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 MAMELUKES: 
 
 A ROMANCE OF LIFE IN GRAND CAIRO. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2009 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/mamelukesromance01patb
 
 THE 
 
 MAMELUKES: 
 
 A ROMANCE OF LIFE IN GRAND CAIRO, 
 
 BY 
 
 A. A. PATON, 
 
 AUTHOE OF "the HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF THE ADRIATIC; 
 
 " sebvia, the youngest member of the european 
 family;" and "the modern Syrians." 
 
 " What we greedily seek for in poems, travels, romances, is the picture 
 of a state of society unlike the regiilarity of our own." — Guizot. 
 
 " The guests assembled from different quarters, and following different 
 professions, formed in language, manners, and sentiments a curious con- 
 trast to each other, not indifferent to those who desired to possess a 
 knowledge of mankind in its varieties." — Rob Roy. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. 1. 
 
 LONDON: 
 RICHARD BENTLEY,NEW BURLINGTON STREET 
 
 1851.
 
 LONDON: 
 Printed l)y Samoel Bentley ^- 
 Bangor House, Shoe Lane.
 
 < 
 
 > 
 
 ♦> 
 
 V 
 
 V 
 
 
 THIS WORK IS DEDICATED 
 
 TO 
 
 JOHN WINGFIELD LARKING, Esq. 
 
 iiV HIS SliNCERE AND ATTACHED FRIEND, 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Plagues of Egypt . . . .1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Coffee-house . . . .12 
 
 CHAPTER III. ^ 
 
 The Cadi . . . . . .35 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Debtors' Jail . . . .54 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Birth, Parentage, and Education of Khaled . 76 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Khaled in Love . . . . .89 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Armenian Village . . . .99 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Rendezvous . . . . .115 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The House on the Khalidge . . .132 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Sheikh Cassim ..... 147
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Children of Israel . . . - . 162 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Circumcision Festival . -. .176 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Court-yard . . . . -193 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Circumcision Procession . . . 204 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Hosh Bardak 222 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Plot 238 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 The Long Garden . . . .248 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 The adieus of Wurdy . . . .266 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Mount Cassius again .... 274 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Antioch . . . . .282 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 The Wonders of the Nile . . .296
 
 THE MAMELUKES: 
 
 A KOMANCE OF LIFE IN GRAND CAIRO. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 
 
 On the afternoon of a day, in the month 
 of September, 1797, a string of camels had 
 just traversed the desert that lies between 
 Egypt and Syria. It was easy to see that 
 both men and animals suffered from an au- 
 tumnal hot wind, which, although much less 
 oppressive than those of May, and unattended 
 with the violence and danger of the simoom, 
 had yet penetrated with languor and fatigue 
 every fibre and muscle of the bipeds and qua- 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2. THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 drupeds of the caravan. The steady elasticity 
 of the long-measured step of the camel, showed 
 itself in a slower and more uneasy gait. The 
 passengers and drivers exchanged not a word ; 
 but, Ya, latif! — Oh, gentle ! — or other ejacu- 
 lation, was heard from time to time, or a short 
 Arabic couplet, expressive of patience ; the 
 drooping eyelids and feeble enunciation of the 
 reciter, confirming the impression, that lan- 
 guage was given to man to^ disguise his real 
 feelings. 
 
 The track the camels followed was still the 
 desert ; wild isolated palms grew here and 
 there, out of a soil that seemed entirely sterile, 
 but denoted latent water. To the right might 
 be seen the first traces of the basin of the 
 Nile, on which the sun shone- with a dull, 
 misty, ill-defining radiance ; while the horizon, 
 hazy with the particles of sand or dust floating 
 in the air, showed the cultivable territory, 
 without communicating to the caravan that 
 satisfaction which was their due, in the normal 
 course of nature, on arriving at verdure and 
 vegetation, after traversing the desert.
 
 THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 3 
 
 The youthful Khaled, seated on a camel 
 with saddle-bags of hair-cloth, and a carpet 
 under him, wore a kefieh, or silk and cotton 
 small striped shawl, which hung down each 
 temple, while the thick folds of a turban pro- 
 tected his head from the sun, should it shine 
 in its lustre. An over-all of coarse brown cloth, 
 with a single silk and cotton robe below, with 
 pistols in his girdle, and crimson shoes on his 
 feet, completed his equipment. 
 
 For hours he had leisurely watched the feet 
 of the camel in front of him, as they alternately 
 contracted like a living sponge at the touch of 
 the diver, or set to the ground beautifully ex- 
 panded, till they became like the tores at the 
 foot of the shaft of a column. He occasionally 
 moistened his clay with a draught of unrefresh- 
 ing water from a gourd, and at length, ap- 
 proaching the alluvial soil, he attempted, with 
 his languid eye, to penetrate the hazy horizon, 
 and perceived, or thought he perceived, on his 
 right liand, the lakes or ponds of the inunda- 
 tion of the Nile, while ahead of him was an 
 irregular line of palm groves, in the midst of 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 which was a mound or hill, capped with the 
 town. 
 
 '' Bilbeis," said the camel-man behind him, 
 pointing to the town. 
 
 '«El-hamduHllah!— praise be to God ! "— 
 said the youth. But although, owing to the 
 haze, the distance at which Bilbeis was dis- 
 covered, was not great, and it rapidly increased 
 in size, its apparent approximation did not keep 
 pace with the impatience of Khaled. 
 
 At length the caravan entered between 
 palm trees, growing out of alluvial soil, partly 
 covered with water, when an instantaneous 
 relief was felt from the vegetation, which, by 
 its humidity, tempered the parched air; and, 
 ascending steep mounds, the caravan entered 
 the town ; and, turning to the left, the camels 
 were unloaded for the day, within the wide 
 courtyard of a khan or caravanserai. 
 
 " At length within the walls of an Egyptian 
 town," said Khaled to himself, as he slipped 
 off his camel on the ground ; and though his 
 head ached, he looked curiously about him, 
 and on his first glance around him, could
 
 THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. ^ 
 
 scarcely fail to remark the contrast between 
 the places of public entertainment in the Syria 
 he had left, and those in Egypt, in which he 
 now arrived for the first time. Instead of the 
 stone of Lattachia and Tripoli, with somewhat 
 of ornamental sculpture mingling with the 
 solid vaults, he found himself in a quadrangle 
 of sun-dried bricks, without an arcade, and 
 little cells, with mud walls and mud floors, for 
 the use of travellers. In Syria, he left variety 
 and dispersion, many religions, many climates, 
 many local capitals, and many rivers. In 
 Egypt, one river, but, that single river the 
 Nile ; one metropolis, but that one the finest 
 in the Moslem world — the guarded city of 
 Cairo. 
 
 When a room was secured, Khaled, who 
 had no servant, got a Bedouin to assist him 
 to remove his luggage into it ; and as it had 
 no window, the open door served instead ; 
 and having a severe headache, his carpet and 
 coverlet were spread out, and, laying his pistols 
 and dirk behind his pillow, was soon asleep. 
 The court of the khan was full of hubbub,
 
 O THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 from the unloading of the caravan, and the 
 Bedouins and passengers were too busy with 
 their own affairs to remark a man who saun- 
 tered apparently unconcernedly around the 
 enclosure ; but had he been closely watched 
 (to provide against which contingency he him- 
 self had an eye all around, to see that no one 
 occupied himself with him), it would have been 
 seen that he was attentively examining the 
 condition and appearance of the various arriv- 
 ing parties. He was a Httle man, apparently 
 fifty years of age, with a complexion of a deep 
 bronze. He wore a turban and a blue cotton 
 robe, his legs were bare, and old yellow shoes, 
 without stockings, covered his feet. He seemed, 
 by instinctive quickness, to know instantaneously 
 when his countenance was observed, when it 
 affected a blank indifference ; but when con- 
 scious that he was unperceived, his piercing 
 eye showed an alternate inquisitiveness or 
 puzzled pensiveness, that revealed ingenuity on 
 the alert to accomplish a secret purpose. 
 
 The various countenances and equipments 
 of the passengers were examined, and at length
 
 THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 7 
 
 Khaled seemed to fix his attention, and, cross- 
 ing to the other side of the khan, and sitting 
 down at the wall, lighted his pipe, and looking 
 at him under the legs of the camels, seemed 
 to have made up his mind, and waited until he 
 was asleep. He then put into the corner of 
 the room or cell a small sack, which he brought 
 from the side of the gate, and walked into the 
 street towards the bazaar, in the middle of which 
 was a coffee-house, somewhat preserved from 
 the parched suffocating heat, by having poles 
 stretched from house-top to house-top, which were 
 covered over, so as to darken the shops, while 
 the space in front of the coffee-house was from 
 time to time watered, so as to create a slight 
 coolness and humidity. Benches, covered with 
 mats, had been built on each side of the door 
 facing the street, but from the unpleasant state 
 of the weather, they were devoid of visitors ; 
 and in the deep dark shade of the interior, sat 
 a dervish, with his high conical felt hat, having 
 on the bench beside him a basket of provisions, 
 from which he ate some cheese, with a round 
 flat cake of bread.
 
 8 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 The man with the green turban entered, and 
 sat himself down on the other side of the pro- 
 vision basket, and began to imitate the Dervish, 
 who called for coffee, and making up for him- 
 self his own portable hookah, began to converse 
 in a low tone with the wearer of the green 
 turban, so as not to be heard by either the 
 Arnaout, sitting at the door, or by the coffee- 
 house-keeper, who, at the other dark corner, was 
 engaged in the manipulation of his goblets and 
 canisters, where the red glare of live charcoal 
 shone in the darkness on his swarthy visage. 
 
 " What news, comrade ?" said the Dervish. 
 
 " Nothing to boast of," answered the man 
 with the green turban, in as low a tone as that 
 in which he was addressed. " Nothing to boast 
 of! One by one I have examined, the appear- 
 ance of all the travellers by this caravan, and 
 doubt if we shall gain anything to compensate 
 for our trouble in coming hither. There is only 
 one young man, whose equipment does not ap- 
 pear very stylish, but, by a certain melancholy 
 gentility in his countenance, I guess that he is 
 of a good family, and that his capacious saddle-
 
 THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 9 
 
 bags, at all events, contain rich clothes, but of 
 any mercantile effects, I have great doubts. 
 1 am sure that we did wrong to come 
 here." 
 
 " And I think differently. Are we not known 
 up the river and down the river ? Can we go 
 to Beni Souef without being known in a mo- 
 ment, and the same with other places 'i We 
 have not been here for five years before — the 
 story of the Bagdad Merchant must be for- 
 gotten long ago. You were not in that busi- 
 ness, and nobody, after so many years, would 
 recognise me under my costume of a dervish. 
 Bilbeis is just as a virgin field for our open- 
 ing." 
 
 " Virgin as the desert behind it, not worth 
 the opening. A single failure here exposes us 
 to more risk than in Cairo, and not worth the 
 trouble." 
 
 " Too quick, friend. We know not yet the 
 contents of this man's purse, nor yet of his 
 saddle-bags : a man never crosses the desert 
 from Syria to Egypt without carrying a suffi- 
 ciency of money. Besides, we have got a strong 
 
 B 5
 
 10 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 hint from Yousef the Bassass (police-runner), 
 that a liberal snack in the business doing will 
 not save us for the future. And has not 
 Ibrahim Bey threatened the Waly with dis- 
 missal, if the police of Cairo be not better 
 attended to ? But what happens in Bilbeis or 
 elsewhere, does not concern him. So now to 
 business."" 
 
 " What does his age appear to be ? " 
 
 " Two-and-twenty, and a soft youth I should 
 say." 
 
 " Have you put my bag into his room, and 
 are all the other rooms filled ?*" 
 
 '' They seem to be so, otherwise we should 
 have had no excuse for your sharing his, but 
 I advise you to effect an entrance immediately, 
 for he is now sound asleep, and therefore suits 
 our purpose. How do you mean to operate ?"" 
 
 " How can I tell as yet. We will have no 
 violence on any account, always save and ex- 
 cept the danger of being taken. There is time 
 before the starting of the caravan for Cairo to 
 concert measures." 
 
 " Did you remember to bring the narcotics P^"*
 
 THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 11 
 
 " All right ! " said the man in the green 
 turban. 
 
 " Well then,'' said the other, " do not leave 
 here, or the bazaar, until you hear from me 
 again, and in the evening I will be enabled to 
 say how we are to proceed." 
 
 So the Dervish laying down a few parahs on 
 the counter of the coffee-house-keeper, left the 
 place.
 
 Ig THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE COFFEE-HOUSE. 
 
 It was well on in the afternoon when Khaled 
 awoke, his headache was gone, but he was 
 acutely thirsty. The water-gourd was applied 
 to his lips, but immediately dashed away, so 
 distastefully flat and tepid had it become. 
 
 " Gently there, friend," said a deep bass 
 voice from a person unseen by Khaled as he 
 lay with his face turned to the wall, "we are 
 neither so overstocked with spare room or spare 
 water as you suppose." 
 
 On this Khaled turned his head briskly, and 
 perceived that he had got a companion, in the 
 costume of a dervish, with a deep copper coun- 
 tenance, who sat cross-legged on a carpet on 
 the other side of the cell, and with his hand-
 
 THE COFFEE-HOUSE. 13 
 
 kerchief was wiping the spilt water from his 
 robe, and was smoking a water-pipe as comfort- 
 ably as circumstances would allow, for he had 
 rigged out a couple of coarse towels across the 
 door way, which being kept humid, helped to 
 keep out the stifling hot wind. 
 
 " Pardon my rudeness,'"' said Khaled, rising, 
 " but I am feverish — this is a land of fire, and 
 I saw not what I did." 
 
 " You are thirsty ?''"' said the Dervish, in- 
 quiringly. 
 
 " Like a valley before the autumnal rains," 
 said Khaled. 
 
 On this, the Dervish took from a corner a 
 cool water-bottle of porous potter's earth, which, 
 by gradually exuding, retains a certain coolness, 
 and handing it to Khaled, he took a long pull 
 at it, and thanking the stranger, sat up. 
 
 " Has the Asr (hour of afternoon prayer) 
 passed," said Khaled. 
 
 " We are now within an hour of sunset," 
 said, the Dervish; " but pray excuse my taking 
 half of your room. The khan is crowded, and 
 there was no other place."
 
 14 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 " You are my father," said Khaled. 
 
 " Your road, companion ?" said the Dervish ; 
 " but you seem a stranger ; are you for Cairo?" 
 
 " By the permission of the High God." 
 
 " You have come from the other side of the 
 desert — from Acre, I think." 
 
 " No — from Aleppo," said the youth, with 
 some hesitation, which was remarked by the 
 Dervish, as a scarcely perceptible wink of the 
 left eye showed. 
 
 " Halebi chelebi, — Aleppine superfine." 
 
 " And you," said Khaled, " whither are you 
 bound .?" 
 
 "To the guarded city of Cairo," said the 
 Dervish. 
 
 " Then we will make the journey together," 
 said the youth. 
 
 " Welcome to the land of Egypt," said the 
 Dervish. " There is nothing like a little travel 
 for a youth of your age. You recollect the 
 proverb, ' Stagnant water stinks ; and the aloe, 
 a common tree in its own country, is a fragrant 
 perfume in distant lands.' " 
 
 " But there are other proverbs," said Khaled ;
 
 THE COFFEE-HOUSE. 15 
 
 " ' A malediction on travel if only for a mile, 
 for the bread of a man is in his own land.' " 
 
 " These might be all webs spun by the same 
 weaver,*" said the Dervish, " only the first may 
 be a remembrance of the groves of Damascus, 
 or a blessing on Egypt and her Nile. And the 
 last was, perhaps, a curse on the desert you 
 have crossed in such a land wind as this." 
 
 " It is possible,'" said the youth, reflecting as 
 he raised the humid curtain in front of the door, 
 and beckoning the khan-keeper, requested him 
 to get some kebabs from the bazaar ; for, in 
 spite of languor, the long fast had given him an 
 appetite. 
 
 "Not so fast," said the Dervish, taking a 
 basket from the corner. " I have here two 
 roast chickens, stuffed with rice, white bread, 
 and a cake of honey pastry, that would tempt 
 the palate of a sated vizier. So make yourself 
 welcome in the name of the most merciful God, 
 and keep me company." 
 
 When the repast was concluded it was sun- 
 set ; and both of them, after ablution, said 
 prayers. But something told Khaled that
 
 16 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 this was a mere form with the Dervish, and 
 he concluded that, Hke many others of his 
 order, he had little of religion besides the cos- 
 tume ; while the Dervish, from various cir- 
 cumstances of the slightest description, felt 
 certain that Khaled was not a true Moslem. 
 Prayers ended, the Dervish proposed an ad- 
 journment to the bazaar, to drink a cup of 
 coffee, and hear the news, to which Khaled 
 agreed ; and the humid hangings being re- 
 moved, showed the camels all in one corner, 
 with their legs bound, to prevent their rising, 
 and the Bedouins in the middle of the ground, 
 sitting, at some little distance, apparently re- 
 gardless of the heat of a fire, on which was 
 boiling a huge pot of meal-porridge, which one 
 of them was stirring, and preparing for supper. 
 
 " But we must lock the door,"" said the 
 Dervish, " for in Egypt we are overrun with 
 thieves, and we could not put so good a face 
 on such an adventure as Hodja Nusreddin 
 Effendi." 
 
 " How so ? '* said Khaled. 
 
 " One day he saw thieves coming out of
 
 THE COFFEE-HOUSE. 17 
 
 his house with a part of his property, and 
 sHly following them, noted the house to which 
 they were carried, so taking the rest of his 
 things to the thief's house, he entered and 
 threw them down." 
 
 " ' What means this ?' said the thieves. 
 
 " ' Have I not removed my quarters hither ? ' 
 said Hodja. ' You carried the first things, 
 and I carried the last."* 
 
 " So the thieves, ashamed of themselves, gave 
 him all his property. But those thieves were 
 not Egyptian ; '' and, added the Dervish, " if 
 you would find well — be sure you lock well." 
 
 " I have heard much of the Cairo thieves," 
 said Khaled, "and am desirous to find a khan 
 to alight at, in the first instance, which is 
 quite sure ; can you recommend me such a 
 one r 
 
 " Undoubtedly, at the Kitchen of Black 
 Honey, in the Mergoosh. Here you will be 
 quite safe, for Cairo is a perfect ant-hill of 
 impostors." 
 
 They now arrived at the coffee-house, at which 
 was seated a more numerous company than in
 
 18 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 the morning, while a public reciter, advanced in 
 years, who had served the bathers all day in 
 the bath, was, with a theatrical intonation, re- 
 counting the adventures of Rokn Eddin Daher 
 Bibars, that bold Turk, who, after the fall of 
 the Kurdish dynasty of Saladin, was the terror 
 of both Franks, Crusaders, and those Tartar 
 hordes of Central Asia, that preceded the great 
 invasion of Timour ; and who many a time and 
 oft made the very town of Bilbeis the first 
 stage of his journey to Syria. 
 
 The reciter was in the most interesting part 
 of his tale, when a man entered the group, and 
 sitting down, said " The Nile is rising ; the 
 marks at the Nilometer show a rise of two 
 draas in four hours, and we previously had a 
 full Nile." 
 
 No sooner was this said, than the buzz of 
 conversation became general, and the reciter, 
 seeing himself neglected, immediately stopped. 
 
 " What damage done ? "" said several voices. 
 
 " No one knows. A mountain of corn must 
 have been carried away from somewhere up the 
 river ; and a boatman told Abou Hilwa, that
 
 THE COFFEE-HOUSE. 19 
 
 the grain was floating down past Djezireli, like 
 pomegranate soup, and the large mountain of 
 grain at Boiilak, belonging to Sheikh Cassim, 
 is sure to be swept away, if the water rises a 
 few inches more."" 
 
 " There is no power but in the high and 
 great God,"" said several voices. 
 
 *' Thank God," said the Naib, or Cadi's 
 clerk, an old man, whose left hand was withered 
 and shrunk up ; " a high inundation is not so 
 bad as a low one. I should not relish to eat 
 kebabs made of another man's flesh." 
 
 " And when was that ? " said a young man. 
 
 '' That was in the year 457 of the Flight ; 
 when the rains failed in Abyssinia, and the 
 loaves of bread were sold by auction, and an 
 egg cost a dinar, and when all the dogs and 
 cats were eaten. Cutlets of human flesh were 
 publicly sold, and passengers in the narrow 
 streets were drawn up by hooks into the 
 windows of houses, and slaughtered and 
 eaten." 
 
 " For heaven's sake, frighten us no more," 
 said another man, " with your catalogue of hor-
 
 20 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 rors. God has been more merciful with our 
 generation. But there is no escape from what 
 is written and predestined. And such a moment 
 as that is the only one in which one might 
 envy the possession of gold and jewels, which 
 are a useless ornament to the person." 
 
 " And what can gold and jewels do ? " said 
 the old man, " when people have not bread to 
 eat. In that year, a woman went out with 
 some jewels, crying aloud in the streets, ' Who- 
 ever gives me bread, will get these jewels ;' and 
 no one offering, she looked at them, and said, 
 ' You wretched baubles, of what use are you to 
 me, if you cannot assist me in the hour of dire 
 necessity ?' on which she cast them away, and 
 returned sorrowing to her home.'' 
 
 This conversation, from the novelty of the 
 circumstances, arrested the attention of Khaled, 
 and he did not observe that the Dervish slipped 
 the key of the room into the hand of the man 
 with the green turban, who sat beside him, 
 who took it to the khan, and lighting a little 
 wax taper, at a miscellaneous grocer's shop, 
 he put it into a small paper lantern.
 
 THE COFFEE-HOUSE. 21 
 
 The Bedouins had now disappeared, having 
 gone to encamp outside the wall of the town, 
 but another set of travellers were arriving, so, 
 opening the door of the room of Khaled and the 
 Dervish, he shut it again, and bolted it inside, 
 and laying the lantern on the ground, behind 
 the water-bottle, so as not to attract attention 
 from without, through the chinks of the door, 
 carefully noted the position of the saddle-bags 
 of Khaled, — then lifted them into a corner, 
 — as they were not padlocked in the Euro- 
 pean way, he began to unlace the thongs, 
 with the rapidity and expertness of one ac- 
 quainted with his profession. He was some- 
 what disappointed at finding that they con- 
 tained nothing but clothes, and necessaries 
 of travel ; so, laying them up again, with the 
 same expertness, and replacing the thongs, he 
 blew out the taper, which he contracted and 
 put in his breast, and, opening the door, locked 
 it again, and rejoined the Dervish at the coffee- 
 house where the indefatigable reciter had again 
 begun to recall the audience from the inundation 
 of the Nile, to the adventures of Bibars. But
 
 %% THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 he had a sort of rival in the old man, who con- 
 tinued to dilate on the horrors of the great 
 famine of the Fatimite period. 
 
 " But do you not think," said Khaled, " that 
 there have been some exaggerations in these 
 statements ? " 
 
 " None at all," said the old man, who was 
 the naib or clerk of the Cadi of Bilbeis, and felt, 
 that, as a man of letters and erudition, his read- 
 ing was not to be impugned. " Nothing could 
 be more circumstantial," said he, " than the 
 chronicles of the period, and a woman attested 
 by oath her escape from being butchered." 
 
 During these wonderful stories, but not more 
 wonderful than true, the Dervish was convers- 
 ing, in a low tone, with the man with the green 
 turban, who had laid the key down beside him, 
 while a man in rags, with a goat- skin of water 
 slung on his neck, was squirting the liquid 
 about, so as to produce a little coolness, for the 
 land wind was still oppressive. 
 
 " Gome, come, cousin," said the Dervish to 
 Khaled, " we start betimes to avoid the heat 
 of to-morrow, and must get back to our khan,
 
 THE COFFEE-HOUSE. 23 
 
 or else we shall be half roasted long before we 
 reach Cairo." 
 
 " You are the prince of the knowing," said 
 Khaled. " Let us go." 
 
 So they went back to the khan and arranged 
 their mattresses and coverlets as well as pos- 
 sible, the Dervish taking particular notice of 
 Khaled as he took off his upper clothes. He 
 observed that a black leathern purse was taken 
 out of a pocket of his sadereey, or breast robe, 
 and put under one of his saddle-bags, which 
 served as a pillow. So waiting until he heard 
 him snore, the Dervish felt for the purse, but 
 after an hour's attempt, perceived that there 
 were no means of removing it. So said he to 
 himself, " Now for an hour or two"'s sleep, and 
 then, hey ! for to-morrow's ingenuity." 
 
 Thus thinking to himself, the Dervish lay 
 down to take a little sleep. 
 
 The caravan for Cairo started an hour after 
 midnight : the hot wind still painfully oppres- 
 sive, but just before daylight a sudden coolness 
 took place, and a slight breeze was felt from 
 the opposite direction, which produced an in-
 
 24f THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 stantaneous refreshing effect on the nervous 
 system of the young Syrian. 
 
 " Shimaly ! a north wind," said the Dervish, 
 who was an Egyptian. 
 
 " Gharby ! a west wind," said Khaled, who 
 was a Syrian. 
 
 The sea from which the cool wind comes, 
 lying northwards from Egypt, but westwards 
 from Syria. This welcome incident, with the 
 dawn soon afterwards peeping up from behind 
 the low hills to the left, had an instantaneous 
 effect on the spirits and good humour of the 
 whole party. The Bedouin camel-master began 
 to sing in his strange uncouth way. The Der- 
 vish, who had a strong husky voice, and was not 
 musical, grew loquacious ; but eager expecta- 
 tion of entering the Egyptian metropolis ab- 
 sorbed Khaled, and the golden orb of day, no 
 longer dim and undefined, emerging from the 
 crest of hills, shot across the gardens down to 
 the right, and traversing the Nile, bathed the 
 peaks of the pyramids with the ruddy tints of 
 dawn. 
 
 When within a little more than an hour of
 
 THE COFFEE-HOUSE. 25 
 
 Cairo, the landscape partaking of that mixed 
 character which is peculiar to that debatable 
 land, in which the influences of the Nile and its 
 vegetation dispute possession with the desert : 
 they approached the khan of the Emir Yezbek, 
 since dilapidated, which vvas often the rendez- 
 vous of travellers arriving from both Suez and 
 Bilbeis ; westwards, as they drew near, it was 
 seen to adjoin a field fenced with Indian fig, 
 and containing a few palms, whose stunted 
 growth denoted the poverty of the soil, and 
 the insufficiency of the water, except during 
 the period of the inundation. On the other 
 side of the khan, was the arid plain, which 
 appeared to be the scene of the exercise of a 
 large party of horsemen, and, from time to time, 
 cavaliers seemed as if engaged in a sham fight, 
 their steeds prancing and galloping, their arms 
 gleaming in the sunshine, and an occasional 
 pistol or carbine shot heard amid the confused 
 trampling of hoofs and neighing of the wild 
 stallions, while at a few yards from the khan 
 was a large and showy tent, surmounted by a 
 gilt apex, in which sat two men richly dressed, 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 ^ THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 reclining on cushions, and smoking long pipes, 
 and attended by a large retinue of servants, who 
 waited all around the tent. 
 
 The caravan, to steer as clear of the troops 
 as possible, kept close to the fence of Indian fig, 
 and appeared disposed to pass on to Cairo, but 
 the passengers wished to halt for a cup of coffee, 
 and the camels appeared to be very much of 
 the same opinion, for a khan is a khan to a 
 camel and a mule, as well as to the biped 
 traveller ; and although the language of animals 
 is still a mystery, there is no mistaking the yes 
 or no of a camel. The caravan therefore made 
 a halt, and to avoid the confusion, the Dervish 
 took Khaled into one of the cells, no longer 
 used, and in which a part of the wall was 
 already dilapidated ; the greater " part of the 
 khan in question having been since used up as 
 materials for a large white villa now seen nearer 
 the Nile. 
 
