her, and went down to the eunuch,
who conducted him again to the house where he had put on his
disguise. Having here resumed his own outer clothes, he repaired
to his shop. Soon after, the lady, who had missed the purse, came
and taxed him with having taken it. She told him that she did
not want money, but only desired his company, and begged him
to come to her again in the ensuing evening, which he promised
to do; but in the afternoon a female servant from the house of
this lady came to his shop, and told him that her mistress had
mixed some poison in a bottle of water which she had ordered to
be given him to drink. This mode of revenge is said to have been
often adopted when the woman’s paramour has given her even a
slight offence.

It is seldom that a wife of a Muslim is guilty of a criminal
intrigue without being punished with death if there be four wit-
nesses to the fact, and they or the husband prosecute her 3 and
not always does she escape this punishment if she be detected by
any of the ofﬁcers of justice. In the latter case, four witnesses
are not required, and often the woman, if of a respectable family,
is put to death, generally in private, on the mere arbitrary
authority of the government; but a bribe will sometimes save
her, for it will always be accepted, if it can with safety. Drown-
ing is the punishment now almost always inﬂicted, publicly, upon
women convicted of adultery in Cairo and other large towns of
Egypt, instead of that ordained by the law, which is stoning. A
few months ago a poor woman of this city married a man whose
trade was that of selling fowls, and while living with him and
her mother, took three other lodgings, and married three other
husbands, all of whom were generally absent from the metropolis;
so she calculated that when any of these three persons came to
town for a few days, she might easily ﬁnd an excuse to go to
him. They happened, unfortunately for her, to come to town on
the same day, and all of them went the same evening to inquire
for her at her mother’s house. Being much embarrassed by their
presence, and her ﬁrst husband being also with her, she feigned
to be ill, and soon to become insensible, and was taken by her
mother to an inner room. One of the husbands proposed to give
her something to restore her ; another wished to try a different

310 CHARACTER.

remedy. They began to contend which was the best medicine; and
one of them said, “I shall give her what I please ; is not she my
wife?” “Your wife!” exclaimed each of the three other bus--
bands at the same time; “she is my wife.” Each proved his
marriage. The woman was taken to the Mahkem’eh, tried,_con-
demned to death, and thrown into the Nile—Some time ago,
when I was before in this country, a similar case occurred: a
woman married three soldiers of the nizam, or regular troops.
She was buried in a hole, breast—deep, and then shot.

A woman may sometimes, but very rarely, trust in palliating
circumstances, or the support of powerful friends, to save her from
the penalty of death, in case of her detection in a criminal inter-
course, as in the following instance :—The Basha, last year, gave
one of the slaves in his hareem in marriage to a rich slave-mer—
chant, from whom he had purchased many of his Memlooks and
female slaves. This man was not only unfaithful to her, but
utterly neglected her ; and she, in consequence, formed an im-
proper intimacy with a merchant of whom she was a frequent
customer. One day, when her husband was out, a black slave
belonging to him happened to see a man’s head at a small aperture
in a window of the hareem. He immediately went up to search
the room of the wife, who, hearing him coming, locked her para-
mour in an adjoining closet. The slave broke open the door of
the closet, and the man within rushed at him with a dagger, which
he wore in his girdle; but the former seized the blade in his
hand, and the woman held him until her lover had escaped. She
then kissed the slave’s hand, and implored him not to cause her
death by informing her husband of what had passed. She, how-
ever, found him inexorable: he immediately went to his master,
showing his bleeding hand, and telling him the cause of the
wound. The woman, meanwhile, ﬂed to the Basha’s hareem for
protection. Her husband demanded of the Basha that she should
be given up and put to death; and the request being deemed a
proper one, she was brought before her former master to answer
for her crime. She threw herself at his feet, kissed the skirt of
his clothing, and acquainted him With her husband’s vicious con-
duct, and his utter neglect of her ; and the Basha, feeling himself
insulted by the husband’s conduct, spat in his face, and sent back

CHARACTER. 311

the wife to his own hareem. Her paramour did not live long
after this; he was smothered in the house of some courtesans ;
but none of these women was punished, as it could not be proved
which of them committed the act. ‘

For the sentiments with regard to women, and their general
conduct towards the fair sex, the Egyptians, in common With other
Muslims, have been reprehended with too great severity. It is
true that they do not consider it necessary, or even delicate, to
consult the choice of a girl under age previously to giving her
away in matrimony; but it is not less true that a man of the
middle or higher classes almost always makes his choice of a wife
from hearsay, or as a person blindfold, having no means of seeing
her until the contract is made and she is brought to his house.
It is impossible, therefore, that there should be any mutual at-
tachment before marriage. Both sexes, in truth, are oppressed
by tyrannical laws and customs ; but, happily, they regard their
chains as becoming and honourable—they would feel themselves
disgraced by shaking them off. As to the restraint which is exer-
cised towards the women, I have before remarked that it is in a
great degree voluntary on their part, and that I believe it to be less
strict in Egypt than in any other country of the Turkish Empire 3 it
is certainly far less so than it has been represented to be by many
persons. They generally look upon this restraint with a degree
of pride, as evincing the husband’s care for them, and value them—
selves upon their being hidden as treasures. In good society, it
is considered highly indecorous to inquire in direct terms respect-
ing the health of a friend’s wife, or of any female in his house,
unless she be a relation of the person who makes the inquiry.
One of my Egyptian acquaintances asking another native of this
country, who had been in Paris, what was the most remarkable
thing that he had seen in the land of the inﬁdels, the latter,
thinking lightly of all that he had observed really worthy of
exciting the admiration of an unprejudiced and a sensible man, '
gave the following answer :—>“ I witnessed nothing so remarkable
as this fact. It is a custom of every person among the rich and
great, in Paris and other cities of France, frequently to invite his
friends and acquaintances, both men and women, to an entertain—
ment in his house. The rooms in which the company are received

312 CHARACTER.

are lighted with a great number of candles and lamps; There the
men and women assemble promiscuously—the women, as you well
know, unveiled ,' and a man may sit next to another’s wife, whom
he'has never seen before, and may walk, talk, and even dance
with her, in the very presence of her own husband, who is neither
angry nor jealous at such disgraceful conduct.”

The Egyptians are equally remarkable for generosity and
cupidity. That two such opposite qualities should be united in
the same mind is not a little surprising ; but such is generally the
case with this people. An overreaching and deceitful disposition
in commercial transactions, which is too common among all
nations, is one of the most notorious faults of the Egyptian; in
such cases he seldom scruples to frame a falsehood which may
better his bargain. Among people who groan beneath the yoke
of a tyrannical and rapacious government (and such has long
been the government of Egypt), a disposition to avarice invariably
predominates—for a man is naturally most tenacious of that
which is most liable to be taken from him , and hence the op—
pressed Egyptian, when. he has a sum of money which he does
not require for necessary expenses, and cannot proﬁtably employ,
generally lays it out in the purchase of ornaments for his wife or
wives, which ornaments he can easily convert again into money.
Hence, also, it is a common practice in this country (as it is, or
has been, in almost every country under similar political circum-
stances) for a man to hide treasure in his house, under the paved
ﬂoor, or in some other part 5 and as many a person who does so
dies suddenly, without being able to inform his family where is
his “makhba,” or hiding-place, money is not unfrequently dis—
covered on pulling down houses. A Vice near akin to cupidity—
namely, envy—I believe to be equally prevalent among the modern
Egyptians, in common with the whole Arab race , for many of
them are candid enough to confess their own opinion that this
hateful disposition is almost wholly concentrated in the minds of
their nation.

The Egyptians are generally honest in the payment of debts.
Their Prophet asserted that even martyrdom would not atone for
a debt undischarged. Few of them ever accept interest for a loan

' of money, as it is strictly forbidden by their law.

CHARACTER. 313

Constant veracity is a Virtue extremely rare in modern Egypt.
Falsehood was commended by the Prophet when it tended to re-
concile persons at variance with each other; also when practised
in order to please one’s wife, and to obtain any advantage in a
war with the enemies of the faith, though highly reprobated in
other cases. This offers some little palliation of the general prac-
tice of lying which prevails among the modern Arabs; for if
people are allowed to lie in certain cases, they insensibly contract
a habit of doing so in others. Though most of the Egyptians
often lie designedly, they are seldom heard to retract an unin-
tentional misstatement without expressing themselves thus—“ No ;
I beg forgiveness of God: it was so and so ”——as in stating any-
thing of which they are not quite certain they say, “God is all-
knowing.” I may here mention (and I do it with some feeling
of national pride) that, some years ago, there was an Armenian
jeweller in this city (Cairo) so noted for his veracity, that his
acquaintances determined to give him some appellation signiﬁcant
of his possessing a virtue so rare among them ; and the name they
gave him was "‘El-Ingileezee,” or The Englishman, which has be-
come his family name. It is common to hear tradesmen in this
place, when demanding a price which they do not mean to abate,
say, “One word—the word of the English.” They also often say,
“ The word of the Franks,” in this sense 5 but I have never heard
any particular nation thus honourably distinguished excepting the
English and the Maghrab'ees, or Western Arabs, which latter
people have acquired this reputation by being rather more vera-
cious than most other Arabs.

I have before mentioned the practice of swearing by God
which prevails among the Egyptians. I must here add that
many of them scruple not to make use of an oath with the View of
obtaining credit to a falsehood. In this case they sometimes say,
“VVa-llahi!” (“By God!”), but more commonly, “Wa-llahl”
for though the latter expression has the same meaning as the
former, they pretend that it may also be used as an ejaculation in
praise of God; whereas “ Wa-llahi” is a decided oath, and if
uttered to a falsehood is a heinous sin. Such an oath, if violated,
must be expiated by once feeding or clothing ten poor men, liber‘
ating a Muslim slave or captive, or fasting three days. This,

314 CHARACTER.

however, is the expiation allowed by the Kur—an only for an in-
considerate oath. Yet the modern Muslims sometimes observe -it
in order to free themselves from the guilt of a deliberate false
oath ; and they generally prefer the fast to either of the other
modes of expiation. There are some oaths which I believe few
Muslims would falsely take—such as saying three times, “By
God, the Great I ” and the oath upon the mus-haf (or copy of the
Kur-an), saying, “By what this contains of the word of God!”
But a form of oath that is still more to be depended upon is that
of saying, “I impose upon myself divorcement” (that is, the
divorce of my wife, if what I say be false); or, “I impose upon
myself interdiction l” which has a similar meaning (“My wife be
unlawful to mel”) , or, “I impose upon myself a triple divorce-
ment 1 ” which binds by the irrevocable divorce of the wife. If a
man use any one of these three forms of oath falsely, his wife, if
he have but one, is divorced by the oath itself, if proved to be
false, Without further ceremony; and if he have two or more
wives, he must, under such circumstances, choose one of them to
put away. There are, however, abandoned liars who will swear ‘
falsely by the oath that is generally held most binding. A poet,
speaking of a character of this description, says,—

“ But Abu-l-Mo’alla is most false
When he swears by the oath of divorce.”

The generality of the Egyptians are easily excited to quarrel,
particularly those of the lower orders, who when enraged curse
each other’s fathers, mothers, beards, etc; and lavish upon each
other a variety of opprobrious epithets, such as “son of the dog,
pimp, pig," and an appellation which they think still worse than
any of these—namely, “Jew.” When one curses the father of
the other, the latter generally retorts by cursing the father and
mother, and sometimes the whole household, of his adversary.
They menace each other, but seldom proceed to blows. In a few
instances, however, I have seen low persons in this country so
enraged as to bite and grasp each other by the throat. I have
also witnessed many instances of forbearance on the part of indi-
viduals of the middle and lower classes when grossly insulted. I
have often heard an Egyptian say, on receiving a blow from an

INDUSTRY. 315

equal, “God bless thee I” “God requite thee good 1” “Beat me
again!” In general, a quarrel terminates by one or both parties
saying, “Justice is against me.” Often after this they recite
the Fat’hah together, and then sometimes embrace and kiss one
another.

The Egyptians are particularly prone to satire, and often dis-
play considerable wit in their jeers and jests. Their language
affords them great facilities for punning, and for ambiguous con-
versation, in which they very frequently indulge. The lower
orders sometimes lampoon their rulers in songs, and ridicule those
enactments of the government by which they themselves most
suffer. I was once much amused with a song which I found to be
very popular in the town and district of Aswan, on the southern
frontier of Egypt 5 its burden was a plain invocation to the plague
to take their tyrannical governor and his Copt clerk. Another
song, which was popular throughout Egypt during my ﬁrst visit
to this country, and which was composed on the occasion of an
increase of the income-tax called “ ﬁrdeh,” began thus : “You who
have [nothing on your head but] a libdeh, sell it, and pay the
ﬁrdeh.” The libdeh, I have before mentioned, is a felt cap, which
is worn under, or instead of, the turban; and the man must be
very poor who has no other covering than this for his head.

CHAPTER XIV.
INDUSTRY.

11‘ is melancholy to contrast the present poverty of Egypt with its
prosperity in ancient times, when the variety, elegance, and exqui-
site ﬁnish displayed in its manufactures attracted the admiration
of surrounding nations, and its inhabitants were in no need of
foreign commerce to increase their wealth or to add to their com-
forts. Antiquarian researches show us that a high degree of
excellence in the arts of civilized life distinguished the Egyptians
in the age of Moses, and at a yet earlier period. Not only the
Pharaohs and the priests and military chiefs, but also a great pro-
portion of the wealthy agriculturists, and other private individuals,

316 INDUSTRY?

in those remote times, passed a life of the most reﬁned luxury,
were clad in linen of the most delicate fabric, and reclined on
couches and chairs which have served as models for the, furniture
of our modern saloons. Nature is as lavish of her favours as she
was of old to the inhabitants of the valley of the Nile, but for
many centuries they have ceased to enjoy the beneﬁt of a steady
government. Each of their successive rulers during this long
lapse of time, considering the uncertain tenure of his power, has
been almost wholly intent upon increasing his own wealth; and
thus a large portion of the nation has gradually perished, and
the remnant, in general, been reduced to a state of the most
afﬂicting poverty. The male portion of the population of
Egypt being scarcely greater than is sufﬁcient for the cultivation
of as much of the soil as is subject to the natural inundation,
or easily irrigated by artiﬁcial means, the number of persons
who devote’ themselves to manufactures in this country is
comparatively very small; and as there are so few competitors,
and at present few persons of wealth to encourage them, their
works in general display but little skill. But the low state of ’
the manual arts has, in a great degree, been occasioned by
another cause: the Turkish Sultan Seleem, after his conquest of
Egypt, took with him thence to his own country, as related by
El-Gabartee, so many masters of crafts which were not practised
in Turkey, that more than ﬁfty manual arts ceased to be pursued
in Egypt.

Painting and sculpture, as applied to the representation of
living objects, are, I have already stated, absolutely prohibited by
the religion of El—Islam. There are, however, some Muslims in
Egypt who attempt the delineation of men, lions, camels, and
other animals, ﬂowers, boats, etc, particularly in (What they call)
the decoration of a few shop-fronts, the doors of pilgrims’ houses,
etc, though their performances would be surpassed by children
of ﬁve or six years of age in our own country. But the Muslim
religion especially promotes industry, by requiring that every man
be acquainted with some art or occupation by which he may, in
case of necessity, be able to support himself and those dependent
upon him, and to fulﬁl all his religious and moral duties. The art
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INDUSTRY. 319

specimens of Arabian architecture are found in the Egyptian,
metropolis and its environs ; and not only the mosques and other
public buildings are remarkable for their grandeur and beauty,
but many of the private dwellings also attract our admiration,
especially by their interior structure and decorations. Yet this
art has of late years much declined, like most others in this
country; a new style of architecture, partly Oriental and partly
European, and of a very plain description, being generally pre-
ferred. The doors, ceilings, windows, and pavements of the build-
ings in the older style, which have already been described, display
considerable taste of a peculiar kind ; and so also do most of the
Egyptian manufactures, though many of them are rather clumsy
or ill-ﬁnished. The turners of wood, whose chief occupation was
that of making thevlattice-work of Windows, were very numerous,
and their work was generally neater than it is at present; they
have less employment now, as windows of modern houses are often
made of glass. The turner, like most other artisans in Egypt, sits
to his work. In the art of glass-making, for which Egypt was so
much celebrated in ancient times, the modern inhabitants of this
country possess but little skill. They have lost the art of manu-
facturing coloured glass for windows; but for the construction of
windows of this material they are still admired, though not so
much as they were a few years ago, before the adoption of a new
style of architecture diminished the demand for their work. Their
pottery is generally of a rude kind. It mostly consists of porous
bottles and jars for cooling as well as keeping water. For their
skill in the preparation of morocco leather they are justly cele-
brated. The branches and leaves of the palm tree they employ in
a great variety of manufactures: of the former they make seats,
coops, chests, frames for beds, etc; of the latter, baskets, pan-
niers, mats, brooms, ﬂy-whisks, and many other utensils. Of the
ﬁbres, also, that grow at the foot of the branches of the palm tree,
are made most of the ropes used in Egypt. The best mats (which
are much used instead of carpets, particularly in summer) are
made of rushes. Egypt has lost the celebrity which it enjoyed
in ancient times for its ﬁne linen. The linen, cotton, and woollen
cloths, and the silks now woven in this country, are generally of
coarse or poor qualities.

320 INDUSTRY:

The Egyptians have long been famous for the art of hatching
fowls’ eggs by artiﬁcial heat. This practice, though obscurely
described by ancient authors, appears to have been common in
Egypt in very remote times. The building in which the process
is performed is called in Lower Egypt “maamal el-ﬁrakh,” and
in Upper Egypt “maamal el-farroog.” In the former division
of the country, there are more than a hundred such establish<
ments ; and in the latter, more than half that number. Most of
the superintendents, if not all, are Copts. The proprietors pay
a tax to the government. The maamal is constructed of burnt or
sun-dried bricks, and consists of two parallel rows of small ovens
and cells for ﬁre, divided by a narrow, vaulted passage; each oven
being about nine or ten feet long, eight feet wide, and ﬁve or six
feet high, and having above it a vaulted ﬁre-cell of the same size,
or rather less in height. Each oven communicates with the pas-
sage by an aperture large enough for a man to enter, and with
its ﬁre-cell by a similar aperture, the ﬁre-cells, also, of the same
row communicate with each other, and each has an aperture in
its vault (for the escape of the smoke), which is opened only occa—
sionally ; the passage, too, has several such apertures in its vaulted
roof. The eggs are placed upon mats or straw, and one tier above
another, usually to the number of three tiers, in the ovens; and
burning gelleh (a fuel before mentioned, composed of the dung
of animals, mixed with chopped straw, and made into the form of
round ﬁat cakes) is placed upon the ﬂoors of the ﬁre-cells above.
The entrance of the maamal is well closed. Before it are two or
three small chambers—for the attendant, and the fuel, and the
chickens when newly hatched. The operation is performed only
during two or three months in the year—in the spring—earliest
in the most southern parts of the country. Each maamal, in
general, contains from twelve to twenty-four ovens, and receives
about a hundred and ﬁfty thousand eggs during the annual period
of its continuing open, one quarter or a third of which number
generally fail. The peasants of the neighbourhood supply the
eggs 3 the attendant of the maamal examines them, and afterwards
usually gives one chicken for every two eggs that he has received.
In general, only half the number of ovens are used for the ﬁrst
ten days, and ﬁres are lighted only in the ﬁre-cells above these.

INDUSTRY. 321

On the eleventh day these ﬁres are put out, and others are lighted
in the other ﬁre-cells, and fresh eggs placed in the ovens below
these last. On the following day some of the eggs in the former
ovens are removed, and placed on the ﬂoor of the ﬁre-cells above,
where the ﬁres have been extinguished. The general heat main-
tained during the process is from 100° to 103° of F ahrenheit’s
thermometer. The manager, having been accustomed to this art
from his youth, knows, from his long experience, the exact tem-
perature that is required for the success of the operation, without
having any instrument like our thermometer to guide him. On
the twentieth day some of the eggs ﬁrst put in are hatched, but
most on the twenty-ﬁrst day—that is, after the same period as is
required in the case of natural incubation. The weaker of the
chickens are placed in the passage ,' the rest in the innermost of
the anterior apartments, where they remain a day or two before
they are given to the persons to whom they are due. When the
eggs ﬁrst placed have been hatched, and the second supply half
hatched, the ovens in which the former were placed, and which
are now vacant, receive the third supply; and, in like manner,
when the second supply is hatched, a fourth is introduced in
their place. I have not found that the fowls produced in this
, manner are inferior in point of flavour, or in other respects, to
those produced from the egg by incubation. The fowls and their
eggs in Egypt are, in both cases, and with respect to size and
ﬂavour, very inferior to those in our country. In one of the
Egyptian newspapers published by order of the government (No.
248, for the 18th of Ramadan 1246, or the 3rd of March 1831
of our era) I ﬁnd the following statement :—

Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt,
Number of establishments for the hatching

of fowls’ eggs in the present year ............. 105 59
Number of eggs used ................................. 19,325,600 6,878,900
Number spoiled ....................................... 6,255,867 2,529,660
Number hatched ...................................... 13,069,733 4,349,240

Though the commerce of Egypt has much declined since the
discovery of the passage from Europe to India by the Cape of
Good Hope, and in consequence of the monopolies and exactions
of its present ruler, it is still considerable.

(440 21

322 INDUSTRY?

The principal imports from Europe are woollen cloths (chieﬂy
from France), calico, plain muslin, ﬁgured muslin (of Scotch
manufacture, for turbans), silks, velvet, crape, shawls (Scotch,
English, and French) in imitation of those of Kashmeer, writing-
paper (chieﬂy from Venice), ﬁre-arms, straight sword-blades (from
Germany) for the Nubians, etc., watches and clocks, coffee-cups
and various articles of earthenware and glass (mostly from Ger—
many), many kinds of hardwares, planks, metal, beads, wine, and
liqueurs,—and White slaves, silks, embroidered handkerchiefs and
napkins, mouth-pieces of pipes, slippers, and a variety of made
goods, copper and brass wares, etc., from Constantinople,- from
Asia Minor, carpets (among which the seggadehs, or small prayer-
carpets), ﬁgs, etc; from Syria, tobacco, striped silks, ’abayehs
(or woollen cloaks), soap ; from Arabia, coffee, spices, several
drugs, Indian goods (as shawls, silks, muslins, etc.) ; from Abys-
sinia and Sennar and the neighbouring countries, slaves, gold,
ivory, ostrich-feathers, kurbags (or whips of hippopotamus’ hide),
tamarind in cakes, gums, senna ; from El—Gharb, or the West
(that is, northern Africa, from Egypt westwards), tarbooshes (or
red cloth skull-caps), burnooses (or white woollen hooded cloaks),
herams (or white woollen sheets, used for night-coverings and for
dress), yellow morocco shoes.

The principal exports to Europe are wheat, maize, rice, beans,
cotton, ﬂax, indigo, coﬁ'ee, various spices, gums, senna, ivory,
ostrich-feathers; to Turkey, male and female Abyssinian and
black slaves (including a few eunuchs), rice, coffee, spices, henna,
etc; to Syria, slaves, rice, etc.; to Arabia, chieﬂy corn ,- to
Sennar and the neighbouring countries, cotton and linen and
woollen goods, a few Syrian and Egyptian striped silks, small
carpets, beads and other ornaments, soap, the straight sword-
blades mentioned before, ﬁre- arms, copper wares, writing—
paper.

To convey some notion of the value of money in Cairo, I in-
sert the following list of the present prices of certain common
articles of food, etc. In the country towns and villages most
kinds of provisions are cheaper than in the ’metropolis—meat,
fowls, and pigeons, about half the prices here mentioned; wheat
and bread, from about one-third to half.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHOP OF A TURKISH MERCHANT IN THE SOOK KHAN EL'KHALEELEE.

 

 

 

 

INDUSTRY. ~ 325

P. F. ,5 s D.

\Vheat, the ardebb (or about ﬁve bushels),

from 50 P. to ........................................ 63 O 0 13 215
Rice, the ardebb, about ................................ 240 0 2 S 0
Mutton or lamb, the ratl .............................. 1 0 0 0 2%
Beef, do .................................. 0 35 0 O 2111;
Fowls, each, 1 P. 10 F. to ........................... 1 2O 0 0 3%
Pigeons, the pair, 1 P. 10 F. to ..................... 1 20 0 O 31,}
Eggs, three for ............................................ 0 5 0 0 1-3;;
Fresh butter, the ratl ................................... 2 0 0 0 4%
Clariﬁed butter, do. 2 P. to ....................... 2 10 0 0 13
Coffee, do. 6 P. to ....................... 7 0 0 1 4%
Gebelee tobacco, the ukkah, 15 P. to ............. 18 0 0 3 %
Sooree tobacco, do. 5 P. to ............ 10 0 0 2 0
Egyptian loaf-sugar, the ratl ........................ 2 0 0 0 4%
European loaf-sugar, do ............................ 2 10 0 0 . %
Summer grapes, do ............................ 0 10 0 0 0%
Later grapes, do. 20 F. to ............ 0 30 0 0 1%
Fine biscuit, the kantar ............................... 160 0 1 12 0
Water, the kirbeh (or goat’s skin), 10 F. to . 0 20 0 0 15
Firewood, the donkey-load ........................... 11 O 0 2 2%
Charcoal, the ukkah, 20 F. to ....................... 0 30 0 0 %
Soap, the rat] ............................................. 1 30 0 0 4%
Tallow-candles, the ukkah ........................... 8 20 0 1 8%
Best wax-candles, do ................................. 25 0 0 5 O

Note—The “ ratl ” is about 152 oz., and the “ ukkah ” nearly 22 lbs., avoir-
dupois. The “kantar” is 100 ratls. P. denotes piasters; F., faddahs. For
a full account of Egyptian measures, weights, and moneys, see the Appendix.

There are in Cairo numerous buildings called “wekalehs,”
chieﬂy designed for the accommodation of merchants, and for the
reception of their goods. The wekaleh is a building surrounding
a square or oblong court. Its ground-ﬂoor consists of vaulted
magazines for merchandise, which face the court ; and these
magazines are sometimes used as shops. Above them are gener-
ally IOdgings, which are entered from a gallery extending along
each of the four sides of the court; or, in the place of these
lodgings, there are other magazines ,- and in many wekalehs, which
have apartments intended as lodgings, these apartments are used
as magazines. In general, a wekaleh has only one common en-
trance, the door of which is closed at night, and kept by a porter.
There are about two hundred of these buildings in Cairo, and
three-fourths of that number are within that part which consti-
tuted the original city.

It has already been mentioned, in the Introduction to this

326 [ND USTR Y.

work, that the great thoroughfare-streets of Cairo generally have
a row of shops along each side, not communicating with the super-
structures 3 so, also, have many of the by-streets. Commonly a
portion of a street, or a whole street, contains chieﬂy or solely
shops appropriated to one particular trade,* and is called the
sock (or market) of that trade, or is named after a mosque there
situated. Thus a part of the main street of the city is called
“Sock en—Nahhaseen,” or the market of the sellers of copper
wares (or simply “the Nahhaseen,” the word “sock” being
usually dropped); another part is called “the Géhargeeyeh,” or
[market of] the jewellers; another, “the Khurdageeyeh,” or
[market of] the sellers of hardwares ; another, “the Gh6reeyeh,”
or [market of] the Ghoreeyeh, which is the name of a mosque
situated there. These are some of the chief sooks of the city.
The principal Turkish sook is called “Khan El-Khaleelee.” Some
of the sooks are covered over with matting or with planks, sup-
ported by beams extending across the street, a little above the
shops or above the houses.

The shop (“dukkan”) is a square recess or cell, generally
about six or seven feet high, and between three and four feet in
width ; or it consists of two cells, one behind the other, the inner
one serving as a magazine. The ﬂoor of the shop is even with
the top of a “mastab'ah,” or raised seat of stone or brick, built
against the front. This is usually about two feet and a half or
three feet in height, and about the same in breadth. The front
of the shop is furnished with folding—shutters, commonly consisting
of three leaves, one above another: the uppermost of these is
turned up in front ,' the other two leaves, sometimes folded to-
gether, are turned down upon the mastab’ah, and form an even
seat, upon which is spread a mat or carpet, with perhaps a cushion
or two. Some shops have folding-doors instead of the shutters
above described. The shopkeeper generally sits upon the mas-
tab’ah, unless he be obliged to retire a little way within his shop _
to make room for two or more customers, who mount up on the
seat, taking off their shoes before they draw up their feet upon
the mat or carpet. To a regular customer, or one who makes
any considerable purchase, the shopkeeper generally presents a

* This has long been the case in other Eastern countries. (See Jer. xxxvii. 21.)

IND USTR Y. 32 7

pipe (unless the former have his own with him, and it be ﬁlled
and lighted), and he calls or sends to the boy of the nearest coffee-
shop, and desires him to bring some coffee, which is served in
the same manner as in the house, in small china cups placed
within cups of‘ brass. Not more than two persons can sit con-

 

 

 

SHOP OF AN ’ATTAR, WHO SELLS DRUGS, PERFUMES, WAX-CANDLES, ETC., CAIRO.

veniently upon the mastab’ah of a shop, unless it be more spacious
than is commonly the case ; but some are three or four feet broad,
and the shops to which they belong ﬁve or six feet in Width, and
consequently these afford room enough for four persons or-more
sitting in the Eastern fashion. The shOpman generally says his
prayers upon the mastab’ah in the sight of the passengers in the

328 [ND USTR Y.

street: When he leaves his shop for a few minutes, or for about
half-an-hour, he either relies for the protection of his property
upon the next shopkeepers or those opposite, or hangs a net before
his shop. He seldom thinks it necessary to close and lock the
shutters, excepting at night, when he returns to his house, or
when he goes to the mosque on the Friday to join in the noon-
prayers of that day. The apartments above the shops have been
described in the Introduction.

Buying and selling are here very tiresome processes to persons
unaccustomed to such modes of bargaining. When a shopkeeper
is asked the price of any of his goods, he generally demands more
than he expects to receive ; the customer declares the price exor-
bitant, and offers about half or two-thirds of the sum ﬁrst named.
The price thus bidden is, of course, rejected, but the shopkeeper
lowers his demand; and then the customer, in his turn, bids
somewhat higher than before : thus they usually go on until they
meet about half-way between the sum ﬁrst demanded and that ﬁrst
offered, and so the bargain is concluded. But I believe that most
of the tradesmen are, by European travellers, unjustly blamed for
thus acting, since I have ascertained that many an Egyptian shop-
keeper will sell an article for a proﬁt of one per cent, and even
less. When a person would make any but a triﬂing purchase,
having found the article that exactly suits him, he generally makes
up his mind for a long altercation : he mounts upon the mastab’ah
of the shop, seats himself at his ease, ﬁlls and lights his pipe, and
then the contest of words commences, and lasts often half-an-hour,
or even more. Sometimes the shopkeeper or the customer in-
terrupts the bargaining by introducing some irrelevant topic of
conversation, as if the one had determined to abate his demand
no further or the other to bid no higher; then again the haggling
is continued. The bargain being concluded, and the purchaser
having taken his leave, his servant generally receives from the
tradesman a small present of money, which, if not given spon-
taneously, he scruples not to demand. In many of the socks in
Cairo auctions are held on stated days, once or twice a week.
They are conducted by “dellals” (or brokers), hired either by
private persons who have anything that they wish to sell in this
manner, or by shopkeepers; and the purchasers are of both these

1ND Usmy. 329

classes. The dellals carry the goods up and down, announcing
the sums bidden with cries of “harag” or “haraj,” etc. Among
the lower orders a bargain of the most triﬂing nature is often
made with a great deal of vehemence of voice and gesture: a
person ignorant of their language would imagine that the parties
engaged in it were quarrelling and highly enraged. The peasants
will often say, when a person asks the price of anything which
they have for sale, “ Receive it as a present.”* This answer having
become a common form of speech, they know that advantage will
not be taken of it 3 and when desired again to name the price,
they will do so, but generally name a sum that is exorbitant.

It would be tedious and uninteresting to enumerate all the
trades pursued in Cairo. The principal of them are those of the
draper, or seller of materials for dress (who is simply called
"' tagir,” or merchant), and of the seller of ready—made dresses,
arms, etc. (who has the same appellation); the jeweller (“gohar-
gee”) 3 the goldsmith and Silversmith (“sa'igh”), who only works
by order; the seller of hardwares (“khurdagee”) 3 the seller of
copper wares (“nahhas”) 3 the tailor (“kheiyzit”); the dyer
(“sabbagh”) 3 the darner (“reﬁ'a”) 3 the ornamental sewer and
maker of shereet, or silk lace, etc. (“ habbak ”) 3 the maker of silk
cords, etc. (“’akkad”) 3 the maker of pipes (“shibukshee”) 3 the
druggist and perfumer (“ ’attar ”), who also sells wax-candles, etc. 3
the tobacconist (“dakhakhinee”) 3 the fruiterer (“fakihanee”) 3
the seller of dried fruits (“nukalee”); the seller of sherbet
(“sharbetlee”) 3 the oilman (“zeiyat”), who sells butter, cheese,
honey, etc., as well as oil; the greengrocer (“khudaree”) 3 the
butcher (“gezzar”) 3 and the baker (“farran”), to whom bread,
meat, etc., are sent to be baked. There are many cooks’ shops,
where kebab and various other dishes are cooked and sold 3 but
it is seldom that persons eat at these shops, generally sending to
them for provisions when they cannot conveniently prepare food
in their own houses. Shopkeepers often procure their breakfast
or dinner from one of these cooks, who are called “tabbakhs.”
There are also many shops in which fateerehs, and others in which
boiled beans (fool mudemmes), are sold. Both these articles of

‘4 As Ephron did to Abraham when the latter expressed his wish to purchase the cave
and ﬁeld of Machpelah. (See Gen. xxiii. 11.)

330 [ND USTRY.

food have been described in a former chapter. Many persons
of the lower orders eat at the shop of the “ fatatiree ” (or seller of
fateerehs), or at that of the “ fowwal ” (or bean-seller).

Bread, vegetables, and a variety of eatables are carried about
for sale. The cries of some of the hawkers are curious, and
deserve to be mentioned. The seller of “tirmis” (or lupins)
often cries, “Aid! 0 Imbabee! Aid!” This is understood in
two senses—as an invocation for aid to the sheykh El—Imbabee,
a celebrated Muslim saint, buried at the village of Imbabeh, on
the west bank of the Nile, opposite Cairo, in the neighbourhood of
which village the best tirmis is grown ; and also as implying that
it is through the aid of the saint above mentioned that the tirmis
of Imbabeh is so excellent. The seller of this vegetable also cries,
“The tirmis of Imbabeh surpasses the almond!” Another cry
of the seller of tirmis is, “Oh how sweet the little offspring of the
river!” This last cry, which is seldom heard but in the country
towns and villages of Egypt, alludes to the manner in which the
tirmis is prepared for food. To deprive it of its natural bitterness,
it is soaked for two or'three days in a vessel full of water, then
boiled ; and after this sewed up in a basket of palm leaves (called
“ fard ”), and thrown into the Nile, where it is left to soak again
two or three days, after which it is dried, and eaten cold, with
a little salt—The seller of sour limes cries, “God make them
light [or easy of sale]! 0 limes!”—The toasted pips of a kind
of melon called “’abdallawee” and of the water—melon are often
announced by the cry of “O consoler of the embarrassed! O
pips!” though more commonly by the simple cry of “Roasted
pips ! ”—A curious cry of the seller of a kind of sweetmeat (“hala-
weh”) composed of treacle fried with some other ingredients is,
“For a nail! O sweetmeat!” He is said to be half a thief:
children and servants often steal implements of iron, etc., from
the house in which they live, and give them to him in exchange
for his sweetmeat.——The hawker of oranges cries, “Honey! 0
oranges! Honey!” and similar cries are used by the sellers of
other fruits and vegetables, so that it is sometimes impossible to
guess what the person announces for sale, as when we hear the
cry of “Sycamore-ﬁgs! O grapes!” excepting by the rule that
what is for sale is the least excellent of the fruits, etc., mentioned,

 

BREAD-SELLER. CAIRO.

Page 330.

 

[ND USTR Y. ' 331

as sycamore-ﬁgs are not so good as grapes—A very singular cry
is used by the seller of roses: “The rose was a thorn; from the
sweat of the Prophet it blossomed.” This alludes to a miracle
related of the Prophet—The fragrant ﬂowers of the henna—tree (or
Egyptian privet) are carried about for sale, and the seller cries,
“Odours of paradise! 0 ﬂowers of the hennal”——A kind of
cotton-cloth, made by machinery which is put in motion by a
bull, is announced by the cry of “The work of the bull! O
maidens ! ”

As the water of the wells in Cairo is slightly brackish, numer-
ous sakkas (carriers or sellers of water) obtain their livelihood
by supplying its inhabitants with water from the Nile. During
the season of the inundation, or rather during the period of about
four months after the opening of the canal which runs through the
metropolis, the sakkas draw their water from this canal 5 at other
times they bring it from the river. It is conveyed in skins by
camels and asses, and sometimes, when the distance is short and
the skin small, by the sakka himself. The water—skins of the
camel (which are called “ rei”) are a pair of wide bags of ox-hide.
The ass bears a goat’s skin (called “kirbeh”) 5 so also does the
sakka, if he has no ass. The rei contain three or four kirbehs.
The general cry of the sakka is, “Oh, may God compensate
[me] I” Whenever this cry is heard, it is known that a sakka
is passing. For a goat’s skin of water, brought from a distance
of a mile and a half or two miles, he obtains scarcely more than
a penny.

There are also many sakkas who supply passengers in the
streets of the metropolis with water. One of this occupation is
called “sakka sharbeh.” His kirbeh has a long brass spout, and
he pours the water into a brass cup, or an earthen kulleh, for any
one who would drink—There is a more numerous class who
follow the same occupation, called “hemalees.” These are
mostly darweeshes, of the order of the Rifa’ees, or that of the
Beiyoomees, and are exempt from the income—tax called ﬁrdeh.
The hemalee carries upon his back a vessel (called “ibreek”) of-
porous gray earth. This vessel cools the water. Sometimes the
hemalee has an earthen kulleh of water scented with “moyet
zahr” (or orange-ﬂower water), prepared from the ﬂowers of the

332 INDUSTRY

“naring” (a bitter orange), for his best customers ; and often a
sprig of naring is stuck in the mouth of his ibreek. He also
generally has a wallet hung by his side. From persons of the
higher and middle orders he receives from one to ﬁve faddahs
for a draught of water; from the poor, either nothing, or a piece
of bread, or some other article of food, which he puts in his
wallet. Many hemalees, and some sakkas who carry the goat’s
skin, are found at the scenes of religious festivals, such as the

 

SAKKA OR WATER-CARRIER, CAIRO.

moolids of saints, etc, in Cairo and its neighbourhood. They are
often paid, by visitors to the tomb of a saint on such occasions, to
distribute the water which they carry to passengers; a cupful to
whoever desires. This work of charity is called “tesbeel,” and
is performed for the sake of the saint, and on other occasions than
moolids. The waténcarriers who are thus employed are generally-
allowed to ﬁll their ibreeks or kirbehs at a public fountain, as they
demand nothing from the passengers whom they supply. When
employed to distribute water to passengers in the street, etc, they

INDUSTRY? 333

generally chant a short cry, inviting the thirsty to partake of the
charity offered them in the name of God, most commonly in the
words and to the air here following—— ‘

$: l x J‘

n _ ,, 7" I n g l ; :

lg_ $:‘fl‘ _'__;' “ :13. ____f_—_i:l:j:—t:ﬂ
Se -beel Al - lzih Ya. ’at - shan.

 

 

 

 

         

and praying that Paradise and pardon may be the lot of him who
affords the charitable gift, thus,——

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4+ -1 ~=
,_ g: n \1 | l
lg ::&j_—L—;‘—’ :QA __i___..‘i_i__i__ _?___:T::'
m/ __ ___.__.. n
1 E1 - gen - neh wa-l- magh - ﬁ - reh

.H- .
5—,??? a ; l 1 ﬁ 4‘: l 4 *4}
le—w—a——o‘-w : i ' 1 Lia—*ll
‘1 lak, ya’. szi - heb es - se - beel.

There are numerous other persons who follow occupations
similar to that of the hemalee. Among these are sellers of “ ’erk-
soos,” or infusion of liquorice, mentioned in a former chapter. The
“’erk-soosee” (or seller of this beverage) generally carries a red
earthen jar of the liquid on his left side, partly supported by a
strap and chain, and partly by his left arm ,- the mouth having
some leaf (or ﬁbres of the palm tree) stuffed into it. He also
carries two or more brass or china cups, which he knocks together.—
In the same manner, many sharbetlees (or sellers of sherbet)
carry about for sale “zebeeb ” (or infusion of raisins). The shar-
betlee commonly bears in his left hand the glass vessel of a
“ sheesheh,” ﬁlled with zebeeb ,- and a large tin or copper jug full
of the same, and several glass cups, in his right hand. Some
sharbetlees carry on the head a round tinned copper tray, with a
number of glass cups of “teen meblool ” or “ belah meblool,” which
are ﬁgs and dates steeped in water ; and a copper vessel, or a china
bowl, of the same. Sahlab (a thin jelly, made of water, wheat-
starch, and sugar, boiled, with a little cinnamon or ginger sprinkled
upon it ; or made as a drink without starch) is likewise carried
about in the same manner; and “soobiya” (which is a drink
made of the pips of the ’abdalawee melon, moistened and pounded,

334 INDUSTRY.

and steeped in water, which is then strained and sweetened with
sugar; or made with rice instead of the pips) is also vended in a
similar way, and carried in vessels like those used for zebeeb ; but
the glass cups are generally placed in a kind of trough of tin,
attached by a belt to the waist of the seller.

It has been mentioned before that many poor persons in Cairo
gain their livelihood by going about to clean pipes. The pipe-
cleaner (“musellikatee’ ’) carries a number of long wires for this
purpose in three or four hollow canes or tubes of tin, which are
bound together and slung to his shoulder. A small leather bag,
full of tow, to wind round the top of the wire with which the pipe
is cleaned, is attached to the canes or tin tubes. The musellika-
tee generally obtains no more than a “nuss faddah” (or about a
quarter of a farthing) for each pipe that he cleans.

A veryg reat number of persons of both sexes among the lower
orders in Cairo, and many in other towns of Egypt, obtain their
subsistence by begging. As might be expected, not a few of
these are abominable impostors. There are some whose appear-
ance is most distressing to every humane person who sees them,
but who accumulate considerable property. A case of this kind
was made public here a few months ago. A blind fellah, who
was led through the streets of the metropolis by a young girl, his
daughter, both of whom were always nearly ‘naked, was in the
daily habit of blinging to his house a blind Turkish beggar to
sup with him. One evening he was not at home, but his daughter
was there, and had prepared the supper for his Turkish friend,
who sat and ate alone ; and, in doing this, happened to put his hand
on one side, and felt a jar full of money, which without scruple he
carried away with him. It contained the sum of a hundred and
ten purses (then equivalent to rather more than ﬁve hundred and
ﬁfty guineas), in kheyreeyehs, or small coins of nine piasters each.
The plundered beggar sought redress at the Citadel, and recovered
his property, with the exception of f01ty kheyreeyehs, which the
thief had spent, but was interdicted from begging in future. Chil~
dren are often seen in Cairo perfectly naked; and I have several
times seen females from twelve to twenty years of age, and up-
wards, with only a narrow strip of rag round the loins, begging in
the streets of this city. They suffer little from exposure of the bare

 

 

 

 

 

1N1) USTJB Y. 337

person to the cold of winter or the scorching sun of summer,
being accustomed to it from infancy 3 and the men may, if they
choose, sleep in some of the mosques. In other respects, also,
their condition is not quite so bad as their appearance might lead
a stranger to suppose. They are almost sure of obtaining either
food or money sufﬁcient for supplying the absolute wants of
nature in consequence of the charitable disposition of their
countrymen and the common habit which the tradespeople have
of eating in their shops, and generally giving a morsel of their
food to those who ask for it. There are many beggars who spend
the greater part of the day’s gains to indulge themselves at night
with the intoxicating hasheesh, which for a few hours renders
them, in imagination, the happiest of mankind.

The cries of the beggars of Cairo are generally appeals to God.

Among the most common are: “0 Exciter of compassion! O
Lord!”——“For the sake of God! 0 ye charitable!”—“I am
seeking from my Lord a cake of bread!”—“O how bountiful

thou art! 0 Lord!”—“I am the guest of God and the Pro-
phet I ” In the evening, “My supper must be thy gift! 0 Lord I ”
On the eve of Friday, “The night of the excellent Friday!”
and on Friday, “The excellent day of Friday!” One who daily
passed my door used to exclaim, “Place thy reliance upon God!
There is none but God!” and another, a woman, I now hear
crying, “My supper must be thy gift! 0 Lord! from the hand
of a bountiful believer, a testiﬁer of the unity of God ! O masters !”
The answers which beggars generally receive (for they are so
numerous that a person cannot give to all who ask of him) are:
“God help thee!”—“God will sustain!”—“ God give thee!”——
“God content, or enrich, thee!” They are not satisﬁed by any
denial but one implied by these or similar answers. In the more
frequented streets of Cairo, it is common to see a beggar asking
for the price of a cake of bread, which he or she holds in the
hand, followed by the seller of the bread. Some beggars, particu—
larly darweeshes, go about chanting verses in praise of the Pro-
phet, or beating cymbals or a little kettle—drum. In the country,
many darweeshes go from Village to village begging alms. I have
seen them on horseback ; and one I lately saw thus mounted,
and accompanied by two men bearing each a ﬂag, and by a third
(440) 22

338 INDUSTRY.

beating a drum : this beggar on horseback was going from hut to
hut asking for bread.

The most important of the occupations which employ the
modern Egyptians, and that which (as before mentioned) engages
all but a very small proportion of them, is agriculture.

The greater portion of the cultivable soil is fertilized by the
natural annual inundation; but the ﬁelds in the vicinity of the
river and of the large canals, and some other lands, in which pits
are dug for water, are irrigated by means of machines of different
kinds. The most common of these machines is the “shadoof,”
which consists of two posts or pillars of wood, or of mud and
canes or rushes, about ﬁve feet in height, and less than three feet
apart, with a horizontal piece of wood extending from top to top,
to which is suspended a slender lever, formed of a branch of a
tree, having at one end a weight chieﬂy composed of mud, and
at the other, suspended to two long palm sticks, a vessel in the
form of a bowl, made of basketwork, or of a hoop and a piece of
woollen stuff or leather: with this vessel the water is thrown up
to the height of about eight feet into a trough hollowed out for
its reception. In the southern parts of Upper Egypt, four or ﬁve
shadoofs are required, when the river is at the lowest, to raise the
water to the level of the ﬁelds. There are many shadoofs with
two levers, etc, which are worked by two men. The operation
is extremely laborious. Another machine much used for the
same purpose, and almost the only one employed for the irrigation
of gardens in Egypt, is the “sakiyeh.” This mainly consists of a
vertical wheel, which raises the water in earthen pots attached to
cords, and forming a continuous series ; a second vertical wheel
ﬁxed to the same axis, with cogs; and a large, horizontal, cogged
wheel, which, being turned by a pair of cows or bulls, or by a
single beast, puts in motion the two former wheels and the pots.
The construction of this machine is of a very rude kind, and its
motion produces a disagreeable creaking noise. There is a third
machine, called “taboot,” used for the irrigation of lands in the
northern parts of Egypt, where it is only requisite to raise the
water a few feet. It somewhat resembles the sakiyeh: the
chief difference is that, instead of the wheel with pots, it has a
large wheel with hollow jaunts or fellies, in which the water is

 

 

 

 

SAKIYEH.

 

 

INDUSTRY. 341

raised. In the same parts of Egypt, and often to raise the water
to the channel of the taboot, a vessel like that of the shadoof,
with four cords attached to it, is also used. Two men, each
holding two of the cords, throw up the water by means of this
vessel, which is called “ katweh.” In the process of artiﬁcial irri-
gation the land is divided into small squares, by ridges of earth, or
into furrows ; and the water, ﬂowing from the machine along a
narrow gutter, is admitted into one square or furrow after another.

The “ rei ” lands (or those which are naturally inundated) are,
with some exceptions, cultivated but once during the year. After
the waters have retired, about the end of October or beginning of
November, they are sown with wheat, barley, lentils, beans, lupins,
chick-peas, etc. This is called the “shitawee” (or winter) season.
But the “sharakee” lands (or those which are too high to be
subject to the natural inundation), and some parts of the rei, by
artiﬁcial irrigation are made to produce three crops every year 3
though not all the sharakee lands are thus cultivated. The lands
artiﬁcially irrigated produce, ﬁrst, their shitawee crops—being
sown at the same period as the rei lands, generally with wheat
or barley. Secondly, in what is called the “seyfee,” or in the
southern parts of Egypt the “keydee” or “geydee” (that is, the
summer) season, commencing about the vernal equinox, or a little
later, they are sown with millet (“durah seyfee ”), or with indigo,
or cotton, etc. Thirdly, in the “demeereh” season, or period of
the rise of the Nile, commencing about or soon after the summer
solstice, they are sown with millet again, or with maize (“durah
shamee ”), etc., and thus crowned with a third harvest. Sugar is
cultivated throughout a. large portion of Upper” Egypt, and rice in
the low lands near the Mediterranean.

For the purpose of separating the grain of wheat, barley, etc. ,
and cutting the straw, which serves as fodder, the Egyptians use
a machine called “norag,” in the form of a chair, which moves
upon small iron wheels, or thin circular plates, generally eleven,
ﬁxed to three thick axle-trees—four to the foremost, the same
number to the hindmost, and three to the intermediate axle-tree.
This machine is drawn in a circle, by a pair of cows or bulls,
over the corn. The plough, and the other implements which they
use in husbandry, are of rude and simple kinds.

342 USE OF TOBA CCO, COFFEE,

The navigation of the Nile employs a great number of the
natives of Egypt. The boatmen of the Nile are mostly strong,
muscular men. They undergo severe labour in rowing, poling,
and towing, but are very cheerful; and often the most so when
they are most occupied, for then they frequently amuse themselves
by singing. In consequence of the continual changes which take
place in the bed of the Nile, the most experienced pilot is liable
frequently to run his vessel aground 3 on such an occurrence, it is
often necessary for the crew to descend into the water to shove
off the boat with their backs and shoulders. On account of their
being so liable to run aground, the boats of the Nile are generally
made to draw rather more water at the head than at the stern,
and hence the rudder is necessarily very wide. The better kind
of boats used on the Nile, which are very numerous, are of a
simple but elegant form, mostly between thirty and forty feet in
length, with two masts, two large triangular sails, and a cabin,
next the stern, generally about four feet high, and occupying about
a fourth or a third of the length of the boat. In most of these
beats the cabin is divided into two or more apartments. Sudden
whirlwinds and squalls being veryvfrequent on the Nile, a boat-
man is usually employed to hold the main-sheet in his hand, that
he may be able to let it ﬂy at a moment’s notice. The traveller
should be especially careful with respect to this precaution, how-
ever light the wind.

CHAPTER XV.
USE OF TOBACCO, COFFEE, HEMP, OPIUM, ETC.

THE interdiction of wine and other fermented and intoxicating
liquors, which is one of the most important laws in the code of
El—Islam, has caused the greater number of the disciples of this
faith to become immoderately addicted to other means of inducing
slight intoxication, or different kinds of pleasurable excitement.
The most prevalent means, in most Muslim countries, of excit-
ing what the Arabs term “keyf,” which I cannot more nearly
translate than by the word “exhilaration,” is tobacco. It appears

m. ”in.“

 

 

 

NILE BOAT;

 

HEMP, OPIUM, ETC. 345

that tobacco was introduced into Turkey, Arabia, and other
countries of the East, shortly before the beginning of the seven-
teenth century of the Christian era—that is, not many years after
it had begun to be regularly imported into Western Europe as an
article of commerce from America. Its lawfulness to the Muslim
has often been warmly disputed, but is now generally allowed.27
In the character of the Turks and Arabs who have become addicted
to its use it has induced considerable changes, particularly render-
ing them more inactive than they were in earlier times, leading
them to waste over the pipe many hours which might be proﬁt-
ably employed ; but it has had another and a better effect—that
of superseding in a great measure the use of wine, which, to Say
the least, is very injurious to the health of the inhabitants of hot
climates. In the tales of “The Thousand and One Nights,”
which were written before the introduction of tobacco into the
East, and which we may conﬁdently receive as presenting faithful
pictures of the state of Arabian manners and customs at the period
when they appeared, we have abundant evidence that wine was
much more commonly and more openly drunk by Muslims of that
time, or of the age immediately preceding, than it is by those of
the present day. It may further be remarked, in the way of
apology for the pipe as employed by the Turks and Arabs, that
the mild kinds of tobacco generally used by them have a very
gentle effect: they calm the nervous system, and instead of stupi—
fying, sharpen the intellect. The pleasures of Eastern society are
certainly much heightened by the pipe, and it affords the peasant
a cheap and sober refreshment, and probably often restrains him
from less innocent indulgences.

The cup of coffee, which when it can be afforded generally
accompanies the pipe, is commonly regarded as an almost equal
luxury, and doubtless conduced with tobacco to render the use of
wine less common among the Arabs ; its name, “ kahweh,” an old
Arabic term for wine, strengthens this supposition. It is said that
the discovery of the refreshing beverage afforded by the berry of
the coffeeplant was made in the latter part of the seventh century
of the Flight (or of the thirteenth of the Christian era), by a
certain devotee named the sheykh ’Omar, who, driven by perse-
cution to a mountain of El-Yemen, with a few of his disciples,

346 USE OF 7013/] CCO, COFFEE,

was induced by the want of provisions to make an experiment of
the decoction of coffee-berries as an article .of food—the coffee-
plant being there a spontaneous production. It was not, however,
till about two centuries after this period that the use of coffee
began to become common in El-Yemen. It was imported into
Egypt between the years 900 and 910 of the Flight (towards the
end of the ﬁfteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century of
our era, or about a century before the introduction of tobacco
into the East), and was then drunk in the great mosque El—Azhar
by the fakeers of El-Yemen and Mekkeh and El-Medeeneh, who
found it very refreshing to them while engaged in their exercises
of reciting prayers and the praises of God, and freely indulged
themselves with it. About half a century after, it was introduced
into Constantinople. In Arabia, in Egypt, and in Constantinople,
it was often the subject of sharp disputes among the pious and
learned, many doctors asserting that it possessed intoxicating
qualities, and was, therefore, an unlawful beverage to Muslims;
while others contended that among many other virtues it had
that of repelling sleep, which rendered it a powerful help to the
pious in their nocturnal devotions. According to the fancy of the
ruling power, its sale was therefore often prohibited and again
legalized. It is now, and has been for many years, acknowledged
as lawful by almost all the Muslims, and is immoderately used
even by the Wahhabees, who are the most rigid in their con-
demnation of tobacco, and in their adherence to the precepts of
the Kur—an and the Traditions of the Prophet. Formerly it was
generally prepared from the berries and husks together; and it is
still so prepared, or from the husks alone, by many persons in
Arabia. In other countries of the East it is prepared from the
berries alone, freshly roasted and pounded.

Cairo contains above a thousand “ Kahwehs,” or coffee-shops.
The kahweh is, generally speaking, a small apartment, whose front,
which is towards the street, is of open wooden work, in the form
of arches. Along the front, excepting before the door, is a
mastab’ah, or raised seat, of stone or brick, two or three feet in
height and about the same in width, which is covered with mat-
tinor- and there are similar seats in the interior on two or three

0 ,
sides. The coffee—shops are most frequented in the afternoon and

HE/VP, OPIUM ETC. 347

evening, but by few excepting persons of the lower orders and
tradesmen. The exterior mastab’ah is generally preferred. Each
person brings with him his own tobacco and pipe. Coffee is served
by the “kahweg’ee” (or attendant of the shop) at the price of
ﬁve faddahs a cup, or ten for a little “bekreg” (or pot) of three
or four cups. The kahweg'ee also keeps two or three nargeelehs
or sheeshehs, and gozehs, which latter are used for smoking both
the tumbak (or Persian tobacco) and the hasheesh (or hemp) 5 for
hasheesh is sold at some coffee—shops. Musicians and story—tellers
frequent some of the kahwehs, particularly on the evenings of
religious festivals.

The leaves and capsules of hemp, called in Egypt “hasheesh,”
were employed in some countries of the East in very ancient
times to induce an exhilarating intoxication. Herodotus (lib. iv. ,
cap. 75) informs us that the Scythians had a custom of burning
the seeds of this plant in religious ceremonies, and that they be-
came intoxicated with the fumes. Galen also mentions the intoxi-
cating properties of hemp. The practice of chewing the leaves of
this plant to induce intoxication prevailed, or existed, in India
in very early ages ; thence it was introduced into Persia; and
about six centuries ago (before the middle of the thirteenth cen—,
tury of our era) this pernicious and degrading custom was adopted
in Egypt, but chieﬂy by persons of the lower orders,—th0ugh
several men eminent in literature and religion, and vast numbers
of fakeers (or poor devotees), yielded to its fascinations, and con-
tended that it was lawful to the Muslim. The habit is now very
common among the lower orders in the metropolis and other
towns of Egypt. There are various modes of preparing it; and
various names, as “sheera,” “bast,” etc., are given to its different
preparations. Most commonly, I am told, the young leaves are
used alone, or mixed with tobacco, for smoking ,' and the capsules,
without the seeds, pounded and mixed with several aromatic sub-
stances, for an intoxicating conserve. Acids counteract its opera-
tion. The preparation of hemp used for smoking generally
produces boisterous mirth. Few inhalations of its smoke, but the
last very copious, are usually taken from the gOZeh. After the
emission of the last draught from the mouth and nostrils, com-
monly a ﬁt of coughing, and often a spitting of blood, ensues in,

348 USE OF TOBA CCO, COFFEE, ETC.

consequence of the lungs having been ﬁlled with the smoke.
Hasheesh is to be obtained not only at some of the coffee-shops ;
there are shops of a smaller and more private description solely
appropriated to the sale of this and other intoxicating prepara-
tions—they are called “mahshesh’ehs.” It is sometimes amusing
to observe the ridiculous conduct, and to listen to the conversation,
of the persons who frequent these shops. They are all of the
lower orders. The term “hashshash,” which signiﬁes “a smoker
or an eater of hemp,” is an appellation of obloquy. Noisy and
riotous people are often called “hashsha'sheen,” which is the
plural of that appellation, and the origin of our word “ assassin ”-—
a name ﬁrst applied to Arab warriors in Syria, in the time of the .
Crusades, who made use of intoxicating and soporiﬁc drugs in
order to render their enemies insensible.

The use of opium and other drugs to induce intoxication is not
so common in Egypt as in many other countries of the East.
The number of Egyptians addicted to this vice is certainly not
nearly so great, in proportion to the whole population, as is the
relative number of persons in our own country who indulge in
habitual drunkenness. Opium is called in Arabic “aﬁyoon,” and
the opium-eater “aﬁyoonee.” This latter appellation is a term of
less obloquy than that of hashshash, because there are many per-
sons of the middle and higher ‘classes to whom it is applicable.
In its crude state opium is generally taken, by those who have not
long been addicted to its use, in the dose of three or four grains
for the purpose above mentioned; but the aﬁyoonee increases
the dose by degrees. The Egyptians make several conserves com-
posed of hellebore, hemp, and opium, and several aromatic drugs,
which are more commonly taken than the simple opium. A
conserve of this nature is callec “maagoon,” and the person who
makes or sells it “ maagungee.” The most common kind is called
“barsh.” There is one kind which, it is said, makes the person
who takes it manifest his pleasure by singing ; another which will
make him chatter 3 a third which excites to dance ; a fourth which
particularly affects the vision in a pleasurable manner; a ﬁfth
which is simply of a sedative nature. These are sold at the
mahshesh’eh.

The fermented and intoxicating liquor called “boozeh,” or

THE BA T117. 349

“boozah,” which is drunk by many of the boatmen of the Nile,
and by other persons of the lower orders in Egypt, has been
mentioned in a former chapter. I have seen in tombs at Thebes
many large jars containing the dregs of beer of this kind, prepared
from barley.

CHAPTER XVI.
THE BATH.

BATHING is one of the greatest luxuries enjoyed by the people of
Egypt. The inhabitants of the villages of this country, and those
persons who cannot afford the triﬂing expense incurred in the
public bath, often bathe in the Nile. Girls and young women are
not unfrequently seen thus indulging themselves in the warm
weather, and generally without any covering, but mostly in
unfrequented places. The rich, I have before mentioned, have
baths in their own houses; but men who have this convenience
often go to the public bath, and so also do the ladies, who on
many occasions are invited to accompany thither their female
friends.

There are in Cairo between sixty and seventy “Hammams,”
or baths, to which the public have access for a small expense.
Some of these are for men only, others only for women and
young children, and some for both sexes; for men during the
forenoon, and in the afternoon for females. When the bath is
appropriated to women, a napkin, or any piece of linen or drapery,
is hung over the entrance, to warn the men from entering—~all
the male servants having gone out a short time before, and
females having taken their places. The front of the bath is
generally ornamented in a manner similar to that in which most
of the mosques are decorated, but usually more fanciful, in red
and white, and sometimes other colours, particularly over and
about the entrance. The building consists of several apartments,
all of which are paved with marble, chieﬂy white, with an inter-
mixture, in some parts, of black marble, and small pieces of ﬁne
red tile, in the same manner as the durka’ah of a room in a
private house, of which a sketch has been inserted in the Intro-

35° 2715 BA TH.

duction to this work. The inner apartments are covered with
domes, which have a number of small, round, glazed apertures
for the admission of light. The materials chieﬂy employed in the
construction of the walls and domes are bricks and plaster, which,
after having been exposed to the steam that is produced in the
bath when it is in use, are liable to crack and fall if the heat
be intermitted even for a few days. A sakiyeh (or water-wheel),
turned by a cow or bull, is constructed upon a level with the
higher parts of the building, to raise water from a well or tank
for the supply of the boiler, etc.

The bath is believed to be a favourite resort of ginn (or genii),
and therefore when a person is about to enter it, he should offer
up an ejaculatory prayer for protection against evil spirits, and
should put his left foot ﬁrst over the threshold. For the same
reason he should not pray nor recite the Kur-an in it. On
entering, if he have a watch, and a purse containing more than
a triﬂing sum of money, he gives these in charge to the “ m’allim ”
(or keeper of the bath), who looks them in a chest ; his pipe and
sword (if he have one)*he commits to a servant of the bath, who
takes off his shoes, and supplies him with a pair of wooden
clogs—the pavement being wet. The ﬁrst apartment is called
the “meslakh.” It generally has two, three, or four “leewans,”
similar to mastab’ahs, or considerably Wider, cased with marble,
and a fountain (called “faskeeyeh”) of cold water, which rises
from an octagonal basement constructed of stone cased with
marble, etc., in the centre. One of the leewans, being designed for
the accommodation of persons of the higher and middle orders, is
furnished with mattresses and cushions ; upon the other, or others,
which are for the lower orders, there is usually no furniture ex-
cepting mats. In many baths there is also, in the meslakh, a
small kind of stall, for coffee.

In warm weather, the bathers mostly prefer to undress in the
meslakh 3 in winter, they undress in an inner, closed apartment
called the “beyt—owwal,” between which and the ﬁrst apartment
is a short passage, with two or three latrinae on one side. “Beyt—
owwal” signiﬁes “ﬁrst chamber ;” and this name is given to the
chamber here mentioned because it is the ﬁrst of the warm apart-
ments, but it is less warm than the principal apartment, of which

THE BA TH. 35:

it is the antechamber. In general, it has two mastab’ahs, one
‘ higher than the other, cased with marble like the pavement. The
higher accommodates but one person, and is for the higher
classes; the other is sufﬁciently large for two. When the former
is occupied, and another high seat is wanted, two or three mat-
tresses are placed one upon another on the lower mastab’ah, or
on the leewan (or raised part of the ﬂoor). A seggadeh (or small
prayer—carpet) is spread on the mastab’ah for a person of the
higher orders. The bather receives a napkin in which to put his
clothes, and another to put round his waist—this reaches to the
knees, or a little lower, and is termed “mahzam 3” a third, if he
require it, is brought to him to wind round his head, in the ‘
manner of a turban, leaving the top of the head bare ,' a fourth
to put over his chest, and a ﬁfth to cover his back. It is generally
a boy, or beardless young man, who attends the bather while he
undresses, and while he puts on his mahzam, etc., etc: he is
called a “lawingee ” (as the word is vulgarly pronounced), which
is a corruption of “ leewangee,” or attendant of the “ leewan.”
When the bather has undressed, and attired himself in the
manner above described, the lawingee opens to him the door of
the inner and principal apartment, which is called “hararah.”
This, in general, has four 10w leewans, like those of most rooms
in private houses, which give it the form of a cross; and in the
centre a faskeeyeh (or fountain) of hot water, rising from a small
shallow basin in the middle of a high octagonal seat, cased with
white and black marble and pieces of red tile. The hararah,
together with several chambers connected with it, may generally
be described as occupying almost an exact square. The beyt-
owwal is at one of the angles. Two small chambers, which adjoin
each other, and occupy a second angle of the square, contain, the
one a “maghtas,” or tank, of warm water, to which there is an
ascent of a few steps; the other, a “hanafeeyeh,” consisting of
two taps projecting from the wall, one of hot and one of cold
water, with a small trough beneath, before which is a seat. The
name of hanafeeyeh is commonly given, not merely to the taps
above mentioned, but to the chamber which contains them. A
third angle of the square is occupied by two other small chambers
similar to those just described—one containing a second maghtas,

352 THE BA TH.

of water not quite so warm as the former ,' the other, a second
hanafeeyeh. Each maghtas is ﬁlled by a stream of water pouring
down from the dome of the chamber. The fourth angle of the
square is generally occupied by a chamber which has no communi-
cation with the hararah, and which contains the ﬁre over which is
the boiler. The central part of the hararah, its leewans, and the
small chambers connected with it, are covered with domes, which
have a number of small glazed apertures.

The bather having entered the hararah, soon perspires pro-
fusely from the humid heat which is produced by the hot water
of the tanks and fountain and by the boiler. The operator of the
bath, who is called “mukeyyisatee,” immediately comes to him.
If the bather be covered with more than one napkin, the mukey-
yisatee takes them off and gives him a wet mahzam ; or the former
mahzam is retained and wetted. The bather sits on the marble
seat of the faskeeyeh, or lies upon a napkin on one of the leewans,
or by the edge of one of the tanks, to submit to the ﬁrst operation,
which is that of cracking his joints. The operator cracks almost
every joint of his frame: he wrings the body, ﬁrst one way and then
the other, to make several of the vertebrae crack ; even the neck
is made to crack twice, by wrenching the head round each way,
which produces a sensation rather alarming to an inexperienced
person; and each ear is generally twisted round until it cracks.
The limbs are wrested with apparent violence, but with such skill
that an untoward accident in this operation is never heard of.
The main object of this process is to render the joints supple.
The mukeyyisatee also kneads the bather’s ﬂesh. After this, or
previously, he rubs the soles of his feet with a kind of rasp of
baked clay. There are two kinds of rasps used for this purpose:
one is very porous and rough, and its rasping surface is scored
with several lines 3 the other is of a ﬁne close clay, and the
surface with which the rubbing is performed is rendered rough
artiﬁcially. Both are of a dark, blackish colour. Those which are
used by ladies are generally encased (the lower or rasping surface
of course excepted) in thin, embossed silver. The rougher rasp
is of indispensable utility to persons who do not wear stockings,
which is the case with most of the inhabitants of Egypt; the
other is for the more delicate, and is often used for rubbing the

THE BATH 353

limbs to render the skin smooth. The next operation is that of
rubbing the bather’s ﬂesh with a small, coarse woollen bag. This
done, the bather, if he please, dips himself in one of the tanks.
He is next taken to a hanafeeyeh. A napkin having been hung
before the entrance to this, the mukeyyisatee lathers the bather
with “ leef ” (or ﬁbres of the palm tree) and soap and sweet water,
which last is brought in a copper vessel, and warmed in One of
the tanks,- for the water of the hanafeeyeh is from a well, some-
what brackish, and consequently not ﬁt for washing with soap.
The leef is employed in the same manner as sponge is by us. It is
not of the kind produced by the palm trees of Egypt, which is of
a brown colour ; that used in the hammam is white, and is brought
from the Hejaz. The mukeyyisatee washes off the soap with water
from the hanafeeyeh, and if required shaves the bather’s arm-
pits , he then goes, leaving him to ﬁnish washing, etc. The latter
then calls for a set of napkins, four in number, and having cove‘red
himself in the same manner as before described, returns to the
beytrowwal; but ﬁrst it is the custom of persons of the more in—
dependent classes to give half a piaster, or a piaster, to the mukey—
yisatee, though it is not demanded.

In the beyt-owwal a mattress is spread for the bather on the
mastab’ah, covered with napkins, and having one or two cushions
at one end. On this he reclines, sipping a cup or two of coffee,
and smoking, while a lawingee rubs the soles of his feet, and
kneads his body and limbs ; or two lawingeesperform these opera-
tions, and he gives to each of them ﬁve or ten faddahs, or more.
He generally remains half-an—hour, or an hour, smoking his shibuk
or sheesheh ; then dresses, and goes out. The “haris,” who is the
foreman, and who has the charge of drying the napkins in the
meslakh, and of guarding, brings him a looking-glass and (unless
the bather have neither beard nor moustaches) a comb. The bather
asks him for his watch, etc, puts from one to four piasters on the
looking-glass, and goes. One piaster is a common sum to pay for
all the operations above described.

Many persons go to the bath twice a week; others, once a
week, or less frequently; but some are merely washed with soap
and water, and then plunge into one of the tanks,——for which, of
course, they pay less.

(440) 23

3 54 THE BA TH

The women who can afford to do so visit the hammam fre—
quently, but not so often as the men. When the bath is not
hired for the females of one family, or for one party of ladies
exclusively, women of all conditions are admitted. In general, all
the females of a house and the young boys go together. They
take with them their own seggadehs, and the napkins, basins, etc.,
which they require, and even the necessary quantity of sweet
water for washing with soap, and for drinking ; and some carry
with them fruits, sweetmeats, and other refreshments. A lady
of wealth is also often accompanied by her own “bellaneh” or
“mash’tah,” who is the washer and tire-woman. Many women
of the lower orders wear no covering whatever in the bath, not
even a napkin round the waist; others always wear the napkin
and the high clogs. There are few pleasures in which the women
of Egypt delight so much as in the visit to the bath, where they
frequently have entertainments; and often, on these occasions,
they are not a little noisy in their mirth. They avail themselves
of the opportunity to display their jewels and their ﬁnest clothes,
and to enter into familiar conversation with those whom they
meet there, whether friends or strangers. Sometimes a mother
chooses a bride for her son from among the girls or women whom
she chances to see in the bath. On many occasions, as, for in-
stance, in the case of the preparations for a marriage, the bath is
hired for a select party, consisting of the women of two or more
families, and none else are admitted 5 but it is more common for
a lady and a few friends and attendants to hire a “khilweh”: this
is the name they give to the apartment of the hanafeeyeh. There
is more confusion among a mixed company of various ranks; but
where all are friends, the younger girls indulge in more mirth and
frolic. They spend an hour or more under the hands of the
bellaneh, who rubs and washes them, plaits their hair, applies the
depilatory, etc. They then retire to the beyt—owwal or meslakh,
and there, having put on part of their dress, or a large loose shirt,
partake of various refreshments, which, if they have brought none
with them, they may procure by sending an attendant of the bath
to the market. Those who smoke take their own pipes with them.
On particular occasions of festivity, they are entertained with the
songs of two or more ’A'l’mehs, hired to accompany them to the bath.

GAMES. 355

CHAPTER XVII.
GAMES.

MOST of the games of the Egyptians are of kinds which suit their
sedate dispositions. They take great pleasure in chess (which
they call “satreng”), draughts (“dameh”), and trictrac or back-
gammon (“ tawulah ”). Their chess~men are of very simple forms, .
as the Muslim is forbidden by his religion to make an image of
anything that has life. The Muslims of Egypt in general are,
however, less scrupulous with regard to the prohibition of games
of hazard. Though some of them consider even chess and draughts
as forbidden, games partly or wholly hazardous are very common
among all ranks of this people 3 and scarcely less so is that of
cards, which, being almost always played for money, or for some
other stake, is particularly called, by way of distinction, "‘leab
el-kumar,” “the game of hazard or of gain.” Persons of the lower
orders in the towns of Egypt are often seen playing at these and
other games at the coffee-shops, but frequently for no greater stake
than that of a few cups of coffee.

One of the games most common among the Egyptians is that
of the “mankal’ah.” Two persons play at this with a board (or
two boards joined by hinges) in which are twelve hemispherical
holes, called “buyoot,” or “beyts,” in two equal rows, and with
seventy-two small shells of the kind called cowries, or as many
pebbles; these, whether shells or pebbles, are termed the “hasa”
(in the singular, “hasweh”). To explain the game of the man-
kal’ah, I must distinguish the beyts of

the board by letters, thus :— Q? G) @ ® @ ®
The beyts marked A, B, C, D, E, F, (A) @ © 0) ® @

belong to one party, and the opposite six
beyts to the other. One of the parties,
when they are about to play the game in the most simple manner
(for there are two modes of playing it), distributes all the hasa
unequally into the beyts, generally putting at least four into each
beyt. If they were distributed equally there would be six in each
beyt; but this is seldom done, for in this case he who plays

 

 

 

 

MANKAL'AH.

356 GAMES.

ﬁrst is sure to lose. The act of distributing the hasa is called
“tebweez.” When one party is dissatisﬁed with the other’s dis-
tribution of the hasa, he may turn the board round; and then
his adversary begins the game, which is not the case otherwise.
Supposing the party to whom belong the beyts A, B, C, D, E, F,
commences the game, he takes the hasa from beyt F, and distri-
butes them to the beyts a, b, c, etc. , one to each beyt ; and if there
be enough to put in each of his adversary’s six beyts, and more
. remain in his hand, he proceeds in the same manner to distribute
them to his own beyts, in the order A, B, C, etc. ; and then, if he
have still one or more remaining, to his adversary’s beyts, as be-
fore, and so on. If the last beyt into which he has put a hasweh
contain but one (having been empty before he put that in, for it
may have been left empty at the ﬁrst), he ceases, and his adversary
plays; but if it contain two or four, he takes its contents with
those of the beyt opposite; and if the last beyt contain two or
four, and one or more of the preceding beyts also contain either
of these numbers, no beyt with any other number intervening, he
takes the contents of these preceding beyts also, with the contents
of those opposite. If the last beyt into which he has put a hasweh
contain (with this hasweh) three, or ﬁve, or more, he takes these
out, and goes on distributing them in the same manner as before :
for instance, if in this case the last beyt into which he has put a
hasweh be D, he puts one from its contents into E, another into
F, a third into a, and so on ; and thus he continues, until making
the last beyt to contain but one stops him, or making it to contain
two or four brings him gain, and makes it his adversary’s turn to
play. He always plays from beyt F, or if that be empty, from
the nearest beyt to it in his own row containing one or more
haswehs. When one party has more than a single hasweh in one .
or more of his beyts, and the other has none, the former is obliged
to put one of his into the ﬁrst of his adversary’s beyts. If only
one hasweh remain on one side and none on the other, that one
is the property of the person on whose side it is. When the board
is completely cleared, each party counts the number of the hasa
he has taken; and the one who has most reckons the excess of
his above his adversary’s number as his gain. The gainer in one
board begins to play the next board, his adversary having ﬁrst

GAMES. 3 57

distributed the hasa. When either party has made his successive
gains amount to sixty, he has won the game—In this manner the
game of the mankal’ah is played by young persons 3 and hence
this mode of playing it is called “the game of the ignorant”
(“leab el—ghasheem”): others generally play in a different manner,
which is termed “the game of the wise or intelligent” (“leab
cl-’akil ”), and which must now be described.

The hasa are distributed in one or more beyts on one side,
and in the corresponding beyt or beyts on the other side, com-
monly in four beyts on each side, leaving the two extreme beyts
of each side vacant; or they are distributed in any other con-
ventional manner, as, for instance, about half into beyt A, and
the remainder in beyt a. The person who distributes the hasa
does not count how many he places in a beyt, and it is at his
option whether he places them only in one beyt on each side, or
in all the beyts. Should the other person object to his distribu-
tion, he may turn the board round, but in that case forfeits his
right of playing ﬁrst. The person who plays ﬁrst may begin
from any one of his beyts, judging by his eye which will bring
him the best fortune. He proceeds in the same manner as before
described, putting one hasweh in each beyt, and taking in the
same cases as in the former mode; and then the other plays.
After the ﬁrst gain he counts the hasa in each of his beyts, and
plays from that which will bring him the greatest advantage.
One of the parties may stop the other to count the hasa which
he takes out of a beyt to distribute, in order to insure his distri-
buting them correctly. The gain of one party after ﬁnishing one
board is counted, as in the former mode, by the excess of the num-
ber he has taken above the number acquired by the other, and the
'ﬁrst who makes his successive gains to amount to sixty wins the
game. This game is of use in practising the players in calculation.
It is very commonly played at the coffee—shops; and the players
generally agree, though it is unlawful to do so, that the loser shall
pay for the coffee drunk by himself and his adversary and the
spectators, or for a certain number of cups.

Another game very general among the lower classes in Egypt
is called “tab.” In other countries of the East this is called
“ tab wa-dukk ;” but I never hear this name given to it in Egypt.

3 58 GAMES.

In this country it is played in the following manner z—Four small
pieces of stick, of a ﬂat form, about a span (or eight inches) in
length, and two-thirds of an inch in breadth, are ﬁrst prepared—
they are generally formed of a piece of palm branch, one side of
which, being cut ﬂat and smooth, is white, the other green, or if not
fresh, of a dull yellow colour: the former side is commonly called
white, and the other black. These are called the “ta .” Next,
it is necessary to be provided with a “seega,” This is a board,
divided into four rows of squares called “beyts” or “dars,” each
about two inches wide ; or it consists of similar rows of holes made
in the ground or in a ﬂat stone. The beyts are usually seven,
nine, eleven, thirteen, or ﬁfteen, in each row. To show the mode
of playing the game, I shall here represent a seega of nine beyts
in each row, and distinguish the beyts by letters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In each beyt of one exterior row is usually placed a little piece
of stone, or dingy brick, about the size of a walnut 3 and in each
beyt of the other exterior row, a piece of red brick or tile. Or,
sometimes, pieces are placed only in a certain number of beyts
in those rows, as, for instance, in the ﬁrst four. The pieces of
one row must be distinguished from those in the other. They
are called “kilab” (or dogs); in the singular, “kelb.” The
game is generally played by two persons. The four little sticks
are thrown, all together, against a stick thrust into the ground or
held in the hand with one end resting on the ground, or against
a wall, or against a stick inclined against a wall. If they fall so
that one only has its white side upwards, the player is said to have
thrown, or brought, “tab” (plural “teeb"), or a “weled” (or
child, plural “wilad”), and counts one ; if there be two white
and the other two black, he counts two (“itneyn”); if there be
three white and one black, he counts three (“telateh”); if all

GAMES. 3 59

four be white, four (“arba”ah ”) ; if all four black, six (“ sitteh ”).
When one throws tab, or four, or six, he throws again ; but when
he has thrown two, or three, it is then the turn of the other. To
one of the players belongs the row of beyts A, B, C, etc. ; to the
other, that of a, b, 0, etc. They ﬁrst throw alternately until one
has thrown tab, and he who has done this then throws again
until he has brought two, or three. Supposing him, at the be—
ginning of the game, to have thrown tab and four and two, he
removes the kelb from beyt I, and places it in the seventh beyt
from I, which is Q. He must always commence with the kelb in
beyt I. The other party, in like manner, commences from beyt
73. Neither party can remove a kelb from its original place but
by throwing tab before each such removal. The kelbs before
removal from their original places are called “N asara ” (or Chris-
tians, in the singular “Nasranee”), and after removal, When
they are privileged to commence the contest, “Muslimeen” (or
“ Muslims ”). When a person has made a kelb a Muslim, it is
said of him “sellem kelb,” and of the kelb, “aslam.” Each
time that a player throws tab, he generally makes a kelb Muslim,
until he has made them all so, and thus prepared them to circu-
late in the beyts. Each player may have two or more kelbs in
circulation at the same time. Let us suppose (to make the
description more simple) that the person to whom belongs the
row of beyts A, B, C, etc., is circulating a single kelb. He moves
it through the two middle rows of beyts in the order of the
letters by which I have distinguished them from K to S, and
from Is to s, and may then either repeat the same round or enter
his adversary’s row, as long as there is any kelb remaining in that
row ; but in the latter case he does not continue to circulate the
same kelb, excepting under circumstances which will be men-
tioned hereafter. Whenever a throw, or any of two or more
throws, which the player has made enables him to move his kelb
into a beyt occupied by one of his opponent’s kelbs, he takes the
latter. For instance, if one party has a kelb in the beyt m, and
the other has one in 0, and another in' s, and the former has
thrown tab (or one), and then four, and then two, he may take
the kelb in 0 by the throw of two; then, by the throw of four,
take that in s; and, by the throw of tab, pass into a, and take

360 GA MES.

a third kelb if it contain one. A player may, by means of a
suitable throw, or two or more throws, move one of his kelbs
into a beyt occupied by another of his own; and these two
together, in like manner, he may add to a third, or he may add
a third to them : thus he may unite any number of his own kelbs,
and circulate them together, as if they were but one; but he
cannot divide them again, and play with them separately, unless
he throw tab. If he avail himself of a throw which he has made
to bring them back into a row through which they have already
passed (either separately or together), they become reduced to a
single kelb. But he need not avail himself of such a throw; he
may wait until he throws tab. Two or more kelbs thus united
are called an “’eggeh.” The object of so uniting them is to
place them as soon as possible in a situation of safety, as will
be seen by what immediately follows. If either party pass one
of his kelbs into his adversary’s row, he may leave it there in
safety, as long as he does not want to continue to play with it,
because the latter cannot bring back a kelb into his own row.
The former, however, cannot continue to circulate the kelb which
has entered that row until he has no kelb remaining in his own
row, or unless he have only an ’eggeh in his row, and does not
throw tab, which alone enables him. to divide the ’eggeh. In
circulating through his adversary’s beyts, he proceeds in the order
of the letters by which I have marked them. He cannot pass
the same kelb again into his adversary’s row: after it has passed
through that row, he circulates it through the two middle rows
only, in the same manner as at ﬁrst. This game is often played
by four or more persons, and without the seega. When one per-
son throws four he is called the Sultan. He holds a makra"ah,
which is a piece of the thick end of a palm stick, with two or three
splits made in the thicker part of it. When a player throws six,
he is called the VVezeer, and holds the stick against which the tab
are thrown. Whenever a person throws two, the Sultan gives
him a blow, or two or more blows (as many as the VVezeer may
order), on the sole of his foot, or the soles of both feet, with the
makra”ah. When a player throws twice six, he is both Sultan
and VVezeer.

Many of the Fellaheen of Egypt also frequently amuse them-

GAMES. 361

selves with a game called that of the “seega,” which may be
described in a few words. The seega employed in this game
is different from that of the tab. It consists of a number of
holes, generally made in the ground, most commonly of ﬁve rows
of ﬁve holes in each, or seven rows of seven in each, or nine
rows of nine in each. The ﬁrst kind is called the “khamsawee
seega ;” the second, the “seb’awee ;” and the third, the “tis’-
awee.” A khamsawee seega is here represented.

The holes are called “ ’oyoon ” (or eyes, in the singular “’eyn”).
In this seega they are twenty—ﬁve in number. The players have
each twelve kelbs, similar to those used in the game of the
tab. One of them places two of his kelbs

in the ’eyns marked a, a; the other puts [30.00

two of his in those marked 1,), I). They then DO O O D
alternately place two kelbs In any of the

’eyns that they may choose, excepting the @000 @
central ’eyn of the seega. All the ’eyns U DO DO
but the central one being thus occupied DO@OO

(most of the kelbs placed at random), the
game is commenced. The party who begins
moves one of his kelbs from a contiguous ’eyn into the central.
The other party, if the ’eyn now made vacant be not next to any
one of those occupied by his kelbs, desires his adversary to give
him, or open to him, a way; and the latter must do so, by re-
moving, and thus losing, one of his own kelbs. This is also done
on subsequent occasions, when required by similar circumstances.
The aim of each party, after the ﬁrst disposal of the kelbs, is to
place any one of his kelbs in such a situation that there shall be,
between it and another of his, one of his adversary’s kelbs. This,
by so doing, he takes; and as long as he can immediately make
another capture by such means, he does so, without allowing his
adversary to move. These are the only rules of the game. It
will be remarked that, though most of the kelbs are placed at
random, foresight is requisite in the disposal of the remainder.
Several seegas have been cut upon the stones on the summit of
the great pyramid, by Arabs who have served as guides to trav-
ellers.

Gymnastic games, or such diversions as require much bodily

I
KHAMSAVVEE SEEUA.

362 GAMES.

exertion, are very uncommon among the Egyptians. Sometimes
two peasants contend with each other, for mere amusement, or
for a triﬂing wager or reward, with “ nebboots,” which are thick
staves, ﬁve or six feet long; the object of each is to strike his
adversary on the head. The nebboot is a formidable weapon,
and is often seen in the hand of an Egyptian peasant. He often
carries it when on a journey, particularly when he travels by
night,—-—which, however, is seldom the case. Wrestling—matches
are also sometimes witnessed in Egypt: the combatants (who are
called “musare’een,” in the singular “musare’ ” strip themselves
of all their clothing excepting their drawers, and generally oil
their bodies; but their exercises are not remarkable, and are
seldom performed but for remuneration, on the occasions of fes-
tivals, processions, etc. On such occasions, too, mock combats
between two men, usually clad only in their drawers, and each
armed with a sabre and a small shield, are not unfrequently wit-
nessed. Neither attempts to wound his adversary: every blow
is received on the shield.

The game of the “gereed,” as played by the Memlooks and
Turkish soldiers, has often been described; but the manner in
which it is practised by many of the peasants of Upper Egypt
is much more worthy of description. It is often played by the
latter on the occasion of the marriage of a person of inﬂuence,
such as the sheykh of a tribe or village; or on that of a circum—
cision ; or when a votive calf or ox or bull, which has been let
loose to pasture where it will, by common consent, is about to be
sacriﬁced at the tomb of a saint, and a public feast made with its
meat. The combatants usually consist of two parties, of different
villages, or of different tribes or branches of a tribe, each party
about twelve or twenty or more in number, and each person
mounted on a horse or mare. The two parties station them~
selves about ﬁve hundred feet or more apart. A person from
one party gallops towards the other party, and challenges them;
one of the latter, taking in his left hand four, ﬁve, six, or more
gereeds, each six feet, or an inch or two more or less, in length,
but generally equal in length to the height of a tall man, and
very heavy (being the lower part of the palm stick, freshly cut,
and full of sap), pursues the challenger at full gallop. He ap-

MUSIC. 363

proaches him as near as possible—often within arm’s length—and
,throws, at his head or back, one gereed after another, until he
has none left. The gereed is blunt at both ends. It is thrown
with the small end foremost, and with uplifted arm, and some-
times inﬂicts terrible, and even fatal, wounds. The person against
whom the gereeds are thrown endeavours to catch them, or to
ward them off with his arm or with a sheathed sword, or he
escapes them by the superior speed of his horse. Having sus-
tained the attack, and arrived at the station of his party, he tries
his skill against the person by whom he has been pursued, in the
same manner as the latter did against him. This sport, which
reminds us of the tournaments of old, and which was a game of
\the early Bedawees, continues for several hours. It is common
only among those tribes who have not been many years, or not
more than a few centuries, settled on the banks of the Nile, and
who have consequently retained many Bedawee customs and
habits. About the close of the period of my former visit to this
country, three men and a mare were killed at this game within an
hour, in the western plain of Thebes. It is seldom, however, that
a man loses his life in this exercise ; at least, of late, I have heard
of no such occurrence taking place. In Lower Egypt, a gereed
only half the length of those above described, or little more, is
used in playing this game.

Other exercises, which are less frequently performed, and only
at festivals for the amusement of the spectators, will be described
in subsequent pages.

CHAPTER XVIII.
M U s I C.

THE Egyptians in general are excessively fond of music; and yet
they regard the study of this fascinating art (like dancing) as
unworthy to employ any portion of the time of a man of sense,
and as exercising too powerful an effect upon the passions, and
leading a man into gaiety and dissipation and vice. Hence it
was condemned by the Prophet; but it is used, notwithstanding,
even in religious ceremonies, especially by the darweeshes. The

364 MUSIC. ‘ -

Egyptians havewery few books on music, and these are not
understood by their modern musicians. The natural liking of
the Egyptians for music is shown by their habit of regulating
their motions, and relieving the dulness of their occupations, in
various labours, by songs or chants. Thus do the boatmen, in
rowing, etc. ; the peasants, in raising water ; the porters, in carry-
ing heavy weights with poles; men, boys, and girls, in assisting
builders, by bringing bricks, stones, and mortar, and removing
rubbish; so also the sawyers, reapers, and many other labourers.
Though the music of the Egyptians is of a style very difﬁcult for
foreigners to acquire or imitate, the children very easily and early
attain it. The practice of chanting the Kur-an, which is taught
in all their schools, contributes to increase their natural fondness
for music.

How science was cherished by the Arabs when all the nations
of Europe were involved in the grossest ignorance, and how much
the former proﬁted by the works of ancient Greek writers, is well
known. It appears .that they formed the system of music which
has prevailed among them for many centuries, partly from Greek
and partly from Persian and Indian treatises. From the Greek
language are derived the most general Arabic term for music——
namely, “mooseeka”—and the names of some of the Arab musi-
\ cal instruments; but most of the technical terms used. by the
Arab musicians are borrowed from the Persian and Indian lan-
guages. There is a striking degree of similarity between many
of the airs which I have heard in Egypt and some of the popu-
lar melodies of Spain; and it is not surprising that this is the
case, for music was much cultivated among the Arabs of Spain,
and the library of the Escurial contains many Arabic treatises
on this art.

The most remarkable peculiarity in the Arab system of music
is the division of tones into thirds. Hence I have heard Egyptian
musicians urge against the European systems of music that they
are deficient in the number of sounds. These small and delicate
gradations of sound give a peculiar softness to the performances
of the Arab musicians, which are generally of a plaintive charac-
ter. But they are difﬁcult to discriminate with exactness, and
are therefore seldom observed in the vocal and instrumental

MUSIC. 365

music of thoSe persons who have not made a regular study of
the art. Most of the popular airs of the Egyptians, though of
a similar character, in most respects, to the music of their pro-
fessional performers, are very simple, consisting of only a few
notes, which serve for every one or two lines of a song, and
which are therefore repeated many times. I must confess that
I generally take great delight in the more reﬁned kind of music
which I occasionally hear in Egypt, and the more I become habit.—
uated to the style, the more I am pleased with it; though, at the
same time, I must state that I have not met with many Euro-
peans who enjoy it in the same degree as myself. The natives of
Egypt are generally enraptured with the performances of their
vocal and instrumental musicians: they applaud with frequent
exclamations of “Allah!” and “God approve thee!” “God pre-
serve thy voice!” and similar expressions.

The male professional musicians are called “A’lateeyeh”—in
the singular, “A’latee,” which properly signiﬁes “a player upon
an instrument,” but they are generally both instrumental and
vocal performers. They are people of very dissolute habits, and
are regarded as scarcely less disreputable characters than the
public dancers. They are, however, hired at most grand enter-'
tainments to amuse the company, and on these occasions they
are usually supplied with brandy, or other spirituous liquors,
which they sometimes drink until they can neither sing nor strike
a chord. The sum commonly paid to each of them for one night’s
performance is equal-to about two or three shillings ; but they
often receive considerably more. The guests generally contribute
the sum.

There are also female professional singers. These are called
“’Awalim ;” in the singular, “’A’l’meh,” or “’A’limeh”—an ap-
pellation literally signifying “a learned female.” The ’Awalim
are often hired on the occasion of a féte in the hareem of a person
of wealth. There is generally a small, elevated apartment, called
a “tukeyseh,” or “mughanna,” adjoining the principal saloon of
the hareem, from which it is separated only by a screen of wooden
lattice-work, or there is some other convenient place in which the
female singers may be concealed from the sight of the master of
the house, should he be present with his women. But when there

366 MUSIC.

is a party of male guests, they generally sit in the court, or in a
lower apartment, to hear the songs of the ’Awalim, who, in this
case, usually sit at a window of the hareem, concealed by the
lattice-work. Some of them are also instrumental performers.
I have heard the most celebrated ’Awalim in Cairo, and have
been more charmed with their songs than with the best perform-
ances of the A'lateeyeh, and more so, I think I may truly add,
than with any other music that I have ever enjoyed. They are
often very highly paid. I have known instances of sums equal
to more than ﬁfty guineas being collected for a single ’A’l’meh
from the guests at an entertainment in the house of a merchant,
where none of the contributors were persons of much wealth. So
powerful is the effect of the singing of a very accomplished
’A’l’meh, that her audience, in the height of their excitement,
often lavish upon her sums which they can ill afford to lose.
There are, among the ’Awalim in Cairo, a few who are not alto-
gether unworthy of the appellation of “learned females,” having
some literary accomplishments. There are also many of an in-
ferior class, who sometimes dance in the hareem 3 hence travellers
have often misapplied the name of “ almé,” meaning “ ’a ’meh,” to
the common dancing-girls, of whom an account will be given in
another chapter of this work.

The Egyptians have a great variety of musical instruments.
Those which are generally used at private concerts are the “ kern-
engeh,” “kanoon,” “’ood,” and “nay.”

The “kemengeh” is a kind of Viol. Its name, which is
Persian, and more properly written “kemangeh,” signiﬁes “a
bow-instrument.” This instrument, and all the others of which
I insert engravings, I have drawn with the camera—lucida. The
total length of the kemengeh which is here represented is thirty-
eight inches. The sounding-body is a cocoa-nut, of which about
a fourth part has been cut oﬁ“. It is pierced with many small
holes. Over the front of it is strained a piece of the skin of a
ﬁsh of the genus Sil'urus, called “bayad ;” and upon this rests
the bridge. The neck is of ebony, inlaid with ivory, and of a
cylindrical form. At the bottom of it is a piece of ivory; and
the head, in which the pegs are inserted, is also of ivory. The
pegs are of beech, and their heads of ivory. The foot is of

MUSIC 367

iron: it passes through the sounding-body, and is inserted into
the neck, to the depth of four or ﬁve inches. Each of the two
chords consists of about sixty horse hairs : at the lower end they
are attached to an iron ring, just below the sounding—body ; to-
wards the other extremity, each is lengthened with a piece of
lamb’s gut, by which it is attached to its peg. Over the chords,
a little below their junction with the gut strings, a double band
of leather is tied, passing round the neck of the instrument. The
bow is thirty-four inches and a half in length. Its form is shown

 

A PERFORMER ON THE KEMENGEH.

by the engraving. The stick is generally of ash. The horse-
hairs, passed through a hole at the head of the bow-stick and
secured by a knot, and attached at the other end to an iron ring,
are tightened or slackened by a band of leather which passes
through the ring just mentioned, and through another ring at the
foot of the bow. A performer on the kemengeh, in passing the
bow from one chord to the other, turns the kemengeh about sixty
degrees round. The. sketches introduced are from drawings
which I have made with the camera-lucida. Together they repre-
sent an ordinary Egyptian band, such as is generally seen at a

368 - .MUSIC.

private entertainment. The performer on the kemengeh usually

sits on the right hand of him Who performs on the kanoon, or

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L L .L [L I) }'

KANOON.
(No. I 1: the lac]; 2, the ring, or l/zz'mble; 3, 1);: plettrzmz.)

opposite (that is, facing) the latter, on the left hand of Whom sits
the performer on the ’00d ; and next to this last is the performer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A! US] C. - 369

on the nay. Sometimes there are other musicians, whose instru-
ments will be mentioned hereafter, and often two singers.

The “kanoon” is a kind of dulcimer. Its name is from the
Greek Kawlw, or from the same origin; and has the same signiﬁ-
cation—that is, “rule,” “law,” “ custom.” The instrument from,
which the engraving here given was taken is perhaps an inch or
two longer than some others which I have seen. Its greatest
length is thirty-nine inches and three-quarters, and its breadth
sixteen inches ; its depth is two inches and one-tenth._ The kanoon
is sometimes made entirely of walnutwood, with the exception

       

    
  
 

       
 
 
  

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of some ornamental parts. In the instrument which I have
drawn, the face and the back are of a ﬁne kind of deal ; the sides
are of beech. The piece in which the pegs are inserted is of beech,
and so also is the ridge along its interior edge through which the
chords are passed. The pegs are of poplar-wood. The bridge is of
ﬁne deal. In the central part of the face of the instrument is a
circular piece of wood of a reddish colour pierced with holes, and
towards the acute angle of the face is another piece of similar
wood likewise pierced with holes. In that part of the face upon
which the bridge rests are ﬁve oblong apertures corresponding
(440) 24

' 37o , MUSIC

with the ﬁve feet of the bridge. A piece of ﬁshes’ skin nine inches
wide is glued over this part, and the ﬁve feet of the bridge rest
upon those parts of the skin which cover the ﬁve ‘apertures above
mentioned, slightly depressing the skin. The chords are of lamb’s
gut. There are three chords to each note, and altogether twenty-
four treble chords. The shortest side of the instrument is veneered
with walnut-wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is
played with two plectra, one plectrum attached to the foreﬁnger
of each hand. Each plectrum is a small, thin piece of buﬂ’alo’s
horn, and is placed between the ﬁnger and a ring, or thimble,

 

A PERFORMER ON THE ’OOD.

formed of a ﬂat piece of brass or silver, in the manner represented
in the sketch. The instrument is placed on the knees of the
performer. Under the hands of a skilful player the kanoon
pleases me more than any other Egyptian instrument without an
accompaniment ; and to a band it is an important accession.

The “’ood ” is a lute which is played with a plectrum. This
has been for many centuries the instrument most commonly used
by the best Arab musicians, and is celebrated by numerous poets.
Its name (the original signiﬁcation of which is “wood ”), with the
article el preﬁxed to it, is the source whence are derived the terms

i
2

MUSIC. . 371

liuto in Italian, lat/1, in French, lute in English, etc. The length
of the ’ood, as represented in the accompanying engraving, mea-
suring from the button or angle of the neck, is twenty-ﬁve inches
and a half. The body of it is composed of ﬁne deal, with edges,
etc, of ebony , the neck of ebony, faced with box and an ebony
edge. On the face of the body of the instrument, in which are
one large and two small shemsehs of ebony, is glued a piece of
ﬁshes’ skin, under that part of the chords to which the plectrum
is applied, to prevent the wood from being worn away by the
plcctrum. The instrument has seven double strings, two to each
note. They are of lamb’s gut. The order of these double chords
is singular. The double chord of the lowest note is that which
corresponds to the chord of the highest note in our violins, etc. ;
next in the scale above this is the ﬁfth (that is, counting the
former as the ﬁrst) 3 then the seventh, second, fourth, sixth, and
third. The plectrum is a slip of a vulture’s feather.

The “nay,” which is the fourth and last of the instruments
which I have mentioned as most commonly used at private con-
certs, is a kind of ﬂute. There are several kinds of nay, differing
from each other in dimensions, but in little else. It has been
called the darweesh’s ﬂute, because often used at the zikrs of
darweeshes to accompany the songs of the “munshids.” It is a
simple reed about eighteen inches in length, seven-eighths of an
inch in diameter at the upper extremity, and three—quarters of an
inch at the lower. It is pierced with six holes in front, and
generally with another hole at the back. The sounds are pro—
duced by blowing through a very small aperture of the lips against
the edge of the oriﬁce of the tube, and directing the wind chieﬂy
within the tube. By blowing with more or less force, sounds are
produced an octave higher or lower. In the hands of a good
performer the nay yields ﬁne, mellow tones, but it requires
much practice to sound it well. A nay is sometimes made of a
portion of a gun-barrel.

Another instrument often used at private concerts is a small
tambourine called “rikk,” similar to one of which an engraving
will be found in this chapter, page 373, but rather smaller.

A kind of mandoline called “tamboor ” is also used at concerts
in Egypt, but mostly by Greeks and other foreigners. These

372 MUSIC. ‘

musicians likewise use a dulcimer called “ santeer,” which resembles
the kanoon, excepting that it has two sides oblique instead of one
(the two opposite sides equally inclining together), has double
chords of wire instead of treble chords of lamb’s gut, and is beaten
with two sticks instead of the little plectra.

i A curious kind of Viol, called “rabab,” is much used by poor
singers as an accompaniment to the voice. There are two kinds
of Viol which bear this name—the “rabab el—mughannee” (or
singer’s Viol), and the “rabab esh-sha’er” (or poet’s viol)_ ; which
differ from each other only in this, that the former has two chords
and the latter but one. The latter is convertible into the former
kind, having two pegs. It is thirty—two inches in length. The
body of it is a frame of wood, of which the front is covered
with parchment and the back uncovered. The foot is of iron ;
the chord, of horse—hairs, like those of the kemengeh. The bow,
which is twenty-eight inches long, is similar to that of the kemen—
geh. This instrument is always used by the public reciters of the
romance of Aboo—Zeyd in chanting the poetry. The reciter of this
romance is called “sha’er” (or poet), and hence the instrument is
called “the poet’s Viol,” and “the Aboo-Zeydee viol.” The sha’er
himself uses this instrument, and another performer on the same
kind of rabab generally accompanies him.

The instruments used in wedding-processions, and the pro-
cessions of darweeshes, etc., are chieﬂy a hautboy, called “ zemr,”
and several kinds of drums, of which the most common kinds are
the “tabl beleedee” (or country drum—that is, Egyptian drum)
and the “tabl Shamee” (or Syrian drum). The former is of a
similar kind to our common military drum, but not so deep. It
is hung obliquely. The latter is a kind of kettle—drum of tin-
copper, with a parchment face. It is generally about sixteen
inches in diameter, and not more than four in depth in the centre,
and is beaten with two slender sticks. The performer suspends it
to his neck by a string attached to two rings ﬁxed to the edge of
the instrument. I have represented these drums in the sketch of
a bridal procession, and in another engraving on page 73.

A pair of large kettle—drums, called “nakakeer” (in the
singular, “nakkarah”), are generally seen in most of the great
religious processions connected with the pilgrimage, etc, in Cairo.

MUSIC. ‘ 373

They are both of copper, and similar in form, each about two-

thirds of a sphere, but are of unequal dimensions ; the ﬂat surface,

or face, of the larger is about two feet or more in diameter, and
that of the latter nearly a foot and a half. They are placed upon

a camel, attached to the fore part of the saddle, upon which the

person who beats them rides. The larger is placed on the right.

Darwccshes, in religious processions, etc, and in begging, often
make use of a little tabl or kettle—drum, called “ baz,” six or seven
inches in diameter, which is held in the left hand by a little
projection in the centre of the back, and beaten by the right hand
with a short leather strap, or a stick. They also use cymbals,
which are called “kas,” on similar occasions. The baz is used by
the Musahhir, to attract attention to his cry in the nights of

Ramadan. Castanets of brass, callec “sagat,” are used by the

public female and male dancers. Each dancer has two pairs of

these instruments. They are attached, ’

- each by a loop of string, to the thumb and @D @\ 1’0
second ﬁnger, and have a more pleasmg J ~
sound than castanets of wood or ivory. 2

There are two instruments which are
generally found in the hareem of a per-
son of moderate wealth, and which the
women often use for their diversion. One
of these is a tambourine, called “tar,” of
which I insert an engraving. It is eleven
inches in diameter. The hoop is overlaid
with mother-of—pearl, tortoise—shell, and
white bone or ivory, both without and
within, and has ten double circular plates
of brass attached to it, each two pairs hav—
ing a wire passing through their centres.

The tar is held by the left or right hand, and beaten with the ﬁngers

of that hand and by the other hand. The ﬁngers of the hand which

holds the instrument, striking only near the hoop, produce higher
sounds than the other hand, which strikes in the centre. A tam-
bourine of a larger and more simple kind than that here described,
without the metal plates, is often used by the lower orders—The
other instrument alluded to in the commencement of this paragraph

 

,
1, SAGAT. 2, TAR.

374 MUSIC

is a kind of drum, called “darabukkeh.” The best kind is made of
wood, covered with mother-of—pearl and tortoise—shell, etc. It is
ﬁfteen inches in length, covered with a piece of ﬁshes’ skin at the
larger extremity, and open at the smaller. It is placed under the
left arm, generally suspended by a string that passes over the left
shoulder, and is beaten with both hands. Like the tar, it yields dif-
ferent sounds when beaten near the edge and in the middle. A more
common kind of darabukkeh is made of earth, and differs a little in
form from that just described. An engraving of it is here given.
The boatmen of the Nile very often use an earthen darabukkeh,

    
  
   

   

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but of a larger size than that used in hareems, generally from a
foot and a half to two feet in length. This is also used by some
low story-tellers and others. The boatmen employ, as an accom-
paniment to their earthen drum, a double reed pipe, called “zum~
marah.” There is also another kind of double reed pipe, called
“arghool,” of which one of the reeds is much longer than the
other, and serves as a drone or continuous bass. This, likewise,
is used by boatmen, and sometimes it is employed instead of the
nay at zikrs. Both of these reed pipes produce harsh sounds, and
those of the latter much resemble the sounds of the bagpipe. A

A] US] C. 37 5

rude kind of bagpipe (“ zummarah bi—soan ”) is sometimes, but
rarely, seen in Egypt. Its bag is a small goat-skin.

I shall now close this chapter with a few specimens of Egyptian
music, chieﬂy popular songs. These I note in accordance with
the manner in which they are commonly sung, without any of the
embellishments which are added to them by the A’lateeyeh. The
airs of these are not always sung to the same words, but the words
are generally similar in style to those which I insert, or at least as
silly, though often abounding with indecent metaphors, or with
plain ribaldry. It should be added that distinct enunciation and a
quavering voice are characteristics of the Egyptian mode of singing.

SONGS—No. 1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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’Eshke' mah - boo - bee fe — te - n—nee,

“ Doos ya lellee. Doos ya lellee (three times).
’Eshk'e mahboobee fetennee.”

Tread ! O my joy ! Tread! O my joy 1 (three times).
Ardent desire of my beloved hath involved me in trouble.

(The preceding lines are repeated after each of the following
stanzas, sometimes as a chorus.)

“ Mai“ kullu men naimet ’oyoonuh
Yahsib el—’ashik yenamxi‘
VVa-llzih ana mughram sababeh.
Lem ’ala-l-’ashil{ melam.”

Let not every one whose eyes sleep
Imagine that the lover sleepeth.
By Allah 2 I am inﬂamed with intense love.
The lover is not obnoxious to blame.
* This line and the ﬁrst of the next stanza require an additional note, which is the
same as the last note of these lines, to be added at the commencement.
1 This and some other lines require that the note which should be the last if they
were of more correct measure be transferred to the commencement of the next line.

376

MUSIC.

"Ya Sheykh el-’Arab: Ya Seyyid:
Tegmaanee ’a-l-khilli leyleh.
Wa-n ganee habeebé kalbee
La-amal lu-l-Kashmeer dulleyleh.”

O Sheykh of the Arabs ! O Seyyid !

Unite me to the true love one night 1

And if the beloved of my heart come to me,
I will make the Kashmeer shawl her canopy.

“ Kamil el-owsaf fetennee
Wa-l-’oyoon es-sood ramoonee.
Min hawahum sirt aghannee
VVa-l-hawa zowwad gunoonee.”

The perfect in attributes hath involved me in trouble,
And the black eyes have o’erthrown me.

From love of them I began to sing,

And the air* increased my madness.

“ Gema’om gem’ al-’aw2izil
’An habeebee yemna’oonee.
\VaJlaCh ana Ina afoot hawahum
Bi—s-suyoof low katta’oonee.”

The crew of reproachers leagued together

To debar me from my beloved. '

By Allah ! I will not relinquish the love of them,+
Though they should cut me in pieces with swords.

“ Kum bi-n'e ya khille neskar
Tahta dill el-yasameeneh:
Nektuf el-khokh min ’ala ummuh
Wa-l-’awazil ghaﬁleene. ”

Up with us, 0 true love I Let us intoxicate ourselvesI
Under the shade of the jasmine:

We will pluck the peach from its mother [tree]

While the reproachers are unconscious.

“ Ya benat goowa-l-medeeneh
’Andakum ashya temeeneh:
Telbisu—sh-shateh bi—loolee
Wa-l—kiladeh ’a—n-nehdi zeeneh."

0 ye damsels in the city !

Ye have things of value:

Ye wear the Shiiteh§ with pearls,

And the kiladeh, I! an ornament over the bosom.

* That is, the .air of the song.
1‘ Namely, the black eyes.
i The intoxication here meant is that of love, as is generally the case when this ex
pression is used in Arab songs.
‘ § An ornament described in the Appendix, resembling a necklace of pearls, etc.,
attached on each side of the head-dress.
!l A kind of long necklace, reaching to the girdle.

 

MUSIC. ' 377

“ Ya benat Iskendereeyeh
Meshyukum ’a-l-farshi gheeyeh:
Telbisu-l—Kasluneer bi-tellee
VVa-sh-shefziif sukkareeyeh.”

0 ye damsels of Alexandria. !

Your walk over the furniture * is alluring:
Ye wear the Kashmeer shawl, with lama,
And your lips are sweet as sugar.

“ Ya milah khafoo min Allah
VVa-rllamu-l-’Iisliik li—llah.
Hobbukum mektoob min Allah :
Kaddaru-l-Mowla ’aleiya.”

0 ye beauties ! fear God,

And have mercy on the lover for the sake of God.
The love of you is ordained by God :

The Lord hath decreed it against me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No. 2.

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boo - 1) ma ad wi - l - - fee.

“Ya-bu-l—gelfee. Ya-bu-l-gelfee.
Rah el-mahboob: ma ’ad wilfee.”

O thou in the long-sleeved yelek ! O thou in the long—sleeved yelek}
The beloved is gone: my companion has not returned.

“ Rah el-mirsal wa—lem gashee:
Wa-’eyn el-hobb bi-teréshee.
Ya-bu-l-galif. Ya-bu-l-gelfee.
Ya reyt’ne ma-nshebeknaﬂshee.
Ya-bu-l-gelfee,” etc.

The messenger went, and has not returned:

And the eye of love is glancing.

O thou with the side-lock I O thou in the long-sleeved yelek 1
Would that we had not been ensnared !

O thou in the long-sleeved yelek ! etc.

* The furniture consists of carpets, etc., spread upon the ﬂoor.

 

378 MUSIC.

“ Wa-ley ya ’eyn shebekteene'

Wa-bi-l-alhaz garahteen'e.

Ya-bu-l—galif. Ya-bu-l-gelfee.

Bi-llahi rikk wa-shfeen‘é.

Ya-bu-l-gelfee,” etc.
And why, 0 eye ! hast thou ensnared us,
And with glances wounded us?
0 thou with the side—lock ! O thou in the long-sleeved yelek!
By Allah ! have compassion, and heal us.
0 thou in the long-sleeved yelek ! etc.

“ Askamten’ee ya habeebee -.
Wa-ma kasdee illa tibbak.
’Asak ya bedré terhamnee:
F a-inna kalbee yehebbak.
Ya-bu—l-wardee. Ya-bu-l—Wardee.
Habeeb'e' kalbee khaleek ’andee. ”

Thou hast made me ill, 0 my beloved !

And my desire is for nothing but thy medicine.

Perhaps, 0 full moon ! thou wilt have mercy upon me:

For verily my heart loveth thee.

O thou in the rose-coloured dress 1 O thou in the rose-coloured dress!
Beloved of my heart 1 remain with me.

“ De-l—hobbe ganee yet’mayalz
Wa—sukré halee gufoonuh.
Meddeyt eedee akhud el—kas:
Sekirt ana min ’oyoonuh.
Ya-bu-l—wardee,” etc.

The beloved came to me with a vacillating gait;
And her eyelids were the cause of my intoxication.
I extended my hand to take the cup ;

And was intoxicated by her eyes.

0 thou in the rose-coloured dress ! etc.

 

 

 

 

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“ Mai marr wa-sakzinee habeebee sukkar.
N usf el-l‘ayalee ’a-l-mudameh neskar.
Nedren ’aleiya wa-n ata mahboobee
La-amal ’amayil ma ’amilhash ’Antar.”

My love passed not, but gave me sherbet of sugar to drink.
For half the nights we will intoxicate ourselves with wine.

 

MUSIC. ' 379

I vow that, if my beloved come,
I will do deeds that ’Antar did not.

“ Ya binte‘ melesik dab wa-bent eedeykee
VVa-khaf ’aleykee min s'awéd ’eyneykee.
Kasdee ana. askar wa-boos khaddeykee
Wa-amal ’amayil ma ’amilhash ’Antar.”

O damsel ! thy silk shirt is worn out, and thine arms have become visible,
And I fear for thee, on account of the blackness of thine eyes.

I desire to intoxicate myself, and kiss thy cheeks,

And do deeds that ’Antar did not.

“ Fzﬁteh ’aleiya mailiya-l-argeeleh :
VVa~meiyet el-mzi—ward'e ﬁ-l-argeeleh.
Ata-bi-l-buneiyeh ’amilaha heeleh.
Meta tekul-lee ta’al ya geda neskar.”

She is passing by me, and ﬁlling the argeeleh ; *

And there is rose-water in the argeeleh.

It seems to me the little lass is framing to herself some artiﬁce.

When will she say to me, “ 0 youth ! come, and let us intoxicate ourselves ”‘2

“ Tool el-layalee lem yenkat’a’ noohee
'Ala ghazal mufrad wa-khacl roohee.
Nedren ’aleiya wa-n ata niahboobee
La—amal ’amayil ma ’amilhash ’Antar.”

Every night long my moaning ceaseth not

For a solitary gazelle that hath taken away my soul.
I vow that, if my beloved come,

I will do deeds that ’Antar did not.

“ Ya’. dema ’eynee ’a-l-khudeyd men hallak:
Kal-lee bi-zeedak shok ’ala bo’adi khillak.
Irham muteiyam ya gemeel mashghul-bak.
Taama ’oyoon ellee ma yehebbak ya-smar.”

O tear of my eye ! who drew thee forth over the cheek? .

It saith, “Thy desire increaseth on account of thy true-love’s absence. ”
Have mercy upon one enslaved, 0 beautiful ! and intent upon thee :
Blinded be the eyes of him who loves thee not, 0 dark-complexioned!

“ Asmar wa—haWi-l-wardeteyni-l-beedi.
Hobbee takhallak fee layali-l-’eedi.
Nedren ’aleiya wa-n atanee seedee
La-a-mal ’amayil mg. ’amilhash ’Antar.”

Dark-complexioned, and with two white roses ! +

My love hath perfumed herself on the nights of the. festival.
I vow that, if my mistress come to me,

I will do deeds that ’Antar did not.

* More commonly called “ nargeeleh : ” the Persian pipe.
f The dark-complexioned girl has two white roses on her cheeks, instead of red.

380 .M USIC

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“ ’A’shik ra-a mubtel’ee : kal~luh enta rayeh feyn.
Wakaf kara kissatuh : bekyum sawa-l-itneyn.
Rahom1e-kadi-l-hawa«l-itneyn sawa yeshkum.
Bekyu-t-telziteh wa-kzﬂoo hobbena rah feyn.
El-ley]. El-leyl. Ya helw el-ayadee: haWi-l-khékh en-nadee.
Entum min eyn wa-hna min eyn lemma shebektoon'é.”

A lover saw another afﬂicted [in like manner]: he said to him, “ Whither art
thou going?”

He stopped and told his story: they both wept together.

They went to the kadee of love, both together to complain.

The three wept, and said, “ Whither is our love gone?”

The night! the night ! O thou with sweet hands ! gatherer of the dewy
peach. '

Whence were y e, and whence were we, when ye ensnared us. "

“ ’A’shik yekul li-l-hamam hat lee genahak yom.
Kal el’hamam amrak batil : kultu gheyr el-yom :
Hatta ateer ﬁ-l‘go wa-nzur wegh el—mahboob:
A’khud Widad ’am wa-rga’ ya llamam fee y6m.
El-leyl. El-leyl,” etc.

A lover says to the dove, “Lend me your Wings for a day.”

The dove replied, “ Thy affair is vain : ” I said, “ Some other day :
That I may soar through the sky, and see the face of the beloved:

I shall obtain love enough fora myear, and will return, 0 dove, in a day."
The night! the night! etc.

THE CALL TO PRAYER. '

The call to prayer, repeated from the mad’nehs (or menarets)
of the mosques, I have already mentioned. I have often heard
this call, in Cairo, chanted in the following manner 3 and in a
style more or less similar it is chanted by most of the muéddins
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The following is inserted with the View of conveying some
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PUBLIC DANCERS. / 383

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CHAPTER XIX.
PUBLIC DANCERS.

EGYPT has long been celebrated for its public dancing-girls, the
most famous of whom are of a distinct tribe called “ Grhawazee.”28
A female of this tribe is called “Ghazeeyeh,” and a man
“Ghazeeg” but the plural Ghawazee is generally understood as
applying to the females. The error into which most travellers
in Egypt have fallen, of confounding the common dancing- girls
of this country with the ’A’l’mehs, who are female singers has
already been exposed. The Ghawazee perform unveiled in the
public streets, even to amuse the rabble. Their dancing has little
of elegance. They commence with a degree of decorum; but
soon, by more animated looks, by a more rapid collision of their
castanets of brass, and by increased energy in every motion, they
exhibit a spectacle exactly agreeing with the descriptions which
Martial and J uvenal have given of the performances of the
female dancers of Grades. The dress in which they generally thus

384 PUBLIC DANCERS.

exhibit in public is similar to that which is worn by women of the
middle classes in Egypt in private—~that is in the hareem—con-
sisting of a yelek, or an ’anter'ee, and the shintiyan, etc. , of hand-
some materials. They also wear various ornaments; their eyes
are bordered with the kohl (or black collyrium), and the tips
of their fingers, the palms of their hands, and their toes and other
parts of their feet, are usually stained with the red dye of the
henna, according \to the general custom of the middle and higher
classes of Egyptian women. In general they are accompanied
by musicians (mostly of the same tribe), whose instruments are
the kemengeh, or the rabab, and the tin or the darabukkeh and
‘ zummarah, or the zemr. The tar is usually in the hands of an old
woman.

The Ghawazee often perform in the court of a house, or in the
street, before the door, on certain occasions of festivity in the
hareem—as, for instance, on the occasion of a marriage, or the
birth of a child. They are never admitted into a respectable
hareem, but are not unfrequently hired to entertain a party of
men in the house of some rake. In this case, as might be ex-
pected, their performances are yet more lascivious than those
which I have already mentioned. Some of them, when they
exhibit before a private party of men, wear-nothing but the
shintiyan (or trousers) and a tob (or very full shirt or gown) of
semi-transparent, coloured gauze, open nearly half-way down the
front. To extinguish the least spark of modesty which they may
yet sometimes affect to retain, they are plentifully supplied with
brandy or some other intoxicating liquor. The scenes which
ensue cannot be described. .

I need scarcely add that these women are the most abandoned
of the courtesans of Egypt. Many of them are extremely hand-
some, and most of them are richly dressed. Upon the whole, I
think they are the ﬁnest women in Egypt. Many of them have
slightly aquiline noses; but in most respects they resemble the
rest of the females of this country. Women as well as men take
delight in witnessing their performances ; but many persons among
the higher classes, and the more religious, disapprove of them.

The Ghawazee being distinguished, in general, by a cast of
countenance differing, though slightly, from the rest of the

 

PUBLIC DANCERS. 387

to be descended from a branch of the same family to whom the
Ghawazee refer their origin 5 but their claim is still less to be
regarded than that of the latter, because they do not unanimously
agree on this point. I shall have occasion to speak of them more
particularly in the next chapter. The ordinary language of the
Ghawazee is the same as that of the rest of the Egyptians ; but
they sometimes make use of a number of words peculiar to them-
selves, in order to render their speech unintelligible to strangers.
They are, professedly, of the Muslim faith, and often some of
them accompany the Egyptian caravan of pilgrims to Mekkeh.
There are many of them in almost every large town in Egypt,
inhabiting a distinct portion of the quarter allotted to public
women in general. Their ordinary habitations are low huts, or
temporary sheds, or tents ; for they often move from one town to
another. But some of them settle themselves in large houses ; and
many possess black female slaves (by whose prostitution" they
increase their property), and camels, asses, cows, etc, in which
they trade. They attend the camps, and all the great religious
and other festivals; of which they are, to many persons, the chief
attractions. Numerous tents of Ghazeeyehs are seen on these
occasions. Some of these women add, to their other allurements,
the art of singing, and equal the ordinary ’Awalim. Those of
the lower class dress in the same manner as other low prostitutes.
Some of them wear a gauze tOb, over another shirt, with the
shintiyan, and a crape or muslin tarhah ; and in general they
deck themselves with a profusion of ornaments, as necklaces,
bracelets, anklets, a row of gold coins over the forehead, and
sometimes a nose-ring. All of them adorn themselves with the
kohl and henna. There are some other dancing-girls and courte-
sans who call themselves Ghawazee, but who do not really belong
to that tribe.

Many of the people of Cairo, affecting, or persuading them-
selves, to consider that there is nothing improper in the dancing
of the Ghawazee but the fact of its being performed by females,
who ought not thus to expose themselves, employ men to dance
in the same manner; but the number of these male performers,
who are mostly young men, and who are calle( “ Kh'awals,” is
very small. They are Muslims, and natives of Egypt. As they

388 SERPENTCHARMERS, AND PERFORMERS

personate women, their dances are exactly of the same description
as those of the Ghawazee, and are, in like manner, accompanied
by the sounds of castanets; but, as if to prevent their being
thought to be really females, their dress is suited to their un-
natural profession, being partly male and partly female. It
chieﬂy consists of a tight vest, a girdle, and a kind of petticoat.
Their general appearance, however, is more feminine than mascu-
line. They suﬂ'er the hair of the head to grow long, and generally
braid it, in the manner of the women. The hair on the face, when
it begins to grow, they pluck out , and they imitate the women
also in applying kohl and henna to their eyes and hands. In the
streets, when not engaged in dancing, they often even veil their
faces; not from shame, but merely to affect the manners of
women. They are often employed, in preference to the Ghawazee,
to dance before a house, or in its court, on the occasion of a
marriage—féte, or the birth of a child, or a circumcision, and
frequently perform at public festivals.

There is in Cairo another class of male dancers, young men
and boys, whose performances, dress, and general appearance are
almost exactly similar to those of the Khawals, but who are
distinguished by a different appellation, which is “ Gink ”——a term
that is Turkish, and has a vulgar signiﬁcation which aptly
expresses their character. They are generally Jews, Armenians,
Greeks, and Turks.

CHAPTER XX.

SERPENT-CHARMERS, AND PERFORMERS OF LEGERDEMAIN
TRICKS, ETC.

MANY modern writers upon Egypt have given surprising accounts
of a class of men in this country, supposed, like the ancient
“Psylli” of Cyrenaica, to possess a secret art, to which allusion
is made in the Bible, enabling them to secure themselves from
the poison of serpents. (See Ps. lviii. 4, 5 ; Eccles. X. 11; J er.
viii. 17.) I have met with many persons among the more intel-
ligent of the Egyptians who condemn these modern Psylli as

0F LEGEIBI)EMAIN T16] C1115, ETC. 389

impostors, but none who have been able to offer a satisfactory
explanation of the most common and most interesting of their
performances, which I am about to describe.

Many Rifa’ee and Saadee darweeshes obtain their livelihood, as
I have mentioned on a former occasion, by going about to charm

 

 

SERPENT-CHARMEI‘"

away serpents from houses. A few other persons also profess the
same art, but are not so famous. The former travel over every
part of Engt, and ﬁnd abundant employment; but their gains
are barely sufficient to procure them a scanty subsistence. The
charmer professes to discover, without ocular perception (but
perhaps he does so by a peculiar smell), whether there be any

390 SE]€RENTCHARJI[ERS, AND PERFORMERS

serpents in a house ; and if there be, to attract them to him, as
the fowler, by the fascination of his voice, allures the bird into his
net. As the serpent seeks the darkest place in which to hide
himself, the charmer has, in most cases, to exercise his skill in an
obscure chamber, where he might easily take 'a serpent from his
bosom, bring it to the people without the door, and afﬁrm that he
had found it in the apartment ; for no one would venture to enter
with him after having been assured of the presence of one of these
reptiles within. But he is often required to perform in the full
light of, day, surrounded by spectators ,' and incredulous persons
have searched him beforehand, and even stripped him naked, yet
his success has been complete. He assumes an air of mystery,
strikes the walls with a short palm stick, whistles, makes a duck-
ing noise with his tongue, and spits upon the ground ,' and
generally says, “ I adjure you by God, if ye be above, or if ye be
below, that ye come forth. I adjure you by the most great Name,
if ye be obedient, come forth; and if ye be‘disobedient, die!
die! die!” The serpent is generally dislodged by his stick from
a ﬁssure in the wall, or drops from the ceiling of the room. I
have often heard it asserted that the serpentcharmer, before he
enters a house in which he is to try his skill, always employs a
servant of that house to introduce one or more serpents ; but I
have known instances in which this could not be the case, and
am inclined to believe that the darweeshes above mentioned are
generally acquainted with some real physical means of discovering
the presence of serpents without seeing them, and of attracting
them from their lurking-places. It is, however, a fact well as-
certained that the most expert of them do not venture to carry
serpents of a venomous nature about their persons until they have
extracted the poisonous teeth. Many of them carry scorpions,
also, within the cap, and next the shaven head; but doubtless
ﬁrst deprive them of the power to injure, perhaps by merely
blunting the sting. Their famous feats of eating live and venom-
ous serpents, which are regarded as religious acts, I have before
had occasion to mention, and purpose to describe particularly in
another chapter.

Performers of sleight—of-hand tricks, who are called “Howah”
(in the singular, “Hawee”), are numerous in Cairo. They

’01? LEGERDEMAIN Hawk's, ETC. 391

generally perform in public places, collecting a ring of spectators
around them, from some of whom they receive small voluntary
contributions during and after their performances. They are
most frequently seen on the occasions of public festivals, but
often also at other times. By indecent jests and actions, they
attract as much applause as they do by other means. The
“Hawee” performs a great variety of tricks, the most usual of
which I shall here mention. He generally has two boys to assist
him. From a large leather bag he takes out four or ﬁve snakes
of a largish size. One of these he places on the ground, and
makes it erect its head and part of its body ; another he puts
round the head of one of the boys, like a turban; and two more
over the boy’s neck. He takes these off; opens the boy’s mouth,
apparently passes the bolt of a kind of padlock through his cheek,
and looks it. Then, in appearance, he forces an iron spike into
the boy’s throat—the spike being really pushed up into a wooden
handle. He also performs another trick of the same kind as this :
placing the boy on the ground, he puts the edge of a knife upon
his nose, and knocks the blade until half its width seems to have
entered. Several indecent tricks which he performs with the boy
I must abstain from describing; some of them are abominably
disgusting. The tricks which he alone performs are more amus-
ing. He draws a great quantity of various-coloured silk from his
mouth, and winds it on his arm ; puts cotton in his mouth, and
blows out ﬁre ; takes out of his mouth a great number of round
pieces of tin, like dollars ; and, in appearance, blows an earthen
pipe-bowl from his nose. In most of his tricks he occasionally
blows through a large shell (called the Hawee’s zummarah), pro-
ducing sounds like those of a horn. Most of his sleight-of—hand
performances are nearly similar to those of exhibiters of the same
class in our own and other countries. Taking a silver ﬁnger-ring
from one of the bystanders, he puts it in a little box, blows his
shell, and says, “ ’Efreet, change it I 7’ He then opens the box, and
shows in it a different ring: shuts the box again; opens it, and
shows the ﬁrst ring: shuts it a third time ; opens it, and shows a
melted lump of silver, which he declares to be the ring melted,
and offers to the owner. The latter insists upon having his ring in
its original state. The Hawee then asks for ﬁve or ten faddahs to

392 SERPENT-CHAR/l/[ERS AND PERFORMERS

recast it; and having obtained this, opens the box again (after
having closed it, and blown his shell), and takes out of it the
perfect ring. He next takes a larger covered box ; puts the skull-
cap of one of his boys in it , blows his shell , opens the box 3 and
out comes a rabbit: the cap seems to be gone. He puts the
rabbit in again; covers the box ; uncovers it 3 and out run two
little chickens : these he puts in again; blows his shell ; uncovers
the box ; and shows it full of fateerehs (or pancakes) and kunafeh
(which resembles vermicelli) : he tells his boys to eat its contents ;
but they refuse to do it without honey : he then takes a small jug ,
turns it upside—down, to show that it is empty ; blows his shell;
and hands round the jug full of honey. The boys having eaten,
ask for water to wash their hands. The Hawee takes the same
jug; and hands it ﬁlled with water, in the same manner. He
takes the box again; and asks for the cap ; blows his shell ;
uncovers the box 5 and pours out from it, into the boy’s lap (the
lower part of his shirt held up), four or ﬁve small snakes. The
boy, in apparent fright, throws them down, and demands his cap.
The Hawee puts the snakes back into the box ; blows his shell;
uncovers the box ; and takes out the cap. Another of his common
tricks is to put a number of slips of white paper into a tinned
copper vessel (the tisht of a seller of sherbet), and to take them
out dyed of various colours. He pours water into the same
vessel; puts in a piece of linen , then gives to the spectators, to
drink, the contents of the vessel, changed to sherbet of sugar.
Sometimes he apparently cuts in two a muslin shawl, or burns it
in the middle; and then restores it whole. Often he strips
himself of all his clothes, excepting his drawers; and tells two
persons to bind him, hands and feet, and put him in a sack. This
done, he asks for a piaster ; and some one tells him that he shall
have it if he will put out his hand and take it. He puts out his
hand free ; draws it back ,' and is then taken out of the sack
bound as at ﬁrst. He is put in again ; and comes out unbound—
handing t0 the spectators a small tray, upon which are four or
ﬁve little plates ﬁlled with various eatables, and, if the perform-
ance be at night, several small lighted candles placed around.
The spectators eat the food.

There is another class of jugglers in Cairo called “Keeyem”

0F LEGEKDEMAIN TRICKS, ETC. 393

(in the singular, “Keiyim”). In most of his performances the
Keiyim has an assistant. In one, for instance, the latter places
upon the ground twenty-nine small pieces of stone. He sits upon
the ground, and these are arranged before him. The Keiyim
having gone a few yards distant from him, this assistant desires
one of the spectators to place a piece of money under any one of
the bits of stone. This being done, he calls back the Keiyim,
informs him that a piece of money has been hidder , and asks him
to point out where it is; which the conjurer immediately does.
The secret of this trick is very simple: the twenty-nine pieces of
stone represent the letters of the Arabic alphabet, and the person
who desires the Keiyim to show where the money is concealed
commences his address to the latter with the letter represented by
the stone which covers the coin. In the same manner, or by
means of signs made by the assistant, the Keiyim is enabled to
. tell the name of any person present, or the words of a song that
has been repeated in his absence, the name or song having been
whispered to his assistant.

Fortune-telling is often practised in Egypt, mostly by Gipsies,
as in our own country. There are but few Gipsies in this country.
They are here called “Ghagar” or “Ghajar” (in the singular,
“ Ghagaree” or “ Ghajaree ”). In general, they profess themselves
descendants of the Baramikeh, like the Ghawazee, but of a
different branch. Many (I believe most) of the women are
fortune—tellers. These women are often seen in the streets of
Cairo, dressed in a similar manner to thergenerality of the females
of the lower classes, with the tOb and tarhah, but always with
unveiled faces ; usually carrying a gazelle’s skin, containing the
materials for their divinations, and crying, “ I perform divination I
What is present I manifest! What is absent I manifest!” etc.
They mostly divine by means of a number of shells, with a few
pieces of coloured glass, money, etc, intermixed with them.
These they throw down, and from the manner in which they
chance to lie they derive their prognostications. A larger shell
than the rest represents the person whose fortune they are to
discover; and the other shells, etc., represent» different events,
evils and blessings, which, by their proximity to or distance
from the former, they judge to be fated to befall the person in

394 SEIBPEA7ﬂCHARxlIE16S, AND PERFORJWERS

question early or late or never.‘ Some of these Gipsy women also
cry, “Nedukk wa-n’tahir!” (“We puncture and circumcisel”).
Many of the Gipsies in Egypt are blacksmiths, braziers, and
tinkers, or itinerant sellers of the wares which are made by others
of this class, particularly of trumpery trinkets of brass, etc.

Some Gipsies also follow the occupation of a “Bahluwan.”
This appellation is properly given to a performer of gymnastic
exercises, a fa nous swordsman, or a champion; and such descrip-
tions of persons formerly exhibited their feats of strength and
dexterity under this name in Cairo ,- but the performances of the
modern Bahluwan are almost conﬁned to rope-dancing, and all
the persons who practise this art are Gipsies. Sometimes the
rope is tied to the mad’neh of a mosque, at a considerable height
from the ground, and extends to the length of several hundred
feet, being supported at many points by poles ﬁxed in the ground.
The dancer always uses a long balancing-pole. Sometimes he
dances or walks on the rope with clogs on his feet, or with a piece
of soap tied under each foot, or with a child suspended to each
of his ankles by a rope, or with a boy tied to each end of the
balancing-pole ; and he sits upon a round tray placed on the rope.
I have only seen three of these Bahluwans, and their performances
were not of the more difﬁcult kinds above described, and less
clever than those of the commonest rope~dancers in England.
Women, girls, and boys often follow this occupation. The men
and boys also perform other feats than those of r0pe-dancing——
such as tumbling, leaping through a hoop, etc.

The “ Kureydatee” (whose appellation is derived from “kird,”
an ape or a monkey) amuses the lower orders in Cairo by sundry
performances of an ape or a monkey, an ass, a dog, and a kid.
He and the ape (which is generally of the cynocephalus kind)
ﬁght each other with sticks. He dresses the ape fantastically,
usually as a bride or a veiled woman, puts it on the ass, and
parades it round within the ring of spectators, himself going
before and beating a tambourine. The ape is also made to
dance, and perform various antics. The ass is told to choose the
handsomest girl in the ring ; and does so, putting his nose towards
her face, and greatly amusing her and all the spectators. The
dog is ordered to imitate the motions of a thief ; and accordingly

0F LEGERDEMAL/V TRICKS, ETC. 395

crawls along on its belly. The best performance is that of the
kid : it is made to stand upon a little piece of wood, nearly in the
shape of a dice-box, about a span long, and an inch and a half
wide at the top and bottom, so that all its four feet are placed
close together; this piece of wood, with the kid thus standing
upon it, is then lifted up, and a similar piece placed under it ;
and, in the same manner, a third piece, a fourth, and a ﬁfth are
added.

The Egyptians are often amused by players of low and ‘ridicu-
lous farces, who are called “Mohabbazeen.” These frequently
perform at the festivals prior to weddings and circumcisions, at
the houses of the great 5 and sometimes attract rings of auditors
and spectators in the public places in Cairo. Their performances
are scarcely worthy of description; it is chieﬂy by vulgar jests
and indecent actions that they amuse and obtain applause. The
actors are only men and boys, the part of a woman being always
performed by a man or a boy in female attire. As a specimen
of their plays, I shall give a short account of one which was
acted before the Basha a short time ago, at a festival celebrated
in honour of the circumcision of one of his sons , on which
occasion, as usual, several sons of grandees were also circumcised.
The dramatis persona; were a Nazir (or Governor of a District), a
Sheykh-Belcd (or Chief of a Village), a servant of the latter, a
Copt clerk, a Fellah indebted to the government, his wife, and
ﬁve other persons, of whom two made their appearance ﬁrst in
the character of drummers, one as hautboy—player, and the two
others as dancers. After a little drumming and piping and danc-
ing by these ﬁve, the Nazir and the rest of the performers enter
the ring. The Nazir asks, “How much does ’Awad the son of :
Regeb owe?” The musicians and dancers, who now act as simple
fellaheen, answer, “Desire the Christian to look in the register.”
The Christian clerk has a large dawayeh (or receptacle for pens
and ink) in his girdle, and is dressed as a Copt, with a black
turban. The Sheykh el-Beled asks him, “How much is written
against ’Awad the son of Regeb?” The clerk answers, “A
thousand piasters.” “How much,” says the Sheykh, “has he
paid?” He is answered, “Five piasters.” “Man,” says he,
addressing the fellah, “why don’t you bring the money?” The

396 SE] PENT— CHAIM/£135, ETC.

fellah answers, “I have not any.” “You have not any?” eX«
claims the Sheykh. “Throw him down.” An inﬂated piece of
an intestine, resembling a large kurbag, is brought, and with this
the fellah is beaten. He roars out to the Nazir, “-By the honour
of thy horse’s tail, 0 Bey ! By the honour of thy wife’s trousers,
O Bey! By the honour of thy wife’s head—band, O Bey!”
After twenty such absurd appeals his beating is ﬁnished, and he
is taken away and imprisoned. Presently his wife comes to him
‘ and asks him, “How art thou?” He answers, “Do me a kind-
ness, my wife: take a little kishk and some eggs and some
sha’eereeyeh, and go with them to the house of the Christian
clerk, and appeal to his generosity to get me set at liberty.” She
takes these in three baskets to' the Christian’s house, and asks
the people there, “Where is the M’allim Hanna, the clerk?”
They answer, “There he sits.” She says to him, “0 M’allim
Hanna, do me the favour to receive these, and obtain the libera-
tion of my husband.” “Who is thy husband?” he asks. She
answers, “The fellah who owes a thousand piasters.” “Bring,”
says he, “twenty or thirty piasters to bribe the Sheyk el-Beled.”
She goes away, and soon returns with the money in her hand,
and gives it to the Sheykh el- Beled. “What is this Z” says the
Sheykh. She answers, “Take it as a bribe, and liberate my
husbanc.” He says, “Very well, go to the Nazir.” She retires
for a while, blackens the edges of her eyelids with kohl, applies
fresh red dye of the henna to her hands and feet, and repairs
to the Nazir. “Good—evening, my master,” she says to him.
“ \Vhat dost thou want?” he asks. She answers, “ I am the wife
of ’Awad, who owes a thousand piasters.” “ But what dost thou
want?” he asks again. She says, “My husband is imprisoned,
and I appeal to thy generosity to liberate him ; ” and as she urges
this request she smiles, and shows him that she does not ask this
favour without being willing to grant him a recompense. He
obtains this ; takes the husband’s part, and liberates him.——This
farce was played before the Basha with the view of opening his
eyes to the conduct of those persons to whom was committed the
ofﬁce of collecting the taxes

The puppet-show of “Kara Gyooz ” has been introduced into
Egypt by Turks, in Whose language the puppets are made to

PUBLIC RECITA TIONS 0F ROMANCES. 397

speak. Their performances, which are in general extremely

indecent, occasionally amuse the Turks residing in Cairo; but, of

course, are not very attractive to those who do not understand the ‘
Turkish language. They are conducted in the manner of the

“Chinese shadows,” and therefore only exhibited at night.

CHAPTER XXI.
PUBLIC RECITATIONS OF ROMANCES.

THE Egyptians are not destitute of better diversions than those
described in the preceding chapter. Reciters of romances frequent
the principal kahwehs (or coffee-shops) of Cairo and other towns,
particularly on the evenings of religious festivals, and afford
attractive and rational entertainments. The reciter generally
seats himself upon a small stool on the mastab’ah, or raised seat,
which is built against the front of the coffee-shop: some of his
auditors occupy the rest of that seat, others arrange themselves
upon the mastab’ahs of the houses on the opposite side of the
narrow street, and the rest sit upon stools or benches made of
palm sticks——most of them with the pipe in hand, some sipping
their coffee, and all highly amused, not only with the story, but
also with the lively and dramatic manner of the narrator. The
reciter receives a triﬂing sum of money from the keeper of the
coffee-shop, for attracting customers: his hearers are not obliged
to contribute anything for his remuneration 5 many of them give
nothing, and few give more than ﬁve or ten faddahs.

The most numerous class of reciters is that of the persons
called “Sho’ara” (in the singular “ Sha’cr,” which properly signi-
ﬁes a poet). They are also called “Aboo-Zeydeeyeh,” or “Aboo-
Zeydces,” from the subject of their recitations, which is a romance
entitled “The Life of Aboo—Zeyd” (“Secret Aboo—Zeyd”). The
number of these Sho’ara in Cairo is about ﬁfty, and they recite
nothing but the adventures related in the romance of Aboo—Zeyd.