 " We will remain here half an hour," said 
 the Dervish, " which will give you time to see 
 how our Egyptian Mamelukes go through their 
 exercise ; but first let us drink a cup of coffee."
 
 THE COFFEE-HOUSE. 27 
 
 " No/' said Khaled, " I will go and tell the 
 man to bring it." 
 
 "It is useless," said the Dervish ; " what 
 with the caravan that we met at the door, 
 besides our own, and all these Mameluke ser- 
 vants, the khan is in such a bustle, that we 
 must make it ourselves. Go in the mean time 
 and take a glance at the exercises." 
 
 Khaled then looked through the opening 
 in the wall ; he examined with interest and 
 curiosity the scene before him. The horsemen 
 were mostly young men in the vigour of youth, 
 who wore a silk and cotton robe, braced by a 
 girdle ; two upper robes of cloth, and trousers 
 of enormous volume, and on their heads, instead 
 of the crimson fez of modern times, was a high 
 yellow padded kaouk, around which were twisted 
 the ample folds of a white muslin turban. 
 Their horses were rather remarkable for their 
 compact massive barrel, strong short curled 
 neck, and fine head, than for that slender grace 
 and tenuity of limb, which is characteristic of 
 the thorough-bred English race-horse ; and the 
 massive saddle, with its high pommel and 
 
 *c 2
 
 J28 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 cantel, along with the heavy habiliments and 
 arms of the Mamelukes, almost seemed too 
 great a burden to be borne conveniently, and 
 fitted rather for sudden and violent exertion 
 than for long marches. Armed with straight 
 spears of palm branches of about four feet long, 
 with the leaves stripped off, they formed a large 
 circle, and in parties of two exercised them- 
 selves, jousting with these w^eapons, advancing 
 and throwing them with the utmost precision 
 of which they were capable, and instantly 
 wheeling and retreating ; and occasionally, when 
 the horse was in full career, pulling him up, so 
 as to stop in a moment, through the power of a 
 bit, which embraced the lower jaw by a curb, 
 composed of a solid ring, which gave a slender 
 youth the power of stopping the most vigorous 
 barb in a moment, for the purpose of taking 
 aim, which was sometimes disturbed by the 
 momentum of the animal, making him slide on 
 his legs like a wooden horse, even after he had 
 obeyed the signal to stop. 
 
 While these exercises were proceeded with 
 the Dervish re-entered the dilapidated room.
 
 THE COFFEE-HOUSE. 29 
 
 or cell, with two coffee-cups, and a little pan of 
 the foaming liquid ; and at the door poured out 
 a cup, taking care that Khaled did not perceive 
 some dark coloured infusion already in the cup. 
 He then filled out into the other cup unmingled 
 coffee, which he himself drank, and returning 
 after a short absence, while Khaled continued 
 to look at the exercises, they sat down on the 
 carpet of the Dervish, which he had brought, 
 and then they began to smoke and to talk, as 
 the horsemen were seen through the aperture 
 to career backwards and forwards. 
 
 " I feel somewhat heavy,"" said Khaled, '* and 
 would fain sleep half an hour if the caravan 
 waited as long.""* 
 
 "Do not sleep,"" said the Dervish, "but let 
 us have another cup of coffee, and that will 
 revive us. It is that monotonous motion of the 
 camel, and our early start so soon after mid- 
 night, which makes one drowsy, and my own 
 eye-lids are so heavy, that there is nothing for 
 it but another cup of coffee.'' 
 
 " It is my turn to go,"' said Khaled, " why 
 should you have all the trouble."
 
 30 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 '' Because you are a stranger, and we are 
 now within an hour of Cairo, where I am a 
 son of the town ;°" and off he darted again, and 
 in a few minutes returned with another cup of 
 coffee ; and the same process was gone through 
 of giving Khaled a cup in which a dark co- 
 loured ingredient already existed, while the 
 Dervish poured out for himself a cup of the 
 unmixed beverage. 
 
 When the Dervish went to the kitchen of 
 the khan, the Bedouin was there, who told 
 him that they should start immediately ; to 
 which the Dervish replied, that the young man 
 and himself wished to remain, and see the 
 exercises, and, besides, he was engaged to dine 
 wdth him at mid-day at the convent of the 
 Dervishes at the Goolshany, and that the young 
 man intended to put up at the Kitchen of Black 
 Honey in the Mergoosh ; and that after having 
 deposited the young man's baggage there, if 
 the camel-man chose to be at the convent of 
 the Rose Garden that he would find a good 
 dinner, to which he, the camel-man, would be 
 heartily welcome. The Bedouin was quite
 
 THE COFFEE-HOUSE. 31 
 
 content with this arrangement, and made ready 
 to start, while the Dervish went into the room 
 in which Khaled was, and told him that the 
 Bedouin said he need not hurry, and that if he 
 wished to take a half hour's sleep he might 
 do so. 
 
 Khaled was already in a recumbent posture. 
 Morpheus had already made some advances with 
 his fascinations, and nothing loath to avail him- 
 self of the opportunity afforded by the delay, the 
 young man was in a few minutes in a state of 
 profound unconscious slumber. The Bedouin 
 now came out to hear from Khaled himself, the 
 confirmation of what he had first heard from 
 the Dervish, but this prudent personage was on 
 the out-look for him at the door of the cell ; 
 and the Dervish, with an air of indifference, 
 told the camel-driver that he was weary from 
 the exhaustion of the desert, in the hot wind, 
 and had begged not to be disturbed, and that 
 he and the young man would enter Cairo by 
 ride and tie, on the mule of the Dervish. 
 The Bedouin bethought himself a moment, and 
 as he had heard the young man himself say,
 
 3S5 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 that he intended to put up at the Kitchen of 
 Black Honey, where his baggage being con- 
 signed to the khan-keeper, would be perfectly 
 safe, and, as the dinner with the dervishes pro- 
 mised to be a convenient concomitant of the 
 arrangements, the Bedouin, suspecting nothing, 
 forthwith started with his caravan for Cairo. 
 
 During this time the man with the green 
 turban had been prowling about the khan, and, 
 on receiving a signal from the Dervish, entered 
 the dilapidated apartment. 
 
 " What news ?" said he. 
 
 " That we have no time to lose," said the 
 Dervish, in a whisper, pointing to Khaled, who 
 lay in the corner, breathing heavily in his 
 sleep. " Keep a sharp eye to the door that no 
 one approaches without notice, and I will cast 
 an eye to the opening in the wall while the 
 business is done. After that make your way as 
 fast as you can to the Kitchen of Black Honey 
 in the Mergoosh, and a quarter of an hour after 
 you have seen the Bedouin depart for the con- 
 vent of the Rose Garden, present yourself as 
 Khaled Ebn Zobar, and get the luggage. If any
 
 THE COFFEE HOUSE. S3 
 
 doubt should exist about your beiug the person, 
 get into a passion, pul] the seal-ring off your 
 finger, and make an impression of the name. 
 Do not bring the luggage through the bazaars, 
 for you would risk meeting the Bedouin or some 
 of the Bassasseen (police runners), but take 
 them round by the streets at the back of the 
 house of Abou Ali, where I will come ; and 
 whence, after night -fall, we will take the things, 
 to Hosh Bardak." 
 
 So saying the Dervish looked out attentively 
 through the wall, and perceived that the Mame- 
 lukes were all too busy with their exercises to 
 feel any curiosity to look into the khan. Nasif 
 Bey was standing up in front of the tent, and 
 showing his friend the excellence of a sword 
 that he held, which, by an experiment on a 
 mock-turban of cotton steeped in water, he 
 cut through at a single stroke. So seeing the 
 coast clear, the Dervish transferred to his own 
 pocket the purse in the breast-pocket of' Khaled, 
 and taking with him his pistols, left the poor 
 youth, with his clothes, and some small silver 
 coins in his other pocket ; and both immediately 
 
 c 5
 
 34 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 started for Cairo, taking different roads. The 
 man in the green turban mounted on the stout 
 mule of the Dervish, which took its way 
 across the sands to the Gate of Victory ; while 
 the Dervish, after a short distance, turned off 
 to the right, through the gardens, intending to 
 enter Cairo by the Gate of the Nile, muttering 
 a curse, as he parted, on that detestable custom- 
 house-keeper, at the Gate of Victory, whose 
 villany consisted in his knowing the pre- 
 tended Dervish, under every disguise, to be 
 the greatest thief and swindler within ihe four 
 walls of Cairo.
 
 THE CADI. 35 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE CADI. 
 
 The noise and confusion of the caravan 
 breaking up roused Khaled, who started up 
 with a half-headache, and, looking through the 
 hole in the wall, was surprised to see what 
 he supposed to be his own caravan, on the 
 move without him. He went hastily out, and, 
 laying down a piece of money on the khan- 
 keeper's table, said that he had out-slept 
 himself, and asked hurriedly why he had not 
 been awaked, and how the Dervish and camel- 
 man had gone on before him. 
 
 " What do 1 know !" said the khan-keeper, 
 gruffly, shrugging his shoulders. " I have 
 something else to do than to look after tra- 
 vellers, who are old enough to look after
 
 86 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 themselves. I heard the Dervish say some"- 
 thing to the Bedouin about a good dinner — and 
 the convent of the Rose Garden ; and, if you are 
 to be of the party, you ought to have been 
 on your legs before this time. The khan is 
 old, large, and tumbling to ruins, and I have 
 something else to do than to be running through 
 the vaults after drowsy travellers." 
 
 Khaled no sooner heard this than starting oiF 
 with the old carpet of the Dervish about his 
 shoulders, he came breathless up to the caravan, 
 but saw camels, and human faces, with which 
 he was unfamiliar, and, asking how far he was 
 from Cairo, was told that if he walked smartly, 
 he might arrive at the Gate of Victory in 
 less than an hour. The forenoon sun was 
 now high in the heavens, instead of the mist 
 of the day before. All was perspicuity. Lofty 
 and beautiful edifices were seen at some 
 distance, at the foot of the hills, — but this 
 was the city of the dead and not of the 
 living. Those fretted cupolas and tottering 
 minarets covered the remains of those Mame- 
 luke Sultans of Egypt, whose systems of go-
 
 THE CADI. 87 
 
 vernment was founded by the genius and valour 
 of Saladin, and which was strong enough to 
 resist all the efforts of crusading Europe, to 
 possess the Holy Land ; at length, under a 
 monarch who loved science and literature better 
 than war, it succumbed to the superior energy 
 of the Ottoman Sultan, and the more vigorous 
 organisation of the Ottoman Empire, under 
 Selim, the great father of the great Soliman. 
 
 A series of low mounds or hillocks marked 
 the city itself, and almost before being aware 
 of it, Khaled arrived at the Gate of Vic- 
 tory, — with its masses of masonry rivalling a 
 Roman construction, and yet in its details at 
 once elaborate and graceful, — and hastily pass- 
 ing through it, he at length found himself in 
 the guarded city of Cairo. 
 
 The first aspect of the streets of Cairo is so 
 different from what we have in Europe, that 
 the reader will pardon me if I describe what is 
 familiar to every native of the city, and would 
 be superfluous, if I were writing solely for the 
 Egyptian public. The lower part of the houses 
 was built of stone, and the upper of sun-dried
 
 38 THE MAMELUKES* 
 
 bricks ; while little carved wooden lattices sup- 
 plied the place of windows. The doors had 
 large wooden locks, inscribed " Hoo el Halak- 
 wu-el Baky" — He (God) is the Creator and the 
 Remaining. Although this was once the Court 
 end of the town, it has now little of the bustle 
 and wealth that it had at the time of the Fati- 
 mite Caliphs ; but the large poor population, and 
 the numerous provision-shops, and khans, for 
 the sale of rural produce, give an animation 
 of a humble, but not uninteresting character to 
 this part of the town. The decadent Place 
 Rojale, of the days of Henri Quatre, and the 
 halles near the Rue de la Verrerie, and the Rue 
 des Lombards, flash upon the European travel- 
 ler, who rambles through this part of the town, 
 as a sort of distant resemblance. The palaces 
 of the Fatimites have disappeared as completely 
 as the Palais des Tournelles, but many a house 
 by the relics of its ornaments — many a Cairo 
 Hotel de Senlis, still exists to tell an obscure 
 mysterious tale of better days. A strong odour 
 of garlic is wafted from an arch-way, and, 
 without being informed through the ears, thp
 
 THE CADI. 39 
 
 olfactory nerves at ouce anuounce, that this is 
 the famed Wekalet-el Tom, or garlic market, 
 and a fragrant odour from another large khan 
 close by, is tliat of the lemon and orange store. 
 
 As Khaled advanced farther down the line 
 of bazaars, a motley throng kept his attention 
 on the stretch, for he had now got into what 
 might be called the High-street of the metro- 
 polis. Here is the greatest thoroughfare — 
 here are the best furnished shops — here are 
 many of the noblest architectural monuments — 
 here is seen the Oriental and Arab type of 
 Cairo — here is the greatest artery of metro- 
 politan life ; it is the quarter exclusively neither 
 of the poor, nor of the rich, nor of the towns- 
 men — nor of the stranger, but the quintessence 
 of all. 
 
 " Dahrak^ mind your back ! " here came a 
 loaded donkey behind Khaled, and pinned him 
 as effectually to the wall in the crowded pas- 
 sage as the " gare " of the French coachman, 
 in the days of Mercier's inimitable picture of 
 Paris. The pipe-cleaner, with his implements, 
 went about soliciting employment. The sherbet-
 
 40 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 man, with tinkling cup, appealed to the thirsty 
 passenger — the Moslem townsman, decently 
 dressed in white or yellow turban, long cloth 
 robe, slow, stately, and sleepy, caring little for 
 wealth or power, provided he was kept well 
 dressed, with little to do, and as little in the 
 sun as possible. There, too, might be seen the 
 Coptic clerk, with black turban and inkstand in 
 his girdle, and fakeer, or pauper, with a single 
 blue shirt, and cotton cap, without a turban ; 
 and then, what a hubbub ahead, while the 
 crowded retinue of a Mameluke Bey cleared 
 the way for the great man, mounted on a foam- 
 ing barb, in all the splendour of old Turkish 
 dress and caparison. 
 
 They were now in the crowded Bazar-el- 
 Moyed ; on their right rose the tall walls of the 
 mosque of that name, and in front was the 
 Bab Zueileh — the Temple-Bar of Cairo''s 
 Strand and Fleet-street. An enormous gate- 
 way, flanked by two sturdy towers, such as 
 the luxuriant imagination of a scene-painter 
 would give to the castle of a giant in an 
 eastern pantomime, while above the iron-ribbed
 
 THE CADI. 41 
 
 and iron-bolted gate, twin minarets, fine by 
 degrees and beautifully less, shoot up into the 
 blue sky. 
 
 Khaled had asked his way to the well-known 
 point, and again inquiring for the convent of 
 the Rose Garden, a portal was pointed out to 
 him a few yards off, with high steps, leading 
 into a court-yard, and standing at the door, a 
 dervish, twirling his amber beads, and laugh- 
 ing very loudly, with a muscular ragged Circas- 
 sian pilgrim from Mecca, whose upper tunic was 
 frogged with little flutes for cartridges, like the 
 galoons of a drummer's jacket. He asked him 
 if Youssouf was here. 
 
 " AVhat Youssouff?'' said the Dervish. 
 
 " Youssouff, the Dervish of the Goolshany, 
 or Rose Garden," said Khaled. 
 
 " Here is some mistake," said they. " We 
 have had no Youssouff in this convent of the 
 Goolshany these four years come next festi- 
 val of the Neseem, when our Youssouff 
 died!" 
 
 " Strange and singular," said the youth. '' I 
 made a journey hither with one Youssouff, a
 
 42 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 Dervish, dressed as you are dressed, who in- 
 vited me to the mid-day meal."" 
 
 " Adjaib ! — Straoge," said the Dervish. 
 " Could it be an Afreet — the semblance of the 
 dead YoussoufF ! " 
 
 " Perhaps,"" said the Circassian, " a dervish 
 at another convent."" 
 
 "No!" said Khaled. "The Goolshany 
 opposite the mosque of Moyed." 
 
 " This is the Goolshany," said the Dervish, 
 " and there is the Moyed " (pointing to the 
 mosque of that name) through the door way, 
 in which direction Khaled now looked and saw 
 the camels with which he had passed the desert, 
 and the camel-man, who came forward, and 
 saluting Khaled with glee, took him aside, and 
 said that before they dined with the dervishes, he 
 should be obliged by letting him have the rest 
 of his hire, of which he had only an instalment 
 in starting at Gaza. 
 
 Khaled mechanically put his hands into 
 his pocket to take out his purse and pay the 
 hire of the camel-man, but finding it gone, 
 stood, as it were, fixed to the spot. The
 
 THE CADI. 43 
 
 whole truth flashed upon him, and, at leugth, 
 he became convinced that the pretended Der- 
 vish was a thief and an impostor. Ashamed to 
 tell the Dervish at the convent that he had been 
 bubbled by some one in their guise, he mecha- 
 nically wished him good day, and related to the 
 camel-man the circumstances of his sleep and 
 the disappearance of the Dervish and his purse, 
 as w^ell as the ignorance of the people of the 
 Goolshany of his whereabouts, and proposed 
 that they should go at once to the Kitchen of 
 Black Honey, where his baggage was deposited, 
 when he would pay the camel-driver. At the 
 first moment the camel-driver frankly expressed 
 his surprise and regret at the circumstance, 
 but as they went along he grew thoughtful; 
 and it was evident that his suspicions were ex- 
 cited, and that he kept his eye on Khaled, and 
 seemed unable to make out the mystery. 
 
 After a quarter of an hour's walk they came 
 to the Mudbach Assal-el-Essouad, or Kitchen 
 of Black Honey, and on entering it, Khaled 
 wondered at its meanness and shabbiness. For- 
 merly famous for a particular honey pastry,
 
 44 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 which was renowned through Cairo a century 
 before, it was now become a khan for the people 
 of the Fajoum. Khaled looked surprised, and 
 saw in one corner an old peasant of that part of 
 Egypt, with deep brown tanned skin and white 
 bushy eyebrows and beard, splitting wood : 
 beside him was a woman milking a goat, and at 
 the other, two donkeys tethered together, while 
 all the rafters were black with the smoke of 
 fire kindled for cooking. 
 
 '* Where is my baggage ? " said Khaled to 
 the porter. 
 
 '• Your baggage!" said the porter. " How 
 should I know ?""* 
 
 Khaled turned round, and said to the Be- 
 douin, " To what room was my baggage con- 
 signed .?" 
 
 " To that one in the wooden gallery," said 
 the Bedouin, pointing to the first floor. 
 
 " I understand you not," said the porter ; 
 " that was the baggage of Khaled ebn Sheikh 
 Zobar, who came here and took away his 
 baggage. I doubted his word, asked for his 
 seal-ring, and he showed it me, as well as to the
 
 THE CADI. 45 
 
 Coptic Miller, who can read, and said it was 
 his ring.'**' 
 
 Khaled felt for his ring, and missing it, took 
 a turn in the court-yard, in the utmost agita- 
 tion, while the porter hinted to the camel-man 
 that he suspected Khaled to be one of the 
 band of thieves and impostors, whose inge- 
 nuities and depredations had baffled all the 
 skill of the Waly and police-officers for several 
 months. The mind of the camel-man once set 
 in this direction, he began to call to mind the 
 evasive answers that he had given relative to 
 his business in Egypt ; his silence and reserve 
 on the route — the strange and apparently in- 
 timate acquaintance he had suddenly struck 
 with the Dervish, and adding a variety of other 
 circumstances, insignificant and unimportant 
 in themselves, including the small carpet of 
 the pretended Dervish being at that moment 
 slung on the arm of Khaled, he arrived at the 
 conclusion that it was a joint affair between 
 the Dervish and him, that he had been in some 
 adventure of plunder in Syria ; and on Khaled 
 coming forward and declaring that he had no
 
 46 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 money, and had been robbed, the Bedouin 
 broke out with violence, believing that his 
 object was to cheat him out of his camel-hire. 
 
 " An admirable journey," said he, " have 
 we made from Gaza to the guarded city of 
 Cairo, and the Bedouin should serve for nought 
 — no hire for the Bedouin — no fodder for the 
 camel — no camel for the merchant — by Allah ! 
 The world would come to a strange pass. No ! 
 no ! I will have my right, if it be out of your 
 flesh. To the Cadi— to the Cadi." 
 
 " Nay," said Khaled, " you have received 
 my baggage, and are responsible, or else this 
 porter." 
 
 " There is no power but in God Almighty," 
 said the porter, arising with rage from the 
 ground on which he had been seated, and 
 putting down his black short chibouque^ without 
 a mouth-piece. " What ! you doubt the se- 
 curity of the Kitchen of Black Honey. Hear 
 him, you Moslems. Hadji," continued he, cry- 
 ing aloud to the man splitting the wood, '* did 
 not the man of the baggage show me the seal- 
 ring, in presence of yourself and your wife and
 
 THE CADI. 47 
 
 the Coptic Miller ? Did he not, on my again 
 doubting, open the bag, telling me beforehand 
 what was in it ? No doubt that you are the 
 prince of ' impostors.** " 
 
 " No doubt," said the Bedouin, " this is all 
 a trick to swindle me out of my hire ; so away 
 to the cadi, where you will, at least, have my 
 debt to pay." 
 
 Khaled seeing resistance useless — the Be- 
 douin, his assistant, the man from Fayoum, and 
 a neighbour attracted by the dispute, now all 
 went in a body to the cadi to have the case 
 adjudged. The hall of justice was a large and 
 noble one, but at the time we speak of, in a rather 
 dilapidated condition. A divan of green cloth 
 ran all round, at the farther end of which sat 
 the judge, a genteel-looking elderly man of very 
 small stature, who, from time to time, ex- 
 amined documents, with spectacles of elastic 
 steel, that adhered to the bridge qf the nose 
 without earlets. 
 
 As judge, he had a character for the strictest 
 impartiality. No sooner had he received a 
 bribe from the defendant than nice scruples of
 
 48 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 conscience caused him to suspend the consider- 
 ation of the case until the plaintiff by a cor- 
 responding act of liberality restored the scales 
 of justice to the equilibrium. If the wealth of 
 the parties admitted it, he sometimes repeated 
 this pleasant process, and if a mistake crept in at 
 the conclusion of a law-suit, it could scarcely 
 be said that virtue was not rewarded ; for what 
 is cash but the representative of some industry 
 and economy of one's youth, or, even in the case 
 of the hon vivant, of some virtue of his father 
 or grandfather. 
 
 When the party entered, another case was 
 going on. A man of the middle class, seated 
 low down the divan, had a roll of bonds in his 
 hands, and was apostrophizing the Cadi with 
 great earnestness, occasionally casting a look of 
 indignation to the opposite party. He insisted 
 the bonds were in perfect order, signed, sealed, 
 and delivered ; but the cadi, in order to make 
 assurance doubly sure, proposed to alter the 
 ground, and make it hinge, more or less, upon 
 the oral testimony of those who might have 
 been cognizant of the transaction ; in short, to
 
 THE CADI. 49 
 
 substitute for documentary evidence, that of 
 oral testimony on oath ; a decision which in- 
 variably proves highly satisfactory to those 
 who deal in that low-priced commodity. 
 
 The opposite party, who was much better 
 dressed, sat at a higher place on the divan, 
 demunely looking down to the ground ; and 
 on hearing this agreeable announcement, which 
 overturned the supposed validity of the bonds 
 he had given, attempted to repress an incipient 
 smile ; but the irresistible smile of inward 
 content, gradually mastering the power of 
 artificial indignation at the bronze- visaged 
 effrontery of the plaintiff, he felt conscious that 
 his power over the muscles of his face was not 
 adequate to the occasion ; so he lifted up his 
 two hands, and casting up the white of his 
 eye, broke into a grand climax. *' Ahmed 
 Effendi ! are you a Frank ? I swear to you 
 by our Lord, and you will not believe me."" 
 
 " What ! " said Ahmed Effendi, " you will 
 behe your own bond and signature ; and have 
 the audacity to hold this language to me in a 
 court of justice ! " 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 " Silence ! " said the Cadi, with an indignant 
 wave of his hand. '" In the sanctuary of 
 justice, both parties must be equally heard. 
 The observation that you address to the plain- 
 tiff is impertinent and irrelevant. I will allow 
 no bandying of abuse in the hall of judgment. 
 You have heard my decision ; so let me hear 
 no more of these impertinent and irrelevant 
 observations." 
 
 So saying, the Cadi frowned on Ahmed 
 Effendi, who took up his bonds, and silently 
 walked out of court — the defendant taking his 
 leave in high spirits ; on which the Cadi looked 
 curiously to the party standing at the lower end 
 of the room, and said, " What affair is this ? " 
 
 *' This man has had my camel," said the 
 Bedouin, " from Gaza, and he refuses. to pay." 
 
 " Nay," said Khaled, '•' speak not of my want 
 of will, but of my want of power." He then 
 related all the circumstances of his journey 
 from Bilbeis ; on which the porter declared 
 that he was one of the mezaureen or impostors 
 who assume all disguises, Hindi/ and Gindy — 
 Hindoo and Trooper.
 
 THE CADI. 61 
 
 " He is no swindler, I warrant," said a bold 
 female voice from behind. 
 
 The Cadi looked up, the litigants turned 
 round, and saw the figure of the wife of the 
 old wood-splitting man from the Fayoum, who, 
 fixing an angry look on both the porter and 
 her husband, cried out, " Is it not a shame to 
 oppress a poor youth, who perhaps has left 
 father and mother, and whom you would lodge 
 with thieves in a jail ! " 
 
 " Did ever mortal see such a woman ! " said 
 the old man from the Fayoum ; " she would 
 command and forbid in the house of the 
 Cadi!^' 
 
 '* What brought you to Cairo ? "" said the 
 judge to Khaled. 
 
 •' The wish to see it," said the youth, with 
 some hesitation. 
 
 " What money have you ? " 
 
 " These few piastres," said the youth, show- 
 ing some little white money. 
 
 " Well, then, I must send you to the waly, 
 
 or criminal governor." 
 
 *' For what ? " said the youth. " I asked 
 
 d2
 
 52 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 for my baggage, given and consigned to the 
 porter. Let me have my baggage, and the 
 Bedouin shall have his hire, if I sell every 
 stitch of clothes I possess." 
 
 " He knows where his baggage is," said the 
 porter, " else how could a seal-ring be pre- 
 sented with his name, on the day of his arrival 
 in Cairo ? " 
 
 " If you put him to the question he will 
 confess," said the Bedouin. 
 
 " Oppression of the innocent stranger! " again 
 cried out the old woman. 
 
 Just at this moment, the Cadi, looking at 
 his watch, saw that it approached the hour of 
 mid- day prayer. Now he was in the habit of 
 saying his prayers regularly, and immediately 
 thereafter dining heartily and sleeping soundly. 
 He at once determined not to let business 
 interfere with spiritual duties. " So," he said 
 hastily, " that it was a case of simple debt, 
 until further proof was adduced ; " and K haled 
 was forthwith consigned to the debtors' jail, 
 on the ground floor — the Bedouin persuaded 
 he was a swindler, and anxious for him to get
 
 THE CADI. 53 
 
 a drubbing ; the woman from the Fayoum 
 pitying his fate, and her husband telHng her 
 that she was more in need of discipHne than 
 the youth, and that he would settle accounts 
 when they returned to the khan.
 
 54 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE debtors' jail. 
 
 We must now beg the reader to accompany 
 us to the debtors' jail of Cairo, where " truth 
 is stranger than fiction," where, if not crime, 
 at least folly, is arrested in its headlong career 
 — where misfortune, miscalculation, and dis- 
 appointment mope the sad fretful hour away — 
 the nipping frost of expectation's tender leaves 
 — reminding one of the rhymes and experiences 
 of our own Burns, 
 
 " The best-laid, schemes of mice and men 
 Gang aft a-gley." 
 
 The Beit-el Cadi, or palace of justice, in 
 Cairo, forms three sides of a square, adjoining 
 the high street that runs from the citadel to
 
 THE debtors' jail. 55 
 
 the Mosque of Hakem, flanked as it is by the 
 high magnificent gates of Succour and Victory. 
 But the new offices to the eastward of the qua- 
 drangle did not exist at the time we speak of, 
 and in their place was a remnant of the palace 
 of Beysery, one of the generals of Bibars, who, 
 next to Saladin, was the most warlike and 
 successful of the Sultans of Egypt. The palace 
 we speak of, now in a great part demolished, 
 had been the place of entertainment of Frank 
 and Greek ambassadors during the early period 
 of the crusades. It came into the hands of 
 Beysery, in the year 659 of the Hegira, and the 
 Sultan Bibars one day said to him, " How can 
 you throw away so much money in rebuilding 
 a palace ? " To which Beysery answered, 
 " That the rumour may go forth to the enemy 
 that only an Emir of the Sultan indulged in 
 such regal magnificence." On which Bibars 
 gave him a bag of gold and the marble requisite 
 to complete it ; and the palace remained in 
 the hands of his family until the year 736 of 
 the Hegira ; but a great part of it had become 
 ruinous and was taken down before the beginning
 
 56 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 of the nineteenth century, and the western side 
 of the quadrangle was enclosed by a wall of 
 moderate height, beyond which the gorgeous 
 masses of the Mosques of Barkouk and the two 
 Kalaons towered over the intervening ruinous 
 houses and scattered palms. 
 
 A suitor might be seen pacing anxiously up 
 and down, with law documents in his hand ; 
 long slips of thick-glazed paper, almost black 
 with the close writing, and a few seals at the 
 bottom of them imprinted in bluish ink. The 
 successful litigant might easily be recognised, 
 by his quick agitated pace, and smiling satisfied 
 countenance, occasionally tinged with a cloud 
 of reflection, at the pecuniary sacrifice his 
 success had cost him. The unsuccessful suitor, 
 instead of betraying silent disappointment, as 
 with us in Europe, usually gave way to the 
 most violent imprecations, exclamations, and 
 affirmations, generally addressed to some im- 
 potent servitor, or humble officer about the 
 court, whose silent shrugs of the shoulders, 
 and philosophic resignation, to what was writ- 
 ten in his neighbour's book of fate, formed
 
 THE debtors' jail. 67 
 
 a contrast to the violence of the non-suited 
 suitor. 
 
 A coffee-house keeper had ensconced him- 
 self under a vaulted gallery, which had once, 
 in the halcyon days of Islamism, resounded 
 with the merriment of the stout troopers who 
 had rolled hack the tide of Tartar invasion to 
 the mountains of Kurdistan ; and, to complete 
 the picture, a few cats, whose hunger antici- 
 pated the afternoon prayer, slept out the 
 appointed time, or mewed in chorus under the 
 shade of the wall, for, by the munificence of a 
 deceased Cairene, the cats of Cairo are wards 
 of the Cadi's chancery. Every day, at the 
 hour of afternoon prayer, an ample banquet is 
 provided for all and sundry cats that present 
 themselves ; the cost of which is defrayed out 
 of a piece of land, beyond the northern suburbs, 
 bequeathed for the purpose, which is called to 
 this day, Gheyt-el-Kota, or Garden of the 
 Cat. 
 
 On the afternoon of the day following the 
 adventure we have described, two men en- 
 tered the court-yard, just after the prayer of 
 
 D 5
 
 58 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 Asr, when the sated cats were all dispersing 
 again to their various habitations, and were 
 immediately accosted by a person at the foot 
 of the steps of the great alcove. 
 
 " Sheikh Cassim,"'' said this person to the 
 elder of the two, " what cheer ? I heard, 
 yesterday, that your mountain of corn at 
 Boulak was in great danger from the inun- 
 dation." 
 
 " Elhamdulillah ! — Praise be to God ! — it is 
 saved ! I had invested a large part of this 
 year's disposable capital in the corn trade, 
 and as the waters rose with rapidity, foot 
 by foot, I made sure of seeing a large part of 
 my property disappear ; but, by dint of great 
 activity, the smaller mound of corn of the lower 
 level was removed in time, and the higher 
 level was unattained by the waters, although 
 they rose within a quarter of a foot of it." 
 
 " I give you joy, Sheikh Cassim, for you 
 make a good use of your wealth." 
 
 " Thank heaven the corn is safe," said Sheikh 
 Cassim, moving away, when he found that the 
 other began to praise him, and they parted.
 
 THE debtors' jail. 59 
 
 Sheikh Cassim and his companion going to a 
 passage at the south-east corner of the court- 
 yard, where they were stopped by a common 
 Turk, with a short Kurdish petticoat, who, 
 without ever moving from his seat, and scarcely 
 looking at those who addressed him, asked 
 which of the prisoners they wanted ? 
 
 *'A11 and sundry," quoth the Sheikh. "I 
 have had a piece of good luck, and am many 
 hundred purses richer than I thought I was 
 likely to be ; so I have taken a fancy to clear 
 your prison of the poorest and most deserving 
 debtors ; and at my exit, your bakshish shall 
 be forthcoming." 
 
 At that magic word, the jailor with the 
 Kurdish petticoat laid down his half- filled pipe 
 bowl, and, starting up with alacrity, saluted the 
 new comers, and forthwith showed a kind of 
 cordial desire to second the benevolence of the 
 humane Sheikh Cassim ; and, leading them 
 into a dark passage, passed a brilliant eulogy on 
 the intentions of the Sheikh. 
 
 '* The condition of a prisoner," said he, " is 
 much to be pitied ; and, although not so much
 
 60 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 SO as the poor jailor, is a deserving object of 
 compassion, — for the jailor is as much impri- 
 soned, and fast bound to his key and his 
 bench, and has as little liberty as the prisoner 
 inside."" 
 
 But Sheikh Cassim showed no sign of being 
 of the same opinion, and the jailor opening the 
 door with a large wooden key, ushered them 
 into the jail of the guarded city of Cairo. 
 
 The apartment was about twenty feet high ; 
 the light admitted by two barred windows close 
 to the roof, which were unglazed ; the walls 
 were perfectly bare, and had not been white- 
 washed for many a long day : but there were 
 no caricatures of the jailor, no obscenity, as 
 may be seen on prison walls in Europe, but 
 scrolls, at various places, show^ed where the 
 Moslem might have passed a long hour, with 
 scribbling an occasional verse from the Koran. 
 A luxuriant spider's web, of thick and tangled 
 texture, fluttered in the upper corner of the 
 room, with the slight breeze which ventilated 
 the apartment, — apt emblem of desolation and 
 misery ; — and a mat covered the floor of the
 
 THE debtors' jail. 61 
 
 prison, on wlilch the inmates were squatted, 
 cross-leofoed. 
 
 Oft 
 
 Folly, knavery, and misfortune, seemed to 
 have their various representatives, each wearing 
 the badge of their order, with a distinctness not 
 to be mistakcni ; and the better to make his 
 observations, Sheikh Cassim took off his shoes, 
 and sat down in the midst of them. Foremost 
 and uppermost was a townsman, as prim and 
 well-dressed, as if he were entering a mosque 
 on Friday, at noon ; and at the bottom, a beg- 
 gar, in the extreme of misery, both as regarded 
 looks and garments. Others were lounging 
 about, and some asleep on their mattresses. 
 
 "A welcome to you, Effendi !" said the 
 townsman who had just become bankrupt, and 
 was in high spirits ; " what has brought you 
 here ? " 
 
 '* I am in prison," said Sheikh. 
 
 " What ! really imprisoned ? " said the dan- 
 dified townsman, scarcely able to credit it. 
 '' What is your case ? " 
 
 " I will tell you it, if every one of those 
 present will tell me his case."
 
 62 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 " That is soon clone," said the townsman, 
 while the other prisoners whispered to each 
 other. " There are no secrets here ; — that 
 man is in for four hundred piastres, and that for 
 five hundred, and that other for two hundred 
 and sixty, and that other for two hundred." 
 
 " And yourself? " said Sheikh Cassira. 
 
 " For as many thousands ; but my story is a 
 long one." 
 
 " And who," said Sheikh Cassim, " is that 
 poor wretch out of the circle, who seems pining 
 away ?" 
 
 " That, sir, is a Bedouin, who was entrusted 
 with a camel ; but it died in his keeping, poor 
 fellow ! You see how he looks at the bars, 
 and sighs to fly away. But he is now old and 
 stupid." 
 
 Most of the prisoners were in a rather jovial 
 and talkative humour, for perhaps those who 
 think least of the future, are often most indif- 
 ferent to the fortunes of the present. 
 
 Half way down the room was an elderly 
 man, with the dress and air of an irregular 
 trooper, his forehead was high, and features
 
 THE debtors' jail. 63 
 
 Caucasian, even to the minutest of Nature''s 
 chisel-marks, but his skin was nearly as dark as 
 that of a negro, not coarse, but line in the tex- 
 ture. Sheikh Cassim asked him where he came 
 from; and he answered, '' Itchili, in Asia 
 Minor ;" but from whence his parents had 
 come, or whence he had been imported in his 
 youth, he could not tell. This hgure of ebony, 
 strange to say, complained of the heat of 
 Egypt. 
 
 When Sheikh Cassim asked him for his 
 history, he answered, " I made a campaign, 
 and was at the siege of Jaffa with Mohammed 
 Bey, and was the second to enter the breach. 
 See,'** said he, " where Daher's people left their 
 mark ; " and, pulling up his sleeve, showed a 
 gun-shot scar in his arm. " Mohammed Bey 
 was a good friend of mine, for I was young and 
 stout, and could handle sword, pistol, musket, 
 lance, or dagger with any of them all, but now 
 I am getting old, and yet," added he, laughing 
 in his tears, " let me get out of this infernal 
 hole, and I have still mettle in me for a day's 
 fight or a year's campaign."
 
 64 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 One young man, dressed as a townsman of 
 the second or third order, redined on a cushion, 
 and had heen admitted the previous day. His 
 face was pale, and his eyes sunk in the sockets, 
 and he occasionally sighed. Sheikh Cassim 
 asked him his case, and raising himself on his 
 cushion spoke as follows : — 
 
 " I began life as a servant, but you know 
 that service, although an easy life, brings no 
 gain, and being told that I should make more 
 as a miller, I entered into partnership with 
 another man in the quarter of Abdeen, and we 
 took a mill ; but let no man think to change his 
 trade without paying for his schooling. I soon 
 lost the little money I had saved ; I was obliged 
 to give my horse for a sum below its value to 
 pay a debt ; and from one difficulty to another, 
 I am at length here. This is the second day of 
 my confinement, but although my body is in 
 the Cadi's prison, my mind is with my two little 
 children in Abdeen. I have sought to sleep 
 out my grief."" So saying, he pulled out a blue 
 pocket handkerchief and wiped his tears. 
 
 " Come, corae, cousin, keep up your spirits,"
 
 THE debtors' jail. 65 
 
 said Sheikh Cassim. " Yarn naam ! yom has ! — 
 A day of grace, a day of evil ! When things 
 seem at their best the bad is brewing; when 
 at their worst, the good must come." 
 
 *' So saith my head to my heart," said the 
 debtor; "and small comfort do I get from the 
 reflection." 
 
 "And who is this yoiins' man beside vou ? " 
 said Sheikh Cassim. 
 
 " He is in the same case as myself, with 
 respect to his recent entrance into the prison ; 
 but while I think only of my family, I dare say 
 he would be happy to drive the recollection out 
 of his mind." 
 
 Sheikh Cassim looked at his companion, and 
 saw that he was a sun-burnt youth, about fifteen 
 years of age, looking as lugubrious as possible. 
 Sheikh Cassim asked him his case, and he 
 answered with great modesty, " I have been 
 married a short time, and incurred considerable 
 expense at the marriage, and subsequently with 
 entertaining my wife's relations. I thought the 
 joy for our union would never end, so constantly 
 did I entertain all and sundry. ' Welcome,"
 
 66 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 said I each day to each new comer ; each 
 dinner party seemed to multiply the number of 
 my new cousins and connections. At last, one 
 day when my money was all spent, I pawned 
 one of my wife's ornaments, and the number of 
 my cousins seemed to diminish as suddenly as 
 they had expanded. My wife then led me the 
 life of a dog, with her stunning clack and 
 ferocious temper ; and having at length asserted 
 my authority, she called me before the cadi, 
 and being unable to produce her ornament, or 
 her dowry, she falsely accused me of having 
 hidden money, and I have thus been clapped 
 into prison." 
 
 On hearing this statement, Sheikh Hamood, 
 the companion of Sheikh Cassim, indulged in 
 so loud and unseemly a roar of laughter, as 
 attracted the attention of all the prisoners upon 
 him. Sheikh Hamood had something of the 
 appearance of a satyr — a receding forehead, 
 long nose, towards which the strongly pro- 
 nounced upper lip seemed half disposed to curl ; 
 a countenance deeply indented with the ravages 
 of small pox, a certain dilation of his nostrils,
 
 THE debtors' jail. 67 
 
 and an arch drollery in the expression of his 
 eyes, made his visage like an antique mask of 
 comedy. 
 
 '' You ought," said Sheikh Hamood, " to 
 have treated your relations as Nusreddin Ef- 
 fendi, of the guarded city of Akshehr, treated 
 those who gave him gifts.'' 
 
 " And how did he treat them ? " said the 
 youth. 
 
 " A man having presented him with a hare, 
 he asked him to come and assist to eat it. The 
 donor of the hare having come with all his 
 family, Hodja said ' welcome ; ' but the hare 
 being insufficient to dine so many, other dishes 
 were prepared. A few days afterwards some 
 more free-and-easy persons presented them- 
 selves for the hospitality of the Hodja, Nus- 
 reddin Eft'endi. 'A welcome, a double wel- 
 come,' again said Hodja, in his inexhaustible 
 goodness. ' Who are you ? ' * We are the 
 friends of the man who gave you the hare.' 
 And Hodja again did the honours of an ample 
 entertainment. A few days after that, another 
 set of friends presented themselves to our friend
 
 B8 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 the Hodja. ' And who are you ? "* said he to 
 his new guests, with the most imperturbable 
 good humour. ' We are the neighbours of the 
 friends of the family of the man who gave you 
 the hare.' ' Thrice welcome,' said the Hodja, 
 ' pray be seated while the entertainment is pre- 
 pared.' Instead, however, of the pilaff and the 
 kabab, the entertainment consisted of a bowl of 
 pure spring water. ' Is this the way,' said the 
 stranger, ' in which you treat the neighbours of 
 the friends of the family of the man who has 
 presented you with a hare .^' ' Precisely so,' 
 said Hodja. ' This water came from the same 
 spring as the water that cooked the hare.' " 
 
 " If I had done so," said the young Kurd, " I 
 should never have been here." 
 
 Sheikh Cassim then came to Khaled and 
 asked him his case ; when he related all that 
 had happened to him since his arrival at Bilbeis, 
 the tale seemed to interest him, and he at first 
 doubted his word, but, by cross questions, at 
 length became persuaded that his story was in 
 the main features true. 
 
 During all this time the prisoners were whis-
 
 THE debtors' jail. 69 
 
 pering with each other, and occasionally looking 
 at Sheikh Cassim, so as to show that he was 
 the object of their conversation ; and the well- 
 dressed debtor said aloud, " I know your 
 errand ; you are sent by Ibrahim Bey from the 
 citadel to inquire how we are treated." 
 
 *' No such thing,'' said Sheikh Cassim ; " my 
 visit has a totally different object. The day be- 
 fore yesterday the Nile rose with such rapidity, 
 that I thought there was the absolute certainty 
 of my losing a mountain of grain in store at 
 Boulak ; but by the permission of God it re- 
 mained untouched, and I have taken a fancy, 
 on finding myself so much richer than I counted 
 on, to clear the debtors' jail of all those in for 
 small sums.'** 
 
 " Allah Yebarak Feek .'—May God bless 
 you," said the debtor ; and one of them, with 
 a green turban, weak eyes, and a beard artifi- 
 cially dyed red, said aloud, '' Fatehat / " " The 
 Opening." On which all the debtors, holding up 
 their hands, and looking upwards, whispered in 
 chorus the short and impressive opening of the 
 Koran.
 
 70 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 " Praise be to God ! the Lord of all crea- 
 tures, the most merciful, the king of the day 
 of judgment : Thee do we worship, and of 
 Thee we beg assistance. Direct us in the right 
 way, in the way of those to whom Thou hast 
 been gracious; not of those against whom 
 Thou art incensed, nor of those who go 
 astray." 
 
 This sudden appeal from the walls of a pri- 
 son to the throne of Omnipotence had its due 
 effect on Sheikh Cassim ; and as his thoughts 
 rose from the puisne judges of men to the King 
 of the day of judgment, he repeated those 
 sublime accents of praise, not mechanically, 
 but in a manner corresponding to the strength 
 of his religious sentiment. 
 
 " God is great in this world," said Sheikh 
 Cassim, aloud, "for, as the poet of Agem 
 says, ' He takes two drops of water, with one 
 of which he fashions man after His own Image, 
 while the other becomes a pearl in the depths 
 of the ocean ; but the chief attribute of Omni- 
 potence is the kingship of the day of judg- 
 ment — the only remaining autocracy, after all
 
 THE debtor's jail. 71 
 
 sultans, kings, and emirs, with their powers 
 and principahties, have been swept away.'" 
 
 " There is no man in Cairo like Sheikh Cas- 
 sim," said the well-dressed bankrupt, with the 
 greatest energy of emphasis ; " for fifteen years 
 I have known him, and I should like to see the 
 man that had a word to say against him. Oh, 
 Sheikh Cassim ! God spared no trouble at the 
 manufacture of your head and heart. Do just 
 recollect how you were calumniated in your 
 absence by the swindler Ali-el-Sabbagh, when 
 we were at Siout with four Mograbbins and the 
 Dacroory. I always thought you the best and 
 most generous of men in Cairo. Naseeh^ such is 
 fate — you are in luck, and I without luck — but 
 I must not complain. Inshallah ! this day will 
 commence a lasting friendship between us." 
 
 To this. Sheikh Cassim, embarrassed, re- 
 turned no answer, and told his companion. 
 Sheikh Hamood, to take a note of the debtors 
 and their debts. He began with the trooper, 
 who shed tears, and said, " How singular ! I 
 have given my blood in my youth without re- 
 compense, and a stranger relieves me. Oh,
 
 72 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 EfFendi ! how can I requite vou. I may yet 
 die in Itchili," said he. 
 
 " And I,*'"' said the miller, his eyes filling 
 with tears, " see my two children dancing 
 with joy at my return to the Abdeen. Ya- 
 Allah ! Great is thy power in making a pearl 
 and a man, but greater in giving him a heart 
 like that of Sheikh Cassim." 
 
 When it came to the turn of Khaled, he 
 said, " Accept this relief as a loan to be 
 repaid." 
 
 "As soon as it is in my power to repay, and 
 rest assured that if ever it lie in my way, I 
 would willingly requite ten times its value ; but 
 it is not likely that I can ever have it in my 
 power to render any service to the noble and 
 generous Sheikh Cassim." 
 
 " One does not know," said Sheikh Cassim, 
 " what is written in the book of fate. Let no 
 man think himself above the good will of 
 another, or say I am so much more rich, happy, 
 and powerful than he, that I can be indifferent 
 to his good will." 
 
 When it came to the turn of the Kurd, he
 
 THE debtors' jail. 73 
 
 positively refused to be relieved. " I will be 
 grateful to you,*" said he, " as if you had done 
 me a service treble this value ; but not one 
 step will I stir out of here until my wife's 
 pride be subdued, and that of all her kindred." 
 
 " La Kurdy Theleel, 
 Ou Bedawy Baheel," 
 
 thought Cassim to himself, which being inter- 
 preted is, *' There is no spiritless Kurd, or 
 ungenerous Bedouin." " These sums," con- 
 tinued he aloud, " will all be paid this night or 
 to-morrow. I would fain have opened the 
 prison gates to this Kurd, but the young barb 
 must be allowed his fling. He that on an 
 occasion like this allows me to acquit his obli- 
 gations, is the generous giver, and I the favour- 
 ed receiver."" 
 
 " If the riches you seek consist in that," 
 said the Kurd, " look round you and count the 
 obligations you have already conferred, and be 
 not avaricious of wealth of that sort." 
 
 " There is nothing so rare as a spiritless 
 Kurd, or an ungenerous Bedouin," again mut- 
 tered Sheikh Cassim to himself; and as he 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 74 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 rose to go, the showily dressed bankrupt said, 
 somewhat taken aback, " Are you going, 
 Sheikh Cassim, without asking me the particu- 
 lars of my case." 
 
 To this Sheikh Cassim made no answer, but 
 Sheikh Hamood, his companion, with one of 
 his loud laughs, said, " No ; because all the 
 bazaar of the Ghoreey knows it already," and 
 he was proceeding to ask him satirically 
 the particulars of various ugly transactions, 
 when Sheikh Cassim rose to go out, and the 
 bankrupt losing temper, cried, as they passed 
 the door, " God curse your father and mother, 
 you thousand-fold bladder of conceit." All the 
 prisoners, except this man, blessed Sheikh Cas- 
 sim, as he went out at the door ; and Sheikh 
 Hamood, his companion, said in great glee to 
 the jailor, when they got out into the passage, 
 " God bless Sheikh Cassim, who is going to 
 relieve all the prisoners." 
 
 " It is not possible, surely ! " said the jailor, 
 disagreeably surprised, and chop-fallen ; " what 
 remuneration is this five piastre piece for losing 
 all the prisoners ? I thought," said he, with the
 
 THE debtors' jail. 75 
 
 blood rising to his face in anger, " that you 
 intended to release only the poorest of the pri- 
 soners, who afford me no perquisite ; and now 
 I learn that you intend to cut me out of all 
 the odds and ends of those prisoners, who need 
 convenience and comforts, and messages and 
 business to be transacted for them out of doors. 
 Come, be just as well as generous, and make 
 me up my loss."" 
 
 " You have your salary on which you can live," 
 
 said Sheikh Cassim, " and I will be bound to say 
 
 that the prison will be filled soon enough again.'' 
 
 " And who knows when it may be filled 
 
 again ? " said the jailor. 
 
 " It is not every day that we have such a 
 prisoner as that merchant from the Ghoreey." 
 
 " We have left him, then, for you," said 
 Sheikh Hamood. 
 
 " Then he must make up for the others," 
 said the jailor, with an angry shake of the head ; 
 and Sheikh Cassim, again taking his case into 
 consideration, added another five piastres to his 
 present, which was then quadruple the present 
 value of that coin.
 
 76 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BIRTH, PARENTAGE, AND EDUCATION 
 OF KHALED. 
 
 Before we proceed further, it is now requi- 
 site to say something of the birth, parentage, 
 and antecedents of Khaled, 
 
 The inhabitants of Syria consider their climate 
 to constitute the golden mean between the hot 
 and the cold regions of the world as it is known 
 to themselves, being equally removed from the 
 long snow-fed winter of Armenia, and the 
 suffocating winds and fierce heats of the valley 
 of the Nile ; while those regions of their native 
 country that immediately adjoin the north or 
 the south, partake in some measure of the 
 peculiar character of the extremes beyond them. 
 The pilgrim that lands at Jaffa, finds in its
 
 THE BIRTH OF KHALED. 77 
 
 palms and orange groves, in the meanness and 
 misery of the villages, where the dark-com- 
 plexioned water-carrier may be seen with his 
 ass and distended goat-skin, much of the Egyp- 
 tian character. Northwards and eastwards of 
 the ancient city of Laodicea, where the Orontes 
 approaches the Mediterranean, and the white 
 peak of Mount Cassius, seen far and wide, is a 
 beacon to the mariner, we find that union 
 of serene and rugged beauty that is peculiar to 
 Italian landscape. 
 
 In this part of Syria the sky is of a more 
 tender azure than in the torrid south ; herbage 
 covers the wide champaign from early spring to 
 far in the advanced summer ; nor have the plains 
 a steppe-like monotony, for they are bounded 
 by hills picturesquely wooded ; while here and 
 there the remains of an ancient town proclaim 
 the fugitive power of storied races and dynasties, 
 and the eternal youth and beauty of the works 
 of the Creator. 
 
 If^ leaving the plain where the swarthy herd, 
 in simple robe of undyed wool, sings the blithe 
 lav while he tends his cattle, we ascend to these
 
 78 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 eminences, the graceful remains of a classic 
 temple occasionally emerge into the warmth of 
 day, while close to their base the chill moun- 
 tain-stream murmurs darkly pellucid under the 
 thickly tangled boughs of the beech, the 
 walnut, and the horse-chestnut. The whole 
 region is one of enchantment to the traveller, 
 and well deserves a Gaspar Poussin to render 
 those unruffled seas, viewed athwart the wide 
 sweeping plain, in ail the resplendent ethereal 
 tranquillity of summer's noon, — a golden 
 Claude, with the equable delicacy of the con- 
 summate artist, to throw over classic temple and 
 tufted mount, the soft effulgent haze of lessening 
 day, — or a Salvator to plunge into the gloomy 
 gorge, and give the grandeur of the yawning 
 rock, or the sombre sublimity of the trackless 
 woods of gnarled oak. 
 
 If we pass from inanimate to animate nature, 
 we find in the north and south of Syria, a 
 complete identity of aboriginal mountain races. 
 The Druse of Lebanon, and the Nosairi of the 
 northern chain, are in ev^ery feature, in cerebral 
 conformation and mental disposition, the same
 
 THE BIRTH OF KHALED. 79 
 
 race as the Jews of old — all three ancient in- 
 habitants of the mountains of Syria ; but while 
 the manners and traditions of the Jew-moun- 
 taineer of the south have pervaded every clime, 
 and, mediately or immediately, leavened the 
 whole moral world, a diabolical ring surrounds 
 the mountaineer of the north, and he remains 
 within the narrow limits prescribed by one of 
 the obscurest and most grovelling superstitions 
 that history records ; for the Nosairis and the 
 Ismaelis are descendants of the Assassins of the 
 Middle Ages, who are famiharly known to 
 the apprentice who goes to see a Christmas 
 pantomime, and even to the inmates of our 
 nurseries, — through the fairy tale of *' Number 
 Nip ; or, The Old Man of the Mountain." 
 
 Such were the people among whom Khaled 
 was brought up, and such the school in which 
 a native tendency to the good and the true was 
 perverted, and in which an understanding 
 naturally lucid was obscured. Nor were his 
 domestic circumstances likely to alleviate the 
 disadvantage of creed and nation, for his father 
 was a narrow-minded fanatic, and his mother.
 
 80 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 the best of women, but little elevated above 
 the intelligence of the cow which she milked. 
 It is, therefore, not necessary to dwell on 
 Khaled's childhood ; so soon as he was born, 
 he received, like all other Nosairi and Ismaeli 
 children, the name, Zain, — he was duly circum- 
 cised, and his name of Khaled was determined 
 on by opening a book at random, and taking 
 the first proper name that presented itself. 
 