This romance is said to have been founded upon events which
happened in the middle of the third century of the Flight, and is
believed to have been written not long after that period; but it

398 PUBLIC RECITATIONS 0F ROMANCES _

was certainly composed at a much later time, unless it have been
greatly altered in transcription. It is usually found in ten or ’
more'small quarto volumes. It is half prose and half poetry ; half
narrative and half dramatic. As a literary composition it has
little merit, at least in its present state 3 but as illustrative of the
manners and customs of the Bedawees, it is not without value
and interest. The heroes and heroines of the romance, who are
mostly natives of Central Arabia and El—Yemen, but some of
them of El-Gharb, or Northern Africa, which is called “ the West,”
with reference to Arabia, generally pour forth their most animated
sentiments, their addresses and soliloquies, in verse. The verse
is not measured, though it is the opinion of some of the learned in
Cairo that it was originally conformed to the prescribed measures
of poetry, and that it has been altered by copyists ; still, when
read, as it always is, almost entirely in the popular (not the
literary) manner, it is pleasing in sound, as it also often is in
matter. Almost every piece of poetry begins and ends with an
invocation of blessings on the Prophet.

The Sha’er always commits his subject to memory, and recites
without book. The poetry he chants ; and after every verse he
plays a few notes on a viol which has but a single cord, and
which is called “the poet’s Viol,” or “the Aboo-Zeydee Viol,”
from its only being used in these recitations. It has been de— '
scribed in a former chapter. The reciter generally has an attend-
ant With another instrument of this kind to accompany him.
Sometimes a single note serves as a prelude and interlude. To
convey some idea of the style of a Sha’er’s music, I insert a few
notes of the commencement of a chant :—

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-b ’_ —g—Jﬂa .. ,ﬁ ,
a :4 r— n e
5 en ——ﬁ—-~-~J~r-—Tr;— —1:o:.:—.+——754:ﬁ
I | '1 _
n ' ~§
_ LL.V_=_ __ 7 ! .4 _
I‘ :E‘ft—SC i2 :‘Evj‘—_;H“M_fﬂ_ Tn —; ,+_-_:f_'*:_
U WTHT
Ma - ka- la’. - tu Khadi a ’anda lma had
“ li-‘ 4‘4 x :1— *! JV—i #
’ g, l n ‘ ::::— 1-_ fl: _1 n __ a: ‘
I_ L L»; L' ' ;:i:tt; <1 '77 g; i —' :Fv‘*|7'—':”:‘
T V T T‘ l r

 

 

fek - ke-ret li - ma kad gara mabeyn neg— a Hi-lal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A SHA'ER, WITH HIS ACCOMPANYING VIOLIST,

AND PART OF HIS AUDIENCE.

 

 

PUBLIC RECITATIONS 0F ROMANCES. 401

Some of the reciters of Aboo-Zeyd are distinguished by the
appellations of “Hilaleeyeh” (or Hilalees), “Zaghabeh,” or
I“Zughbeeyeh” (or Zughbees), and “Zinateeyeh” (or Zinatees),
from their chieﬂy confining themselves to the narration of the
exploits of heroes of the Hilalee, Zughbee, or Zinatee tribes, cele-
brated in this romance. _

As a specimen of the tale of Aboo-Zeyd, I shall here offer an
abstract of the principal contents of the ﬁrst volume, which I
have carefully read for this purpose.

Aboo-Zeyd, or as he was ﬁrst more generally called, Barakat,
was an Arab of the tribe called Benee-Hilal or El-Hilaleeyeh.
Before his birth, his father, the Emeer Rizk (who was the son of
Nail, a paternal uncle of Sarhan, the king of the Benee—Hilal),
had married ten wives, from whom, to his great grief, he had
obtained but two children, both of them daughters, named
Sheehah and ’Ateemeh, until one of his wives, the Emeereh
Gellas, increased his distress by bearing him a son Without arms
or legs. Shortly before the birth of this son, the Emeer Rizk
(having divorced, at different times, such of his wives as pleased
.Liui least, as he could not have more than four at one time, and
having at last retained only three) married an eleventh wife, the
Emeereh Khadra, daughter of Karda, the Shereef of Mekkeh.
He was soon rejoiced to ﬁnd that Khadra showed signs of be-
coming a mother ,' and in the hope that the expected child would
be a son, invited the Emeer Ghanim, chief of the tribe of Ez-
Zaghabeh 0r Ez-Zughbeeyeh, with a large company of his family
and tribe, to come from their district and honour with their
presence the festival which he hoped to have occasion to celebrate.
These friends complied with his invitation, became his guests, and
waited for the birth of the child.

Meanwhile, it happened that the Emeereh Khadra, walking
with the Emeereh Shemmeh, a wife of King Sarhan, and a
number of other females, saw a black bird attack and kill a
numerous ﬂock of birds of various kinds and hues, and, astonished
at the sight, earnestly prayed God to give her a son like this
bird, even though he should be black. Her prayer was answered :
she gave birth to a black boy. The Emeer Rizk, though he could
not believe this to be his own son, was reluctant to put away the

(440) 26

402 PUBLIC RECJTATJONS 0F ROMANCES.

mother, from the excessive love he bore her. He had only heard
the women‘s description of the child ; he would not see it himself,
nor allow any other man to see it, until the seventh day after its.
birth. For six days his guests were feasted ; and on the seventh,
or “yom es-subooa,” a more sumptuous banquet was prepared;
after which, according to custom, the child was brought before the
guests. A female slave carried it upon a silver tray, and covered
over with a handkerchief. \Vhen the guests, as usual in such
cases, had given their nukoot (or contributions) of gold and silver
coins, one of them lifted up the handkerchief, and saw that the
child was as the women had represented it. The Emeer Rizk,
who had stood outside the tent while this ceremony was performed,
in great distress of mind, was now sharply upbraided by most of
his friends for wishing to hide his supposed disgrace, and to retain
an unchaste woman as his wife. He was very reluctantly compelled
to put her away, that his tribe might not be held in dishonour on
her account; and accordingly despatched her, with her child,
under the conduct of a sheykh named Muneea, to return to her
father’s house at Mekkeh. She departed thither, accompanied also
by a number of slaves, her husband’s property, who determined
to remain with her, being allowed to do so by the Emeer Rizk.
On the journey, the party pitched their tents in a valley ,- and
here the Emeereh Khadra begged her conductor to allow her to
remain, for she feared to go back, under such circumstances, to
her father’s house. But the Emeer Fadl Ibn-Beysem, chief of
the tribe of Ez—Zahlan, with a company of horsemen, chanced to
‘ fall in with her party during her conversation with the sheykh
Muneea, and having heard her story, determined to take her
under his protection. Returning to his encampment, he sent his
wife, the Emeereh Laag El—Baheeyeh, to conduct her and the
child thither, together with the slaves. The Emeer Fadl adopted
her child as his own 3 brought him up with his own two sons ;
and treated him with the fondness of a father. The young
Barakat soon gave promise of his becoming a hero: he killed
his schoolmaster, by severe beating, for attempting to chastise one
of his adoptive brothers , and became the terror of all his school-
fellows. His adoptive father procured another ﬁkee for a school-
master ,' but Barakat’s presence frightened his schoolfellows from

PUBLIC RECITA TIONS 0F ROMANCES. 403

attending, and the ﬁkee therefore instructed him at home. At
the age of eleven years, he had acquired proﬁciency in all the
sciences, human and divine, then studied in Arabia, including
astrology, magic, alchemy, and a variety of other branches of
knowledge.

Barakat now went, by the advice of the ﬁkee, to ask a present,
of a horse from his adoptive father ; who answered his “Good-
morning” by saying, “ Good-morning, my son, and clearer than
my son.” Surprised at this expression, the'youth Went to his
mother, and asked her if the Emeer Fadl were not really his
father. She told him that this chief was his uncle, and that his
father was dead-that he had been killed by a Hilalee Arab,
called Rizk the son of Nail. Becoming warmed and inspired by
the remembrance of her wrongs, she then more fully related her
case to her son in a series of verses. Of this piece of poetry I shall
venture to insert a translation, made verse for verse, and with the
same neglect of measure that is found in the original, which I
also imitate in carrying on the same rhyme throughout the whole
piece, in accordance with the common practice of Arab poets :—

“ Thus did Khadra, reﬂecting on what had past
’Mid the tents of Hilzil, her tale relate.

‘O Emeer Barakat, hear what I tell thee,
And think not my story is idle prate.
Thy father was Beysem, Beysem’s son,
, Thine uncle F adl’s brother: youth of valour innate!
And thy father was wealthy above his fellows;
None other could boast such a rich estate.
As a pilgrim to Mekkeh he journeyed, and there,
In my father’s house, a guest he sate:
He sought me in marriage ; attained his wish ;
And made me his loved and wedded mate ;
For thy father had never been blessed with a son,
And had often bewailed his unhappy fate.
One day to a spring with some friends I went,
When the chiefs had met at a banquet of state ;
And amusing ourselves with the sight of the water,
We saw numberless birds there congregate :
Some were white, and round as the moon at the full ;
Some with plumage of red ; some small, some great;
Some were black, my son ; and some were tall——
They comprised all kinds that God doth create.
Though our party of women came unawares,
The birds did not fear us, nor separate ;

404 PUBLIC RECITATIONS 017 ROZWANCES.
But soon from the vault of the sky descending,
A black-plumed bird, of enormous weight,
Pounced on the others, and killed them all.
To God I cried : O Compassionate !
Thou Living ! Eternal I I pray, for the sake
Of the Excellent Prophet, thy delegate,
Grant me a son like this noble bird,
E’en should he be black, thou Considerate l—
Thou wast formed in my womb, and wast born, my son ;
And all thy relations, with joy elato,
And thy father among them, paid honour to me.
But soon did our happiness terminate :
The chiefs of Hilal attacked our tribe ;
And Rizk, among them, precipitate,
Fell on thy father, my son, and slew him ;
Then seized on his wealth, his whole estate.
Thine uncle received me, his relative,
And thee as his son to educate.
God assist thee to take our blood-revenge,
And the tents of Hilal to desolate;
But keep closely secret what I have told thee,
Be mindful to no one this tale to relate ;
Thine uncle might grieve, so ’tis ﬁt that with patience,
In hope of attaining thy Wish, thou shouldst wait.’

Thus did Khadra address her son Barakat,
Thus her case with artful deception state.

Now beg we forgiveness of all our sins,
Of God the Exalted, the Sole, the Great ;

And join me, my hearers, in blessing the Prophet,
The guide, whose praise we should celebrate.”

Barakat, excited by this tale, became engrossed with the desire
, of slaying his own father, whom he was made to believe to be his
father’s murderer.

His adoptive father gave him his best horse, and instructed
him in all the arts of war, in the chase, and in every manly
exercise. He early distinguished himself as a horseman, and
excited the envy of many of the Arabs of the tribe into which he
had been admitted by his dexterity in the exercise of the “ birgas ”
(a game exactly or nearly similar to what is now called that of
the “ gereed ”), in which the persons engaged, mounted on horses,
combated 0r pursued each other, throwing a palm stick. He
twice defeated plundering parties of the tribe of Teydemeh, and
on the first occasion killed ’Atwan, the son of Daghir, their chief.
These Teydemeh Arabs applied for succour to Es—Saleedee, king
of the city of Teydemeh. He recommended them to Gessar, the

 

PUBLIC RECITA TIOIVS 01" ROMANCES. 405

son of Gasir, a chief of the Benee-Hemyer, who sent to demand,
of the tribe of Ez-Zahlan, ﬁfteen years’ arrears of tribute which
the latter had been accustomed to pay to his tribe; and desired
them to despatch to him, with this tribute, the slave Barakat (for
he believed him to be a slave), a prisoner in bonds, to be put to
death. Barakat wrote a reply, in the name of the Emeer Fadl,
promising compliance. Having a slave who much resembled
him, and who was nearly of the same age, he bound him on the
back of a camel, and, with him and the Emeer Fadl and his
tribe, went to meet Gessar and his party and the Teydemeh
Arabs. Fadl presented the slave as Barakat to Gessar, who,
pleased at having his orders apparently obeyed, feasted the tribe
of Ez-Zahlan 3 but Barakat remained on horseback, and refused
to eat of the food of his enemies, as, if he did, the laws of
hospitality would prevent his executing a plot which he had
framed. Gessar observed him, and asking the Emeer Fadl who
he was, received the answer that he was a mad slave named
Mes’ood. Having drawn Gessar from his party, Barakat dis-
covered himself to him, challenged, fought, and killed him, and
took his tent. He pardoned the rest of the hostile party, but
imposed upon them the tribute which the Zahlan Arabs had for-
merly paid them. Heneeforth he had the name of Mes’ood added
to that which he had before borne. Again and again he defeated
the hostile attempts of the Bence-Hemyer to recover their inde-
pendence, and acquired-the highest renown, not only in the eyes
of the Emeer F adl and the whole tribe of Ez-Zahlan, of whom he
was made the chief, but also among all the neighbouring tribes.
We must now return to the Emeer Rizk and his tribe. Soon
after the departure of his wife Khadra, he retired from his tribe,
in disgust at the treatment which he received on account of his
supposed disgrace, and in grief for his loss. With a single slave
he took up his abode in a tent of black goats’ hair, one of those
in which the tenders of his camels used to live, by the spring
where his wife had seen the combat 0f the birds. Not long after
this event, the Benee—Hilal were afﬂicted by a dreadful drought,
which lasted so long that they were reduced to the utmost distress.
Under these circumstances, the greater number of them were
induced, with their king Sarhan, to go to the country of the tribe

406 V PUBLIC RECITA TIONS 0F ROMANCES.

of Ez—Zahlan for sustenance; but the Ga’aﬁreh and some minor
tribes of the Benee—Hilal joined and remained with the Emeer
Rizk, who had formerly been their commander. Sarhan and his
party were attacked and defeated by Barakat on their arrival in
p the territory of the Zahlan Arabs, but on their abject submission
were suffered by him to remain there. They, however, cherished
an inveterate hatred to the tribe of Ez-Zahlan, who had before
paid them tribute ; and Sarhan was persuaded to send a messenger
to the Emeer Rizk, begging him to come and endeavour to de-
liver them from their humiliating state. Rizk obeyed the sum-
mons. On his way to the territory of the Zahlan Arabs, he was
almost convinced, by the messenger who had come to conduct
him, that Barakat was his son, but was at a loss to know why he '
was called by this name, as he himself had named him Aboo-
Zeyd. Arriving at the place of his destination, he challenged
Barakat. The father went forth to combat the son—the former
not certain that his opponent was his son, and the latter having
no idea that he was about to lift his hand against his father, but
thinking that his adversary was his father’s murderer. The
Emeer Rizk found occasion to put off the engagement from day
to day; at last, being no longer able to do this, he suffered it to
commence. His son prevailed; he unhorsed him, and would
have'put him to death had he not been charged to refrain from
doing this by his mother. The secret of Barakat’s parentage
was now divulged to him by the Emeereh Khadra , and the
chiefs of the Benee—Hilal were compelled to acknowledge him as
the legitimate and worthy son of the Emeer Rizk, and to implore
his pardon for the injuries which he and his mother had sustained
from them. This been the Emeer Aboo—Zeyd Barakat generously
granted; and he thus added to the joy which the Emeer Rizk
derived from the recovery of his favourite wife and his son.

The subsequent adventures related in the romance of Aboo-
Zeyd are numerous and complicated. The most popular portion
of the work is the account of a “ riyadeh,” or expedition in search
of pasture, in which Aboo-Zeyd, with three of his nephews, in the
disguise of Sha’ers, himself acting as their servant, are described
as journeying through northern Africa, and signalizing themselves
by many surprising exploits with the Arab tribe of Ez-Zinateeyeh,

I

PUBLIC RECITATIONS 0F ROZVANCES. 407

CHAPTER XXII.
PUBLIC RECITATIONS or ROMANCES—~(CONTINUED).

NEXT in point of number to the Sho’ara, among the public reciters
of romances, are those who are particularly and solely distinguished
by the appellation of “ Mohadditeen,” or Story-tellers (in the singu«
lar, “Mohaddit”). There are said to be about thirty of them
in Cairo. The exclusive subject of their narrations is a work
called “ The Life of'Ez—Zahir ” (“ Seeret Ez-Zahir,” or “ Es-Seereh
ez-Zahireeyeh ”). They recite without book.

The Seeret Ez—Zahir is a romance founded on the history of the
famous Sultan Ez-Zahir Beybars and many of his contemporaries.
This prince acceded to the throne of Egypt in the last month of
the year of the Flight 658, and died in the ﬁrst month of the year
676 ; and consequently reigned a little more than seventeen years,
according to the lunar reckoning, commencing A.D. 1260 and end—
ing in 1277. Complete copies of the Secret Ez—Zahir have become
so scarce that I have only heard of one existing in Egypt, which
I have purchased. It consists of six quarto volumes, but is nomi—
nally divided into ten, and is made up of volumes of several
different copies. The author and his age are unknown. The
work is written in the most vulgar style of modern Egyptian
Arabic; but as it was intended for the vulgar, it is likely that
copyists may have altered and modernized the language. The
oldest volumes of my copy of it were written a few years more or
less than a century ago. To introduce my reader to some slight
acquaintance with this work, I shall insert a translation of a few
pages at the commencement of the second volume; but by way
of introduction, I must say something of the contents of the ﬁrst
volume.

V A person named ’Alee Ibn—El-Warrakah, being commissioned
to procure memlooks from foreign countries by El—Melik Es-
saleh (a famous Sultan of Egypt, and a celebrated welee), is re—
lated to have purchased seventy—ﬁve memlooks in Syria; and to
have added to them, immediately after, the principal hero of this
romance, a youth named Mahmood (afterwards called Beybars),

408 P UBZI C 16E CIT/1 TIOZVS 0F 1? OMA 1V CES.

a captive son of Shah Jakmak (or Grakmak), King of Khuwarezm.
_’Alee was soon after obliged to give Mahmood to one of his
creditors at Damascus, in lieu of a debt; and this person pre-
sented him to his wife, to wait upon her son, a deformed idiot;
but he remained not long in this situation. The sister of his new
master, paying a visit to his wife, her sister—in-law, found. her
about to beat the young memlook for having neglected the idiot,
and suffered him to fall from a bench. Struck with the youth’s
' countenance, as strongly resembling a son whom she had lost,
and pitying his condition, she purchased him of her brother,
adopted him, gave him the name of Beybars, which was that of
her deceased son, and made him master of her whole property,
which was very great. This lady was called the sitt Fat’meh
Bint-El—Akwasee (daughter of the bow-maker). Beybars showed
himself worthy of her generosity, exhibiting many proofs of a
noble disposition, and signalizing himself by numerous extraor—
dinary achievements, which attracted general admiration, but ren—
dered him obnoxious to the jealousy and enmity of the Basha of
Syria, ’Eesa Eli-Nasiree, who contrived many plots to ensnare
him and to put him to death. After a time, Negm—ed-Deen, a
Wezeer of Es—Saleh, and husband of a sister of the sitt Fat’meh,
came on an embassy to Damascus, and to visit his sister-in—law.
On his return to Egypt, Beybars accompanied him thither, and
there he was promoted to ofﬁces of high dignity by Es-Saleh, and
became a particular favourite of the chief Wezeer, Shaheen E1—
Afram. The events which immediately followed the death of Es-
Saleh are thus related :~— ,

“After the death of El—Melik Es—Saleh Eiyoob, the Wezeer
Eybek called together an assembly in his house, and brought
thither the Emeer Kala-con and his partisans. And the Wezeer
Eybek said to the Emeer Kala—oon, ‘To—morrow we will go up to
the deewan with‘ our troops, and either I will be Sultan or thou
shalt be.’ The Emeer Kala-oon answered, ‘80 let it be ;’ and
they agreed to do this. In like manner, the Wezeer Shaheen
El-Afram also assembled the Emeer Eydemr El-Bahluwan and
his troops, and all the friends and adherents of the Emeer Beybars,
and said to them, ‘ To-morrow arm yourselves, and go up to the
deewan ,' for it is our desire to make the Emeer Beybars Sultan,

1 ’UBLZ C 16E C’ITA TZOJVS OF R OZWANCES. 409

since El-Melik Es-Saleh Eiyoob wrote for him a patent appointing
him to the sovereignty.’ And they answered, ‘ On the head and
the eye.’ So they passed the night, and rose in the morning and
went up to the deewan ; and there went thither also the Wezeer
Eybek Et-Turkamanee with his troops, and the Emeer Kala-eon
El—Elfee with his troops, and the Emeer ’Alay-ed-Deen (or
’Ala—ed-Deen) El-Beyseree with his troops, all of them armed.
The Emeer Beybars likewise went up to the (leewan with his
troops ; and the deewan was crowded with soldiers. Then Said
the Vcheer Shaheen, ‘ Rise, 0 Beybars; sit upon the throne, and
become Sultan, for thou hast a patent appointing thee to the
sovereignty.’ The Emeer Beybars answered, ‘I have no desire
for the sovereignty , here is present the Wezeer Eybek, and here
is Kala-con. Make one of them Sultan.’ But the Wezeer Shaheen
said, ‘It cannot be ; no one shall reign but thou.’ Beybars re-
plied, ‘ By thy head, I will not reign.’ ‘As he pleases,’ said the
Vcheer Eybek.—‘ Is the sovereignty to be conferred by force Q’—
‘As he pleases.’ The Wezeer Shaheen said, ‘And is the throne
to remain unoccupied, with no one to act as Sultan?’ The
Wezeer Eybek answered, ‘ Here are we present, and here is the
Emeer Kala-0011 ; whosoever will reign, let him reign.’ The
Emeer ’Ezzed-Deen El—Hillee said, ‘ O \Vezeer Shaheen, the son
of El—Melik Es-Saleh is living.’ The Emeer Beybars asked, ‘ Es-
Szileh has left a son?’ The Kurds answered, ‘Yes, and his
name is ’Eesa. He is at El-Karak.’ ‘ And why,’ said the Wezeer
Shaheen, ‘were ye silent respecting him?’ They replied, ‘We
were silent for no other reason than this, that he drinks wine.’
‘ Does he drink wine?’ said the Wezeer Shaheen. The Kurds
answered, ‘ Yes.’ The Emeer Beybars said, ‘May our Lord bring
him to repentance !’ ‘Then,’ said the soldiers, ‘we must go to
the city of El-Karak, and bring him thence, and make him Sultan.’
The Wezeer Shaheen said to them, ‘Take the Emeer Beybars
with you.’ But Eybek and Kala-oon answered, ‘We will go
before him, and wait for him there until he come.’ The Emeer
Beybars said, ‘ So let it be.’

“Upon this, the Wezeer Eybek and Kala-oon and ’Alay-ed—
Deen El-Beyseree, and their troops, went down from the deewan
and arranged their affairs, and on the following day caused their

410 PUBLIC [EECJTATIOZVS 0F ROMANCES.

tents to be brought out, with their provisions, and pitched outside
the ’A’dileeyeh. Now the Wezeer Shaheen knew that the troops
wished to create a dissension between the king (El-Melik) ’Eesa.
and Beybars. So the Wezeer Shaheen went down from the
deewan, and took the Emeer Beybars with him, and went to his
house, and said to him, ‘What hast thou perceived in the de-
parting of the troops before thee '2’ He answered, ‘Those persons
detest me, for they are bearers of hatred ,' but I extol the per-
fection of Him who is all-knowing with respect to secret things.’
The Wezeer said to him, ‘My son, it is their desire to go before
thee, that they may create a dissension between thee and El—
Melik ’Eesa.’ The Emeer Beybars said, ‘There is no power nor
strength but in God, the High, the Great 1’ The Wezeer said to
him, ‘0 Beybars, it is my wish to send ’Osman Ibn-El-Hebla
and Mohammad Ibn—Ka’mil, the Dromedarist, before the troops;
and whatever may happen, they will inform us of it.’ Beybars
answered, ‘ So let it be.’ Accordingly, he sent them, and said
to them, ‘Go before the troops to the castle of El—Karak, and
whatever may happen- between them and El-Melik ’Eesa inform
‘us of it.’ They answered, ‘ It is our duty ;’ and they departed.
’Then said the Wezeer Shaheen, ‘ O Beybars, as to thee, d0 thou
journey to Esh—Sham [Damascus], and stay in the house of thy
(adoptive) mother, the sitt Fat’meh Bint—El—Akwasee ; and do not
go out of the house until I shall have sent to thee ’Osman.’ He
answered, ‘ It is right.’ So the Emeer Beybars rose and went to
his house, and passed the night, and got up in the morning, and
set out on his journey to Esh—Sham, and took up his abode in the
house of his mother, the sitt Fat’meh Bint—El-Akwasee.” We
shall have to speak of him again presently.

“ As to ’Osman Ibn—El—Hebla and Mohammad Ibn—Kamil, the
Dromedarist, they journeyed until they entered the castle of E1-
Karak, and inquired for the residence of El—Melik ’Eesa, the son
of El-Mclik Es—Saleh Eiyoob. Some persons conducted them to
the house; and they entered, and the attendants there asked
them what was their business. They informed them that they
were from Masr, and that they wished to have an interview with
El-Melik ’Eesa, the son of El-Melik Es—Saleh Eiyoob. The at-
tendants went and told the kikhya, who came and spoke to them ;

PUBLIC RECITATIONS 0F ROMANCES. 411

and they acquainted him with their errand. So he went and told
El—Melik ’Eesa, saying, ‘ Two men are come to thee from Masr,
and wish to have an interview with thee: the one'is named
’Osman; and the other, Mohammad Ibn-Ka’mil, the Dromedarist.’
The King said, ‘Go, call ’Osman.’ The kikhya returned, and
tookphim, and brought him to El-Melik ’Eesa. And ’Osman looked
towards the King, and saw him sitting tippling; and before him
was a candelabrum, and a handsome memlook was serving him
with wine; and he was sitting by a fountain surrounded by trees.
’Osman said, ‘Mayst thou be in the keeping of God, 0 King
’Eesa I’ The King answered, ‘ Ho! welcome, 0 ”Osman! Come,
sit down and drink.’ ’Osman exclaimed, ‘I beg forgiveness of
God! I am a repentant.’ The King said, ‘ Obey me, and oppose
me not.’ Then ’Osman sat down; and the King said to him,
‘ Why, the door of repentance is open.’ And ’Osman drank until
he became intoxicated.

“Now Eybek and Kala—0011 and ’Alay-ed-Deen and their
troops journeyed until they beheld the city of El-Karak, and
pitched their tents, and entered the city, and inquired for the
house of El—Melik JEesa. The people conducted them to the
house, and they entered ; and the attendants asked them what was
their object. They answered that they were the troops of Masr,
and wished to have an interview with El-Melik ’Eesa. The at-
tendants went and told the kikhya, who came and received them,
and conducted them to the hall of audience, where they sat down,
while he went and informed El-Melik ’Eesa, saying to him, ‘ Come
and speak to the troops of Masr who have come to thee.’ The
King rose, and went to the troops, and accosted them; and they
rose, and kissed his hand, and sat down again. El-Melik ’Eesa then
said to them, ‘ For what purpose have ye come ?’ They answered,
‘We have come to make thee Sultan in Masr.’ He said, ‘My
father, El—Melik Es—Saleh, is ,he not Sultan?’ They replied,
‘The mercy of God, whose name be exalted, be on him! Thy
father has died a Victim of injustice; may our Lord avenge him
on him who killed him 1’ He asked, ‘Who killed him?’ They
answered, ‘ One whose name is Beybars killed him.’ ‘ And Where
is Beybars?’ said he. They replied, ‘He is not yet come 3 we
came before him.’ ‘ Even so,’ said he. They then sat with him,

412 PUBLIC [BECZZ'AIYONS 0F [BO/IJANCES.

aspersing Beybars in his absence. And they passed the night
there, and rising on the following morning, said to El-Melik ’Eesa,
‘It is our Wish to go out and remain in the camp, for Shaheen,
the Wezeer of thy father, is coming, with the Emeer Beybars; and
if they see us with thee, they will accuse us of bringing to thee
the information respecting Beybars.’ He answered, ‘ Good.’ So
they went forth to the camp, and remained there.

“The Wezeer Shaheen approached with his troops, and en-
camped, and saw the other troops in their camp ; but he would
not ask them any questions, and so entered the city, and went
_ to El-Melik ’Eesa, who said to him, ‘Art thou Beybars, who
poisoned my father 1’ He answered, ‘ I am the Wezeer Shaheen,
the Wezeer of thy father.’ The King said, ‘ And where is Beybars,
who poisoned my father?’ The Wezeer replied, ‘Thy father de-
parted by a natural death to await the mercy of his Lord. And
who told thee that Beybars poisoned thy father?’ The King
answered, ‘The troops told me.’ ‘ Beybars,’ said the Wezeer, ‘is
in Esh—Sham ; go thither and charge him in the deewan with
having poisoned thy father, and bring proof against him.’ So the
Wezeer perceived that the troops had been plotting.

“ The Wezeer Shaheen then went, with his troops, outside the
camp ; and Mohammad Ibn-Kami1, the Dromedarist, came to him
and kissed his hand. The Wezeer asked him respecting ’Osman.
He answered, ‘I have no tidings of him.’ Meanwhile, El-Melik
’Eesa went to ’Osman, and said to him, ‘The Wezeer is come
with his troops, and they are outside the camp.’ So ’Osman rose,
and, reeling as he went, approached the tents ; and the Wezeer
Shaheen saw him, and perceived that he was drunk, and called to
him. ’Osman came. The Wezeer smelt him, seized him, and
inﬂicted upon him the ‘ hadd ;’ and said to him, ‘ Didst thou not
vow to relinquish the drinking of wine?’ ’Osman answered,
‘ El—Melik ’Eesa, whom ye are going to make Sultan, invited me.’
The Wezeer said, ‘I purpose writing a letterfor you to take and
give to the Emeer Beybars.’ ’Osman replied, ‘Good.’ So the
Wezeer wrote the letter , and ’Osman took it and departed, and
entered Esh—Sham, and went to the house of the sitt Fat’meh, and
gave it to his master, who read it, and found it to contain as
follows:—‘ After salutations—from his excellency the Grand

PUBLIC RECITATIONS 0F ROMANCES. 413

VVezeer, the Wezeer Shaheen El—Afram, to his honour the Emeer
Beybars. Know that the troops have aspersed thee, and created
dissensions between thee and El—Melik ’Eesa, and accused thee
of having poisoned his father, El-Melik Es—Saleh Eiyoob. Now,
on the arrival of this paper, take care of thyself, and go not out
of the house unless I shall have sent to thee. And the conclu-
sion of the letter is that ’Osman got drunk in the castle of El~
Karak.’——Beybars was vexed with ’Osman, and said to him,
‘Come hither, and receive a present ;’ and he stretched forth his
hand and laid hold of him. ’Osman said, ‘What ails thee?’
Beybars exclaimed, ‘ Did I not make thee vow to relinquish the
drinking of wine?’ ‘ Has he told thee ?’ asked ’Osman. ‘ I will
give thee a treat,‘ said Beybars ,' and he took him and threw him
down, and inﬂicted upon him the ‘hadd.’ ‘How is it,’ said
’Osman, ‘that the King whom you are going to make Sultan I
found drinking wine?’ Beybars answered, ‘ If one has trans—
_gressed, must thou transgress?’ ‘And is this,’ asked ’Osman,
‘ the hadd ordained by God i ’ Beybars answered, ‘Yes.’ ‘Then,’
said ’Osman, ‘the hadd which Aboo-Farmeh inﬂicted upon me is
a loan, and a debt which must be repaid him.’ Beybars then
said, ‘The troops have created a dissension between me and El-
Melik ’Eesa, and have accused me of poisoning his father, E1-
Melik Es-Saleh.’ ‘I beg the forgiveness of God,’ said ’Osman.
‘ Those fellows detest thee; but no harm will come to us from
them.’ Beybars said, ‘ O ’Osman, call together the saises, and
arm them, and let them remain in the lane of the cotton-weavers,
and not suffer any troops to enter.’ ’Osman answered, ‘On the
head and the eye.’ And he assembled the saises, and armed them,
and made them stand in two rows ; then he took a seat and sat
in the court of the house. The Emeer Beybars also armed all his
troops, and placed them in the court of the house.

“As to El-Melik ’Eesa, he mounted his horse and departed
with the troops, and journeyed until he entered Esh-Sham, when
he went in procession to the deeWan, and sat upon the throne, and
inquired of the King of Syria respecting Beybars. The King of
Syria answered, ‘He is in the lane of the cotton-weavers, in the
house of his mother.’ El—Melik ’Eesa said, ‘ O Shaheen, who will

go and bring him?’ The Wezeer answered, ‘Send to him the

414 PUBLIC REC/TATZONS 0F ROMANCES.

Emeer ’Alay-ed-Deen El—Beyseree.’ So he sent him. The Emeer
descended, and went to the lane of the cotton-weavers. ’Osman
saw him, and cried out to him, ‘ Dost thou remember, thou son of
a vile woman, the chicken which thou atest?’ He then struck
him with a mace. The Emeer fell from his horse, and ’Osman
gave him a bastinading. He returned and informed the King,
and the King ’Eesa said again, ‘0 Shaheen, who will go and
bring Beybars? ’ The Wezeer answered, ‘ Send to him the Wezeer
Eybek.’ The King said, ‘Rise, 0 Wezeer Eybek, and go, call
Beybars.’ But Eybek said, ‘No one can bring him excepting the
Wezeer.’ Then said El-Melik ’Eesa, ‘Rise, 0 Wezeer Shaheen,
and bring Beybars.’ The Wezeer answered, ‘On the head and
the eye; but before I bring him, tell me, wilt thou deal with him
according to law, or by arbitrary power?’ The King said, ‘By
law.’ Then said the Wezeer Shaheen, ‘So let it be : and I spake
not thus from any other motive than because I fear for thyself
and the troops, lest blood be shed 5 for Beybars is very stubborn,
and has many troops; and I' fear for the army, for he is himself
equal to the whole host. Therefore, bring accusation against him,
and prove by law that he poisoned thy father.’ The King said,
‘So let it be.’

“Then the Wezeer Shaheen descended from the deewan, and
went to the lane of the cotton-weavers. ’Osman saw him, and
said, ‘Thou hast fallen into the snare, O Aboo-Farmeh! The
time of payment is come, and the debt must be returned to the
creditor. Dost thou know how to give me a bastinading'l’ The
Wezeer said, ‘My dream which I saw has proved true.’ ‘What
was thy dream?’ asked ’Osman. ‘I dreamed,’ said the Wezeer,
‘last night that I was travelling, and some Arabs attacked me
and surrounded me, and I was straitened by them ; and I saw
thy master, the Emeer Beybars, upon a mount, and I called out
to him, Come to me, O Emeer Beybarsl and he knew me.’ The
Wezeer Shaheen calling out thus, the Emeer Beybars heard him,
and came down running with his sword in hand, and found ’Osman
and the saises surrounding the Wezeer. He exclaimed, ‘ ’Osman 1’
And ’Osman said, ‘He gave me a bastinading in the city of El-
iKarak, and I want to return it.’ The Emeer Beybars sharply
reprimanded him. ‘And so,’ said ’Osman to the Wezeer, ‘thou

PUBLIC RECITATIOZVS 0F ROMANCES. 415

hast found a way of escape.’ The Wezeer Shaheen then said, ‘O
Emeer Beybars, El-Melik ’Eesa hath sent me to thee ,- he intends
to prefer an accusation against thee in the deewan of Esh-Sham,
charging thee with having poisoned his father. Now do thou
arm all thy soldiers and come to the deewan, and fear not, but
say that which shall clear thee.’ Beybars answered, ‘ So let it be.’
He then armedall his soldiers, and went up to the deewan, and
kissed the hand of El-Melik ’Eesa, who said to him, ‘Art thou
the Emeer Beybars, who poisoned my father 2 ’ Beybars answered,
‘Prove against me that I poisoned thy father, and bring the
charge before the judge, and adduce evidence 3 the Kadee is here.’
The King said, ‘I have evidence against thee.’ Beybars said,
‘ Let us see.’ ‘Here,’ said the King, ‘ are the Wezeer Eybek and
Kala-oon and ’Alayed-Deen.’ The Emeer Beybars asked them,
‘Do ye bear witness against me that I poisoned El—Melik
Es—Saleh?’ They answered, ‘Never. We neither saw it, nor do
we know anything of the matter.’ The Kadee said, ‘Hast thou
any witnesses beside those’!’ The King replied, ‘None. No one
informed me but they.’ The Kadee said, ‘0 King, those men are
hypocrites, and detest the Emeer Beybars.’ El—Melik ’Eesa there-
upon became reconciled with the Emeer Beybars, and said to his
attendants, ‘Bring a kaftan.’ They brought one. He said to
them, ‘ Invest with it the Emeer Beybars ; ’ and added, ‘I appoint
thee, O Beybars, commander-in-chief of the army.’ But Beybars
said, ‘ I have no desire for the dignity, and will put on no kaftans.’
The King asked, ‘Why, sir?’ Beybars answered, ‘Because I
have been told that thou drinkest wine.’ The King said, ‘ I repent.’
‘ So let it be,’ said Beybars. And the King vowed repentance to
Beybars. And the Emeer Beybars said, ‘I make a condition
with thee, 0 King, that if thou drink wine I inﬂict upon thee the
hadd.’ And the King replied, ‘It is right.’ Upon this the
King invested the Emeer Beybars with a kaftan ; and a feast was
made, and guns were ﬁred, and festivities were celebrated; and
they remained in Esh-Sham three days.

“ El—Melik ’Eesa then gave orders for departure, and performed
the ﬁrst day’s journey. On the second day they came to a valley,
celebrated as a halting—place of the Prophet, the Director in the
way to heaven. In it were trees, and brooks, and birds which

416 PUBLIC RECITATZONS 0F ROMANCES.

sang the praises of the King, the Mighty, the Pardoner. El-Melik
’Eesa said, ‘Pitch the tents here ; we will here pass the night.’
So they pitched the tents. And the day departed with its bright-
ness, and the night came with its darkness ; but the Everlasting
remaineth unchanged. The stars shone, and God, the Living, the
Self—subsisting, looked upon the creation. It was the period of
the full moon, and the King felt a longing to drink wine by the
side of the brook and greensward ; so he called to Abu-l-Kheyr,
who came to him and kissed his hand. The King said to him,
‘Abu-l-Kheyr, I have a longing to drink wine.’ The servant
answered, ‘Hast thou not vowed repentance to the Emeer Bey-
bars?’ The King said, ‘The door of repentance is open, so do
thou obey me.’ And he gave him ten pieces of gold. The servant
then went to a convent, and brought him thence a large bottle ,-
and the King said to him, ‘ If thou see the Emeer Beybars coming,
call out hay! and as long as thou dost not see him, call clover/ ’
The servant answered, ‘Right ; ’ and he ﬁlled a cup and handed it
to the King. Now ’Osman was by the tents ,' and he came before
the pavilion of El—Melik ’Eesa, and saw him sitting drinking wine.
So he went and told his master, the Emeer Beybars. Beybars '
came. Abu-l- K—heyr saw him coming from a tent, and called out
to the King, ‘IIay. / hay. / ’ The King immediately threw the cup
into the brook, Abu-l—Kheyr removed the bottle, and the King
set himself to praying. And when he had pronounced the saluta—
tion [which terminates the prayers], he turned his eyes and saw
the Emeer Beybars, and said to him, ‘Wherefore art thou come
at this hour? Go, sleep 3 it is late.’ Beybars answered, ‘I have
come to ask thee Whether we shall continue our journey now or
to—morrow morning.’ The King said, ‘ To-morrow morning.’ And
the Emeer Beybars returned, vexed with ’Osman, and said to him,
‘ O ’Osman, didst thou not tell me that the King was sitting drink—
ing wine? N ow I have been, and found him praying. Dost thou
utter a falsehood against the Sultan?’ ’Osman answered, ‘Like
as he has smoothed it over, do thou also ,- no matter.’ Beybars
was silent.

“They passed the night there, and on the following morning
El-Melik ’Eesa gave orders for departure. They journeyed towards
Masr, and when they had arrived at the ’A’dileeyeh, and pitched

PUBLIC RECITATIONS 0F ROMANCES. 417

their tents, the Emeer Beybars said, ‘0 our lord the Sultan, we
have now arrived at Masr.’ The King answered, ‘I desire, O
Beybars, to visit the tomb of the Imam [Esh-Shafe’ee].’ Beybars
said, ‘The thing is right, 0 our lord the Sultan : to—morrow I will
conduct thee to visit the Imam.’ They remained that night at
the ’A'dileeyeh 3 and on the following morning the Sultan rode in
procession to Visit the Imam, and returned in procession, and
visited the tomb of his father, El-Melik Es—Saleh Eiyoob, and
then went in state to the Citadel. And the ’Ulama went up
thither, and inaugurated him as sovereign, and conducted'him into
the armoury; and he drew out from thence a sword, upon which
was inscribed ‘El—Melik El-Mo’azzam’ [the Magniﬁed King]:
wherefore they named him ‘ ’Eesa El-Mo’azzam.’ They coined the
money with his name, and prayed for him on the pulpits of the
mosques; and he invested with kaftans the soldiers and the Emeer
Beybars, the commander-in—chief. The Sultan then wrote a patent,
conferring the sovereignty, after himself, upon the Emeer Beybars,
to be King and Sultan. So the Emeer Beybars had two patents
conferring upon him the sovereignty—the patent of El—Melik Es-
Saleh Eiyoob, and the patent of El—Melik ’Eesa El-Mo’azzam.
Eybek and Kala-0011 and ’Alay-ed-Deen and their partisans, who
hated Beybars, were grieved at this, but his friends rejoiced. The
troops descended from the deewan and went to their houses, and
in like manner the Emeer Beybars descended in procession, and
went to his house by the Kanatir es-Sibaa.

“Now the Queen Shegeret—ed-Durr sent to El-Melik ’Eesa El-
Mo’azzam. He went to her palace. She kissed his hand ; and he
said to her, ‘Who art thou?’ She answered, ‘The wife of thy
father, El-Melik Es—Saleh.’ ‘And what is thy name?’ said he.
She replied, ‘The Queen Fatimeh Shegeret—ed-Durr.’ He ex-
claimed, l‘ Oh, welcome! pray for me then.’ She said, ‘God bring
thee to repentance 1’ She then gave him a charge respecting the
Emeer Beybars, saying, ‘Thy father loved him above all the
chiefs, and entered into a covenant with him before God 3 and I
also made a covenant with him before God.’ He answered, ‘0
Queen, by thy life, I have written for him a patent conferring
upon him the sovereignty after me.’ She said, ‘And thy father
also wrote for him a patent conferring upon him the sovereignty.’

(440) 2,7

418 PUBLIC RECITATIONS 0F ROMANCES.

The King then said to her, ‘Those chiefs created a dissension be-
tween me and him, and asserted that he poisoned my father.’ She
said, ‘I beg God’s forgiveness! They hate him.’ After this the
Queen remained chatting with him a short time, and he went to
his saloon, and passed the night, and rose.

“On the following day he held a court, and the hall was ﬁlled
with troops. And he winked to Abu-l—Kheyr, and said, ‘ Give me
to drink.’ N ow he had said to him the day before, ‘To-morrow,
when I hold my court, and say to thee, Give me to drink, bring
me a water-bottle full of wine.’ So when El-Melik ’Eesa sat upon
the throne, and the court, ﬁlled with troops, resembled a garden,
the troops resembling the branches of plants, he felt a longing to
drink wine, and said to Abu—l-Kheyr, ‘Give me to drink,’ and
winked to him; and he brought to him the water-bottle, and he
drank, and returned it. Then he sat a little longer, and said
again, ‘Give me to drink, 0 Abu-l-Kheyr,’ and the servant
brought the bottle, and he drank, and gave it back. He sat a
little longer, and again he said, ‘Give me to drink.’ Kala-con
said, ‘0 ’Alay-ed-Deen, it seems that the Sultan has breakfasted
upon kawar'e.’* Upon this the Wezeer Shaheen asked him, ‘ What
hast thou eaten?’ The King answered, ‘My stomach is heated
and ﬂatulent.’ The VVezeer, however, perceived the smell of wine,
and was vexed. The court then broke up, and the troops de-
scended. The VVezeer Shaheen also descended, and took with
him the Emeer Beybars to his house, and said to him, ‘May God
take retribution from thee, O Beybars.’ Beybars said, ‘Why?’
The VVezeer answered, ‘Because thou didst not accept the sover—
eignty.’ ‘ But for what reason sayest thou this 2 ’ asked Beybars.
The VVezeer said, ‘The Sultan to—day drank wine, while sitting
upon the throne, three times. When the Vicar of God, in ad—
ministering the law, intoxicates himself, his decisions are null, and
he has not any right to give them.’ Beybars replied, ‘I made a
condition with him, that if he drank wine I should inﬂict upon
him the hadd, and wrote a document to that eﬁ'ect in Esh-Sham.’
‘To-morrow,’ said the Wezeer, ‘when he holds his court, observe
him, and take the water-bottle and see what is in it. I perceived
his smell.’ Beybars answered, ‘It is right.’ And he arose, and

* A dish of lamb’s feet, cooked with garlic and vinegar, etc.

PUBLIC RECZTATIONS 0F ROMANCES. 419

went to his house sorrowful. And he passed the night, and rose,
and went to the court, and found it ﬁlled with troops; and he
kissed the hand of the Sultan, and sat in his place. Presently the
Sultan said, ‘Give me to drink, 0 Abu—l-Kheyr.’ And the servant
brought the water-bottle, and the Sultan drank. Beybars took
hold of the water-bottle, and said, ‘Give me to drink.’ The
servant answered, ‘This is medicinal water.’ ‘No harm,’ said
Beybars; ‘I have a desire for it.’ ‘It is rose-water,’ said the
servant. Beybars said, ‘Good.’ And he took the bottle, and
said, ‘Bring a basin.’ A basin was brought, and he poured into
it the contents of the bottle before the troops ; and they saw that
it was wine. Then said the Emeer Beybars to the Sultan, ‘ Is it
allowed thee by God to be his Vicar, and to intoxicate thyself?
Did I not make thee vow to relinquish the drinking of wine, and
say ,to thee, If thou drink it I will inﬂict upon thee the hadd ;
and did I not write a document to that effect in Esh~Sham ’2’ The
Sultan answered, ‘It is a habit decreed against me, O Be‘ybars.’
Beybars exclaimed, ‘ God is witness, 0 ye troops !’ And he took
the Sultan and beat him, and he was unconscious by reason of the
wine that he had drunk; and he loosed him, and departed from
him, and went to his house.”

The second volume proceeds to relate the troubles which befcll
Beybars in consequence of his incurring the displeasure of El-
Melik ’Eesa by the conduct just described, his restoration to the
favour of that prince, and his adventures during the reigns of the
subsequent Sultans, Khaleel El—Ashraf, Es-Saleh the youth, Eybck
(his great and inveterate enemy), and El—Mudaffar, and then his
own accession to the sovereignty. The succeeding volumescon-
tain narratives of his wars in Syria and other countries, detailing
various romantic achievements, and the exploits of the “cha-
weeyeh,” or “ Fedawees,” of his time. The term Fedawee, which
is now vulgarly understood to signify any warrior of extraordinary
courage and ability, literally and properly means a person who
gives, or is ready to give, his life as a ransom for his companions
or for their cause 3 and is here applied to a class of warriors who
owned no allegiance to any sovereign unless to a chief of their
own choice—the same class who are called, in our histories of the
Crusades, “Assassins,” which appellation the very learned Orieir

420 PUBLIC RECITATIONS 0F ROMANCES.

talist De Sacy has, I think, rightly pronounced to be a corruption
of “Hashshasheen,” a name derived from their making frequent
use of the intoxicating hemp called “ hasheesh.” The romance of
Ez-Zahir affords conﬁrmation of the etymology given by De Sacy,
but suggests a different explanation of it-—the Fedaweeyeh being
almost always described in this work as making use of “ beng” (a
term applied to hemp, and also to henbane, which in the present
day is often mixed with hasheesh) to make a formidable enemy or
rival their prisoner, by disguising themselves, inviting him to eat,
putting the drug into his food or drink, and thus causing him
speedily to fall into a deep sleep, so that they were able to bind
him at their leisure, and convey him whither they would. The
chief of these warriors is “ Sheehah,” called “ Sultan el-Kilaa wa-l—
Hosoon” (or “ Sultan of the Castles and Fortresses ”), who is de-
scribed as almost constantly engaged, and generally with success,
in endeavouring to reduce all the Fedawees to allegiance to himself
and to Beybars, From his adroitness in disguises and plots, his
Proteus-like character, his name has become a common appellation
of persons of a similar description. Another of the more remark-
able characters in this romance is “ Guwan ” (or John), a European
Christian, who, having deeply studied Muslim law, succeeds in
obtaining, and retains for a few years, the ofﬁce of Kadee of the
Egyptian metropolis, and 1s perpetually plotting against Beybars,
Sheehah, and other Muslim chiefs.

Much of the entertainment derived from recitations of this
work depends upon the talents of the Mohaddit, who often greatly
improves the stories by his action, and by witty introductions of
his own invention.

CHAPTER XXIII.
PUBLIC RECITATION’S OF ROMANCES—(CONTINUED).

THERE is in Cairo a third class of reciters of romances, who are
called “ ’Anatireh ” or “ ’Antereeyeh” (in the singular “ ’Anter’ee ”),
but they are much less numerous than either of the other two
classes before mentioned——their number at present, if I am rightly
informed, not amounting to more than six. They bear the above

PUBLIC RECITATIOZVS 0F ICOIl/ANCES. 421

appellation from the chief subject of their recitations, which is
the romance of “’Antar” (“Seeret ’Antar”). As a consider-
able portion of this interesting work has become known to
English readers by Mr. Terrick Hamilton’s translation, I need
give no account of it. The reciters of it read it from the book.
They chant the poetry, but the prose they read in the popu-
lar manner; and they have not the accompaniment of the rabab.
As the poetry in this work is very imperfectly understood by
the vulgar, those who listen to it are mostly persons of some
education.

The ’Anatireh also recite from other works than that from
which they derive their appellation. All of them, I am told,
occasionally relate stories from a romance called “Secret el-
Mugahideen” (“The History of the Warriors ”), or, more com—
monly, “Secret Delhem'eh,” or “Zu—l—Himmeh,” from a heroine
who is the chief character in the work. A few years since they
frequently recited from the romance of “Seyf Zu-l—Yezen” (vul-
garly called “Seyf ELYezen” and “Seyf El-Yezel”), 4a work
abounding with tales of wonder; and from “The Thousand and
One Nights ” (“Elf Leyleh wa-Leyleh”), more commonly known
in our country by the title of “The Arabian Nights’ Entertain-
ments.” The great scarcity of copies of these two works is, I
believe, the reason why recitations of them are no longer heard '
Even fragments of them are with difﬁculty procured ,' and when a
complete copy of “The Thousand and One Nights” is found, the
price demanded for it is too great for a reciter to have it in his
power to pay. I doubt whether the romances of Aboo-Zeyd, Ez—
Zahir, ’Antar, and Delhem'eh are chosen as the subjects of recita-
tion because preferred to “The Thousand and One Nights,” but
it is certain that the modern Muslims of Egypt have sufﬁcient
remains of Bedawee feeling to take great delight in hearing tales
of war.

That my reader may have some notion of all the works from
which the professional reciters of romances in Cairo draw mate-
rials for the amusement of their audiences in the present day, I
shall give a sketch of some of the adventures related in the
romance of Delhem’eh. This work is even more scarce than any
of those before mentioned. The copies, I am told, were always

422 PUBLIC RECZTATIONS 0F ROMANCES.

in ﬁfty—ﬁve volumes. After long search, all that I have succeeded

,in procuring of it is a portion consisting of the ﬁrst three volumes
(containing, together, 302 pages), and another portion, consisting
of the forty-sixth and forty-seventh volumes. The former would
present a good specimen of the work were not the greater part
written in a hand scarcely legible; in consequence of which, and
of the many other subjects that now demand my attention, I have
only been able to read the first volume. The chief subjects of
this work, according to the preface, are the warlike exploits of
Arabs of the desert in the times of the Khaleefehs of the houses
of Umeiych and El-’Abbas. It is composed from the narratives
of various writers. Nine names of the authors are mentioned,
but none of them are at present known. Their history and their
age are alike uncertain, but the style of their narratives shows
‘them to be not modern. The account which” the ’Anatireh and
Mohadditeen generally give of this romance is as follows :—When
El-Asma”ee (or, as he is vulgarly called, E1—Asmo”ee) composed,
or compiled, the history of ’Antar, that work (they say) became
extremely popular, and created so great an enthusiasm on the
subjects of the adventures of Arab warriors, that a diligent search
was made for all tales of the same kind; and from these was
compiled the Seeret el—Mugahideen, or Delhem’eh, by some author
now unknown, who, as he could not equal the author of ’Antar in
eloquence, determined to surpass him in the length of his narra-
tives ; and ’Antar being generally in fortyxﬁve volumes, he made
his book ﬁfty—ﬁve. The romance of Delhem’eh abounds in poetry
which is not without beauties nor without faults 3 but these are,
perhaps, mostly attributable to copyists.—Of a part of what I
have read, which introduces us to one of the principal characters
in the work, I shall now give an abridged translation.

At the commencement of the work we are told that in the
times of the Khaleefehs of the house of Umeiych none of the Arab
tribes surpassed in power, courage, hospitality, and other Virtues
for which the Arabs of the desert are so famous, the Benee—Kilab,
whose territory was in the Hegaz. But the Viceroy of the Khalee—
feh over the collective tribes of the desert was the chief of the
Benee—Suleyrn, who prided themselves on this distinction and on
their wealth. El-Haris, the chief of the Benee-Kilab, a horseman

PUBLIC RECITA TIOZVS 0F ROMA NCZ‘S. 423

unrivalled in his day, in one of the predatory excursions which he
was wont frequently to make against other tribes, took captive a
beautiful girl, named Er-Rabab (or the Viol), whom he married.
She became pregnant, and during her pregnancy dreamed that
a ﬁre issued from her and burnt all her clothing. Being much
troubled by this dream, she related it to her husband, and he,
alike surprised and distressed, immediately searched for, and soon
found, a person to interpret it. An old sheykh informed him that
his wife would hear a son of great renown, who would have a son
more renowned than himself, and that the mother of the former
would be in danger of losing her life at the time of his birth.
This prophecy he repeated to the wife of El-Haris, and at her
request he wrote an amulet to be tied upon the infant’s right arm
as soon as he should be born, upon which amulet he recorded the
family and pedigree of the child :——“This child is the son of El:
Haris the son of Khalid the son of ’A'mir the son of Saasa”ah the
son of Kilab; and this is his pedigree among all the Arabs of the
Hegaz ; and he is verily of the Benee-Kilab.” Soon after this El-
Haris fell sick, and after a short illness died. Most of the Arabs
of neighbouring tribes, who had been subjected and kept in awe
by him, rejoiced at his death, and determined to obtain retribution
by plundering his property. This coming to the ears of his widow,
Er—Rabab, she determined to return to her family, and persuaded
a black slave who had belonged to her late husband to accompany
her. By night, and without having mentioned their intention to
any one else, they departed; and at midnight they approached a
settlement of Arabs whose chief was the Emeer Darin]. Here
the slave, tempted by the Devil, led her from the road, and im-
pudently told her that her beauty had excited in his breast a
passion which she must consent to gratify. She indignantly re-
fused; but the fright that she received from his base conduct
occasioned a premature labour, and in this miserable state she gave
birth to a son. She washed the infant with the water of a brook
that ran by the spot, wrapped it in a piece of linen which she tore
off from her dress, tied the amulet to its arm, and placed it to her
breast. Searcely had she done this when the slave, infuriated by
disappointment, drew his sword and struck off her head. Having
thus revenged himself, he ﬂed.

424 PUBLIC RECITATZONS 0F ROMANCES.

Now it happened, as Providence had decreed, that the wife of
the Emeer Darim had just been delivered of a son, which had
died ; and the Emeer, to dissipate his grief on this account, went
out to hunt with several of his people on the morning after Er-
Rabab had been murdered. He came to the spot where, her
corpse lay, and saw it. The infant was still sucking the breast of
its dead mother, and God had sent a ﬂight of locusts, of the kind
called “ gundub,” to shade it from the sun with their wings. Full
of astonishment at the sight, he said to his Wezeer, “See this
murdered damsel, and this infant on her, lap, and those ﬂying
insects shading it, and the dead mother still affording it milk!
Now, by the faith of the Arabs, if thou do not ascertain the his-
tory of this damsel and the cause of her murder, I behead thee'
like her.” The Wezeer answered, “0 King, none knoweth what
is secret but God, whose name be exalted! was I with her? or
do I know her? But promise me protection, and I will inform
thee what I suppose to have been the case.” The King said, “I
give thee protection.” Then said the Wezeer, “Know, 0 King,
—but God is most knowing—that this is the daughter of some
King; and she has grown up, and a servant has had intercourse
with her, and by him she has conceived this child; and her
family have become acquainted with .the fact, and killed her.
This is my opinion, and there is an end of it.” The King ex—
claimed, “Thou dog of the Arabs! what is this that thou sayest
to the prejudice of this damsel? By Allah! if I had not prom-
ised thee protection, I had slain thee with the edge of the sword !
If she had committed this crime, she would not be affording the
child her milk after she was dead, nor would God have sent these
ﬂying insects to shade the infant.” He then sent for a woman to
wash the corpse ; and after it had been washed and'bound in
grave-clothes, he buried it respectably.

From the circumstance of the gundub shading him with
their wings, the foundling received the name of “El-Gundub’ah.”
The Emeer Darim conveyed it to his wife, and persuaded her
to bring it up as her own ; which she did until the child had
attained the age of seven years, when he was sent to school,
and there he remained until he had learned the Kur-an. By
the time he had attained to manhood, he had become a horse-

I

PUBLIC RECITA TIONS 01'" ROMAJVCES. 425

man unrivalled ; he was like a bitter colocynth, a viper, and a
calamity. 7

Now his adoptive father, the Emeer Darim, went forth one
day, according to his custom, on a predatory expedition, accom-
panied by a hundred horsemen. Falling in with no booty, he pro-
ceeded as far as the territory of a woman called Esh-Shamta (or the
Grizzle), whom the heroes of her time held in fear, on account of
her prowess and strength, and who was possessed of great wealth.
He determined to attack her. She mounted her horse in haste,
on hearing of his approach, and went forth to meet him and his
party. For a whole hour she contended with them, killed the
greater number, and put the rest to ﬂight, except the Emeer
Darim, whom she took prisoner, and led in bonds, disgraced and
despised, to her fortress. Those of his attendants who had ﬂed
returned to their tribes, and plunged them in affliction by the
story they related. The Emeer Darim had ten sons. These all
set out together, with a number of attendants, to rescue their
father; but they all became the prisoners of Esh~Shamta, and
most of their attendants were killed by her. El-Gundub’ah now
resolved to try his arms against this heroine. He went alone,
unknown to any of the tribe, except his foster—mother, and arrived
at the place of his destination. Esh-Shamta was on the top of her
fortress. She saw him approach—a solitary horseman—“and per-
ceived that his riding was that of a hero. In haste she descended,
and mounted her horse, and went out to meet him. She shouted
against him, and the desert resounded with her shout ; but El-
Gundub’ah was unmoved by it. They deﬁed each other, and
met; and for a whole hour the contest lasted. At length El-
Gundub’ah’s lance pierced the bosom of Esh-Shamta—its glittering
point protruded through her back ; and she fell from her horse,
slain, and weltering in her blood. Her slaves, who were forty in
number, seeing their mistress dead, made a united attack upon
her victor; but he unhorsed them all. And then, reproaching
them for having served a woman when they were all men of
prowess, admonished them to submit to him ; upon which they all
acknowledged him as their master. He divided among them the
treasures of Esh-Shamta; and released hisladoptive father and
brothers, with whom he returned to the tribe. '

.1426 PUBLIC RECITATIOZVS 0F ROMAZVCES.

This exploit spread the fame of El-Gundub’ah among all the
tribes of the desert ,' but it excited envy in the breast of the Emeer
Darim, who soon after desired him to seek for himself some other
place of abode. El-Gundub'ah remonstrated, but to no effect,
and prepared for his departure. When he was about to go, the
Emeer Darim desired to be allowed to open the amulet that was
upon El—Gundub’ah’s arm, and to read What was written upon the
paper. Having obtained permission, and done this, he uttered a
loud shout; and several of his people coming in to inquire the
cause of this cry, he said to them : “ This youth is the son of your
enemy El-Haris, the Kilabee ,- take him, and slay him.” But El-
Gundub/ah insisted that they should contend with him one by one.
The Emeer Darim was the ﬁrst to challenge him, and addressed
him in these verses :—

t‘ This day I forewarn thee of death and disgrace,

From my weapon, thou offspring of parents base!
Didst thou think, thou vile foundling, to raise thyself,
O’er the heads of our tribe, to the foremost place?

Thy hope is now baﬂled, thy wish is deceived,
For to-day we have known thee of hostile race.
Thy bloodthirsty father oppressed our tribe—
Both our men and our wealth were his frequent preys ;
But to-day shall be taken a full revenge——
All our heroes shall see me their wrongs efface.
Be assured that thy death is now near at hand,
That my terrible lance shall pierce thee apace ;
For ’twas I introduced thee among our tribe,
And the foe that I brought I will now displace.”

El-Gundub’ah replied: “O my uncle, thou hast treated me
with kindness; do not repent of it, but let me depart from you
in peace. Cancel not the good that thou hast done.” But Darim
answered: “ Use no protraction, for thy death is determined on.”
Then El—Gundub'ah thus addressed him,——

“ Be admonished, 0 Darim ! thy steps retrace,
And haste not thus rashly thy fate to embrace.
Hast thou ever seen aught of evil in me?
I have always named thee with honour and praise.
By my hand and lance was Esh-Shamta destroyed,
When thou wast her captive, in bonds and disgrace :
I freed thee from bondage ; and is it for this
We are now met as enemies, face to face?
‘God be judge between us ; for he will be just,
And will show who is noble and who is base."

PUBLIC RECITATIONS 0F ROMANCES. 427

As soon as he had said these words, the Emeer Darin) charged
upon him. They fought for a whole hour, and at last El-Gun-
dub’ah pierced the breast of Darim with his spear, and the point
protruded, glittering, from the spine of his back. When Darim’s
sons saw that their father was slain, they all attacked El-Gun-
dub’ah, who received them as the thirsty land receives a drizzling
rain. Two of them he killed ; the rest ﬂed, and acquainted their
mother with the events they had just witnessed. With her head
uncovered and her bosom bare, she came weeping to El-Gundub'ah,
and thus exclaimed,—

“ O Gundub’ah, thy lance hath wrought havoc sore :
Man and youth have perished, and lie in their gore;
And among them the eldest of all my sons.
They are justly punished ; but now I implore
That thou pardon the rest : in pity for me
Restrain thy resentment, and slaughter no more.
By my care of thy childhood, and by these breasts,
Which have nourished thee, noble youth, heretofore,
Have mercy upon us, and leave us in peace ;
In spite of thy wrongs, this contention give o’er.
I love thee as though thou wert truly my son,
And thy loss I shall sorrow for evermore.”

El-Gundub’ah listened to her address ; and when she had
finished, he thus replied,——

“ 0 mother ! by Him whom we all adore,
And the just lVIustaf’a Ta-Ha,* I deplore
The actions which I have been made to commit——
Deeds against my will, and not thought of before,
But God, to whose aid I ascribe my success,
Had of old decreed these events to occur.
For thy sake their pardon I grant, and I would
If their lances had made my life-blood to pour.
T0 withdraw myself hence, and sever the ties
Of affection and love, is a trial sore.
While I live I shall constantly wish thee peace,
And joy uninterrupted for evermore. ”

Having said thus, El-Gundub’ah took leave‘of his foster—mother,
and departed alone, and went to the fortress of Esh—Shamta. The
slaves saw him approach, and met him ; and in reply to their
inquiries, he informed them of all that had just befallen him. He
then asked if any of them were willing to go with him in search

* A name of the Arabian Prophet.

428 PUBLIC [BECJTAJYONS 0F li’Oz’l/ANCES.

of a better territory, where they might intercept the caravans and
subsist by plunder; and, they all declaring their readiness to
accompany him, he chose from among them as many as he de-
sired, and left the rest in the fortress. He travelled with his slaves
until they came to a desolate and dreary tract, without verdure or
water; and the slaves, fearing that they should die of thirst, con-
spired against his life. But El-Gundub’ah, perceiving their discon-
tent and guessing their intention, pressed on to a tract abounding
with water and pasture, and here they halted to rest. EI-Gun-
club’ah watched until all of them had fallen asleep ; and then
despatched them, every one, with his sword. Having done this,
he pursued his journey during the night; and in the morning he
arrived at a valley with verdant sides and abundance of pasture,
with lofty trees, and rapid streams, and birds whose notes pro-
claimed the praises of the Lord of Power and Eternity. In the
midst of this valley he saw a Bedawee tent, and a lance stuck by
it in the ground, and a horse picketed. The Emeer Gundub’ah
ﬁxed his eyes upon this tent, and as he looked at it there came
forth from it a person- of elegant appearance, completely armed,
who bounded upon the horse, and galloped towards him, without
uttering a. word, to engage him in combat. “My brother!” ex-
claimed El—Gundub’ah, “begin with salutation before the stroke
of the sword ; for that is a principle in the nature of the noble.”
But no answer was returned. They fought until their spears were
broken and till their swords were jagged. At length El-Gundub'ah
seized hold of the vest beneath his antagonist’s coat of mail, and
heaved its wearer from the saddle to the ground. He uplifted
his sword; but a voice, so sweet it would have cured the sick,
exclaimed, “Have mercy on thy captive, O hero of the age!”
“Art thou a man,” said El—Gundub’ah, “or a woman?” “I am
a virgin damsel,” she replied; and, drawing away her “litam,”
displayed a face like the moon at the full. When El-Gundub'ah
beheld the beauty of her face and the elegance of her form, he
was bewildered and overpowered with love. He exclaimed, “O
mistress of beauties, and star of the morn, and life of souls!
acquaint me with thy secret, and inform me of the truth of thy
history.” She replied, “O hero of our time! 0 hero of the age
and period! shall I relate to thee my story in narrative prose or

PUBLIC RECZTATZONS 0F ROMANCES. 429

in measured verse?” He said, “0 beauty of thine age and peerless
one of thy time! I 'will hear nothing from thee but measured
verse.” She then thus related to him all that had happened to

her,—
“ O thou noble hero and generous knight l

Thou leader of warriors, and foremost in ﬁght !
Hear, now, and attend to the story I tell.

I’m the virgin daughter, thou hero of might,
Of El-Melik Kaboos, and a maid whose fame

Has been raised, by her arms, to an envied height ;
Acknowledged a heroine, bold and expert,

Skilled alike with the lance and the sword to smite.
Many suitors sought me in marriage, but none

Could ever induce me his love to requite ;
And I swore by my Lord, the Compassionate,

And the noble Mustaf’a, that moonlike light,
That to no man on earth I would e’er consent

In the bonds of marriage myself to unite,
Unless to a hero for prowess renowned,

To one who should prove himself hardy in ﬁght ;
\Vho in combat should meet me, and overcome,

And never betray the least weakness or fright.
My suitors assembled : I fought each in turn,

And I vanquished them all in our people’s sight ;
Not a horseman among them attained his wish,

For I parried the thrusts of each daring knight.
I was justly ‘ The Slayer of Heroes ’ named,

For no match could be found for my weapon bright.
But I feared my father might force me at last

To accept as my husband some parasite ;
And therefore I ﬂed, and in this lonely place,

With my troop of horsemen, I chose to alight.
Here we watch for the passing caravans,

And with plunder we quiet our appetite.
Thou hast made me thy captive, and pardoned me.

Grant me one favour more, my wish do not slight :
Receive me in marriage ; embrace me at once,

For I willingly now acknowledge thy right.”

“Kattalet-esh-Shug’an,” or the Slayer of Heroes (for so was
this damsel named, as above related by herself), then said to El-
Gundub’ah, “Come with me and my party to my abode.” He
went with her; and her people received them with joy, and
feasted the Emeer Gundub’ah three days. On the fourth day
Kattalet—esh—Shug’an assembled the people of her tribe, with El-
Gundub’ah, at her own dwelling, and regaled them with a repast,
to which high and low were admitted. After they had eaten

43o PUBLIC RECZTATIONS 0F ROM/UVCES.

they began to converse, and asked El-Gundub’ah to acquaint them
with his history. He accordingly related to them what had
befallen him with the Emeer Darim ; how he had liberated him
and his sons from captivity, and how ungratefully he had been
treated. There were ten persons sitting with him, and nine of
these recounted their deeds in arms. The tenth, who Was a slave,
was then desired to tell his story 5 and he related his having served
the Emeer Haris, and murdered his widow. El-Gundub'ah heard
with impatience this tale of his mother’s murderer; and, as soon
as it was ﬁnished, drew his sword, and struck off the slave’s head,
exclaiming, “I have taken my blood-revenge upon this traitor
slave!” The persons present all drew their swords, and raised a
tremendous shout. Kattalet-esh—Shug’an was not then with them,
but she heard the shout, and instantly came to inquire the cause ;
which they related to her, demanding, at the same time, that E1-
Gundub’ah should be given up to them to be put to death. She
drew them aside, and told them that he had eaten of her food,
and that she would not give him up, even if he had robbed her of
her honour; but that she would advise him to take his departure
0n the morrow, and that, when he should have left her abode,
they might do as they pleased. She then went to him and told
him of his danger. He asked what he should do. She answered,
“Let us marry forthwith, and depart from these people,”
this he gladly consented to do.