 Taraf-el-Gharb, the native place of this young 
 man, adjoined some very good land, which 
 was principally devoted to the culture of to- 
 bacco, and of which Lattakia is the mart ; and 
 under the name of that sea-port, is known as 
 the best in the Levant, and bears the highest 
 price in Cairo and Constantinople, its peculiar 
 fragrance being produced by hanging the leaves 
 of tobacco for six months in the huts of the 
 peasantry, along the rafters, and smoking them 
 with an herb called Ezr. This atmosphere 
 would choke a European, but the eyes and 
 lungs of the peasants are accustomed to it ; and 
 these economical conditions have so pervaded 
 language, and all the relations of life, that when
 
 THE BIRTH OF KHALED. 81 
 
 a villager says to his wife — Make a fire, the 
 word he uses is, '' Dahhany — make smoke."" 
 
 A Roman town or village had existed in this 
 spot, as the road between Antioch and Laodicea 
 was in some places traceable by fragments of 
 broad flags down in the plain, as well as by a 
 passage over the hill, in some places cut clear 
 through the rock. The house of the Sheikh 
 was a Roman one, of solid masonry, the style 
 of which was scarcely altered from the daj'S of 
 Constantine or Julian. That is the supposition 
 of the historian of those transactions ; but the 
 most authentic traditions of the village were, 
 that those gigantic remains were constructed 
 before the creation of man. 
 
 The smoking process went on in the lower 
 vaults, but the apartment above, which was 
 long and narrow, had its broken Mosaic pave- 
 ment covered with a mat, while a Turkey 
 carpet and some cushions were the only fur- 
 niture of the other end of the room, above 
 which was a picture neither framed nor glazed, 
 but revealed by a large quantity of plaster, 
 
 peeled off the wall ; a fresco representing a 
 
 E 5
 
 S^ THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 graceful young man in bright flowing robes, 
 entering a triumphal archway of the city seated 
 on a car, and a goddess descending from above, 
 placing a crown on his head. Of the Emperor 
 Julian's reception at Antioch, Khaled had not 
 the least knowledge ; but it was the sight of 
 this faded fresco that first awakened his youth- 
 ful intelligence. He would gaze on it, seeking 
 to fathom the unknown, and leap over the 
 bounds of time and space ; he felt there were 
 strange and curious worlds beyond the limits of 
 Taraf-el-Gharb : these he not only longed to 
 see, but sighed for a perusal of those records 
 which might enable him to look up the long 
 avenue in which the brave and the fair, the 
 awe-striking kings and tuneful bards, had min- 
 gled in feast and fray, and all made room for 
 never-halting Time. He began to care less for 
 the society of those of his own age, and felt an 
 instinctive desire for the larger experiences of 
 hoary sagacity ; and one of those ever-recurring 
 revolts against the old Turkish system of go- 
 vernment (now happily in a great measure 
 obsolete) inured him to the perils and fatigues
 
 THE BIRTH OF KHALED. 83 
 
 of mountain warfare. So having attracted the 
 notice of the nation by his bravery, and fully 
 arrived at the years of discretion, it was deter- 
 mined to initiate him in the mysteries of the 
 religion. 
 
 One day in the summer of 1796, Khaled fol- 
 lowed a grey-bearded Sheikh into the thick 
 woods behind the village, and began slowly to 
 mount the hill above. After a quarter of an 
 hour's ascent, they came to an open and com- 
 paratively level part of the forest traversed by 
 a goat tract, at the farthest part of which, just 
 mider the shade of a tree, was the red speck 
 of the turban of a lad who tended the goats. 
 *' Let us be seen by no one," said the old man, 
 as, without showing himself outside the grove, 
 he turned suddenly to the left; and when the 
 dull tinkle of the bells at the necks of the 
 goats had become almost imperceptible, he again 
 ascended, followed by Khaled, through a thick 
 part of the forest, a full hour's exertion, to a 
 secluded nook of the hill, under a toppHng rock, 
 where a few square yards of opening enabled 
 them to overlook the whole amphitheatre beyond
 
 84 THE MAxMELUKES. 
 
 which the waters of the Mediterranean, filling up 
 a considerable part of the perpendicular, showed 
 how elevated their position was above the level 
 of the sea, being near that point where the 
 thick woods that clothe the nether portions of 
 Cassius terminate, and the clear open space of 
 the summit commences. 
 
 Here the old man stopped short, looked up 
 the face of the rock, as if to assure himself that 
 it had neither eyes nor ears ; he then looked 
 round in all directions, and, holding his hands 
 above his eyes, sought to penetrate the gloom of 
 the forest below, lest intrusion might come from 
 that quarter. He then lay down, and applying 
 his hand to his ear, attempted to catch any 
 sound that might be on the air, but not a goat 
 bell was to be heard, nor a resonance, except 
 that of the gentle rustling of the foliage from 
 the western breeze, and the scream of a bird of 
 prey wheeling among the rocks above. 
 
 " Now is the time," said he to Khaled, when 
 going along the base of the rock, between which 
 and the hanging woods that broke away from 
 its base, and grew on the slope below, there was
 
 THE BIRTH OF KHALED. 85 
 
 only room for a narrow pathway. He stopped 
 short, and, with the assistance of Khaled, re- 
 moved several large moss-grown stones, and, 
 creeping inside, Khaled perceived that they 
 were in a wide cavern, which was not entirely 
 dark, for through a large aperture in the roof 
 the sun-light, broken by the intervention of 
 thickly-leaved shrubs, gave sufficiency of light 
 and air to the apartment. 
 
 '* You see," said the old man, *' that all pro- 
 vision has been made for us," pointing to a 
 recess entirely covered by rock, in which was a 
 mat, a couple of mattresses, cooking utensils, 
 and provisions ; while, at the other extremity of 
 this large cavern, was a spring flowing from the 
 dark womb of the mountain, and again finding 
 its way by subterranean recesses to swell an 
 unknown stream. Here Khaled lived for five 
 weeks with the Old Man of the Mountain, who 
 had the highest reputation for sanctity and eru- 
 dition. Ten persons had previously been, at 
 Khaled's request, sureties for his strict observ- 
 ance of profound secrecy on all matters apper- 
 taining to the mysteries of the faith : and in
 
 86 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 the beginning of the sixth week, the Old Man 
 of the Mountain, being fully satisfied that 
 Khaled would never reveal it, he entrusted him 
 with the awful secret of Ethnayn. 
 
 In the first ages of Islamism the holy text of 
 pike and mace had compelled millions, dwelling 
 on the Euphrates and the Tigris, to conform to 
 the external observances of the new religion, 
 who in their hearts remained true to the tenets 
 of Zoroaster and the Magi. Even after time 
 had thinned the ranks of the secret adherents 
 of fire-worship, the names of Ali on the one 
 hand, and Abou Bekr on the other, were still 
 the watchwords of the two great political par- 
 ties into which the Moslem world was divided. 
 The doctrine of the legitimacy of the succes- 
 sion of Omar and Abou Bekr to the Imamate 
 having been upheld by the Omeia Caliphs of 
 Damascus and the Abbaside Caliphs of Bagdad, 
 it followed, as a matter of course, that Ali was 
 the rallying cry of all denominations of mal- 
 contents. 
 
 The innumerable heresies that sprung up dur- 
 ing the first four hundred years after Mohammed,
 
 THE BIRTH OF KHALED. 87 
 
 mostly in Irak and Coufa, may be traced to 
 several causes besides impatience of the temporal 
 yoke of the Abbasides. The success of the im- 
 posture of Mohammed had led many cunning and 
 bold men to hope for similar results in their own 
 favour. The translation of the works of the 
 Greek philosophers into Arabic promoted scep- 
 ticism, and the precepts of Mohammed, relative 
 to fasting, prayer, and other observances, were 
 too rigid not to produce a reaction. Thus in- 
 numerable sects, whose system consisted in the 
 renunciation of the exterior observances of 
 Islamism and the allegorization of its precepts, 
 had great success, and for some time shook the 
 caliphate to its centre. 
 
 Extraordinary veneration for the memory of 
 All, was the first article in the creed of these 
 sects. The Nosairis and Ismaelis, not content 
 with holding him to have been a prophet, and 
 an imaum or pontiff, went a step further, and 
 made him out an incarnation of the Divinity, 
 while Mohammed was considered as a prophet. 
 Adopting also the doctrine of the transmigration 
 of souls, Abel and St. Peter were believed
 
 88 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 to be previous incarnations of the Divinity ; 
 while Adam was represented as a prophet con- 
 temporary with the former, and Jesus with the 
 latter of these incarnations. Ali is styled by 
 the Nosairis, Ali el Ala, Emir el Nihl (Ali the 
 High, the Prince of the Religion). They be- 
 lieve in the transmigration of souls, which is 
 supposed to be justified by the circumstance of 
 live animals having been seen with scars on 
 their body, corresponding to wounds inflicted 
 on individuals, which had produced death. The 
 formula of prayer, used on the extraordinary 
 occasion of the worship of the female womb, 
 which was taken from the folds of the turban 
 of a Kadmooseey Nosairi, who had been killed 
 by an Arnout, although one of the greatest 
 curiosities of Oriental literature that ever fell 
 into the possession of the author of this -work, 
 and various other curious particulars of their 
 manners, are unfit for publication in a work, 
 the motto of which is Virginihus Puerisque, 
 and need not be further alluded to.
 
 KHALED IN LOVE. 89 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 KHALED FALLS IN LOVE. 
 
 Khaled was one day in the thick tangled 
 wood that grew next the Armenian village, 
 when a kid skipped past him, and a female form 
 followed, laughing and breathless, after the 
 animal. 
 
 Unobserved by the female, and interested 
 by the pursuit, the unconscious ardour of which 
 had led the young woman to a greater distance 
 from the village than was usual, Khaled ran 
 on, caught the kid, and placed it in the hands 
 of the young lady, who was a Frank, recently 
 come to reside in the Armenian village, and of 
 whom Khaled had, for the first time, a near 
 view. 
 
 She was about eighteen years of age, and
 
 90 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 therefore, in those precocious climes, at the 
 fullest development of beauty. Her height was 
 perhaps rather below than above the average 
 standard of female stature. Instead of the 
 compressed waist of modern Europe, she wore 
 the Aleppine female costume, which hung 
 easily, but not loosely, about her frame. A 
 shawl, of the finest cashmere, encircled her 
 waist. Her countenance had the healthy pale- 
 ness of warm climates, probably a result of 
 her infancy passed in Egypt, for many of the 
 Aleppino ladies, from the elevated situation and 
 cold winter of that city, have the roseate cheeks 
 of the north of Europe. A nose, like those of 
 the friezes of the Parthenon, came straight 
 down from the whitest brow, showing that 
 Greek blood, in the female line, had been 
 mingled with that of Italy. Her chin was 
 somewhat deficient in development ; but in 
 spite of this departure from ideal contour^ the 
 expression of her countenance had something 
 of a prepossessing piquancy, and the luxuriant 
 disorder of her tresses, and the gay breathless 
 excitement of the chase, might have suggested,
 
 KHALED IN LOVE. 91 
 
 had she lived in the heroic dawn of mythology, 
 such a figure as that which, idealized by Gre- 
 cian sculpture, occupied, under the name of 
 Diana, one of the most conspicuous places in 
 the Pantheon of the ancients. 
 
 " And who are you ? '' said she to the young 
 Sheikh, somewhat embarrassed ; " let me know 
 to whom I am indebted for this trouble." 
 
 " I am Khaled, the son of the Sheikh of 
 the next village."" 
 
 " What ! "" said she, as her eyes brightened 
 up with satisfaction, " the same who, in the 
 recent war, was the first to escalade the Arna- 
 outs' tower, and then, at the risk of his own 
 life, prevented the prisoners from being mas- 
 sacred by his own people ? " 
 
 Khaled blushed in affirmative assent, at hear- 
 ing his praise sounded by the most beautiful 
 woman that he had ever seen ; and the lady, 
 loath to depart, found herself in a common- 
 place conversation, which, beginning thus in 
 favourable prepossession, ended in something 
 like reciprocal sympathy, for the confabulation 
 was prolonged until she feared she might be
 
 92 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 missed at home ; and it will not surprise the 
 reader, that that was not the last conversation 
 of which the frisky kid was a safe confidant 
 and mute listener, the interminable cham- 
 bers of the castle, approached through thick 
 woods from both villages, affording facilities 
 for further prosecution of acquaintance, and a 
 certain disposition of the blinds of the windows 
 of the house in which the lady lived, serving 
 as a preconcerted signal of the time of meeting. 
 Signora Melusina Moro, the young lady in 
 question, was an orphan, who, on the death 
 of her father, had been sent by her uncle in 
 Cairo to her uncle in Aleppo, where she had 
 become so attached to his wife, that, upon 
 various pretexts, her return to her uncle at 
 Cairo had been delayed ; and on the death of 
 the wife of Signor Giuseppe Moro, of Aleppo, 
 he had, in order to allay his grief, and change 
 the scene, taken his niece with him on a trip 
 to the dales of Mount Cassius, whither the 
 worthy old magazineer of his mercantile estab- 
 lishment had retired, with a small competency. 
 Of a quick susceptible disposition, the young
 
 KHALED IN LOVE. 9S 
 
 lady had listened to the strange accounts that 
 the old Armenian gave her of the faith of this 
 people; and deluding herself as to the real 
 state of her feelings, projected a conversion to 
 Christianity of the handsome native, whose 
 artless curiosity, modest intelligence, and repu- 
 tation for courage, had so interested her ; but 
 she was soon constrained to confess to herself, 
 that this romantic apostleship was a mental 
 pretext to hide from herself the long vista of 
 inconveniences inseparable from an attachment 
 so incongruous. 
 
 The feelings of the young man were some- 
 what the converse of those of the lady. He 
 began with the soft allurements of love, and 
 entered into a perusal of a copy of the Gospels 
 in Arabic which she gave him, with something 
 of the deference and levity, often mingled, in 
 obedience to the strangest caprices of the object 
 of an attachment ; but as he read on, was so 
 struck with the novelty of the matter, that he 
 gave it a second and calmer perusal, which 
 produced such a resonance on his native good- 
 ness of disposition and openness of intellect,
 
 94 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 that belief Id his own religion was somewhat 
 shaken ; and to the pleasing pain of love, was 
 soon added the distracting torture of religious 
 doubt ; and as the result of further perusals, 
 upon a young man gifted with a considerable 
 sympathy of imagination, which enabled him, 
 although a semi-barbarian, to withdraw himself 
 from the fetters of so strange a creed, may 
 not be altogether uninteresting or unworthy of 
 a passing notice, we beg the reader^s pardon 
 for a digression not usual in works of this 
 description. 
 
 From the first, inspired with interest in the 
 extraordinary history detailed by the four 
 Evangelists, he was successively affected with 
 admiration of a morality, to him equally novel 
 and elevating — a wonder at miracles, so nainutely 
 detailed, and a woe at the conclusion of an 
 earthly career, the very incarnation of despised 
 and rejected benefaction. Not much of a 
 geographer, he yet knew, in common with 
 all Syria, that the Christian faith covered a 
 fair part of the earth ■: and he remembered 
 the parable of the mustard seed, that could
 
 KHALED IN LOVE. 95 
 
 not grow from such small beginnings, without 
 an inherent vigour peculiar to itself; and com- 
 paring the immensity of Christianity with the 
 exiguity of the faith of Ali, he successively 
 passed in review those points in which this new 
 faith differed most essentially from that in 
 which he had been nurtured. 
 
 The love of enemies struck him as the 
 ofreatest contrast to the vindictive traditions of 
 his natal soil. At first it seemed to him a 
 weakness or effeminacy which he could not 
 realize, but gradually, and mustard-seed fashion, 
 the idea grew upon him, that conformity to this 
 doctrine was the highest triumph of the heart 
 and reason, while the serpent-like wisdom was 
 the defence provided against any evil results 
 of this principle ; for even benevolence was to 
 be exercised under the controUing guidance of 
 prudence, and good was occasionally to be done 
 in secret, as much for the sake of the benefactor 
 as of the benefited. 
 
 In the superior place assigned to the partner 
 of man in this new code, compared with that 
 under which he lived, he could scarcely fail, in
 
 96 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 the case of the mdividual in whom he felt the 
 deepest interest, to recognise, as a tree is known 
 by its fruit, something inexpressibly superior to 
 his native code. He saw that rational liberty 
 without licence, produced a self-respect and an 
 intelligence which, without detracting from the 
 softer affections, formed a companion more 
 worthy of the dignity of human nature than the 
 absolutism of the Eastern system that he saw 
 around him ; and yet, that in Christianity there 
 is nothing to check the principle of authority in 
 the abstract ; for Christ, in being baptized by 
 John, paid homage to the principle of discipline 
 and subordination, and at a later period of his 
 career said, " render to Caesar that which is 
 Caesar^s." 
 
 It is not necessary to prolong the catalogue 
 of those points of departure at which Khaled, 
 the oftener he read, felt disposed to leave the 
 beaten track of his fathers for a land that pro- 
 mised so much. Above all, the panorama of 
 Chrisf's character, from the resistance to the 
 devil's temptation of all the fair kingdoms of 
 the world, down to the denunciation of lust in
 
 KHALED IN LOVE. 97 
 
 the heart, as being equivalent to hist in deed, 
 led him captive. " It is not alone my under- 
 standing,'' said Khaled to himself, " that is con- 
 vinced, it is an inexplicable and irresistible 
 sympathy, an exalting and purifying love and 
 reverence that carries me upward and onward." 
 But on the other hand, father, kindred, 
 nation, and, above all, the sureties, the awful 
 ten, seemed to his aifrighted and susceptible 
 imagination to rise up the puissant princes of 
 the realms of terror. He was in truth appalled 
 at the gulf that was daily yawning between 
 himself and his cherished associates. His in- 
 ternal wrestlings sometimes carried him to the 
 borders of frenzy, and he asked himself if the 
 whole was not a dream ; and at other times, if 
 the fair form that had taken possession of his 
 senses, was not the carnal dwelling of an evil 
 spirit ; and then a reaction would take place, 
 and his conscience would smite him as he 
 remembered the words of Matthew : "And ye 
 shall be hated of all men for my name sake ; 
 but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." 
 -'He that loveth father or mother more than 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 98 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 me, is not worthy of me ; and he that loveth 
 son or daughter more than me, is not worthy 
 of me;^ 
 
 Such were his struggles during the absence 
 of Melusina in Aleppo : and her next visit to 
 Taraf-el-Gharb was made, not with Signor Gui- 
 seppe Moro, but with his elder brother, Signor 
 Giovanni Moro, ex -Venetian consul of Cairo, 
 who had come to Aleppo to wind up some affairs 
 with his brother, and in order to recruit his 
 health, which had been shattered with the heat 
 of Cairo ; and it was agreed between the brothers 
 that he should take Melusina to Taraf for a 
 few weeks, on his way to Egypt, and that 
 Signor Guiseppe Moro should rejoin them before 
 his departure, and return with Melusina to 
 Aleppo.
 
 ARMENIAN VILLAGE. 99 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE AR3IENIAN VILLAGE. 
 
 The ruined castle (conspicuous in the history 
 of the Assassins, under the name of Kalat- 
 el-Gharb) which overhung the native vale of 
 Khaled, is based on a precipitous rock, and the 
 entrance on the other side is by a narrow 
 mound, overgrown with lofty trees, communi- 
 cating with the hill behind. Some cultivated 
 fields fill up an irregular amphitheatre on each 
 side of the precipice on which the castle is built, 
 and at the extremity of the northern basin is a 
 village, nestled in walnut trees, inhabited by 
 Armenians, while close on the border of the 
 southern basin is the Nosairi village, of which 
 young Khaled's father was the sheikh. 
 
 One day, shortly after the hour of noon, he 
 
 F 2
 
 100 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 was in a musing mood, seated in the ruins of 
 the castle, when a tinkling of bells became 
 audible, but not that of goats, and looking down 
 to the level of the plain, where a rough horse- 
 road wound round the foot of the castle rock, 
 three mules and two horses successively ap- 
 peared, taking the road to the Armenian village. 
 On the first was baggage with an Armenian ser- 
 vant, wearing a black turban, mounted astride. 
 On the second was a maid-servant, wearing a 
 common Aleppine costume ; then astride on a 
 white pony, came a young lady, who was fol- 
 lowed by an elderly gentleman in the Oriental 
 costume, whose head was surmounted by a 
 somewhat shabby cocked-hat instead of a 
 turban, and who rode a high chestnut Turcoman 
 horse ; while, last of all, on a mule loaded with 
 baggage, was a janizary with scarlet costume, 
 who occasionally applied to the over-loaded 
 mule a long stick tipped with silver. 
 
 Khaled trembled with pleasure as he recog- 
 nised the cavalcade. 
 
 " Let me see," said he to himself, looking up 
 to the sky as he estimated the time of day ;
 
 ARMENIAN VILLAGE. 101 
 
 " my father will not return from Ain-el-Furragh 
 until within an hour of sunset. This will give 
 me ample time to make all arrangements." 
 
 On this he returned to his village, and wait- 
 ing till the afternoon was advanced, set about 
 making his toilette ; but as the total revenue of 
 the valley might, in years of an abundant har- 
 vest, amount to a bill of a London perfumer, 
 the reader may well suppose that the process 
 was not a very expensive one. Taking a 
 rounded ball of Cretan soap and a towel, he 
 went to the brook, and having cleansed himself, 
 returned to his house, and putting on new yel- 
 low slippers, told an urchin to saddle his horse, 
 and then rode along to the Armenian village. 
 
 The houses of the village were all straggling 
 among small gardens, not one of them was more 
 than one story high, and in front of the best of 
 them was a lofty walnut, under which was 
 placed a couple of small Bagdad carpets and a 
 cushion, where the elderly gentleman was re- 
 clining and smoking a long pipe, a little cloth 
 skull cap having replaced the cocked-hat. A 
 very old Armenian, in his black turban, sat on
 
 102 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 a stone at the door of the house, and at some 
 little distance the servants were making a meal 
 of the remains of a repast of which the travel- 
 lers had just partaken. 
 
 " It is now seven years, Signer Moro, since I 
 left Aleppo and returned to my native village." 
 
 " Seven years ! not possible," said Signor 
 Moro. " I remember my brother advising me 
 of it : how time flies ! it seems as if it were 
 yesterday." 
 
 " And exactly fifty-two years next Michael- 
 mas, since I entered the house of your respected 
 father." 
 
 "And a faithful servant you have been to 
 our house. May you live fifty-two more !" 
 
 " Wish me the units without the tens," said 
 the old man, shaking his head. " I can never 
 hope to see the city of Aleppo again." 
 
 " And no loss to you, I assure you, my 
 good Vedgeghim. Aleppo is the mere ashes 
 of its former self." 
 
 "■ No doubt," said the Armenian, " these 
 wars and battles on the high seas have sadly 
 crippled trade."
 
 ARMENIAN VILLAGE. 103 
 
 " Killed it outright, my worthy friend. I 
 wonder what the old Venetian consuls, buried 
 in your Armenian church, would say, if they 
 revisited our colony now. Aleppo is fairly 
 done for. Our few Venetian families become 
 mere impoverished Arabs, with Venetian names, 
 and as for the republic at home, we have seen 
 how the Gallic cock offered to fraternise with 
 the lion of St. Mark, and how the poor lion 
 met the fate of all that had undergone the 
 same friendly embrace." 
 
 " And what news from Europe ? " said the 
 Armenian : '' will Bonaparte conquer Germany 
 as well as Italy ?" 
 
 *' Heaven knows I should scarcely be sorry ; 
 fair play is a jewel. Our Lion was killed 
 yesterday, and the Imperial eagle has its turn 
 to-day.'' 
 
 "And when comes the turn of the Gallic 
 cock to have its neck twisted ?" 
 
 " That is another affair," said Signor Moro ; 
 " but come it must. As for Bonaparte, he 
 has no patience to wait a generaPs pension, and 
 a quiet villa in old age. Mark well my words :
 
 104 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 A cannon-ball, the guillotine, or a prison lie 
 between him and a snug old age : and you need 
 not envy Bonaparte, or any man alive, my 
 worthy Vedgeghim," continued Moro, throwing 
 aside his pipe, and yawning with outstretched 
 arms, " for this is a perfect paradise of waving 
 woods, running waters, and singing birds." 
 
 ^' I am only afraid," said the Armenian, 
 turning to Melusina, who now came out of 
 the house with his aged wife, " that the 
 wretched accommodation of our poor house is a 
 sad contrast to the marble floors and gay divans 
 of the house of the Moros in Aleppo." 
 
 " Not a word against my dear Taraf-el- 
 Gharb," said the young lady. " Have I not, 
 for months, seen nothing but our court-yard 
 walls ; or at the most, enjoyed from the. house- 
 top, a little fresh air, from which the dome of 
 the Adelieh seems pretty enough ; but then 
 that eternal muezzin, from the minaret of the 
 Bahrameey, with his doleful notes, puts me in a 
 fret when T think of the music of the woods. 
 Rest assured, your Armenian cottage is a palace 
 to me, with my charming old garden at the
 
 ARMENIAN VILLAGE. 105 
 
 back, and the snatch of sea view in front. Oh, 
 I adore this place ! " she said. 
 
 *' But a strange set of people these Nosairis 
 must be," said Moro ; on which the old 
 Armenians gave each other a slight reciprocal 
 glance of intelligence, for they had suspected, 
 during the previous summer, from various cir- 
 cumstances, that there existed a mystery in 
 relation to the young lady, which they had 
 been unable to penetrate. 
 
 " A strange set, indeed, they are," said the 
 wife of the Armenian ; '' their women are 
 bought and sold, like cattle. Sometimes, a 
 man, scant of cash, buys his wife with a cow; 
 and if she turns out contrary to expectation, 
 he returns her to the original owner, and in- 
 sists on getting back his cow again, which is 
 a much more "difficult matter to accomplish, 
 than the getting of the bride in the first in- 
 stance, for they think no more of cutting each 
 other's throats, than I think of twisting the 
 neck of a pullet." 
 
 On this, Melusina looked pensively on the 
 ground, and on the old Armenian stealing 
 
 F 5
 
 106 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 a glance at her, she turned away her head, 
 and seemed disposed, first, to re-enter the 
 cottage, but checked herself, lest she should 
 seem to have some motive for avoiding the 
 current of conversation. 
 
 " So," said Moro, " a marriage is often fol- 
 lowed, not by births, but by deaths ; but that 
 is rather an alarming account of affairs for 
 us travellers. Is there any danger to strangers 
 residing here ? '' 
 
 " Not a whit," said the Armenian ; " Mount 
 Cassius is as safe as Venice." 
 
 " Or safer still, mayhap," said Moro, " in 
 these days of French democracy." 
 
 " It is all among themselves ; they fight and 
 cut each other's throats like savages, and the 
 only sign of their not being downright heathens 
 is, that they keep the Christian feasts of Christ- 
 mas, New Year, and the Epiphany. Oh ! and 
 something else I forgot, they have Insurance 
 Companies, too," said the Armenian, laugh- 
 ing. 
 
 " Well, that looks like a little civilization," 
 said Moro ; — *' in trade do you mean .^"
 
 ARMENIAN VILLAGE. 107 
 
 " Not a bit," said the Armenian : " they 
 insure the ransom of blood, — that is to say, 
 that when a man, who has killed another, has to 
 pay a sum to the relations of the deceased, it 
 does not ruin him, but, by an average, falls on 
 the subscribers." 
 
 " Well, that is droll," said Moro. " I have 
 heard of honour among thieves, but never be- 
 fore of prudence among murderers. Can you 
 say nothing more in their favour ? Is that their 
 only art and science ? " 
 
 " No," said the Armenian, '' they coin 
 money which circulates in the mountain," 
 and, going into the cottage, brought out a 
 piaster, on which was legible, " Struck at Aln- 
 el-Croon." 
 
 " Upon my word," said Moro. " After 
 murder, illegal coinage is certainly a rise in the 
 scale of morality." 
 
 Melusina, during this conversation, made no 
 remark, but pensively looked to the ground ; 
 and the wife of the Armenian, thinking that she 
 perceived in lier air a disguised uneasiness at 
 the turn the conversation was taking, said,
 
 108 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 briskly, " For all that, they have their good 
 points ; they are exceedingly generous and hos- 
 pitable, and kind to the poor." 
 
 On this, the countenance of Melusina 
 brightened up into something like an uncon- 
 scious smile, which the old Armenian woman 
 did not fail to perceive ; and, taking Melu- 
 sina into the garden, gave her, to her palpable 
 relief, a chronological, topographical, and per- 
 sonal account of the events, of which Taraf- 
 el-Gharb had been the theatre during her 
 absence ; the births, marriages, and deaths ; 
 and in default of incidents of a more moving 
 character, including the quadrupeds within the 
 sphere of her memoirs, until household duties 
 calling her Armenian hostess to the kitchen, 
 larder, and store-room, Melusina retired to her 
 apartment. 
 
 Signor Moro had again sunk into his nap 
 under the tree, and woke up, as Khaled pranced 
 up and alighted. 
 
 " Ho ! Hamood, water to wash, and a cup 
 of coffee ! ^ cried Signor Moro, yawning. 
 '' Who is this gay cavalier ? "
 
 ARMENIAN VILLAGE. 109 
 
 '' That is Khaled, the son of the Sheikh of 
 the other village,"" said the Armenian. 
 
 " And what does he want ? " said Moro. 
 
 " To salute you,"" said the Armenian. 
 
 "Salute the devil!" said Moro; *' he will 
 be asking me, I fancy, to write to my brother 
 to speak to an effendi of Aleppo, to speak to 
 the kiahya, who must speak to the pasha, 
 who will then write to the Bey of Lattakia 
 Two hundred piasters of trouble to save him 
 fifty of Miri. Just like the rest, I fancy. 
 Ho ! Hamood, bring the water-pipe, and 
 see that the Timback is well-damped. D' ye 
 hear ? " 
 
 "No ! quite the reverse," said the Armenian, 
 " he is modest, and what is much better, he 
 always speaks the truth, but whether from 
 stupidity, or goodness of heart, I know not ; 
 for he is so shy and reserved, there is no making 
 him out."" 
 
 The young man dismounted, and telling a 
 rough looking peasant to walk his horse under 
 a walnut-tree, a little way off; he approached 
 Signor Moro, but embarrassment was unmis-
 
 110 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 takably visible, as he welcomed the Venetian 
 to Taraf-el-Gharb, and, being motioned to the 
 stone bench, he seated himself, and awaited 
 from Signor Moro a renewal of the conversa- 
 tion. But Moro, having ordered coffee for the 
 young man, and asked him three or four times 
 how he was, found it more pleasant to draw 
 out the water-pipe than to draw out the young 
 Sheikh ; the conversation dropped, and, in a 
 few minutes, Signor Moro, being of a corpulent 
 habit, and not much used to the fatigues of 
 travel, slumbered again. 
 
 The servants and the Armenian had dispersed, 
 and the young Sheikh, cautiously looking round, 
 at length fixed his eye on the window of 
 the room which Melusina occupied. He at- 
 tempted to make out from the disposition of 
 the shutters, whether she was conscious of his 
 presence ; but as he gazed she ^suddenly ap- 
 peared, and, without taking notice of him, first 
 reconnoitered the territory. Khaled no sooner 
 saw her than, satisfying himself that no one 
 was a spectator, and seeing Moro sound asleep, 
 passed the window, about to call for his horse.
 
 ARMENIAN VILLAGE. Ill 
 
 but was unable to resist the temptation of 
 lingering for a moment. 
 
 " Can we meet at midnight in the castle P"*^ 
 he whispered as lie passed. 
 
 " Yes," said she, somewhat impatiently, 
 " but do not stand here to compromise me." 
 
 On this he proceeded to the road, and, calling 
 for his horse, mounted it and rode off; and 
 when Signor Moro awoke again, the Armenian, 
 who was seated on the stone, rose and said to 
 him, " Signor Moro, I have something of the 
 most serious import to communicate to you." 
 
 " Serious,'^ said Moro, " what is it ?" 
 
 " Before I tell you," said the Armenian, '' let 
 us saunter down the road as far as the fountain, 
 our conversation here might be interrupted." 
 
 " What is all this ? " said Moro, rising and 
 leading the way out of the village. 
 
 To this the Armenian returned no answer, 
 until they arrived at a part of the road clear 
 of all the houses, when the Armenian said, 
 
 " Signor Moro, before I open my lips on this 
 matter, you must first of «11 promise me that 
 you will take no violent resolution — restrain all
 
 I1J2 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 anger, and wait twenty-four hours before you 
 act on the information I give you." 
 
 " What is all this? what is all this?'' said 
 More. 
 
 " It concerns Signora Melusina,'"' said the 
 Armenian, " but I will not open my lips on the 
 subject unless you promise me not to say a 
 word of it to her, until the lapse of twenty-four 
 hours enable you to act with perfect coolness 
 and calmness." 
 
 "Well! well! then," said Moro, "I pro- 
 mise you. What is it ? out with it at once." 
 
 " My wife and I," said the Armenian, " sus- 
 pected last year, some love affair between your 
 niece and the young Sheikh, who called upon 
 you to-day, and there is now no doubt of it." 
 
 " I hope to God," said Moro, with stern 
 hauteur, " that you may be altogether mis- 
 taken." 
 
 " I hope so, too," said the Armenian, " but 
 my wife assures me positively, that her counte- 
 nance rose and fell like a thermometer, while 
 we were conversing on the Nozairis, and that 
 while you were asleep, they had a few words
 
 ARMENIAN VILLAGE. 113 
 
 at the window, and promised to meet at the 
 castle to night, which shows a previous inter- 
 course, and fully explains a variety of circum- 
 stances which had excited suspicion. "''' 
 
 " The presumptuous scoundrel !" said Moro, 
 stopping short as he got into a violent passion, 
 even his ears becoming crimson with excite- 
 ment — " there is only one way to settle that 
 matter, and that is by shooting the scoundrel. 
 Come, let us turn back directly for my pistols." 
 
 "Stop!" said the Armenian, "you remem- 
 ber your promise." 
 
 " Too hastily given," said Moro ; '^ let us 
 return to the house directly." 
 
 "What!" said the Armenian, "do you 
 neither respect your own promise, nor my grey 
 hairs ! If the old Sheikh were to lose his son, 
 a tigress deprived of her young would be gentle- 
 ness itself compared with him — these people 
 are capable of sacking the whole village, and 
 massacring us all from the grey-bearded cripple, 
 to the sucking infant." 
 
 " Here is a pretty business!" said Moro, with 
 profound mortification. " I came to this charm-
 
 ] 14 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 ing place to enjoy myself, and forget the cares 
 of the world, for a time at least, and annoyance 
 meets me the day of my arrival." 
 
 " But here we are at the fountain," said the 
 Armenian, " taste our water and tell me what 
 you think of it." The presence of several 
 people at the well, which was the principal 
 point of attraction for the villagers after work- 
 hours, suspended the conversation ; and, the 
 shades of evening falling, they returned home.
 
 THE RENDEZVOUS. 115 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE RENDEZVOUS. 
 
 It may well be believed that Khaled was on 
 the thorns of impatience, so slowly moved the 
 hours and minutes, that it almost appeared as 
 if on that particular afternoon the horses of the 
 car of Phoebus had altered their brisk trot for a 
 walking pace. Easterns never pace an apart- 
 ment, but on this occasion no sooner had a 
 villager, who came to talk to him about any 
 small matter, been dismissed, than he walked 
 anxiously up and down, and from time to time 
 pulled out from behind his girdle a watch, 
 almost as large as the palm of his hand, and 
 nearly as thick as an egg, which he consulted 
 with the utmost anxiety. 
 
 The sun at length set, and the old sheikh
 
 116 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 returned, Khaled having descended to the 
 threshold, and, as he dismounted, kissed his 
 hand. 
 
 "How have you on your gala clothes?" 
 said his father. 
 
 " The Consular Bey has come to the Upper 
 Taraf, and I went to salute him in your name." 
 
 " And why in such a hurry ? " said the old 
 man ; " has Hamza come back from the mill ? " 
 
 '-' I think so," said Khaled. 
 
 " You think and don't know ?" said the old 
 man inquiringly. " Were you at the Mulberry- 
 hut this afternoon ? " 
 
 " No," said Khaled. 
 
 " Dreaming, as usual," said the old man ; 
 " well, if you are a bad husbandman, you 
 are a good Nosairi, and have credit with our 
 sheikhs for having a stout heart and a strong 
 arm. A commission is about to devolve on 
 you, which will require all your courage ; so 
 you must get your things ready for a long 
 journey." 
 
 " A long journey ? " said Khaled, evidently 
 taken a-back.
 
 THE RENDEZVOUS. 117 
 
 " Yes," said the old man, impatiently ; " do 
 not repeat my words, but do what you are 
 bidden." 
 
 " Upon my head," said the young man, in 
 token of obedience, putting his hand upon the 
 top of his turban. 
 
 " You will ride the brown mare to Lattakia, 
 where Sheikh Saim will find you a vessel for 
 either Rosetta, Damietta, or Alexandria. Here 
 are the names of our nation in these places," 
 continued the old sheikh, taking out of his 
 breast a greasy black book, in which was a 
 piece of paper with the names written in it, 
 '' and they, in their turn, will put you in the 
 way of conveyance to Cairo. On your journey 
 and voyage, throw away your head if you 
 choose, but never throw away an indiscreet 
 word, nor even a quarter of a word, for it may 
 produce a resonance in the minds of the enemies 
 of our nation, which may help them to the 
 other three quarters. Thus is the business of 
 the i;iation to be marred. When you arrive at 
 Cairo, ask for Sheikh Abd-el-Aziz, on the 
 Halidge, near Bab-el-Hark ; and here my in-
 
 118 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 structions stop. Do what you are bidden ; and 
 be in his hands a machine, with eyes to see, 
 ears to hear, feet to walk, and hands to strike ; 
 but have no will but his will. Thus will his 
 single will have double ears, eyes, feet, and 
 hands, apart from those wherein his will has 
 its dwelling ; thus is the business of our nation 
 to be done ; and remember that all is dust in 
 the balance, compared with the furthering of 
 the business of our nation. Take leave of your 
 mother, as if going to Lattakia ; not a word of 
 Egypt and a lengthened absence." 
 
 A flood of tears was the answer of the youth 
 to his parent, and Khaled passed the evening 
 in his preparations for the morrow, and in 
 serving his father during the evening meal, 
 who, about to part with his son for a period, 
 changed his habitual gruifness into kindness.. — 
 consoled his mother for his prospective absence, 
 and where the minutes before sunset seemed 
 hours, the hours after sunset flew like minutes, 
 — such a material bustle and confusion of ideas 
 had this project of a distant journey produced 
 on him. His last orders were to have his horse
 
 THE RENDEZVOUS. 119 
 
 ready by the cockcrow, and it was eleven 
 o'clock before the family retired to rest ; every 
 human being and quadruped in the village 
 having been asleep an hour before. 
 
 His father slept with the Hareem in the 
 lower apartment, but Khaled occupied the 
 strange apartment above, which we have al- 
 ready described, and waiting for another half 
 hour, he quietly descended the steps, crossed 
 a narrow paved court on tiptoe, drew back a 
 large wooden bolt of a door leading to the 
 mulberry garden behind, and passing through 
 it, looked across a broad open space that inter- 
 vened between it and the wood, but as the 
 moon was bright, he thought it prudent to see 
 that all was clear before he leaped the wall. 
 He seemed to hear a rustling of leaves behind, 
 but listening again, he supposed it to be a 
 movement of the tethered ass in the neighbour- 
 ing paddock ; he then got quietly over the 
 wall, walked rapidly across the steep open 
 space, and entering the wood, walked to the 
 mound that led to the castle ; so that shortly 
 before midnight, he descended the dry fosse
 
 120 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 overgrown with shrubs, and after a few yards 
 of steep ascent, entered the great portal of the 
 castle. 
 
 A drawbridge had formerly spanned this 
 interval, but, for a couple of centuries at least, 
 the castle had been abandoned, in consequence 
 of an explosion of its powder magazine. Two 
 massive square towers, showing even in the 
 moonlight alternate layers of black and light- 
 coloured stone, indicated an Eastern taste in 
 castle building ; but above the gate was a 
 shield, on which might be seen by daylight 
 three rams' heads on a field of Or, the arms 
 of the Count Perignac de la Rochebrune— one 
 of the first crusaders who encamped under the 
 walls of Antioch, and whose descendants held 
 this castle above a half century. A bold irre- 
 gular line of towers and battlements encircled 
 the rock, except where the explosion had blown 
 huge and still firmly adhering masses of pro- 
 digiously thick wall into the moat below ; and 
 within this ring of battlements was a roofless 
 square edifice, the interior of which formed a 
 court or cloister, with a multitude of slender
 
 THE RENDEZVOUS. \2l 
 
 little twisted columns, clearly showing that 
 here a monastery of the Lower Empire must 
 have existed before the castle was built,- for 
 at one end of it was a small Greek basilica of 
 a very remote period. 
 
 Khaled paced the pavement of the cloister 
 which was incumbered with fragments of ma- 
 sonry, until at length a female form ap- 
 peared, and, advancing, he took both the hands 
 of Melusina in his own. The lovers, after 
 a long absence, now met in those very se- 
 questered precincts, where they had first pledged 
 their vows — the air calm without heat, clear 
 without chill, was all that could be desired 
 by the votaries of a romantic love — even the 
 vestal radiance of the moon smiled wooingly 
 on the scene, and a silver Nile cloud rather 
 adorned than obscured the perspicuity of the 
 heavens. They forthwith commenced cooing, 
 like turtle doves, but the faithful narrator does 
 not deem it necessary to relate the whole of 
 the conversation ; for love-making, although the 
 most poetical part of real life, is generally the 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 122 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 most prosy part of romantic biography, and 
 love being somewhat too indulgent a critic for 
 the general reader, estimates rather the be- 
 loved speaker than the abstract value of the 
 spoken. 
 
 *'0h, Khaled! Khaled ! " said Melusina, 
 " what a fright you gave me to-day, by speak- 
 ing at the window. You must never risk such 
 a tiling again." 
 
 " Well, I will not," said Khaled, " but the 
 sight of you, after such an absence, made my 
 head turn, and I forgot myself ; but nobody 
 saw or heard a word. Need I tell you, that 
 not a day has elapsed since your departure, 
 in which your sweet image has not been pre- 
 sent to my mind. You remember the wide- 
 spreading tree, where we first looked at each 
 other, and felt that each had found the mys- 
 tery of sympathy. As its leaves in autumn 
 faded and fell, my mind became a prey to 
 doubt and melancholy ; but soon the spring 
 came, and each tender leaf that budded was 
 a time-keeper that seemed to quicken your 
 return. Oh ! think me not a fool that such
 
 THE RENDEZVOUS. 123 
 
 small matters occupied me. Your departure 
 left a gap, aud I filled it with a dream of 
 my own ; but I suppose," continued he, taking 
 familiarly hold of her ear, " that in Aleppo 
 you had a thousand amusements to make you 
 forget your poor Khaled." 
 
 "Come," said she, sportively repelling his 
 arm, " you are fishing for a compliment, and 
 a declaration of my love. Well, I will dis- 
 appoint you — shall I ? No ! poor Khaled ! 
 the truth is best after all. I abhor Aleppo 
 with its endless gossiping and dull tittle-tattle, 
 and as I saw the bare peak of Cassius from 
 a turn in the road, my heart bounded with 
 delight ! Now, there is for you ! What more 
 can I say ? " 
 
 " Generous maid," said Khaled, " to think 
 of me who am a mere barbarian ! " 
 
 "But who yet has managed to make a Frank 
 lady forget all the saloons of Aleppo, and look 
 forward to be his wedded wife." 
 
 " Can I ever," said Khaled, tenderly taking 
 her hand, " forget your resolution, the incon- 
 venience in which I involve you with your own 
 
 G 2
 
 124 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 people, and even, perhaps, the danger you run 
 from vindictive relatives."" 
 
 " Inconvenience there certainly must be," 
 said Melusina, " but danger there is none in 
 my case ; and even if there were, have I not 
 love enough in me to make me brave both 
 danger and difficulty? And you,*" continued 
 she, " what would happen to you if your nation 
 knew about the volume I have procured you ? " 
 
 " Good soul ! do not ask me,"' said Khaled. 
 " What should you say — nay, do not be 
 alarmed, for I am cautious enough — what 
 should you say, if my body were to be hacked 
 into as many fragments as that shattered roof 
 which lies on the ground ? "*' 
 
 The church had in dead stillness re-echoed 
 these words, but scarce had Khaled spoken, 
 when a sound, as of a step near where they 
 sat, caused both to rise in some apprehension 
 of a stranger, but no human form appeared, 
 and a large owl flying out of a resting place, 
 fluttered about the basilica, and making a circle 
 round the heads of the lovers, settled on a 
 perch in the darker part of the moonlit court,
 
 THE RENDEZVOUS. 125 
 
 its eyes gleaming in the distant gloom. The 
 footstep was that of the father of Khaled, 
 silently and secretly mounting, bare-foot, the 
 narrow turnpike stair behind the altar, to an 
 opening near the partly shattered dome, from 
 which he listened to all that passed with the 
 true secretiveness of his nation, which does not 
 stickle at the unhandsome, even when standing 
 on the strong ground of justifiable authority : 
 for he had no sooner, at the approach of mid- 
 night, by accident, seen Khaled leap the garden 
 wall, than suspecting some sinister purpose, he 
 determined to fathom the mystery. 
 
 " Be tranquil," said Khaled, " you see it is 
 only that bird which will tell no tales, even 
 if it understood every word we said. Nine 
 months ago I should have reckoned this an 
 evil omen, but that book which you gave me 
 has cast a new light upon all things."" 
 
 " Thunder rive and earthquake swallow the 
 impious swine ! " muttered the old Sheikh to 
 himself, as shuddering he made a violent effort 
 to contain a burst of frenzied anger, and suc- 
 ceeded in this only by the force of long ex-
 
 126 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 ercised habits of self-control and dissimulation, 
 which the profession of a secret religion ne- 
 cessarily teaches under a great variety of cir- 
 cumstances. " Oh ! Ali-el-Ala," continued he, 
 that ever I should have begotten such a son 
 as this ! " 
 
 " And tell me,'*'' said Melusina, " have you 
 continued to read, with pleasure and profit, the 
 book I gave you ? " 
 
 '* Indeed I have," said Khaled, " in the 
 nooks of the hills, far from the presence of 
 men, I have read and pondered, long doubted, 
 and then firmly believed in the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 " Out upon thee ! — out upon thee ! — out 
 upon thee ! " said the old Sheikh to himself in 
 shuddering whispers, while a transport of fury 
 and astonishment traversed his darkened soul. 
 " Oh, Khaled, Khaled, I have done with thee ! 
 — I have done with thee ! Oh, heaven and 
 earth ! where were your fires to blind his eyes, 
 and thunder-claps to crack his ear-drums, 
 rather than let it come to this ? Oh God ! 
 my reason wanders."
 
 THE RENDEZVOUS. 127 
 
 "Khaled, beware/' said Melusina, "do 
 not incline to the religion of the cross, if it 
 recommends itself only through my persua- 
 sions. Love or hate of the adviser has much 
 to do with the reception of the advices of this 
 world. What would you have said of the 
 Gospels, if given you by your bitterest foe ? " 
 
 " There is nothing," said Khaled, " in the 
 whole world like the naked truth, I should 
 say. Allah has given me the understanding 
 mind, and these are the words of truth ; Jesus 
 died on the cross to testify to the truth, and 
 the Testament of Jesus is the only true 
 gospel."" 
 
 " I have no son," said the Sheikh to himself, 
 in pensive bitterness ; *' the Khaled, I knew, 
 is gone — lost to me — dead ! — dead ! — dead ! 
 Oh, Ali-el-Ala, hear my prayers ! " 
 
 " But, Oh ! " said Khaled to Melusina, 
 straits, terrors, and difficulties beset me at 
 every step. I have a father and mother" — 
 here he wept — " whom I tenderly love. For 
 the temporal interests of the Nosairi nation, 
 I am ready to lay down life itself. Nation,
 
 1^8 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 family — these are also religions in which the 
 heart has the better of the head." 
 
 '*' My prayer is heard," said the old man to 
 himself ; " the lamp still glimmers. " 
 
 " And what prospect," said Melusina, " is 
 there of an accomplishment of our vows — how 
 are these difficulties to be got over ? " 
 
 " God will provide," said Khaled ; " at pre- 
 sent all is dark, to-morrow will see me depart 
 from hence on business that must be dispatched ; 
 but until my return you will ever remain pre- 
 sent to my mind." 
 
 *' To-morrow !" said Melusina, starting: 
 " Where do you go .?" 
 
 " Sweet girl ! ask me neither where, nor how 
 long, nor on what business I go ; circumstances, 
 over which I have no control, call me away ; 
 but here in this Christian temple I solemnly 
 vow, to be at your call — your wedded bride- 
 groom ; but as yet I do not see my way 
 clearly." 
 
 " I can wait — I can wait," said Melusina. 
 " I am yours when you will, and confide in 
 you more easily than I confide in myself;
 
 THE RENDEZVOUS. 1:29 
 
 and in good time we may find the road before 
 us a broad and a straight one; so now good 
 night ! I can easily find my way to the foot- 
 path — every soul in our village is asleep ; so 
 take no heed of me. Adieu ! "" 
 
 Khaled then led her across the court-yard, 
 and she wended her way down the dark shady 
 path to the back of her garden ; but on his 
 return half-way back to the mound, he heard the 
 gruff well-known voice of his father, sitting at 
 the edge of the moat, pronounce his name. 
 
 " Where are you goin^-?" said the father. 
 
 " To our own house,"* said Khaled. 
 
 " To hell," said his father, " as fast as you 
 can go ! "" 
 
 Khaled remained perfectly silent. 
 
 *' If your body," continued the Sheikh, " was 
 hacked in a thousand pieces, and the remains 
 thrown to the vultures, you would be treated bet- 
 ter than your deserts. There is a purse — let not 
 the rising sun find you in Taraf-el-Gharb ; go 
 to the land of Egypt, and remember that you 
 never see the face, or hear the voice of me or 
 mine until your mind be purified ; — as for me 
 
 G 5
 
 ISO THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 I must moan in secret until I hear far cliiFerent 
 accounts of you than my ears have heard to- 
 night." 
 
 With these words he threw a leathern purse 
 on the ground, which Khaled picked up ; and 
 then advancing, would have taken the old 
 man's hand to kiss, but the father hastily with- 
 drew it, and pointing sternly to the village, 
 added the simple monosyllable, "Go!" and 
 giving way to a burst of grief, buried his face 
 in his hands. 
 
 Khaled, overwhelmed with grief and confu- 
 sion, silently took the road home ; and, unable 
 to repose, called his man ; and his saddle- 
 bags being ready packed, he took a hasty and 
 painful adieu of his mother, and mounted his 
 horse. The moon shone on his way — the sun 
 rose in the east, and Cassius was left behind ; 
 but Khaled was unconscious of land or sea, and 
 answered mechanically to the observations of 
 his man ; who, full of animal spirits, carolled 
 away song after song ; and, disappointed that 
 even his most flattering observations failed to 
 procure notice, began secretly to wonder what 
 he could have said or done to oiiend him ; and
 
 THE RENDEZVOUS. 131 
 
 at last, having concluded that the displeasure 
 arose from the favourite brown mare not hav- 
 ing been sufficiently curried, his formal apology 
 and excuse for the supposed cause of Khaled's 
 moroseness, was the first circumstance that re- 
 called him to the realities of his journey. The 
 morning advancing, the sun began to be op- 
 pressive, and they entered a khan with a 
 veranda of dried leaves, within a couple of 
 hours of Lattakia. Here breakfast was brought 
 in in the shape of flat cakes of bread, delicious 
 grapes, good cheese presented on vine leaves, 
 and coffee without sugar or milk. But Khaled 
 had as little appetite for material food as for the 
 whimsical humours of his man ; and the west- 
 erly sea-breeze getting up about ten o'clock, 
 they remounted, and by mid-day arrived at Lat- 
 takia ; and on the same evening a vessel offering 
 for Jaffa, he embarked for that port, whence there 
 are daily departures for Damietta ; but having 
 suffered so severely in his first sea-voyage, and 
 learning at Jaffa that by proceeding to Gaza he 
 could easily fall in with a caravan for Cairo, he 
 preferred crossing the desert to taking another 
 sea- voyage.
 
 \S2 THE MAiMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE KHALIDGE. 
 
 A DEEP narrow canal, withdrawn from the 
 Nile and bordered by high houses, makes a 
 semicircular course through the heart of the 
 city, and returns again to the Nile. In some 
 places a narrow quay intervenes between the 
 houses and the water ; but in most places, as in 
 the Venetian canals, the lattices of the houses 
 overlook the w^ater. During the high inunda- 
 tion, that is to say, in August, September, and 
 October, instead of the stagnant saline green 
 of the Venetian canal, the swollen waters of the 
 Halidge of Cairo, reaching from house- wall to 
 house-wall, rush through with a roaring, turbid 
 rapidity ; but in spring and early summer, 
 when the Nile is low, the Halidge is a damp,
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE KHALIDGE. 133 
 
 gloomy, loathsome ditch, and the houses that 
 border it subject to fever. 
 
 In a small narrow house near Bab-el-Hark, 
 was a lattice, at which sat an old man about an 
 hour before sunset, on the day that Khaled 
 was let out of prison ; — from his bulk and sta- 
 ture he must have been a giant half a generation 
 before ; majesty sat on his boldly chiselled fea- 
 tures ; but his sunken cheeks, fringed by a 
 milk white beard, and his curved back, denoted 
 extreme old age. Such was Abd-el-Aziz-el- 
 Gebely, the Old Man of the Mountain resident 
 in Cairo, to whom Khaled was recommended 
 by his father ; for he did not think it neces- 
 sary, even after the scene in the castle, to 
 alter the disposition for his son^^s departure, 
 and this for various reasons, — first, because he 
 was ignorant of the precise service for which 
 Khaled was designed, it being sufficient to him 
 that it was on the business of the nation ; and 
 secondly, it was his wish that Khaled should 
 be removed from a connexion which the father 
 believed to be more human than religious ; and 
 that when once engaged in the business of the
 
 134 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 nation, his love would pass away, and with it 
 the strange doctrines insinuated by so fair an 
 apostle ; and as he could have no comfort in his 
 domestic interior as long as Khaled remained 
 in a temper of mind such as he avowed to the 
 girl he loved, his absence in another country 
 seemed to afford the best issue from a compli- 
 cation so shocking to the old man'^s feelings. 
 
 The room in which Abd-el-Aziz sat was 
 shabby ; an old brown mat covered the floor, 
 in one corner of which was some rolled-up 
 bedding, while the projecting window that hung 
 over the canal, showed symptoms of rottenness 
 from gnawing humidity, that made one doubt 
 if the seat which commanded a view up and 
 down the Halidge, was a safe one. There, 
 however, he had sat almost every day for above 
 half a century at the same hour. He filled a 
 long pipe, without a mouth-piece, with tobacco, 
 while his one-eyed great-grand- daughter pre- 
 pared his dinner ; which, before sunset, was 
 served on a little round stool, covered with a 
 tray, and consisted only of a dish of vegetables 
 and some butter, with a flat cake and a pitcher
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE KHALIDGE. 135 
 
 of water, kept cool by being of porous potters'* 
 earth. 
 