They married each other immediately, taking God alone for
their witness},- and departed at night, and proceeded on their way
until the morning, giving thanks to their Lord. For four days
they continued their journey ; and on the ﬁfth day arrived at a
valley abounding with trees, and fruits, and birds, and running
streams. They entered it at midnight. Seeing something white
among the trees, they approached it, and found it to be a horse,
white as camphor. They waited till morning, and then beheld a
settlement of Arabs. There were horses, and she and he camels,

and

and tents pitched, and lances stuck in the ground, and pavilions
erected; and among them was a great company, and there were
maids beating tambourines: they were surrounded with abun-
dance. Through this valley El-Gundub'ah and his bride took
their way. His love for her increased; they conversed together,

n «As-a

PUBLIC RECITA TIONS 0F ROMANCES. 43;

and her conversation delighted him. She now, for the ﬁrst time,
ventured to ask him why he had killed the slave, when he was
her guest ; and he related to her the history of this wretch’s crime.
After this, they talked of the beauties of the valley which they
had entered ; and while they were thus amusing themselves, a.
great dust appeared, and beneath it were seen troops of horsemen
galloping along. El-Gundub’ah immediately concluded that they
were of his wife’s tribe, and were come in pursuit of him. But he
was mistaken ,' for they divided into four parties, and all attacking,
in different quarters at the same time, the tribe settled in the
valley, soon made the latter raise piteous cries and lamentations,
and rend the air with the shouts of “ O ’A’mir I O Kilab ! ” When
El-Gundub’ah heard the cries of “O ’A’mir! O Kilab!” he ex-
claimed to his wife, “ These people are the sons of my uncle my
ﬂesh and my blood ! ” and instantly determined to hasten to their

 

assistance. His bride resolved to accompany him ,' and they both
together rushed upon the enemy, slaying every horseman in their
way, and piercing the breasts of those on foot, with such fury and
such success that the defeated tribe rallied again, repulsed their
assailants, and recovered all the booty that had been taken 3 after
which they returned to El—Gundub'ah, and asked him who he was.
He answered, “This is not a time to ask questions, but a time
to rest from ﬁght and slaughter.” So they took him with them,
and retired to rest 3 and after they had rested and eaten, he
related to them his history. Delighted with his words, they all
exclaimed, “The truth hath appeared, and doubt is dissipated;
justice is rendered to the deserving, and the sword is returned to
its scabbard.” They immediately acknowledged him their right-
ful chief; but after the death of El-Haris, they had chosen for
their chief an Emeer named Gabir, who hated El-Haris, and
termed him a robber ; and this Emeer now disputed their choice,
and challenged El-Gundub’ah to decide the matter by combat.
The challenge was accepted, and the two rivals met and fought;
but though Gabir was a thorough warrior, El-Gundub’ah slew
him. This achievement obtained him the possession of Gabir’s
mare, an animal coveted throughout the desert ; the rest of the
property of the vanquished chief he left to be parted among the
tribe. There were, however, many partisans of Gabir, and these,

432 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

when they saw him slain, gathered themselves together against
El-Gundub’ah; but he, with the assistance of his own party,
defeated them, and put them to ﬂight. Returning from their
pursuit, he sat among his people and kinsfolk ; and the sheykhs
of his tribe brought him horses and arms and everything neces-
sary. He received gifts from every quarter; his wife, also, was
presented with ornaments; and from that day the Emeer Gun-
dub'ah was acknowledged by all his tribe as the chief of the
Benee-Kilab.

CHAPTER XXIV.
PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

MANY of the most remarkable customs of the modern Egyptians
are witnessed at their periodical public festivals celebrated in
Cairo, the more important of which I shall here describe. Most
of these festivals and other anniversaries take place at particular
periods of the lunar, Mohammadan year.

The ﬁrst ten days of “Moharram” (the ﬁrst month of the
Mohamniadan year) are considered as eminently blessed, and
are celebrated with rejoicing; but the tenth day is especially
honoured. They are vulgarly called the “’ashr”—the derivation
of which term will be explained hereafter. The custom of selling,
during this period of ten days, what is called “mey’ah mubara—
kah,” to be used, during the ensuing year, as a charm against the
evil eye, whenever occasion may require, I have already men—
tioned in the second of the two chapters devoted to the supersti-
tions of the modern Egyptians. I have also mentioned that it is
considered by the Egyptians unlucky to make a marriage—contract
in Moharram.

It is a common custom of the Muslims of Egypt to give what
they can afford in alms during the month of Moharram, especially
in the ﬁrst ten days, and more especially on the tenth day ,‘29 and
many pretend, though few of them really do so, to give at this
season the “zekah,” or alms required by their law, of which I
have spoken in a former chapter: they give what, and to whom,
they will. During the ten days above mentioned, and particularly

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 433

on the tenth, many of the women of Cairo, and even those in re-
spectable circumstances, if they have a young child, carry it through
the streets, generally on the shoulder, or employ another female to
carry it, for the purpose of soliciting alms from any well-dressed
person whom they may chance to meet; sometimes the mother
or bearer of the child, and sometimes the child itself, asks for the
alms, saying, “My master, the alms of the ’ashr.” The word
“’ashr” is vulgarly understood as meaning the “ten days,” but
I think it signiﬁes the “ten nights,” though I am informed that
it is a corruption of “ ’oshr,” a term improperly used for “ ruba el-
’oshr 7’ (the quarter of the tenth, or the fortieth part), which is the
proportion that the Muslim is required by law to give in alms of
the money which he possesses, and of some other articles of pro-
perty. The sum generally given to a child in the case above de-
scribed is a piece of ﬁve faddahs; and this, and as many others
as can be procured in the same manner, are sometimes spent in
sweetmeats, etc. , but more usually sewed to the child’s cap, and
worn thus until the next Moharram, when, if the child be not too
old, the same custom is repeated for its sake—the pieces of money
thus obtained being considered as charms.

The women of Egypt, and particularly of Cairo, entertain some
curious superstitions respecting the ﬁrst ten days of Moharram.
They believe that “ginn” (or genii) visit some people by night
during this period, and say that on this occasion a ginnee ap-
pears, sometimes in the form of a sakka (or water—carrier), and
sometimes in that of a mule. In the former case, the mysterious
visitor is called “ sakka el-’ashr” (or the water-carrier of the
’ashr); in the latter, “baghlet el-’ashr” (the mule of the ’ashr).
When the ginnee, they say, comes in the form of a sakka, he
knocks at the chamber-door of a person sleeping ; who asks, “Who
is there?” The ginnee answers, “ I, the sakka; where shall I
empty [the skin] Cl ” The person within, as sakkas do not come at
night, knows who his Visitor is, and says, “ Empty into the water—
jar ;” and going out afterwards, ﬁnds the jar full of gold—The

‘ ginnee in the form of a mule is described in a more remarkable
i manner. He bears a pair of saddle-bags ﬁlled with gold, a dead
I man’s head is placed upon his back, and round his neck is hung a
istring of little round bells, which he shakes at the door of the
I (440) 28

434 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

chamber of the person whom he comes to enrich. This person
comes out, takes off the dead man’s head, empties the saddle-bags
of their valuable contents, then ﬁlls them with straw or bran or
anything else, replaces them, and says to the mule, “ Go, 0
blessed!” Such are the modes in which the good genii pay
their zekah. During the ﬁrst ten days of Moharram many an
ignorant woman ejaculates this petition: “ O my Lord, send me
the water-carrier of the ’ashr!” or, “Send me the mule of the
’ashr l ” The men in general laugh at these superstitions.

Some of the people of Cairo say that a party of genii, in the
forms and garbs of ordinary mortals, used to hold a midnight
“sock” (or market), during the ﬁrst ten days of Moharram, in
a street called Es-Saleebeh, in the southern part of the metropolis,
before an ancient sarcophagus which was called “ el-Hod el-Mar—
sood” (or the Enchanted Trough). This sarcophagus was in a
recess under a ﬂight of steps leading up to the door of a mosque
adjacent to the old palace called Kal’at el-Kebsh ; it was removed
by the French during their occupation of Egypt, and is now in the
British Museum. Since its removal the sock of the genii, it is
said, has been discontinued. Very few persons, I am told, were
aware of this custom of the genii. Whoever happened to pass
through the street where they were assembled and bought any-
thing of them, whether dates or other fruit, cakes, bread, etc.,
immediately after found his purchase converted into gold.

The tenth day of Moharram is called “ Yom ’A’shoora.” It is
held sacred on many accounts: because it is believed to be the day
on which the first meeting of Adam and Eve took place after they
were cast out of paradise, and that on which Noah went out from
the ark; also because several other great events are said to have
happened on this day, and because the ancient Arabs, before the
time of the Prophet, observed it by fasting. But what, in the
opinion of most modern Muslims, and especially the Persians,
confers the greatest sanctity on the day of ’A’shoora, is the
fact of its being that on which El-Hoseyn, the Prophet’s grand-
son, was slain, a martyr, at the battle of the plain of Karbal’a.
Many Muslims fast on this day, and, some also on the day pre-
ceding.

As I am new writing on the day of ’A’shoora, I shall mention

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 435

the customs peculiar to it which I have witnessed on the present
occasion. I had to provide myself with a number of ﬁve-faddah
pieces before I went out this day, for the alms of the ’ashr already
mentioned. In the streets of the town I saw many young chil-
dren, from about three to six or seven years of age, chieﬂy girls,
walking about alone, or two or three together, or carried by
women, and begging these alms. In the course of the morning a
small group of blind fakeers, one of whom bore a half-furled red
ﬂag, with the names of E1 Hoseyn and other worthies worked
upon it in white, stopped in the street before my door and chanted
a petition for an alms, One of them began, “O thou who hast
alms to bestow on the blessed day of ’A’shoora ! ” the others then
continued in chorus, “ A couple of grains of wheat! A couple of
grains of rice! 0 Hasan! O Hoseyn ! ” The same words were
repeated by them several times. As soon as they had received a
small piece of money they passed on, and then performed the same
chant before other houses, but only where appearances led them to
expect a reward. Numerous groups of fakeers go about the town
i in different quarters during this day soliciting alms in the same
manner.

On my paying a visit to a friend a little before noon, a dish,
which it is the custom of the people of Cairo to prepare on the
day of ’A'shoora, was set before me. It is called “ hoboob,” and
is prepared with Wheat steeped in water for two or three days,
then freed from the husks, boiled, and sweetened over the ﬁre
with honey or treacle; or it is composed of rice instead of wheat :
generally nuts, almonds, raisins, etc, are added to it. In most
houses this dish is prepared, or’sweetmeats of various kinds are
procured or made, in accordance with one of the traditions of the
Prophet, which is, “ Whoso giveth plenty to his household on the
day of ’A’shoora, God will bestow plenty upon him throughout the
remainder of the year.”

After the call to noon—prayers, I went to the Mosque of the
Hasaneyn, which, being the reputed burial-place of the head of
the martyr El-Hoseyn, is the scene of the most remarkable of the
ceremonies that in Cairo distinguish the day of ’A’shoora. The
avenues to this mosque, near the Kadee’s court, were thronged
with passengers, and in them I saw several groups of dancing—girls

436 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

(Ghazeeyehs), some dancing and others sitting in a ring in the
public thoroughfare, eating their dinner, and (with the exclama-
tion of “ Bi-smi-llah l”) inviting each well-dressed man who passed
by to eat with them. One of them struggled hard with me to
prevent my passing without giving them a present. The sight of
these unveiled girls, some of them very handsome, and with their
dress alluringly disposed to display to advantage their ﬁne forms,
was but ill calculated to prepare men who passed by them for
witnessing religious ceremonies ; but so it is that on the occasions
of all the great religious festivals in Cairo, and at many other
towns in Egypt, these female warrers against modesty (not always
seductive, I must confess) are sure to be seen. On my way to
the mosque, I had occasion to rid myself of some of the small coins
which I had provided to give them to children. My next occasion
for disbursing was on arriving before the mosque, when several
water—carriers, of the class who supply passengers in the streets,
surrounded me; I gave two of them twenty faddahs, for which
each of them was to distribute the contents of the earthen vessel
which he bore on his back to poor passengers, for the sake of “ our
lord El—Hoseyn.”

On entering the mosque, I was much surprised at the scene
which presented itself in the great hall or portico. This, which is
the principal part of the mosque, was crowded with Visitors, mostly
women of the middle and lower orders, with many children 3 and
there was a confusion of noises like what may be heard in a large
schoolroom where several hundred boys are engaged in play : there
were children bawling and crying, men and women calling to each
other, and amid all this bustle mothers and children were impor-
tuning every man of respectable appearance for the alms of the
’ashr. Seldom have I witnessed a scene more unlike that which
the interior of a mosque generally presents ; and in this instance
I was' the more surprised, as the Game" el—Hasaneyn is the most
sacred of all the mosques in Cairo. The mats which are usually
spread upon the pavement had been removed , some pieces of old
matting were put in their stead, leaving many parts of the ﬂoor
uncovered , and these and every part were covered with dust and
dirt brought in by the feet of many shoeless persons : for on this
occasion, as it is impossible to perform the ordinary prayers in the

/

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 437

mosque, people enter without having performed the usual ablu—
tion, and without repairing ﬁrst to the tank to do this; though
every person takes off his or her shoes, as at other times, on enter—
ing the mosque, many leaving them, as I did mine, with a door—
keeper. Several parts of the ﬂoor were wetted (by children too
young to be conscious of the sanctity of the place), and though I
avoided these parts, I had not been many minutes in the mosque
before my feet were almost black with the dirt upon which I had
trodden, and with that from other persons’ feet which had trodden
upon mine. The heat, too, was very oppressive, like that of a
vapour-bath, but more heavy, though there is a very large square
aperture in the roof, with a malkaf of equal width over it, to intro-
duce the northern breezes. The pulpit-stairs and the gallery of
the muballigheen were crowded with women, and in the assem-
blage below the women were far more numerous than the men.
Why this should be the case I know not, unless it be because the
women are more superstitious, and have a greater respect for the
day of ’A'shoora and a greater desire to honour El-I—Ioseyn by
visiting his shrine on this day.
It is commonly said by the people of Cairo that no man goes
to the mosque of the Hasaneyn on the day of ’A’shoora but for the .
sake of the women—that is, to be jostled among them 3 and this
jostling he may indeed enjoy to the utmost of his desire, as I ex-
perienced in pressing forward to witness the principal ceremonies
which contribute with the sanctity of the day to attract such
swarms of people. By the back wall, to the right of the pulpit,
were seated in two rows, face to face, about fifty darweeshes of
various orders. They had not yet begun their performances, or
“ zikr's,” in concert; but one old darweesh, standing between the
two rows, was performing a zikr alone, repeating the name of
God (Allah), and bowing his head each time that he uttered the
word, alternately to the right and left. In pushing forward to see
them, I found myself in a situation rather odd in a country where
it is deemed improper for a man even to touch a woman who is
not his wife, or slave, or a near relation. I was so compressed in
the midst of four women, that for some minutes I could not move
in any direction; and pressed so hard against one young woman,
1 face to face, that but for her veil our cheeks had been almost in

438 PERIODICAL PUBLIC ﬁESTIVAILS, ETC.

contact: from her panting, it seemed that the situation was not
quite easy to her, though a smile, expressed at the same time by
her large black eyes, showed that it was amusing. She could not,
however, bear it long, for she soon cried out, “My eye! do not
squeeze me so violently.” Another woman called out to me, “ O
Efendee! by thy head, push on to the front and make way for
me to follow thee.” With considerable difﬁculty I attained the
desired place, but in getting thither I had almost lost my sword
and the hanging sleeves of my jacket; some person’s dress had
caught the guard of the sword, and had nearly drawn the blade
from the scabbard before I could get hold of the hilt. Like all \
around me, I was in a profuse perspiration.

The darweeshes I found to be of different nations as well as of
different orders. Some of them wore the ordinary turban and
dress of Egypt; others wore the Turkish ka-ook, or padded cap ;
and others, again, wore high caps, or tartoors, mostly of the sugar-
loaf shape. One of them had a white cap of the form last men-
tioned, upon which were worked, in black letters, invocations to
the ﬁrst four Khaleefehs, to El-Hasan and El—Hoseyn, and to
other eminent saints, founders of different orders of darweeshes.
Most of the darweeshes were Egyptians, but there were among
them many Turks and Persians. I had not waited many minutes
before they began their exercises. Several of them ﬁrst drove
back the surrounding crowd with sticks; but as no stick was
raised at me, I did not retire as far as I ought to have done, and
before I was aware of what the darweeshes were about to do, forty
of them, with extended arms and joined hands, had formed a large
ring in which I found myself enclosed. For a moment I felt half
inclined to remain where I was, and join in the zikr, bow, and
repeat the name of God , but another moment’s reﬂection on the
absurdity of the performance, and the risk of my being discovered
to be no darweesh, decided me otherwise ; so, parting the hands of
two of the darweeshes, I passed outside the ring. The darweeshes
who formed the large ring (which enclosed four of the marble
columns of the portico) now commenced their zikr, exclaiming over
and over again, “ Allah!” and at each exclamation bowing the
head and body, and taking a step to the right, so that the whole
ring moved rapidly round. As soon as they commenced this exer-

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 439

cise, another darweesh, a Turk, of the order of Mowlawees, in the
' middle of the circle, began to whirl, using both his feet to effect
the motion, and extending his arms 3 the motion increased in
velocity until his dress spread out like an umbrella. He con-
tinued whirling thus for about ten minutes, after which he bowed
to his superior, who stood within the great ring, and then, without
showing any signs of fatigue or giddiness, joined the darweeshes
in the great ring, who had now begun to ejaculate the name of
God with greater vehemence, and to jump to the right instead of
stepping. After the whirling, six other darweeshes, within the great
ring, formed another ring, but a very small one, each placing his
arms upon the shoulders of those next him, and thus disposed,
they performed a revolution similar to that of the larger ring,
excepting in being much more rapid, repeating also the same
exclamation of “ Allah!” but with a rapidity proportionably
greater. This motion they maintained for about the same length
of time that the whirling of the single darweesh before had occu—
pied, after which the whole party sat down to rest. They rose
again, after the lapse of about a quarter of an hour, and performed
the same exercise a second time. I saw nothing more in the great
portico that was worthy of remark, excepting two fakeers (who,
a bystander told me, were “inegazeeb,” 0r idiots) dancing, and
repeating the name of God, and each beating a tambourine.

I was desirous of visiting the shrine of El—Hoseyn on this
anniversary of his death, and of seeing if any particular ceremonies
were performed there on this occasion. With difficulty I pushed
through the crowd in the great portico to the door of the saloon of
the tomb, but there I found comparatively few persons collected.
On my entering, one of the servants of the mosque conducted
me to an unoccupied corner of the bronze screen which surrounds
the monument over the place where the martyr’s head is said
to be buried, that I might there recite the Fat’hah. This duty
performed, he dictated to me the following prayer, pausing after
every two or three words for me to repeat them, which I affected
to do ; and another person, who stood on my left, saying “ A’meen”
(or Amen) at the close of each pause :—~“ 0 God, accept my visit,
and perform my want, and cause me to attain my wish ; for I come
with desire and intent, and urge thee by the seyyideh Zeyneb,

44o PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

and the Imam Esh-Shafe’ee, and the Sultan Aboo-So’ood.” After
this followed similar words in Turkish, which were added in the
supposition that I was a Turk, and perhaps did not understand
the former words in Arabic. This short supplication has been
often dictated to me at the tombs of saints in Cairo on festival
days. On the occasion above described, before I proceeded to
make the usual circuit round the screen which encloses the monu-
ment, I gave to the person who dictated the prayer a small piece
of money, and he in return presented me with four little balls of
bread, each about the size of a hazel-nut. This was consecrated
bread, made of very ﬁne ﬂour at the tomb of the seyyid Ahmad
El-Bedawce, and brought hither, as it is to several saints’ tombs
in Cairo on occasions of general visiting, to be given to the more
respectable of the visitors. It is called “ ’Eysh es-seyyid El-Beda—
wee.” Many persons in Egypt keep a little piece of it (that is,
one of the little balls into which it is formed) constantly in the
pocket as a charm ; others eat it as a valuable remedy against any
disorder, or as a preventive of disease.

Generally, towards the end of “ Safar” (the second month), the
caravan of Egyptian pilgrims returning from Mekkeh arrives at
Cairo; hence this month is vulgarly called “ Nezlet el—H Hagg” (the
Alighting of the Pilgrims). Many pilgrims coming by the Red
Sea arrive before the caravan. A caravan of merchant-pilgrims
arrives later than the main body of pilgrims.

An ofﬁcer calle( “ Shaweesh el—Hagg ” arrives about four or
ﬁve days before the caravan, having pushed on, with two Arabs
mounted on ﬂeet dromedaries, to announce the approach of the
'Hagg and the expected day of their arrival at the metropolis, and
to bring letters from pilgrims to their friends. He and his two
companions exclaim, as they pass along, to the passengers in the
way, “Blessing on the Prophet I ” or, “Bless the Prophet!” and
every Muslim who hears the exclamation responds, “O God,
favour him ! ” They proceed directly to the Citadel, to convey the
news to the Basha or his representative. The Shaweesh divides
his letters into packets, with the exception of those which are to
great or wealthy people, and sells them at so many dollars a
packet to a number of persons who deliver them, and receive
presents from those to whom they are addressed; but sometimes

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 441

lose by their bargains. The Shaweesh himself delivers those to
the great and rich, and obtains from them handsome presents of
money, or a. shawl, etc. I

Some persons go out two or three days’ journey to meet their
friends returning from pilgrimage, taking with them fresh provi—
sions, fruits, etc., and clothes for the wearied pilgrims. The
poorer classes seldom go further than the Birket el-Hagg (or Lake
of the Pilgrims), about eleven miles from the metropolis, and the
place where the caravan passes the last night but one before its
entry into the metropolis ; or such persons merely go to the last
haltingplace. These usually take with them some little luxury in
the way of food, and an ass, as an agreeable substitute to the
pilgrim for his jaded and uneasy camel,30 together with some clean,
if not new, clothes; and many go out with musicians to pay hon-
our to their friends. It is very affecting to see at the approach of
the caravan the numerousparties who go out with drums and
pipes to welcome and escort to the city their friends arrived from
the holy places, and how many, who went forth in hope, return
with lamentation instead of music and rejoicing; for the arduous
journey through the desert is fatal to a great number of those
pilgrims who cannot afford themselves necessary conveniences.
Many of the women who go forth to meet their husbands or sons
receive the melancholy tidings of their having fallen Victims to
privation and fatigue. The piercing shrieks with which they rend
the air, as they retrace their steps to the city, are often heard pre-
dominant over the noise of the drum and the shrill notes of the
liautboy which proclaim the joy of others. The pilgrims on their
return are often accosted by passengers, with the petition, “ Pray
for pardon for me,” and utter this short ejaculation, “ God pardon
thee!” or “ O God, pardon him 1” This custom owes its origin
to a saying of the Prophet, “ God pardoneth the pilgrim, and him
for whom the pilgrim implores pardon.”

I write the following account of the Nezlet el-Hagg, just after
witnessing it, in the year of the Flight 1250 (1834 A.D.) :—The
caravan arrived at its last halting-place, the Hasweh, a pebbly
tract of the desert, near the northern suburb of Cairo, last night,
on the eve of the 4th of Rabeea el—Owwal. A few pilgrims left the
caravan after sunset, and entered the metropolis. The caravan

442 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS ETC.

entered this morning, the 4th of the month. I was outside the
walls, soon after sunrise, before it drew near ; but I met two or
three impatient pilgrims riding upon asses, and preceded by
musicians or by ﬂag-bearers, and followed by women singing; and
I also met several groups of women who had already been out to
make inquiries respecting relations whom they expected, and were
returning with shrieks and sobs. Their lamentation seemed more
natural and more deeply felt than that which is made at funerals.
This year, in addition to a great many deaths, there were to be
lamented a thousand men who had been seized for the army, so
that perhaps there was rather more wailing than is usual. About
two hours and a half after sunrise the caravan began to draw near
to the gates of the metropolis, parted in three lines—one line
towards the gate called Bab en-Nasr, another directly towards the
Bab el-Futooh, and the third, branching of from the second, to the
Bab el-’Adawee. The caravan this year was more numerous than
usual (though many pilgrims went by sea), and in consequence of
the seizure of so many men for the army, it comprised an uncom-
mon proportion of women. Each of the three lines into which it
divided to enter the metropolis, as above mentioned, consisted, for
the most part, of an uninterrupted train of camels, proceeding one
by one ; but sometimes there were two abreast, and in a few places
the train was broken for a short space. Many of the pilgrims had
quitted their camels to take the more easy conveyance of asses,
and rode beside their camels, many of them attended by musicians
and some by ﬂag-bearers.

The most common kind 'of camel-litter used by the pilgrims is
called a “ musattah” or “ heml musattah.” It resembles a small
square tent, and is chieﬂy composed of two long chests, each of
which has a high back 3 these are placed on the camel in the same
manner as a pair of panniers, one on each side, and the high backs,
which are placed outwards, together with a small pole resting on
the camel’s pack-saddle, support the covering which forms what
may be called the tent. This conveyance accommodates two per-
sons. It is generally open at the front, and may also be opened
at the back. Though it appears comfortable, the motion is uneasy,
especially when it is placed upon a camel that has been accustomed
to carry heavy burdens, and consequently has a swinging walk;

PERIODICAL PUBLIC ﬁESTIVALS, ETC. 443

but camels of easy pace are generally chosen for bearing the
musattah and other kinds of litters. There is one kind of litter,
called a “ shibreeyeh,” composed of a small square platform with
an arched covering. This accommodates but one person, and is
placed on the back of the camel, ' two sahharahs (or square chests),
one on each side of the camel, generally form a secu1e foundation
for the shibreeyeh. The most comfortable kind of litter is that
called a “takht’ra—wan,” which is most commonly borne by two
camels, one before and the other behind ,- thc head of the latter is
painfully bent down under the vehicle. This litter is sometimes
borne by four mules, in which case its motion is more easy. Two
light persons may travel in it. In general, it has a small project-
ing meshrebeeyeh of wooden lattice-work at the front and back, in
which one or more of the porous earthen water-bottles so much
used in Egypt may be placed.

I went on to the place where the caravan had passed the last
night. During my ride from the suburb to this spot, which occu- .
pied a little more than half-an-hour (proceeding at a slow pace),
about half the caravan passed me, and in half—an-hour more almost
the whole had left the place of encampment. I was much inter-
ested at seeing the meetings of wives, brothers, sisters, and chil—
dren with the pilgrims 3 but I was disgusted with one pilgrim.
He was dressed in ragged clothes, and sitting on a little bit of old
carpet, when his wife, or perhaps his sister, came out to him, per-
spiring under the weight of a large bundle of clothes, and fervently
kissed him right and left. He did not rise to meet her, and only~
made a few cold inquiries—The Emeer el-Hagg (or chief of the
caravan), with his ofﬁcers, soldiers, etc., were encamped apart
from the rest of the caravan. By his tent a tall spear was stuck
in the ground, and by its side also stood the “ Mahmal” or “ Mah-
mi ” (of which I shall presently give a sketch and description),
with its travelling cover of canvas, ornamented with a few in—
scriptions.

Many of the pilgrims bring with them, as presents from “the
holy territory, water of the sacred well of “Zemzem ” (in china
bottles, or tin or copper ﬂasks), pieces of the “kisweh ” (or cover-
ing) of the Kaabeh (which is renewed at the season of the pil—
grimage), dust from the Prophet’s tomb (made into hard cakes),

77

444 PERIODICAL EUEIIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

“liban” (or frankincense), “leef” (or ﬁbres of the palm tree,
used in washing, as we employ a sponge), combs of aloes—wood,
“sebhahs” (or rosaries) of the same or other materials, “mis/
waks ” (or sticks for cleaning the teeth, which are generally dipped
in Zemzem water to render them more acceptable), “kohl” (or
black powder for the eyes), shawls, etc., of the manufacture of the
Hegaz, and various things from India.

It is a common custom to ornament the entrance of a pilgrim’s
house a day, or two or three days, before his arrival: painting
the door and colouring the alternate courses of stone on each side
and above it with a deep dull red, and white ,' or, if it be of brick,
ornamenting it in a similar manner, with broad horizontal stripes
of red and white. Often also trees, camels, etc., are painted in a
very rude manner in green, black, red, and other colours. The
pilgrim sometimes writes to order this to be done. On the even-
ing after his arrival he entertains his friends with a feast, which
is called “the feast of the Nezleh.” Numerous guests come to
welcome him, and to say, “Pray for pardon for me.” He gener-
ally remains at home a .week after his return, and on the seventh
day gives to his friends another entertainment, which is called
“the feast of the Subooa.” This continues during the day and
ensuing night, and a khatmeh or a zikr is usually performed in
the evening.

On the morning after that on which the main body of the
pilgrims of the great caravan enter the metropolis another spec-
tacle is witnessed. This is the return of the Mahmal, which is
borne in procession from the Hasweh through the, metropolis to
the Citadel. This procession is not always arranged exactly in
the same order. I shall describe it as I have this day witnessed
it on the morning after the return of the pilgrims of which I have
just given an account.

First, I must describe the Mahmal itself. It is a square
skeleton-frame of wood with a pyramidal top, and has a covering
of black brocade richly worked with inscriptions and ornamental
embroidery in gold, in some parts upon a ground of green or red
silk, and bordered with a fringe of silk, with tassels surmounted
by silver balls. I Its covering is not always made after the same
pattern with regard to the decorations; but in every cover that

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 445’

I have seen I have remarked on the upper part of the front a
view of the Temple of Mekkeh worked in gold, and over it the
Sultan’s cipher. It contains nothing, but has two mus-hats (or
copies of the Kur-an), one on a, scroll and the other in the usual

l

r‘ “

 

THE MAHMAL.

form of a little book, and each enclosed in a case of gilt silver
attached externally at the top. The sketch which I insert will
explain this description. The ﬁve balls with crescents which
ornament the Mahmal are of gilt silver. The Mahmal is borne

446 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

by a ﬁne tall camel, which is generally indulged with exemption
from every kind of labour during the remainder of its life.

It is related that the Sultan Ez-Zahir Beybars, King of Egypt,
was the ﬁrst who sent a Mahmal with the caravan of pilgrims to
Mekkeh in the year of the Flight 670 (1272 A.D.) or 675; but
this custom, it is generally said, had its origin a few years before
his accession to the throne. Sheger—ed-Durr (commonly called
Shegeret-ed-Durr), a beautiful Turkish female slave who became
the favourite wife of the Sultan Es-Saleh Negm—ed-Deen, and on
the death of his son (with whom terminated the dynasty of the
house of Eiyoob) caused herself to be acknowledged as Queen of
Egypt, performed the pilgrimage in a magniﬁcent “hedag” (or
covered litter) borne by a camel, and for several successive years
her empty hédag was sent with the caravan merely for the sake
of state. Hence succeeding princes of Egypt sent with each year’s
caravan of pilgrims a kind of hodag (which received the name of
“ Mahmal. ” or “ Mahmil ”), as an emblem of royalty, and the kings
of other countries followed their example. The Wahhabees pro-
hibited the Mahmal as an object of vain pomp; it afforded them
one reason for intercepting the caravan.

The procession of the return of the Mahmal in the year above
mentioned entered the city by the Bab en-Nasr about an hour
after sunrise. It was headed by a large body of Nizam (or
regular) infantry. Next came the Mahmal, which was followed,
as usual, by a singular character. This was a long-haired, brawny,
swarthy fellow called “Sheykh-el—Gemel” (or Sheykh of the Camel),
almost/entirely naked, having only a pair of old trousers. He was
mounted on a camel, and was incessantly rolling his head. For
many successive years this sheykh has followed the Mahmal, and
accompanied the caravan to and from Mekkeh, and all assert
that he rolls his head during the whole of the journey. He is
supplied by the government with two camels and his travelling
provisions. A few years ago there used also to follow the Mahmal
to and from Mekkeh an old woman with her head uncovered,
and only wearing a shirt. She was called “Umm-el-Kutat” (or
the Mother of the Cats), having always ﬁve or six cats sitting
about her on her camel—Next to the sheykh of the camel in the
procession which I have begun to describe followed a group of

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 447

Turkish horsemen, and then about twenty camels with stuffed
and ornamented saddles covered with cloth, mostly red and green.
Each saddle was decorated with a number of small ﬂags slanting
forward from the fore part, and a small plume of ostrich feathers
upon the top of a stick ﬁxed upright upon the same part, and
some had a large bell hung on each side. The ornaments on the
covering were chieﬂy formed of the small shells called cowries.
I think I perceived that these camels were slightly tinged with
the red dye of the henna, as they are on other similar occasions.
They were followed by a very numerous body of Bedawee horse-
men, and with these the procession was closed.

Having been misinformed as to the time of the entry of the
Mahmal, on my arriving at the principal street of the city I found
myself in the midst of the procession 3 but the Mahmal had passed.
Mounting a donkey that I had hired, I endeavoured to overtake
it; but it was very difﬁcult to make any progress, so without
further loss of time I took advantage of some by-streets, and
again joined the procession. I found, however, that I had made
very little advancement. I therefore dismounted, and after
walking and running and dodging between the legs of the Beda-
wees’ horses for about half-an—hour, at length caught a glimpse of
the Mahmal, and by a great effort and much squeezing overtook
it soon after, about a quarter of an hour before it entered the
great open place called the Rumeyleh, before the Citadel. After
touching it three times, and kissing my hand, I caught hold of
the fringe, and walked by its side. The guardian of the sacred
object, who walked behind it, looked very hard at me, and induced
me to utter a pious ejaculation, which perhaps prevented his
displacing me; or possibly my dress inﬂuenced him, for he only
allowed other persons to approach and touch it one by one, and
then drove them back. I continued to walk by its side, holding
the fringe, nearly to the entrance of the Rumeyleh. On my
telling a Muslim friend to—day that I had done this, he expressed
great astonishment, and said that he had never heard of any one
having done so before; and that the Prophet had certainly taken
a love for me, or I could not have been allowed. He added that
I had derived an inestimable blessing, and that it would be
prudent in me not to tell any others of my Muslim friends of

448 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

this fact, as it would make them envy me so great a privilege,
and perhaps displease them. I cannot learn why the Mahmal
is esteemed so sacred. Many persons showed an enthusiastic
eagerness to touch it, and I heard a soldier exclaim as it passed
him, “ O my Lord 1 Thou hast denied my performing the pilgrim-
age.” The streets through which it passed were densely crowded.
The shops were closed, and the mastab’ahs occupied by spectators.
It arrived at the Rumeyleh about an hour and a half after it had
entered the metropolis. It crossed this large place to the entrance
of the long open space called Kara Meydan ,' next proceeded along
the latter place, while about twelve of the guns of the Citadel ﬁred
a salute 5 then returned to the Rumeyleh, and proceeded through
it to the northern gate of the Citadel, called Bab el-Wezeer.

A curious custom is allowed to be practised on the occasions
of the processions of the Mahmal and Kisweh ; which latter, and
a more pompous procession of the Mahmal on its departure for
Mekkeh, will be hereafter described. Numbers of boys go about
the streets of the metropolis in companies, each boy armed with
a short piece of the thick end of a palm stick, called a “ makra”ah,”
in which are made two or three splits extending from the larger
end to about half the length, and any Christian or Jew whom
they meet they accost with the demand of “Hat el—’adeh,” or
“Give the customary present.” If he refuse the gift of ﬁve or
ten faddahs, they fall to beating him with their makra”ahs. Last
year a Frank was beaten by some boys in accordance with this
custom, and sought refuge in a large wekaleh 3 but some of the
boys entered after him, and repeated the beating. He complained
to the Basha, who caused a severe bastinading to be administered
to the sheykh of the wekaleh for not having protected him.

In the beginning of the month of “Rabeea el—Owwal” (the
third month) preparations are commenced for celebrating the
festival of the Birth of the Prophet, which is called “Moolid en-
Nebee.” The principal scene of this festival is the south—west
quarter of the large open space called Birket el-Ezbekeeyeh,
almost the whole of which during the season of the inundation
becomes a lake. This is the case for several years together at the
time of the festival of the Prophet, which is then celebrated on
the margin of the lake ; but at present the dry bed of the lake

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 449

is the chief scene of the festival. In the quarter above mentioned
several large tents (callec “seewans”) are pitched, mostly for
darweeshes, who, every night while the festival lasts, assemble in
them to perform zikrs. Among these is erected a mast (Saree),
ﬁrmly secured by ropes, and with a dozen or more lamps hung to
it. Around it numerous darweeshes, generally about ﬁfty or sixty,
form a ring and repeat zikrs. Near the same spot is erected what
is termed a “kaim,” which consists of four masts erected in a line
a few yards apart, with numerous ropes stretching fromlone to the
other and to the ground. Upon these ropes are hung many lamps,
sometimes in the form of ﬂowers, lions, etc. 3 sometimes of words,
such as the names of God and Mohammad, the profession of the
faith, etc. ,‘ and sometimes arranged in a merely fanciful ornamental
manner. The preparations for the festival are generally com-
pleted on the second day of the month, and on the following day
the rejoicings and ceremonies begin. These continue day and
night until the twelfth night of the monthAAtbat is, according to
the Mohammadan mode of reckoning, the night preceding the
twelfth day of the month—which night is that of the Moolid,
properly speaking. During this period of nine days and nights,
numbers of the inhabitants of the metropolis ﬂock to the Ezbe-
keeyeh.———I write these notes during the Moolid, and shall describe
the festival of this year (the year of the Flight 1250—1834 A. D.),
mentioning some particulars in which it differs from those of
former years.

During the daytime the people assembled at the principal
scene of the festival are amused by Sha’ers (or reciters of the
romance of Aboo-Zeyd), conjurers, buffoons, etc. The Ghawazee
have lately been compelled to vow repentance, and to relinquish
their profession of dancing, etc. 3 consequently there are now none
of them at the festival. These girls used to be among the most
attractive of all the performers. In some parts of the neighbour-
ing streets a few swings and whirligigs are erected, and numerous
stalls for the sale of sweetmeats, etc. Sometimes rope-dancers,
who are gipsies, perform at this festival, but there are none this
year. At night the streets above mentioned are lighted with
many lamps, which are mostly hung in lanterns of wood. Num-
bers of shops and stalls stocked with eatables, chieﬂy sweetmeats,

(440) 29

450 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

are open during almost the whole of the night, and so also are
the coffee-shops, at some of which, as Well as in other places,
Sha’ers or Mohaddits amuse whoever chooses to stop and listen
to their recitations. Every night, an hour or more after midnight, '
processions of darweeshes pass through this quarter. Instead of
bearing ﬂags, as they do in the day, they carry long staves with
a number of lamps attached to them at the upper part, and called
“ menwars.” The procession of a company of darweeshes, whether
by day with ﬂags or by night with menwars, is called the pro-
cession of the “isharah” of the sect—“that is, of the “banner 3”
or rather the term “isharah” is applied to the procession itself.
These darweeshes are mostly persons of the lower orders, and have
no distinguishing dress. The greater number wear an ordinary
turban, and some of them merely a tarboosh, or a padded or felt
cap; and most of them wear the common blue linen or cotton or
brown woollen shirt—«the dress which they wear on other occa-
sions, at their daily work or at their shops.

On the last two nights the festival is more numerously attended
than on the preceding nights, and the attractions are greater. I
shall describe What I have just witnessed on the former of these
nights. ,

This being the eleventh night of the lunar month, the moon
was high, and enlivened the scenes of festivity. I passed on to
a street called Sock El-Bekree, on the south of the Birket el-
Ezbekeeyeh, to witness what I was informed would be the best
of the zikrs that were to be performed. The streets through
which I passed were crowded, and persons were here allowed on
this occasion to go about without lanterns. As is usually the
case at night, there were scarcely any women among the pas—
sengers. At the scene of the zikr in the Sock El-Bekree, which
was more crowded than any other place, was suspended a very
large “negefeh” (a chandelier, or rather a number of chandeliers,
chieﬂy of glass, one below another, placed in such a manner that
they all appeared but one), containing about two or three hundred
kandeels (or small glass lamps). Around this were many lanterns
of wood, each having several kandeels hanging through the bottom.
These lights were not hung merely in honour of the Prophet:
they were near a “zawiyeh ” (or small mosque) in which is buried

PERIODICAL PIIBLIC IESTIVALS, ETC. 451

the sheykh Darweesh E1-’Ashmawee, and this night was his
Moolid. A zikr is performed here every Friday night (or what
.we call Thursday night), but not with so much display as on the
present occasion. I observed many Christian black turbans here,
and having seen scarcely any elsewhere this night, and heard the
frequent cry of “A graimof salt in the eye of him who doth
not bless the Prophet!” ejaculated by the sellers of sweetmeats,
etc., which seemed to show that Christians and Jews were at least
in danger of being insulted at a time when the zeal of the Muslims
was unusually excited, I asked the reason why so many Copts
should be congregated at the scene of the zikr. I was answered
that a Copt who had become a Muslim voluntarily paid all the
expenses of this Moolid of the sheykh Darweesh. This sheykh
was very much revered. He was disordered in mind, or imitated
the acts of a madman—often taking bread and other eatables and
stamping upon them or throwing them into dirt, and doing many
other things directly forbidden by his religion. Yet was he es~
teemed an eminent saint ; for suCh acts, as I have remarked on
a former occasion, are considered the results of the soul’s being
occupied in devotion. He died about eight years ago.

The “zikkeers ” (or the performers of the zikr), who were about
thirty in number, sat cross-legged upon matting extended close
to the houses on one side of the street, in the form of an oblong
ring. Within this ring, along the middle of the matting, were
placed three very large wax-candles, each about four feet high,
and stuck in a low candlestick. Most of the zikkeers were Ah-
med’ee darweeshes, persons of the lower orders, and meanly
dressed. Many of them wore green turbans. At one end of the
ring were four “munshids ” (or singers of poetry), and with them
was a player on the kind of ﬂute called “nay.” I procured a
small seat of palm sticks from a coffee—shop close by, and by means
of a little pushing and the assistance of my servant, obtained a
place with the" munshids, and sat there to hear a complete act or
“meglis” of the zikr, which I shall describe as completely as I
can, to convey a notion of the kind of zikr most common and
most approved in Cairo. It commenced at about three o’clock (or
three hours after sunset), and continued two hours.

The performers began by reciting the Fa’t’hah all together, their

452 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

sheykh (or chief) ﬁrst exclaiming, “ El-Fat’hah 1” They then
chanted the following words: “0 God, favour our lord Mohammad
among the former generations ; and favour our lord Mohammad
among the latter generations 3 and favour our lord Mohammad in
every time and period; and favour our lord Mohammad among the
most exalted princes [the angels] unto the day of judgment; and
favour all the prophets and apostles among the inhabitants of the
heavens and of the earth; and may God (whose name be blessed
and exalted E) be well pleased with our lords and our masters,
those persons of illustrious estimation, Aboo- Bekr and ’Omar and
’Osman and ’Alee, and with all the other favourites of God. God ~
is our sufﬁciency, and excellent is the Guardian! And there is
no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! 0 God !
0 our Lord ! O thou liberal of pardon ! O thou most bountiful
of the most bountiful! O God ! Amen l” They were then
silent for three or four minutes, and again recited the Fat’hah,
but silently. This form of prefacing the zikr is commonly used
by almost all orders of darweeshes in Egypt.

After this preface the performers began the zikr. Sitting in
the manner above described, they chanted, in slow measure, “La
ilaha illa—llah” (“There is no deity but God”) to the following air“

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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bowing the head and body twice in each repetition of “La ilaha
illa-llah.” Thus they continued about a quarter of an hour, and
then for about the same space of time they repeated the same
words to the same air, but in a quicker measure, and with corre-
spondingly quicker motions. In the meantime the munshids fre-
quently sang to the same or a variation of the same air‘ portions

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 453

of a haseedeh or of a muweshshah, an ode of a similar nature to
the Song of Solomon, generally alluding to the Prophet as the
object of love and praise.

I shall here give a translation of one of these muweshshahs,
which are very numerous, as a specimen of their style, from a book
containing a number of these poems which I have purchased during
the present Moolid from a darweesh who presides at many zikrs.
He pointed out the following poem as one of those most common
at zikrs, and as one which was sung at the zikr which I have
begun to describe. I translate it verse for verse, and imitate the
measure and system of rhyme of the original, with this difference
only, that the ﬁrst, third, and ﬁfth lines of each stanza rhyme
with each other in the original, but not in my translation.

“ With love my heart is troubled,

And mine eyelid hind’reth sleep ;
My Vitals are dissevered,

While with streaming tears I weep.
My union seems far distant;

Will my love e’er meet mine eye?
Alas I did not estrangement

Draw my tears, I would not sigh.

“ By dreary nights I’m wasted;

Absence makes my hope expire ;

lVIy tears like pearls are dropping,
And my heart is wrapped in ﬁre,

\Vhose is like my condition?
Scarcely know I remedy.

Alas! did not estrangement
Draw my tears, I would not sigh.

" O turtle-dove l acquaint me
Wherefore thus dost thou lament?
Art thou so stung by absence?
Of thy wings deprived and pent?
He saith, ‘ Our griefs are equal ;
Worn away with love I lie.’
Alas I did not estrangement
Draw my tears, I would not sigh

“ 0 First, and sole Eternal I

Show thy favour yet to me ;

Thy slave, Ahmad El-Bekree,
Hath no Lord excepting thee.

By Ta-Ha, the Great Prophet,
Do thou not his wish deny.

Alas ! did not estrangement
Draw my tears, I would not sigh,”

454 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

I must translate a few more lines to show more strongly the
similarity of these songs to that of Solomon 5 and lest it should be
thought that I have varied the expressions, I shall not attempt
to render them into verse. In the same collection of poems sung
at zikrs is one which begins with these lines 2——

“ 0 gazelle from among the gazelles of El-Yemen !
I am thy slave Without cost.
0 thou small of age and fresh of skin !
O thou who art scarce past the time of drinking milk ! ”

In the ﬁrst of these verses we have a comparison exactly agreeing
with that in the concluding verse of Solomon’s Song; for the
word which in our Bible is translated a “roe ” is used in Arabic
as synonymous with “ghazal” (or a gazelle), and the mountains
of El-Yemen are “the mountains of spices.” This poem ends

with the following lines :—

" The phantom of thy form visited me in my slumber.
I said, ‘ O phantom of slumber, who sent thee?’
He said, ‘ He sent me whom thou knowest‘
He whose love occupies thee.’
The beloved of my heart visited me in the darkness of night.
I stood, to show him honour, until he sat down.
I said, ‘ O thou my petition, and all my desire,
Hast thou come at midnight, and not feared the watchmen?”
He said to me, ‘ I feared; but, however, love
Had taken from me my soul and my breath.’ ”

Compare the above with the second and ﬁve following verses of
the ﬁfth chapter of Solomon’s Song. Finding that songs of this
description are extremely", numerous, and almost the only poems
sung at zikrs 3 that they are composed for this purpose, and in-
tended only to have a spiritual sense (though certainly not under-
stood in such a sense by the generality of the vulgar), I cannot
entertain any doubt as to the design of Solomon’s Song. The
specimens which I have just given of the religious love—songs of
the Muslims have not been selected in preference to others as
most agreeing with that of Solomon, but as being in frequent use,
and the former of the two as having been sung at the zikr which
I have begun to describe. I must now resume the description of
that zikr.

At frequent intervals (as is customary in other zikrs) one of

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 455

the munshids sang out the word “ Meded,” accenting each syllable.
“Meded” signiﬁes, when thus used, spiritual or supernatural aid,
and implies an invocation for such aid.

The zikkeers, after having performed as above described, next
repeated the same words to a different air for about the same
length of time, ﬁrst very slowly, then quickly. The air was as
follows :—

 

 

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Then they repeated these words again to the following air in the

same manner 2—-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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, 'rr i, ‘ ,,,,,,,,, wax u n I J. i 1
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M i - 1:6 - ha i1 - la—l - hih.

They next rose, and, standing in the same order in which they
had been sitting, repeated the same words to another air. During
this stage of their performance, they were joined by a tall, Well—
dressed black slave, whose appearance induced me to inquire who
he was. I was informed that he was a eunuch, belonging to the
Basha. The zikkeers, still standing, next repeated the same words
in a very deep and hoarse tone, laying the principal emphasis
upon the word “ La” and the ﬁrst syllable of the last word
(“Allah ”), and uttering apparently with a considerable effort :
the sound much resembled that which is produced by beating the
rim of a tambourine. Each zikkeer turned his head alternately to
the right and left at each repetition of “ La ilaha illa-llah.” The
eunuch above mentioned, during this part of the zikr, became what
is termed “ melboos,” or possessed. Throwing his arms about, and

456 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

looking up with a very wild expression of countenance, he exclaimed
in a very high tone, and with great vehemence and rapidity:

“ Allah! Allah! Allah! Allah! Allah! la la la la la la la la la la
la la lah! Ya ’ammee! [O my uncle 3] Ya ammee! Ya’ ammee
’Ashmawee! Ya ’Ashmawee! Ya ’Ashmawee! Ya ’Ashmawee!”
His voice gradually became faint ; and when he had uttered these
words, though he was held by a darweesh who was next him, he
fell on the ground, foaming at the mouth, his eyes closed, his
limbs convulsed, and his ﬁngers clenched over his thumbs. It
i was an epileptic ﬁt: no one could see it and believe it to be the
effect of feigned emotions; it was undoubtedly the result of a
high state of religious excitement. Nobody seemed surprised at
it; for occurrences of this kind at zikrs are not uncommon. All
the performers now appeared much excited, repeating their
ejaculations with greater rapidity, violently turning their heads,
and sinking the whole body at the same time; some of them.
jumping. The eunuch became melboos again several times, and I
generally remarked that his ﬁts happened after one of the mun-
shids had sung a line or two, and exerted himself more than
usually to excite his hearers. The singing was, indeed, to my
taste very pleasing. Towards the close of the zikr, a private
soldier, who had joined throughout the whole performance, also
seemed several times to be melboos, growling in a horrible
manner, and violently shaking his head from side to side. The
contrast presented by the vehement and distressing exertions of
the performers at the close of the zikr, and their calm gravity
and solemnity of manner at the commencement, was particularly
striking. Money was collected during the performance for the
munshids. The zikkeers receive no pay.

An isharah passed during the meglis of the zikr above de-
scribed. This zikr continues all night until the morning-call to
prayer, the performers only resting between each meglis, gener-
ally taking coffee, and some of them smoking.

It was midnight before I turned from this place to the Birket
El-Ezbekeeyeh. Here the moonlight and the lamps together
produced a singular effect. Several of the lamps of the kaim, of
the Saree, and of the tents, had, however, become extinguished;
and many persons were lying asleep upon the bare ground, taking

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 457

their night’s rest. The zikr of the darweeshes round the Saree
had terminated. I shall therefore describe this hereafter from
my observation of it on the next night. After having witnessed
several zikrs in the tents, I returned to my house to sleep.

On the following day (that immediately preceding what is
properly called the night of the Moolid) I went again to the
Ezbekeeyeh, about an hour before noon; but there were not
many persons collected there at that time, nor was there much to
amuse them : I saw only two or three conjurers and buﬁ‘oons and
sha’ers, each of whom had collected a small ring of spectators and
hearers. The concourse, however, gradually increased ; for a
very remarkable spectacle was to be witnessed—a sight which
every year, on this day, attracts a multitude of wondering be-
holders. This is called the “Doseh,” or Treading. I shall now
describe it.

The sheykh of the Saadeeyeh darweeshes (the seyyid Moham-
mad El-Menzelawee), who is khateeb (or preacher) of the mosque
of the Hasaneyn, after having, as they say, passed a part of the
last night in solitude, repeating certain prayers and secret invoca-
tions, and passages from the Kur-an, repaired this day (being
Friday) to the mosque above mentioned, to perform his accus—
tomed duty. The noon-prayers and preaching being concluded,
he rode thence to the house of the Sheykh El—Bekree, who pre—
sides over all the orders of darweeshes in Egypt. This house is
on the southern side of the Birket El—Ezbekeeyeh, next to that
which stands at the south—western angle. On his way from the
mosque, he was joined by numerous parties of Saadee darweeshes
from different districts of the metropolis—the members from
each district having a pair of ﬂags. The sheykh is an old, gray—
bearded man, of an intelligent and amiable countenance, and fair
complexion. He wore this day a white benish, and a white
ka-ook (or padded cap, covered with cloth), having a turban com—
posed of muslin of a very deep olive colour, scarcely to be dis-
tinguished from black, with a strip of white muslin bound obliquely
across the front. The horse upon which he rode was one of
moderate height and weight: my reason for mentioning this will
presently be seen. The sheykh entered the Birket El-Ezbekeeyeh
preceded by a very numerous procession of the darweeshes, of

458 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

whom he is the chief. In the way through this place, the pro-
cession stopped at a short distance before the house of the Sheykh
El—Bekree. Here a considerable number of the darweeshes and
others (I am sure that there were more than sixty, but I could
not count their number) laid themselves down upon the ground,
side by side, as close as possible to each other, having their backs
upwards, their legs extended, and their arms placed together

 

 

 

I
THE DOSEH.

beneath their foreheads. They incessantly muttered the word
Allah! About twelve or more darweeshes, most without their
shoes, then ran over the backs of their prostrate companions, some
beating “bazes,” or little drums of a hemispherical form, held in
the left hand, and exclaiming Allah! and then the sheykh ap-
proached. His horse hesitated for several minutes to tread upon
the back of the ﬁrst of the prostrate men 3 but being pulled, and

 

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 459

urged on behind, he at length stepped upon him ; and then, with-
out apparent fear, ambled, with a high pace, over them all, led
by two persons, who ran over the prostrate men, one sometimes
treading on the feet, and the other on the heads. The spectators
immediately raised a long cry of “ Allah la'. la la la lah!” Not
one of the men thus trampled upon by the horse seemed to be
hurt; but each, the moment that the animal had passed over him,
jumped up, and followed the sheykh. Each of them received two
treads from the horse—one from one of his fore legs, and a second
from a hind leg. It is said that these persons, as well as the
sheykh, make use of certain words (that is, repeat prayers and
invocations) on the day preceding this performance, to enable them
to endure without injury the tread of the horse ,- and that some
not thus prepared, having ventured to lie down to be ridden over,
have, on more than one occasion, been either killed or severely
injured. The performance is considered as a miracle effected
through supernatural power which has been granted to every suc-
cessive sheykh of the Saadeeyeh; Some persons assert that the
horse is unshod for the occasion, but I thought I could perceive
that this was not the case. They say, also, that the animal is
trained for the purpose , but if so, this would only account for the
least surprising of the circumstances—I mean, for the fact of the
horse being made to tread on human beings; an act from which,
it is well known, that animal is very averse. The present sheykh
of the Saadeeyeh refused for several years to perform the Doseh.
By much entreaty, he was prevailed upon to empower another
person to do it. This person, a blind man, did it successfully, but
soon after died ; and the sheykh of the Saadeeyeh then yielded to
the request of his darweeshes, and has since always performed the
Ddseh himself.

After the sheykh had accomplished this extraordinary perform-
ance, without the slightest appearance of any untoward accident,
he rode into the garden, and entered the house of the Sheykh
El—Bekree, accompanied by only a few darweeshes. On my pre-
senting myself at the door, a servant admitted me, and I joined
the assembly within. The sheykh having dismounted, seated
himself on a seggadeh spread upon the pavement against the end
wall of a takhtabosh (or wide recess) of the court of the house.

460 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

He sat with bended back, and downcast countenance, and tears in
his eyes, muttering almost incessantly. I stood almost close to
him. Eight other persons sat with him. The darweeshes who
had entered with him, who were about twenty in number, stood
in the form of a semicircle before him, upon some matting placed
for them; and around them were about ﬁfty or sixty other
persons. Six darweeshes, advancing towards him, about two
yards from the semicircle, commenced a zikr, each of them ex-
claiming at the same time, “ Allahu hei ! ” (“ God is living I ”), and
at each exclamation beating, with a kind of small and short
leather strap, a “ baz,” which he held, by a boss at the bottom, in
his left hand. This they did for only a few minutes. A black
slave then became melboos, and rushed into the midst of the dar-
weeshes, throwing his arms about, and exclaiming, “Allah 1a la
1a 1:; kill!” A person held him, and he soon seemed to recover.
The darweeshes all together, standing as ﬁrst described, in the form
of a semicircle, then performed a second zikr, each alternate
zikkeer exclaiming, “Allahu hei i” (“God is living!”); and the
others, “Ya hei ! ” (“ O thou living 1”) 3 and all of them bowing at
each exclamation, alternately to the right and left. This they
continued for about ten minutes. Then, for about the same space
of time, in the same manner, and with the same motions, they
exclaimed, “Daiml” (“Everlastingl”) and “Ya Daim!” (“O
Everlasting l”). I felt an irresistible impulse to try if I could
do the same without being noticed as an intruder, and accord-
ingly joined the semicircle, and united in the performance, in
which I succeeded well enough not to attract observation ,‘ but
I worked myself into a most uncomfortable heat. After the
zikr just described, a person began to chant a portion of the
Kur—an ; but the zikr was soon resumed, and continued for about
a quarter of an hour. Most of the darweeshes there present
then kissed the hand of the sheykh, and he retired to an upper
apartment.

It used to be a custom of some of the Saadeeyeh, on this
occasion, after the Doseh, to perform their celebrated feat of
eating live serpents, before a select assembly, in the house of the
Sheykh El-Bekree ; but their present sheykh has lately put a stop
to this practice in the metropolis, justly declaring it to be dis-

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 461

gusting, and contrary to the religion, which includes serpents
among the creatures that are unﬁt to be eaten. Serpents and
scorpions were not unfrequently eaten by Saadees during my
former visit to this country. The former were deprived of their
poisonous teeth, or rendered harmless by having their upper and
lower lips bored, and tied together on each side with a silk string,
to prevent their biting 3 and sometimes those which were merely
carried in processions had two silver rings put in place of the silk
strings. Whenever a Saadee ate the ﬂesh of a live serpent, he
was, or affected to be, excited to do so by a kind of frenzy. He
pressed very hard with the end of his thumb upon the reptile’s
back, as he grasped it, at a point about two inches from the head,
and all that he ate of it was the head and a part between it and
the point where his thumb pressed, of which he made three or
four mouthfuls; the rest he threw away. Serpents, however, are
not always handled with impunity even by Saadees. A few years
ago, a darweesh of this sect, who was called “cl-Feel” (or the
Elephant), from his bulky and muscular form and great strength,
and who was the most famous serpent—eater of his time, and
almost of any age, having a desire to rear a serpent of a very
venomous kind which his boy had brought him among others that
he had collected in the desert, put this reptile into a basket, and
kept it for several days without food to weaken it ; he then put
his hand into the basket to take it out for the purpose of extract—
ing its teeth, but it immediately bit his thumb. He called out
for help. There were, however, none but women in the house,
and they feared to come to him, so that many minutes elapsed
before he could obtain assistance. His whole arm was then found
to be swollen and black, and he died after a few hours.

No other ceremonies worthy of notice were performed on the
day of the Doseh. The absence of the Ghawazee rendered the
festival less merry than it used to be-

In the ensuing night, that which is properly called the night
of the Moolid, I went again to the principal scene of the festival.
Here I witnessed a zikr performed by a ring of about sixty dar-
weeshes round the Saree. The moon was sufﬁcient, without the
lamps, to light up the scene. The darweeshes who formed the
ring round the saree were of various orders; but the zikr which

462 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

they performed was of a kind usual only among the order of the
Beiyoomeeyeh. In one act of this zikr the performers exclaimed,
“Ya Allah!” (“O God 1 ”), and at each exclamation ﬁrst bowed
their heads, crossing their hands at the same time before their
breasts, then raised their heads, and clapped their hands together
before their faces. The interior of the ring was crowded with
persons sitting on the ground. The zikkeers continued as above
described about half-an-hour. Next they formed companies of
ﬁve or six or more together, but still in the form of a large ring.
The persons in these several companies held together, each (with
the exception of the foremost in the group) placing his left arm
behind the back of the one on his left side, and the hand upon
the left shoulder of the latter, all facing the spectators outside the
ring. They exclaimed “Allah 1” in an excessively deep and
hoarse voice; and at each exclamation took a step, one time
forwards, and the next time backwards, but each advancing a
little to his left at every forward step, so that the whole ring
revolved, though very slowly. Each of the zikkeers held out his
right hand to salute the spectators outside the ring, most of whom,
if near enough, grasped, and sometimes kissed, each extended
hand as it came before them. Whenever a zikr is performed
round the saree, those in the tents cease. I witnessed one other
zikr this night—a repetition of that of the preceding night in the
Sook El-Bekree. There was nothing else to attract spectators or
hearers, excepting the reciters of romances. The festival termi-
nated at the morning-call to prayer; and all the zikrs, except
that in the Sook El-Bekree, ceased about three hours after mid‘
night. In the course of the following day the ka'im, saree, tents,
etc, were removed.

CHAPTER XXV.
PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC—(CONTINUED).

IT might seem unnecessary to continue a detailed account of the
periodical public festivals and other anniversaries celebrated in
Egypt, were it not that many of the customs witnessed on these
occasions are every year falling into disuse, and have never

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS. ETC 463

hitherto been fully and correctly described. Hoping that this
apology will be accepted, I proceed. ‘

During a period of ﬁfteen nights and fourteen days in the
month of “Rabeea et-Tanee” (the fourth month), the mosque of '
the Hasaneyn is the scene of a festival called “Moolid El-
Hasaneyn,” celebrated in honour of the birth of El-Hoseyn,
whose head, as I have before mentioned, is said to be there
buried. This Moolid is the most famous of all those celebrated
in Cairo, excepting that of the Prophet. The grand day of the
Moolid El-Hasaneyn is always a Tuesday ; and the night which
is properly called that of the Moolid is the one immediately en-
suing, which is termed that of Wednesday. This is generally
about ﬁve or six weeks after the Moolid en-Nebee, and concludes
the festival. This present year (I am writing at the time of the
festival which I here describe, in the year of the Flight 1250—
1834 A.D.), the eve of the 21st of the month having been ﬁxed
upon as the night of the Moolid, the festival began on the eve of
the 7th. On the two evenings preceding the eve of the 7th, the
mosque was lighted with a few more lamps than is usual, and
this is customary in other years ,' but these two nights are not
distinguished like those which follow.

On each of the ﬁfteen great nights before mentioned, the
mosque is illuminated with a great number of lamps, and many
wax-candles, some of which latter are ﬁve or six feet high, and
very thick. This illumination is made, on the ﬁrst night, by the
nazir (or warden) of the mosque, from the funds of the mosque ;
on the second night, by the governor of the metropolis (at present
Habeeb Efendee) ; on the following nights, by the sheykhs of
certain orders of darweeshes, by some of the higher ofﬁcers of the
mosque, and by wealthy individuals. On each of these nights,
those shops at which eatables, sherbet, etc, are sold, as well as
the coffee-shops, in the neighbourhood of the mosque, and even
many of those in other quarters, remain open until near morning;
and the streets in the vicinity of the mosque are thronged with
persons lounging about, or listening to musicians, singers, and
reciters of romances. The mosque is also generally crowded.
Here we ﬁnd, in one part of the great portico, a company of
persons sitting on the ﬂoor in two rows, facing each other, and

o

464 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

reading all together certain chapters of the Kur—an. This is called
a “makra.” Sometimes there are several groups thus employed.
In another place we ﬁnd a similar group reading from a book
called “ Delai’l el—Kheyrat,” invocations of blessing on the Prophet.
Again, in other places, we ﬁnd a group of persons reciting par-.
ticular forms of prayer ; and another, or others, performing a
zikr, or zikrs. Winding about among these groups (whose de-
votional exercises are performed for the sake of El-Hoseyn), or
sitting upon the matting, are those other visitors whom piety, 0r
curiosity, or the love of amusement, brings to this venerated
sanctuary. There is generally an assembly of darweeshes or.
others in the saloon of the tomb (which is covered by the great
dome, and is hence called the “ kubbeh ”) reciting forms of prayer,
etc; and the visitors usually enter the saloon to perform the
ceremonies of reciting the Fat’hah and compassing the shrine;
but the most frequented part is the great portico, where the zikrs
and most of the other ceremonies are performed.

Every night during this festival we see Isharahs, or pro-
cessions of darweeshes, of one or more sects, passing through the
streets to the mosque of the Hasaneyn, preceded by two or more
men with drums, and generally with hautboys, and sometimes
with cymbals also, accompanied by bearers of mesh’als, and usually
having one or more lanterns. They collect their party on their
way, at their respective houses. Whenever they pass by the
tomb of a saint, their music ceases for a short time, and they
recite the F at’hah, or a form of blessing on the Prophet, similar
to that preparatory to the zikr, which I have translated in my
account of the Moolid of the Prophet. They do this without
stopping. Arriving at the mosque, they enter (some of them
with candles), visit the shrine, and go away; with the exception
of their sheykh and a few others, who sometimes remain in the
kubbeh and join in reciting prayers, etc.

One of the nights which offer most attractions is that of the
Friday (that is, preceding the Friday) next before the night of
the Moolid. It is the night of the Sheykh El—Géharee, a person
of wealth, who illuminates the mosque on this occasion with an
unusual profusion of lights. On this night I went to the mosque
about two hours after sunset, before any of the ceremonies had

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 465

commenced. The nearer I approached the building, the more
crowded did I ﬁnd the streets. In one place were musicians ,‘
before a large coffee-shop were two Greek dancing-boys, or
“gink,” elegant but eﬁbminate in appearance, with ﬂowing hair,
performing to the accompaniment of mandolines played by two
of their countrymen, and a crowd of admiring Turks, with a few
Egyptians, surrounding them. They performed there also the
evening before, and, I was told, became so impudent from the
patronage they received as to make an open seizure of a basket
of grapes in the street.

On entering the mosque, I found it far more crowded than
usual—more so than on the preceding nights ; but the lights were
scarcely more numerous than those sometimes seen in an English"
church, and the chandeliers and lamps of the most common kind.
A loud and confused din resounded through the great portico,
and there was nothing as yet to be seen or heard, and indeed
little afterwards, that seemed suited to a religious festival. A
great number of Turks, and some persons of my own acquaintance,
were among the visitors. I ﬁrst sat down to rest with one of my
friends, a bookseller, and several of his fellow-darweeshes, who
were about to perform a zikr at which he was to preside. I was
treated by them with coffee, for which I had to pay by giving the
munshids a piaster. Soon after they had begun their zikr, which
was similar to the ﬁrst which I have described in the account of
the Moolid of the Prophet, I got up to visit the shrine and to
saunter about. Having paid my visit, I returned from the saloon
of the tomb, in which was a large assembly of darweeshes reciting
prayers, sitting in the form of a square, as large as the saloon
would admit, with the exception of that part which contained the
shrine. On re—entering the great portico, I perceived a great
disturbance: numbers of persons were pressing to one point, at a
little distance from me, and I heard a man crying out, “ Nasranee !
Kaﬁr!” (“Christianl Inﬁdell”). Concluding that one of the
visitors had been discovered to be a Christian, I expected a great
uproar; but on asking one of the bystanders what had occurred,
I was told that these words were only used as terms of insult by
one Muslim to another who had given him some offence. An
ofﬁcer of the mosque came running from the kubbell with a staff

(440 30

466 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

in his hand, and soon restored order ,' but Whether he expelled
both, or either, of the persons who occasioned the disturbance, I
could not discover,——and I thought it prudent, in my case, to ask
no further questions. By the entrance of the kubbeh was a party
reading, in a very loud voice and in concert, the Delail before
mentioned. After standing for a few minutes to hear them,
though the confusion of their voices rendered it impossible for me
to distinguish many words that they uttered, I returned to the
zikr which I had ﬁrst attended.

Shortly after, I heard the loud sounds of the tambourines of a
party of ’Eesaweeyeh darweeshes, whose performances constituted
one of the chief attractions of the night, from the other end of
the great portico. I immediately rose, and went thither. My
friend the bookseller, quitting his zikr, came after me, and impru-
dently called out to me, “Efendee! take care of your purse!”
In a minute I felt my trousers pulled several times, and after-
wards I found a large hole in them, apparently cut with some
sharp instrument, by a person in search of my pocket: for when
the mosque is crowded, as it was on this occasion, it generally
happens that some thieves enter even this most sacred building.31
I had almost despaired of getting near to the ’Eesaweeyeh, when
my servant, whom I had taken thither to carry my shoes, called
out to the persons around me, “Do you know whom you are
pushing?” and instantly I found a way made for me. It was
then about three hours after sunset.

Before I describe the performances of the ’Eesaweeyeh, I
should mention that they are a class of darweeshes of whom all,
or almost all, are Maghrab’ees, or Arabs of Northern Africa, to
the west of Egypt. They derive their appellation from the name
of their ﬁrst sheykh, Seedee Mohammad Ibn-’Eesa, a Maghrab’ee.
Their performances are very extraordinary, and one is particularly
remarkable. I was very anxious that they should perform this
night what I here allude to, and I was not disappointed; though
I was told that they had not done it in Cairo for several years
before.

I found about twenty of these darweeshes, variously dressed,
sitting upon the ﬂoor close together, in the form of a ring, next
to the front wall of the building. Each of them, excepting two,

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 467

was beating a large “tar” (or tambourine), rather more than a
foot in width, and differing from the common tar in being without
the tinkling pieces of metal which are attached to the hoop of the
latter. One of the two persons mentioned as exceptions was
beating a. small tar of the common kind 5 and the other, a “ baz,”
or little kettle—drum. Before this ring of darweeshes a space
rather larger than that which they occupied was left by the crowd
for other darweeshes of the same order ,' and soon after the former
' had begun to beat their tambourines, the latter, who were six
sometimes ex-

 

in number, commenced a strange kind of dance
claiming “Allah I” and sometimes “Allah Mowlanal” (“God is
our Lord "). There was no regularity in their dancing, but each
seemed to be performing the antics of a madman—now moving
his body up and down, the next moment turning round, then
using odd gesticulations with his arms, next jumping, and some-
times screaming: in short, if a stranger observing them were not
told that they were performing a religious exercise, supposed to
be the involuntary effect of enthusiastic excitement, he would
certainly think that these dancing darweeshes were merely striv-
ing to excel one another in playing the buffoon ; and the manner
in which they were clad would conduce to impress him with this
idea. One of them were a kaftan without sleeves and without a
girdle, and had nothing on his head, which had not been shaved
for about a week; another had a white cotton skull-cap, but was
naked from the head to the waist, wearing nothing on his body
but a pair of loose drawers. These two darweeshes were the
principal performers. The former of them, a dark, spare, middle-
aged man, after having danced in his odd manner for a few
minutes, and gradually becoming more wild and extravagant in
his actions, rushed towards the ring formed by his brethren who
were beating the tars. In the middle of this ring was placed
a small chaﬁng—dish of tinned copper, full of red—hot charcoal.
From this the darweesh just mentioned seized a piece of live
charcoal, which he put into his mouth ; then he did the same with
another, another, and another, until his mouth was full, when he
deliberately chewed these live coals, opening his mouth very wide
every moment to show its contents, which, after about three
minutes, he swallowed; and all this he did without evincing the

468 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

slightest symptom of pain, appearing during the operation and
after it even more lively than before. The other darweesh before
alluded to as half-naked displayed a remarkably ﬁne and vigorous
form, and seemed to be in the prime of his age. After having
danced not much longer than the former, his actions became so
Violent that one of his brethren held him 5 but he released himself
from his grasp, and rushing towards the chaﬁng-dish, took out one
of the largest live coals and put it into his mouth. He kept his
mouth wide open for about two minutes, and during this period,
each time that he inhaled, the large coal appeared of almost a
white heat ; and when he exhaled, numerous sparks were blown
out of his mouth. After this he chewed and swallowed the coal,
and then resumed his dancing. When their performance had
lasted about half—an-hour, the darweeshes paused to rest.