 When he had ended, and washed his hands, 
 the one eyed great-grand-daughter retired into 
 the other apartment to dine alone. — And just 
 after sunset a knock was heard at the street- 
 door, — to which the grand-daughter answered in 
 a shrill voice, with the question — "Who is it r " 
 And on a rude masculine voice answering, " Mah- 
 mood," the door was opened, and a man stone- 
 blind, but decently dressed, with a clean white 
 turban, and a long stick in his right hand, and 
 a pipe in his left, groped his way up the stair- 
 case and passages, and entering the rooms 
 saluted the old man as if he had a perfect 
 vision, slipped off his shoes at the door and, ad- 
 vancing, sat down beside the patriarch at the 
 w^ndow, where they exchanged salutations. 
 
 "This is an accursed summer," said Mah- 
 mood ; " this is the first cool day we have had, 
 and I shall have some sleep at last, for I have 
 had very little these three months with this 
 excessive heat." 
 
 " As for me," said the old man, with a sigh,
 
 136 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 " I doubt my remaining long in a human form, 
 and imagine that my soul must be transmigrated 
 according to the will of the Most High Ali. I, 
 Mahmood, have had enough of this shape. In 
 youth a giant in health and strength, but now 
 years press heavily on me, and I seek to rest — 
 my offspring being all dead except that poor girl, 
 but the condition of the rest of the people of Ali 
 does not satisfy me, — the wealthiest member of 
 our nation an apostate, and although the taking 
 of his blood be lawful, none of our young men 
 with the courage to strike the blow, and Salih 
 more intent on getting his wealth than on vin- 
 dicating the purity of our faith and the great 
 principle of holding the nation together." 
 
 At this moment a loud knock was heard at 
 the door, and the piping treble of the grand- 
 daughter cried Men — Who? — at the littl? carved 
 bole opening on the street, when a strange voice 
 was heard to ask — if this was the house of 
 Abd-el-Aziz-el-Gebely. Being answered affir- 
 matively, the new-comer gave his name as 
 Khaled-ebn-Zobar, on which the door was 
 opened, and Khaled being shown up stairs en-
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE KHALIDGE. 187 
 
 tered and, salutinof Abd-el-Aziz the Old Man of 
 the Mountain, was warmly received by him 
 and seated beside him ; then casting a look 
 to the blind man, convinced himself that he was 
 so, and to satisfy himself that the individual he 
 was really addressing was the Patriarch, took 
 hold, as if carelessly, of the lobe of his left ear, 
 and the signal being answered by the old man 
 arranging his turban — Khaled took off his own 
 turban, and pulling out an inner red fez, cut a 
 letter sewed by a few stitches to the interior of 
 the crown, and presented it to the old man, 
 which he read, and which was simply couched 
 as follows : — 
 
 (After compliments), " This is our son Khaled, 
 whom we recommend to you with our greeting, 
 as fit to be employed on any service you may 
 choose. In various encounters he has shown 
 his courage and fearlessness of death, — and has 
 received our orders to give implicit obedience 
 to whatever instructions you may give him. 
 
 " The tobacco this year has not been so good 
 or so plentiful in quantity as in other years; but 
 to preserve in evenness the scale of destiny,
 
 138 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 we have only felt the tail of the earthquake, the 
 body of which fell so severely on other parts of 
 the coast, so that not a single house has received 
 even a crack. 
 
 " We all salute you, and may God veil you 
 with the Graceful Veil. 
 (Signed), 
 
 " YoUSSOUF OF THE BeNI ZoBAR."" 
 
 " All honour to him and to thee," said the 
 old man, " we are both of the faithful, and that 
 is our brother and friend Mahmood." 
 
 "Marhaba! — salutations to you," said the 
 blind man, "and welcome to the land of Egypt. 
 We often wondered if the faithful in the moun- 
 tain remembered us, but thanks to the High 
 AH thou hast come, and his business shall be 
 forwarded.'' 
 
 "In the mean time," said the old man, "as 
 you are come off a journey you must be hungry 
 and thirsty. Coffee, oh, girl, and a chibouque: 
 and now what will you eat — an omelet and a 
 kabab and parsley from the cook-shop ? " 
 
 " No," said Khaled, " I am neither hungry
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE KHALIDGE. 139 
 
 nor thirsty, having eaten with an acquaintance 
 I met on my arrival." 
 
 " And pray tell me," said the old man, " how 
 is your father? I recollect him well fifty years 
 ago— a handsome man, and with as firm a seat 
 in his saddle, as a bold and sure a hand at the 
 djereed ; but time spares neither mountaineer 
 nor citizen." 
 
 " You have spoken the truth," said Khaled, 
 " my father is on the downward road, but he 
 enjoys good health, and our mountain air and 
 water conduce to longevity." 
 
 " Talk of the air as you choose," said the old 
 man ; '' but say nothing against the Nile 
 water ; talking of it puts me in mind of drink- 
 ing it." 
 
 So going to a crevice or niche cut out in the 
 wall, in which were drinking utensils, a place 
 just like the almeries of our old English con- 
 ventual architecture, he took a long pull at one 
 of the porous water jars, and sitting down again, 
 the one-eyed grand-daughter now entered with a 
 pipe for Khaled. 
 
 *' And how go the politics of the mountain.^"
 
 J 40 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 said the old man : " we have repeatedly heard 
 of your daring bravery/' 
 
 " Just as usual," said Khaled, embarrassed ; 
 " I did my duty to my own nation. Selim 
 Bey of Lattakia came with such a swarm of 
 Kurds, Arnaouts, and other cut-throats, that all 
 the villages were in an uproar ; so we had no 
 resource but to rise, and the Bey being well 
 beaten, and unable to send fresh funds to Tri- 
 poli, he was forthwith overhauled by the Pasha 
 at the advice of his Saraf, with whom he was 
 dreadfully in arrear, and on whose standing at the 
 Porte he entirely depended, so an accommoda- 
 tion took place, the obnoxious impost was taken 
 oft ; but what we gained with our blood on the 
 hill side we lost with our intestine divisions. 
 The old jealousy between Sheikh Hamid and 
 Sheikh Hussein broke out, and the end of the 
 matter is, that they betrayed each other, and are 
 now in prison at Tripoli." 
 
 "Deplorable," said the old man, "but while 
 you in the mountain are so careless of concord 
 in political matters, and know nothing of discord 
 on those matters most interesting to the hearts
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE KHALIDGE. 141 
 
 of the faithful, we have here in Cairo a case 
 of abandonment of the interests of our co-re- 
 ligionists that demands a treatment as well 
 devised in plan as promj^t and bold in execution. 
 A hundred thousand souls dwell between the 
 four seas of the world, and yet, although the 
 true faith of Ali-el-Ala be possessed by so few, 
 one has been found so deluded as to subtract not 
 only himself but his progeny from our com- 
 munion, and you are come at the right time to 
 serve the faithful. His goods have been directed 
 from his true brethren like a river turned aside 
 into the desert, and away from its natural 
 channel, and now the hour of vengeance is at 
 hand. A curse on all apostates, and their sons, 
 and their sons' sons." 
 
 '" A curse on them," said the blind man, with 
 his face contracted to a most repulsive expres- 
 sion, his white eyes, and fearful crimson eye-lids, 
 partaking of his anger and fanaticism, as he 
 swung his head twice as rapidly as before. 
 
 '* AVe were in expectation," said the old man, 
 *' that if Ebn-Daoud, the. apostate in question, 
 had had no issue, his wealth, in the natural
 
 142 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 course of things, would have gone to his rela- 
 tions, but the birth of a son, when least expected, 
 and the prospect of his education in the faith of 
 the Moslems, have made us come to a resolu- 
 tion that the punishment which is due must now 
 fall on him. Not one of the faithful residents 
 here could undertake anything against him 
 without the certainty of detection, but with 
 you the case is different. — You are an utter 
 stranger in Cairo, and can execute whatever we 
 plan without the fear of being discovered. This 
 letter speaks of your fearlessness. You know 
 not Cairo sufficiently well for that purpose as 
 yet ; but we will put you in the sure way of 
 getting others to assist, who understand the 
 business perfectly, and will do it surely ; but in 
 case they are subsequently caught — you, the 
 link intervening between us and them, will be 
 utterly awanting, for when you get back to the 
 bald-pated mountain (Mount Cassius) they will 
 vainly seek to get at us. As for those that do 
 the deed — what befals infidel Moslems does not 
 concern us."
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE KHALIDGE. 143 
 
 " And tell me," said Khaled, " what were the 
 circumstances of his apostasy." 
 
 "His father died when he was a stripling, 
 and just a few weeks before he should have 
 made his probation of fitness for receiving the 
 mysteries of our faith. On his death-bed, his 
 father said to me, — ' You, Sheikh Abd-el-Aziz, 
 ^vill take my son into the desert, and there in 
 solitude, removed from the hum of man, when 
 the mind is like the clay in the hand of the 
 potter, shall fashion it to receive, and never 
 exude the ehxir of truth.' But the wishes of the 
 father were never fulfilled, and at his death the 
 property got into the hands of the Cadi's court, 
 and the son was weaned, alienated, and made to 
 beheve that his father was of a fabricated and un- 
 true religion ; his ears were poisoned against us, 
 and he estranged himself from our small and faith- 
 ful band ; and all this through one Sheikh Saim, a 
 cunning and plausible Moslem, and as fanatic as 
 plausible, who, on account of his father's wealth, 
 wished him to marry his daughter. But time 
 will show that the apostasy is neither forgotten
 
 144 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 nor forgiven, and that his substance belongs to 
 the Nosairis." 
 
 " We have often,^' said Khaled, " heard the 
 affair talked of in the mountain, and our elders 
 have said that fifty years have nearly elapsed 
 since a renegation of our faith took place."'' 
 
 " It is true," said the old man, " that was 
 Hair-Allah-el-Salahieh, who got his quietus 
 in the mosque of Omeia, in Damascus. He 
 thought to silence our people, who threatened 
 him for breaking off connection, by saying that 
 he would denounce them to the Mufti. The 
 same night after the prayer Eshia, he fell at 
 the foot of a pillar with a knife stuck in his 
 back." 
 
 " But was the man that did the deed not 
 discovered ? " 
 
 '* No ; the gates were ordered to be shut im- 
 mediately, and all the worshippers examined, to 
 see if they had blood-stained sleeves, or fingers, 
 but no man was found in this predicament. He 
 had pierced a double sheet of paper up to the 
 hilt, which served as a sort of guard, and al- 
 though every hand in the mosque, w^as examined,
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE KHALIDGE. 145 
 
 not a drop of blood was found, and it was only 
 known to the three who formed the committee 
 of the faithful." 
 
 " And tell me,'' said Khaled, " how is the 
 business to be done ? " 
 
 " With an instrument, smooth as the razor 
 of a barber. If you have a piece of ugly work 
 to do you must have the dirk, the pistol, and 
 the fearless arm of an Arnaout ; — if a delicate 
 piece of business, with fine cunning and little 
 personal danger, a Gipsy is the man."*' 
 
 " And where are these men to be found ; 
 and are you sure they will undertake the 
 job?" 
 
 " We know the men fit for the affair, but 
 they know not us, and must not know us ; and 
 as for you, by the time any thing came out, you 
 would be far enough distant from the banks of 
 the Nile. Salih, our third committee man for 
 this business, will give you full instructions and 
 information ; and, moreover, at the fitting time 
 be your guide through the streets and localities 
 of Cairo, with which you must be as yet un- 
 familiar." 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 *' And who," said Khaled, " is the apostate 
 that is to be struck ? '' 
 
 " Ebn-Daoud-Shah-Bandar-et-Tudgar," said 
 the Old Man of the Mountain : " but you must 
 be sleepy ; take a sound nighfs rest, and to- 
 morrow we will talk further of the affair. " 
 
 So ended the conference, and at an early 
 hour Khaled was shown to bed, by no means 
 pleased with the commission about to devolve 
 on him.
 
 SHEIKH CASSIM. 147 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SHEIKH CASSIM. 
 
 We must now return to Slieikh Cassim, who 
 relieved Khaled from prison, and who is, in the 
 course of this narrative, so frequently a spec- 
 tator and actor in the events narrated, that it 
 may be as well, before proceeding farther, to 
 lay before the reader all that I have been able 
 to collect respecting him, both from the large 
 mass of documentary matter to which I got 
 access and from the accounts given me of him 
 by several aged persons still residing in Cairo, 
 the principal of whom, I am proud to say, is 
 my respected and venerable friend Sheikh Hus- 
 sein-el-Mebergi, whose word is well known to 
 all in Cairo to be his bond. 
 
 Sheikh Cassim was one of the most consider- 
 
 H 2
 
 148 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 able merchants in Cairo, and a large importer 
 of gums, ivory, ostrich feathers, and gold-dust. 
 The reputation of wealth was at that time 
 dangerous, but Cassim enjoyed, for many years 
 previously, the protection of Morad Bey and 
 Ibrahim Bey. The prodigality and hospitality 
 of the former, contrasting with the more cal- 
 culating avarice of the latter, his rival and 
 partner in the Mameluke government of Egypt 
 during the period that preceded the French 
 invasion ; and Morad Bey was often in pecu- 
 niary straits in spite of the frequent and glaring 
 extortions of the system : and the ready re- 
 source of the loans and advances of Cassim, 
 taught him that it would have been bad policy 
 to kill the goose to get at the golden egg. Cassim 
 being, moreover, a man of great benevolence, 
 piety, and charity, and closely allied to the 
 chief Ulema, he had a position which produced 
 a certain awe of him in the minds of the Ma- 
 melukes, — as unprincipled an oligarchy as ever 
 tyrannized over an unhappy country. 
 
 Sheikh Cassim's town-house was in the Mer- 
 goosh, which has neither the gloomy solitude
 
 SHEIKH CASSIM. 149 
 
 of the southern part of the city where the 
 Turkish Grandees reside, nor the squalid bustle 
 of the quarters of the poor. No attempt at 
 regularity is in the least degree observable in 
 the construction of the houses : some high, some 
 low, some old ones, showing lintels and door- 
 ways covered with the greatest ingenuity, and 
 all with wooden lattices symmetrically pierced 
 with holes instead of windows. The street is 
 about from twenty to twenty-five feet wide, 
 which is a considerable breadth for a Cairo 
 thoroughfare. At the top of the street going 
 in the direction of the mountain, is a bazar for 
 the sale of boorks, or veils, and other feminine 
 paraphernalia; and at the other end, in the 
 opposite direction, is the Bab-es-Shareey, a robust 
 and ponderous gate, which in the days of the 
 first Fatimite Caliphs, was the limit of the city 
 in the direction of the Nile. 
 
 Here are no mercers and merchants, but the 
 petty tradesmen of the neighbourhood. The 
 baker, with his dark oven, which he aliments 
 from time to time with straw ; the grocer with 
 his dates ; the dairy-man with sleeves tucked up
 
 150 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 to the elbow, handling jars of clarified but- 
 ter and bowls of caimac-cream and curdled' 
 milk ; the shop walls and counters lined with 
 Damascus porcelain. There, too, is the attar, 
 or druggist, who sells coffee ; but, unlike the 
 dairy-man, who laughs loud and talks slang 
 and obscenity with the barber and butcher when 
 they pass ; — he is a quiet respectable-looking 
 old man, with a green turban and a pair of 
 spectacles which clasp on his nose, and he reads 
 the Koran aloud in the street, bending his head 
 like a man rowing a boat : habit and the 
 clasped spectacles giving him a strong nasal 
 twang. 
 
 Between these two bazars on the left 
 side of the street, going up, is the mosque 
 of the neighbourhood, the G iama-el-Ghamry , 
 painted in alternate stripes of white and red, 
 and having a hanging minaret like the Tower of 
 Pisa, while attached to it are apartments where 
 the ulema from the small towns of the district, 
 to the east of the Delta of the Nile, alight. But 
 a still more remarkable object than the hanging 
 tower, is the black stone in the mosque, which
 
 SHEIKH CASSIM. 151 
 
 in many cases has proved highly conducive to 
 connubial fertility. 
 
 Sheikh Cassira had only one wife, Sitt 
 Wurdy, who had some remains of beauty. 
 All her affections were concentrated on her 
 son, who, about three months previous to the 
 events we have narrated in the previous chap- 
 ters, had just completed his fifth year, when 
 it became necessary to think of sending him 
 to school. Sitt Wurdy was for a fackth (pro- 
 nounced fooky) or private tutor ; but Sheikh 
 Cassim decided for the master of a scholastic 
 fountain not far from the Mergoosh, who was 
 a protege of Sheik Cassim, and frequently had 
 asked when the boy would receive his minis- 
 trations. So one day the Sheikh took his son 
 to the fountain of Abderrahman Kiahia, one 
 of the last of those magnificent souls who 
 covered Cairo with so many of those striking 
 and curious monuments, which have rendered 
 this city, for the quantity of excellent masonry, 
 not only superior to every other city of the 
 East, but possibly the most remarkable one in 
 the world, with the exception of Venice.
 
 152 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 A vast window, with a bronze grating bor- 
 dered with tracery, so florid that it might be 
 called an Oriental translation of Henry the 
 Seventh's Chapel at Westminster, occupied a 
 corner where two bazars forked off. Here a 
 black pipe-bearing boy and a beggar in rags, 
 without a turban and wearing only a coarse 
 grey skull-cap, were quenching their thirst, 
 while above, or, as we would say, on the first 
 floor, was the loud noise of a school of boys 
 — the Scholastic Fountain, erected by the cha- 
 ritable Abderrahraan Kiahia — opening the 
 fountains of knowledge to the youthful mind, 
 quenching the thirst of material bodies with 
 the water of the Nile, and adorning Cairo 
 with an architectural monument, neither Greek, 
 Roman, Moorish, nor Turkish, but of a style 
 of its own — the ne plus ultra of quaint lux- 
 uriant phantasy. 
 
 Sheikh Cassim, accompanied by little Hahl, 
 went up a narrow staircase, panting and lei- 
 surely, for years and corpulence began to weigh 
 heavily upon him, and piloted by the loud 
 chorus of lesson-readers, he entered the prim-
 
 SHEIKH CASSTM. 153 
 
 ary school, a large apartment with lofty roof. 
 Mats of various colours covered the ground, 
 some new — bright and yellow some old, dark 
 and brown, on which sat twenty or thirty 
 boys, from six to ten years of age, all bowing 
 in regular time, and reading some extracts from 
 the Koran, or copying letters on wooden boards. 
 The master and three or four monitors were at 
 lunch when Sheikh Cassim entered, eating boiled 
 lentiles, sprinkled with onions fried in fat, which 
 diffused an odour through the apartment, that 
 would have almost overpowered a European ; 
 but no sooner did the schoolmaster see Sheikh 
 Cassim, than he suddenly rose, laid aside the 
 dinner on the stool, and, quickly washing his 
 hands, welcomed the new arrivals, and little 
 Halil, half dead with terror at so many eyes 
 directed to him, was installed as a pupil. 
 
 The master then called up one of his best 
 pupils to read, as a vspecimen. He was about 
 nine years of age, and first respectfully kissed 
 the hand of Sheikh Cassim and the school- 
 master, then squatted himself cross-legged, and 
 swinging his head began to read. The appro- 
 
 H 5
 
 154 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 bation of Sheikh Cassim, and the gift of a few 
 parahs, made the little fellow quite proud ; and 
 various other children, some with good eyes, 
 some with sore eyes, some with one eye, some 
 with no eye, and others with a slight cast, now 
 crowded round, each anxious to display his 
 reading. Thus they go on for years learning 
 words, instead of knowing the meaning, until 
 (as in Jacotofs system) some years afterwards 
 the whole veil is suddenly rent, inscrutable 
 Nature has been working mysteriously and 
 independently of volition, and the meaning 
 seems to burst upon them all at once. 
 
 When the lessons were finished, the master 
 begged Sheikh Cassim to entail a Koran on the 
 school, which was at once acceded to, and after 
 another distribution of the smallest coin. Sheikh 
 Cassim proceeded to the book-bazaar, not far 
 distant, leading off the main line of bazaars, by a 
 long narrow passage, across which was a bar of 
 wood, breast high, to prevent horse, ass, or beast 
 of burthen passing. Sheikh Cassim bent under 
 it, and entered the book-bazaar ; a dark narrow 
 court, with the houses so high, that it looked
 
 SHEIKH CASSIM. 155 
 
 a well. Ill this were five book-stalls or 
 shops. 
 
 " Yetfuddal ! Sheikh Cassim," was heard from 
 the stall on the left, as an invitation from a 
 bookseller, who gave him a somewhat uproarious, 
 affected welcome ; but returning the salutation, 
 he passed through, to the last bookstall at the 
 bottom of the court, where a feeble old man was 
 sitting in the utmost composure. The book- 
 seller ordered coffee to be served to his customer, 
 and on being asked for a Nushat, or copy of 
 the Koran, he opened a carved chest at his side, 
 and took out several copies, one of which Sheikh 
 Cassim selected, after rubbing it on his forehead, 
 and muttering a blessing. It was neatly writ- 
 ten, but had no illumination except the heading 
 and ending, in ultramarine and gold. " And 
 what is the price of this ?'' said Sheikh Cassim, 
 as he sipped the creamy brown froth off the 
 coffee. " You honour me by accepting it as 
 a present," said the bookseller, and he handed 
 it to him again. This gift of course Sheikh 
 Cassim received, on condition of making a present 
 in cash equal to its value, which was about two
 
 156 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 pounds sterling, which being paid, another 
 Koran was entailed on the establishment of the 
 charitable Abderrahman Kiahia. 
 
 The summer festivals and intervals were 
 spent by little Halil at Boulak, with the utmost 
 delight, where Sheikh Cassim had a suburban 
 villa close to the Nile ; a small garden adjoined 
 it, in which grew a few trees peculiar to the 
 climate, mostly palms. Some bananas, with 
 their broad leaves, of a tropical character, and 
 an unusually luxuriant orange-tree, with its 
 rich dark foliage and fragrant white blossom, 
 or speckled with the bright golden fruit accord- 
 ing to the season, shading a broad movable 
 wooden bench which, fitted up with cushions, 
 was the spot where Sheikh Cassim in the cool 
 of the evening smoked his pipe. Sometimes he 
 preferred a room in the elevated part of the 
 house, overlooking the river ; for, in the intense 
 heat of summer, when the hills of Mokattam 
 send up the fierce reflection of an Egyptian sun, 
 the cool evening air on the river, and the sight 
 of the boats passing up and down, as seen from 
 the open lattice, with the song of the boat-men,
 
 SHEIKH CASSIM. 157 
 
 joyous and pla'ntive, wafted across the waters 
 as the last splendours of the western sun crim- 
 soned the opposite peaks of the Pyramids — the 
 pipe of fragrant Lattakia tobacco filled, not 
 by an indifferent menial, but by the hands of 
 his wife, whose ambition, however strange it 
 may seem to a European lady, lay in being 
 his hand-maid — the repose from the care and 
 exertion of the day, and the incipient prattle 
 of young Halil, — all formed the happiest mo- 
 ments of Sheikh Cassim, and made him forego 
 the reception of friends in the evening ; for 
 company in the Cairo dog-days requires a ten- 
 sion of the nerves, to which listless repose 
 affords an agreeable contrast. 
 
 His feelings, as a Moslem, were intense ; and, 
 as years rolled on, his religious sentiments had 
 become stronger. His life was certainly blame- 
 less, and he watched every scintillation of intel- 
 ligence and virtue in his son, which might be 
 fanned into ardour for the religion of Moham- 
 med. His wife listened uninterruptedly to his 
 allocutions ; and if she proffered no difference 
 of opinion, it no doubt arose from her percep-
 
 158 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 tions of politics and theology being somewhat 
 dim. Sheikh Cassim used to think aloud in the 
 presence of his wife and son ; and if they 
 could not comprehend, they listened uninter- 
 ruptedly. 
 
 " Whence," he would say, " are the wealth 
 and grandeur of the Mamelukes, but from the 
 scourgings and oppression of the poor, and in 
 which of them can we find that spirit which 
 led Amer-Ebn-el-As to the shores of the Nile ? 
 What must even infidels think of Islamism if 
 they judge it by the acts of the living ? Had 
 the faith and practice remained as in times of 
 old, the enemies of Islam would have been scat- 
 tered like Ad and Thamud by the roaring 
 wind ; but it is otherwise written. The houses 
 of God fall in ruins, and their revenues are dis- 
 sipated by the stewardship of unjust Nazirs. 
 Oh blind and one-eyed generation ! wdio can 
 mistake the signs of the times ? Is not the 
 end of the world at hand — when the avenging 
 sword shall pierce the firmament, and the arous- 
 ing trumpet thrill through the universe. Oh, 
 my son ! repeat these words, and let them sink
 
 SHEIKH CASSliM. 159 
 
 into Yoiir mind : — ' I testify that there is no 
 God — but God, and that Mohammed is the 
 prophet of God/" 
 
 Then httle Halil would Hsp these words, 
 and with a kiss be dismissed to bed by his 
 parents. 
 
 Before the first peep of dawn Sheikh Cassim 
 was up — and on the completion of the prayer of 
 Feger, — the filled pipe was again presented to 
 him by his wife, with the salutation of the day. 
 The adjoining room contained a brasier for char- 
 coal, on which coffee was made ; and a sharp 
 dialogue ensued between Sitt Wurdy and the 
 sleepy j)itch-black slave girl from Senaar ; who, 
 like all other slaves, practically inculcated on her 
 mistress the virtue of patience, — the value of 
 the maxim, " that one volunteer is worth two 
 pressed servitors ; " and steadily disciplined Sitt 
 Wurdy into saying the same thing, and in 
 giving the same useless reprimands three hun- 
 dred and sixty-five times in a year. 
 
 While the sun was tipping with gold the 
 bare brown heights behind Cairo, and Sheikh 
 Cassim had taken his second thimble-full of
 
 160 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 coffee, accompanied by a loud audible yawn, 
 a grumbling creaking noise was heard in the 
 garden ; and a cow, performing a circle, began 
 to impel the water-wheel. Down went the 
 empty jar, strung by ropes of palm fibre, into a 
 deep well, which the vicinity of the Nile kept 
 abundantly supplied with water, and up they 
 came on the other side, nearly full, dropping 
 and splashing ; and then performing a circuit, 
 poured their contents into a hollowed trunk of a 
 palm, to be distributed in the various square 
 compartments requiring irrigation. The fresh 
 morning air, and the innocuous early sun, would 
 greet Sheikh Cassim as he ambled on his sturdy 
 mule across the fields that intervene between 
 Boulak and Cairo ; and traversing the Ezbe- 
 kieh, he would strike into the heart of Cairo, 
 paying his visits before the heat of the day had 
 begun to make itself felt ; he would spend most 
 of the rest of the day at his place of business, 
 in a quarter very near the middle of Cairo, 
 called Seven Saloons, in which the principal 
 khans, or caravanseries are congregated ; and 
 here I will close with two strange contradic-
 
 SHEIKH CASSIM. 161 
 
 tions in his character. Although generous in 
 private life, he drove the hardest bargains in 
 the markets of Cairo, and would have split even 
 a nusf if that had been possible ; and secondly, 
 although a strictly religious man, he occasion- 
 ally relaxed into buiFoonery, and took much 
 delight in the conversation of Sheikh Hamood, 
 already mentioned, who had been a sort of 
 court-jester to the Emir Merwan, a prince of 
 the house of Morocco, who picked him up at 
 Suez, took him to the pilgrimage of Mecca, and 
 kept him with him during a half year's resi- 
 dence at Cairo ; and on the departure of the 
 Emir for Morocco, he took up his quarters in 
 the house of Sheikh Cassim, where he made 
 himself welcome by his absurd anecdotes, his 
 readiness to be the butt of Sheikh Cassim's 
 moments of pleasantry, and last, not least, he 
 was a most expert arithmetician ; but common 
 sense and the dignity of human nature, were 
 certainly not ingredients in his composition.
 
 162 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. 
 
 " I THINK," said Cassim to Hamood, on 
 the morning after their visit to the prison, 
 that you have the address of the Jew to whom 
 the ckoors of the Kurd was pledged.'' 
 
 "• I have," said Sheikh Hamood, " Ishaak- 
 es-Safaty.'' 
 
 " Well, then," said Sheikh Cassim, in spite 
 of his pride, '' I wish to see him out of trouble, 
 and by restoring his wife's ckoors to her I 
 remove all cause for his imprisonment : there is 
 an order for forty zerr mahboubs, which you 
 will get from my saraf (banker), and having 
 paid the sum for which it was pledged, and the 
 interest according to this calculation, I shall be 
 able to restore the ornament, and open the
 
 THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. 163 
 
 prison-oates ; and as I do not wish my own 
 clerks to know anything of these matters, I 
 wish you to go to the Jews' quarter and ma- 
 nage the matter yourself, as I think the case of 
 the Kurd a hard one, and have a particular 
 desire to see him hrought out of prison. So 
 now, Sheikh Hamood, let me see you do this 
 business with a little more ability than some of 
 the other commissions I have entrusted you 
 with." 
 
 " I have little doubt," said Sheikh Hamood, 
 " of being able to accomplish your wishes as I 
 have to do with so estimable and well-known 
 member of society as Ishaak-es-Safaty, w^iose 
 purse is ever open to the needy, more particu- 
 larly those who have diamonds to pledge, and 
 whose justice cannot be impugned, never having 
 been known to refuse to give back a pledge 
 after payment of principal and interest on inte- 
 rest, so let your mind be at perfect ease on this 
 score. As for the Kurd, his matrimonial adven- 
 ture -has not been a prosperous one, little doubt, 
 but he resolves to forswear the sex, and never 
 marry again. Such was my own resolve at my
 
 164 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 third marriage not turning out according to my 
 expectation, but being, in spite of my firm reso- 
 lution, now arrived at my fourteenth marriage, 
 I think it safest and wisest to make no farther 
 resolutions, unless the advantage of such 
 determinations consist in the pleasure of break- 
 ing them." 
 
 So saying Sheikh Hamood departed for the 
 Harat-el-Mokasees, so called from the lock of 
 hair which the Jews wear on each temple, 
 which comes out under the turban. Each shop 
 or stall had a money-box in front, divided into 
 drawers ; and in the back part a large iron 
 safe, well studded with bolts. So early do the 
 young Hebrews begin to take part in business 
 that some youngsters behind the box counting 
 and changing money, and weighing and exa- 
 mining gold pieces, could not h?-ve been above 
 nine or ten years of age. 
 
 Sheikh Hamood having received forty zerr 
 mahboubs from the saraf or banker of Sheikh 
 Cassim, now asked for Ishaak-es-Safaty, and 
 turned from the money-changer's bazaar into 
 the neighbouring Jews' quarter, which was for
 
 THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. 165 
 
 centuries occupied by the Circassians in the 
 service of the Mameluke sultans before the 
 Turkish invasion of Sultan Selim in 1517, and 
 has now for its sole occupants the children of 
 Israel, but anything comparable to the nar- 
 rowness of its streets, is not to be found in 
 Cairo. In many of them no horse or mule can 
 enter, and one person can barely pass another, 
 — in fact, a stout citizen could scarcely pass an 
 Oriental beauty of the full standard of flesh 
 without the risk of a fix. It is a perfect rab- 
 bit warren, and therefore a curiosity to a stran- 
 ger — the so-called streets, seeming passages 
 of one immense house. In some places these 
 lanes are built over head, so as to have the 
 darkness of a tunnel ; and the air is not only 
 almost stagnant, but in some places so impure 
 as to be loathsome. Some Jews in Cairo are 
 healthy and wealthy, but the filth of the poorer 
 classes is deplorable ; and as a necessary con- 
 sequence their complexion has the pallor of 
 sickness, frequently mingled with cutaneous 
 diseases. 
 
 In the corner of a divan, against a window
 
 166 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 that looked out on a court-yard, eight or ten 
 feet square, and which consequently permitted 
 little more than twilight in the room, sat 
 Ishaak, a man of long narrow head and face, 
 \yith the prominent nose of his nation, and a 
 bieard between black and grey, his turban of a 
 dark brown lay on the divan beside him, on 
 account of the heat ; and a small cotton scull- 
 cap covered his bald head. He was balancing 
 accounts with a book resting on his knees, when 
 Sheikh Hamood entered, and laying them aside 
 he put on his turban, and rose to receive him. 
 
 " I believe,'' said Sheikh Hamood, " you 
 have a ckoors which was pawned with you by 
 a Kurd, Ali Vanli. I come to redeem it." 
 
 " For how much ? " said the Jew. 
 
 " For how much, say you ? " said Sheikh 
 Hamood. 
 
 " There," said the Jew, taking a paper out 
 of a drawer, "is an obligation for forty zerr 
 mahboobs, payable within three months." 
 
 " You gave thirty zerr mahboobs," said Sheikh 
 Hamood, " and besides, the time is not expired. 
 Come, Ishaak, you know the laws on usury."
 
 THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. 167 
 
 " Do you threaten me ? " said the Jew, fix- 
 ing his eyes severely on Sheikh Hamood. 
 
 " A joke is a joke,"*** said Sheikh Hamood, 
 who disHked the idea of even momentarily dis- 
 pleasing so despised a person as a Jew then 
 was in Cairo. " You must understand," said 
 Sheikh Hamood, " that if the ckoors is in pawn 
 with you, he that pawned it is himself in pawn 
 in the Cadi's prison ; and Sheikh Cassim, by 
 taking the ckoors out of pawn, wishes the 
 Cadi's prison to yield up its pawn." He then 
 related all the story of the prison, with consider- 
 able exaggeration, extolling the munificence of 
 Sheikh Cassim, and concluded, ''Oh ! Ishaak, 
 you are one of the richest men in Cairo. Are 
 you not ashamed to take so large a profit ? 
 No wonder that the Jews' quarter is the richest 
 in Cairo." 
 
 " Agar prayed to God," said Ishaak, " that 
 he might be equally removed from riches and 
 poverty, and that is our condition. We are 
 not certainly poor, for we have neither horses 
 to mount, nor servants to eat up our substance, 
 and as for riches, that is equally impossible,
 
 168 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 from the grincliDg exactions to which we are 
 subject. Incessantly called on for forced loans, 
 imprisoned, scourged, and maltreated. And 
 they talk of our avarice, usury, and dishonesty 
 — words — words. Were not the ears of my 
 cousin Azrael hacked from his head by that 
 monster, Youssouf Bey ; but he, too, gorged 
 with plunder, far from enjoying the fruits of 
 his numerous extortions, has gone to his last 
 account.'*'* 
 
 So saying, the Jew''s eyes flashed fire, and 
 his grey beard trembled from his chin, 
 as he significantly drew his finger across his 
 throat, so as to leave no doubt in the mind of 
 a listener that Youssouf Bey''s windpipe had 
 met with some untoward accident. " It is 
 very easy for the Mamelukes to be noble, gene- 
 rous, magnificent, and sincere — but even an 
 act of charity would render us obnoxious to 
 extortion, while they can act the munificent 
 to the needy with all honour.'*' 
 
 " You have spoken the truth,'''* said Sheikh 
 Hamood. " The donations in which they are 
 most liberal to the poor, are the bastinado ;
 
 THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. 169 
 
 and as it is written, ' That what is given to the 
 poor, is lent to the Lord ;' the bow-string and 
 the poisoned coffee which they get from time 
 to time in return, may be considered as repay- 
 ment with interest, in a genteeler and more 
 princely fashion, that frees the receiver from all 
 further doubts and anxieties. As for Youssouf 
 Bey, all Cairo knows that the patience of his 
 friends did not last until he died of old age. 
 As for me,'"* continued Sheikh Hamood, " the 
 only sort of death that I am afraid of, is to 
 have no money in my pocket, and not to know 
 how to fill it again. As for bodily death, I am 
 not afraid of it. Some time ago I dreamed I 
 should die in three days, but on the fourth 
 morning awoke well and healthy; but when 
 the hour does come, nothing will save me. If 
 I said to Azrael (the angel of death), ' Azrael ! ' 
 — ' Well, what do you want ? ' — ' Prolong Sheikh 
 Hamood's life ten days, and he will give you 
 five purses.' — ' Five purses ! you impertinent 
 scoundrel. How dare you oifer such a 
 dignitary as myself five purses r — ' May God 
 deal kindly with yourself, Azrael. Have you 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 170 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 no bowels of compassion ? Come, one day 
 more, and I will give you five hundred purses.' 
 — ' Not an hour, you son of sin — you have 
 smoked your last pipe/ — ' Thou kind Azrael — 
 thou excellent and respected Azrael — prolong his 
 life an hour, and he will give you five thousand 
 purses.' — ' Oskoot-ya Ahmak. Silence ! you 
 dunderhead. Do you take me for an auctioneer 
 from the Khan Halily, who sells life to the 
 highest bidder. So hold your clack and come 
 along.' " 
 
 " You speak lightly of death," said the Jew. 
 " It is a solemn and dreadful hour." 
 
 The shades of approaching sunset had ren- 
 dered the abode of the Jew still more gloomy 
 than before ; the windows being open, Sheikh 
 Hamood's voice had a strange echo in the 
 solitary court-yard, and he felt a slight com- 
 punction of conscienca for the light manner in 
 which he had spoken of the angel of death ; 
 when a loud whirring noise, and the tinkling of 
 bells, the singing of birds, and the playing of 
 soft music was heard over his head ; and look- 
 ing up, Sheikh Hamood saw a picture move in
 
 THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. 171 
 
 its frame as if it had suddenly acquired the 
 vitaHtj of nature ; and as the cold perspiration 
 dropped from his temple, he inwardly exclaimed 
 that he had been decoyed into an abode of 
 wonder or magic. He repented of having 
 spoken so lightly of the angel of death, and 
 as if the incantation of the Jew had summoned 
 the minister of destruction — a figure, with a 
 death's head, appeared at the door of the apart- 
 ment, at the cessation of the tinkling of the 
 bells, and the singing of the strange birds. 
 
 " What is that?" said Sheikh Hamood, his 
 tongue cleaving to the roof of his mouth. 
 
 " That is Azrael,'' said the Jew. 
 
 " Azrael !" said Sheikh Hamood, with horror. 
 
 " Yes, my first cousin, you see how they 
 have mutilated him, torn the eyes out of his 
 head, and cut his nose to the bone." 
 
 "And that.?" said Sheikh Hamood, pointing 
 to the magic picture, considerably relieved, and 
 wiping the cold perspiration from his visage. 
 
 " That," said the Jew, " is a Nuremberg 
 
 clock. You see how curiously it is contrived ; 
 
 the main wheel appears to be that of a mill, 
 
 I 2
 
 112 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 set in motion by that revolving piece of crystal, 
 representing a water-fall, and the landscape 
 behind is furnished with trees, on which birds 
 sing, and a spire of a Nazarene church, which 
 shows the hour. I can let you have it a bar- 
 gain," said the Jew. 
 
 "No!" said Sheikh Hamood, peremptorily. 
 " It is not in my way ;" and considerably re- 
 lieved and ashamed of the perturbation he had 
 shown, he pointed to a Damascus sword lying 
 upon the shelf above, and asked a sight of it. 
 This formidable implement did not fail to call 
 forth the martial propensities of so doughty a 
 cavalier as Sheikh Hamood. He criticised the 
 lamination of the blade, with the erudition of 
 one familiar with such edged tools, and putting 
 himself through several postures of offence and 
 defence showed the attitudes of Ali Bey, in 
 his exercises at Suez, when on his way to 
 Mecca, which greatly alarmed the Jew. At 
 last, in swinging of the sabre, which was to 
 exterminate the supposed antagonist, it un- 
 luckily overturned a long brass lamp on the 
 shelf above, which coming in contact with a
 
 THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. 173 
 
 large jar of whiting for paint, with a broad 
 body and narrow base, its contents were in an 
 instant poured out on himself, when he imme- 
 diately appeared from head to foot, as if he 
 had exchanged clothes with the whitest miller 
 in Cairo. 
 
 A loud knock was now heard at the outer 
 door of the house, and the air within being 
 stifling, the Jew and Sheikh Hamood sought 
 the court-yard, where Hamood, taking off his 
 cloak, gave it such a shake as to fill the court- 
 yard with dust. 
 
 " One would take this place to be a mill," 
 said Ishaak, scarcely able to resist a smile at 
 Sheikh Hamood's appearance. 
 
 " Or a dye shop," said Sheikh Hamood in 
 great dudgeon. " This was a new blue cloak 
 a quarter of an hour ago, and what is its colour 
 now ? This comes of the badly balanced sword 
 that you wanted to palm off on me." 
 
 Sheikh Hamood seeing a number of other 
 Jews enter on some business, felt much embar- 
 rassed ; and again shaking his cloak, so as to 
 scatter the new arrivals to the four corners of
 
 174 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 the court-yard, put it on again, and hastily re- 
 turned to the house of Sheikh Cassim in the 
 Mergoosh, his beard and eyebrows still pow- 
 dered with the whiting ; and, having paid the 
 money, forgotten in the confusion to get from 
 the Jew an acknowledgment. 
 
 Sheikh Cassim sat in his divan, and heard 
 the hilarity of the household in the court-yard, 
 followed by the entrance of Sheikh Hamood in 
 whitened attire, who forthwith began, breath- 
 less, a confused account of mill-wheels, singing 
 birds, Azrael, and the destruction of the jar, all 
 which presented anything but a lucid succession 
 of images to Sheikh Cassim. One circumstance 
 was, at least, certain, the money had been paid, 
 and Sheikh Hamood had returned without 
 either ckoors, or the acknowledgment. 
 
 " Decidedly," said Sheikh Cassim, taking 
 off his turban, and re-adjusting his under cotton 
 cap ; "it was not intended that you should 
 shine in the transaction of financial business. 
 Get your clothes well dusted, and stick to your 
 account-books at home. Trouble yourself no 
 more about the Kurd. I will send my clerk to
 
 THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. 175 
 
 Isliaak to-morrow ; and rest assured that you 
 are more successful iu the droll stories with 
 which you amuse Halil, when you ride into the 
 fields with him, than in the transaction of busi- 
 ness. But next week we shall see you in all 
 your glory, for I have determined that the 
 festival of his circumcision do then take place ; 
 and I will not be angry with you on the present 
 occasion, if you will then do your best to keep 
 the guests in good humour." 
 
 "That I will do," said Sheikh Hamood, 
 looking somewhat bewildered, and annoyed at 
 the result of his adventure in the Jews' quarter ; 
 and quitting the divan of Sheikh Cassim, was 
 again the object of the hilarity of the household, 
 as he crossed the court-yard towards the stair- 
 case that led to his own apartment.
 
 176 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE CIRCUMCISION FESTIVAL. 
 
 We must now give some account of the cir- 
 cumcision festival of Sheikh Cassim's son, which 
 had been looked forward to by Sheikh Hamood 
 with such anxiety. The house in the Mergoosh 
 had been turned upside down, to receive the 
 numerous persons who were to be present. 
 The space in the middle of the court-yard was 
 fitted up with high benches for the guests. 
 Two very old and very tall palm trees, with 
 their rough rugged bark, shot up from the 
 ground, but their thick foliage at the top was 
 not visible for the lines of thick ropes stretching 
 from roof to roof of the quadrangle, and were 
 covered with blue cotton canvas, so as to render
 
 CIRCUMCISION FESTIVAL. 177 
 
 the whole court-yard hke a tent. A master 
 contractor of decorations, who keeps a supply 
 of all the appendages of marriage and circum- 
 cision festivals, was unpacking camel-loads of 
 tenters, ropes, benches, cressets, oil-jars, and 
 other appurtenances of illumination, and super- 
 intending the various operations — the hoisting 
 of festival lanterns and the disposition of 
 coloured lamps. 
 
 In the afternoon, when the sun, bound west- 
 terly, had got well through the burden of the 
 day, and lacked his meridian heat, but had so 
 purified the atmosphere, that the beholders, 
 looking up through the chinks of the tents, 
 saw a sky of the serenest azure, the company 
 began to arrive. A crowd of boys and paupers 
 had beset the outer gate, the former to criticise 
 the wooden stars and triangles awaiting illumi- 
 nation, the latter to get a harvest from the 
 bounty of the guests. Two large kettle-drums, 
 placed on a stone bench under the archway, were 
 beaten iu honour of the entrance of each indivi- 
 dual, at first rarely, like minute guns, but as 
 
 the afternoon advanced, their reverberations 
 
 I 5
 
 178 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 increased in frequency as the parties rapidly 
 arrived. 
 
 Among the crowd outside, after the shades 
 of the evening had closed, stood a poor gipsy 
 woman, of the Ghagar tribe, who are hawkers, 
 but not thieves, in contra-distinction to the 
 Nowar, who are addicted to thieving and 
 swindhng. She was tall, and of about sixteen 
 years of age. Her face was of a bronze colour, 
 but with perfectly clear and transparent skin. 
 Her dress was of checked black and white 
 cotton cloth, and a certain sweetness of beauty 
 was the natural expression of her countenance ; 
 but a masculine boldness in her eye had been 
 acquired in her profession, which was that of a 
 hawker of female girdles and head wrappers, 
 ;for the turbans of the heroines of European 
 theatres are unknown in Egypt. Two small 
 pieces of gold coin dangled at each ear, and a 
 blue mark was visible at the top of her chin, 
 while her wrists were tatooed in the form of 
 bracelets, as specimesis of her own handicraft ; 
 for a part of her living was derived from going 
 round hareems and staining the hands and chins
 
 CIRCUMCISIOiN FESTIVAL. 179 
 
 of young girls. Such was Taj-el-Hosh, or, 
 translated, The Crown of the Court-yard, the 
 handsomest gipsy girl in Cairo. 
 
 Ah ! little do these within, thought she to 
 herself, know how many souls are made melan- 
 choly by those sounds of rejoicing. Singular 
 fate, continued the girl, musing, that has placed 
 me in the most despised and rejected tribe of 
 the human race. What crime have I com- 
 mitted, that I should be viewed with contempt 
 and abhorrence ? I see the lights gleaming in 
 the passage ; the drum beats to welcome the 
 rich, and the poor gipsy must remain outside, 
 and content herself with a view of the trianofles, 
 coloured lamps, and lanterns. For us, no 
 hostess comes with the joy of welcome; and 
 for us, the odours of feasting and the fragrance 
 of perfume is unknown. 
 
 " Clear the way, and do not obstruct the 
 guests," said the insolent Negro of Sheikh Cas- 
 sim, with a loud oath. " Here is a pretty 
 hubbub ! Do you suppose this feast was made 
 for the Ghagar, for they* belong to the beasts ! " 
 
 " And you do not belong to the beasts,"
 
 180 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 said the girl, " for if a wild beast be full of 
 food he flies away — if he be hungry he kills ; 
 if a Black be in misery, he shuns his fellow-man 
 — if well-fed and prosperous, his nature is cruel ;" 
 and then she repeated the proverb usually 
 applied to Blacks from the upper country, 
 
 " En jaa harab ; 
 En shibaa katil." 
 
 " Hungry he flies ; 
 Satisfied he kills." 
 
 On this the Negro went forward, and taking 
 her by the two shoulders, showed her out of 
 the circle. So she shed tears, and said, "What! 
 will not the rich allow the poor to see the 
 illumination even from the street ? " At this 
 moment, Sheikh Cassim, who had been stand- 
 ing behind the Negro, and was waiting to 
 receive Nasif Bey, said abruptly to the Negro, 
 *' Your gall-bladder, Mohammed, masters your 
 heart. What way is this to speak to the poor 
 girl ? Do you think that, when the Prince of 
 the Apostles commanded hospitality to all men, 
 that civility was less a virtue in his eyes than 
 the offering of bread ? "
 
 CIRCUMCISION FESTIVAL. 181 
 
 " She is a gipsy,'"* said the Negro, respect- 
 fully. 
 
 *' And is she a Moslem ? '" said Sheikh 
 Cassim. 
 
 " Yes, a Moslem,"" said the gipsy girl. 
 
 *' And even if she were not — well, no more 
 words,'"* said Sheikh Cassim. " Keep a more 
 civil tongue in your head to rich and poor, 
 friend and foe, and take her into the hareem. 
 Do not look sulky, but do what you are bidden 
 with alacrity. Take her into the hareem, and 
 tell Zeynab to give her some victuals, and let 
 her sit at the door of the ckaa, and hear the 
 music."*' 
 
 *' May God requite you with good," said the 
 gipsy ; " may God preserve and make you 
 happy, you and your sons' sons ; and blessed 
 be this night, which will not be effaced from 
 our remembrance. Do not think the less of 
 my heart, that I am so humble as to have no 
 means of ever requiting your kindness."" 
 
 " Your power to requite kindness," said 
 Sheikh Cassim, '' is known to God alone, for 
 fortune is a cloud from the white sea.""
 
 182 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 At this moment the cortege of Nasif Bey, 
 one of the Mameluke divan of Egypt, came 
 up, which absorbed Sheikh Cassim's attention ; 
 and the Negro, still in a sulky humour, told the 
 girl to follow him. She passed timidly behind 
 him into the outer court, now nearly full of 
 guests, and paused delighted with the specta- 
 cle. The luxuriant orange-tree, with its golden 
 fruit — the well-bred hum of soft- speaking voices 
 that floated around, the slightly perceptible 
 odour of incense that impregnated the air ; 
 and sweetest of all the sounds of music, in 
 the minor key, executed on the dulcimer, viol, 
 and lute, by the best artists of Cairo, produced 
 on the gipsy a delirious sensation of pleasure. 
 The centre of the court- yard being filled up 
 with benches and guests, the eunuch led the way 
 round by the wall, and, though the face of the 
 girl was veiled, a certain grace in her walk ex- 
 cited criticism as she passed. The lower towns- 
 people in their admiration pronouncing her to 
 be a cow, the better class using the term gazelle ; 
 thus denoting that with the one class the quality 
 most prized in the female sex is utility, with
 
 CIRCUMCISION FESTIVAL. 183 
 
 the other grace. At the other end of the court- 
 yard was a staircase leading to the hareem, up 
 which the eunuch led the girl, and knocking at 
 the door a shrill voice of one of the Negro girls 
 cried out, " Men T' " A gipsy girl," said the 
 eunuch. *' You are jesting with us," answered 
 the voice from within. " Open directly," said 
 the eunuch, sulkil}^, on which the door was 
 opened, and Mohammed told the Negro girl 
 that it was Sheikh Cassim's orders, that she 
 should have victuals, and a place in the gal- 
 lery. Zeynab shrugged her shoulders, and 
 took the girl to the gallery, for she did not 
 of course venture into the hall where the ladies 
 were sitting; but having been provided with 
 food sat down contented at the door, casting 
 many a look at the finery inside, and the crowd 
 below. 
 
 Sitt Wurdy was dressed in her best, and 
 assiduous in her attentions to her guests. Plalil, 
 in bright scarlet, and a kerchief of gold thread 
 around his head, was unconscious of the pre- 
 cise motive of the gathering, and of the unplea- 
 sant operation with which it was to terminate ;
 
 184 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 and delighted beyond measure with the novelty 
 and brilliancy of the scene. The friends of Sitt 
 Wurdy were in all their finery. Hanum, the 
 first wife of Nasif Bey, was a woman of forty 
 years of age, with heavy eyebrows, projecting 
 large lips, and receding chin, so as to have a dull 
 apathetic appearance, notwithstanding her splen- 
 did jewels. Fatimeh, the second wife of Nasif 
 Bey, was fifteen years younger, with soft and 
 dreamy eyes ; but her beauty beginning slightly 
 to fade from the effects of the climate. These 
 ladies were not on the best terms with each 
 other, and a little sparring had already taken 
 place between them^ not to be sure, in looks or 
 epithets, but with those almost imperceptible 
 refinements by which Orientals know how to 
 snub each other under the mask of ceremonious 
 courtesy, with an unenviable skill to which even 
 people of fashion in Europe cannot pretend. 
 These two ladies sat apart, and dinner being 
 completed, aloes were burned in a magnificent 
 silver censer, which stood on a round inlaid 
 stool, the odoriferous fumigation difl'using itself 
 through the apartment.
 
 ClRCUxMClSION FESTIVAL. 185 
 
 "And this is your son,'" said Fatimeh as 
 Halil came forward, and she patted his cheeks. 
 
 '' It is,*" said Wurdy, with a sigh. 
 
 " And a strong and healthy child," said 
 Fatimeh. 
 
 " Strong he is," continued Wurdy, in a some- 
 what melancholy tone ; " for he is the only 
 one left me by the climate of Egypt, which is 
 all-favourable to the fruits of the earth, and so 
 trying to the fruits of the womb." 
 
 '' True," said Fatimeh, " the soil of Egypt 
 is rich and bountiful, and its climate, although 
 hot, is health J ; but that is a singular property 
 of the air, which visits so heavily the offspring 
 of stranger blood." 
 
 " I know it too well," said Sitt Wurdy, " for 
 I am a native of Damascus." 
 
 " I have heard of your domestic distresses," 
 said Fatimeh, " but give me the particulars." 
 
 " I will tell you that in a few words," said 
 Sitt Wurdy ; "I lived seven years the happiest 
 of the happy, and had four children, each the 
 apple of the eye, and the fruit of the liver. 
 Come old age — come sickness or disaster,
 
 186 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 thought I, these children are the true wealth 
 that console for all loss of worldly goods ; but 
 in the hour appointed my youngest girl died. 
 When my grief abated I consoled myself with 
 the two sons, and the daughter which were left 
 me ; but the other girl soon also died. Again 
 I moaned, and again felt consolation, for of 
 my sons both remained, and my youth still 
 gave hopes of issue ; but when my elder boy 
 died, I did nothing but swoon, and my last boy 
 was nursed in terror and pain ; my 'anxiety 
 regarded the slightest cough as his last gasp — 
 but, ah ! me — poor Nooredin — he too departed 
 to the mercy of God." 
 
 " I think," said Fatimeh, " you had better 
 not proceed in your narration, and I reproach 
 myself for calling up such recollections." 
 