Before this pause another party of the same sect had begun to
perform near the centre of the great portico. Of these I now
became a spectator. They had arranged themselves in the same
order as the former party. The ring composed by those who beat
the tambourines consisted of about the same number as in the
other company, but the dancers here were about twelve, some—
times less. One of them, a tall man dressed in a dark woollen
gown, and with a bare, shaven head, took from the chaﬁng—dish,
which was handed to the dancers as though it had been a dish of
cakes or sweetmeats, a large piece of brilliantly hot coal, placed
it between his teeth, and kept it so for a short time, then drew it
upon his tongue, and keeping his mouth wide open for, I think,
more than two minutes, violently inhaled and exhaled, showing
the inside of his mouth like a furnace, and breathing out sparks
as the former darweesh had done, but with less appearance of
excitement. Having chewed and swallowed the coal, he joined
the ring of the tambourine-players, and sat almost close to my
feet. I narrowly watched his countenance, but could not see the
least indication of his suffering any pain. After I had witnessed
these extraordinary performances for about an hour, both parties
of darweeshes stopped to rest; and as there was nothing more to
see worthy of notice, I then quitted the mosque.

Sometimes on this occasion the ’Eesaweeyeh eat glass as well
as ﬁre. One ‘of them, the hagg Mohammad Es—Selawee, a man

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 469

of gigantic stature, who was lamp-lighter in the mosque of the
Hasaneyn, and who died a few years ago, was one of the most
famous of the eaters of ﬁre and glass, and celebrated for other
performances. Often, when he appeared to become highly excited,
he used to spring up to the long bars or rafters of wood which
extend across the arches above the columns of the mosque, and
which are sixteen feet or more from the pavement, and would run
along them from one to another ,- then with his ﬁnger, wetted in
his mouth, he would strike his arm and cause blood to ﬂow, and
by the same means stanch the blood.

The zikrs during this festival are continued all night. Many
persons pass the night in the mosque, sleeping on the matting;
and it often happens that thefts are committed there. On my
return to my house after witnessing the performances of the ’Eesa—
weeyeh, I found no fewer than eight lice on my clothing.

On the following night there was nothing that I observed at
all entertaining, unless it were this, that my oﬁicious friend the
bookseller, who again presided at’ a zikr, wishing to pass me off
for a pious Muslim (or perhaps for the sake of doing a good work),
without having obtained my previous permission, openly proposed
to four ﬁkees to perform a recitation of the Kur-an (I mean, of the
whole book, a “ khatmeh ”), on my part, for the sake of seyyidna*-
l—Hoseyn. As this is commonly done on the occasions of this
festival by persons of the higher and middle orders, it would have
excited suspicion if I had objected. It was therefore performed
in the afternoon and evening next following, each ﬁkee reciting
a portion of the book, and then another relieving him : it occupied
about nine hours. After it was ﬁnished I was mentioned by my
assumed Oriental name as the author of this pious work. The
performers received a wax-candle, some bread, and a piaster each.

011 Monday the mats were removed, excepting a few, upon
which groups of ﬁkees, employed to recite the Kur—an, seated
themselves. Vast numbers of persons resorted to the mosque
this day, both men and women, chieﬂy those who were desirous
of obtaining a blessing by this visit, and disliked the still greater
crowding and confusion of the following day, or day of the Moolid.
In the ensuing evening the streets in the neighbourhood of the

'X Seyyidna signiﬁes “our lord.”

47o PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

mosque were densely crowded, and a little after sunset it was very
difﬁcult in some parts to pass. Numerous lamps were hung in
these streets, and many shops were open.

This was also the night of the Moolid of the famous Sultan
“Es-Saleh,” of the house of Eiyoob, who is commonly believed
to have been a welee, and is said to have worn a dilk, and to
have earned his subsistence by making baskets, etc, of palm
leaves (“khoos”), without drawing any money from the public
treasury for his own private use. His tomb, which adjoins his
mosque, is in the Nahhaseen (or market of the sellers of copper
wares), a part of the main street of the city, not far from the
mosque of the Hasaneyn. This market was illuminated with
many lamps. Most of the shops were open, and in each of these
was a group of three or four or more persons sitting with the
master. The mosque and tomb of Es-Saleh are much neglected,
and falling to decay, notwithstanding the high veneration which
the people of Cairo entertain for this prince. On my approaching
the door of the tomb, I was surrounded by hemalees and sakkas,
soliciting me to pay them to distribute the contents of an ibreek
or a kirbeh for the sake of Es-Saleh. I entered the building with
my shoes on (seeing that others did the same), but took them off
at the threshold of the saloon of the tomb. This is a square hall,
surmounted by a dome. In the centre is an oblong monument
over the grave, surrounded by a wooden railing. At the head of
this railed enclosure (or maksoorah) are four large wax-candles,
and at the foot three, all of which are encased in plaster, and
resemble round-topped stone pillars. They are coloured with
broad, horizontal, red stripes, like the alternate courses of stone
in the exterior walls of most mosques in Cairo. There probably
were originally the same number at the foot as there are at the
head of the maksoorah, for there is a space which seems to have
been occupied by one at the foot. These candles, it is said, were
sent as a present by a pope or by a Frank king to Es-Saleh, who,
being a welee, discovered without inspecting them that they were
ﬁlled with gunpowder, and ordered them to be thus encased in
plaster; or, according to another account, they were sent as a
present for the tomb some years after the death of Es-Saleh, and
he appeared to the guardian of his tomb in a dream, and informed

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 471

him of the gunpowder plot. The saloon of the tomb I found
scantily lighted, and having a very ancient and neglected appear—
ance. The pavement was uncovered. On my entering, two serv-
ants of the mosque took me to the foot of the maksoorah, and
one of them dictated to me the Fat’hah and the form of prayer
which I have mentioned in my account of the ceremonies of the
day of ’A’shoora ; the other responding “A’meen!” (Amen).
The former then desired me to recite the Fat’hah with them a
second time, and gave me ﬁve of the little balls of bread from the
tomb of the seyyid El-Bedawee. They received for this half a
piaster. Another servant opened the door of the maksoorah for
me to enter—an honour which required that I should give him also
a triﬂing present.

From the tomb of Es-Saleh I proceeded to the mosque of the
Hasaneyn, through streets crowded to excess (though this was
not the great night), and generally well lighted. There was but
little difference between the scenes which the streets and the
mosque of the Hasaneyn presented. Among the crowds in the
mosque I saw numbers of children, and some of them were play—
ing, running after each other, and shouting. There were numerous
groups of ﬁkees reciting the Kur-an, and one small ring of dar-
weeshes in the centre of the great portico performing a zikr. I
forced my way with diﬁiculty into the kubbeh, and performed the
circuit round the shrine. Here was a very numerous party re-
citing the Kur-a’n. After quitting the mosque, I spent about an
hour and a half in a street listening to a Sha’er.

On the following day, the last and chief day of the festival,
the mosque of the Hasaneyn and its neighbourhood were much
more thronged than on the days previous ; and in every sook, and
before every wekaleh, and even before the doors of most private
houses of the middle and higher classes of Muslims throughout
the city, lamps were hung to be lighted in the ensuing night, the
night of the Moolid. The number of beggars in the streets this
day imploring alms for the sake of “ seyyidna-l-Hoseyn ” was sur-
prising. Sitting for about an hour in the afternoon at a shop
in the main street, I was quite wearied with saying, “God help
thee!” “God sustain thee!” etc. Almost all the inhabitants of
the metropolis seemed to be in the streets, and almost all the

472 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

Turks residing here appeared to be congregated in the neighbour-
hood of the Hasaneyn. This was the grand day for visiting the
shrine of El-Hoseyn: it is believed that the Prophet is present
there all this day and the ensuing night, witnessing his followers’
pious visits to his grandson. Yet most of the great people prefer
going on the preceding day, or on any of the days of the festival
but the last, on account of the excessive crowding on this day.
I, however, went on this occasion for the very reason that deterred
them. I entered the kubbeh a little before sunset, and was sur-
prised to ﬁnd a way made for me to advance easily to the shrine.
A servant of the mosque placed me before the door of the mak-
soorah, dictated to me the same recitals as on the day of ’A’shoora,
and gave me a handful of the bread of the seyyid El-Bedawee,
consisting of fourteen of; the little balls into which it is formed.
But no sooner was this done than I was squeezed till I was almost
breathless by applicants for presents. The man who had dictated
the prayer to me asked me for his present (a piaster) 3 another
said, “I have recited the chapter of Yet-Seen for thee, O A’gha ! ”
a third, “0 Efendee, I_ am a servant of the maksoorah.” Most
of the others were common beggars. I saw now that the Turks
had good reason to prefer another day. The more importunate
of those to whom nothing was due followed me through the crowd
in the mosque and into the street, for I had given away all that
Iliad in my pocket, and more than was customary. I was in—
vited to seat myself on the mastab’ah of a shop opposite the
mosque, to deliver myself from their jostling. In the mosque I
saw nothing to remark but crowding and confusion and swarms of
beggars—men, women, and children. In the evening the mosque
was still crowded to excess, and no ceremonies were performed
there but visiting the shrine, recitations of the Kur—an, and two
or three zikrs. The streets were then more crowded than ever
till long after midnight, and the illuminations gave them a very
gay appearance. The Gohargeeyeh (or jewellers’ bazar) was illu~
minated with a great profusion of chandeliers, and curtained over.
The mad’nehs of the larger mosques were also illuminated. Many
shops were open besides those at which eatables, coffee, and sher-
bet were sold ; and in some of them were seated fikees (two ‘or
more together) reciting khatmehs (or the whole of the Kur—an).

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 473

There were Sha’ers, Mohaddits, Musicians, and Singers in various
places, as on the former nights.

In about the middle of “ Regeb ” (the seventh month) is cele-
brated the Moolid of the “ seyyideh Zeyneb,” the daughter of the
Imam ’Alee, and grand—daughter of the Prophet, always on the
eve of a Wednesday. The festival generally commences two
weeks before 3 the principal day is the last, or Tuesday. The
scene of the festivities is the neighbourhood of the mosque in
which the seyyideh is commonly believed to be buried, a gaudily
ornamented but not very handsome building in the south-western
quarter of the metropolis. The supposed tomb, over which is an
oblong monument covered with embroidered silk, and surrounded
by a bronze screen with a wooden canopy similar to those of El-
Hoseyn, is in a small but lofty apartment of the mosque, crowned
by a dome. Into this apartment, on the occasion of the Moolid,
visitors are admitted to pray and perform their circuits round the
monument. I have just been to visit it on the last or great day
of the festival. In a street near the mosque I saw several re-
citers of the Aboo-Zeyd, Hawees, Kureydatees, and Dancers, and
a few swings and whirligigs. In the mosque, the prayer usual on
such occasions, after the Fat’hah, was dictated to me, and I re-
ceived two of the little balls of the bread of the seyyid El-Bedawee.
The door of the sacred enclosure was open, but I had been told
that only women were allowed to enter, it being regarded in the
same light as a hareem, so I contented myself with making the
circuit, which, owing to the crowding of the visitors, and there
being but a very narrow space between three sides of the bronze
enclosure and the walls of the apartment, was rather diﬁicult to
accomplish. A respectable-looking woman, in a state which ren-
dered it rather dangerous for her to be present in such a crowded
place, cried out to me to make room for her, with a coarseness of
language common to Arab females. Many persons there begged
me to employ them to recite a chapter of the Kur-an for the sey-
yideh, urging the proposal with the prayer of “God give thee thy
desire!” for the visitors to the tombspor cenotaphs of saints
generally have some special petition to offer. There was a group
of blind paupers sitting on the ﬂoor and soliciting alms. The
mats were removed throughout the mosque, and only idle loungers

474 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

were to be seen there. On going out I was importuned by a

number of hemalees and sakkas to give them money to distribute I

water for the sake of “the daughter of Imam.” It is customary
to give a few faddahs to one or more servants of the maksoorah,
and to a ﬁkee to recite a chapter, and also to the beggars in the
mosque, and to one of the hemalees or sakkas. The chief cere-
monies performed in the mosque in the evenings were zikrs. Each
evening of the festival darweeshes of one or more orders repaired
thither.

The night or eve of the twenty-seventh of Regeb is the anni-
versary of the “Leylet el-Mearag,” or the night of the Prophet’s
miraculous ascension to heaven, in commemoration of which a
festival is celebrated in a part of the northern suburb of Cairo,
outside the gate called Bab El-’Adawee. For three days before,
the Sheykh El-Bekree entertains numerous persons in a house

belonging to him in this quarter, and zikrs are performed there ‘

in his house. In addition to the amusement afforded in the
streets by Hawecs, reciters of Aboo-Zeyd, etc., as on similar
festivals, the public witness on this occasion that extraordinary
performance called the “Deseh,” which I have described in my
account of the Moolid en-Nebee. This is performed in a short
but rather wide street of the suburb above mentioned, in front of
the mosque of a saint called Et—Tashtooshee, on the twenty-sixth
day of the month, which is the last and chief day of the festival,
I have just been one of its spectators. The day being Friday,
the sheykh of the Saadeeyeh (the only person who is believed to
be able to perform this reputed miracle) had to fulﬁl his usual
duty of praying and preaching in the mosque of the Hasaneyn at
noon. From that mosque he rode in procession to the scene of
the Ddseh, preceded by a long train of his darweeshes with their
banners, and some with the little drums which they often use. I
was at this spot a little after mid-day, and took my place on a
mastab’ah Which extends along the foot of the front of the mosque
of Et-Tashtooshee.

While sitting here and amusing myself with observing the
crowds attracted by the same curiosity that brought me hither, a
reputed saint, who a few days ago begged of me a few piasters to
feed some fakeers on this occasion, passed by, and seeing me, came

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 475

and sat down by my side. To pass away the time during which
we had to wait before the Doseh, he related to me a tale con-
nected with the cause of the festivities of this day. A certain
Sultan, he said, had openly ridiculed the story of the Mearag,
asserting it to be impossible that the Prophet could have got out
of his bed by night, have been carried from Mekkeh to Jerusalem
by the beast Burak, have ascended thence with the angel to the
seventh heaven, and returned to Jerusalem and Mekkeh, and
found his bed still warm. He was playing at chess one day with
his Wezeer, when the saint Et—Tashtooshee came in to him and
asked to be allowed to play with him, making this condition, that
the Sultan, if overcome, should do What the saint should order.
The proposal was accepted. The Sultan lost the game, and was
ordered by the saint to plunge in a tank of water. He did so,
and found himself in a magniﬁcent palace, and converted into a
woman of great beauty, with long hair and every female attrac—
tion. He, or now she, was married to the son of a king, gave
birth to three children successively, and then returned to the
tank, and emerging from it, informed the Wezeer of What had
happened to him. The saint reminding him now of his incredulity
on the subject of the Mearag, he declared his belief in the miracle,
and became an orthodox Muslim. Hence the festival of the
’Mearag is always celebrated in the neighbourhood of the mosque
in which Et~Tashtooshee is buried, and his Moolid is celebrated
at the same time.

Not long after the above tale was ﬁnished, an hour and a
quarter after mid-day, the procession of the Sheykh es-Saadeeyeh
arrived. The foremost persons, chieﬂy his own darweeshes, ap—
parently considerably more than a hundred (but I found it im-
possible to count them), were laid down in the street as close as
possible together, in the same manner as at the Moolid en-Nebee.
They incessantly repeated the word “Allah!” A number of
darweeshes, most with their shoes off, ran over them, several
beating their little drums, some carrying the black ﬂags of the
order of the Rifa’ees (the parent order of the Saadees), and two
carrying a “shaleesh ” (a pole about twenty feet in length, like a
large ﬂag-staff, the chief banner of the Saadeeyeh, with a large
conical ornament of brass on the top) ; then came the sheykh, on

476 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

the same gray horse that he rode at the Moolid emNebee. He
was dressed in a light-blue pelisse, lined with ermine, and wore a
black, or almost black, mukleh, which is a large, formal turban,
peculiar to persons of religious and learned professions. He rode
over the prostrate men, mumbling all the while. Two persons
led his horse, and they also trod upon the prostrate men, some-
times on the legs and on the heads. Once the horse pranced and
curveted, and nearly trod upon several heads; he passed over the
men with a high and hard pace. The sheykh entered the house
of the Sheykh El-Bekree, before mentioned, adjoining the mosque.
None of the men who were ridden over appeared to be hurt, and
many got up laughing; but one appeared to be “melboos,” or
overcome by excitement, and though he did not put his hand to
his back as if injured by the tread of the horse, seemed near
fainting, and tears rolled down his face. It is possible, however,
that this man was hurt by the horse, and that he endeavoured to
conceal the cause.

After the Doseh, my friend the saint insisted on my coming
to his house, which was near by, with three ﬁkees. He conducted
us to a small upper room, furnished with an old carpet and
cushions. Here the three ﬁkees sat down with me, and recited
the Fat’hah together in a very loud voice. Then one of them
chanted about half of the second chapter of the Kur-an' very
musically; another ﬁnished it. Our host afterwards brought a
stool, and placed upon it a tray with three large dishes of “’eysh
bilahm.” This is minced meat fried with butter and seasoned
with some taheeneh (or sesame from which oil has been pressed),
vinegar, and chopped onions, then put upon cakes of leavened
dough, and baked. To this meal I sat down with the three ﬁkees,
our host waiting upon us. A fourth ﬁkee came in and joined us
at dinner. After we had eaten, the ﬁkees recited the Fat’hah for
the host, and then for myself, and went away. I soon after fol—
lowed their example.

On the Leylet el-Mearag, between two and three hours after
sunset, the Sheykh El—Bekree returns in procession, preceded by
numerous persons bearing mesh’als, and by a number of dar~
weeshes, to his house in the Ezbekeeyeh. During this night the
mad’nehs of the larger mosques are illuminated.

\

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 477

On the ﬁrst or second Wednesday in “Shaaban” (the eighth
month), generally on the former day, unless that be the ﬁrst or
second day of the month, the celebration of the Moolid of the
“Imam Esh—Shafe’ee” commences. It ends on the eve of the
Thursday in the next week. The great cemetery called the Kara-
feh, in the desert tract on the south of the metropolis, Where the
Imam is buried, and the southern part of the town, are the scenes
of the festivities. As this Imam was the founder of the sect to
which most of the people of Cairo belong, his Moolid attracts
many Visitors. The festivities are similar to those of other great
Moolids. On the Saturday before the last or chief day, the cere-
mony of the Doseh is performed. On the last day, Wednesday,
the visitors are most numerous ; and during the ensuing night
zikrs, etc., are performed in the sepulchral mosque of the Imam.
Above the dome of this mosque, upon its point, is ﬁxed a metal
boat, in which there used to be placed, on the occasion of the
Moolid, an ardebb (or about ﬁve bushels) of wheat and a camel-
load of water for the birds. The boat is said to turn sometimes
when there is no wind to move it, and, according to the position
which it takes, to foretoken various events, good and evil, such as
plenty or scarcity, the death of some great man, etc.

Several other Moolids follow that of the Imam ; but those al<
ready described are the most famous, and the ceremonies of all
are nearly the same.

The “Night of the Middle of Shaaban,” or “Leylet en—Nusf
min Shaaban,” which is the night of the ﬁfteenth (that is preceding
the ﬁfteenth day) of that month, is held in great reverence by the
Muslims, as the period when the fate of every living man is con-
ﬁrmed for the ensuing year. The Sidr (or lote tree) of Paradise,
which is more commonly called Shegeret el-hluntah’a (or the Tree
of the Extremity), probably for several reasons, but chieﬂy (as is
generally supposed) because it is said to be at the extremity or on
the most elevated spot in Paradise, is believed to have as many
leaves as there are living human beings in the world; and the
leaves are said to be inscribed with the names of all those beings,
each leaf bearing the name of one person, and those of his father
and mother. The tree, we are taught, is shaken on the night
above mentioned, a little after sunset; and when a person is des-

478 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

tined to die in the ensuing year, his leaf, upon which his name is I
written, falls on this occasion. If he be to die very soon, his leaf
is almost wholly withered, a very small portion only remaining-
green. If he be to die later in the year, a larger portion remains
green. According to the time he has yet to live, so is the propor- '
tion of the part of the leaf yet green. This, therefore, is a very
awful night to the serious and considerate Muslims, who accord-
ingly observe it with solemnity and earnest prayer. A particular
form of prayer is used on the occasion immediately after the ordi-
nary evening-prayers, which are said soon after sunset. Those
who are able recite it without being prompted to do so, and gener-
ally in a mosque; others assemble in the mosques for this purpose,
and hire a ﬁkee to assist them ; and many ﬁkees, therefore, resort
to the mosques to perform this ofﬁce. Each ﬁkee oiﬁciates for a
group of persons. He ﬁrst recites the “ Soorat Ya-Seen (or 36th
chapter of the Kur-an), and then, raising his hands before his ,
face, as in the ordinary supplications, and the other worshippers
doing the same, he recites the “do’a” (or prayer) repeating one,
two, three, or more words, which the others then repeat after him.
The prayer is as follows :—~“ 0 God ! O thou Gracious! and who
art not an object of grace! O thou Lord of Dignity and Honour,
and of Beneﬁcence and Favour! There is no deity but thou, the
Support of those who seek to thee for refuge, and the Helper of
those who have recourse to thee for help, and the Trust of those
who fear! 0 God, if thou have recorded me in thy abode, upon
the ‘Original of the Book,’ miserable, or unfortunate, or scanted
in my sustenance, cancel, 0 God, of thy goodness, my misery, and
misfortune, and scanty allowance of sustenance, and conﬁrm me in
thy abode, upon the original of the Book, as happy, and provided
for, and directed to good: for thou hast said (and thy saying is
true) in thy Book revealed by the tongue of thy commissioned
Prophet, ‘God will cancel what he pleaseth, and conﬁrm; and
with him is the Original of the Book.’ O my God! by the very
great revelation [which is made] on the night of the middle of the
month of Shaaban the honoured, ‘in which every determined
decree is dispensed’ and confirmed, remove from me whatever
afﬂiction I know, and what I know not, and what thou best
knowest ; for thou art the most Mighty, the most Bountiful.

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 479

And favour, O God, our lord Mohammad, the Illiterate Prophet,*
and his Family and Companions, and preserve them.” After
having repeated this prayer, the worshippers offer up anyprivate
supplication.

~ The night on which “ Ramadan ” (the month of abstinence, the
ninth month of the year) is expected to commence is called
“ Leylet er-Roo-yeh,” or the Night of the Observation [of the new
moon]. In the afternoon, or earlier, during the preceding day,
several persons are sent a few miles into the desert, where the air
is particularly clear, in order to obtain a sight of the new moon;
for the fast commences on the next day after the new moon has
been seen, or if the moon cannot be seen in consequence of a
cloudy sky, at the expiration of thirty days from the commence-
ment of the preceding month. The evidence of one Muslim, that
he has seen the new moon, is sufﬁcient for the proclaiming of the
fast. In the evening of the day above mentioned, the Mohtes’ib,
the sheykhs of several trades (millers, bakers, slaughtermen,
sellers of meat, oilmen, and fruiterers), with several other mem-
bers of each of these trades, parties of musicians, and a number of
fakeers, headed and interrupted by companies of soldiers, go in
procession from the Citadel to the Court of the Kadee, and there
await the return of one of the persons who have been sent to
make the observation, or the testimony of any other Muslim who
has seen the new moon. The streets through which they pass are
lined with spectators. There used to be in this procession several
led horses, handsomely caparisoned; but of late military display
of a poor order has for the most part taken the place of civil
and religious pomp. The procession of the night of the Boo-yeh
is now chieﬂy composed of Nizam infantry. Each company of
soldiers is preceded and followed by bearers of mesh’als to light
them on their return, and followed by the sheykh and a few
other members of some trade, with several fakeers, shouting as
they pass along, “0! Blessing! Blessing! Bless ye the Prophet!
On him be peace 1 ” After every two or three companies, there is
generally an interval of many minutes. The Mohtes/ib and his
attendants close the procession. When information that the moon

* Mohammad gloried in his illiteracy, as a proof of his being inspired. It had the
same effect upon his followers as the words of our Saviour had upon the Jews, who re-
marked, “ How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (John vii. 15.)

480 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, \ETC.

has been seen has arrived at the Kadee’s court, the soldiers and
others assembled there divide themselves into several companies,
one of which returns to the Citadel; the others perambulate
different quarters of the town, shouting, “O followers of the best ,
of the Creation! [the Prophet] Fasting! Fasting!” When the
moon has not been seen on this night, the people are informed by
the cry of “ To-morrow is of the month of Shaabanl No fasting!
No fasting!” The people generally pass a great part of this night
(when the fast has been proclaimed as commencing on the morrow)
in eating and drinking and smoking, and seem as merry as they usu-
ally do when released from the misery of the day’s fast. The mosques,
as on the following nights, are illuminated within ; and lamps are
hung at their entrances, and upon the galleries of the mad’nehs.
In Ramadan, instead of seeing, as at other times, many of the
passengers in the streets with the pipe in the hand, we now see
them empty-handed until near sunset, or carrying a stick or cane
or a string of beads; but some of the Christians now are not
afraid, as they used to be, of smoking in their shops in the sight
of the fasting Muslims. The streets in the morning have a dull
appearance, many of the shops being shut ; but in the afternoon
they are as much crowded as usual, and all the shops are open.
The Muslims during the day—time, while fasting, are, generally
speaking, very morose ; in the night, after breakfast, they are un-
usually affable and cheerful. It is the general fashion of the prin-
cipal Turks in Cairo, and a custom of many others, to repair to
the mosque of the Hasaneyn in the afternoon during Ramadan, to
pray and lounge , and on these occasions a number of Turkish
tradesmen (called Tohafgeeych) expose for sale in the court of the
meyda'ah (or tank for ablution) a variety of articles of taste and
luxury suited to the wants of their countrymen. It is common in
this month to see tradesmen in their shops reciting the Kur—an or
prayers, or distributing bread to the poor. Towards evening, and
for some time after sunset, the beggars are more than usually im-
portunate and clamorous ; and at these times the coffee-shops are
much frequented by persons of the lower orders, many of whom
prefer to break their fast with a cup of coffee and a pipe. There
are few among the poor who do not keep the fast; but many
persons of the higher and middle classes break it in secret,

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 481

In general, during Ramadan, in the houses of persons of the
higher and middle classes, the stool of 'the supper-tray is placed
in the apartment in which the master of the house receives his
visitors a few minutes before sunset. A japanned tray is put
upon it, and on this are placed several dishes or large saucers con-
taining different kinds of dry fruits (which are called “nukl”)—
such as hazel-nuts (generally toasted), raisins, shelled walnuts,
dried dates, dried ﬁgs, shelled almonds, sugared nuts, etc., and
kahk, or sweet cakes. With these are also placed several kullehs
(or glass cups) of sherbet of sugar and water—usually one or two
cups more than there are persons in the house to partake of the
beverage, in case of visitors coming unexpectedly; and often a
little fresh cheese and a cake of bread are added. The pipes are
also made ready; and it is usual to provide, in. houses where
numerous visitors are likely to call, several common reed pipes.
Immediately after the call to evening-prayer, which is chanted
four minutes after sunset, the master and such of his family or
friends as happen to be with him drink each a glass of sherbet.
They then usually say the evening-prayers ,- and this done, eat a
few nuts, etc., and smoke their pipes. After this slight refresh~
ment they sit down to a plentiful meal of meat and other food,
which they term their breakfast (“ fatoor ”). Having ﬁnished this
meal, they say the night-prayers and certain additional prayers of
Ramadan called “ et-taraweeh,” or smoke again before they pray.
The taraweeh prayers consist of twenty rek’ahs, and are repeated
between the ’eshe' prayers and the witr. Very few persons say
these prayers excepting in the mosque, where they have an Imam
to take the lead; and they do little more than conform with his
motions. The smaller mosques are closed in Ramadan soon after
the taraweeh prayers; the larger remain open until the period of
the last meal (which is called the “ sahoor”), or until the “ imsak,”
which is the period when the fast must be recommenced. They
are illuminated within and at their entrances as long as they
remain open, and the mad’nehs are illuminated during the whole
of the night. The time during which the Muslim is allowed to
eat (commencing, as already stated, at sunset) varies from 11 hours
55 minutes to 7 hours 46 minutes (in the latitude of Cairo),
according as the night is long or shorte—the imsak being always

(440) 31

482 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

twenty minutes before the period of the prayer of daybreak.
Consequently the time during which he keeps fast every day is
from 12 hours 5 minutes to 16 hours 14 minutes.

The Muslims, during Ramadan, generally take their breakfast
at home ,' after which they sometimes spend an hour or two in
the house of a friend. Many of them, but chieﬂy those of the
lower orders, in the evening visit a coffee-shop, either merely for
the sake of society or to listen to one of the reciters of romances
or musicians, who entertain the company at many of the coffee-
shops every night of this month. Numerous passengers are seen
in the streets during the greater part of the night, and most of
the shops at which sherbet and eatables are sold remain open.
Night is thus turned into day, and particularly by the wealthy,
most of whom sleep during a great part of the day. It is a
custom of some of the ’Ulama of Cairo to have a zikr performed
in their houses every night during this month; and some other
persons also occasionally invite their friends, and entertain them
with a zikr or a khatmeh.

Every night, during Ramadan, criers called “Musahhirs” go
about, ﬁrst to recite a complimentary cry before the house of each
Muslim who is able to reward them, and at a later hour to an-
nounce the period of the sahoor, or last meal. There is one of
these criers to each “khutt,” or small district, of Cairo. He begins
his rounds about two hours or a little more after sunset (that is,
shortly after the night-prayers have been said), holding with his
left hand a small drum called “baz” or “ tablat el-musahhir,” and
in his right hand a small stick or strap with which he beats it ;
and is accompanied by a boy carrying two kandeels (or small
glass lamps) in a frame made of palm sticks. They stop before
the house of every Muslim, excepting the poor, and on each occa-
sion of their doing this the musahhir beats his little drum to the
following measure three times :—

 

 

 

 

 

Hail arias- N—H
,y -- ea :5 L4,”

after which he chants, “He prospereth who saith, ‘There is no
deity but God ;”’ then he beats his drum in the samemanner as
before, and adds, “‘Mohammad, the Guide, is the Apostle of

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 483

God.’ ” Then again beating his drum, he generally continues,
“The most happy of nights to thee, 0 such a one!” (naming the
master of the house). Having previously inquired the names of
the inmates of each house, he greets each person, excepting women,
in the same manner, mentioning every brother, son, and young
unmarried daughter of the master, saying, in the last case, “The
most happy of nights to the chief lady among brides, such a one.”
After each greeting he beats his drum ; and after having greeted
the man (or men), adds, “ May God accept from him [or them] his
[or their] prayers and fasting and good works.” He concludes by
saying, “God preserve you, 0 ye generous, every year l” At the
houses of the great (as also sometimes in other cases), after com-
mencing as above (“ He prospereth who saith, ‘There is no deity
but God: Mohammad, the Guide, is the Apostle of God’”), he
generally repeats a long chant in unmeasured rhyme, in which he
ﬁrst conjures God to pardon his sins, and blesses the Prophet, and
then proceeds to relate the story of the “mearag” (or the Prophet’s
miraculous ascension to heaven), and other similar stories of mir-
acles, beating his drum after every few words, or rather after every
rhyme. A house of mourning the musahhir passes by. He gen-
erally receives, at the house of a person of the middle orders, two,
three, or four piasters on the “ ’eed” which follows Ramadan.
Some persons give him a triﬂe every night.

If my reader be at all impressed by What has been above re-
lated of the ofﬁce of the musahhir, as illustrating the character
of the Muslims, he will be more struck by what here follows.
At many houses of the middle classes in Cairo the women often
put a small coin (of ﬁve faddahs, or from that sum to a piaster or
more) into a piece of paper and throw it out of a window to the
musahhir, having ﬁrst set ﬁre to the paper that he may see where
it falls. He then, sometimes by their desire and sometimes of his
own accord, recites the Fat’hah, and relates to them a short tale in
unmeasured rhyme for their amusement, as, for instance, the story
of two “ darrahs”——the quarrels of two women who are wives of
the same man. Some of the tales which he relates on these occa-
sions are of a grossly indecent nature, and yet they are listened to
by females in houses of good repute. How incongruous are such
sequels! What inconsistency of character do they evince!

484 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

During this month, those calls from the mad’nehs which are
termed “the 001a” and “the Ebed” are discontinued, and in
their stead two other calls are chanted. The period of the ﬁrst
of these, which is termed the “Abrar” (from the ﬁrst word of
note occurring in it), is between an hour and a half and half-an-
hour before midnight, according as the night is long or short. It
consists of the following verses of the Kur-an :——“But the just
shall drink of a cup [of wine] mixed with [the water of] Kafoor,
a fountain from which the servants of God shall drink. They
shall convey the same by channels [whithersoever they please].
[These] did fulﬁl their vow, and dread the day, the evil whereof
will disperse itself far abroad 5 and give food unto the poor and the
orphan and the bondsman for his sake, [saying,] We feed you for
God’s sake only: we desire no recompense from you, nor any
thanks.”—-The second call is termed the “ Selam ” (or salutation),
and is a series of invocations of blessings on the Prophet similar
to those recited before the Friday prayers, but not always the
same. This is generally chanted about half-an—hour after mid—
night. The morning adan from the mad’nehs is chanted much
earlier than usual, as a. warning to the Muslims to take their last
meal, the sahoor 5 in winter, in the longest night, about two
hours and a half, and in the short nights about one hour and a
half, before the imsak. Another adan is also made from the
dikkehs in the great mosques about twenty minutes before the
imsak, as a ﬁnal warning to any who may have neglected to eat 3
and at the period of the imsak, in these mosques, the meekatee
(who makes known the hours of prayer, etc.), or some other per-
son, calls out “Irfa’ool” that is, “Remove ye” Lyour food, etc].
About an hour and a half before the imsak, the musahhir goes his
rounds to rouse or remind the people to eat at those houses where
he has been ordered to call, knocking and calling until he is
answered; and the porter of each quarter does the same at each
house in his quarter. Some persons eat but little for their fatoor,
and make the sahoor the principal meal; others do the reverse, or
make both meals alike. Most persons sleep about half the night.

Some few pious persons spend the last ten days and nights of
Ramadan in the mosque of the Hasaneyn or that of the Seyyideh
Zeyneb. One of these nights, generally supposed to be the 27th

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 485

of the month (that is, the night preceding the 27th day), is called
“ Leylet el~Kadr” (the Night of Power, or of the Divine decree).
On this night the Kur-an is said to have been sent down to M0-
hammad. It is aﬁirmed to be “better than a thousand months ;”
and the angels are believed to descend and to be occupied in con-
veying blessings to the faithful from 'the commencement of it until
daybreak. Moreover, the gates of heaven being then opened,
prayer is held to be certain of success. Salt water, it is said,
suddenly becomes sweet on this night; and hence some devout
persons, not knowing which of the last ten nights of Ramadan
is the Leylet el-Kadr, observe all those nights with great solem-
nity, and keep before them a vessel of salt water, which they
occasionally taste, to try if it become sweet, so that they may
be certain of the night. I ﬁnd, however, that a tradition of the
Prophet ﬁxes it to be one of the odd nights—the 21st, 23rd, 25th,
27th, or 29th.

On the ﬁrst three days of “Showwal” (the tenth month, the
next after Ramadan) is celebrated the minor of the two grand
festivals which are ordained by the religion of the Muslims to be
observed with general rejoicing. It is commonly called “el-’Eed
es—Sugheiyir,” but more properly “el-’Eed es—Sagheer.” The ex—
piration of the fast of Ramadan is the occasion of this festival.
Soon after sunrise on the ﬁrst day, the people having all dressed
in new or in their best clothes, the men assemble in the mosques
and perform the prayers of two rek’ahs, a sunneh ordinance of the
’eed, after which the Khateeb delivers an exhortation. Friends
meeting in the mosque, or in the street, or in each other’s houses,
congratulate and embrace and kiss each other. They generally
visit each other for this purpose. Some, even of the lower classes,
dress themselves entirely in a new suit of clothes ,- and almost
every one wears something new, if it be only a pair of shoes.
The servant is presented with one or more new articles of clothing
by the master, and receives a few piasters from each of his master’s
friends if they visit the house, or even goes to those friends to con-
gratulate them, and receives his present; If he have served a
former master, he also visits him, and is in like manner rewarded
for his trouble; and sometimes he brings a present of a dish of
“kahk” (or sweet cakes), and obtains in return money of twice

486 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

the value or more. On the days of this ’eed, most of the people
of Cairo eat “ feseekh ” (or salted ﬁsh) and “ kahks,” “ fateerehs”
(or thin, folded pancakes) and “ shureyks ” (a kind of bun). Some
families also prepare a dish called “mumezzezeh,” consisting of
stewed meat, with onions, and a quantity of treacle, vinegar, and
coarse ﬂour ; and the master usually procures dried fruits (“nukl”),
such as nuts, raisins, etc., for his family. Most of the shops in the
metropolis are closed, excepting those at which eatables and sher-
bet are sold , but the streets present a gay appearance from the
crowds of passengers in their holiday clothes.

On one or more days of this festival, some or all of the mem—
bers of most families, but chieﬂy the women, visit the tombs of
their relatives. This they also do on the occasion of the other _
grand festival, of which an account will be given hereafter. The
visitors, or their servants, carry palm branches, and sometimes
sweet basil (“reehan”), to lay upon the tomb which they go to
visit. The palm branch is broken into several pieces, and these,
or the leaves only, are placed on the tomb. Numerous groups
of women are seen on- these occasions, bearing palm branches, on
their way to the cemeteries in the neighbourhood of the metro-
polis. They are also provided, according to their circumstances,
with kahks, shureyks, fateerehs, bread, dates, or some other kind
of food, to distribute to the poor who resort to the burial-grounds
on these days. Sometimes tents are pitched for them; the tent
surrounds the tomb which is the object of the visit. The visitors
recite the Fat’hah, or, if they can afford it, employ a person to
recite ﬁrst the Soorat Ya—Seen, or a larger portion of the Kur—an.
Often a«khatmeh (or recital of the whole of the Kur—an) is per-
formed at the tomb or in the house by several ﬁkees. The men
generally return immediately after these rites have been per-
formed and the fragments or leaves of the palm branch laid on
the tomb ; the women usually go to the tomb early in the morn-
ing, and do not return until the afternoon. Some of them (but
these are not generally esteemed women of correct conduct), if
they have a tent, pass the night in it, and remain until the end of
the festival or until the afternoon of the following Friday ; so also
do the women of a family possessed of a private, enclosed burial—
ground with a house within it—for there are many such enclosures,

PERIODICAL ‘PUBLZC FESTIVALS, ETC. 487

and not a few with houses for the accommodation of the females,
in the midst of the public cemeteries of Cairo. Intrigues are said
to be not uncommon with the females who spend the night in
tents among the tombs. The great cemetery of Bath en-Nasr, in
the desert tract immediately on the north of the metropolis, pre-
sents a remarkable scene on the two ’eeds. In a part next the
city gate from which the burial-ground takes its name many
swings and whirligigs are erected, and several large tents, in some
of which dancers, reciters of Aboo-Zeyd, and other performers,
amuse a dense crowd of Spectators; and throughout the burial-
ground are seen numerous tents for the reception of the visitors
of the tombs.

About two or three days after the ’eed above described, the
“ Kisweh,” or covering of the Kaabeh, which is sent annually with
the great caravan of pilgrims, is conveyed in procession from the
Citadel of the metropolis, where it is manufactured at the Sultan’s
expense, to the mosque of the Hasaneyn, to be sewed together
and lined, preparatively to the approaching pilgrimage. It is of a
coarse, black brocade, covered with inscriptions of passages from
the Kur-an, etc., which are interwoven with silk of the same
colour, and having a broad band across each side ornamented with
similar inscriptions worked in gold.32 The following account of
the procession of the Kisweh I write on my return from witness-
ing it, on the 6th of Showwal 1249 (or 15th of February 1834).

I took my seat soon after sunrise in the shop of the Basha’s
booksellers, in the main street of the city, nearly opposite the
entrance to the bazar called Khan El-Khaleelee. This and almost
every shop in the street were crowded with persons attracted by
the desire of witnessing the procession, old and young—for the
Egyptians of every class and rank and age take great pleasure in
viewing public spectacles; but the streets were not so much
thronged as they usually are on the occasions of the processions of
the Mahmal. About two hours after sunrise, the four portions
which form each one side of the “ Kisweh ” were borne past the
spot where I had taken my post, each of the four pieces placed on
an ass, with the ropes by which they were to be attached. The
asses were not ornamented in any way, nor neatly caparisoned,
and their conductors were common fellahs, in the usual blue

’488 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC,

shirt. There was then an interval of about three-quarters of an
hour, and nothing to relieve the dulness of this long pause but
the passing of a few darweeshes and two buﬁ'oons, who stopped
occasionally before a shop where they saw any well-dressed per-
sons sitting, and, for the sake of obtaining a present of about
ﬁve faddahs (or a little more than a farthing), engaged in a
sham quarrel, abused each other in loud and gross words, and
violently slapped each other on the face.

After this interval came about twenty ill-dressed men, bearing
on their shoulders a long frame of wood, upon which was extended
one—quarter of the “Hezam” (that is, the belt or band above
mentioned). The Hezam is in four pieces, which, when sewed
together to the Kisweh, form one continuous band, so as to sur-
round the Kaabeh entirely, at about two-thirds of its height. It
is of the same kind of black brocade as the Kisweh itself. The
inscriptions in gold are well worked in large and beautiful charac-
ters, and surrounded by a border of gold ; and at each end, where
the upper and lower borders unite, the Hezam is ornamented in
a tasteful manner with green and red silk, sewed on, and em-
broidered with gold. One or other of the bearers frequently
went aside to ask for a present from some respectably—dressed
spectator. There was an interval of about a quarter of an hour
after the ﬁrst quarter of the Hezam passed by. The other three
portions were then borne along, one immediately after another, in
the same manner. Then there was another interval of about
half-an-hour, after which there came several tall camels, slightly
stained with the red dye of the henna, and having high, ornamented
saddles, such as I have described in my account of the return of
the Mahmal ; upon each of these were one or two boys or girls,
and upon some were cats. These were followed by a company of
Baltageeyeh (or Pioneers), a very 'good military band (the instru-
ments of various kinds, but mostly trumpets, and all European),
and the Basha’s guard, a regiment of infantry of picked young men
in uniforms of a dark bluish—brown, with new red shoes, and with
stockings.

The “Burko’” (or Veil), which is the curtain that is hung
before the door of the Kaabeh, was next borne along, stretched
upon a high, ﬂattish frame of wood ﬁxed on the back of a ﬁne

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 489

came]. It was of black brocade, embroidered in the same manner
as the Hezam, with inscriptions from the Kur-an in letters of gold,
but more richly and more highly ornamented, and was lined with
green silk. The face of the Burko’ was extended on the right side
of the frame, and the green silk lining on the left. It was followed
by numerous companies of darweeshes, with their banners, among
which were several shaleeshes (such as I have described in my
account of the Ddseh at the festival of the Mearag), which are the
banners of the principal orders of darweeshes. Many of them bore
ﬂags inscribed with the profession of the faith (“There is no deity
but God: Mohammad is God’s Apostle ”), or with words from the
Kur-an, and the names of God, the Prophet, and the foundei's of
their orders. Several Kadiree darweeshes bore nets of various
colours, each extended upon a framework of hoops upon a pole:
these were ﬁshermen. Some of the darweeshes were employed in
repeating, as in a common zikr, the name and attributes of God.
Two men armed with swords and shields engaged each other in a
mock combat. One other, mounted on a horse, was fantastically
. dressed in sheep—skins, and wore a high skin cap and a grotesque
false beard composed of short pieces of cord or twist, apparently
of wool, with moustaches formed of two long brown feathers. He
occasionally pretended to write f‘fetwas” (or judicial decisions),
upon scraps of paper given to him by spectators, with a piece of
stick, which he feigned to charge with a substitute for ink by
applying it to his horse as though it were intended for a goad.
But the most remarkable group in this part of the procession con-
sisted of several darweeshes of the sect of the Rifa’ees, called
Owlad—’Ilwan, each of whom bore in his hand an iron spike about a
foot in length, with a ball of the same metal at the thick end, hav-
ing a number of small and short chains attached to it. Several of
these darweeshes, in appearance, thrust the spike with violence into
their eyes, and withdrew it, without showing any mark of injury.
It seemed to enter to the depth of about an inch. This trick was
very well performed. Five faddahs, or even a pipeful of tobacco,
seemed to be considered a sufficient recompense to the religious
juggler for this display of his pretended miraculous power, The
spectators near me seemed to entertain no suspicion of any fraud
in this singular performance, and I was reproached by one who sat

490 PEIBI ODI CAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

by me, a man of very superior information, for expressing my
opinion that it was a very clever piece of deception. Most of the
darweeshes in the procession were Rifa’ecs ; their sheykh, on horse-
back, followed them.

Next came the “ Mahmal,” which I have- described in my ac-
count of its return to Cairo. It is added to the procession of the
kisweh for the sake of increasing the show. The grand procession
of the Mahmal previous to the departure of the great caravan of
pilgrims takes place between two and three weeks after. Another
black covering of an oblong form, embroidered in like manner
with gold, to be placed over the Makam Ibraheem, in the temple
of Mekkeh, was borne after the Mahmal. Behind this rode a
Turkish military ofﬁcer, holding upon an embroidered kerchief
a small case, or bag, of green silk embroidered with gold, the
receptacle of the key of the Kaabeh. Then followed the last
person in the procession: this was the half—naked sheykh de-
scribed in my account of the return of the Mahmal, who con-
stantly follows this sacred object, and accompanies the caravan
to and from Mekkeh,, mounted on a camel, and incessantly rolling
his head.

In the latter part of Showwal, not always on the same day
of the month, but generally on or about the twenty-third, the
principal ofﬁcers and escort of the great caravan of pilgrims pass
from the Citadel through the metropolis in grand procession,
followed by the Mahmal. The procession is called that of the
Mahmal. The various persons who take part in it, most of whom
proceed with the caravan to Mekkeh, collect in the Kara Meydan
and the Rumeyleh (two large open tracts) below the Citadel, and
there take their places in the prescribed order. As this procession
is conducted with less pomp in almost every successive year, I shall
describe it as I ﬁrst witnessed it, during my former visit to Egypt.
The streets through which it passed were lined with spectators,
some seated on the mastab’ahs of the shops (which were all closed),
and others standing on the ground below. I obtained a good place
at a shop in the main street, through which it passed towards the
gate called Bab en—Nasr.

First, a cannon was drawn along, about three hours after sun-
rise. It was a small ﬁeld-piece, to be used for the purpose of

 

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 491

ﬁring signals for the departure of the caravan after each halt.
Then followed two companies of irregular Turkish cavalry (Delees
and Tufekjees), about ﬁve hundred men, most shabbily clad, and
having altogether the appearance of banditti. Next, after an
interval of about half—an-hour, came several men mounted on
camels, and each beating a pair of the large copper kettle—drums
called nakkarahs attached to the fore part of the saddle. Other
camels, with large stuffed saddles of the same kind as those
described in my account of the return of the Mahmal, without
riders, followed those above mentioned. These camels were all
slightly tinged of a dingy orange red with henna. Some of them
had a number of fresh, green palm branches ﬁxed upright upon
the saddles like enormous plumes ; others were decorated with
small ﬂags in the same manner as those above alluded to ; several
had a large bell hung on each side ; some, again, bore water-skins ;
and one was laden with the “khazneh,” a square case covered
with red cloth, containing the treasure for defraying those ex-
penses of the pilgrimage which fell upon the government. The
baggage of the Emeer el—Hagg (or Chief of the Pilgrims) then
followed, borne by camels. With his furniture and provisions, etc.,
was conveyed the new “ Kisweh.” After this there was another
interval.

The next persons in the procession were several darweeshes,
moving their heads from side to side and repeating the name of
God. With these were numerous camel-drivers, sakkas, sweepers,
and others 5 some of them crying “ ’Arafat ! O God ! ” and “God I
God! [May the journey be] with safety !” Then again followed
several camels, some with palm branches, and others with large
bells, as before described. Next, the takht’rawan (or litter) of
the Emeer el—Hagg, covered with red cloth, was borne along by
two camels, the foremost of which had a saddle decorated with a
number of small ﬂags. Some Arabs and the “Deleel el—Hagg”
(or Guide of the Caravan) followed it ; and next came several
camels, and groups of darweeshes and others, as before. Then
followed about ﬁfty members of the Basha’s household, well
dressed and mounted; a number of other ofﬁcers, with silver-
hcaded sticks and guns; the chief of the Delees, with his ofﬁcers;
and another body of members of the household, mounted like the

492 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

ﬁrst, but persons of an inferior order. These were followed by
several other oﬂicers of the court, on foot, dressed in kaftans of
cloth of gold. Next came two swordsmen, naked to the waist, and
each having a small round shield. They frequently stopped and
engaged each other in sport, and occasionally received remuneration
from some of the spectators. These preceded a company of dar—
weeshes, camel—drivers, and others, and the shouts before mentioned
were repeated.

After a short interval, the sounds of drums and ﬁfes were heard,
and a considerable body of the N izam, or regular troops, marched
by. Next followed the “walee” (or chief magistrate of police),
with several of his ofﬁcers ; then the attendants of the “ Emeer el-
Hagg,” the “ Emeer ” himself, three katibs (or clerks), a troop of
Maghrab'ee horsemen, and three “ Muballighs” of the Mountain,
in white ’abayehs (or woollen cloaks) interwoven with gold. The
ofﬁce of the last is to repeat certain words of the Khateeb (or
preacher) on Mount ’Arafat. Then again there intervened numer-
ous groups of camel-drivers, sweepers, sakkas, and others, many of
them shouting as those before. In the midst of these rode the
“Imams” of the four orthodox sects, one to each sect. Several
companies of darweeshes, of different orders, followed next, with
the tall banners and ﬂags of the kind mentioned in my account
of the procession of the Kisweh ,' the Kadireeyeh having also, in
addition to their poles with various-coloured nets, long palm sticks
as ﬁshing—rods. Kettle—drums, hautboys, and other instruments, at
the head of each of these companies, produced a harsh music. They ‘
were followed by members of various trades, each body headed by
their sheykh.

Next came several camels, and then the “Mahmal.” Many
of the people in ‘the streets pressed violently towards it, to touch
it with their hands, which, having done so, they kissed; and
many of the women who witnessed the spectacle from the lat—
ticed windows of the houses let down their shawls or head—veils,
in order to touch with them the sacred object. Immediately
behind the Mahmal was the same person whom I have described
as following it on its return to Cairo, and in the procession of
the Kisweh—the half-naked sheykh, seated on a camel, and roll-
ing his head.

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 493

In former years the Mahmal used to be conveyed on this
occasion with much more pomp, particularly in the times of the
Memlooks, who attended it clad in their richest dresses, dis-
playing their most splendid arms and armour, and in every
way vying with each other in magniﬁcence. It used generally
to be preceded by a group of Saadeeyeh darweeshes devouring live
serpents.

The Mahmal, the baggage of the Emeer, etc. , generally remain
two or three or more days in the plain of the Hasweh, on the
north of the metropolis; then proceed to the Birket el~Hagg (or
Lake of the Pilgrims), about eleven miles from the city, and
remain there two days. This latter halting-place is the general
rendezvous of the pilgrims. The caravan usually departs thence
on the twenty-seventh of Showwal. The journey to Mekkeh
occupies thirty-seven days. The route lies over rocky and sandy
deserts, with very few verdant spots. To diminish the hardships
of the journey, the caravan travels slowly, and mostly by night,
starting about two hours before sunset, and halting the next
morning a little after sunrise. The litters most generally used by
the pilgrims I have described in the account of the return of the
caravan. Most of the Turkish pilgrims, and many others, prefer
going by way of El-Kuseyr or Es—Suweys and the Red Sea, and set
out from Cairo generally between two and three months before the
great caravan.

On the tenth of “ Zu-l-Heggeh” (the last month of the year)
commences the Great Festival, “El-’Eed el—Kebeer,” which, like
the former ’eed, lasts three days or four, and is observed with
nearly the same customs. Every person puts on his best clothes
or a new suit, but it is more common to put on new clothes on
the minor ’eed. Prayers are performed in the mosques on the ﬁrst
day soon after sunrise, as on the other festival, and the same cus-
toms of visiting and congratulation, and giving presents (though
generally of smaller sums) to servants and others, are observed by
most persons. The sacriﬁce that is performed on the ﬁrst day,
which is the day of the pilgrim,’s sacriﬁce, has been mentioned in
the third chapter of this work. It is a duty observed by most
persons who can easily afford to do it. For several previous days
numerous ﬂocks of sheep and many buffaloes are driven into the

494 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

metropolis, to be sold for sacriﬁce. Another custom observed on
this festival, that of visiting the tombs, I have also before had occa-
sion to describe in the account of the ceremonies of the former ’ecd.
In most respects what is called the Minor Festival is generally ob-
served with more rejoicing than that which is termed the Great
Festival. On this latter ’eed most persons who have the means to
do so prepare a dish called “ fetteh,” composed of boiled mutton or
other meat (the meat of the victim), cut into small pieces, placed
upon broken bread, upon which is poured the broth of the meat,
and some vinegar ﬂavoured with a little garlic fried in a small
quantity of melted butter, and then sprinkled over with a little
pepper.

CHAPTER XXVI.

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.—(00NTI N UED).

IT is remarkable that the Muslims of Egypt observe certain cus-
toms of a religious or superstitious nature at particular periods of
the religious almanac of the Copts 3 and even, according to the
same system, calculate the times of certain changes of the weather.
Thus they calculate the period of the “Khamaseen,” when hot
southerly winds are of frequent occurrence, to commence on the
day immediately following the Coptic festival of Easter Sunday,
and to terminate on the day of Pentecost (or Whitsunday), an
interval of forty—nine days.

The Wednesday next before this period is called “Arba”a
Eiyoob,” or Job’s Wednesday. Many persons on this day wash
themselves with cold water, and rub themselves with the creeping
plant called “ raaraa Eiyoob,” or “ ghubeyra ” (inula Arabica, and
inula undulata), on account of a tradition which relates that Job
did so to obtain restoration to health. This and other customs
about to be mentioned were peculiar to the Copts, but are now
observed by many Muslims in the towns, and by more in the
Villages. The other customs just alluded to are that of eating
eggs dyed externally red or yellow or blue, or some other colour,
on the next day (Thursday); and on the Friday (Good Friday),
a dish of khaltah, composed of kishk,33 with fool nabit (boiled

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 495

beans), lentils, rice, onions, etc. On the Saturday, also, it is a
common custom of men and women to adorn their eyes with kohl.
This day is called “Sebt en—Noor” (Saturday of the Light), be-
. cause a light, said to be miraculous, appears during the festival
then celebrated in the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

A custom termed “ Shemm en—Neseem ” (or the Smelling of the
Zephyr) is observed on the ﬁrst day of the Khamaseen. Early in
the morning of this day, many persons, especially women, break an
onion, and smell it; and in the course of the forenoon many of
the citizens of Cairo ride or walk a little way into the country, or
go in boats, generally northwards, to take the air, or, as they term
it, smell the air, which on that day they believe to have a wonder-
fully beneﬁcial effect. The greater number dine in the country
or on the river. This year (1834) they were treated with a
violent hot wind, accompanied by clouds of dust, instead of the
neseem 3 but considerable numbers, notwithstanding, went out to
“ smell” it. The ’ulama have their “ shemm en-neseem ” at a ﬁxed
period of the solar year, the ﬁrst three days of the spring quarter,
corresponding with the Persian “Now—r62,” called by the Arabs
“Nerooz.” ,

The night of the 17th of June, which corresponds with the
11th of the Coptic month of Ba-ooneh, is called “Leylet en-
Nukta ” (or the Night of the Drop), as it is believed that a
miraculous drop then falls into the Nile and causes it to rise.
Astrologers calculate the precise moment when the “drop” is to
fall, which is always in the course of the night above mentioned.
Many of the inhabitants of Cairo and its neighbourhood, and of
other parts of Egypt, spend this night on the banks of the Nile,
some in houses of their friends, others in the open air. Many
also, and especially the women, observe a singular custom on the
Leylet en—Nuktah—placing upon a terrace of the house after
sunset as many lumps of dough as there are inmates in the
house, a lump for each person, who puts his or her mark upon it.
At daybreak on the following morning they look at each of
these lumps, and if they ﬁnd it cracked, they infer that the life
of the person for whom it was placed will be long, or not ter-
minate that year; but if they ﬁnd it not cracked, they infer the
reverse. Some say that this is also done to discover whether the

496 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

Nile will rise high in the ensuing season. Another absurd custom
is observed on the fourth following night, “Leylet es-Saratan,”
when the sun enters the sign of Cancer : it is the writing a charm
to exterminate or drive away bugs. This charm consists of the
following words from the Kur-an, written in separate letters 2
“,‘Hast thou not considered those Who left their habitations, and
they were thousands, for fear of death? and God said unto them
die :’ die: die.” The last word of the text is thus written three
times. The above charm, it is said, should be written on three
pieces of paper, which are to be hung upon the walls of the room
which is to be cleared of the bugs, one upon each wall, except—
ing that at the end Where is the entrance, or that in which is the
entrance.

The Nile, as I have mentioned in the introduction to this
work, begins to rise about, or soon after, the period of the summer
solstice. From or about the 27th of the Coptic month Ba-ooneh
(3rd of July) its rise is daily proclaimed in the streets of the
metropolis. There are several criers to perform this ofﬁce—each
for a particular district of the town. The Crier of the Nile
(“ Munadee en—Neel ”) generally goes about his district early in the
morning, but sometimes later, accompanied by a boy. On the day
immediately preceding that on‘which he commences his daily an—
nouncement of the rise of the Nile, he proclaims—“ God hath been
propitious to the lands 1 The day of good news ! To—morrow, the
announcement, with good fortune l ” The daily announcement is
as follows :—

Ilfunddee. “Mohammad is the Prophet of guidance 1” Boy. “The
Mahmals journey to him!” [that is, to his tomb]. Ill. “ The guide:
peace be on him!” 13. “ He will prosper who blesseth him l” [The
Munadee and boy then continue, or sometimes they omit the pre—
ceding form and begin thus 1] M. “ 0 Thou whose government is
excellent!” B. “My Lord! I have none beside thee!” [After this
they proceed in many cases thus :] 4V. “ The treasuries of the
Bountiful are full 1” B. “ And at the gate there is no scarcity I”
M “I extol the perfection of Him who spread out the earth l” B.
“And hath given running rivers I ” 1V. “ Through whom the ﬁelds
become green I” B. “After death he causeth them to live I” All.
“ God hath given abundance, and increased [the river] and watered

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 497

the high lands !” B. “And the mountains and the sands and the
ﬁelds!” J[. “O Alternator of the day and night!” B. “ My
Lord! there is none beside thee!” 1'1. “ 0 Guide of the wander-
ing! 0 God!” B. “Guide me to the path of prosperity ! ” [They
then continue, or sometimes omitting all that here precedes, com-
mence as follows :] ill. “0 Amiable! 0 Living! 0 Self—subsist-
ing!” B. “0 great in power! 0 Almighty!” 211. “O Aider!
regard me with favour!” B. “O Bountiful! withdraw not thy
protection!” 11!. “ God preserve to me my master [or my master
the “ emeer ”] such a one [naming the master of the house], and the
good people of his house! 0 Bountiful! O God 1” B. “Ay,

please God ! ” III. “ God give them a happy morning from himself,
and increase their prosperity from himself !” B. “Ay, please
God!” 211. “God preserve to me my master [etc] such a one

[naming again the master of the house], and increase to him the
favours of God! 0 Bountiful! O God!” B. “Ay, please God!”
[Then brothers, sons, and unmarried daughters, if there be any,
however young, are mentioned in the same manner, as follows :]
Jlf. “God preserve to me my master [etc] such a one, for a long
period! 0 Bountiful! O God!” B. “Ay, please God!” M
“God preserve to me my mistress, the chief lady among brides,
such a one, for a long period ! O Bountiful ! O God !” B. “ Ay,
please God ! ” JV. “ May he abundantly bless them with his per-
fect abundance, and pour abundantly the Nile over the country!
0 Bountiful! O God!” B. .“Ay, please God!” Ill. “Five [or
six, etc., digits] to-day ; and the Lord is bountiful!” B. “Bless
ye Mohammad ! ” These last words are added in the fear lest the
rising of the river should be affected by a malicious wish or evil
eye, which is supposed to be rendered ineffectual if the malicious
person bless the Prophet.

Sometimes the people of a house before which the Munadee
makes his cry give him daily a piece of bread. This is a common
custom among the middle orders ; but most persons give him
nothing until the day before the opening of the Canal of Cairo.
Very little reliance is to be placed upon the announcement which
he makes of the height which the river has attained, for he is
generally uninformed 0r misinformed by the persons Whose duty
it is to acquaint him upon this subject ; but the people mostly

(440) 32

498 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

listen with interest to his proclamation. He and his boy repeat
this cry every day until the day next before that on which the
dam that closes the mouth of the Canal of Cairo is cut.

On this day (that is, the former of those just mentioned) the
Munadee goes about his district accompanied by a number of little
boys, each of whom bears a small coloured ﬂag, called “raye ,”
and announces the “VVefa ell—Neel” (the Completion, 0r Abun-
dance, of the Nile) ; for thus is termed the state of the river when
it has risen sufﬁciently high for the government to proclaim that
it has attained the sixteenth cubit of the Nilometer. In this,
however, the people are always deceived, for there is an old law
that the land—tax cannot be exacted unless the Nile rises to the
height of sixteen cubits of the Nilometer 3 and the government
thinks it proper to make the people believe as early as possible
that it has attained this height. The period when the Wefa
en-Neel is proclaimed is when the riverrhas actually risen about
twenty or twenty—one feet in the neighbourhood of the metropolis,
which is generally between the 6th and 16th of August (or the 1st
and 11th of the Coptic month of Misra). This is when there yet
remain of the measure of a moderately good rise, in the neighbour-
hood of the metropolis, four or three feet. On the day above
mentioned (the next before that on which the canal is to be opened)
the Munadee and the boys who accompany him with the little
“ rayat ” (or ﬂags) make the following announcement :—

IIIumidec. “The river hath given abundance, and completed
[its measure] ! ” Bog/s. “ God hath given abundance!” III. “And
Dar en-Nahas is ﬁlled!” B. “God, etc.” III. “And the canals
ﬂow!” B. “God, etc.” III. “And the vessels are afloat!” B.
“God, etc.” III. “And the hoarder [of grain] has failed!” B.
“God, etc.” III. “By permission of the Mighty, the Requiter!”
B. “God, etc.” III. “And there remains nothing—” B. “God,
.” III. “To the perfect completion!” B. “God, etc.” III.
“This is an annual custom.” B. “God, etc.” III. “And may
you live to every year!” B. “God, etc.” III. “And if the
hoarder Wish for a scarcity—” B. “God, etc.” III. “May God
visit him before death with blindness and afﬂiction ! ” B. “God,
etc.” If. “This generous person loveth the generous.” B. “God,
etc.” IlI. “And an admirable palace is built for him.” B. “God,

etc

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 499

etc.” Ill. “And its columns are incomparable jewels—” B. “God,
etc.” Ill. “Instead of palm sticks and timber!” B. “God, etc.”
Ill. “And it has a thousand windows that open !” B. “God, etc.”
III. “And before every window is Selsebeel.” B. “God, etc.”
M. “ Paradise is the abode of the generous.” B. “God, etc.” If.
“And Hell is the abode of the avaricious.” B. “God, etc.” III.
“May God not cause me to stop before the door of an avaricious
‘ woman, nor of an avaricious man.” B. “God, etc.” Ill. “Nor
of one who measures the water in the jar.” B. “God, etc.” III.
“Nor who counts the bread while it is yet dough.” B. “God,
etc.” Ill. “And if a cake be wanting, orders a fast.” B. “God,
etc.” III. “Nor who shuts up the cats at supper-time.” B. “ God,
etc.” If. “Nor who drives away the dogs upon the walls.” B.
“God, etc.” M “The world is brightened.” B. “God, etc.”
III. “And the damsels have adorned themselves.” B. “ God, etc. ”
IlL “And the old women tumble about.” B. “God, etc.” III.
“ And the married man hath added to his wife eight others.” B.
“God, etc.” III. “And the bachelor hath married eighteen.”—
This cry is continued until somebody in the house gives a present
to the Munadee, the amount of which is generally from ten faddahs
to a piaster; but many persons give two piasters, and grandees a
kheyreeyeh, or nine piasters.

During this day preparations are made for cutting the dam of
the canal. This operation attracts a great crowd of spectators,
partly from the political importance attached to it ; but being ,
always prematurely performed, it is now without much reason
made an occasion of public festivity.

The dam is constructed before or soon after the commencement
of the Nile’s increase. The “Khaleeg,” or Canal, at the distance
of about four hundred feet within its entrance, is crossed by an
old stone bridge of one arch. About sixty feet in front of this
bridge is the dam, which is of earth, very broad at the bottom, and
diminishing in breadth towards the top, which is ﬂat, and about
three yards broad. The top of the dam rises to the height of
about twenty-two or twenty-three feet above the level of the Nile
when at the lowest, but not so high above the bed of the canal ; for
this is several feet above the low-water mark of the river, and
consequently dry for some months when the river is low. The

5oo PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

banks of the canal are a. few feet higher than the top of the dam.
Nearly the same distance in front of the dam that the latter is
distant from the bridge is raised a round pillar of earth, diminish-
ing towards the top, in the form of a truncated cone, and not quite
so high as the dam. This is called the “’arooseh ” (or bride), for
a reason which will presently be stated. Upon its ﬂat top and
upon that of the dam a little maize or millet is generally sown.
The ’arooseh is always washed down by the rising tide before the
river has attained to its summit, and generally more than a week
or fortnight before the dam is cut.

It is believed that the custom of forming this ’arooseh originated
from an ancient superstitious usage which is mentioned by Arab
authors, and among them by El—Makreezee. This historian relates
that in the year of the conquest of Egy t by the Arabs, ’Amr Ibn-
EPA/s, the Arab general, was told that the Egyptians were accus-
tomed at the period when the Nile began to rise to deck a young
virgin in gay apparel, and throw her into the river as a sacriﬁce,
to obtain a plentiful inundation. This barbarous custom, it is
said, he abolished, and'the Nile in consequence did not rise in the
least degree during the space of nearly three months after the
usual period of the commencement of its increase. The people
were greatly alarmed, thinking that a famine would certainly
ensue. ’Amr therefore wrote to the Khaleefeh to inform him of
what he had done, and of the calamity with which Egypt was in
consequence threatened. ’Omar returned a brief answer, express-
ing his approbation of ’Amr’s conduct, and desiring him, upon the
receipt of the letter, to throw a note which it enclosed into the
Nile. The purport of this note was as follows :——“ From ’Abd—
Allah ’Omar, Prince of the Faithful, to the Nile of Egypt. If
thou ﬂow of thine own accord, ﬂow not ; but if it be God, the
One, the Mighty, who causeth thee to ﬂow, we implore God, the
One, the Mighty, to make thee ﬂow.” ’Amr did as he was com-
manded; and the Nile, we are told, rose sixteen cubits in the
following night. This tale is indeed hard to be believed, even
divested of the miracle.

On the north side of the Canal, overlooking the dam and almost
close to the bridge, was a small building of stone, from which the
grandees of Cairo used to witness the operation of cutting the dam.

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 501

This building has become a ruin, and upon its remains is erected
a large tent for the reception of those oﬂicers who have to witness
and superintend the cutting. Some other tents are also erected
for other visitors, and the government supplies a great number of
ﬁreworks, chieﬂy rockets, to honour the festival, and to amuse the
populace during the night preceding the day when the dam is cut,
and during the operation itself, which is performed early in the
morning. Many small tents for the sale of sweetmeats, fruits,
and other eatables, and coffee, etc., are likewise pitched along the
bank of the isle of Er-Rodah, opposite the entrance of the Canal.
The day of the cutting of the dam of the Canal is called “Yom
Gcbr el-Bahr,” which is said to signify “the Day of the Breaking
of the River,” though the word “ gebr,” which is thus interpreted
“breaking,” has really the reverse signiﬁcation. The term “Yom
\Vefa el-Bahr,” or “ VVefa ﬁn-Neel,” before explained, is also and
more properly applied to this day. The festival of the Canal is
' also called “ Mosim el—Khaleeg.”

In the afternoon of the day preceding that on which the dam
is cut, numerous boats, hired by private parties for pleasure, repair
to the neighbourhood of the entrance of the Canal. Among these
is a very large boat called the “’Akabeh.” It is painted for the
occasion in a gaudy but rude manner, and has two or more small
cannons on board, and numerous lamps attached to the ropes,
forming various devices, such as a large star, etc. It has also over
the cabin a large kind of close awning, composed of pieces of silk
and other stuffs, and is adorned with two pennants. It is vulgarly
believed that this boat represents a magniﬁcent vessel in which the
Egyptians used, before the conquest of their country by the Arabs,
to convey the virgin whom it is said they threw into the Nile. It
sails from Boolak about three hours after noon, taking passengers
for hire, men and women; the latter being usually placed, if they
prefer it, in the large awning above mentioned. It is made fast
to the bank of the isle of Er—Rédah, immediately opposite the
entrance of the Canal. Most of the other boats also remain near
it during the night, along the bank of the island; but some, all the
evening and night, are constantly sailing up or rowing down the
river. In many boats the crews amuse themselves and their
passengers by singing, often accompanied by the darabukkeh and

502 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

zummarah ; and some private parties hire professional musicians to
add to their diversion on the river. The festival is highly enjoyed
by the crowds who attend it, though there is little that a stranger
would think could minister to their amusement. They seem to
require nothing more to enliven them than crowds and bustle, with
a pipe and a cup of coffee. In former years the festival was always
attended by dancing-girls (who are now forbidden to perform), and
by singers, instrumental musicians, and reciters of romances. In
the evening, before it is dark, the exhibition of ﬁreworks commences,
and this is continued, together with the ﬁring of guns from the
’akabeh and two or more gunboats, every quarter of an hour during
the night. About twelve guns are ﬁred on each of these occasions.
The whole number ﬁred at the night’s festival of the present year
was about six hundred. The ﬁreworks which are displayed during
the night consist of little else than rockets and a few blue lights.
The best are kept till morning, and exhibited in broad daylight
during the cutting of the dam. At night the river and its banks
present a remarkably picturesque scene. Numerous boats are
constantly passing up and down, and the lamps upon the rigging
of the ’akabeh and in other boats, as well as on the shore, where
there are also many mesh’als stuck in the ground (several upon the
dam and its vicinity, and many more upon the bank of the island),
have a striking effect, which is occasionally rendered more lively
by the ﬁring of the guns and the ascent of a number of rockets.
The most crowded part of the scene of the festival at night is the
bank of the island, where almost every person is too happy to sleep,
even if the noise of the guns, etc., did not prevent him.

Before sunrise a great number of workmen begin to cut the
dam. This labour devolves in alternate ,years upon the Muslim
grave—diggers and on the Jews, both of whom are paid by the
government; but when it falls to the Jews, and on a Saturday,
they are under the necessity of paying a handsome sum of money
to escape the sin of profaning their Sabbath by doing what the
government requires of them. With a kind of hoe the dam is cut
thinner and thinner from the back (the earth being removed in
baskets and thrown upon the bank), until at the top it remains
about a foot thick. This is accomplished by about an hour after
sunrise. Shortly before this time, when dense crowds have as.

PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC. 503

sembled in the neighbourhood of the dam on each bank of the
Canal, the Governor of the metropolis arrives, and alights at the
large tent before mentioned, by the dam. Some other great ofﬁcers
are also present, and the Kadee attends and writes a document to
attest the fact of the river’s having risen to the height sufﬁcient
for the opening of the Canal, and of this operation having been
performed ,' which important document is despatched with speed to
Constantinople. Meanwhile the ﬁring of guns and the display of
the ﬁreworks continue, and towards the close of the operation the
best of the ﬁreworks are exhibited, when in the glaring sunshine
they can hardly be seen. When the dam has been cut away to
the degree above mentioned, and all the great ofﬁcers whose
presence is required have arrived, the Governor of the metropolis
throws a purse of small gold coins to the labourers. A boat, on
board of which is an ofﬁcer of the late Wélee, is then propelled
against the narrow ridge of earth, and breaking the slight barrier,
passes through it, and descends with the cataract thus formed.
The person here mentioned is an old man named Hammoodeh,
who was “ sarrag bashee ” of the Wetlee. It was his ofﬁce to walk
immediately before his master when the latter took his ordinary
rides, preceded by a long train of ofﬁcers, through the streets and
environs of the metropolis. Just as his boat approaches the dam,
the Governor of Cairo throws into it a purse of gold as a present
for him. The remains of the dam are quickly washed away by the
inﬂux of the water into the bed of the Canal, and numerous other
boats enter, pass along the Canal throughout the whole length of
the city, and some of them several miles farther, and return.
Formerly the Sheykh el-Beled, or the Basha, with other great
ofﬁcers, presided at this féte, which was celebrated with much
pomp; and money was thrown into the Canal and caught by the
populace, some of whom plunged into the water with nets, but
several lives were generally lost in the scramble. This present
year (1834) three persons were drowned on the (lay of the opening
of the Canal—one in the Canal itself, and two in the lake of the
Ezbekeeyeh. A few minutes after I had entered my house on my
return from witnessing the cutting of the dam and the festivities
of the preceding night (which I passed partly on the river and
partly on the isle of Er-Rodah), a woman having part of her dress

504 PERIODICAL PUBLIC FESTIVALS, ETC.

and her face, which was uncovered, besmeared with mud passed
by my door, screaming for the loss of her son, who was one of the
three persons drowned on this occasion. The water entered the
Ezbekeeyeh by a new canal on the day preceding that on which
the dam was cut. Crowds collected round it on this day, and will
for many following days (I am writing a few days after the open-
ing of the Canal), to enjoy the View of the large expanse of water,
which, though very turbid, is refreshing to the sight in so dry and
dusty a place as Cairo, and at this hot season of the year. Several
tents are pitched by it, at which visitors are supplied with coffee,
and one for the sale of brandy, wine, etc., and numerous stools
and benches of palm sticks are set there. The favourite time of
resort to this place is the evening, and many persons remain there
for several hours after sunset ; some all night. There are generally
two or three story-tellers there. At all hours of the day, and
sometimes even at midnight, persons are seen bathing in the lake,
chieﬂy men and boys, but also some young girls and even women,
the latter of whom expose their persons before the passengers and
idlers on the banks in a manner surprising in a place where women
in general so carefully conceal even their faces, though most of
these bathers are usually covered from the waist downwards. It
often happens that persons are drowned here.

On the day after the cutting of the dam the Munadee continues
to repeat his ﬁrst cry, but uses a different form of expression in
stating the height of the river—saying, for instance, “four from
sixteen,” meaning that the river has increased four “ keerats ” (or
digits) from sixteen cubits. This cry he continues until the day
of the Nerooz, or a little earlier.

On the “N orooz,” or Coptic New—Year’s day (10th or 11th of
September), or two or three days before, he comes to each house
in his district, with his boy dressed in his best clothes, and a
drummer and a hautboy-player, repeats the same cry as on the
Wefa, and again receives a present. Afterwards he continues his
former cry.

On the day of the “Saleeb” (or the Discovery of the Cross),
which is the 17th of the Coptic month of Toot, or 26th or 27th of
September, at which period the river has risen to its greatest
height or nearly so, he comes again to each house in his district,

PRIVA TE FESTIVITIES, ETC. ' 505

and repeats the following cry :——“In uncertainty thou wilt not
rest, nor in comparing wilt thou rest. 0 my reproacher, rest!
There is nothing that endureth! There remaineth nothing [un—
covered by the water] but the shemmam and lemmam and the
sown ﬁelds and the anemone and safﬂower and ﬂax 5 and may my
master, such a one [naming the master of the house], live, and see
that the river has increased, and give to the bringer of good news
according to ajust judgment. Aboo-Raddad is entitled to a fee
from the government—a fee of a shereefee for ex'rery digit of the
river’s increase—and we are entitled to a fee from the people of
generosity; we come to take it with good behaviour. The fortu-
nate Nile of Egypt hath taken leave of us in prosperity; in its
increase it hath irrigated all the country.” The Munadee on this
occasion presents a few limes and other fruit to the rich or persons
of middle rank, and some lumps of dry mud of the Nile, which is
eaten by the women in many families. He generally receives a
present of two or three or more piasters. His occupation then
ceases until the next year,

CHAPTER XXVII.
PRIVATE FESTIVITIES, ETC.

As the modern Egyptian does not become a housekeeper until he
is married (and not of necessity than, for he may live with his Wife
in the house of his or her parents), his ﬁrst marriage is generally
the ﬁrst event which alfords him and his wife an occasion of call-
ing together their respective friends to a private entertainment.
Whenever a great entertainment is given on any occasion of re-
joicing, it is customary for the persons invited to~send presents
(such as I have mentioned in describing the ceremonies attendant
upon a marriage) a day or two before. The husband always has
his separate party, generally in the lower apartment or apartments
of the house, and the Wife entertains her female relations and
friends in the hareem or upper apartments. It is also the usual
custom for the wife to entertain her guests (among whom no males
are ever admitted, excepting very young boys) during the six

506 PRIVATE FESTIVITZES, ETC.

middle hours of the day, and for the husband to receive his guests
afterwards, after sunset or after the ’eshé prayers ; but sometimes
his guests assemble While the wife is engaged with her own party
in the hareem.

On these occasions the female singers who are called “ ’Awalim”
(or “ ’A’l’mehs 7’) are often hired to amuse the company. They sit
in one of the apartments of the hareem, generally at a Window
looking into the court. The wooden lattice-work of the window,
though too close to allow them to be seen by persons Without, is
sufficiently open to let them be distinctly heard by the male guests
sitting in the court or in one of the apartments which look into it.
In many houses there is a small elevated apartment or closet for
the ’Awalim, which I have before described, adjoining the apart
ment in which the male guests assemble (as well as another adjoin-
ing the principal saloon of the hareem), screened in front by wooden
lattice-work to conceal these singers from the View of the men.
The dancing—girls (“Ghawazee,” or “Ghazeeyehs”) are also fre—
quently hired to attend on the occasions of private festivities.
They dance (with unveiled face) before the men in the court, so
that they may be seen also by the women from the windows of
the hareem ,' or perform in an apartment in which the men are
assembled; or in the street before the house, for the’ amusement
only of the women. When they or the ’Awalim perform for the
entertainment of a party, one of the friends of the host usually
collects for them small sums of money upon the tambourine or in
a handkerchief from the guests; but sometimes the host will not
allow this custom to be observed. The contributions are called
“nukoot.” It is the general practice for the person who gives
the entertainment to engage the Ghawazee for a certain sum. He
receives the nukoot, which may fall short of or exceed the promised
sum. In the former case he pays the difference from his own
purse, in the latter case he often pockets the surplus. Or he
agrees that they shall receive all the nukoot, with or without an
additional sum from himself. In some parties where little decorum
is observed, the guests daily and sport with these dancing—girls in
a very licentious manner. I have before mentioned (in a former
chapter) that on these occasions they are usually indulged with
brandy or some other intoxicating liquor, which most of them

PRIVATE FESTIVITIES, ETC. 507

drink to excess. It is a common custom for a man to wet with
his tongue small gold coins and stick them upon the forehead,
.cheeks, chin, and lips of a Ghazeeyeh. When money is collected
for the ’Awalim, their servant, who is called “ khalboos,” and who
often acts the part of a buﬂ‘oon, generally calls out at each con-
tribution, “ Shobash ’aleyk ya Saheb el-farah !”——that is, “A present
is due from thee, O giver of the entertainment [on a similar occa-
sion and in the same way],” and adds, “Such a one has given so
many ‘mahboobs’ or ‘kheyreeyehs,’ ” turning a few piasters into
a much larger number of gold coins of considerably greater value 3
or if gold be given, exaggerating the sum in the same manner.
This he does to compliment the donor, and to stimulate the
generosity of others. His mistress or another of the ’Awalim
replies, “ ’Okba le-’anduh l” (“ May he have the like [rejoicing] 1”
or “May he have a recompensel”), The guests are also often
entertained with a concert of instrumental and vocal music by
male performers (“A’lateeyeh”), who sit in the court or in the
apartment in which the guests are assembled. Two “dikkehs”
(or high wooden sofas) are often put together, front to front, in
the court, and furnished with cushions, etc., to form -an orchestra
for the musicians, and a lantern is usually placed in the middle.
The A’lateeyeh generally receive contributions from the assembly
for whose entertainment they perform, like the ’Awalim, their
khalboos calling out to them in the same manner after each gift.
But performances of a different kind from those above men-
tioned are more common, and are considered more proper, on the
occasions of private festivities. These are the recitations of a
khatmeh (or of the whole of the Kur-an) by three or more
ﬁkees, who are hired for the purpose; or of a zikr, by a small
party of’fakeers.* That the khatmeh may not be too fatiguing to
the performers, the ﬁkees relieve one another by turns, one only
chanting at a time, and each usually chanting a ruba. They
generally come to the house a little after the ’asr, and get through
the greater part of their task before the guests assemble; one of
them then chants more leisurely, and in a more musical manner;
after him, in the same manner, another; and so on. Sometimes

* These customs remind us of St, Paul’s advice to the Ephesians, chap. v., ver. 19.
which shows the antiquity of social pastimes of this kind.

I

508 PRIVATE FESTIVITIES, ETC.

a khatmeh‘is performed in the daytime, and after it, in the even-
ing, a zikr. It is a rule that the zikr should always be performed
after sunset.

In Egypt, persons who habitually live with the utmost fru-
gality prepare a great variety and profusion of dishes for the
entertainment of their friends. But very little time is devoted to
eating. The period of conviviality is mostly passed in smoking,
sipping coffee, drinking sherbet, and conversing. The Turks, how-
ever, generally abstain from smoking during the recitation of the
Kur-an 3 and the honour which they pay to the sacred book on
every occasion has given rise to a saying, that “God has exalted
A’l-’Osman [that is, the race of ’Osman, or the ’Osmanlees] above
other Muslims, because they exalt the Kur-an more than do
others.” In these parties none of the guests ever attempts to
amuse his companions, except by facetious conversation, or some-
times by telling a story ,' though all of them take great delight
in the performances of the hired dancers, musicians, and singers.
The Egyptians seldom play at any game, unless when only two
or three persons meet together, or in the privacy of their own
families. They are a social people, and yet they but rarely give
great entertainments. Festivities such as I have described above
are very unfrequent ; they occur only on particular occasions
which really call for rejoicing. Excepting on such occasions, it
is considered improper to hire dancing-girls to perform in a house.

The marriage festivities I have described in a former chapter.
I therefore proceed to give an account of the festivities which
follow a marriage, and shall do so in the order of their occur~
rence.

On the seventh day (“Yom es—Subooa”) after a marriage, the
wife receives her female relations and friends during the morning
and afternoon ; and sometimes the husband entertains his own
friends in the evening, generally hiring persons to perform a
khatmeh or a zikr. It is a custom of husbands in Egypt to deny
themselves their conjugal rights during the ﬁrst week after the
conclusion of the marriage with a virgin bride , and the termina-
tion of this period is a due cause for rejoicing.34 On the fortieth
day (“Yom el-Arba’een”) after the marriage the wife goes, with
a party of her female friends, to the bath. Her companions

PRIVATE FESTZVITJES, ETC. 509 ’

return with her to her house about the ’asr, partake of a repast,
and go away. The husband also sometimes receives visitors in
the evening of this day, and again causes a khatmeh or zikr to be
performed.

The next festivities in a family are generally those consequent
on the birth of a child. Two or three or more days before the
expected time of delivery, the “dayeh” (or midwife) conveys, to
the house of the woman who requires her assistance, the ‘2 kursee
el-wiladeh,” a chair of a peculiar form, upon which the patient is
to be seated during the birth. (See EX. i. 16.) This chair is covered
with a shawl, or an embroidered napkin 3 and some ﬂowers of the
henna tree, or some roses, are tied, with an embroidered handker-
chief, to each of the upper corners of the back. Thus ornamented,
the chair (which is the property of the (layeh) is conveyed before
her to the house. In the houses of the rich, and of those in easy
circumstances, the mother, after delivery, is placed on a bed, and
usually remains on it from three to six days ,' but poor women, in
the same case, seldom take to a bed at all, and after a day or two
resume their ordinary occupations, if not requiring great exertion.

0n the morning after the birth two or three of the dancing-
men called Khawals, or two or three Ghazeeyehs, dance in front
of the house, or in the court. The festivities occasioned by the
birth of a son are always greater than those on account of a
daughter. The Arabs still show relics of that feeling which often
induced their ancient ancestors to destroy their female offspring.

A few days after the birth, generally on the fourth or ﬁfth
day, the women of the house, if the family be of the middle or
wealthy classes, usually prepare dishes of “mufattak’ah,” “kishk,”
“libabeh,” and “hilbeh,” which they send to the female relations
and friends. The ﬁrst of these consists of honey with a little
clariﬁed butter and oil of sesame, and a variety of aromatics and
spices pounded together; roasted hazel-nuts are also added to it.
The kishk has been described in a former page. The libabeh is
composed of broken or crumbled bread, honey, clariﬁed butter,
and a little rose-water. The butter is ﬁrst put into a saucepan
over the ﬁre, then the broken bread, and next the honey. The
dish of hilbeh (or fenugreek) is prepared from the dry grain
boiled, and then sweetened with honey over the ﬁre.

510 PRIVATE FESTJVITJES, ETC.

On the “Yom esSubooa” (or Seventh Day) after the birth of
a child, the female friends of its mother pay her a visit. In the
families of the higher classes, ’Awalim are hired to sing in the
hareem 3 or A'lateeyeh perform, or ﬁkees recite a khatmeh, below.
The mother, attended by the dayeh, sits on the kursee el-wiladeh,
in the hope that she may soon have occasion for it again ; for her
doing this is considered propitious. The child is brought, wrapped
in a handsome shawl, or something costly; and to accustom it to
noise, that it may not be frightened afterwards by the music and
other sounds of mirth, one of the women takes a brass mortar and
strikes it repeatedly with the pestle, as if pounding. After this
the child is put into a sieve and shaken, it being supposed that
this operation is beneﬁcial to its stomach. Next, it is carried
through all the apartments of the hareem, accompanied by several
women or girls, each of whom bears a number of wax-candles,
sometimes of various colours, cut in two, lighted, and stuck into
small lumps of paste of henna, upon a small round tray. At the
same time the clayeh, or another female, sprinkles upon the ﬂoor
of each room a mixture of salt and seed of the fennel-ﬂower, or
salt alone, which has been placed during the preceding night at
the infant’s head, saying, as she does this, “The salt be in the eye
of the person who doth not bless the Prophet l” or, “The foul salt

be in the eye of the envier ! ”

This ceremony of the sprinkling of
salt is considered a preservative, for the child and mother, from
the evil eye , and each person present should say, “ O God, favour
our lord Mohammad I” The child, wrapped up and placed on a
ﬁne mattress, which is sometimes laid on a silver tray, is shown to
each of the women present, who looks at its face, says, “0 God,
favour our lord Mohammad! God give thee long life ! ” etc., and
usually puts an embroidered handkerchief, with a gold coin (if
pretty or old, the more esteemed) tied up in one of the corners, on
the child’s head or by its side. This giving of handkerchiefs is
considered as imposing a debt, to be repaid by the mother, if the
donor should give her the same occasion 5 or as the discharge of a
debt for a similar offering. The coins are generally used for some
years to decorate the head-dress of the child. After these nukoot
for the child, others are given for the dayeh. During the night
before the subooa, a water—bottle full of water (a dorak in the case

PRIVATE FESTIVITIES, ETC. 511

of a boy, or a kulleh in that of a girl), with an embroidered hand-
kerchief tied round the neck, is placed at the child’s head while
it sleeps. This, with the water it contains, the dayeh takes, and
puts upon a tray, and presents to each of the women, who put
their nukoot for her (merely money) into the tray. In the even-
ing the husband generally entertains a party of his friends in the
manner usual on other occasions of private festivity.

During a certain period after childbirth (in most cases, among
the people of Cairo, forty days, but differing according to circum-
stances, and according to the doctrines of the different sects), the
mother is regarded as religiously impure.* The period here men-
tioned is called “ Nifas.” At the expiration of it the woman goes
to the bath.

The ceremonies and festivities attendant upon the circumcision
of a boy are the next that I shall describe. In most cases the boy
about to be circumcised (who is called “muttahir”) is paraded
through the streets in the manner which has been related in a
former chapter—that is, if his parents be of the middle or higher
class of citizens; but most of the learned, people of religious pro-
fessions, ﬁkees, and some rich men in Cairo, prefer performing
a ceremony called “ Sirafeh,” of which the following account will
convey a sufﬁcient notion.

The schoolfellows of the muttahir, all dressed in their best
clothes, or in borrowed clothes if they have none of their own
good enough, which is generally the case, repair a little before
noon to one of the principal mosques, as that of the Hasaneyn,
or the Azhar, or that of the seyyideh Zeyneb. Thither also go the
men and the women and many of the female friends of the family
of the muttahir, with the muttahir himself, and sometimes about
six shaweeshes (or sergeants) of the Nakeeb el—Ashraf. The _
barber who is to perform the operation also attends, with a servant
bearing his “heml” (or sign), which has been described in the
account of the more common ceremonies of circumcision. All
these persons, with some others who will presently be mentioned,
having assembled in the mosque, wait there until after the noon-
prayers, and then depart in procession through the streets to the

* In like manner the Jewish law pronounces a woman unclean during forty days after
the birth of a male child, but double that time after bearing a female child. (See Lev. xii.
2, 4, 5.)

512 PRIVATE FESTIVZTIES, ETC.

house of the muttahir’s parents. The ﬁrst person in the proces-
sion is the barber’s servant with his heml. He is sometimes
followed by ﬁve or six ﬁkees chanting a lyric ode (“muwesh-
shah ”) in praise of the Prophet. Then follow the schoolboys,
two, three, or four abreast. The foremost of these boys, or half
their number, chant as they pass along, “0 nights of pleasure! ‘
0 nights of joy I” The other boys then take up the strain, adding,
“Pleasure and desire, with friends assembled!” Then again the
former, “Favour, 0 our Lord, the Perspicuous Light!” Then the
latter, “Ahmad [the Prophet], the Elect, the chief of Apostles!”
Thus the boys continue to chant the whole of the way. Behind
them walk the male relations of the muttahir. These are followed
by about six boys, three of them bearing each a silver scent-bottle
(“kumkum ”) full of rose-water or orange-ﬂower-water, which they
occasionally sprinkle on some of the spectators, and each of the
others bearing a silver perfuming-vessel (“mibkhar'ah ”) in which
benzoin, frankincense, or some other odoriferous substance is
burning. With these boys walks a sakka, bearing on his back
a skin of water covered with an embroidered napkin. He gives
water now and then in brass cups to passengers in the street.
Next follow three servants. One of these carries a silver pot of
coffee in a silver “’az’kee” (or chaﬁng—dish suspended by three
chains) 3 another bears a silver tray, with ten or eleven coffee-cups,
and “zarfs” of silver ; the third carries nothing. It is his ofﬁce,
when the procession passes by a well-dressed person (one sitting at
a shop, for instance), to ﬁll and present to him a cup of coffee. The
person thus honoured gives the servant something in return—half
a piaster is considered amply sufﬁcient. The shaweeshes occupy
the next place in the order of the procession. Sometimes they
are followed by another group of boys with kumkums and mib-
khar'ahs. Next follows a boy bearing the writing-tablet of the
muttahir, hung to his neck by a handkerchief. It is ornamented
for the occasion by the schoolmaster. Behind the boy who bears
it walks the muttahir, between two others. He is dressed either
as in the zeﬁ'eh before described (that is, in girl’s clothes, with the
exception of the turban, and decked with women’s ornaments), or
simply as a boy, and holds a folded embroidered handkerchief to
his mouth. The women follow him, raising their shrill cries of

PRIVATE FESTIVITIES, ETC. 513

joy (the “zaghareet”) ; and one of them is constantly employed
in sprinkling salt behind him to prevent any ill effects from an
evil eye, which it is thought some person may cast at the lad
from envy. In this order and manner the procession arri\ es at_
the house. On halting before the door, the foremost of the school-
, boys sing, “ Thou art a sun! Thou art a moon! Thou art a light
above light!” The others add, “ O Mohammad! O my friend!
0 thou with black eyes!” They enter the house repeating this
address to the Prophet, and repeat it again after entering. The
young boys go upstairs, the others remain below. The former,
as they go up, repeat, “0 thou, his paternal aunt! O thou, his
maternal aunt! come, prepare his sirafeh.” On entering the
“ ka’ah,” or principal apartment of the hareem, a Kashmeer shawl
is given them to hold. They hold it all round, and the ornamented
writing-tablet is placed in the middle of it. The “ ’areef,” or head
boy of the school, who (together with the muttahir and the
women) stands by while they do this, then recites what is termed
“ khutbet es—sirafeh.” Each clause of this is chanted by him ﬁrst,
and then repeated by the other boys. It is in unmeasured rhyme,
and to the following effect :—

“Praise be to God, the Mighty Creator !—the Sole, the For-
giver, the Conservator l—He knoweth the past and futurity,——and
veileth things in obscurity—He knoweth the tread of the black
ant,—and its work when in darkness vigilant—He formed and
exalted heaven’s vault,—and spread the earth o’er the ocean salt.
——May he grant this boy long life and happiness,——to read the
Kur-an with attentiveness ;—to read the Kur—an, and history’s
p g . has
learned to write and read,—to spell, and cast up accounts with
speed 3—his father, therefore, should not withhold—a reward of
money, silver and gold—Of my learning, 0 father, thou hast paid
the price ,—God give thee a place in Paradise :—and thou, my
mother, my thanks receive—for thine anxious care of me, morn
and eve ;—God grant I may see thee in Paradise seated,——and
by Maryam* and ZeynebiL and Fatimehl,‘ greeted—Our fakeeh
has taught us the alphabet :——may he have every grateful epithet.

                                                           

* The Virgin Mary. ‘r The daughter of the Imam ’Alec.
I The daughter of the Prophet.

(440) 33 ,

514 PRIVA TE FESTIVITIES, ETC.

-—Our fakeeh has taught us as far as ‘The News : ’——may he
never his present blessings lose—Our fakeeh has taught us as far
as ‘The Dominion : ’—may he ever be blest with the world’s good
opinion—Our fakeeh has taught us as far as ‘The Compas-
sionate : ’—may he ever enjoy rewards proportionate—Our fakeeh
has taught us as far as ‘Ya-Seen :’—may his days and years be
ever serene. —Our fakeeh has taught us as far as ‘The Cave : ’———may
he ever the blessings of Providence have—Our fakeeh has taught
us as far as ‘The Cattle :’-——may he ne’er be the subject of scan-
dalous tattle—Our fakeeh has taught us as far as ‘ The Cow 2’—
may he ever be honoured, in future and now.——Our fakeeh amply
merits of you—a coat of green, and a turban too.—-O ye surround-
ing virgin lasses l—I commend you to God’s care by the eye-paint
and the glasses I—O ye married ladies here collected l—I pray, by
the Chapter of ‘The Ranks,’ that ye be protected !—0 ye old
women standing about I—Ye ought to be beaten with old shoes,
and turned out !—-To old women, however, we should rather say
—Take the basin and ewer 5 wash and pray.”

During the chanting of these absurd expressions the women
drop upon the ornamented writing-tablet their nukoot, which are
afterwards collected in a handkerchief. The boys then go down,
and give the nukoot to the ﬁkee below. Here the muttahir is
now placed on a seat. The barber stands on one side of him, and
the servant who holds the heml on the other. The heml is rested
on the ﬂoor, and on the top of it is placed a cup, into which the
guests put their nukoot for the barber. The female visitors dine
in the hareem, and then leave the house. The boys dine below,
and go to their homes. The men also dine, and all of them,
excepting those of the family, and the barber and his servant, take
their leave. The barber then conducts the muttahir, with one or
two of his male relations, to a private apartment, and there pen
forms the operation; or sometimes this is done on the following
day. About a week after, he takes the boy to the bath.

The next occasion of festivity in a family (if not the marriage
of a son or daughter) is generally when a son is admitted a
member of some body of tradesmen or artisans. On this océasion
a ceremony which I am about to describe is performed in certain
cases, but not on admission to every trade. It is customary only

DEATH AND FUNERAL RITES. 515

among carpenters, turners, barbers, tailors, bookbinders, and a
few others. The young man having become an adept in the bus—
iness of his intended trade, his father goes to the sheykh of that
trade, and signiﬁes his wish that his son should be admitted a
member. The sheykh sends an ofﬁcer, called the “nakeeb,” to
invite the masters of the trade, and sometimes a few friends of
the candidate, to be present at the admission. The nakeeb, taking -
in his hand a bunch of sprigs of any green herb, or ﬂowers, goes
to each of these persons, hands to him a sprig or little piece of
green, or a flower or leaf, and says, “For the Prophet, the Fat’hah ”
—-—that is, “Repeat the Fat’hah for the Prophet.” Both having
done this together, the nakeeb adds, “On such a day and hour
come to such a house or place and drink a cup of coffee.” The
guests thus invited meet (generally at the house of the father of
the young man, but sometimes in the country), take coffee, and
dine. After this the nakeeb leads the young man before the
sheykh, states his qualiﬁcations, and then desires the persons
present to recite the Fat’hah for the Prophet ; which done, he girds
the young man with a shawl over his outer coat, and ties a knot
with the ends of this girdle. The Fat’hah is then recited again,
generally for the seyyid El-Bedawee or some other great saint, and
a second knot is tied. Then a third time the Fat’hah is recited,
and a bow is tied. The young man is thus completely admitted.
He kisses the hand of the sheykh, and that of his fellow—trades-
men, and gives the nakeeb a small fee. This ceremony is called
“shedd el—weled ” (the binding of the youth), and the person thus
admitted is termed “ meshdood,” or bound.

There remain only to be described the ceremonies occasioned by a
death. These Will be the subject of a separate chapter, here follow—
ing, and concluding my account of the manners and customs of the
Muslims of Egypt.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
DEATH, AND FUNERAL RITEs.

WHEN a learned or pious Muslim feels that he is about to die, he
sometimes performs the ordinary ablution as before prayer, that

516 DEATH AND FUNERAL RITES.

he may depart from life in a state of bodily purity ; and generally
he repeats the profession of the faith, “ There is no deity but God :
Mohammad is God’s apostle.” It is common also for a Muslim
on a military expedition, or during a long journey, especially in
the desert, to carry his grave-linen with him. Not unfrequently
does it happen that a traveller in such circumstances has even to
make his own grave. Completely overcome by fatigue or priva-
tion, or sinking under a fatal disease, in the desert, when his com-
panions, if he have any, cannot wait for his recovery or death, he
performs the ablution (with water if possible, or if not, with sand
or dust, which is allowable in such case), and then, having made
a trench in the sand as his grave, lies down in it wrapped in his
grave-clothes, and covers himself, with the exception of his face,
, with the sand taken up in making the trench. Thus he waits
for death to relieve him, trusting to the wind to complete his
burial.

When any one of the eminent ’Ulama of Cairo dies, the mu'ed-
dins of the Azhar, and those of several other mosques, announce
the event by chanting‘from the mad’nehs the cry called the
“Abrar,” the words of which I have given in the account of the
customs observed during Ramadan in the second of the chapters
on periodical public festivals, etc.

The ceremonies attendant upon death and burial are nearly
the same in the cases of men and women. When the rattles in
the throat or other symptoms show that a man is at the point of
death, an attendant (his wife or some other person) turns him
round to place his face in the direction of Mekkeh, and closes his
eyes. Even before the spirit has departed, or the moment after,
the male attendants generally exclaim, “Allah! There is no
strength nor power but, in God! To God we belong, and to him
we must return 1 God have mercy on him !” while the women of
the family raise the cries of lamentation callcc “welwel’eh” or
“ wilwal,” uttering the most piercing shrieks and calling upon the
name of the deceased. The most common cries that are heard on
the death of the master of a family from the lips of his wife, or
wives, and children are, “ O my master l ” “O my camel!” (that
is, “O thou who broughtest my provisions and hast carried my
burdens ! ”) “ O my lion! ” “ O camel of the house! 7’ “ O my glory!”

DEATH AND FUA’ERAL RITES. 517

“0 my resource!” “0 my father!” “0 my misfortune!” The
clothes of the deceased are taken off as soon as he has ceased to
breathe, and he is attired in another suit, placed on his bed or
mattress, and covered over with-a sheet. The women Continue
their lamentations, and many of the females of the neighbourhood,
hearing the conclamation, come to unite with them in this melan-
choly task. Generally, also, the family of the deceased send for
two or more “ neddabehs” (or public wailing-women: see 2
Chron. xxxv. 25, Jer. ixi 17; Matt. ix. 23); but some per—
sons disapprove of this custom, and many, to avoid unnecessary
expense, do not conform with it. Each neddabeh brings with her
a tar (or tambourine) which is without the tinkling plates of
metal which are attached to the hoop of the common tar. The
neddabehs, beating their tars, exclaim several times, “Alas for
him 1” and praise his turban, his handsome person, etc. ,' and the
female relations, domestics, and friends of the deceased (with their
tresses dishevelled, and sometimes with rent clothes), beating their
own faces, cry in like manner, “ Alas for him !” This wailing is
generally continued at least an hour.

If the death took place in the morning, the corpse is buried the
same day; but if it happened in the afternoon or at night, the
deceased is not buried until the following day. In this case the
neddabehs remain all the night, and continue the lamentation
with the other women ; and a ﬁkee is brought to the house to
recite chapters of the Kur-an during the night, or several ﬁkees
are employed to perform a complete khatmeh.

The “mughassil” (or washer of the dead) soon comes with a
bench, upon which he places the corpse, and a bier. The ﬁkees
who are to take part in the funeral procession (if the deceased
were a person of respectable rank or of the middle order) are also
now brought to the house. These, during the process of washing,
sit in an apartment adjoining that in which the corpse is placed,
or without the door of the latter apartment 3 and some of them
recite, or rather chant, the “ Soorat el-An’am” (or 6th chapter of
the Kur-an) ; others of them chant part of the “ Burdeh,” a cele—
brated poem in praise of the Prophet. The washer takes off the
clothes of the deceased, which are his perquisite. The jaw is bound
up, and the eyes are closed. The ordinary ablution preparatory to

518 DEATIJ, AND FUNERAL RITES.

prayer having been performed upon the corpse, ‘with the exception
of the washing of the mouth and nose, the whole body is well
washed from head to foot with warm water and soap, and with
“ leef” (or ﬁbres of the palm tree), or, more properly, with water
in which some leaves of the lote tree (“nabk” or “sidr”) have
been boiled. The nostrils, ears, etc., are stuffed with cotton, and
the corpse is sprinkled with a mixture of water, pounded camphor,
and dried and pounded leaves of the nabk, and with rose-water.
Sometimes other dried and pounded leaves are added to those of
the nabk. The ankles are bound together, and the hands placed
upon the breast.

The “kefen,” or grave-clothing, of a poor man consists of a
piece or two of cotton, or is merely a kind of bag. The corpse
of a man of wealth is generally wrapped ﬁrst in muslin, then in
cotton cloth of thicker texture, next in a piece of striped stuff of
silk and cotton intermixed, or in a kuftan of similar stuﬁ' merely
stitched together, and over these is wrapped a Kashmeer shawl.
The corpse of a woman of middling rank is usually clothed with
a yelek. The colours most approved for the grave-clothes are
white and green; but any colour is used, excepting blue, or what
approaches to blue. The body, prepared for interment as above
described, is placed in the bier, which is usually covered over with
a red or other Kashmeer shawl. The persons who are to compose
the funeral procession then arrange themselves in order. The
more common funeral processions may be thus described.

The ﬁrst persons are about six or more poor men, called “ Ye-
meneeyeh,” mostly blind, who proceed two and two, or three and
three together. . Walking at a moderate pace, or rather slowly,
they chant incessantly, in a melancholy tone, the profession of
faith (“ There is no deity but God : Mohammad is God’s Apostle :
God favour and preserve him I ”) as follows :—

 

 

 

 

 

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DEATIJ, AN!) FUZVERAZL RITES. 519

or sometimes other words. They are followed by some male
relations and friends of the deceased, and in many cases by two or
more persons of some sect of darweeshes, bearing the ﬂags of their
order. This is a general custom at the funeral of a darweesh.
Next follow three or four or more schoolboys, one of whom carries
a mus-haf (or copy of the Kur—an), or a volume consisting of
one of the thirty sections of the Kur-an, placed upon a kind of
desk formed of palm sticks, and covered over generally with an
embroidered kerchief. These boys chant, in a higher and livelier
.voice than the Yemeneeyeh, usually some words of a poem called
the “ Hashreeyeh,” descriptive of the events of the last day, the
judgment, etc, to the air here noted: ——

 

 

 

 

                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

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’a-l - ’e - bad bi-l - mot ka - bar.

The following is a translation of the commencement of this
poem :—
“ [I extol] the perfection of Him who hath created Whatever hath form,
And subdued his servants by death ;
Who bringeth to nought [all] his creatures, with mankind :
They shall all lie in the graves.
The perfection of the Lord of the east ;
The perfection of the Lord of the west ;
The perfection of the illuminator of the two lights—
The sun, to wit, and the moon :
His perfection, how bountiful is he !
His perfection, how clement is he ! 7
His perfection, how great is he 1
When a servant rebelleth against him, he protecteth.”

The schoolboys immediately precede the bier, which is borne
head foremost. Three or four friends of the deceased usually carry
it for a short distance, then three or four other friends bear it a
little farther, and then these are in like manner relieved. Casual
passengers also often take part in this service, which is esteemed
highly meritorious. Behind the bier walk the female mourners,
sometimes a’group of more than a dozen or twenty, with their

520 DEATH AND FUNERAL RITES.

hair dishevelled, though generally concealed by the head-veil, cry-
ing and shrieking, as before described ,- and often the hired
mourners accompany them, celebrating the praises of the deceased.
Among the women, the relations and domestics of the deceased are
each distinguished by a strip of linen or cotton stuff or muslin,
generally blue, bound round the head, and tied in a single knot
behind, the ends hanging down a few inches. Each of these also
carries a handkerchief, usually dyed blue, which she sometimes
holds over her shoulders, and at other times, twirls with both
hands over her head or before her face. The cries of the women,-
the lively chanting 0f the youths, and the deep tones uttered by
the Yemeneeyeh, compose a strange discord.

The wailing of women at funerals was forbidden by the Pro-
phet, and so also was the celebration of the virtues of the deceased.
Mohammad declared that the virtues thus ascribed to a dead per-
son would be subjects Of reproach to him, if he did not possess
them, in a future state. It is astonishing to see how some of the
precepts of the Prophet are every day violated by all classes of
modern Muslims, the Wahhabees alone excepted. I have some-
times seen mourning-women of the lower classes following a bier,
having their faces (which were bare) and their head—coverings and
bosoms besmeared with mud.

The funeral procession of a man of wealth, or of a person of
the middle classes, is sometimes preceded by three or four or more
camels, bearing bread and water to give to the poor at the tomb,
and is composed of a more numerous and varied assemblage of
persons. The foremost of these are the Yemeneeyeh, who chant
the profession of the faith, as described above. They are gener-
ally followed by some male friends of the deceased, and some
learned and devout persons who have been invited to attend the
funeral. Next follows a group of four or more ﬁkees chanting
the “ Soorat el-An’am” (the 6th chapter of the Kur—an), and some-
times another group chanting the “ Soorat Yet—Seen” (the 36th
chapter), another chanting the “ Soorat el—Kahf ” (the 18th chap-
ter), and another chanting the “Soorat ed-Dukhan” (the 44th
chapter). These are followed by some munshids singing the
“ Burdeh,” and these by certain persons called “ As-hab el-Azhab,”
who are members of religious orders founded by celebrated

 

 

 

DEATH, AND FUNERAL £12225. 523

sheykhs. There are generally four or more of the order of the
Hezb es—Sadat, a similar group of the Hezb Esh—Shazilee, and
another of the Hezb Esh-Shaarawee 5 each group chants a parti—
cular form of prayer. After them are generally borne two or
more half-furled ﬂags, the banners of one or other of the principal
orders of darweeshes. Then follow the schoolboys, the bier, and
the female mourners, as in the procession before described; and

, perhaps the led horses of the bearers, if these be men. of rank. A

buffalo, to be sacriﬁced at the tomb, where its ﬂesh is to be distri-
buted to the poor, sometimes closes the procession.

The funeral of a devout sheykh, or of one of the great ’Ulama,
is still more numerously attended, and the bier of such a person
is not covered with a shawl. A welee is further honoured in
his funeral by a remarkable custom. Women follow his bier, but
instead of wailing, as they would after the corpse of an ordinary
mortal, they rend the air with the shrill and quavering cries of
joy called “ zaghareet ;” and if these cries are discontinued but for
a minute, the bearers of the bier protest that they cannot proceed—
that a. supernatural power rivets them to the spot on which they
stand. Very often, it is said, a welee impels the bearers of his
corpse to a particular spot. The following anecdote, describing an
ingenious mode of puzzling a dead saint in a case of this kind, was
related to me by one of my friends :—Some men were lately bear-
ing the corpse of a welee to a tomb prepared for it in the great
cemetery on the north of the metropolis ,' but on arriving at the
gate called Bab en-Nasr, which leads to this cemetery, they found
themselves unable to proceed further, from the cause above men—
tioned. “ It seems,” said one of the bearers, “ that the sheykh is
determined not to be buried in the cemetery of Bath en-Nasr ; and
what shall we do?” They were all much perplexed; but being
as obstinate as the saint himself, they did not immediately yield to
his capriee. Retreating a few paces, and then advancing with a
quick step, they thought by such an impetus to force the corpse
through the gateway ; but their efforts were unsuccessful, and the
same experiment they repeated in vain several times. They then
placed the bier on the ground to rest and consult, and one of
them, beckoning away his comrades to a distance beyond the hear—
ing of the dead saint, said to them, “Let us take up the bier

524 DEATZJ, AND FUNERAL RITES.

again, and turn it round quickly several times till the sheykh
becomes giddy ; he then will not know in what direction we are
going, and we may take him easily through the gate.” This they
did ; the saint was puzzled, as they expected, and quietly buried in
the place which he had so striven to avoid.

The biers used for the conveyance of the corpses of females
and boys are different from those of men. They are furnished
with a cover of wood, over which a shawl is spread, as over the
bier of a man, and at the head is an upright piece of wood called
a “shahid.” The shahid is covered with a shawl; and to the
upper part of it, when the bier is used to convey the body of a
female of the middle or higher class, several ornaments of female
head-dress are attached. On the top, which is ﬂat and circular, is
often placed a “ kurs” (the round ornament of gold or silver set
with diamonds, or of embossed gold, which is worn on the crown
of the head-dress) , to the back is suspended the “safa” (or a
number of braids of black silk, with gold ornaments along each,
which are worn by the ladies, in addition to their plaits of hair,
hanging down the back): The bier of a boy is distinguished by
a turban, generally formed of a red Kashmeer shawl, wound
round the top of the shahid, which, in the case of a young boy, is
also often decorated with the kurs and safa. The corpse of a very
young child is carried to the tomb in the arms of a man, and
merely covered with a shawl ; or in a very small bier, borne on a
man’s head.

In the funerals of females and boys the bier is usually only
preceded by the Yemeneeyeh, chanting the profession of faith,
and by some male relations of the deceased, and followed by the
female mourners 3 unless the deceased were of a family of wealth
or of considerable station in the world, in which case the funeral
procession is distinguished by some additional display. I shall
give a short description of one of the most genteel and decorous
funerals of this kind that I have witnessed : it was that of a young
unmarried lady. Two men, each bearing a large furled green
ﬂag, headed the procession, preceding the Yemeneeyeh, who
chanted in an unusually low and solemn manner. These fakeers,
who were in number about eight, were followed by a group of
ﬁkees chanting a chapter of the Kur-an. Next after the latter

DEATH AND FUNERAL RITES. 525

was a man bearing a large branch of nabk (or lote tree), an
emblem of the deceased. On each side of him walked a person
bearing a tall staff or cane, to the top of which were attached
several hoops ornamented with strips of various coloured paper.
These were followed by two Turkish soldiers, side by side, one
bearing on a small round tray a gilt silver kumkum of rose-
water, and the other bearing on a similar tray a mibkhar’ah of
gilt silver, in which some odoriferous substance (as benzoin or
frankincense) was burning. These vessels diffused the odour of
their contents on the way, and were afterwards used to perfume
the sepulchral vault. Passengers were occasionally sprinkled with
the rose-water. Next followed four men, each of whom bore upon
a small tray several small lighted tapers of wax stuck in lumps of
paste of henna. The bier was covered with rich shawls, and its
shahid was decorated with handsome ornaments of the head, hav-
ing, besides the safa, a “ kussah almas ” (a long ornament of gold
and diamonds worn over the forehead), and upon its ﬂat top a rich
diamond kurs. These were the jewels of the deceased, or were
perhaps, as is often the case, borrowed for the occasion. The
female mourners, in number about seven or eight, clad in the
usual manner of the ladies of Egypt (with the black silk covering,
etc), followed the bier, not on foot, as is the common custom in
funerals in this country, but mounted on high~saddled asses, and
only the last two or three of them were wailing, these being
probably hired mourners—In another funeral procession of a
female, the daughter of a Turk of high rank, the Yemeneeyeh
were followed by six black slaves, walking two by two. The ﬁrst
two slaves bore each a silver kumkum of rose-water, which they
sprinkled on the passengers ; and one of them honoured me so pro-
fusely as to wet my dress very uncomfortably, after which he
poured a small quantity into my hands, and I wetted my face
with it according to custom. Each of the next two bore a silver
mibkhar’ah with perfume, and the other two carried each a silver
’az’kee (or hanging censer) with burning charcoal and frankincense.
The jewels on the shahid of the bier were of a costly description.
Eleven ladies, mounted on high-saddled asses, together with
several neddabehs, followed.

The rites and ceremonies performed in the mosque, and at the

526 DEATH AND FUNERAL RITES.

tomb, and after the funeral, remain to be described. If the
deceased died in any of the northern quarters of the metropolis,
the body is usually carried, in preference, to the mosque of the
Hasaneyn ; unless he were a poor man not residing near to that
venerated sanctuary, in which case his friends generally carry his
corpse to any neighbouring mosque, to save time and avoid unneces-
sary expense. If he were one of the ’Ulama (that is, of a learned
profession, however humble), his corpse is usually taken to the
great mosque El-Azhar. The people of the southern parts of the
metropolis generally carry their dead to the mosque of the seyyideh
Zeyneb, or to that of any other celebrated saint. The reason of
choosing such mosques in preference to others is the belief that the
prayers offered up at the tombs of very holy persons are especially
successful.

The bier, being brought into the mosque, is laid upon the ﬂoor,
in the usual place of prayer, with the right side towards the kibleh,
or the direction of Mekkeh. The “Imam” of the mosque stands
before the left side of the bier, facing it and the kibleh ; and a
servant of the mosque, as a “ muballigh” (to repeat the words of
the Imam), at the feet. The attendants of the funeral range
themselves behind the Imam, the women standing apart behind
the men 5 for on this occasion they are seldom excluded from the
mosque. The congregation being thus disposed, the Imam com-
mences the prayer over the dead, prefacing it with these words:
“I purpose reciting the prayer of four ‘tekbeers,’ the funeral-
prayer, over the deceased Muslim here present,” or “ the deceased
Muslims here present 3” for two or more corpses are often prayed
over at the same time. Having said this, he exclaims (raising his
open hands on each side of his head, and touching the lobes of his
ears with the extremities of his thumbs), “God is most great!”
The muballigh repeats this exclamation, and each individual of
the congregation behind the Imam does the same, as they also do
after the subsequent tekbeers. The Imam then recites the Fat’hah,
and a second time exclaims, “ God is most great ! ” after which he
adds, “ O God, favour our lord Mohammad, the Illiterate Prophet,
and his Family and Companions, and preserve them 5” and the third
time exclaims, “ God is most great l ” He then says, “ O God, verily
this is thy servant and son of thy servant: he hath departed from

 

DEATH AND FUNERAL RITES. 527

the repose of the world, and from its amplitude, and from what-
ever he loved, and from those by whom he was loved in it, to the
darkness of the grave, and to what he experienceth. He did tes—
tify that there is no deity but thou alone; that thou hast no
companion ; and that Mohammad is thy servant and thine apostle,
and thou art all-knowing respecting him. 0 God, he hath gone
to abide with thee, and thou art the best with whom to abide.
He hath become in need of thy mercy, and thou hast no need of
his punishment. We have come to thee, supplicating that we may
intercede for him. 0 God, if he were a doer of good, over-reckon
his good deeds 3 and if he were an evil-deer, pass over his evil
doings ; and of thy mercy grant that he may experience thine
acceptance, and spare him the trial of the grave and its torment,
and make his grave wide to him, and keep back the earth from his
sides; and of thy mercy grant that he may experience security
from thy torment until thou send him safely to thy Paradise, 0
thou most merciful of those who show mercy!” Then, for the fourth
and last time, the Imam exclaims, “God is most great!” adding,
“ O God, deny us not our reward for him [for the service we have
done him], and lead us not into trial after him: pardon us and
him and all the Muslims, O Lord of all creatures!” Thus he
ﬁnishes his prayer, greeting the angels on his right and left with
the salutation of “ Peace be on you, and the mercy of God,” as is
done at the close of the ordinary prayers. Then, addressing the
persons present, he says, “ Give your testimony respecting him.”«
They reply, “He was of the virtuous.” The bier is now taken
up, and if it be in the mosque of the Hasaneyn, or in that of any
other celebrated saint, that the prayer has been performed, it is
placed before the maksoorah (the screen or railing that sur-
rounds the sepulchral monument or cenotaph). Here some of the
ﬁkees and others who have attended the funeral recite the Fat’hah
and the last three verses of the “Soorat el-Bakarah” (or 2nd
chapter of the Kur-an), beginning, “Whatever is in heaven and
on earth is God’s.” These rites performed, the funeral~train pro-
ceeds with the corpse, in the same order as before, to the
burial-ground.

Here I must give a short description of a tomb. It is an
oblong vault, having an arched roof, and is generally constructed

528 DEATII, AND FUNERAL RITES.

of brick, and plastered. It is made hollow, in order that the per-
son or persons buried in it may be able with' ease to sit up when
visited and examined by the two angels, “ Munkar” (vulgarly
“ Nakir”) and “ Nekeer.” One side faces the direction of Mekkeh
——that is, the south-east. At the foot, which is to the north-east,
is the entrance, before which is constructed a small square cell
roofed with stones, extending from side to side, to prevent the
earth from entering the vault. This is covered over with earth.
The vault is generally made large enough to contain four or more
bodies. If males and females be buried in the same vault—which
is not commonly the case—ea partition is built to separate the‘
corpses of one sex from those of the other. Over the vault is con—
structed an oblong monument (called “tarkeebeh”), of stone or
brick, with a stela, or upright stone (called a “shahid”), at the
head and foot. The stelae are mostly plain, but some of them are
ornamented ; and that at the head is often inscribed with a text
from the Kur—an, and the name of the deceased, with the date of
his death. A turban, cap, or other head-dress is also sometimes
carved on the top of the head-stone, showing the rank or class of
the person or persons buried in the tomb. Over the grave of an
eminent sheykh, or other person of note, a small square building,
crowned with a cupola, is generally erected. Many of the tombs
of Turkish and Memlook grandees have marble tarkeebehs, which
are canopied by cupolas supported by four columns of marble, and
have inscriptions, in gilt letters upon a ground of azure, on the
head-stone. There are numerous tombs of this description in the
great southern cemetery of Cairo. The tombs of the Sultans are
. mostly handsome mosques; some of these are within the metro-
polis, and some in the cemeteries in its environs. I now resume
the description of the funeral.

The tomb having been opened before the arrival of the corpse,
no delay takes place in the burial. The sexton and two assistants
take the corpse out of the bier and deposit it in the vault. Its
bandages are untied, and it is laid upon its right side, or so in-
clined that the face is towards Mekkeh. It is supported in this
position by a few crude bricks. If the outer wrapper be a Kash—
meer shawl, this is rent, lest its value should tempt any profane
person to violate the tomb. A little earth is gently placed by and

 

 

TOMBS OF THE CALIPHS, CITADEL OF CAIRO.

Page 528.

 

DEATH AND FUNERAL RITES. 529

upon the corpse by one or more persons, and the entrance is closed
by replacing the rooﬁng-stones and earth over the small cell before
it. But one singular ceremony remains to be performed, except—

 

SKETCH OF A TOMB, WITH THE ENTRANCE UNCOVERED.

ing in the case of a young child, who is not held responsible for
his actions : a. ﬁkee is employed to perform the ofﬁce of a “ mulak—

kin” (or instructor of the dead). Sitting before the tomb, he says
(440) 34

53o DEATAV, AND FUNERAL 131.7755.

generally as follows :—“ O servant of. God! 0 son of a hand-
maid of God! know that at this- time there will come down to
thee two angels commissioned respecting thee and the like of thee.
When they say to thee, ‘Who is thy Lord 2 ’ answer them, ‘ God is
my Lord,’ in truth 3 and when they ask thee concerning thy
Prophet, or the man who hath been sent unto you, say to them,
‘Mohammad is the Apostle of God,’ with veracity; and when
they ask thee concerning thy religion, say to them, ‘El-Islam is
my religion ;’ and when they ask thee concerning thy book of
direction, say to them, ‘The Kur—an is my book of direction, and
the Muslims are my brothers,’ and when they ask thee concern-
ing thy Kibleh, say to them, ‘ The Kaabeh is my Kibleh, and I
have lived and died in the assertion that there is no deity but
God, and Mohammad is God’s Apostle ;’ and they will say,
‘ Sleep, 0 servant of God, in the protection of God.’”—The soul
is believed to remain with the body during the ﬁrst night after
the burial, and on this night to be visited and examined, and per—
haps the body tortured, by the two angels above mentioned—The
Yemeneeyeh and other persons hired to attend the funeral are
paid at the tomb: the former usually receive a piaster each. If
the funeral be that of a person of rank or wealth, two or three
skins of water, and as many camel-loads of bread, being conveyed
to the burial-ground, as before mentioned, are there distributed
after the burial to the poor, who ﬂock thither in great numbers
on such an occasion. It has also been mentioned that.a buffalo
is sometimes slaughtered and its ﬂesh in like manner distributed.
This custom is called “ el—kaffarah” (or the expiation), being sup—
posed to expiate some of the minor sins of the deceased, but not
great sins. The funeral ended, each of the near relations of the
deceased is greeted with a prayer that he may be happily com-
pensated for his loss, or is congratulated that his life is pro-
longed.

The ﬁrst night after the burial is called “ Leylet el—VVahsheh ”
(or the Night of Desolation), the place of the deceased being then
left desolate. On this night the following custom is observed :—
At sunset two or three ﬁkees are brought to the house ; they take
a repast of bread and milk in the place where the deceased died,
and then recite the “ Soorat el—Mulk” (or 67th chapter of the

 

DEATH AND FUNERAL RITES. 53t

Kur-an). As the soul is believed to remain with the body during
the ﬁrst night after the burial, and then to depart to the place-
appointed for the residence of good souls until the last day, or to
the appointed prison in which wicked souls await their ﬁnal doom,
this night is also called “Leylet el-Wahdeh (or the Night of
Solitude).35

Another ceremony, called that of the “Sebhah” (or Rosary),
is performed on this occasion, to facilitate the entrance of the de-
ceased into a state of happiness ,- it usually occupies three or four
hours. After the “’eshe” (or nightfall), some ﬁkees, sometimes
as many as ﬁfty, assemble in the house ,' or if there be not a court
or large apartment for their reception, some matting is spread for
them to sit upon in front of the house. One of them brings a
sebhah composed of a thousand beads, each about the size of a
pigeon’s egg. They commence the ceremony by reciting the
“ Soorat el-Mulk ” (mentioned above), then say three times, “ God
is one.” After this they recite the “Soorat el—Falak” (or last
chapter but one of the Kur-an) and the opening chapter (the
“Fat’hah”)_; and then three times say, “ O God, favour with the
most excellent favour the most happy of thy creatures, our lord
lVIohammad, and his Family and Companions, and preserve them ,'”
to which they add, “ All who commemorate thee are the mindful,
and those who omit commemorating thee are the negligent.”
They next repeat, thrice one thousand times, “There is no deity
but God,”—one of them holding the sebhah, and counting each
repetition of these words by passing a bead through his ﬁngers.
_After each thousand repetitions they sometimes rest and take
coffee. Having completed the last thousand, and rested and re-
freshed themselves, they say a hundred times, “ [I extol] the per-
fection of God, with his praise 3 ” then, the same number of times,
“ I beg forgiveness of God, the Great , ” after which they say ﬁfty
times, “ [I extol] the perfection of the Lord, the Eternal—the per-
fection of God, the Eternal ; ” they then repeat these words of the
Kur-an—“ [Extol] the perfection of thy Lord, the Lord of Might,
exempting him from that which they [namely, Christians and
others] ascribe to him [that is, from the having a son, or partaker
of his godhead]; and peace be on the Apostles, and praise be to
God, the Lord of all creatures 1” Two or three or more of them

532 DEA TH, AND FUNERAL RITES.

then recite each an “’ashr,” or about two or three verses of the
Kur-an. This done, one of them asks his companions, “ Have ye
transferred [the merit of] what ye have recited to the soul of the
deceased?” They reply, “We have transferred it,” and add, “And
peace be on the Apostles,” etc. , as above. This concludes the
ceremony of the sebhah, which, in the houses of the rich, is also
repeated on the second and third nights. This ceremony is like-
wise performed in a family on their receiving intelligence of the
death of a near relation.

The men make no alteration in their dress in token of
mourning, nor do the women on the death of an elderly man,
but they do for others. In the latter cases they dye their shirts,
head—veils, face-veils, and handkerchiefs of a blue, or of an almost
black colour, with indigo ; and some of them, with the same dye,
stain their hands and their arms as high as the elbow, and smear
the walls of the chambers. When the master of the house, or the
owner of the furniture, is dead, and sometimes in other cases, they
also turn upside-down the carpets, mats, cushions, and covering of
the deewans. In general, the women, while in mourning, leave
their hair unbraided, cease to wear some of their ornaments, and,
if they smoke, use common reed pipes.

Towards the close of the ﬁrst Thursday after the funeral, and
often early in the morning of this day, the women of the family of
the deceased again commence a wailing in their house, accompanied
by some of their female friends 5 and in the afternoon or evening of
this day male friends of the deceased also visit the house, and
three or four ﬁkees are employed to perform a khatmeh. On the
Friday morning the women repair to the tomb, where they observe
the same customs which I have described in speaking of the cere-
monies performed on the two grand “ ’eeds,” in the second of the
chapters on Periodical Public Festivals, etc., generally taking a
palm branch to break up and place on the tomb, and some cakes or
bread to distribute to the poor. These ceremonies are repeated on
the same days of the next two weeks, and again on the Thursday
and Friday which complete or next follow the ﬁrst period of forty
days after the funeral , whence this Friday is called “ e1-Arba’-een ”
or “ Gum’at el-Arba’—een.”

It is customary among the peasants of Upper Egypt for the

THE COPTS. 533

female relations and friends of a person deceased to meet together
by his house on each of the ﬁrst three days after the funeral, and
there to perform a lamentation and a strange kind of dance. They
daub their faces and bosoms and part of their dress with mud, and
tie a rope-girdle, generally made of the coarse grass called “ halfa,”
round the waist. Each ﬂourishes in her hand a palm stick, or a
nebboot (a long staff), or a spear, or a drawn sword, and dances
with a slow movement and in an irregular manner, generally
pacing about, and raising and depressing the body. This dance is
continued for an hour or more, and is performed twice or three
times in the course of the day. After the third day, the women
visit the tomb and place upon it their rope-girdles ; and usually a
lamb or a goat is slain there, as an expiatory sacriﬁce, and a feast
made on this occasion.

Having now described the manners and customs of the Muslims
of Egypt in the various stages and circumstances of life, from the
period of infancy to the tomb, I close my account of them, as a
writer of their own nation would in a similar case, with “thanks
and praise to Him who dieth not.”

CHAPTER XXIX.
THE COPTS.

THE fame of that great nation from which the Copts mainly
derive their origin renders this people objects of much interest,
especially to one who has examined the wonderful monuments of
Ancient Egypt; but so great is the aversion with which, like their
illustrious ancestors, they regard all persons who are not of their
own race, and so reluctant are they to admit such persons to any
familiar intercourse with them, that I had almost despaired of
gaining an insight into their religious, moral, and social state.
At length, however, I had the good fortune to become acquainted
with a character of which I had doubted the existence—a Copt
of a liberal as well as an intelligent mind ; and to his kindness
I am indebted for the knowledge of most of the facts related in
the following brief memoir.

534 - THE COPTS.

The Copts at present compose less than one-fourteenth part of
the population of Egypt, their number being not more than one
hundred and ﬁfty thousand. About ten thousand of them reside
in the metropolis. In some parts of Upper Egypt are villages ex-
clusively inhabited by persons of this race, and the district called
the Feiyoom particularly abounds with them. The vast number
of ruined convents and churches existing in various parts of Egypt
shows that the Copts were very numerous a few centuries ago ,' but
every year many of them have embraced the faith of El-Islam, and
become’intermixed by marriage with Muslims, and thus the number
of genuine and Christian Copts has been reduced to its present
small amount.

The Copts are undoubtedly descendants of the ancient Egyp-
tians, but not an unmixed race—their ancestors in the earlier ages
of Christianity having intermarried with Greeks, Nubians, Abys—
sinians, and other foreigners. Their name is correctly pronounced
either “ Kubt ” or “Kibt,” but more commonly “Gubt” or
“Gibt,” and (in Cairo and its neighbourhood, and in some other
parts of Egypt) “’Ubt” or “’Ibt.” In the singular it is pro-
nounced “Kubtee, Kibtee, Gubtee, Gibtee, ’Ubtee,” or “’Ibtee.”
All of these sounds bear a great resemblance to the ancient Greek
name of Egypt (Aiyvm-os) ,' but it is generally believed that the
name of “ Kubt ” is derived from “ Coptos ” (once a great city in
Upper Egypt), now called “ Kuft,” or more commonly “Guft,” to
which vast numbers of the Christian Egyptians retired during the
persecution with which their sect was visited under several of the
Roman emperors. The Copts have not altogether lost‘ their an—A
cient language———their liturgy and several of their religious books
being written in it. But the Coptic has become a dead language,
understood by very few persons, and the Arabic has been adopted
in its stead.

With respect to their personal characteristics, we observe
some striking points of resemblance, and yet, upon the whole, a
considerable difference, between the Copts and the ancient Egyp—
tians, judging of the latter from the paintings and sculptures in
their tombs and temples. The difference is, however, easily ac—
counted for by the fact of the intermarriages of the ancestors of
the modern Copts with foreigners, above mentioned. The people

 

THE COPTS. 53 5

who hear the greatest resemblance to the ancient Egyptians at
present are the N oobeh (or more genuine Nubians) 5 and next to
these the Abyssinians and the Copts, who are, notwithstanding,
much unlike each other. The Copts differ but little from the
generality of their Muslim countrymen—the latter being chieﬂy
descended from Arabs and from Copts who have embraced the
faith of the Arabs, and having thus become assimilated to the
Copts in features. I ﬁnd it difficult sometimes to perceive any
difference between a Copt and a Muslim Egyptian, beyond a certain
downcast and sullen expression of countenance which generally
marks the former; and the Muslims themselves are often deceived
when they see a Copt in a white turban. We observe in the
latter the same shades of complexion, in different latitudes of the
country, as in the former, varying from a pale yellowish colour to
a deep bronze or brown. The eyes of the Copt are generally large
and elongated, slightly inclined from the nose upwards, and always
black; the nose is straight, excepting at the end, where it is
rounded and wide ; the lips are rather thick, and the hair is black
and curly. The Copts are, generally speaking, somewhat under
the middle size, and so, as it appears from the mummies, were the
ancient Egyptians. Their women, of the higher and middle
classes in particular, blacken the edges of their eyelids wit-h kohl ;
and those of the lower orders tattoo blue marks upon their faces,
hands, etc., in the same manner as other Egyptian females, but
usually introduce the cross among these ornaments. Most of the
Copts circumcise their sons 3 and another practice which prevailed
among their pagan ancestors, mentioned by Strabo, is observed
among the Copts without exception.

The dress of the Copts is similar to that of the Muslim Egyp-
tians, excepting that the proper turban of the former is black or
blue, or of a grayish or light-brown colour; and such Copts as
wear cloth generally choose dull colours, and often wear a black
cotton gown or loose shirt over their cloth and silk dress. In the
towns they are usually careful thus to distinguish themselves from
the Muslims, but in the villages many of them wear the white or
red turban. Other Christians and Jews who are subjects of the
Turkish Sultan are distinguished from the Muslims in the same
manner, but not all ; many Armenians, Greeks, and Syrian Chris-

536 THE COPTS.

tians wear the white turban. Subjects of European Christian
powers are allowed to do the same, and to adopt altogether the
Turkish dress. The occasions which originally caused the Copts to
be distinguished by the black and blue turbans will be mentioned
in some historical notes respecting this people hereafter. The Copt
women veil their faces not only in public, but also in the house,
when any men, excepting their near relations, are present. The
unmarried ladies and females of the lower orders in public generally
wear the white veil. The black veil is worn by the more respect-
able of the married ladies ; but the white is adopted by many, from
a desire to imitate the Muslim’ehs.

The Copts, with the exception of a small proportion who pro-
fess the Romish or the Greek faith, are Christians of the sect called
Jacobites, Eutychians, Monophysites, and Monothelites, Whose
creed was condemned by the Council of Chalcedon, in the reign of
the Emperor Marcion. They received the appellation of “ J acob-
ites ” (“ Ya’akibeh ” 0r “ Yaakoobees”), by which they are generally
known, from Jacobus Baradzeus, a Syrian, who was a chief propa-
gator of the Eutychian doctrines. Those who adhered to the
Greek faith were distinguished from the former by the name of
“ Melekites ” (“ Melekeeyeh ” or “ Melekees ”), that is to say,
“Royalists,” because they agreed in faith with the Emperor of
Constantinople. The secession of the great majority of the Copts
from what was generally considered the orthodox Church gave rise
to an implacable enmity between them and the Greeks, under whom
they suffered much persecution, and with whom they would no longer
even contract marriages. This enmity was, of course, more bitter
on the part of the Copts ,' they gladly received the Arab invaders
of their country, and united with them to expel the Greeks. Their
revenge was gratiﬁed ,- but they were made to bow their necks to a
heavier yoke. Yet the hatred with which even the modern Copts
regard the Greeks and all other Christians who are not of their own
sect is much greater than that which they bear towards the Mus-
lims. Saint Mark, they assert, was the ﬁrst who preached the
gospel in Egypt, and they regard him as the ﬁrst Patriarch of
Alexandria. The Nubians and Abyssinians embraced Christianity
soon after the Egyptians; and following the same example, they
adopted the Jacobite doctrines. The Nubians, however, have be-

T HE COPT S. 5 3 7_

come Muslims, and boast that there is not a single Christian
among their race, and that they will never allow one to live among
them 3 for as they are more ignorant, so are they also more bigoted
than the generality of Muslims. In Abyssinia, Jacobite Christi-
anity is still the prevailing religion.

The religious orders of the Coptic Church consist of a Patriarch,
a Metropolitan of the Abyssinians, Bishops, Archpriests, Priests,
Deacons, and Monks.

The Patriarch (“ cl-Batrak ”) is the supreme head of the Church,
and occupies the chair of Saint Mark. He generally resides in
Cairo, but is styled “ Patriarch of Alexandria.” He is chosen
from among the order of monks, with whose regulations he con-
tinues to comply ,- and it is a point of these regulations that he
remains unmarried. He is obliged to wear woollen garments next
his body ; but these are of the ﬁnest and softest quality, like the
shawls of Kashmeer, and are concealed by habits of rich silks and
cloth. So rigid are the rules with which he is obliged to conform,
that whenever he sleeps he is waked after every quarter of an hour.
A patriarch may be appointed by his predecessor ,' but generally he
is chosen by lot, and always from among the monks of the Convent
of Saint Anthony (“Deyr Antooniyoos ”), in the Eastern Desert
of Egypt, near the western gulf of the Red Sea. The bishops and
principal priests, when a patriarch is to be elected, apply to the
superior of the convent above mentioned, who names about eight or
nine monks whom he considers qualiﬁed for the high oﬂice of head
of the Church. The names of these persons are written each upon a
separate slip of paper, which pieces of paper are then rolled into the
form of little balls and put into a drawer ; a priest draws one with-
out looking, and the person whose name is thus drawn is invested
as patriarch. Formerly a young child was employed to draw the
lot, being supposed to be more under the direction of Heaven.

The property at the disposal of the patriarch is very consider-
able: it chieﬂy consists in houses, and can only be employed for
pious uses. Modern patriarchs have done little more than aug-
ment their property. Generally when a Copt sells a house in
Cairo, the patriarch bids for it, and no one ventures to bid against
him ; so that the owner of the house is obliged to part with it for
considerably less than its just value.

538 THE COPTS. '

The patriarch and bishops wear a turban of a wider and
rounder form than those of other persons; much resembling the
mukleh of the Muslim ’Ulama, but of the same dark colour as
those of the other Copts.

The Metropolitan of the Abyssinians (“el-Matran”) is ap-
pointed by the Patriarch. He retains his ofﬁce for life, and
resides in Abyssinia.

A bishop (“ Uskuf ”) is generally (or, I am told, always) chosen
from among the monks, and continues, like the patriarch, to con-
form with their regulations. The canons of the Church do not
require that bishops should be monks; but unmarried men or
widowers were formerly always chosen for the episcopal ofﬁce.
The number of bishops is twelve.

An archpriest (“Kummus”) is elevated from the order of
common priests. The archpriests are numerous.

A priest (“Kasees”) must have been a deacon: he must be
without bodily defect, at least thirty—three years of age, and a per-
son who has never married, or who has married but one wife, and
taken that wife a virgin, and married her before he became a
priest; for he cannot marry after. If a priest’s wife die, he can—
not marry again ,' nor is the widow of a priest allowed to marry
a second husband. A priest may be of the order of monks, and
consequently unmarried. He is supported only by alms, and by
what he obtains through his own industry. Both priests and
deacons are ordained either by the patriarch or by a bishop. The
priests wear a turban formed of a long, narrow band. This was
worn a few years ago by all the Copts in Cairo 3 a desire to imi—
tate the Muslims has made them change the style.

A deacon (“ Shemmas ”) must be either unmarried or a person

' who has only once married, to a virgin bride. If he take a second
wife or marry a widow, he loses his ofﬁce. He may be of the
order of monks, as appears from what has been said above.

A monk (“ Raliib ”) must have submitted to a long trial of his
patience .and piety, and made a vow of celibacy, before his ad-
mission into the monastic order. He usually performs menial
and arduous services, previously to his admission, for a year or a
year and a half, in some sequestered convent in the desert. He
is generally employed in fetching wood and water, sweeping the

 

THE COPTS. 539

convent, etc, and waiting upon the monks ; and expends all his
property (if he have any) in the purchase of clothes and other
necessaries for the monks and the poor in general. If, after a
sufﬁcient service, he persevere in his resolution, he is admitted.
The prayers of the dead are recited over him, to celebrate his
death to the world; and it has been said that when he dies he
is buried without prayer, but I am informed that this is not the
case. The monks are very numerous, and there are many nuns.
They lead a life of great austerity, and are obliged always to wear
woollen garments next the body. Every monk is distinguished
by a strip of woollen stuff, of a deep blue or black colour, about
four inches wide, attached beneath the turban and hanging down
the back to the length of about a foot. A woollen shirt is
generally the only article of dress worn by the monks, beside
the turban. They eat two meals in the course of the day, at
noon and in the evening; but, if living in a convent, seldom
anything more than lentils, as most of their convents are in the
desert. On feast—days, however, they eat ﬂesh, if it be procurable.
The number of convents and churches is said to be a hundred
and forty-six; but the former are few in comparison with the
latter. '

The Coptic Church recommends baptizing boys at the age of
forty days, and girls at the age of eighty days, if they continue
so long well and healthy, but earlier if they be ill and in apparent
danger of death: for it is a prevailing belief among the Copts
that if a child die unbaptized, it will be blind in the next life ;
and the parents are held guilty of a sin, for which they must do
penance either by repeating many prayers or by fasting. Yet
people of the lower orders, if living at an inconvenient distance
from a church, and even in other cases, often neglect baptizing
their children for a whole year. The child is dipped three times
in the water, in which a little holy oil, dropped on the priest’s
thumb, has been washed off; and prayers, entirely in Coptic, are
repeated over it. The Copts hold that the Holy Spirit descends
upon the child in baptism. No money is taken ’by the priest for
performing the baptismal service, unless voluntarily offered.

I have said that most of the .Copts circumcise their sons. Not
many of them in Cairo, I am told, do so ; but in other parts, all,

540 THE COPTS.

or almost all, observe this rite. The operation is generally per-
formed when the child is about seven or eight years of age, and
always privately. There is no ﬁxed age for its performance : some
of the Copts are circumcised at the early age of two years, and
some at the age of twenty years or more. The more enlightened
of the Copts certainly regard circumcision as a practice to be
commended, but not as a religious rite, which the priests declare
it is not. It appears, however, from its being universal among
the peasantry, that these look upon it as something more than
a' mere civil rite ; for if they regarded it as being of no higher
importance, surely they would leave the more polished to comply
with the custom. Some say it is in imitation of Christ, who sub-
mitted to this rite, that they perform it. It is a relic of ancient
customs.

The Copts have numerous schools, but for boys only. Very
few females among them can read, and those have been instructed
at home. The boys are taught the Psalms of David, the Gospels,
and the Apostolical Epistles, in Arabic ; and then the Gospels
and Epistles in Coptic, They do not learn the Coptic language
grammatically ; and I am told that there is not to be found
among the Copts any person who can write or speak that lan—
guage with correctness or ease, and that there are very few
persons who can do more than repeat what they have committed
to memory of the Scriptures and Liturgy. The Coptic language
gradually fell into disuse after the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs.
For two centuries after that event, it appears to have been the
only language that the generality of the Copts understood 3 but
before the tenth century of our era, most of the inhabitants of
Lower Egypt had ceased to speak and understand it, though in
the Sa’eed (or Upper Egypt), El—Makreezee tells us, the women
and children of the Copts in his time (that is, about the close
of the fourteenth century of our era, or the early part of the
ﬁfteenth) scarcely spoke any other language than the Sa’eedee
Coptic, and had a complete knowledge of the Greek. Soon after
this period the Coptic language fell into disuse in Upper Egypt,
as it had done so long before in the Lower Provinces, and the
Arabic was adopted in its stead. All the Copts who have been
instructed at a school still pray, both in the church and in private,

THE COPTS. 541'

in Coptic 3 and the Scriptures are still always read in the churches
in that language, but they are explained from books in Arabic.
Many books for the use of priests and other persons are written
in the Coptic language, expressed in Arabic characters.

The ordinary private prayers of the Copts are a subject par-
ticularly worthy of notice. In these they seem to have imitated
the Jews, and to resemble the Muslims. I am informed that
there are few of them in. Cairo who do not comply with a precept
of their Church which enjoins them to pray seven times in the
course of the day. The ﬁrst prayer is said at daybreak; the
second, at the third hour; the third, at the sixth hour, the
fourth, at the ninth hour 3 the ﬁfth, at the eleventh hour 3 the
sixth, at the twelfth hour, which is sunset 3 and the seventh, at
midnight. In each of these prayers, those persons who have
learned to read, and are strict in the performance of their religious
duties, recite several of the Psalms of David (about a seventh part
of the whole Book of Psalms) in Arabic, and a chapter of one of
the four Gospels in the same language 3 after which they say,
l” forty—one
times, some using a string of forty—one beads, others counting by

either in Coptic or Arabic, “ O my Lord, have mercy

their ﬁngers 3 they then add a short prayer in Coptic. In the
seven prayers of each day, altogether, they repeat the whole Book
of Psalms. Such, I am assured, are the rigid practices of the
more strict and instructed classes in their daily worship. The
illiterate repeat, in each of the seven daily prayers, the Lord’s
Prayer seven times, and “O my Lord, have mercy l” forty-one
times. Previously to private as well as public prayer, persons of
the better and stricter classes wash their hands and face, and some
also wash their feet 3 and in prayer they always face the east.
Though in most of the rules above mentioned they nearly re-
semble the Jews and the Muslims, they differ from both these
sects in holding that prayer, excepting with the congregation in
the church, is better performed in private than in public. Their
ordinary prayers, or at least the latter and shorter form, they
often repeat while walking or riding or otherwise actively em—
ployed. I can hardly believe that the longer form is generally
used by the instructed classes, though I am positively assured
that it is.

542 THE COPTS.

The larger churches are divided into four or ﬁve compartments.
The “Heykel,” or chancel, containing the altar, occupies the
central and chief portion of the compartment at the upper end,
which is screened from the rest of the church by a close partition
or wall of wooden panel-work, having a door in the centre, the
entrance of the Heykel, before which is suspended a curtain with
a large cross worked upon it. The compartment next before this
is appropriated to the priests who read the lessons, etc, and to
boys who serve as acolytes and singers, and the chief members of
the congregation. This is separated from the compartment next
before it by a partition of wooden lattice-work, about eight or
nine feet high, with three doors, or a single door in the centre.
The inferior members of the congregation occupy the next com-
partment, or next two compartments ; and the lowest is appro-
priated to the women, and is screened in front by a partition of
wooden lattice-work, to conceal them entirely from the men. Upon
the walls of the church are suspended ill-executed and gaudy
pictures of various saints, particularly of the patron saint, but no
images are admitted. The ﬂoor is covered with mats.

Every man takes eff his shoes on entering the church, but he
retains his turban. He ﬁrst goes to the door of the Heykel,
prostrates himself before it, and kisses the hem of its/curtain.
He then prostrates himself, or makes a bow and a salutation with
the hand, before one or more pictures of saints, and sometimes
kisses the hand of one or more of the ofﬁciating priests in the
compartment next before the Heykel. Almost every member of
the congregation has a crutch, about four feet and a half or ﬁve
feet long, to lean upon while he stands, which he does during the
greater part of the service. The full service (with the celebration
of the Eucharist) occupies between three and four hours, generally
commencing at daybreak.

The priests who oﬂiciate in the Heykel are clad in handsome
robes, but the others wear only their ordinary dress. The whole
of the service that is performed in the Heykel is in the Coptic
language, no other language being allowed to be spoken within
the sanctuary. The priests without, standing opposite and facing
the door of the Heykel, read and chant explanations and lessons
in' Arabic and Coptic. A priest is not permitted to sit down while

THE COPTS. 543

reading the service in the sanctuary ; and as this occupies so long
a time, he pauses, in order that he may sit down, several times,
for a few minutes, and on these occasions cymbals of various sizes
and notes are beaten as long as he remains sitting. Several times,
also, a priest comes out from the Heykel, waves a censer, in which
frankincense is burning, among the congregation, and blesses each
member, placing his hand upon the person’s head. Having done
this to the men, he proceeds to the apartment of the women.
The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is often performed in the
Coptic Church. The bread, which is made in the form of small
round cakes or buns, stamped upon the top, is moistened with the
wine, and in this state administered to the congregation, and par—
taken of by the ministers in orders, who have larger shares than
the laymen, and are alone privileged to drink the Wine. Each
member of the congregation advances to the door of the Heykel
to receive his portion.

The priests and others are often guilty of excessive indecorum
in their public worship. I heard a priest, standing before the
door of the sanctuary in the patriarchal church in Cairo, exclaim
to a young acolyte (who was assisting him, I suppose, rather awk-
wardly), “May a blow corrode your heart 1 ” And a friend of mine
once witnessed, in the same place, a complete uproar. A priest
from a village having taken a part in the performance of the
service, was loudly cursed and forcibly expelled by the regular
ofﬁciating ministers ; and afterwards many members of the congre-
gation, in pressing towards the door of the Heykel, vociferated
curses, and beat each other with their crutches. The form of
service in itself struck me as not much characterized by solemnity,
though probably it approaches very nearly to that of the earliest
age of the Christian Church.

Confession is required of all members of the Coptic Church,
and is indispensable before receiving the sacrament of therLord’s
Supper. Each person generally confesses to the same priest. The
penance which the confessor usually imposes is a certain number
of crossings and prostrations, with the repetition, during each pros-
tration, of the Lord’s Prayer, or, “ O my Lord, have mercy I”

The Copts observe long and arduous fasts. A week before
their Great East, or Lent, commences a fast of three days, kept

544 THE COPTS.

in commemoration of that of Nineveh, which was occasioned by
the preaching of Jonah. Some of the Copts observe this fast by
total abstinence during the whole period of three days and three
nights ; others keep it in the same manner as the other fasts, of
which an account here follows. A

Their principal fast, called “es-Som el-Kebeer” (or the Great
Fast), above alluded to, was originally limited to forty days 3 but
it has been gradually extended, by different patriarchs, to ﬁfty-ﬁve
days. During this period, excepting on two days of festival, which
will presently be mentioned, they abstain from every kind of
animal food—such as ﬂesh-meat, eggs, milk, butter, and cheese—-
and eat only bread and vegetables (chieﬂy beans), with sweet oil,
or the oil of sesame, and dukkah. The churches are open, and
V service is performed in them every day during this fast; and the
Copts eat nothing after their supper until after the church-prayers
of the next day, about noon ; but they do not thus on the other fasts.

They observe, however, with almost equal strictness, three
other fasts z—lst, the “ 86m el-Meelad ” (or Fast of the Nativity),
the period of which is twenty-eight days immediately preceding
the festival of the Nativity, or Christmas day—that is, all the
month of Kiyahk excepting the last two days ; 2nd, the “Sena
er-Rusul ” (or Fast of the Apostles), which is the period between
the Ascension and the ﬁfth of Ebeeb, and is observed in com-
memoration of the Apostles’ fasting after they were deprived of
their Lord ; 3rd, the “Sém el-’Adra” (or Fast of the Virgin), a
period of ﬁfteen days previous to the Assumption of the Virgin. ‘

The Copts also fast every Wednesday and Friday in every
other period of the year, excepting during the ﬁfty days imme—
diately following their Great Fast—that is, from the end of the
Great Fast to the end of the Khamaseen. On these Wednesdays
and Fridays they eat only ﬁsh, vegetables, and oil.

Each fast is followed by a festival. The Copts observe seven
great festivals z—lst, the “’Eed el-Meelad” (or Festival of the
Nativity), on the 29th of Kiyahk (or 6th or 7th of January);
2nd, the “ ’Eed el—Gheetas,” on the llth of Toobeh (18th or 19th
of January), in commemoration of the baptism of Christ; 3rd, the
“’Eed el-Bisharah” (Annunciation of the Virgin, or Lady Day),
on the 29th of Barmahat (or 6th of April); 4th, the “’Eed esh-

THE COPTS. 54 5

Sha’aneen” (Palm Sunday), the Sunday next before Easter 3
5th, the “’Eed el~Kiyameh” (the Resurrection, or Easter), or
“e1-’Eed el-Kebeer” (the Great Festival); 6th, the “’Eed es-
So’ood” (the Ascension) 3 7th, the “’Eed e1—’Ansar’ah” (Whit-
sunday). On the ﬁrst, second, and ﬁfth of these, the church-
prayers are performed at night—that is, in the night preceding
the day of festival. On all these festivals the Copts wear new
clothes (or the best they have), feast, and give alms.

On the “ Leylet el-Gheetas ” (or eve of the festival of the Ghee-
tas), the Copts almost universally used to perform a singular
ceremony, which, I am informed, is now observed by few of those
residing in the metropolis, but by almost all others—that is, by
the men. To commemorate the baptism of Christ, men—old as
well as young—and boys plunge into water; and the Muslims
say that as each does this another exclaims to him, “Plunge, as
thyfather and grandfather plunged, and remove El—Islam from
thy heart.” Some churches have a large tank, which is used on
this occasion, the water having ﬁrst been blessed by a priest; but
it is a more common practice of the Copts to perform this ceremony
(which most of them regard more as an amusement than a religious
rite) in the river, pouring in some holy water from the church
before they plunge. This used to be an occasion of great festivity
among the Copts of the metropolis: the Nile was crowded with
boats, and numerous tents and mesh’als were erected on its banks.
Prayers are performed in the churches on the eve of this festival ;
a priest blesses the water in the font or the tank, then ties on a
napkin as an apron, and wetting the corner of a handkerchief
with the holy water, washes (or rather wipes or touches) with it
the feet of each member of the congregation. This latter cere-
mony is also performed on the Thursday next before Easter, or
Maundy Thursday (“Khamees el-’Ahd”), and on the Festival of
the Apostles (“ ’Eed er—Rusul ”), on the 5th of Ebeeb‘ (or 11th of
July).

On the Festivals of the “ Bisharah ” and the “ Sha’aneen ” the
Copts eat ﬁsh ; and on the latter of these two festivals the priests
recite the prayers of the dead over their congregations in the
churches; and if any die between that day and the end of the
Khamaseen (which is the chief or worst portion of the plague-

(440) 35

546 THE COPTS.

season), his body is interred without the prayer being repeated.
This custom seems to have originated from the fact of its being
impossible to pray at the tomb over every victim of the plague,
and must have a very impressive effect upon people expecting this
dreadful scourge.

Among the minor festivals are the “ Khamees el-’Ahd,” above
mentioned ; “ Sebt en-Noor” (or Saturday of the Light), the next
Saturday, when a light which is said to be miraculous appears in
the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem , the “’Eed er—Rusul,” before
mentioned; and the “’Eed es—Saleeb” (or Festival of [the dis-
covery of] the Cross), on the 17th of Toot (or 26th or 27th of
September).

Pilgrimage to Jerusalem the Copts hold to be incumbent on all
who are able to perform it, but few of the poorer classes acquit
themselves of this duty. The pilgrims compose a numerous cara-
van. They pass the Passion Week and Easter at Jerusalem, and
on the third day after the Passion Week proceed to the Jordan,
in which they bathe. .

The Copts almost universally abstain from eating swine’s ﬂesh,
not because they consider it unlawful, for they deny it to be so,
but, as they say, on account of the ﬁlthiness of the animal. I
should think, however, that this abstinence is rather to be attri-
buted to a prejudice derived from their heathen ancestors. The
ﬂesh of the wild bear is often eaten by them. Camel’s ﬂesh they
consider unlawful, probably for no better reason than that of its
being eaten by the Muslims. They abstain from the ﬂesh of
animals that have been strangled, and from blood, in compliance
with an injunction of the apostles to the Gentile converts, which
they hold is not abrogated. (See Acts xv. 20, 29.)

The male adults among the Copts pay a tribute (called “giz—
yeh”), besides the income-tax (or “ﬁrdeh”), which they pay in
common with the Muslim inhabitants of Egypt. There are three
rates of the former—the richer classes in Cairo and other large
towns pay thirty-six piasters each; the middling class, eighteen;
and the poorest, nine : but in the country this tax is levied upon
families instead of individuals. The ﬁrdeh is the same for the
Copts as for the Muslims——the twelfth part of a man’s annual
salary or gain, when this can be ascertained.

THE COPTS. ‘ 547 ,.

The Copts are not now despised and degraded by the govern-
ment as they were a few years ago. Some of them have even
been raised to the rank of Beys. Before the accession of Moham-
mad ’Alee, neither the Copts nor other Eastern Christians nor
Jews were generally allowed to ride horses in Egypt 5 but this
restriction has of late years been withdrawn. A short time since,
the Muslims of Damascus, who are notorious for their bigotry and
intolerance, complained to the conqueror Ibraheem Basha of the
Christians in their city being allowed to ride horses—urging that
the Muslims no longer had the privilege of distinguishing them-
selves from the inﬁdels. The Basha replied, “Let the Muslims
still be exalted above the Christians if they Wish it—let them ride
dromedaries in the streets ; depend upon it, the Christians will not
follow their example.” The Copts enjoy an immunity for which
they are much envied by most of the Muslims : they are not liable
to be taken for military service, as no Muslim prince would honour
a Christian by employing him to ﬁght against a Muslim enemy.

The ordinary domestic habits of the Copts are perfectly Orien—
tal, and nearly the same as those of their Muslim fellow-country-
men. They pass their hours of leisure chieﬂy in the same manner,
enjoying their pipe and coffee ; their meals also are similar, and
their manner of eating is the same ; but they indulge in drinking
brandy at all hours of the day, and often to excess.

They are not allowed by their Church to intermarry with
persons of any other sect, and few of them do so. When a Copt
wishes to contract such a marriage, which causes him to be re-
garded as a reprobate by the more strict of his nation, he generally
applies to a priest of the sect to which his intended wife belongs 3
and if his request be denied——which is commonly the case, unless
the man will consent to adopt his wife’s creed—he is married by
the Kadee, merely by a civil contract. As a marriage of this
kind is not acknowledged by the Church, it may be dissolved at
pleasure.

When a Copt is desirous of marrying according to the approved
custom, he pursues the same course to obtain a wife as the Mus-
lim, employing one or more of his female relations or other women
to seek for him a suitable companion. Scarcely ever is he able to
obtain a sight of the face of his intended wife, unless she be of

548 THE COPTS.

the lower orders, and not always even in this case. If the female
sought in marriage be under age, her father or mother or nearest
male relation is her wekeel (or agent) to make the necessary
arrangements , but if she be of age, and have neither father nor
mother, she appoints her own wekeel. The bridegroom also has
his wekeel. The parties make a contract, in which various private
domestic matters are arranged in the presence of a priest. Two-thirds
of the amount of the dowry is paid on this occasion ; the remaining
third is held in reserve. If she survive her husband, she claims
this from his property ; if she die before him, her relations claim it
at her death. The contract being concluded, the Lord’s Prayer is
recited three times by all persons present, the priest commencing
it ﬁrst.

The marriage festivities in the cases of persons of the higher
and middle classes, when the bride is a virgin, usually occupy a
period of eight days. Such is the length of what is termed a
complete féte.

The night preceding Sunday (which the Copts, like the Mus-
lims, call the night of Sunday) is the most approved for the per-
formance of the marriage service, and most of the Copts are
married on this night. In this case the festivities commence on
the preceding Tuesday, when the bridegroom and the bride’s
family entertain their respective friends. At the feasts given on
these occasions and on subsequent days of the marriage festivities,
a curious custom, which reminds us of the alites or prwpetes of
the Romans, is usually observed. The cook makes two hollow
balls of sugar, each with a hole at the bottom 3 then taking two
live pigeons, he attaches little round bells to their wings; and
having whirled the poor birds through the air till they are giddy,
puts them into the two balls before mentioned. Each of these is
placed upon a dish, and they are put before the guests, some of
whom, judging when the birds have recovered from their giddi-
ness, break the balls. The pigeons generally ﬂy about the room,
ringing their little bells: if they do not ﬂy immediately, some
person usually makes them rise, as the spectators would draw an
evil omen from their not ﬂying. The guests are generally enter-
tained with music on the evenings of these feasts. Wednesday is
passed in preparations.

THE COPTS. 549

On Thursday, in the afternoon, the bride is conducted to the
bath, accompanied by several of her female relations and friends,
and usually with music, but not under a canopy. Friday, again, is
a day of preparation, and the bride has the henna applied to her
hands and feet, etc.

Early on Saturday two sets of articles of clothing, etc. , one for
the bridegroom and the other for the bride, and each consisting
of similar things (namely, a shirt of silk and cotton, a pair of
drawers, the embroidered band of the drawers, and two hand—
kerchiefs embroidered with gold, together with a tobacco-purse,
ornamented in the same manner), are sent from the bride’s family
to the house of the bridegroom. An old lady of the family of the
bride afterwards goes to the bridegroom’s house to see whether
it be properly prepared; and the bridegroom’s “ashbeen” (or
brideman) takes him and several of his friends to the bath.

In the ensuing evening, about an hour and a half or two hours
after sunset, the bride, accompanied by a number of her female
relations and friends, preceded and followed by musicians, and
attended by a number of persons bearing mesh’als and candles,
proceeds to the house of the bridegroom. This zeffeh (or
parade) much resembles that of a Muslim’eh bride ; but the Copt
bride is not conducted under a canopy. She is covered with a
shawl, with several ornaments attached to that part which con-
ceals her face and head, and numerous coins and other ornaments
upon the part which covers her bosom. The procession moves
very slowly, and generally occupies about two hours. A lamb or
sheep is killed for the guests at the bridegroom’s house this night 3
it is slaughtered at the door, and the bride steps over its blood.
This ceremony, I am told, is only observed in Cairo and other
large towns.

The bride’s party having rested about two hours at the bride-
groom’s house, and there partaken of refreshments, proceed with
her thence in the same manner to the church. The bridegroom
goes thither with his friends, forming a separate party, and with-
out music. In the church, where the men and women place them-
selves apart, long prayers are performed, and the sacrament of the
Lord’s Supper is administered. The priest receives and blesses
and returns two rings for the bridegroom and bride, and places a

550 TffE COPTS.

kind of crown or frontal diadem of gold upon the head of each of
them, and a sash over the shoulder of'the bridegroom. This cere-
mony is called the “tekleel ” (or crowning). The two crowns be-
long to the church: before the parties quit the church they are
taken off , but the bridegroom often goes home with the sash, and
it is there taken off by a priest. At the weddings of the rich in
the metropolis the Patriarch generally ofﬁciates. In most cases
the ceremonies of the church are not concluded until near day-
break ; the parties then return to the house of the bridegroom.
From respect to the sacrament of which they have partaken, the
bridegroom and bride maintain a religious reserve towards each
other until the following night (that preceding Monday), or gener-
ally until after the close of this night.

The bride’s father gives a dinner at the bridegroom’s house on
Monday, at which the principal dishes are usually rice and milk
and beiled fowls. In the evening, after this dinner, the bride-
groom and his ashbeen go about to invite his friends to a great
feast to be given on the evening following, which concludes the
marriage festivities.

Such are the ceremonies which are usually observed on the
marriage of a virgin—bride. Sometimes the Patriarch, bishop, or
priest, who is employed to perform the marriage service, dissuades
the parties from expending their money in zeifehs and repeated
feasts, counselling them rather to devote the sums which they had
purposed to employ in so vain a manner to the relief of the wants
of the clergy and poor, and in consequence the marriage is con»
ducted with more simplicity and privacy. A widow is always
married without ostentation, festivity, 0r zeffeh. A virgin-bride
of the poorer class is sometimes honoured with a zeﬁ'eh, but is
generally conducted to the bath merely by a group of female rela—
tions and friends, who, wanting the accompaniment of musical
instruments, only testify their joy by zaghareet. In the same
manner also she proceeds to the bridegroom’s house, and she is
there married by a priest, as the expenses of lighting and otherwise
preparing the church for a marriage fall upon the bridegroom.
Many of the Copts in Cairo, being possessed of little property, are
married in a yet more simple manner, before mentioned. To be
married by one of their own clergy, they must obtain a license

THE COPTS. 5 5 I

from the Patriarch, and this covetous person will seldom give it
for less than a hundred piasters (or a pound sterling), and some—
times demands from such persons as many riyals (of two piasters
and a quarter each). The parties, therefore, are married by a
license from the Kadee, for which they usually pay not more than
two piasters, or a little less than ﬁvepence of our money.

The newly-married wife, if she observe the approved rules of
etiquette, does not go out of the house, even to pay a Visit to her
parents, until delivered of her ﬁrst child, or until the expiration
of a year if there appear no signs of her becoming a mother.
After this period of imprisonment her father or mother usually
comes to visit her.

A divorce is obtained only for the cause of adultery on the
part of the wife. The husband and wife may be separated if she
have committed a theft or other heinous crime, but in this case
neither he nor she is at liberty to contract another marriage,
though they may again be united to each other.

One of the most remarkable traits in the character of the Copts
is their bigotry. They bear a bitter hatred to all other Christians,
even exceeding that with which the Muslims regard the unbelievers
in El-Islam. Yet they are considered by the Muslims as much
more inclined than any other Christian sect to the faith of El-
Islam ; and this opinion has not been formed without reason, for
vast numbers of them have, from time to time, and not always in
consequence of persecution, become proselytes to this religion.
They are, generally speaking, of a sullen temper, extremely ava-
ricious, and abominable dissemblers, cringing or domineering
according to circumstances. The respectable Copt to whom I
have already acknowledged myself chieﬂy indebted for the notions
which I have obtained respecting the customs of his nation, gives
me a most unfavourable account of their character. He avows
them to be generally ignorant, deceitful, faithless, and abandoned
to the pursuit of worldly gain, and to indulgence in sensual plea-
sure. He declares the Patriarch to be a tyrant and a suborner of
false witnesses, and assures me that the priests and monks in Cairo
are seen every evening begging and asking the loan of money, which
they never repay, at the houses of their parishioners and other ac-
quaintances, and procuring brandy, if possible, wherever they call.

5 52 THE COPTS.

Many of the Copts are employed as secretaries or accountants.
In every village of a moderate size is a “ M’allim,” who keeps the
register of the taxes. The writing of the Copts differs consider-
ably from that of the Muslims, as well as from that of other
Christians residing in Egypt. Most of the Copts in Cairo are
accountants or tradesmen. The former are chieﬂy employed in
government ofﬁces. Among the latter are many merchants, gold-
smiths, silversmiths, jewellers, architects, builders, and carpenters,
all of whom are generally esteemed more skilful than the Muslims.
Those in the villages, like the Muslim peasants, occupy themselves
chieﬂy in the labours of agriculture.

The funeral ceremonies of the Copts resemble in many respects
those of the Muslims. The corpse is carried in a bier, followed
by women, wailing in the same manner as the Muslim’ehs do on
such an occasion, but is not preceded by hired chanters. Hired
wailing-women are employed to lament in the house of the de-
ceased for three days after the death (though this custom is dis-
approved of by the clergy and many others, being only a relic of
ancient heathen usages), and they renew their lamentations there
on the seventh and fourteenth days after the death, and some—
times several weeks after. The Copts, both men and women, pay
regular visits to the tombs of their relations three times in the
year—on the ’Eed el-Meelad, ’Eed el-Gheetas, and ’Eed el—Kiyameh.
They go to the burial-ground on the eve of each of these ’eeds,
and there pass the night, having houses belonging to them in the
cemeteries for their reception on these occasions; the women
spend the night in the upper apartments, and the men below. In
the morning following they kill a buffalo or a sheep, if they can
afford either, and give its ﬂesh, with bread, to the poor who as-
semble there, or they give bread alone. This ceremony, which
resembles the “ kaffarah ” performed by the Muslims on the burial
of their dead, is not considered as any expiation of the sins of the
deceased, but probably originates from an ancient expiatory sacriﬁce :
it is only regarded as an alms. As soon as it is done the mourners
return home. They say that they visit the tombs merely for the
sake of religious reﬂection. In doing so, they perpetuate an ancient
custom which they ﬁnd difficult to relinquish, though they can give
no good reason for observing it with such ceremonies.

I

THE COPTS. ' 55 3

I shall close this account of the Copts with a few notices of
their history under the Muslim domination, derived from El-
Makreezee’s celebrated work on Egypt and its Metropolis.

About seventy years after the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs,
the Copts began to experience such exactions and persecutions,
notwithstanding the chartered favours and privileges which had at
ﬁrst been granted to them, that many of them rose in arms, and
attempted to defend their rights; but they were reduced, after
sustaining a great slaughter. The monks, for the ﬁrst time, had
been subjected to an annual tribute of a deenar each. The col-
lector 0f the tribute branded the hand of each monk whom he
could ﬁnd with a stamp of iron, and afterwards cut off the hand
of every person of this order whom he detected without the mark ;
and exacted ten deenars from every other Christian who had not
a billet from the government to certify his having paid his tribute.
Many monks were subsequently found without the mark ; some
of these were beheaded, and the rest beaten until they died under
the blows. Their churches were demolished, and their crosses
and pictures destroyed. This took place in the year of the Flight
104 (722~3 A.D.), at the close of the reign of the Khaleefeh
Yezeed Ibn-’Abd-El-Melik. A few years after, in the reign of
the successor of this prince (Hisham), Handhal’ah Ibn-Safwan,
the Governor of Eg pt, caused the hand of every Copt to be
branded with an iron stamp bearing the ﬁgure of a lion, and
greatly aggravated their misery; so that many of those residing
in the provinces again rebelled, and had recourse to arms, but in
vain, and a terrible persecution followed.

From the period of the conquest until the reign of Hisham,
the Jacobites (or almost all the Copts) were in possession of all
the churches in Egypt, and sent their bishops to the N ubians,
who consequently abandoned the Melekite creed, and adopted
that of the J acobites ; but in the reign of this Khaleefeh, the
Melekites, by means of a present, obtained the restoration of
those churches which had formerly belonged to them. These,
however, soon after returned to the possession of the J acobites;
and in aftertimes were now the property of one sect, and now
of the other, being purchased by presents or services to the
government. ‘

5 54 THE COP/1‘5.

It would be tiresome to detail all the troubles of the Copts
under the tyranny of Muslim princes; but some particulars in
the history of the persecutions which they endured in the earlier
ages of the Arab domination may be here mentioned. The Copts
are a people of indomitable presumption and intrigue, which
qualities render them very difﬁcult to be governed. They have
often incurred severe oppression by their own folly ; though they
have more frequently been victims of unmerited persecution under
tyrannical rulers, and through the inﬂuence of private fanatics.36

In the year of the Flight 235 (849—50 A.D.), the Khaleefeh E1-
Mutawekkil ordered several degrading distinctions to be adopted
in the dress of the Copts : the men were obliged to wear “ honey-
coloured” (or light brown) hooded cloaks, with other peculiar
articles of dress; and the women, garments of the same colour;
and they were compelled to place wooden ﬁgures (or pictures) of
devils at (or upon) the doors of their houses.

One of the bitterest persecutions that they ever endured, and
one which was attributed to their pride, and their display of
wealth, and contemptuous treatment of Muslims, befell them
during the reign cf thatimpious wretch the Khaleefeh El-Hakim,
who acceded to the throne in the year of the Flight 386 (996—7
A.D.), and was killed in 411. Among the minor grievances
which he inﬂicted upon them was that of compelling them to
wear a wooden cross, of the weight of ﬁve pounds, suspended to
the neck, and garments and turbans of a deep black colour. This
seems to have been the origin of the black turban worn by so
many of the Christians in the present day. As the distinguishing
dress and banners of the Khaleefehs of Egypt were white, black,
which was the colour that distinguished their rivals, the ’Abbasees,
was in their eyes the most hateful and ignominious hue that they
could choose for the dresses of the despised Copts. I ﬁnd no
earlier mention than this of the black turban of the Christians of
Egypt. At the same time that the Copts were compelled thus to
distinguish themselves, the Jews were ordered to wear a round
piece of wood, of the same weight as the crosses of the Christians,
and suspended in the same manner. All the churches were given
up to be destroyed and plundered, with all the property apper-
taining to them; and many of them were replaced by mosques.

«.mim

77'!

THE COPTS. ' 5 5 5

Finally, a sentence of banishment to Greece was pronounced
against all the Christians of Egypt, and the Jews 3 but so strong
was the love which they bore to their native country amid all
their miseries, and so much were they actuated by that common
but absurd disposition, which most sects possess, of hating most
bitterly those differing least from them in faith, that a multitude
of Copts thronged round the great palace of the Khaleefeh, and
implored and obtained a revokement of this sentence. Many
Copts, during this and other persecutions, embraced the faith of
El-Islam.

In the month of Regeb, 700 (1301 A.D.), happened an event
which for the ﬁrst time, as well as I can learn, occasioned the
Copts to be distinguished by the blue turban, as they mostly are
at present. A Maghrab’ee ambassador, approaching the Citadel
(of Cairo), saw a man handsomely attired, wearing a white turban,
and riding a mare, with many attendants walking by his stirrups,
paying him great honours, asking favours of him, and even kissing
his feet; while he turned aside from them, and repulsed them,
calling to his servants to drive them away. The Maghrab'ee,
informed that this person was a Christian, was so enraged that he
was about to lay Violent hands upon him 3 but he refrained, and,
ascending to the deewan in the Citadel, related to some of the
Emeers there present what he had just seen, with tears in his
eyes, drawn by his pity for the Muslims. In consequence of his
complaint, the chief persons among the Christians and Jews were
summoned to the deewan 3 and orders were given that the Chris-
tians should wear blue turbans and waist-belts, and the Jews
yellow turbans, and that no person of either of these sects should
ride horses or mules. hIany Christians, it is added, embraced El-
Islam rather than wear the blue turban. _

On Friday, the 9th of Rabeea el-A’khir, 721 (1321 A.D.), in
the reign of Mohammad Ibn—Kalaoon, all the principal churches
throughout Eg pt, from Aswan to the Blediterranean, sixty in
number, and twenty-one of these in the metropolis and its neigh-
bourhood, were destroyed through a plot formed by some fanatic

, lVIuslims. This havoc was accomplished chieﬂy during the period

of the congregational prayers of the Muslims, at noon. At the
close of the prayers of the Sultan and his court, in the mosque of

556 ' THE C 0PTS.

the Citadel, a man, in a state of apparent frenzy, cried out in the
midst of the congregation, “Destroy ye the church which is in .
the Citadel 1” Another man, a fakeer, in the great mosque El-
Azhar, before the appearance of the Khateeb (or preacher),
seemed to be affected by an involuntary trembling, and cried out,
“Destroy ye the churches of the presumptuous and inﬁdels!

Yea, God is most great! God give victory and aid!” Then he
shook himself and cried, “To the foundations! To the founda-
tions!” Some members of the congregation said, “This is a

7

1nadman;’ others said, “This is an indication of some event.”
On their going out of the mosque, they saw that the act which he
had urged had been commenced , numbers of persons were press-
ing along the streets with the plunder of the churches, many of
which were reduced to mere mounds of rubbish. The Sultan
threatened a general massacre of the people of El-Kahireh (now
Masr, or Cairo) and El-Fustat (or Old Masr) for this outrage, but
was diverted from his purpose by the revenge which the Christians
exacted. Refraining from the execution of their plot for the
space of a month, that they might be less liable to suspicion, they
set ﬁre, on different days, to a vast number of mosques, houses of
Enieers, and private dwellings, both in El-Kahireh and El-Fustat.
Several of the incendiaries were detected, and some burnt alive ;
and a number of Muslims also were put to death, most of them
hanged, along the principal street leading from the southern gate
of the city of El-Kahireh to the Citadel, ostensibly for insulting
an Emeer, whom they accused of' favouring the Christians,
though there was no proof that they were the persons who com-
mitted this offence. They had been arrested without discrimina-
tion, to atone for the injury, and to be made examples to their
fellow-citizens. The Sultan, however, alarmed by the clamours of
a tremendous mob, was afterwards constrained to grant license to
his Muslim subjects to plunder and murder every Christian whom
they might chance to meet. The Christians at that time had
reverted to the habit of wearing the white turban ; and the
Sultan caused it to be proclaimed that every person of this sect
who was seen wearing a white turban, or riding a horse, might be
plundered and killed; that they should wear the blue turban 5
that they should not ride horses nor mules, but only asses, and

THE [El/VS 0F EGYPZl 557

with their face to the animal’s tail; and should not enter a bath
unless with a bell suspended to the neck. At the same time, the
Emeers were forbidden to take any Christians into their service ;
and all of this sect who were in the service of the government
were displaced.

After having suffered frequent and heavy exactions and other
oppressions, a vast number of the Christians both in Upper and
Lower Egypt, in the year of the Flight 755 (1354—5 A.D.), em-
braced the faith of El—Islam. The number of proselytes in the
town of Kalyoob alone who changed their faith in one day,was
four hundred and ﬁfty. Most of the churches of Upper Egypt
were destroyed at the same time, and mosques were built in their
places.

CHAPTER XXX.
THE JEWS OF EGYPT.

THE Jews, in every country in which they are dispersed (unlike
any other collective class of people residing in a country which is
not their own by inheritance from the original possessors, or by
conquest achieved by themselves or their ancestors), form per—
manent members of the community among whom they dwell. A
few words respecting the Jews in Egypt will, therefore, be not
inappropriate in the present work.

There are in this country about ﬁve thousand Jews (in Arabic
called “Yahood 3” singular, “Yahoodee”), most of whom reside
in the metropolis, in a miserable, close, and dirty quarter, inter-
sected by lanes, many of which are so narrow as hardly to admit
of two persons passing each other in them.

In features, and in the general expression .of countenance, the
Oriental Jews differ less from other Eastern nations than do those
in European countries from the people among whom they live.
Many of the Egyptian Jews have sore eyes and a~bloated com-
plexion—the result, it is supposed, of their making an immoderate
use of the oil of sesame in their food. In their dress, as well as
in their persons, they are generally slovenly and dirty. The
colours of their turbans are the same as those of the Christian

558 THE fEWS 0F EGYPT.

subjects. Their women veil themselves, and dress in every re-
spect, in public, like the other women of Egypt.

The Jews have eight synagogues in their quarter in Cairo, and
not only enjoy religious toleration, but are under a less oppressive
, government in Egypt than in any other country of the Turkish
Empire. In Cairo, they ,pay for the exemption of their quarter
from the visits of the Mohtes/ib ; and they did the same also with
respect to the VValee, as long as his ofﬁce existed. Being conse-
quently privileged to sell articles of provision at higher prices
than the other inhabitants of the metropolis, they can afford to
purchase such things at higher rates, and therefore stock their
shops with provisions, and especially fruits, of better qualities
than are to be found in other parts of the town. Like the Copts,
and for a like reason, the Jews pay tribute, and are exempted
from military service.

They are held in the utmost contempt and abhorrence by the
Muslims in general ; and are said to bear a more inveterate hatred
than any other people to the Muslims and the Muslim religion.
It is said in the Kur—an : “ Thou shalt surely ﬁnd the most Violent
of [all] men in enmity to those who have believed [to be] the
Jews, and those who have attributed partners to God , and thou
shalt surely ﬁnd the most inclinable of them to [entertain] friend-
ship to those who have believed [to be] those who say, We are
Christians.” On my mentioning to a Muslim friend this trait in
the character of the Jews, be related to me, in proof of what I
remarked, an event which had occurred a few days before. “A
Jew,” said he, “early one morning last week, was passing by a
coffee-shop kept by a Muslim with whom he was acquainted,
named Mohammad. Seeing a person standing there, and suppos-
ing that it was the master of the shop (for it was yet dusk), he
said, ‘Good-morning, sheykh Mohammad 5’ but the only answer
he received‘to his salutation was a furious rebuke for thus address-
ing a Jew by a name the most odious, to a person of that sect,
of any that could be uttered. He (the offender) was dragged
before his high priest, who caused him to receive a severe basti-
nading for the alleged offence, in spite of his protesting that it
was unintentional.” It is a common saying among the Muslims
in this country, “Such a one hates me with the hate of the J ews.”

THE fEH/S 0F EGYPT. 559

We cannot wonder, then, that the Jews are detested by the
Muslims far more than are the Christians. Not long ago they
used often to be jostled in the streets of Cairo, and sometimes
beaten merely for passing on the right hand of a Muslim. At
present they are less oppressed, but still they scarcely ever dare
to utter a word of abuse when reviled or beaten unjustly by the
meanest Arab or Turk; for many a Jew has been put to death
upon a false and malicious accusation of uttering disrespectful
words against the Kur-an or the Prophet. It is common to hear
an Arab abuse his jaded ass, and, after applying to him various
opprobrious epithets, end by calling the beast a Jew.

A Jew has Often been sacriﬁced to save a Muslim, as happened
in the following case :—A Turkish soldier having occasion to
change some money, received from the seyrefee (or money—
changer), who was a Muslim, some Turkish coins called ’adlee—
yehs, reckoned at sixteen piasters each. These he offered to a
shopkeeper, in payment for some goods; but the latter refused to
allow him more than ﬁfteen piastcrs to the ’adleeyeh, telling him
that the Basha had given orders, many days before, that this coin
should no longer pass for sixteen. The soldier took back the
’adleeyehs to the seyrefee, and demanded an additional piastcr to
each, which was refused ,- he therefore complained to the Basha
himself, who, enraged that his orders had been disregarded, sent
for the seyrefee. This man confessed that he had been guilty of
an offence, but endeavoured to palliate it by asserting that almost.
every money-changer in the. city had done the same, and that he
received ’adleeyehs at the same rate. The Basha, however, dis-
believing him, or-thinking it necessary to make a public example,
gave a signal with his hand, intimating that the delinquent should
be beheaded. The interpreter of the court, moved with compas-
sion for the unfortunate man, begged the Basha to spare his life.
“This man,” said he, “has done no more than all the money
changers of the city. I myself, no longer ago than yesterday,
received ’adleeyehs at the same rate.” “From whom Z ” exclaimed
the Basha. “From a J ew,” answered the interpreter, “with
whom I have transacted business for many years.” The Jew was
brought, and sentenced to be hanged, while the Muslim was par-
doned. The interpreter, in the greatest distress of mind, pleaded

560 TfIE fEWS 0F EGYPT. .

earnestly for the life of the poor Jew, but the Basha was inexor-
able; it was necessary that an example should be made, and it
was deemed better to take the life of a Jew than that of a more
guilty Muslim. I saw the wretched man hanging at a window of
a public fountain which forms part of a mosque in the main street
of the city. One end of the rope being passed over one of the
upper bars of the grated window, he was hauled up 3 and as he
hung close against the window, he was enabled, in some slight
degree, to support himself by his feet against the lower bars, by
which his suffering was dreadfully protracted. His relations
offered large sums of money for his pardon; but the only favour
they could purchase was that of having his face turned towards
the window, so as not to be seen by the passengers. He was a
man much respected by all who knew himi(Muslims, of course,
excepted), and he left a family in a very destitute state ; but the
interpreter who was the unintending cause of his death contri—
buted to their support. ,

The Jews in Egypt generally lead a very quiet life ; indeed,
they ﬁnd few but persons of their own sect who will associate
with them. Their diet is extremely gross, but they are commonly
regarded as a sober people. The more wealthy among them dress
handsomely at home, but put on a plain or even shabby/dress
before they go out ; and though their houses have a mean and
dirty appearance from without, many of them contain ﬁne and
well—furnished rooms. In the house they are not so strict as most
other Orientals in concealing their women from strange men, or
at least from persons of their own nation, and from Franks. It
often happens that a European Visitor is introduced into an
apartment Where the women of the J ew’s family are sitting un~
V‘eiled, and is waited upon by these women. The same custom
also prevails among many of the Syrian Christians residing in
Cairo. Intrigues are said to be common with the Jewesses, but
there are no avowed courtesans among them. The condition of
the lower orders is very wretched, many of them having no other
means of subsistence than alms bestowed upon them by their
superiors of the same sect.

Avarice is more particularly a characteristic of the Jews in
Egypt than of those in other countries Where they are less op-

 

\

E G YPTIAN FEMALE ORNAMENTS. 561

pressed. They are careful, by every means in their power, to
avoid the suspicion of being possessed of much wealth. It is for
this reason that they make so shabby a ﬁgure in public, and
neglect the exterior appearance of their houses. They are gener—
ally strict in the performance of their religious ordinances; and
though over-reaching in commercial transactions, are honest in
the fulﬁlment of their contracts.

Many of the Eg’ptian Jews are “sarrafs” (or bankers and
money-lenders); others are seyrcfees, and are esteemed men of
strict probity. Some are goldsmiths or silversmiths, and others
pursue the trades of retail grocers or fruiterers, etc. A few of
the more wealthy are general merchants.

CHAPTER XXXI.
EGYPTIAN FEMALE ORNAMENTS.

THE ornaments of the women of Egypt are so various that a
description of them all would far exceed the limits which the
nature of this work allows, and would require a great number
of engravings, or be useless. I shall, however, describe all the
principal kinds, and these will convey some idea of the rest. If
the subject he not interesting to general readers, it may at least
be of some use to artists, who are often left almost entirely to
their own imagination in representing Arabian costumes and
ornaments. I ﬁrst describe those which are worn by ladies and
females of the middle orders.

The head-dress has already been mentioned as composed of a
“tarboosh” and “faroodeeyeh” (or kerchief), which latter, when
wound round the former, is called “ rabtah.” The front part of the
rabtah is often ornamented with spangles of gilt or plain silver,
disposed in fanciful patterns; and in this case the rabtah itself is
generally of black or rose-coloured muslin or crape, and always
plain. The more common kinds of rabtah have been described.

The “mizagee” is an ornament very generally worn. It is
composed of a strip of muslin, most commonly black or rose-
coloured, folded together several times, so as to form a narrow

(440) 36

562 EGYPTIAN FEMALE ORNAMENTS.

band, about the breadth of a ﬁnger or less. Its length is about
ﬁve feet. The central part, for the space of about twelve or
thirteen inches, is ornamented with spangles, which are placed
close together, or in the form of diamonds, etc., or of bosses ;
and at each end, for about the same length, are a few other
spangles, with an edging and small tassels of various-coloured
silks. Sometimes there is also a similar edging, with spangles
suspended to it, along the lower edge of the ornamented part in the
middle. The mizagee is bound round the head—the ornamented
central part being over the forehead, generally above the edge of
the rabtah. It is tied behind, at the upper part of the rabtah,
and the ornamented ends, drawn forward, hang over the bosom.

 

DIAMON D KURS.

The “kurs” is a round, convex ornament, commonly about
ﬁve inches in diameter, which is very generally worn by ladies.
It is sewed upon the crown of the tarboosh. There are two
kinds. The ﬁrst that I shall describe (the only kind that is worn
by ladies, or by the wives of tradesmen of moderate property) is
the “kurs almas,” or diamond kurs. This is composed of dia—
monds, set generally in gold; and is of open work, representing
roses, leaves, etc. The diamonds are commonly of a very poor
and shallow kind, and the gold of this and all other diamond
ornaments worn in Egypt is much alloyed with copper. The
value of a moderately handsome diamond kurs is about a hundred

E G YPTIAN FEMALE ORNAAIEA’T S. 563

and twenty-ﬁve or a hundred and ﬁfty pounds sterling. It is
very seldom made of silver; and I think that those of gold, when
attached to the deep-red tarboosh, have a richer effect, though
not in accordance with our general taste. The wives even of
petty tradesmen sometimes wear the diamond kurs: they are ex-
tremely fond of diamonds, and generally endeavour to get some,
however bad. The kurs being of considerable weight, is at ﬁrst
painful to wear, and women who are in the habit of wearing it
complain of headache when they take it oﬁ‘ : hence they retain it
day and night 3 but some have an inferior one for the bed. Some
ladies have one for ordinary wearing ; another for particular oc-
casions, a little larger and handsomer; and a third merely to wear
in bed—The other kind of kurs, “kurs dahab” (or of gold), is
a convex plate of very thin embossed gold, usually of the form

  
   

 
 

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GOLD KURS.

represented above, and almost always with a false emerald (a
piece of green glass), not cut with facets, set in the centre.
Neither the emerald nor the ruby is here cut with facets 3 if so
cut, they would generally be considered false. The simple gold
kurs is lined with a thick coat of wax, which is covered with a
piece of paper. It is worn by many women who cannot afford to
purchase diamonds, and even by some servants.

The “kussah” is an ornament generally from seven to eight
inches in length, composed of diamonds set in gold, and sometimes
with emeralds, rubies, and pearls ; having drops of diamonds or
emeralds, etc., suspended to it. It is worn on the front of the

564 E0 YPTIAN FEMALE ORNAMENTS.

rabtah, attached by little hooks at the back. I have seen several
kussahs of diamonds, etc., set in silver instead of gold. The
kussah is generally placed on the head of a bride, outside her
shawl covering, as also is the kurs ; and these ornaments are like-
wise employed to decorate the bier of a female. The former, like
the latter, is worn by females of the higher and middle classes.
“’Enebeh” is another name for the same kind of ornament,
worn in the same manner. If of full size, it is fourteen or ﬁfteen
inches in length, and rather more than half encircles the head-dress.
The “shawateh” (in the singular, “shateh”) are two orna—
ments, each consisting of three or more strings of pearls, about
the length of the kussah, with a pierced emerald uniting them in
the centre, like the usual pearl necklace hereafter described; or
they are composed of pearls arranged in the manner of a narrow
lace, and often with the addition of a few small emeralds. They

 

KUSSAII.

are attached to the rabtah in the form of two festoons, one on
each side of the head, from the extremity of the kussah to the,
back part of the head-dress, or sometimes to the ear—ring.

Instead of the kussah and shawateh, and sometimes in addi-
tion to them, are worn some other ornaments which I proceed
to describe.

The “reesheh ’7 (literally “ feather”) is a sprig of diamonds set
in gold or silver. It is worn on the front or side of the head-dress.

The “hilal” is a crescent of diamonds set in gold or silver,
and worn like the reesheh. In form it resembles the phasis of
the moon when between two and three nights old—its width being
small, and its outward edge not more than half a circle.

The “kamarah” (or moon) is an ornament formed of a thin
plate of gold, embossed with fanciful work, and sometimes with
Arabic words, and having about seven little ﬂat pieces of gold,
called “bark,” attached to the lower part; or it is composed of

EGYPTIAN FEMALE ORNAxllENTS. 7 565

gold with diamonds, rubies, etc. A specimen of the former kind

is here represented. It consists of three kamarahs connected to-'
gether, to be worn on the front of the head-dress: the central

contains the words “Ya Kafee Ya Shafee” (O Sufﬁcient! 0 Re-

storer to health I); that on the left, “Ya Haﬁz” (O Preserver I),
that on the right, “ Ya Emeen ” (O Trustworthy l). These, there-

fore, are charms as well as ornaments.

The “ sakiyeh” (or water-wheel), so called from its form, is a
circular ﬂat ornament of gold ﬁligree-work, with small. pearls, and
with a diamond or other precious stone in the centre, and bark

 

KAMARAH.

and emeralds suspended from the lower part. It is worn in the
same manner as the kamarah, or with the latter ornament.

The “ ’ood es-saleeb ” (or wood of the cross) is a kind of orna-
ment undoubtedly borrowed from the Christians, and it is sur-
prising that Mohammadan women should wear it and give it this
appellation. It is a little round and slender piece of wood, rather
smaller towards the extremities than in the middle, enclosed in a
case of gold, of the same form, composed of two pieces which unite
in the middle, having two chains and a hook by which to suspend
it, and a row of bark along the bottom. It is worn in the place
of, or with, the two ornaments just before described.

The “misht” (or comb) is a little comb of gold, worn in the
same manner as the three kinds of ornament described next be-
fore this, and generally with one or more of those ornaments. It
is suspended by small chains and a hook, having four or ﬁve.bark
attached.

566 EGYPTIAN FEMALE ORNAMENTS.

There is also an ornament somewhat similar to those just men-
tioned, composed of a carnelian, or a piece of crystal or of colour-
less glass, set in gold, suspended by two chains and a hook, and
having bark attached to the bottom. The former kind is called
“’akeek” (which signiﬁes “ carnelian”), and the latter “ belloor”
(“ crystal”).

Several ornaments in the shapes of ﬂowers, butterﬂies, etc., are
also worn upon the head-dress, but seldom alone.

Of ear-rings (“halak ”) there is a great variety. Some of the
more usual kinds are here represented. The ﬁrst is of diamonds
set in silver. It consists of a drop suspended within a wreath

 

EAR- RINGS.

hanging from a sprig. The back of the silver 1s gilt, to prevent
its being tarnished by perspiration. The specimen here given is
that for the right ear ,- its fellow is similar, but with the sprig
reversed. This pair of ear-rings is suited for a lady of wealth.
So also is the second, which resembles the former, excepting that
it has a large pearl in the place of the diamond drop and wreath,
and that the diamonds of the sprig are set in gold. No. 3 is a
side View of the same. The next consists of gold, and an emerald
pierced through the middle, with a small diamond above the
emerald. Emeralds are generally pierced in Egypt, and spoiled
by this process as much as by not being cut with facets. The

EG YPTIAJV FEMALE ORAMMENTS. 567

last is of gold, with a small ruby in the centre. The ruby is set
in ﬁne ﬁligree-work, which is surrounded by ﬁfteen balls of gold.
To the seven lower balls are suspended as many circular bark.
The necklace (“ ’ekd”) is another description of ornament of
which the Egyptians have a great variety ; but almost all of them
are similar in the following particulars. 1st. The beads, etc, of
which they are composed are altogether not more than ten
inches in length, so that they would not entirely encircle the
neck if tied quite tight, which is never done. The string extends
about six or seven inches beyond each extremity of the series of
heads 3 and when the necklace is tied in the usual manner, there
is generally a space of three inches or more between these ex-
tremities, but the plaits of hair conceal these parts of the string.
2nd. There is generally, in the centre, one head or other orna-
ment (and sometimes there are three, or ﬁve, or seven) differing
in size, form, material, or colour, from the others. The neck-

NECKLACE.

 

laces mostly worn by ladies are of diamonds or pearls. In the
annexed engraving the necklace is of diamonds set in gold. I
give a side View (A) and a back view (B) of one of the append—
ages of this necklace. There is also a long kind of necklace,
reaching to the girdle, and composed of diamonds or other precious
stones, which is called “kiladeh.” Some women form a long
necklace of this kind with Venetian sequins, or Turkish or
Egyptian gold coins.

The ﬁnger-rings (“ khatims ”) differ so little from those common
among ourselves, excepting in the clumsiness of their workman-
ship and the badness of the jewels, that I need not describe them.
A ﬁnger-ring without a stone is called “ debleh ” or “ (libleh.”

Bracelets (“ asawir ”) are of diamonds or other precious stones
set in gold, or of pearls, or of gold alone. The more common
kinds are represented in an engraving here inserted. No. 1 is the
most fashionable kind of gold bracelet, which is formed of a simple

568 EGYPTIAN FEMALE ORNAMENTS.

twist. N o. 2 is a very common but less fashionable kind of bracelet
of twisted gold. N 0. 3 is also of gold. These bracelets of gold
are pulled open a little to be put on the wrist. They are gener-
ally made of ﬁne Venetian gold, which is very ﬂexible.

The ornaments of the hair I shall next describe. It has been
mentioned that all the hair of the head, excepting a little over
the forehead and temples, is arranged in plaits or braids, which
hang down the back. These plaits are generally from eleven to
twenty-ﬁve in number, but always of an uneven number: eleven
is considered a scanty number; thirteen and ﬁfteen are more
common. Three times the number of black silk strings (three
to each plait of hair, and each three united at the top), from
sixteen to eighteen inches in length, are braided with the hair for

 
   

   
         

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BRACELETS.

about a quarter of their length, or they are attached to a lace or
band of black silk which is bound round the head, and in this
case hang entirely separate from the plaits of hair, which they
almost conceal. These strings are called “keytans,” and to-
gether with certain ornaments of gold, etc., compose what is
termed the “ safa.” Along each string, excepting from the upper
extremity to about a quarter or (at most) a third of its length, are
generally attached nine or more of the little ﬂat ornaments of
gold called “bark.” These are commonly all of the same form, and
about an inch or a little more apart; but those of each string are
purposely placed so as not exactly to correspond with those of
the others. At the end of each string is a small gold tube, called
“masoorah,” about three-eighths of an inch long, or a kind of
gold head in the form of a cube with a portion cut off from each

EGYPTIAN FEMALE ORNAMENTS. 569

angle, called “habbeh.” Beneath the masoorah or habbeh is a
little ring, to which is most commonly suspended a Turkish gold
coin called “Ruba F enduklee,” equivalent to nearly 1s. 8d. of
our money, and a little more than half-an—ineh in diameter.
Such is the most general description of safa ; but there are more
genteel kinds, in which the habbeh is usually preferred to the
masoorah, and instead of the Ruba F enduklee is a ﬂat ornament
of gold, called, from its form, “kummetré,” or “pear.” There
are also other and more approved substitutes for the gold coin,
the most usual of which is called “ shiftish'eh,” composed of open
gold work, with a pearl in the centre. Some ladies substitute a
little tassel of pearls for the gold coin, or suspend alternately
pearls and emeralds to the bottom of the triple strings, and
attach a pearl with each of the bark. The safa thus composed
with pearls is called “safa loolee.” Coral beads are also some—
times attached in the same manner as the pearls. From what
has been said above, it appears that a moderate safa of thirteen

   

A NKLETS.

plaits will consist of 39 strings, 351 bark, 39 masoorahs or habbehs,
and 39 gold coins or other ornaments ; and that a safa of twenty-
ﬁve plaits, with twelve bark to each string, will contain no fewer
than 900 bark, and seventy—ﬁve of each of the other appendages.
The safa appears to me the prettiest, as well as the most singular,
of all the ornaments worn by the ladies of Egypt. The glittering
of the bark, etc., and their chinking together as the wearer walks,
have a peculiarly lively effect.

Anklets (“khulkhal ”), of solid gold or silver, and of the form
here sketched, are worn by some ladies, but are more uncommon
than they formerly were. They are of course very heavy, and,
knocking together as the wearer walks, make a ringing noise; hence
it is said in a song, “The ringing of thine anklets has deprived
me of my reason.” Isaiah alludes to this, or perhaps to the sound

57o EGYPTIAN FEMALE ORNAMENTS.

produced by another kind of anklet which will be mentioned
hereafter.

The only description of ladies’ ornaments that I have yet to
describe is the “hegab,” or amulet. This is a writing of one or
other of the kinds that I have described in the eleventh chapter,
covered with waxed cloth, to preserve it from accidental pollution
or injury by moisture, and enclosed in a case of thin embossed
gold or silver, which is attached to a silk string or a chain, and
generally hung on the right side above the girdle, the string or
chain being passed over the left shoulder. Sometimes these cases
bear Arabic inscriptions, such as “Ma shaa—llah” (“What God
willeth [cometh to pass] ”) and “Ya kadi-l—hagat” (“ O decreer of
the things that are needfull”). I insert an engraving of three

 

 

 

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hegabs of gold attached to a string, to be worn together. The
central one is a thin, ﬂat case, containing a folded paper—it is
about a third of an inch thick; the others are cylindrical cases,
with hemispherical ends, and contain scrolls. Each has a row of
bark along the bottom. Hegabs such as these, or of a triangular
form, are worn by many children, as well as women ,- and those of
the latter form are often attached to a child’s head-dress.

The ornaments worn by females of the lower orders must now
be described.

It is necessary, perhaps, to remind the reader that the head-
dress of these women, with the exception of some of the poor in
the villages, generally consists of an ’asbeh, which has been de-
scribed in page 63; and that some wear instead of this the tar—
boosh and faroodeeyeh. Sometimes a string of Venetian sequins

EG YPTIAN FBI/ALE ORNAMENTS. 57 I

(which is called “ sheddeh benad’kah ”) is worn along the front of
the ’asbeh or rabtah. The tarboosh is also sometimes decorated
, with the gold kurs and the faroodeeyeh, with some other orna-
ments before described, as the gold kamarahs, sakiyeh, misht, etc.

The “halak,” or ear-rings, are of a great variety of forms.
Some are of gold and precious stones, but the more common of
brass; and many of the latter have coloured beads attached to
them. A few are of silver.

The “khizam,” or nose-ring, commonly called “khuzam,” is
worn by a few of the women of the lower orders in Cairo, and by
many of those in the country towns and villages both of Upper
and Lower Egypt. It is most commonly made of brass, is from
an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, and has usually three
or more coloured glass beads, generally red and blue, attached to
it. It is almost always passed through the right ala of the nose,

 

NOSE-RINGS.

and hangs partly before the mouth, so that the wearer is obliged to
hold it up with one hand when she puts'anything into her mouth.
It is sometimes of gold. This ornament is as ancient as the time
of the patriarch Abraham,* and is mentioned by Isaiah (iii. 21)
and by Ezekiel (xiv. 12). To those who are unaccustomed to the
sight of it, the nose—ring is certainly the reverse of an ornament.
The “ ’ekd,” or necklace, is generally of a style similar to those
which I have already described. I have before mentioned that
the libbeh and sha’eer are worn‘ by some women of the lower
orders ; but their necklaces are most commonly composed of
coloured glass beads—sometimes of a single string, and sometimes
of several strings, with one or more larger beads in the centre ; or

* See Genesis xxiv. 47, where in our common version “ear-ring ” is improperly put for
“ nose-ring.”
,

572 EGYPTIAN FEMALE ORNAMENTS.

they are made in the form of network. The Egyptian women,
being excessively fond of ornaments, often wear two or three

necklaces of the value of a penny each, or less. Some necklaces '

are composed of large beads of transparent amber.

Another ornament worn by many of them on the neck is a ring,
called “tok,” of silver or brass or pewter. Little girls also sometimes
wear this ornament. 'Some of the smaller toks are made of iron.

Finger-rings of silver or of brass are almost universally worn.
Brass rings, with pieces of coloured glass set in them, may be
purchased in Cairo for scarcely more than a farthing each, and
many women wear two, three, or more of these.

The “ asawir,” or bracelets, are of various kinds. Some are of
silver, and some of brass or copper, and of the same form as those
of gold before described. Those of brass are the more common.
There are also bracelets composed of large amber beads, and others
of bone, and there is a very common kind, called “ ghuweyshat,”
of opaque, coloured glass, generally blue or green, but sometimes
variegated with other colours. These and the bone bracelets are
drawn over the hand.

Some of the women of the lower orders imitate their superiors
in arranging their hair in several plaits, and plaiting, with each of
these, the black silk strings which are worn by the ladies; but it
is the general practice of the women of these classes to divide their
hair into only two tresses behind, and to plait, with each of these
tresses, three red silk strings, each of which has a tassel at the end,
and reaches more than half-way towards the ground, so that they
are usually obliged to draw aside the tassels before they sit down.
These appendages are called “ ’okoos.”

“ Khulkhal,” or anklets of solid silver, already described, are
worn by the wives of some of the richer peasants, and of the
sheykhs of villages ; and small khulkhals of iron are worn by
many children. It was also a common custom among the Arabs
for girls or young women to wear a string of bells on their feet.
I have seen many little girls in Cairo with small round bells at-
tached to their anklets. Perhaps it is to the sound of ornaments
of this kind, rather than that of the more common anklet, that
Isaiah alludes in chapter iii, verse 16.

NOTE S.

————w—

Note 1 (see page 21).—This remark was written before the terrible plague of the
present year [1835], which was certainly introduced from Turkey, and extended
throughout the whole of Egypt, though its ravages were not great in the southern
parts. It has destroyed not less than eighty thousand persons in Cairo—that is,
one-third of the population ; and far more, I believe, than two hundred thousand
in all Egypt. According to a report made by the government, the victims of this
plague in Cairo were about forty thousand ; but I have been informed, on high
authority, that the government made it a rule to report only half the number
of deaths in this case.

Note 2 (see page 32).—One of the chief reasons of the custom here mentioned
is, to avoid deﬁling a mat or carpet upon which prayer is usually made. This,
as many authors have observed, illustrates passages of the Scriptures (Ex. iii. 5,
and Josh. v. 15).

Note 3 (see page 37).——Excepting in the kitchen, in which are several small re—
ceptacles for ﬁre, constructed on a kind of bench of brick. Hence, and for several
other reasons (among which may be mentioned the sober and early habits of the
people, the general absence of draperies in the apartments, and the construction
of the ﬂoors, which are of wood overlaid with stone), the destruction of a house
by ﬁre seldom happens in Cairo; but when such an accident does occur, an ex«
tensive conﬂagration is the usual result; for a great quantity of wood, mostly
deal, and of course excessively dry, is employed in the construction of the houses.

Note 4 (see page 45).—A few of the servants, and some others, shave their
beards. The respect which Orientals in general pay to the beard has often been
remarked. They swear by it, and say that a man disgraces it by an evil action.
The punishment recorded in 2 Sam., ch. x., v. 4, has frequently been practised in
modern times, but not so often as the shaving of the whole of the beard.

Note 5 (see page 69).-—It is customary among the peasants throughout a great
part of Egypt, on the ﬁrst occasion of shaving a child’s head, to slay a victim,
generally a goat, at the tomb of some saint in or near their village, and to make
a feast with the meat, of which their friends, and any other persons who please,
partake. This is most common in Upper Egypt, and among the tribes not very
long established on the banks of the Nile. Their pagan ancestors in Arabia
observed this custom, and usually gave, as alms to the poor, the weight of the
hair in silver or gold. The victim is called “ ’akeekah,” and is offered as a ran-

som for the child from hell. The custom of shaving one part of a child’s head_ “
and leaving another was forbidden by the Prophet. W

Note 6 (see page 76). —I have since found an almost exactly similar anecdote
in the Cairo edition of “The Thousand and One Nights, ” therefore either my
informant’s account is not strictly true, or the man alluded to by him was, in the
main, an imitator. The latter is not improbable, as I have been credibly in-
formed of several similar imitations, and of one which I know to be a fact.

Note 7' (see page 8/2).—It is believed that the good man will rise to judgment
with his face white; and the bad, with his face black. Hence a man’s face is
said to be white or black according as he is in good or bad repute; and “May
God blacken thy face ! ” is a common imprecation.

Note 8 (see page 82).—To every man is appropriated a book, in which all the
actions of his life are written. The just man, it is said, will receive his book in
his right hand ; but the wicked, in his left, which will be tied behind his back,
his rightO hand being tied up to his neck.

N otc (see page 108). —-—Misled by the decision of those doctors, and an opinion
prevalent in Europe, I represented the laws of “ holy war as more severe
than I ﬁnd them to be according to the letter and spirit of the Kur-an, when
carefully examined, and according to the Hanafee code. I am indebted to Mr.
Urquhart for suggesting to me the necessity of revising my former statement on
this subject; and must express my conviction that no precept is to be found in
the Kur-an which, taken with the context, can justify unprovoked war.

Note 10 (see page 124).—The government of Egypt, from the period of the
conquest of this country by the Arabs, has been nearly the same as it is at
present in its inﬂuence upon the manners and customs and character of the in-
habitants, and I therefore do not deem an historical retrospect necessary to the
illustration of this work. It should, however, be mentioned that the people of
Egypt are not now allowed to indulge in that excessive fanatical rudeness with

>which they formerly treated unbelievers; and hence European travellers have

one great cause for gratitude to Mohammad ’Alee. Restraint may at ﬁrst in-
crease, but will probably, in the course of time, materially diminish the feeling
of fanatical intolerance.

Note 11 (seepage 146).—-The above account of the government of Egypt, having
been Written in the years 1834 and 1835, is not altogether correct with respect to
the present time (1842). Great changes are now being made in various depart-
ments; and as the Basha has no longer to maintain an enormous military and
naval force, he will be able to ameliorate very considerably the condition of the
people whom he governs. Most of the evils of which the people of Egypt have
hitherto had to complain have arisen from the vast expense incurred in War,
from the conscription, and from the dishonesty of almost all the Basha’s civil
ofﬁcers.

Note 12 (see page 176).—Burckhardt has erred in stating that Monday and
Thursday are the days on which the ceremonies immediately previous to the
marriage-night are performed ; he should have said Sunday and Thursday. He
has also fallen into some other errors in the account which he has given of the
marriage ceremonies of the Egyptians, in the illustrations of his “Arabic Pro-
verbs” (pp. 112—118). To mention this I feel to be a duty to myself, but one
which I perform with reluctance, and not Without the fear that Burckhardt’s
just reputation for general accuracy may make my reader think that he is right
in these cases, and that I am w.rong I write these words in Cairo, with his
book before me, and after sufﬁcient experience and inquiries.

574 NOTES.

 

 

NOTES. 575

Note 13 (see page 179).—One of the most common of the feats witnessed on such
an occasion is the performance of a laborious task by a water~carrier, termed a
“keiyim,” who, for the sake of a present and this empty title, carries a water-
skin ﬁlled with sand and water, of greater weight, and for a longer period, than
any of his brethren will venture to do ; and this he must accomplish without ever
sitting down, except in a crouching position, to rest. In the case of a bridal pro-
cession which I lately witnessed, the keiyim began to carry his burden, a skin of
sand and water weighing about two hundred pounds, at sunset of the preceding
day; bore it the whole night and the ensuing day, before and during the pro-
cession, and continued to do so till sunset. /

Note 14 (seepage 185).—Among the peasants of Upper Egypt, the relations and
acquaintances of the bridegroom and bride meet together on the day after the
marriage ; and while a number of the men clap their hands, as an accompaniment
to a tambourine or two, and any other instruments that can be procured, the
bride dances before them for a short time. She has a head-veil reaching to her
heels, and a printed cotton handkerchief completely covering her face, and wears
externally the most remarkable of her bridal garments (mentioned by Burck-
hardt, in the place before referred to, and, in some parts of Egypt, hung over
the door of a peasant’s house after marriage). Other women, similarly veiled,
and dressed in their best, or borrowed, clothes, continue the dance about two
hours or more.

Note 15 (see page 194).—In general, the most beautiful of a man’s wives or
slaves is, of course, for a time his greatest favourite; but in many (if not most)
cases the lasting favourite is not the most handsome. The love of a Muslim,
therefore, is not always merely sensual ; nor does the relative cdndition and
comfort of his wife, or of each of his wives, invariably depend so much on his
caprice or her own personal charms as on her general conduct and disposition.

Note 16 (see page 9728).—It is the general opinion of our chronologers that the
ﬁrst day of the Muslim era of “ the Flight ” (in Arabic, “el—Hijrah,” or, as it is
pronounced by most of the Egyptians, “el-Higreh,” more correctly translated
“the Emigration”) was Friday, the 16th of July, (322 A.D. It must be remarked
that the Arabs generally commence each month on the night on which the new
moon is ﬁrst actually seen ; and this night is, in most cases, the second, but some
times and in some places the third, after the true period of the new moon; if,
however, the moon is not seen on the second or third night, the month is com-
menced on the latter. The new moon of July 622 A.D. happened between ﬁve
and six o’clock in the morning of the 14th; therefore the 16th was most probably
the ﬁrst day of the era. This era does not commence from the day on which the
Prophet departed from Mekkeh (as supposed by most of our authors who have
mentioned this subject), but from the ﬁrst day of the moon or month of Mohar-
ram preceding that event. It is said that Mohammad, after he had remained
three days concealed in a cave near Mekkeh, with Aboo-Bekr began his journey,
or “the flight,” to El-Medeeneh, on the ninth day of the third month (Rabeea
el-Owwal), sixty-eight days after the commencement of the era. Thus the ﬁrst
two months are made of thirty days each, which is often the case when the cal~
culation from the actual sight of the new moon is followed ; and the ﬂight itself,
from the cave, may be inferred to have commenced on the 22nd of September.
It may be added that this record, by showing that each of the ﬁrst two months
consisted of thirty days, strengthens the supposition that the era commenced on
the 16th of July. On the eve of the 15th the moon was not visible.

Note 17 (see page 231).—It has been justly remarked, by Baron Hammer-

576 NOTES.

Purgstall, that the present chapter of this work is very deﬁcient. I should
gladly have made its contents more ample, had I not felt myself obliged to
consult the taste of the general reader, upon whose patience I fear I have already
trespassed to too great an extent by the insertion of much matter calculated to
interest only Orientalists. With respect to recent innovations, I have made but
few and brief remarks in this work, in consequence of my having found the
lights of European science almost exclusively conﬁned to those servants of the
government who have been compelled to study under Frank instructors, and
European customs adopted by scarcely any persons excepting a few Turks.
Some Egyptians who had studied for a few years in France declared to me that
they could not instil any of the notions which they had there acquired even
into the minds of their most intimate friends.

Note 18 (see page 241).—This mysterious person, according to the more ap
proved opinion of the learned, was not a prophet, but a just man, or saint, the
Wezeer and counsellor of the ﬁrst Zu-l-Karneyn, who was a universal con-
queror, but an equally doubtful personage, contemporary with the patriarch
Ibraheem, or Abraham. El-Khidr is said to have drunk of the Fountain of
Life, in consequence of which he lives till the day of judgment, and to appear
frequently to lVIuslims 1n perplexity. He 1s generally clad 1n green garments ,
whence, according to some, his name.

N etc 19 (see page 245). —Several superstitious customs, observed in the perform-
ance of many ordinary actions, result from their extravagant respect for their
prophet, and their saints in general. For instance, on lighting the lamp in the
evening, more particularly at a shop, it is customary to say, “ Commemorate N[O’
hammad, and forget not the excellencies of ’Alee; the Fat’hah for the Prophet,
and for every welee ; ” and then to repeat the Fat’hah. It is usual to say, on ﬁrst
seeing the new moon, “0 God, favour our lord Mohammad! God make thee
a blessed moon (or month) ; ” and on looking at one’s face in a glass, “0 God,
favour our lord Mohammad!” This ejaculation being used to counteract the
inﬂuence of the evil eye, it seems as if an Arab feared the effect even of his
own admiring look.

Note 20 (see page 257).—Just before I quitted my house in Cairo to return to
England, a friend, who had been my sheykh (or tutor), wrote on a slip of paper,
“ There is no deity but God: Mohammad is God’s apostle ; ” then tore it in halves,
gave me the latter half (on which was written,“ Mohammad is God’s apostle ”),
and concealed the other in a crack in the roof of a little cupboard in my usual
sitting-room. This was to insure my coming back to Cairo, for it is believed that
the profession of the faith cannot remain incomplete ; so that by my keeping the
latter half always upon my person, it would bring me back to the former half.

Note 321 (see page 264).—-—Every year, on the ﬁrst day of the Great Festival,
which immediately follows the pilgrimage, a new covering is hung upon the
Kaabeh. The old one is cut up, and the greater part of it is sold to the pilgrims.

N etc 92 (see page 279).——The numbers in this magic square, in our own ordi—
nary characters, are as follows :—

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTES. 577

It will be seen that the horizontal, vertical, and diagonal rows give each the
same sum—namely, 15.

Note 23 (see page 284).—I have been gratiﬁed by ﬁnding that this hope has
been realized. I wish I could add that the phenomena were now explained. In
No. 117 of the Quarterly Review, pp. 202 and 203, it has been suggested that the
performances were effected by means of pictures and a concave mirror; and that
the images of the former were reflected from the surface of the mirror, and re-
ceived on a cloud of smoke under the eyes of the boy. This, however, I cannot
admit, because such means could not have been employed without my perceiving
them; nor would the images be reversed (unless the pictures were so) by being re-
ﬂected from the surface of a mirror and received upon a second surface, for the
boy was looking down upon the palm of his hand, so that an image could not be
formed upon the smoke (which was copious but not dense) between his eye and
the supposed mirror. The grand difﬁculty of the case is the exhibition of “ the
correct appearance of private individuals unknown to fame,” as remarked in the
Quarterly Review, in which a curious note, presenting “some new features of
difﬁculty,” is appended. \Vith the most remarkable of the facts there related I
was acquainted, but I was not bold enough to insert them. I may now, how-
ever, here mention them. Two travellers (one of them M. Le’on Delaborde,
the other an Englishman), both instructed by the magician ’Abd-el-Kadir, are
stated to have succeeded in performing similar feats. Who this Englishman
was I have not been able to learn. He positively denied all collpsion, and
asserted that he did nothing but repeat the forms taught him by the magician.

Note :24 (see page f93).—I think it proper to remark here that I have good
reason for believing Burckhardt to have been misinformed when stating (see his
“Arabic Proverbs,” No. 393) that children in the East (in Egypt, etc.) torture
serpents by putting them into a leather bag, then throwing unslaked lime upon
them, and pouring water on it. I ﬁnd no one who has heard of such cruelty ;
and it is not likely that boys in this country would dare to put a serpent in a bag
(for they are excessively afraid of this reptile), or would give several piasters for
a bag to destroy in this manner. The proverb upon which this statement is
founded perhaps alludes to a mode of destroying serpents, but not for sport.

Note 25 (see page 295).—D’Herbelot mentions a somewhat similar case, in

which a Turk, having buried a favourite dog, with some marks of respect, in his
garden, was accused, before the Kadee, of having interred the animal with the
ceremonies practised at the burial of a Muslim, and escaped punishment (per-
haps a severe one) by informing the judge that his dog had made a will, leaving
to him (the Kadee) a sum of money (“ Bibliotheque Orientale,” art. CADHI).
I Note 26 (see page 298).—It has been remarked that this is inconsistent with the
undeniable gratitude which the Arabs feel towards God. To such an objection
they would reply, “We are entitled to the good offices of our fellow-creatures
by the law of God, but can claim no beneﬁt from our Maker.” I once afforded
a refuge to a Bedawee who was in fear for his life ; but on parting he gave me
not a word of thanks. Had he done so, it would have implied his thinking me
a person of mean disposition, who regarded a positive duty as an act imposing
obligation. Hence the Arab usually acknowledges a beneﬁt merely by a prayer
for the long life, etc., of his benefactor.

Note 27 (see page 345).—El-Gabartee relates that about a century ago, in the
time of Mohammad Basha El—Yedekshee (or Yedekchee), who governed Egypt ‘
in the years of the Flight 1156—8, it frequently happened that when a man was
found with a pipe in his hand in Cairo, he was made to eat the bowl with its

(440) 37

578 NOTES.

burning contents. This may seem incredible, but a pipe-bowl may be broken
by strong teeth. The tdbacco ﬁrst used in the East was probably very strong.

Note 28 (see page 383).—Since this was written, public female dancing and
prostitution were prohibited by the government in the beginning of June 1834.
Women detected infringing this new law are to be punished with ﬁfty stripes for
the ﬁrst offence, and for repeated offences are to be also condemned to hard
labour for one or more years; men are obnoxious to the discipline of the bastid
nado when parties in such offences.

Note 29 (see page 432).—This custom seems to have been copied from the
Jews, who are accustomed to abound in almsgiving and other good works dur-
ing the ten days commencing with their New-Year’s Day and ending with the
Day of Atonement, more than in all the rest of the year. (See Dr. M‘Caul’s
“ Old Paths,” pp. 125, 129.)

N etc 30 (see page 441 ).—Many persons who have not applied themselves to the
study of natural history are ignorant of the remarkable fact that the camel has
in itself a provision against hunger, besides its well-known supply against thirst.
When deprived of its usual food for several successive days, it feeds upon the fat
of its own hump, which, under these circumstances, gradually disappears before
the limbs are perceptibly reduced. This explanation of the use of an excrescence
which would otherwise seem a mere inconvenient encumbrance, shows how won-
derfully the camel is adapted to the peculiar circumstances in which Providence
has placed it, and perhaps may be applied with equal propriety to the hump of
the bull and cow, and some other animals, in hot and arid climates.

Note 31 (see page 466).—Thefts are also sometimes committed in this mosque
on other occasions, as a friend of mine lately experienced. “ I went there,” said
he, “to pray; and as I was stooping over the brink of the ‘meyda‘ah,’ to per-
form the ablution, having placed my shoes beside me, and was saying, ‘I pur-
pose to perform the divine ordinance of the “wud06,’_” somebody behind me
said to himself, ‘I purpose to take away this nice pair of shoes.’ On looking
round, I found an old worn-out pair of shoes put in the place of my own, which
were new.”

Note 32 (see page 487).—The Kaabeh is a building in the centre of the Temple
of Mekkeh, most highly respected by the Muslims. It is nearly in the form of a
cube. Its height is somewhat more than thirty feet, and each side is about the
same, or a little more, in width. It is not exactly rectangular nor exactly equi-
lateral. The black covering, after having remained upon it nearly a year, is
taken off on the 25th of Zu~1-Kaadeh, cut up, and sold to the pilgrims ; and the
building is left without a covering for the period of ﬁfteen days: on the 10th of
Zu-l-Heggeh, the ﬁrst day of the Great Festival, the new Kisweh is put on.
The interior is also hung with a covering, which is renewed each time that
a new Sultan ascends the Turkish throne. It is necessary to renew the outer
covering every year, in consequence of its exposure to the rain, etc. As the
use of stuffs entirely composed of silk is prohibited, the Kisweh of the Kaabeh
is lined with cotton to render it allowable. ,,

Note 33 (see page 494).—“ Kishk ” (as the word is commonly pronounced, but
properly “ keshik ”) is prepared from Wheat, ﬁrst moistened, then dried, trodden
in a vessel to separate the husks, and coarsely ground with a hand-mill: the
meal is mixed with milk, and about six hours afterwards is spooned out upon a
little straw or bran, and then left for two or three days to dry. When required
for use, it is either soaked or pounded, and put into a sieve, over a vessel, and
then boiling water is poured on it. What remains in the sieve is thrown away ;

NOTES. 579

what passes through is generally poured into a saucepan of boiled meat or fowl,
over the ﬁre. Some leaves of white beet, fried in butter, are usually added to
each plate of it.

Note 34 (see page 508).—It was not such a festival as this alone that is alluded
to in Gen. xxix. 27, and in J udg. xiv. 12. It was, and I believe is still, the
custom of wealthy Bedawees (and such was Laban) to feast their friends seven
days after marriage (as also after the birth of a male child) ; and every respect-
able Muslim, after marriage, if disappointed in the expectations he has been led
to form of his wife, abstains from putting her away for about a week, that she
may not be disgraced by suspicion—particularly if it be her ﬁrst marriage.

Note 35 (seepage 531).—The opinions of the Muslims respecting the state of
souls in the interval between death and the judgment are thus given by Sale
(“ Preliminary Discourse,” sect. iv.) :—“They distinguish the souls of the faith-
ful ihto three classes : the ﬁrst, of prophets, Whose souls are admitted into para—
dise immediately; the second, of martyrs, whose spirits, according to a tradition
of Mohammad, rest in the crops of green birds, which eat of the fruits and drink
of the rivers of paradise; and the third, of other believers, concerning the state
of whose souls before the resurrection there are various opinions. For—1. Some
say that they stay near the sepulchres, with liberty, however, of going wher-
ever they please; which they conﬁrm from Mohammad’s manner of saluting
them at their graves, and his afﬁrming that the dead heard those salutations as
well as the living. Whence perhaps proceeded the custom of visiting the tombs
of relations, so common among the Mohammadans. 2. Others imagine they
are with Adam in the lowest heaven, and also support their opinion by the
authority of their prophet, who gave out that in his return from the upper
heavens, in his pretended night-journey, he saw there the souls of those who were
destined to paradise on the right hand of Adam, and those who were condemned
to hell on his left. 3. Others fancy the souls of believers remain in the well
Zemzem, and those of inﬁdels in a certain well in the province of Hadramét,
called Barahoot [so in the Kamoos, but by Sale written Borhﬁt]; but this
opinion is branded as heretical. 4. Others say they stay near the graves for
seven days, but that whither they go afterwards is uncertain. 5. Others, that
they are all in the trumpet whose sound is to raise the dead. And, 6. Others,
that the souls of the good dwell in the forms of white birds, under the throne of
God. As to the condition of the souls of the wicked, besides the opinions that
have been already mentioned, the more orthodox hold that they are offered by
the angels to heaven, from whence being repulsed as stinking and ﬁlthy, they
are offered to the earth ; and being also refused a place there, are carried down
to the seventh earth, and thrown into a dungeon, which they call Sijjeen, under
a green rock, or, according to a tradition of Mohammad, under the devil’s jaw,
to be there tormented till they are called up to be joined again to their bodies.”
I believe that the opinion respecting the Well of Barahoot commonly prevails
in the present day.

Note 36 (see page 554).—It should be observed here that the cases alluded to
form exceptions to the general toleration exhibited by the Muslims ; and that the
Copts who have been converted to El-Islam by oppression have been few in
comparison with those who have changed their religion voluntarily. Many
have done this through love of Muslim women.

EGYPTIAN WEIGHTS AND
MEASURES.

i , 7,vvo.. ,i _

F the measures and weights used in Egypt I am not able to
give an exact account 3 for, after diligent search, I have not
succeeded in ﬁnding any two specimens of the same denomination
perfectly agreeing with each other, and generally the difference
has been very considerable ; but in those cases in which I have
given the minimum and maxinmm, the former may be received as
approximating very nearly to the just equivalent. The tradesmen
in Egypt, from fear of the Mohtes’ib, mostly have measures and
weights a little exceeding the true standards, though stamped by
the government, which takes care to have such measures and
weights employed in the purchases Which it makes, and equal care,
no doubt, to use those which are more true in selling.

MEASURES OF LENGTH AND LAND.

The. “ ﬁtr ” is the space measured by the extension of the
thumb and ﬁrst ﬁnger.

The “shibr” is the common span, measured by the extension
of the thumb and little ﬁnger.

The “ diraa beleedee ” (or “ cubit of the country ”—the common
Egyptian cubit), which is used for measuring the linen, eta, manu-
factured in Egypt, is equal to 22 inches and two-thirds.

The “ (liraa hindazeh,” chieﬂy used for measuring Indian goods,

is about 25 inches.

EG YPTIAN I’VEZGIITS AND MEASURES. 58 I

The “diraa Istamboolee” (or “cubit of Constantinople”),
which is used for measuring European cloth, etc, is about 26
inches and a half.

The “ feddan,” the most common measure of land, was, a few
years ago, equal to about an English acre and one-tenth. It is
now less than an acre. It is divided into “ keerats ” (or twenty-
fourth parts), and consists of 333 square “ kasabahs ” (or rods) and
one-third. The kasabah was 24 “kabdahs,” but is now 2'2. The
kabdah is the measure of a man’s ﬁst with the thumb erect, or
about 6 inches and a quarter.

The “ malakah,” or Egyptian league, is a measure of which I
have not been able to obtain any better deﬁnition than this ;_
That it is the distance between two villages. It is different in
Upper and Lower Egypt, as was the ancient schoenus, with which
it nearly corresponds. In Lower Egypt it is about an hour’s
journey, or from 2% to 3 miles; in Upper Egypt, about an hour
and a half, or from 3% miles to 4%, or even more.

CORN MEASURES.

The “ ardebb ” is equivalent, very nearly, to ﬁve English
bushels.

The “ weybeh ” is the sixth of an ardebb.

The “ ruba ” is the fourth of a weybeh.

WEIGHTS.

The “ kamhah” (or grain of wheat) is the 64th part of a
dirhem, or fourth of a keerat ; about three-quarters of an English
grain.

The “liabbeh” (or grain of barley) is the 48th part of a dir-
hem, or third of a keerat ; equal to %%g of an English grain, or in
commerce fully equal to an English grain.

The “keerat” (or carat), which is 4 kamhahs, or 3 habbehs,
as above mentioned, is the 24th part of a mitkal, or from 2i‘%% to
3 English grains.

The “dirhem” (or drachm), the subdivisions of which have
been mentioned above, is from 472» to 48 English grains.

The “mitkal ” (or the weight of a “deenar”) is a dirhem and

a half , from 711% to 72 English grains.

582 EGYPTIAN WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

The “ ukeeyeh,” or “wukeeyeh ” (the ounce), is 12 dirhems, or
the 12th part of a ratl; from 571% to 576 English grains.

The “ratl” (or pound), being 144 dirhems, or 12 ukeeyehs, is
from 1 1b. 2 oz. 5% dwt. to about 1 lb. 2 oz. 8 dwt. Troy, or from
15 oz. 10 (11'. 22T16 grains ‘to nearly 15 oz. 13 dr. Avoirdupois.

The “ukkah,” 0r “wukkah,” is 400 dirhems (or 2 ratls and
seven-ninths); from 3 1b. 3 oz. 13% dwt. to 3 lb. 4 oz. Troy, or
from 2 1b. 11 oz.'8 dr. 18% grains to about, or nearly, 2 1b. 12 oz.,
or 2 1b. and three-quarters, Avoirdupois.

The “ kantér” (or hundredweight—that is, 100 ratls) is from
98 1b., minus 200 grains, to about 98 lb. and three-quarters Avoir—
dupois.

INDEX.

'ABKYEH, 48, 49, 322.

'Abbasees, their costume, 51.

‘Abd-Er-Rahman El-Gabartee, 226.

Abdel. See BEDEEL.

‘Abdallawee melon, 330, 333.

Ablutions. See WUnoé, TAYEMMUM, GHUSL,
and DEATH.

Aboo, 141; -Farrag, 89; -Ru-oos, the sheykh
Isma’eel, 274; -Zeyd, romance of, 401.

Abrar, 484, 516. .

Adan, or adhan, 87, 99; manner in which it
is chanted, 380.

‘A'dileeyeh, the, 410.

Admiration, proper and improper modes of
expressing, 258, 259.

Adultery, law respecting, 121; punishment
of men who accuse women of this crime
without the testimony required by law,
121 ; manner in which women guilty of
this crime are sometimes punished, 133,
208, 209, 309, 310.

‘Afeefeeyeh darweeshes, 252.

Aﬁyoon, and Aﬁyoonee, 348.

‘Agam, 99.

Agathodaemon, modern, 236.

Age, respect paid to, 210, 301, 302.

A’gha of the Police. See ZXBIT.

Agriculture, 338.

’Ahd, 252.

Ahl-Far’oon, 44.

Ahmad, Moolids of, 249, 252.

Ahmedeeyeh darweeshes, or Ahmedees, 252.

'Akabeh, 501.

’Akd en-nikah, 173.

'Akeek, 566

’Akeekah, 573.

’Akkad, 329.

A’latees, or elateeyeh, 201, 365, 507.

Alchemy, 228, 274.

’Alee Bey,cruelty of a wretch of this name, 138.

’A’lim, 52.

Allah, or God, passim; kereem, 292.

Allahu akbar, 89.

Almanac, 230,

’A'l’mehs, or ’Awalim, 178, 201, 365, 506.

 

Alms-giving, 81, 105; of Moharram, or the
’Ashr, 432.

Aloe-plant used as a charm, 266.

Aloes-wood. See ’001).

Alum, virtue of, 259.

Ambergris, used for fumigation, 214; used
to impart a perfume to coffee, 152.

Amsheer, 229.

Amulets. See HEGKBS and CHARMS.

’Anatireh. See ’ANIER’EE.

Anatomy, 132, 228.

Angab. See NEGEEB.

Angels, 79, 232, 272; attendant, 92.

Anklets, 186, 573.

’Annab, 162.

’Antar, romance of, 421.

’Anter'ee (a kind of vest), 57; (a. reciter of
’Antar), 421.

Antichrist, 78.

Apostasy punished with death, 122.

’Arab, 44.

’Arafat, Mount, 106.

Arba’ﬂz Eiyoob, 494.

Arba’een, El-, 508, 532.

Architecture, 316.

Ardebb, 581.

‘Areef, 76.

Arghool, 253, 374.

Arithmetic, 75.

Armenians in Egypt, number of, 41.

’Arooseh, 500.

Arts and manufactures, 318, 319.

Asawir, 567, 572.

’Asbeh, 63.

’Asha, 156.

As-hab el—Ahzab, 520 ; ed—Darak, 242 ; el-
Kahf, 257.

Ashbeen, 549.

’A’shoora, customs of, 260, 434.

’Ashr, 433, 532.

’Asr, 84, 230.

Ass, how equipped for riding, for use of men,
155 ; for use of ladies, 202; part performed
by one, 252.

Assassin, origin of the word, 348, 420.

D

r

584

Astaghﬁr Allah, 287.

Astrolabe, 228.

Astrology, 67, 228, 273.

Astronomy, 228.

’Attar, 329.

Auguration, 269, 495, 496.

A' yet el Kursee, 92

Azhar, EL, Great Mosque, 97, 217, 220 , stu-
dents of, 221; studies pursued there, 221;
sheykh of, 221, 222, 225 ; professors of, 221,
223 ; blind students of, 222.

’A’z’kee, 152.

B113 EL-HAREEM, 31; sirr, 39; Zuweyleh, 240.

Babeh, 229.

Baboog, 60, 62.

Badingan, 162, 308.

Baghlet el-’Ashr, 433.

Bahluwans, 394.

Bakhoor elvbarr, 155.

Balance in which good and evil works are to
be weighed, 79

Bamiyeh, 162.

Ba—ooneh, 229.

Barahimeh darweeshes, 252.

Baramikeh, 385, 393

Bark, 63, 568.

Barmahat, 229

Barmek’ees. See BARAMIKEH

Barmoodeh, 229.

Barrenness considered a curse and reproach,
69.

Barsh, 348.

Bash Katib of the Kadee, 126; Turguman,
127; Rusul, 127.

Bast, 347.

Bastinading, 121, 125.

Bath, 178, 183, 349.

Batrak, 537.

Batteekh, 162.

Baz, 254, 373.

Beard, mode of trimming the, 45; few shave
it off, 45 ; shaven off as a punishment, 573 ;
respect paid to the, 46; seldom dyed, 46.

Beasts and birds, language of, 256.

Bed, 166, 167.

Bedawee and Bedaweeyeh, 44, 257.

Bedeel, 239.

Bedouins. See BEDAWEE.

Beer. See Booznn.

Beer el-yarakan, 268.

Beetles, singular use made of them, 198.

Beggars, 344.

Beiyoomeeyeh darweeshes, or Beiyoomees,
252, 461, 462.

Bekreeyeh darweeshes, 252.

Belah meblool, 333.

Beleed, 238.

Bellaneh, 176, 354.

Belloor, 566.

Beng, 420.

Benish, or Beneesh, 47.

Benzoin. See GAWEE. .

 

INDEX.

Beshens, 229.

Beybars. See EZ-ZAHIR.

Beyt, 355, 357; el-mal, 118; el-owwal, 350.

Biers, 518, 520, 524.

Bigotry inculcated into the minds of chil-
dren, 74.

Bint el-Beled, 44; el-Masr, 44.

Birds, charity to, 477; and beasts, language
of, 256.

Birgas, game of the, 404.

Bishareen, strange custom of, 297.

Bi-smi-llah, 90, 160.

Blasphemy, law respecting, 123.

Blind, asylum and college for the, 222.

Blindness prevalent in Egypt, 45.

Blood, unlawful food to Muslims, 109; and
to the Copts, 546. 0

Blood-revenge, 120, 208.

Boatmen and boats of the Nile, 342.

Books, 219; copying of, 220.

Booksellers, 219.

Boozeh, a kind of beer, 108, 348.

Bowwab, 97, 147.

Bread, 148; respect paid to it, 299; of the
seyyid El-Bedawee, 440, 471, 472, 473.

Bribery practised at the Kadee’s court, 127,
123, 129.

Bugs, 9.1, 167; charm to exterminate them,
496.

Burckhardt referred to, 574.

Burdeh, 258, 517, 520.

Burhameeyeh. See BARAHIMEH.

Burko’, 61, 63,65; of the door of the Kaav
beh, 488.

Burnus, or burnoos, 322.

Buying and selling, 328.

CADI. See KADEE.

Caftan. See KUFTA’N.

Cairo, or El-Kahireh, now called Masr, 22,
41, 43; population of, 22, 41; streets of,
22; quarters of, 139; districts of, 139; pri-r
vate houses of, 22, 25—27 ; the best school
of Arabic literature, 217.

Calf, feats performed by a, 255.

Camel, its ﬂesh lawful food to Muslims, 109‘;
and considered unlawful by the Copts,
546 ; its hump a provision against hunger,
578; litters, 442.

Canal of Cairo, opening of the, 499.

Cats, endowment for the support of, 295.

Ceilings, decorations of, 34.

Chant of the water-carrier, 332; mue'ddin,
380; a sha’er, 398; men and boys at fuv
nerals, 518, 519.

Chanting of the Kur-an, specimen of the,
382; darweeshes in zikrs, 452, 455.

Character of the Muslim Egyptians, 2S4;
Copts, 551; Jews of Egypt, 561, 562.

Charity of the Egyptians, 292.

Charms, 228, 232, 240, 256, 273, 440, 495, 570.

Cheerfulness of the Egyptians, 296.

Chemistry, 228.

INDEX. ' ..

Chicken-ovens, 320.

Children, education and general treatment
of, 67—72; how long the mother may retain
them under her care, 114 ; of foreigners in
Egypt seldom live to mature age, 170.

Christians prior to the time of Mohammad
held by the Muslims to be true believers, 79.

Circumcision of the Muslim Egyptians, 72,
180, 511; a similar custom to, prevailing
among them and the Copts, 535; of the
Copts, 535, 539, 540.

Cleanliness of the Egyptians, 299; practices
observed for the sake of, 81.

Climate of Egypt, 18.

Coffee, 148, 151, 345; disallowed by some
Muslims, 109, 346; when ﬁrst introduced
into Egypt, 346.

Coffee-cups. See FINGXN.
346.

Commerce, 321.

Compliments, 211, 216. ,

Concubinage, laws respecting, 111, 112, 115.

Concubines. See SLAVES.

Conscription, 206, 207.

Copts, their number, etc., 42, 534; political
state, 139, 547; dress, 535, 536; language,
534, 540, 541, 542; education, 540; religion,
536, 537; private prayers, 541; patriarch,
etc., 139, 537, 551; churches and church-
service, 542, 543; fasts, etc., 544; domestic
habits, 547 ; marriages, 547-551; character,
551; occupations, 552; funeral ceremonies,
552; notices of their history under the
Muslim domination, 553—557.

Cosmetics, 198, 509.

Cotton, 43.

Councils of administration, 125.

Courtesy and affability of the Egyptians, 216,
296.

Courts of judicature, 124, 126.

Cowries, virtue of, 260.

Cries of watchmen in Cairo, 133, 291; the
hawkers of vegetables, etc., 330 ; beggars,
337 ; the persons who announce the daily
rise of the Nile, 496, 498, 504, 505; joy,
see ZAGHAREET; lamentation, see WEL-
WEI/EH.

Cupidity of the Egyptians, 312.

Customs not particularized in this Index, 46,
213, 214, 215, 232, 261, 576.

Coffee-shops,

DABBEII, 38.

Dakhakhinee, 329.

Dakk, 57.

Dameh, 355.

Dancing- girls, see CHAIZEEYEHS; men and
boys, see KHAWAL and GINK.

Dar, 358.

Darabukkeh, 201, 374.

Darb el-mendel, 273, 278; er-ramal, 274.

Darweeshes, 238, 239, 250-256, 437, 438, 449,
450; whirling, 439; barking, or howling,
461 ; dancing, see ’EESA’WHEYEH.

 

585

Dawayeh, 49, 220.

Day, Mohammadan, 229.

Days, fortunate and unfortunate, 484.

Dayeh, 176.

Death, and funeral rites, 515.

Debleh, 567.

Debtors, law respecting, 118.

Decrees of God, 81, 288, 478.

Deen, 78.

Deenar, 119, 12].

Deewan, 32; el-Khideewee, 125; et-Tuggar,
126.

Delhem’eh, romance of, 421.

Della], 328.

Dellaleh, 171, 201.

Demeereh, 341.

Demirdasheyeh darweeshes, 252.

Depilatories, 354.

Dervises. See DARWEESHES.

Destoor, 188, 232.

Devil, and devils in general, 79, 230

Diet, 144, 161, 198, 204.

Diﬂ‘eeyeh, 50.

Dikkeh, 96, 507.

Dilk, 237, 255.

Diodorus Siculus referred to, 42.

Diraas, 580, 581.

Dirhem, 105, 119, 581.

Divan. See DEEWXN.

Divorce, 111,113; effects of the facility of, 192.

Dogs, opinions and conduct of Muslims with
regard to, 110, 293, 294.

Domestic life of Muslim Egyptians of the
higher and middle orders (men), 146; of
women of the same classes, 185; of the
lower orders, 203.

Doors of houses, etc., 26, 32.

Doraks, 163.

Doseh, 251, 457, 474, 475, 476, 477.

Dowry, 113, 114, 173, 175, 183, 205.

Dreams, faith in, 224, 271.

Dress, of men, 46; of females, 57.

Drinking-cups, 163, 164, 165.

Drunkenness, how punished, 122.

Duhr, 84.

Dukkah, 148, 204, 545.

Dukkan, 326.

Durah, 341.

Durrah, for Darrah, 194.

Dust, excessive quantity of, 21.

Dysentery, when most prevalent, 18.

EATING, manner and etiquette of, 159.

Ebed, 88, 484.

Ebeeb, 229.

’Eddeh, 114.

Education of boys, 75 ; of females, 76; higher
branches of, 220.

’Eed (EL) el-Kebeer, 107, 493; es-Sugheiyir,
107, 485.

’Eed of the Copts, 552.

Eeman, 78.

’Eesa. See JESUS CHRIST.

586

’Eesaweeyeh darweeshes, 466.

Eezar, 62.

’Efreets, 233, 236.

’Eggeh, 360.

’Egl El-‘Azab, 255.

Egypt, its physical character, 17, 42 ; its
population, 41, 42. .

Egyptians. See MUSLIM EGYPTIANS and
Cons.

Ehram, 107.

Eiyam en-Nesee, 229.

’Ekd, 567, 571.

Elijah, allusions to, 241.

Embroidery, 198.

Emeer (EL) el-Hagg, 443, 491 ; el-Kebeer,
anecdote of, 223.

’Enaneeyeh darweeshes, 250.

’Enebeh, 564.

Envious disposition of the Egyptians, 312.

Epileptic ﬁts induced by religious excite—
ment, 456.

’Eree, 49, 168.

’Erk-soos, 333.

'Erk-soosee, 333.

’Esh'e’, 84, 230.

Eunuchs, 147.

Europeans in Egypt. See FRANKS.

Evil eye, and modes of counteracting or pre-
venting its effects, 71, 160.

Eyes, modern and ancient modes of orna-
menting, with kohl, 53.

’Eyn, 361.

’Eysh bi-lahm, 476.

FAKEERS, 254.

Fakihanee, 329.

Fanoos, 165.

Farageeyeh, 47.

Farce-players, 395.

Fard, 84, 330.

Faroodeeyeh, 59.

Farran, 329.

Faskeeyeh. See FOUNTAIN.

Fasting, 81, 101, 105, 434. (See RAMADAN.)

Fatatiree, 330.

Fateereh, 148.

Fat’hah, 75, et passim ; specimen of the
mode in which it is chanted, 382.

Fatoor, 148.

Fawatim, costume of the, 51.

Fedawees, 419.

Feddan, 144, 581.

Fegr, 84.

Fellahs, or Fellaheen, 41, 44; political con-
dition, 140, 143; domestic life and occu-
pations, 204, 338.

Fesahah, or Fes-hah, 38, 167.

Festivals, two Grand (or Minor and Great),
84, 106; periodical public, 432, 462, 494.
(See ’EED.)

Festivities, private, 505.

Fetteh, 494.

Fetwa, 127.

 

INDEX.

Fida, 107.

Fikee, 74, 174.

Fingan, 151.

Firdeh, 145, 546.

Fire, eating of, 251, 468.

Firkilleh, 252.

Fitr, 580.

Fleas excessively numerous in Egypt, 21, 167.

Flies extremely annoying in Egypt, 21, 167.

Flight, era. of the. See HIGREH.

Fool mudemmes, 148 ; nabit, 494.

Foot, the right, more honoured than the
left, 216.

Foot-rasps, 352.

Footah, 159.

Fornication, law respecting, 121 ; manner in
which women guilty of this crime are
sometimes punished, 133, 208.

Fortune-telling, 393.

Fountains in private houses, 31; in baths,
350, 352; public, see SEBEELS.

Fowwal, 330.

Franks in Egypt, 140, 285.

Frankincense. See LIBAN.

Friday, the Sabbath of the Muslims, 84, 93.
(See GUM’AH.)

Fukara. See FAKEERS.
Funeral. See DEATH.
Furn, 40.

Furniture of a room, 32, 37; of a peasant’s
dwelling, 40.

GAHAz, 175.

Gambling forbidden, 110.

Game’, 87, 93.

Games, 355; of chance forbidden, 110.

Gann Ibn»Gé.nn, 233. (See GINN.)

Garmash’ak, 149.

Gebr el-Bahr, 501.

Gellabs, 197.

Gelleh, 204, 320.

Gemb, 212.

Generosity~ of the Egyptians, 312.

Genii. See GINN.

Geography, 230.

Geomancy, .274.

Gereed, game of the, 362.

Geydee. See KEYDEE.

Gezzar, 329.

Ghada, 156.

Ghagar, or Ghajar, 393.

Ghawazee. See GHAIZEEYEHS.

Ghazee, 383.

Ghazeeyehs, or Ghawazee, 184, 201, 383, 436,
506, 509.

Gheyt el-kuttah, 295.

Ghools, 236.

Ghosts, 236.

Ghubeyra, 494.

Ghusl, 84.

Ghuweyshat, 572.

Ghuzz, 124.

Gibbeh, or Jubbeh, 46.

INDEX.

Gink, 388, 465.

Ginn, Gann, Ginnees, or Genii, 79, 231, 272;
good, how they pay their alms, 433.

Gipsies. See GHAGAR.

Gizyeh (or tribute), 546, 558.

Glass, eating of, 251, 468.

God, his absolute unity, 78; virtues of the
ﬁfty-seven names of, 256.

Gohargee, 329.

Gold ornaments disapproved of by Moham-
mad, 48.

Government of Egypt, 42, 124.

Gozeh, 151.

Gratitude wanting in the Egyptian character,
298.

Grave, torment of the, 80, 527, 530.
TOMB.)

Greeks in Egypt, their number, 41.

Guards, military, in Cairo, 125, 133.

Gumad el-Owwal, 228; et-Tanee, 228.

Gum’ah, EL, or Friday, 93; prayers of, 93,
98, 99.

(See

HABARAH, 61.

Habbak, 329.

Habbeh, 569, 581.

Hadd, 122.

Hégg, Hajj, or Hajjee, 106, 146, 440.

Haggeh, 146.

Hair, women’s, mode of dressing and orna-
menting, 60.

Halak, 566, 571.

Halaweh, 330.

Hamah, 185.

Hambel'ees, 77, 132.

Hamdu li-llah, EL, 163.

Hammam, 349.

Hanafees, 77, 81, 132.

Hanafeeyeh, 81, 351.

Hand, right, honoured above the left, 216;
left, used for unclean purposes, 162, 216.

Harag, or Haraj, 329.

Hararah, 351.

Harem. See HAREEM.

Hareem, 31, 35, 39, 147, 185; persons admis-
sible into the apartments of the, 186, 189 ;
customs observed by men on approaching
the hareems of others, 189; generally
necessary to qualify a man to be a tenant
of a private house in Cairo, 39, 69. (See
also WIVES and WOMEN.)

Haris, 353.

Hasa, 355.

Hasan El-’Attar, the sheykh, 226.

Hasaneyn, EL, mosque of, 246, 247, 435, 463,
471. (See MooLID.)

Hasheesh, 151, 347, 420.

Hashreeyeh, 519.

Hashshash, 348.

Hasweh, 355.

Hatching of eggs in ovens, 320.

Hatoor, 229.

Hawees, 180, 390.

 

587

Head, woman’s, the upper and back part of
it most carefully veiled, 67; man’s and
boy’s, generally shaven, 46, 69.

Hefnaweeyeh darweeshes, 252.

Hegabs, 256, 574.

Hegira. See HIGREK.

Hekr, 295.

Hemalees, 331.

Heml of the barber, 72; musattah, see MU-
SATTAH.

Hemp used to induce intoxication, 151, 347;
when ﬁrst used for this purpose in Egypt,
347.

Heneean, 160.

Henna, 54, 178, 488, 491, 549.

Heram, 107, 322.

Heykel, 542.

Hezam, 488.

Hezbs, 254, 523.

Higreh, or Hijrah, era of the, 575.

H1141, 564.

Hilaleeyeh, 401.

Hilbeh, 509.

Hoboob, 435.

Hods, 74.

Homar ’alee, 203.

Hummus, 148.

Hooreeyehs, 80.

Horses, how equipped for riding, 155.

Hoseyn, El-, place of his head, 224. (See
Mooun and ’A’sHoonA.)

Hésh, 29.

Hospitality of the Egyptians, 296.

Houris. See HOOREEYEHS.

Hours, Mohammadan, 229.

Howah. See HAwnEs.

Hulaleeyeh, 66.

Huroobeh, 184.

IBN EL-BELED, or Ibn-Masr, 44 ; Hambal,
his scrupulosity, 289.

Ibraheem, the patriarch Abraham, 103 ;
Basha, anecdote of, 547; the eyyids, Ed-
Dasookee, his moolids, 249.

Ibreek, 159, 331.

Idiots, respect paid to, 237.

Idolaters, law respecting, 108.

Ikameh, 104.

’Ilm en-nugoom, 273; er-rukkeh, 265. (See
ASTROLOGY.)

’llwaneeyeh darweeshes, 251.

’Ilwee, 273.

Images of things that have life forbidden, 110.

Imams, 96, 110, 222.

Imsak, 481, 484.

Indolence of the Egyptians, 302.

Industry, 315.

Infancy, 67.

Inheritance, laws of, 116.

Ink, 219. (See DAWAYEH.)

Inscriptions on doors, etc., 26, 263.

Insha, 2'26.

Intrigues of Egyptian women, 304.

588

Irrigation, 338.

Irritable disposition of the Egyptians, 314.

Ishérah, 450, 464.

Islam, El-, 78.

Ism el-Aazam, E14, 273.

Isma’eel, or Ishmael, according to the Mus-
lims, the son whom Ibréheem, or Abraham,
designed to sacriﬁce, 107.

Israfeel, 80.

Istikharah, 270.

JESUS CHRIST, opinion of the Muslims re-
specting, 78.

Jews of Egypt, their number, etc.. 41, 42,
657; political state of, 139, 558; domestic
life of, 560; character and occupations of,
560, 561.

J ocular disposition of the Egyptians, 315.

Jubbeh. See GIBBEH.

J ugglers, 391.

Juvenal referred to, 383.

KAABEH, 106, 487. (See KISWEH.)

Kal’ah, 35.

Kabbanee, 75.

Kabdah, 578.

Kadee of Cairo, 126; court of the, 126; and
bribery practised there, 127—129.

Kédees in general, 132, 222.

Katdireeyeh darweeshes, or Katdirees, 252. 489.

Katf, mountains of, 231.

Kafal-wood, 163.

Kaiférah, 530. ,

Kaftan. See KUFTAN.

Kahk, 481.

Kahweh, 151, 345, 346.

Kahweg’ee, 347.

Kaim, 449.

Kaim-makam, 140.

Kamarah, 564.

Kamareeyeh, 37.

Kamhah, 581.

Kandeel, 165.

Kanoon, 366, 368, 369.

Kantar, 582.

Kara-gyooz, 396.

Kara-kél, and karakén, 125

Kara kooseh, 162.

Karrés, 219.

K35, 373.

Kasabah, 581.

Kaseedeh, 182, 227, 453.

Kasees, 538.

Kashif, 140.

Kawér'e', 418.

Kawurmeh, 162.

Kebab, 162, 329

Keemiya, EL, 274.

Keerét, 118, 581

Keeyem and Keiyim, 392.

Keien, 518

Kelb, 358, 360.

Kemengeh, 366.

 

INDEX.

Ketb el-kitéb, 173;

Ketkhud’a. See KIKHYA.

Keydee, 341.

Keyf, 342.

Keytan, 568.

Khalboos, 507.

Khaleefeh, 51.

Khaleeg, 499. (See CANAL.)

Khaleel El-Medabighee, anecdote of, 233.

Khaltah, 494.

Khalwet’ee, 254.

Khamaseen, 18, 494, 544; Winds, 18.

Khamees el-’Ahd, 546.

Khat’beh, 171.

Khateeb, 96.

Khatim, 571.

Khatmeh, 139, 176, 247, 288, 469, 486, 507,
517, 532.

Khawals, 184, 387, 509.

Khazneh, 37, 167.

Kheiyét, 329.

Kheyreeyeh, 507 .

Khidr, El-, 241.

Khilweh, 354.

Khiyar, 162.

Khizam, 571.

Khoos, 248.

Khudaree, 329.

Khuﬂ’, 62.

Khulkhal, 569, 572.

Khurdagee, 329.

Khushéf, 163.

Khutbeh on Mount ’Arafat, 107.

Khutbet el-waaz, 100; en-naat, 102;
Sirafeh, 513.

Khutt, 482.

Khuzam, 571.

Kibleeyeh, 228.

Kibleh, 89, 228.

Kibt, 534.

Kikhya, 124.

Kilédeh, 567.

Kirbeh, 331.

Kishk, 494, 509.

Kisweh of the Kaabeh, 487 ; procession of the,
487 ; pieces of the, used as charms, 264.

Kiyahk and Kiyz’tk, 229.

Kohl, 53, 444, 495, 535.

Kubbeh, 224.

Kubt, 534. .,

Kuftan, or Kaftan, 46.

Kullehs for water, 163 ; for sherbet, 165.

Kulluk, 125.

Kumedyeh, 234.

Kumkum, 177, 214.

Kummetr'e', 569.

Kummus, 538.

Kunafeh, 162.

Kur-én, quoted, passim; taught at schools,
74; recitation or chanting of the, 89, 182,
288, 476, 517, 520, 530; specimen of the
mode of chanting’the, 382 ; the chief founs
dation of the laws, 110; respect paid to the,

83-

[1VDEX.

290; sometimes quoted in jest, 287; the
whole and portions of it used as charms,
256, 263.

Kurbag, 1'21, 322.

Kureydatee, 394.

Kurs, 59, 562.

Kursee, 159; el-wiladeh, 509.

Kussah, 177, 564.

Kutb, 239.

Kuttab, 74.

Kuweysinee, the Sheykh E1-, 222.

LABDANUM, 198.

Lamps, 165.

Language of the Modern Egyptians, 217.

Lanterns, 165.

Lattice-work of windows, 28.

Laws, 81, 110.

Lawingee, 351.

Leab el-kumar, 355.

Learned men in Egypt, 226.

Learning, decline of, 217.

Leef, 353, 444.

Leewén, 32.

Deewaugee. See LAWINGEE.

Legacies, law respecting, 116.

Leylet ed-Dukhleh, 175, 180; el-Henna, 179;
el-Mearag, see Mearag; en-Nusf min Shaa-
ban, 477; er»Roo-yeh, 479; el-Kadr, 485;
en»Nuktah, 495; es-Saratan, 496; el-Wah-
sheh, 530; el-Wahdeh, 531 ; el-Gheetas, 545.

Leyseeyeh darweeshes, 252.

Libabeh, 509.

Libeln, or frankincense, 53, 198, 444.

Libraries, 219.

Lice, 21, 469.

Litam, 428.

Literature, 219, 227.

Lock, wooden, 38.

Lodging-houses, 39.

Love of the Egyptians for their country, 302.

Lunatics, 237.

Lute, 370.

MAAGOON and Maagungee, 347.

Maamal el-ﬁrakh or Maamal el-farroog, 320.

Mad'neh or menaret, 87.

Maghrib, 84.

Maghsil, es-Sultan, 267.

Maghtas, 351.

Magic and magicians, 256, 272, 274.

Magnetic compasses, 228.

Mahdee, the sheykh El-, Muftec of Cairo,
129, 130.

Mahkem’eh, the Great, 126.

Mahkem'ehs, minor, 131.

Mahmal, or Mahmil, 443, 445, 490; return of
the, 443 ; grand procession of the, 490.

Mahr, 173.

Mahrookee, the seyyid Mohammad, 129.

Mahshee, 162.

Mahshesh’eh, 348. ‘e

Mahzam, 351.

 

589

Mak’ad, 35.

Makhba, 39, 312.

Makra, 464.

Makra”ah, 360.

Makreezee, El—, cited, 500, 540, 553.

Maksoorah, 98, 246

Malakah, 581.

Malikees, 77, 132.

Malkaf, 38. ’

M’allim, 350, 552.

M’allim’eh, 77.

Ma-moor, 140.

Mandar’ah, 31.

Mankal, 155.

Mankal’ah, game of the, 355.

Manufactures, 316.

Marid, 233.

Maristan, 307.

Markaz, 240.

Markets of Cairo, 136. (See Sooxs.)

Marriage, laws respecting, 111, 169, 190; duty
of, 169; when contracted, 170; how con-
ducted in the case of a virgin, 170; among
the lower orders, 178, 183; of widows and
divorced women, 183; ceremonies and fes-
tivities after, 184, 508.

Martial referred to, 383.

Martyrs, 79.

Ma-shéa-llah, 259.

Mash’tah, 354.

Masoorah, 573.

Masr. See CAIRO.

Masree and Masreeyeh, 44.

Mastab’ah, 30, 326, 346.

Mastic, 152, 163.

Mathematics, 227.

Matran, 538.

Meals, 148, 156, 165.

Mearag, festival of the, 474.

Measures, 580.

Meats, lawful and unlawful, 109; scrupu-
losity of Muslims respecting, 299.

Mecca. See MEKKEH.

Meded, 455.

Medicine, 227.

Meglis, 451 ; el-Meshwar'ah, 126 ; el-Gihzt-
deeyeh, 126.

Megzoob, 238.

Mehrab, 94.

Mekkeh and Mount ’Arafat, the objects of
pilgrimage, 106.

Melboos, 455.

Mclekees or Melekeeyeh, 536.

Memlooks, 41, 124, 147, 170.

Mcmrak, 36.

Mendacity of the Egyptians, 313.

Menseg, 201.

Menwar, 450.

Mesh’al, 180.

Mesh-had of El-Hoseyn.

Meshrebeeyeh, 27.

Meslakh, 350.

Mesloob, 238.

See HASANEYN.

59°

Mey’ah mubarakah, 260, 432.

Meydaah, 81.

Mezz, mezd, or mest, 60.

Mibkhar'ah, 163, 177, 214.

Mikattah, 220.

Milayeh, 63.

Mimbar, 96.

Mina (vulgo Muna), 107.

Ministers of Mosques, 96.

Miracles of saints and darweeshes, 239, 249,
250, 251, 457, 467, 470, 474, 489, 522; of
prophets, 238 ; of Mohammad, 244.

Mirwed, 53.

Misht, 565.

Misned'eh, 220

Misra, 229.

Mistar'ah, 220.

Miswak, 444.

Mitkal, or Mithkal, 105, 581.

Mizagee, 561.

Mohabbazeen, 395.

Mohaddits, 407.

Mohallil. See MUSTAHALL.

Mohammad, called by the Muslims “God’s
Apostle,” and “the Prophet,” etc., 78;
respect paid to, 124, 289; regarded and in-
voked as an intercessor, 105, 289; appears
to Muslims in their sleep, 224, 225; his
miracles, 244; respect paid to his tomb,
245, 289 ; virtues of the names of his relics,
257; virtues of dust from his tomb, 265;
evils counteracted by blessing him, 259,
271; sworn by, and imitated in trivial
matters, 289; his illiteracy, 479.

Mohammad ’Alee (present Basha of Egypt),
his character, policy, etc., 43, 123, 124, >144,
231, 574; his revenue, 144. /

Mohammad Bey, Deftardar, anecdote of, 141.

Mohammad El-Bahaee, anecdote of, 223.

Mohammad Shihab, the sheykh, 226.

Moharram, 228, 260, 432.

Mohtes’ib, 138; anecdotes of a, 138.

Money, its value in Cairo, 322.

Months, Mohammadan, 228; Coptic, 229;
sacred, 100. '

Moolids of saints, 248.

Moolid of the seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee,
249; Ibréheem Ed-Dasookee, 249; en-
Nebee (the Prophet’s Moolid), 448; of the
Sheykh Darweesh El-’Ashmawee, 451; E1-
Hasaneyn, 463, 471; Es-Saleh, 470; of the
seyyideh Zeyneb, 473; of the Imam Esh-
Shafe’ee, 477.

Mooskee, 125.

Mosim el-Khaleeg, 501.

Mosques, 93, 94, 145, 220, 436 ; eating, sleep-
ing, etc., allowed in them, excepting at the
times of prayer, 97; not entered by per-
sons with their shoes on, 98 ; ministers and
inferior servants of, 94; thefts committed
in, 466.

Mourning, 532.

Moustaches, 45.

 

INDEX.

Moyet zahr, 331.

Muballigh, 99, 138.

Mudnat, 176.

Mueddin, 87, 97.

Mufattak’ah, 509.

Muftee (supreme) of Cairo, 126, 129; an
honest, 131.

Muftees in general, 222.

Mugawireen, or Mugawirs, 221.

Mughassil, 517.

Mukeyyisatee, 352.

Muk-hul’ah, 53.

Mukleh, 51, 223.

Mulakkin, 529.

Mumezzezeh, 486.

Munadee en-Nee], 496, 498, 504.

Munkar and Nekeer, 80, 528.

Munshids at zikrs, 451.

Murabit, 238.

Murakkee, 99.

Murder, law respecting, 119.

Mureed, 253.

Musaﬁr, 296.

Musahhir, his cry, etc., 482, 484.

Musare’, 362.

Musattah, 442.

Musellikatee, 334.

Mus-haf, 256.

Music, 363. See CHANT.

Musical Instruments, 366.

Musicians, 365. See‘A'LXTEEs.

Muslim, 359.

Muslim Egyptians, their number, origin, and
personal characteristics, 41, 42, 43. (For
other particulars respecting them, see the
TABLES or CONTENTS, or the words
DRESS, INFANCY, EDUCATION, etc., in
this Index.)

Musquitoes, 21.

Musquito-curtain, 167.

Mustahall, or Mustahill, 191.

Mustaf’ a Kashif, anecdotes of, 137.

Mutawellee, El-, 240.

Muweshshah, 182, 453, 512.

N ABK, 518, 525.

Nahhas, 329.

Naib of the Kadee, 126.

Nakeeb, 239, 515; el-Ashraf, 132, 250.
N atkir. See MUNKAR.

N akkarah, 372.

Nakshibendeeyeh darweeshes, 252.
Naming of children, 67.

Nargeeleh, 150.

Naring, 332.

Nasara and N asranee, 359.

N ashizeh, 114.

Nay, 253, 371.

Nazir, 96, 140.

Nebhoot, 362.

Neddabeh, 517.

Nedr, 24s.

Nefeeseh, the seyyiddch, tomb of, 246.

INDEX.

Negeeb, 239.

Negefeh, 450.

N ezleh, feast of the, 444.

Nezlet el-Hagg, 440.

Nifas, 511.

Nile, 17; its rise, 18, 495; its fall, 18; its
fertilizing effect, 18; rise of its bed, 18,
40; navigation of the, 342.

Nizam troops, 125.

N orooz, 504.

Nubians, 41, 168, 535, 536.

Nukalee, 329.

Nukl, 481.

Nukoot or largess, 178, 182, 184, 506, 510, 514.

Nuss, or nuss faddah, 334.

OATH in law courts, 128; various forms of,
285, 313.

Obstinacy of the Egyptians, 303.

’Okoos, 572.

Omens. See AUGURATION.

’Ood (or pipe), 148; (or lute), 370; essaleeb,
565.

Gala, 87, 484.

Ophthalmia, 20, 21, 167; charms for the cure
of, 266.

Opium, use of, 108, 348.

’Orban, 44.

Ornaments, female, 561.

’Osmanlees, or Turks,
Egypt, 41.

Owlad-Masr, or Owlad—el-beled, 44; ’Enan,
darweeshes so called, 251; ’Ilwan, dar-
weeshes so called, 251, 489; Nooh, dar—
weeshes so called, 252.

’Oyoon, 63.

their number in

PAINTERS and sculptors of living beings,
their future punishment, 110.

Paintings on the walls of rooms, etc., 14, 318.

Palm trees, tax on, 144, 145.

Panel-work, 33.

Paradise. See GENNEH.

Parents, respect to, 70, 301.

Pavements, ornamental, 31.

Peasantry. See FELLAHS.

Perfumes, 155, 198, 214.

Pigeon-houses, 40.

Pilav, 163.

Pilgrimage of the Muslims, 81, 106.

Pilgrims, return of the, 440; mode of orna-
menting the doors of their houses, 444 ;
procession of their ofﬁcers and escort, with
the Mahmal, departing for Mekkeh, 490;
their journey, 493.

Pipe, 49, 148; different names and kinds of,
148.

Plague, ravages of the, in 1835, 573.

Police of Cairo, 132.

Pollution, scrupulosity of the Egyptians re-
specting, 299, 515.

Polygamy, 111, 147, 189, 193; inﬂuence of,
111 ; limited by Mohammad, 111.

 

591

Population of Egypt, its present amount,
41; in ancient times, 42; late decrease of,
41.

Population of Cairo, 41.

Prayer of Muslims, 81, 84, 148, 165, 166;
times of, 87, 230; calls to, 87, 380; postures
and form of, 89; of the night of the Middle
of Shaaban, 477 ; over the dead, 526.

Prayers of Friday, 93, 98, 99; the marriage
night, 180, 182; at the tombs of saints, 246,
439; of Ramadan, 481; of the two grand
festivals, 485, 493 ; on other occasions, 104.

Prayer-carpet. See SEGGKDEH.

Predestination, 81, 478.

Presents given on occasions of private fes-
tivities, etc., 176, 178, 182, 184, 215, 414,
507, 510; by servants, 215, 485; to serv-
ants, 168, 215, 485, 493.

Prices of articles of food, etc., in Cairo,
325.

Printing, scruples of the Muslims respecting,
290.

Printing-ofﬁce at Boolak, 230.

Professors. See AZHAR.

Prophets and apostles, 78.

Prostitutes. See GEAZEEYEHS, 133.

Psylli, 388.

Punishments for various offences, 125. (See
LAWS, ADULTERY, FORXICATION, and
Arosmsv.)

Puppets, 396.

Puriﬁcations. See WUDoé, TAYEMMUM,
and GuusL.

Purse, sum of money so called, 129.
QUARTERS of Cairo, 22, 139.

RAARAA, Eiyoob, 494.

Raba, 39.

Rabab, 372.

Rabeea el-Owwal, 228; et-Tanee, 228.

Rabtah, 59, 561.

Rahib, 538, 539.

Rahmanee, 273. »

Ramadan, 106, 228, 235, 47 8.

Rasools of the Kadee, 127.

Rat], 582.

Rayeh, 498.

Reciters of Romances, 372, 397, 407, 420.

Reesheh, 564.

Reﬁa, 329.

Regeb, 228.

Regm, 234.

Rei (water-skins), 331; lands, 341.

Rek'ah, 89.

Religion of the Muslims, 77; present state of
the, 291.

Religious education of the Muslim Egyp-
tians, 73, 76; character of the same, 284.
Remedies for diseases, etc., charms used as,

263, 440.
Retaliation for wounds and mutilations, 120.
Revelations, successive, 78.

592

Rifé‘eeyeh darweeshes, or Rifa’ees, 251, 389,
489

Rikk, 371.

Riwaks. See AZHAR.

Riyal, sum of money so called, 173; rope-
dancers, 394.

Rosary. See SEBHAH.

Réshan, 27.

Ruba, 581; Fenduklee, 569.

Ruzz mufelfel, 163.

SAAD and Haram, 208.

Saadeeyeh darweeshes, or Saadees, 250, 251,
889, 457, 460, 493.

Sabbagh, 329.

Sabbath of the Muslims.
GUM’AH.

Sacriﬁce performed by the pilgrims, 107 ;
performed by others on the same day, 107,
493; at the tombs of saints, 248, 573; on
the burial of the dead, 523, 530; at a Coptic
marriage, 549; by the Copts at the tombs
of their relations, 552.

Sacy, De, 420.

Sadakah, 105.

Sadr, 212.

Sa’eed, 77.

Safa, 60, 569.

Safar, 228.

Sagat, 373.

Sahhar, 276.

Sahlab, 338.

Sahoor, 482.

Satigh, 329.

Saints, Muslim, 237, 474 ; respect paid to, 123,
237, 245; regarded and invoked as inter-
cessors, 105, 246; tombs and cenotaphs of,
245, 250; the visits to these, 246; the prayers,
sacriﬁces, votive offerings, and other cere-
monies performed on such visits, 246, 332,
438, 573. (See also MOOLIDS and MIRACLES.)

825.15, 147, 168.

Sékiyeh, 97, 338, 565.

Sakkas, 147, 331.

Sakka sharbeh, 331; el-’ashr, 433.

Salah, 84. (See PRAYER.)

Sale referred to, 94.

Saleeb, festival of the, 504,

Salk, 183.

Saltah, 58.

Salubrity of Egypt, 18.

Salutations, 209.

Samoom, 18.

Salneeyeh. See SEENEEYEH.

Santeer, 372.

Séree, 449.

Sarraf, 561.

San-rag bashee, 503.

Satreng, 355.

Schools of the Muslims, 74, 145; Copts, 540;
for needle-work, 77.

Schoolmasters, 75, 222.

Scorpions, feats performed with, 251, 461.

See FRIDAY and

 

INDEX.

Scripture, references to the following texts
of :——Gen. xvi. 1,, 194; miii. 11, 329; min,
171 ; ibid., 72, 571; ibid., 63, 90; misc. 27,
579; wii. 42, 48; Ex. iii. 5, 573; 00512526,
27, 167 ; Lev. wit. 2, 1,, 5, 511 ; xx. 10, 121;
.Deut. mix. 15, 128 ; wxi. 17, 116; xwiv. 1, 113;
Josh. v. 15, 573; Judy. xiv. 12, 579; Ruth
ii. 11., 161; 2 Sam. 90. 4, 573; 2 Kings ix.
30, 54; 2 Chron. mm. 25, 517; P3. lviii. 1,,
5, 388; Eccles. x. 11, 388 ; Song of Sol.,
passim, 453; Isa. iii. 16, 569, 572; ibid. 23,
63; Jer. viii. 17, 388 ; ix. 17, 517; mart-ii.
21, 326; Ezek. ix. 2, 3, 11, 49; mitt. 1.0, 54;
Matt. ix. 23, 517 ; xiv. 6, 7, 386 ; xxvi. 23,
161 ; Mark vi. 22, 23, 386 ; John vii. 15, 479;
viii. 4, 5, 121 ; xiii. 26, 161 ; Acts xv. 20, 29,
546; 1 Cor. mi. 10, 63; Eph. v. 19, 507.

Scriptures, Jewish and Christian, held by the
Muslims to be almost totally corrupted, 79.

Sculptors. See PAINTERS.

Seal-rings, 48.

Sebeels, or public fountains, 74, 145, 293.

Sebhah, 92, 444; ceremony of the, 531.

Sebleh, 60.

Sebt en-Noor, 495, 546

Sects of Muslims, four great, 77, 132.

Seega, 358, 360, 361

Seemiya, 272, 273.

Seeneeyeh, or saneeyeh, 159.

Seeret Aboo-Zeyd, etc. See ABOO-ZEYD,
Ez»ZA'Hm, ’ANTAR, and DELHEM'EH.

Seewan, 449.

Seggadeh, 84, 155, 203, 250, 322.

Sehr, 273.

Sekeeneh, the seyyideh, 246. '

Selam to the Prophet, 98, 99, 484.

Salamat, 211.

Sensuality of the Egyptians, 303.

Sermon in a. mosque, 105.

Serpents, eating of, 250, 251, 460.

Serpent-charmers, 251, 388.

Servants, 139, 147, 167, 212, 213, 485, 573 ;
female, 197.

Seven Sleepers, virtues of the names of the,
25S.

Seyf Zu-l-Yezen, romance of, 421.

Seyfee, 341.

Seyrefee, 275.

Seyyid, or Seyd, 146 ; Ahmad El-Bedawee,
see AHMAD ; and for other seyyids, see
their proper names.

Seyyideh Zeyneb. See ZEYNEB ; and for
other seyyidehs, see their proper names.

Seyyidna, 78.

Shaaban, 228; Leylet en-Nusf min, 477.

Shaaraweeyeh darweeshes, 252.

Shrtdoof, 338.

Sha’eereeyeh, 396.

Sha’ers, 372, 397.

Shafe’ee, the Imam Esh-, his tomb, 246, 248;
his Moolid, 477.

Shafe’ees, 77, 132.

Shah-bandar, 126.

INDEX.

Shahhateh, 267.

Shahids of the Kadee’s court, 127; of biers,
and of tombs, 524, 528.

Shaleesh, 475.

Shara Allah, 190.

Sharakee, 341.

Sharbetlee, 329, 333.

Shateh, 564.

Shaving the head, etc., 45, 69.

Shawateh, 564.

Shaweesh, el-Hagg, 440.

Shazilees, 254.

Shealeg'ee, and Shealeh, 134.

Shedd eI-weled, 515.

Sheddeh benad’kah, 571.

Sheeh, 261.

Sheehah, 420.

Sheera, 34-7.

Sheesheh, 150.

Shemm en-Neseem, 495.

Shemmas, 538.

Sherbet, 165; cups, or kullehs, 165, 333.

Shereefs, 48, 146, 250.

Sheykh, 52, 74, 146, 238; former and present
condition of a literary, 223; of each of the
four great sects, 132; el-Harah, 139; et-
Tumn, 13:9 ; of a trade or manufacture, 139;
of servants, 139; of thieves, 139 ; el-Beled,
146; el-Bekree, 250; es-Sadat, 250; of dar-
weeshes, 250, 252

Sheytanee, 273,

Shibr, 580.

Shibreeyeh, 442.

Shibuk, 148.

Shibukshee, 329.

Shihab, 232.

Shinnaweeyeh darweeshes, 252.

Shintiyan, 57.

Shitawee, 341.

Shiya’ees, 77.

Shébash, 507.

Shoes taken off before entering a mosque, or
stepping on a mat or carpet, etc., 32, 99,
326.

Shoosheh, 46.

Shops, 325.

Showwal, 228.

Shureyk, 486.

Sidr, 477, 518.

Silver. See GOLD.

Sirafeh, 511.

Sirat, Es-, 79.

Sitt, 146.

Slaughtering of animals for food, how per-
formed, 109.

Slaves, 41, 111, 115, 147, 168, 183, 187, 194,
206; emancipation of, 115, 195; rights of,
115, 196. (See MEMLOOKS.)

Slave-traders. See GELLKBS.

Sleeping, 166.

Smoking, 148—151, 198, 204.

Sneezing, custom observed on, 216.

Social usages, 209.

(440)

 

593

Soil of Egypt, 316, 338; produce of the, 42
341 ; insufﬁcient cultivation of the, 42.

Séms, or {asts, of the Copts, 544.

Songs, 286, 375; at zikrs, 452.

Soobiya, 333.

Socks, 326, 328.

Soul, state of the, between death and the
judgment, 530, 579.

Star, falling or shooting, superstition respect-
ing, 232.

Strangled animals, their ﬂesh unlawful as
food to the Muslims, 109; and to the
Copts, 546.

Streets of Cairo, 22, 326.

Students. See AZHAR.

Subh, 84.

Subooa after a. birth, 402, 510; after a. mar-
riage, 508; after return from pilgrimage,
444.

Sudeyree, 46.

Suffeh, 32.

Suﬂee, 273.

Sufrah, 160.

Suleymﬁn, pre-Adamite kings so named, 233.

Sultan, a title given to some eminent saints,
440.

Sunnees, 77.

Sunneh, 84.

Superstitions, 223, 231, 256, 495, 509.

Surgery, 228.

Surnames, 68.

Swearing by God, the Prophet, etc, 128, 285,
313, 573.

Swine’s ﬂesh forbidden to the Muslim, 109;
not eaten by the Copts, 546.

Sword used by the Khateeb on Friday, and
why, 99, 100.

Syrians in Egypt, their Inumber, 41.

T13, game of, 357.
Tabls, 372.

Tablat el-musahhir, 482.
Taboot, 246, 338.
Tafaddal, 160.

Tagir, 329.

Ta-Ha, a name of the Arabian Prophet, 427
Takhtabésh, 35. '
Takht’rawan, 442.
Talak reg’ee, 113.
Tamboor, 371.

Tar, 201, 373, 517.
Taraweeh prayers, 481.
Tarboosh, 48, 322.
Tareekah, 238.

Tarhah, 60, 63»
Tarkeebeh, 246, 528..
Tarskhaneh, 126.
Tartoor, 252.
Tattooing, 46, 54, 535.
Tawulah, 355.

Taxes, 143, 145, 546.
Tayemmum, 83..
Tebweez, 356.

38

594

Teeb. See TAB.

Teen meblool, 333.

Teiyibeen, 211, 213.

Tekbeer, 89, 526.

Tekleel, 549, 550.

Temperance of the Egyptians. 298.

Temperature of the climate of Egypt, 20.

Tesbeel, 332.

Testimony. See WITNESSES.

Teymeeneh, 210.

Tezyeereh, 60.

Theatrical performances in London de-
scribed by an Algerine, 234. (See FARCE-
PLAYERS.)

Theft, laws respecting, 120.

Thieves, 139.

Thousand and One Nights referred to, 134,
164, 232, 304. 345; recitations of the, 421.

Tikkeh. See DIKKEH.

Tirmis, 330.

Tob, 60, 66.

Tobacco, 150, 204, 342; disallowed by some
Muslims, 109, 124; when ﬁrst introduced
into the East, 345.

Tok, 572.

Tombs, 188, 486, 494, 527, 533

Toobeh, 229.

Toot, 229.

Trades, 329; sheykhs of, 139 ; customs on
admission into, 514.

Tradesmen, 166, 326.

Traditions of the Prophet, 110.

Treasure, custom of hiding, 39, 312.

Tribes of Egyptian peasantry, 44, 207.

Tufeylees, 297.

Tumbak, 150.

Turban, 48, 50, 52 ; different colours of, dis-
tinguishing different classes, 51, 535, 538,
554, 555, 556, 557; green, when ﬁrst assumed
by shereefs as distinctive of their race, 51 ;
black and blue, when ﬁrst worn by Chris-
tians, 555; of the ’Ulama, 51; much re-
spected, 51; ladies’, 59.

Turks. See ’OsMANLEEs.

Tyranny of ofﬁcers of the government, 137—
139, 140—143.

UKE EYEH, 582.

Ukkah, 582.

’Ulama, 51, 132, 222, 226; bribed in law pro-
ceedings, 129.

Unbelievers, Muslims ordered to wage war .

with, 107; Muslims in Egypt often taught
to hate, 74, 284; general conduct of Mus-
lims to, 285.

Urquhart, Mr., referred to, 574.

Uskuf, 538.

Usury forbidden, 110.

VEIL, head, 59, 63; face-, 60, 63, 575; an-
tiquity of the, 63; importance and obliga-
tion of the, 67, 68 ; men in whose presence
it is not required, 112, 186—189.

 

INDEX.

Vermin, 21, 167.
Villages, 40. .
Visits, 212, 485, 493; of women, 201, 202.

WAHHABEES, or Wahabees, 123.

Wakf, 145.

Wailee, 133.

Wa-llah, or wa-llahi, 285.

War against unbelievers, 107.

Warak mahshee, 162,

Washing before and after meals, 159, 163;
clothes, 301.

Watchmen in Cairo, 133, 291.

Water of the Nile, 19, 163; gratuitous dis-
tribution of, 332; -bottles, 163; carriers.
(See SAKKAS.)

Wefa en-Neel, or Wefa el-Bahr, 498, 501.

Weights, 581, 582.

Wekalehs, 39, 325.

Wekeel, 112, 172.

Welees, 89, 223, 238, 273, 523.

Weleeds, 80.

Welwel'eh, 516.

Weybeh, 581.

Wildd el-layalee, 182.

Wilwal, 516.

Winds, hot, 20.

Windows of lattice-work, 27; of coloured
glass, 37.

Wine forbidden to Muslims, 108 ; drunk
in secret by many persons, 108, 164; by
some openly, 108; allowed in paradise,
80.

Wird es-sahar, 254.

Witnesses, 114, 128~

Wives, lawful number of, 112; their rights
to dowry, etc., 113; with regard to the
nurture of their children, 114; rebellious,
law respecting, 114 ; their feelings with re-
gard to the restraint or seclusion to which
they are subject, 189, 311. (See MARRIAGE,
DIVORCE, and ADULTERY.)

Women not destitute of souls, nor excluded
from paradise, according to the Muslims,
80; not admitted into mosques during the
regular times of prayer, 94; seldom pray
even at home, 94 : whom a man is allowed
to see unveiled, 112, 186; guilty of capital
crimes, how put to death, 119; when mar-
riageable, 170; their domestic life, condi-
tion, and habits, 185, 204. (See WIVES,
HAREEM, and VEIL.) '

Writing, manner of, and apparatus for, 74,
75, 219.

\Vudoo’, 76, 81.

Wukkah, and Wukeeyeh, 582.

YAAKOOBES, or Ya’akibeh, 536.
Yahood, 557..

Yakhnee, 162.

Yé. satir, 188.

Yawning, custom observed on, 216.
Year, Mohammadan, 228; Coptic, 229.

INDEX.

Yelek, 57. .
¥emeneeyeh, 518.

ZAABQOT, 49.

Zaatar, 148.

Zaibit, 125, 133, 134.

Zaghébeh, 401.

Zaghéreet, 176, 178, 182, 523.

Zzihir, Ez-, romance of, 407.

Zé‘irgeh, 269.

Zarf, 151.

Zéwiyet el-’0myé.n, 222.

Zebeeb, 333.

Zeffehs (festive parades or processions), 177,
178, 181, 183, 184, 511, 549.

Zeiyét, 329.

 

595

Zekah, 105, 432.

Zemr, 372.

Zemzem, water of, 264, 443.

Zeyneb, seyyideh, mosque of, 246, 248, 473.
(See MOOLID.)

Zikkeer, 451.

Zikrs, 176, 250, 288, 371, 374, 437, 465, 474,
482, 507; particular descriptions of, 438,
450, 460, 461.

Zinéteeyeh, 401.

Zéba’ah, 232.

Zughbeeyeh, 401.

Zu-l-Heggeh, 228.

Zu-l—Himmeh. ' See DELHEM’EH.

Zu-l-Kaadeh, 228.

Zummalrah, 374.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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