 '•' No," said Wurdy, with a melancholy 
 smile ; " the cup was bitter, but having drained 
 it to the dregs the recital of it affects me less 
 than you imagine — my tale is soon told. I 
 lived alone at home — the rooms no longer 
 echoed the sweet voices of infancy. I was told 
 to go often to the gardens and baths, and to
 
 CIRCUMCISION FESTIVAL. 187 
 
 seek to dispel my gloom by society, but this 
 aggravated the evil — every child that gam- 
 bolled with its mother recalled my own, — a 
 trifling word, the slightest circumstance, threw 
 me in the midst of the most lively societies into 
 a state of uncontrollable grief and despair ; and 
 my best friends, if they had healthy children, 
 became my unconscious tormentors. At length 
 poor Halil was born, and I often think, that those 
 who have never suffered can never enjoy. Come 
 kiss me, my love — there is no love like that of 
 the mother for the child, but all is to the glory 
 of God, the changer who never is changed.'"* 
 
 During this conversation the eyes of the 
 gipsy girl were fixed on Halil, and the caresses 
 of which he was the object. She thought of 
 the happiness (impossible to her) of offspring 
 well dressed — well cared for, and the object 
 of the favour of the great, and remembering 
 the kindness of the parent, she felt a glow of 
 favour for the child. The looks she riveted on 
 the child attracted the attention of Hanum, the 
 first wife of Nasif Bey, who, weak and super- 
 stitious, turned alternately from the boy to the
 
 188 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 gipsy-girl, and said, " If I had such a child 
 I should be afraid of the evil eye.'' A sudden 
 lull in the conversation took place, all eyes were 
 turned to the door — the gipsy had caught the 
 word evil eye, and its application to her, and 
 turning aside her head gave way to a torrent 
 of tears. 
 
 " You see," said Fatimeh, the second wife 
 of Nasif Bey, " she weeps, and turns away 
 her head — see, she rises to go away."*' 
 
 " Oh, let her go," said Hanum ; "I have an 
 internal persuasion that evil may happen to 
 the child — her looks belong not to the lawful," 
 
 "The poor gipsy -girl," said Fatimeh, 
 '* thinks that the child is beautiful, and where 
 is the harm, — she has risen, and is gone out, 
 wounded in spirit. Who knows what is in the 
 womb of futurity — she may some day preserve 
 that very child from evil ! I study people's 
 faces, and dare avow it is my opinion, that 
 there is more good than evil in that face." 
 
 Hanum made no answer, but sulkily smoked 
 her pipe, and Sitt Wurdy said to her, " What 
 has fallen from you, oh lady, was from love of
 
 CIKCUMCISION FESTIVAL. 189 
 
 mv child." — " And what has fallen from you," 
 said she to Fatimeh, " was equally kind to 
 the poor. — Sheikh Cassim permitted that 
 girl to see the feast, and it would ill become 
 the wife to contract the width of the husband^s 
 hospitality. As for the evil eye, I repose in 
 God — may He veil my poor boy with his gra- 
 cious veil ;" and apologising to Hanum, told 
 the slave girl beside her to recall the gipsy, 
 and permit her to sit at the door of the apart- 
 ment. 
 
 Shortly afterwards the music in the saloon 
 ceased, and attention was called to the Gha- 
 wazees, or dancing women, down in the court- 
 yard, who, in front of the ivan^ or recess, in 
 which the beys sat, began one of their dances, 
 with metal castanets and tambourines clanking 
 to the measure of the dance. The open corri- 
 dor was now crowded with the inmates of the 
 saloon, who went out to view the spectacle ! 
 while the gipsy-girl, somewhat overcast, w^ould 
 fain have gone away, had not Sitt Wurdy made 
 her remain. As the dance seemed to give 
 little pleasure to Fatimeh, she began to con-
 
 190 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 verse with the gipsy, partly because she was 
 interested in her, and partly because Hanum 
 had expressed her disgust at her. 
 
 " In what part of Cairo do you live ? " said 
 Fatimeh. 
 
 '' In Hosh Bardak,'"* said the gipsy, " among 
 my own nation. Just under Sultan Hassan." 
 
 " And your occupation ? " said Fatimeh. 
 
 "I go round the bazaars, and into the 
 hareems, to sell veils, and turban wrappers for 
 females. Ya ! Allah ! the people think that 
 we are dishonest and untrue, — it is all false,— 
 we love our own nation ; and as for myself, I 
 do what I can to earn an honest piastre." 
 
 " And are you content with your condi- 
 tion ? " said Fatimeh, into whose splendid 
 hareem, no gipsy hawker of common female 
 paraphernalia had ever been admitted. 
 
 " Content and discontent," said the gipsy ; 
 " is there ever a year without a khamseen wind 
 or a rain ? Never ! but after all, there is more 
 north wind than khamseen, and more sun than 
 rain. When I bring home little money, my 
 father scolds me, and when I bring home
 
 CIRCUMCISION FESTIVAL. 191 
 
 enough, my step-mother is displeased because 
 I please my father ; but, after all, I manage to 
 get along rather pleased than displeased. We 
 are of the poorest of the poor, but, thank God, 
 my father is content with me."' 
 
 '* And what think you of the festival ? " said 
 Fatimeh. 
 
 *' Magnificent indeed," said the gipsy ; " sur- 
 passing all that I ever saw before in the 
 guarded city of Cairo ! For, if a king's son 
 were to be circumcised, what more could be 
 seen of shining lights, and smells of sweet 
 odours, and all manner of entertainments to 
 delight the eye and the ear, and make big the 
 heart." 
 
 " You must be a strange set in Hosh Bar- 
 dak," said Fatimeh ; " have you no desire to 
 change your manner of life ? " 
 
 " Live apart from my nation ? Never ! O I 
 lady. But let no one suppose that we always 
 remain in the gloomy vaults of the Hosh. In 
 the season of the year, we go to the great fair 
 of Tantah, where thousands flock to the tomb of 
 Said- el- Be da wy, and a small town becomes a
 
 192 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 great city. When the spring of the year 
 comes, we have our tour in the Delta, and 
 smell the fragrant air of the endless fields of 
 beans ; or we voyage on the Nile, where the 
 moon, and the palm-groves, and the oars splash- 
 ing on the silver water, with the chorus of the 
 boatmen, sometimes make my gall-bladder 
 burst with delight ; or perchance we may be in 
 the Fayoum, in the season of the roses ; or at 
 Siout when the caravans arrive from Darfour, 
 bringing wonders from the ends of the earth. 
 Allah-hou-Ackbar ! Gipsy I was born, and a 
 gipsy I will die, — and, for all that, if the kind 
 mistress of this house had not a white heart, I 
 should envy her happiness."" 
 
 " Silence, you foolish girl," said Fatimeh, 
 " and do not envy people whose hearts you do 
 not know."
 
 THE COURT-YARD. 193 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE COURT-YARD. 
 
 Down in the court-yard, Nasif Bey, and 
 several of the other Mameluke rulers of Egypt, 
 who had successively arrived with a consider- 
 able retinue of servants, were seated in the 
 alcove, along with several of the Ulema, and 
 dinner was served to them on a brass circular 
 tray, about five feet in diameter, laid on a low 
 stool, round which they squatted, and which 
 was covered with savoury Arab dishes. There 
 was neither the beef and pig of Europe, nor the 
 buffalo, camel, or field-rat of Egypt, — but 
 mutton and fowls, roast, boiled, stewed, grilled, 
 with every variety of vegetables, and the 
 vegetables in their turn as principals, with suc- 
 culent juices as accessories, — the artichoke 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194' THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 stuffed with chopped meat, and the hollowed 
 bamia filled with rice. 
 
 A disused divan on the ground floor, which 
 contained lumber and benches, had been cleared 
 out as a second dining room, — the walls of 
 which, being rather dilapidated, and the apart- 
 ment gloomy and lugubrious, it was new 
 hung all around with mats, and here Sheikh 
 Hamood presided at the entertainment of the 
 secondary guests. Several notorious Tofaydees, 
 or sponges, had attempted to effect an entrance, 
 but had been prevented. These men made a 
 living by acquiring intelligence of all parties and 
 entertainments going forward, and abusing the 
 Oriental hospitality, led a vagabond existence, 
 intruding themselves unasked. When the first 
 guests had dined, the round table was replenished, 
 and the room locked, while the other servants 
 were bringing dishes to complete the table ; but, 
 on returning, missed several fowls that they had, a 
 few minutes before, laid on the table, and were 
 unable to conceive how they had disappeared, 
 until they discovered, in a corner, several 
 sponges regaling themselves. These men had
 
 THE COURT-YARD. 195 
 
 fixed themselves at the barred, but unglazed 
 window ; and one of them, drawing a kitten 
 from his pocket, had let it loose on the table, 
 where it pounced on a fowl, and the string with 
 ^hich the cat was harnessed, being drawn to 
 the window, the kitten pulled the fowl with 
 it, and they supplied themselves with a dinner. 
 No remark was made by the servants of Cas- 
 sim, and the immortal Dando did not, with 
 more perfect indifference, submit to the anger 
 of a tavern-keeper, than these practised sponges 
 bore the sarcasms of the spectators. 
 
 As the guests performed their ablutions, the 
 last rays of the sun were clothing with its 
 fawn tints the irregular line of cornices forming 
 the eastern side of the domicile ; the blue sky 
 soon grew grey ; the slanting tent lost its coat 
 of gold ; and, '* Allah hou Ackbar ! " — God is 
 great ! — proclaimed from the minaret of the 
 Ghamry Mosque, broke in upon the hum of 
 the crowd ; and the watches were pulled out 
 to be rolled up and set — to sunset ; on which 
 prayers were said by the assembled company. 
 The rising moon was seen to add its pallid 
 
 K 3
 
 196 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 splendours to the scene, soon after the chan- 
 dehers had been lowered by the numerous pulleys 
 to be lighted ; and after the company had 
 dined, and prayed, and chatted, and smoked, 
 and prayed again at the Eshia, a loud flourish 
 of drums was heard, and then the buzz of the 
 eager guests ran through the whole court-yard, 
 which, like the orchestra of some Vauxhall or 
 Tivoli, was a blaze of illumination ; and all 
 eyes were directed to a projecting lattice, in 
 the first floor, where the guests of Sitt Wurdy 
 were assembled ; and the Sheikha — as the 
 best almeh or female singer of Cairo was called 
 — began, with a voice of more sweetness and 
 flexibility than power, a lay which captivated 
 all her hearers. 
 
 A European, at a first or second audience, 
 would find Egyptian singing monotonous ; but 
 no one, who has not made the experiment of 
 patient attention, would credit the rapidity 
 with which it improves on acquaintance. I 
 need scarcely inform the reader, that, not- 
 withstanding the profound treatises which the 
 Arabs have written on counterpoint, the variety
 
 THE COURT-YARD. 197 
 
 and excellence of the instruments of Europe 
 have left the practice of music in Egypt com- 
 pletely in the rear. But, as Paley says, we 
 are a bundle of habits ; and the guests, as- 
 sembled at Sheikh Cassim's, would have dis- 
 covered no beauty in the most popular air of 
 Cimarosa or Paesiello, had it been sung to 
 them by even Grassini herself. When the 
 air had ceased, a plate was carried round by 
 the attendant on the Sheikha, to collect money 
 for her. He was a stupid-looking fellow, and 
 cried out like a town-crier, "Give a gift, you 
 master of merry-making ! " (farah, or merry- 
 making, is also used in an ordinary way, to 
 denote the sense of joy or enjoyment) ; and at 
 each donation announced it again aloud, but 
 generally took care to name a sum far beyond 
 the truth ; but whether the motive may have 
 been to compliment the giver, or to stimulate 
 the liberality of those who had not yet given, 
 is a question open for discussion. 
 
 The court-yard did not form a complete 
 parallelogram ; at one end a half of the wall 
 receded, and as the recess was out of the blaze
 
 198 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 of the illuminatioD, the benches here were 
 scantily filled by a few persons whose modesty 
 or poverty prevented them from pushing their 
 way to a better position. In the further corner 
 sat two men, conversing with each other in a 
 low tone, unnoticed by the crowd of guests, 
 and apparently content to hear the song of the 
 Sheikha at this distance. 
 
 " This goes like a knife to my heart,"" said 
 the elder of the two, " this splendour and 
 feasting, with these Beys and infidel Ulema. 
 The origin of his substance is solely owing to 
 the support his father got from us, when the 
 family still belonged to tlie true faith. No 
 doubt that the father was both industrious and 
 economical, and that the son, with a good 
 capital, has been a bold and successful specu- 
 lator; but the origin is owing to us, and now 
 it is all gone — gone to the Moslems, who abhor 
 us and would destroy us if they knew of our 
 existence."" 
 
 " It is certainly the most magnificent entertain- 
 ment I ever saw," said the younger of the men. 
 
 "It is fortunate that an occasion like this
 
 THE COURT-YARD. 199 
 
 enables you to examine all the localities of his 
 house without notice. At the back is a gheyt, 
 with a few palm trees ; and behind that again, 
 a small house in the blind alley, which is so 
 ruinous that it is almost always to let. The 
 apostate sleeps in that room," continued the 
 elder of the men, pointing to two windows in 
 Sheikh Cassim's establishment. " A narrow 
 stair-case and a strong door bar it from the 
 rest of the house, which is so much the better, 
 as any one, when once in, can secure this com- 
 partment of the house from intrusion, if alarm 
 were given ; and you see that casement is 
 easily entered by any one who can get to the 
 top of the wall from the gheyt behind. On 
 the other side of the room, where the Sheikha 
 sings, is a part of his gold and jewels, under 
 the marble slab that forms the sole of the recess 
 for the water-jars. On lifting six pegs in the 
 dark closet behind it, the slab draws out like 
 a drawer, and a hollow box is below." 
 
 -'' But tell me," said Khaled, who was the 
 younger of the two, '* how or where did you 
 get a knowledge of all these particulars ? "
 
 200 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 " First of all from the mason who originally 
 constructed the hiding-place, and was one of 
 our nation ; and secondly, through an old 
 female servant, who lived in the house in the 
 time of the father, and, although one of the 
 faithful, was allowed to remain, and only died 
 about a year ago ; and," continued Salih-bela 
 Dukn, *' Abd-el-Aziz and I have always been 
 at war about this business. He is all religious 
 fervour and enthusiasm, and talked for a long 
 time of keeping our project clear of all pecu- 
 niary gain ; but I am not an enthusiast. I 
 look at the world as it is, and think that our 
 afiairs are best to be advanced by keeping the 
 main chance in view. Abd-el-Aziz is a man I 
 respect, but he has too much prophetic gloom 
 and exalted fervour for my taste. I look at 
 things as they are. If we had a revelation 
 from on high, or a gift of enchantment, Abd- 
 el-Aziz would be right ; but this is our politics, 
 and we shall never succeed unless we go about it 
 with worldly prudence, cunning, and secrecy. 
 So he is now perfectly resigned to our opinions, 
 for we all told him that otherwise we would not
 
 THE COURT-YARD. 201 
 
 engage in it. He at length yielded, giving us a 
 great deal of abuse about our worldliness and 
 degeneracy from ancient times." 
 
 " But,'' said Khaled, " you have not yet 
 pointed out to me the apostate." 
 
 " He is at the other end of the feast," said 
 Salih-bela Dukn, " concealed by the ivan ; 
 there — there — he comes this way." 
 
 " Which ?" said Khaled. 
 
 " The stout man with the pink cloth robe." 
 
 " Great God !" said Khaled, "is that Ebn 
 Daoud, the apostate ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Salih, *' that is the apostate, 
 who is commonly called Sheikh Cassim by the 
 Moslems, but to whom, from familiar habit, we 
 never give any other designation but that of the 
 son of his father." 
 
 Khaled, struck speechless, gazed vacantly 
 on all around him, as he saw that the apostate 
 he was to strike was no other than the Sheikh 
 Cassim, who had relieved him from prison. 
 At first his faculties were prostrate, but on 
 a moment's reflection, he said to himself, " I 
 will not only not be the means of his death, 
 
 K 5
 
 202 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 butj please God, I will be the means of saving 
 his life." He therefore proposed, after a short 
 interval, that they might now return home ; 
 but Salih had no idea of having his physical 
 pleasures disturbed, and he said, " Our business 
 need not in the least prevent us from continuing 
 to enjoy the lights, the music, and the other 
 entertainments." 
 
 First of all came up two Turkish wrestlers, 
 who were accustomed to show oiF their feats at 
 the Doseh — an annual procession of a mounted 
 dervish, over the prostrate bodies of fanatics, 
 on the Prophet's birthday. With the exception 
 of canvas breeches, saturated with grease, reach- 
 ing from the waist to above the knee, the 
 wrestler ^ras quite naked; his body and legs 
 were rubbed over with oil, so as to shine in the 
 sun ; and his feet and hands were of enormous 
 size. " How are you ? " said one of the guests 
 to him. " Praise be to God ! like an iron 
 chain," answered the wrestler, implying the 
 strength of iron and the pliability of a chain. 
 But it was evident, from his grey and nearly 
 white hairs, that the poor fellow was at least
 
 THE COURT-YARD. 203 
 
 twenty years beyond his prime. The other 
 wrestler was an Arab, of five-and-twenty : 
 and as the company began to arrive for the 
 procession, they had a struggle ; but the gripes, 
 twists, parries, contortions, and falls were 
 evidently all preconcerted, mutual injury, or 
 an actual trial of strength, being ingeniously 
 simulated. Then came a passage of arms be- 
 tween two swordsmen, with targets of hippo- 
 potamus hide, from the upper country; but 
 as the one combatant, a youth of fifteen, was 
 the grandson of the other, it could not be 
 expected to be very deadly.
 
 204 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE CIRCUMCISION PROCESSION. 
 
 It was past midnight when Khaled got 
 home, and retired to bed, but not to sleep, 
 so completely had the event of 'last night 
 appalled him. The idea of injuring a bene- 
 factor struck him with horror ; on the 
 other hand, the injunction of his father to 
 give implicit obedience to Abd-el-Aziz, and to 
 be in all matters the executant of his dark will, 
 and of the base and grovelling plans of the less 
 disinterested part of the nation, filled him with 
 disgust ; it was only the hope of saving Cassim 
 that prevented him from making a clean breast 
 to Abd-el-Aziz, and making the agonizing con- 
 fession of his resolution not to assist, but oppose 
 him. His own death, which might be the
 
 CIRCUMCISION PROCESSION. 205 
 
 result of such a declaration, was the least that 
 deterred him, but this, instead of saving Cassim, 
 would only postpone the vengeance about to 
 befall him ; and on the other hand, to have his 
 memory loaded with curses by all whom he 
 held most dear, was no light matter. With 
 the tortures of embarrassment and irresolution 
 was mingled the ignorance of how he could 
 save Cassim, without betraying to public justice 
 those whose bread he was eatinof; for, however 
 much he might abhor the proceedings they had 
 planned, and wished him to execute, he re- 
 volted at any sort of treachery, even to those 
 whose proceedings he could not approve. The 
 occasional shooting pangs of a violent and now 
 almost hopeless love, assisted in stretching him 
 on a moral rack, and during all this terrible and 
 long-remembered night, he lay awake, with the 
 melancholy rush of the waters of the Khalidge 
 in his ears, sighing for daylight, and yet nauseat- 
 ing the obligation of seeming a willing accom- 
 plice, and of showing, in the morning, no trace 
 of his agitation to Abd-el-Aziz. At length, as 
 day dawned, Nature exliausted herself; but he
 
 206 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 was soon awakened by the voice of Abd-el- 
 Aziz crying, " Oh, ho, sleeper ! late to bed, 
 late to rise." 
 
 Khaled rubbed his eyes, and starting up, 
 excused himself, and said, " An hour ago I 
 ought to have descended and kissed your 
 hand." 
 
 " All you mountaineers," said Abd-el-Aziz, 
 " when you get to Cairo, get a taste for late 
 hours, and the delights of the town. Girl, 
 where are you ? And what saw you yester- 
 night ? Girl," continued he, in a higher key, 
 "are you deaf.'' Get coffee and chibouques." 
 
 " The portals and entrances of pleasure," 
 said Khaled, " are easy, fair, and invit- 
 ing." 
 
 " And the exits painful, rough, and un- 
 sightly," said Abd-el-Aziz. " With my eighty 
 summers and winters, — an age perfectly asto- 
 nishing in Egypt — I may say that I have had 
 wealth of years, and poverty of the good things 
 of the world, for I had strength of mind to 
 eschew the corruptions of the flesh ; but miser 
 as I have been in healthful vigour, I have been
 
 CIRCUMCISION PROCESSION. 207 
 
 a prodigal in cash. Do not, young man, con- 
 gratulate yourself on avoiding one of these ex- 
 penditures without the other." 
 
 *' I have little experience in the ways of 
 the world,'' said Khaled, " but imagine that it 
 is better to have wealth of health, than an 
 abundance of mere money, and poverty in the 
 capacity to enjoy it." 
 
 Khaled was soon dressed, and presenting 
 Abd-el-Aziz with the end of his girdle, and 
 taking himself the other end of it, they both 
 went to opposite extremities of the room, and 
 having adjusted it to his waist, Khaled began 
 to spin round like an opera dancer, or a bobbin 
 set in motion, until the long sash, wound round 
 his w^aist, brought him again to where Abd-el- 
 Aziz stood, and then, putting up his upper robe, 
 coffee was discussed. 
 
 Abd-el-Aziz now began to give Khaled more 
 minute information and instructions as to how 
 they were to proceed, — but, at first, he might as 
 well have repeated them to the door-post, — the 
 event of the previous evening rendered him 
 so frequently absent, and Abd-el-Aziz repeated
 
 208 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 and explained until Khaled was ashamed of 
 either his apparent stupidity or transparent 
 inattention, and felt that, in order to save 
 Cassim, he must pay more attention to 
 those plans, which we need not at present 
 detail, as their results will unfold themselves 
 in due time. 
 
 '* I hope," concluded Abd-el-Aziz, " that the 
 business will turn out well; but one thiug 
 goes to my heart, and that is, that our people 
 make it too much a mere matter of worldly 
 gain, and an affair of every-day calculation. 
 No doubt the victim is rich, and that the 
 wealth that ought never to have gone to the 
 Moslems may come into our nation again ; but I 
 look upon it principally as a solemn example to 
 the whole nation, and a beacon of warning and 
 terror. God knows, I grumble, at times, at 
 my own poverty, but it is the lower, earthly, 
 and temporal view of the matter, to calculate, 
 as Salih does, only profit and loss, as if it were 
 a matter of an auction in the Khan Halily. 
 Remember, young man, that we have two na- 
 tures, a nobler and a baser ; and that if there
 
 CIRCUMCISION PROCESSION. 209 
 
 were no temporal gain, a prime essential in our 
 nobler nature is to keep the faith together by 
 a great act of vengeance." 
 
 " You say," said Khaled, who could scarcely 
 contain himself, and yet had not the courage to 
 speak out, "that vengeance belongs to the 
 nobler part of our nature .'' " 
 
 " Certainly, my son, for the numbers of our 
 people are limited. We cannot increase like 
 the Moslems by proselytism, and therefore we 
 hold together not only by the awfnl truths of 
 the only sound theology, but by the advantages 
 of mutual assistance and the terror of punish- 
 ment to those who secede, from which there is 
 no escape, however long the lapse of time, and 
 however great the distance to which the apos- 
 tate may go. I say, then, that our Salili is 
 far too worldly, and makes this affair more a 
 matter of temporal gain than is consistent with 
 the conduct of those who believe with all their 
 heart and soul." 
 
 " But," said Khaled, " are you not patriarch 
 — have you not power ? " . 
 
 " My son, you have still to go to school — you
 
 210 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 are sensible, and one may speak more freely to 
 you than to the generality of young men. Pa- 
 triarch and governor are other names for first 
 servant. In every breeze the palm top''s re- 
 sistance to the power that would prostrate it lies 
 in its relation to the root. I am called patriarch 
 and I think I look to heaven, but the earthly 
 prevails over the ethereal ; and as I will not part 
 company with my root, things do not go fully to 
 my mind. I could get plenty of lip obedience, 
 but that is hollow and unreal — so to have the 
 real, if ever so little, the patriarch and governor 
 must obey in commanding : but let me see, it is 
 now three oVlock (Arab time), so I must now 
 go to the Wekalet Saboon to hear the last news 
 from Syria, and you had better go to the Mer- 
 goosh, where you will see the grand circumci- 
 sion procession." 
 
 So saying each proceeded on his own way ; 
 Abd-el-Aziz to the Wekalet Saboon, the so- 
 called soap khan frequented by Syrians ; and 
 Khaled to the street in which Sheikh Cassim 
 lived, as by daylight he did not venture inside ; 
 and after waiting for some time in the crowd the
 
 CIRCUMCISION PROCESSION. SI 1 
 
 procession issued from the porch, the kettle 
 drums, tambourines, and clarionets, playing 
 what a European would call the DeviFs delight, 
 and a man mounted on high stilts taking the 
 lead. The most prominent object in the pro- 
 cession was the heml or barber-surgeons' symbol 
 and apparatus, like a little tripod cupboard, car- 
 ried aloft. The attendants of the Nackeeb-el- 
 Ashraf, or magistrate of the nobles, were recog- 
 nisable by their furrowed kaouks of green cloth ; 
 and then came little Halil, dressed in his gayest 
 apparel, mounted on a horse, and held up by 
 two men on each side, behind whom was Sitt 
 Wurdy, and the woman-kind, mounted on high 
 saddled asses. 
 
 Ascending the Mergoosh, the procession soon 
 came to the great line of bazaars, which is the 
 high street of Cairo, the first of which is that 
 of mats, which is so obscure even at midday, 
 from having the top almost covered over. On 
 each side of each shop were suspended those 
 fine straw mats which, from their coolness in 
 summer, are a substitute for the carpet in 
 almost every Egyptian house, and, along with
 
 S12 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 a few earthen pots, constitute the furniture of 
 the poorest hut. Here a blockade took place, 
 a string of camels coming from the opposite 
 direction, and, after a good deal of pushing 
 and wrangling, they got out of the darkness to 
 an open sunny part of this great high- street 
 of Cairo, and the mountebanks, who had no 
 scope for their exertions in the dark, narrow 
 mat bazaar, on arrival at the Bayn-el-Kasrayn 
 came to a full stop, and commenced their tricks. 
 They are called in Arabic mohabaseen and 
 migalateey ; the former being what we would 
 call jack-puddings or merry-andrews, and the 
 latter, performers of tricks of legerdemain. 
 But very different were the exercises here once 
 in a day, for although this part of Cairo be 
 now covered with streets, it was, in the time of 
 the Fatimite caliphs, an open space, as its 
 name denotes, " between the two palaces ;" and 
 here for many a long day after the elevation of 
 Saladin to power, was the scene of tilt and 
 tournament as gay and splendid as that which 
 an Ivanhoe may have seen at Ashby de la 
 Zouch, as far as horse and foot, knight and
 
 CIRCUMCISION PROCESSION. S13 
 
 squire could make them, but iu which no 
 eastern Rowena could award a palm to victory. 
 
 While these exercises were going on the 
 procession stopped, and Khaled received a sud- 
 den surprise, while standing at the door of a 
 cafe of a side street. On being familiarly 
 slapped on the back, and turning round, he 
 perceived Sheikh Hamood, the humble friend 
 of Sheikh Cassim. 
 
 " How is your condition .?" said Hamood, 
 jovially. 
 
 " Well, thank you," said Khaled, scarcely 
 able to conceal his embarrassment. 
 
 " Ah, ha ! "" said Hamood ; " it is better to 
 be outside, enjoying the fresh air, than within 
 the close walls of a prison. I call myself a 
 good judge of air, and of all that is good for 
 mind and body." 
 
 " No doubt," said Khaled ; " and I am under 
 eternal obligations to Sheikh Cassim." 
 
 " What say you to the procession ? " said 
 Hamood. 
 
 " It would burst the gall-bladder of a lion," 
 said Khaled.
 
 214 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 " Why, yes," said Kamood ; " to you, who 
 have come out of prison into the fresh air, it 
 must be dehghtful. I know something of the 
 value of good air and good water." 
 
 "Are you a native of Cairo ? " said Khaled, 
 rather anxious to change the current of conver- 
 sation. 
 
 " No," said Sheikh Hamood ; "I am from 
 Suez." 
 
 *' I need not ask you,"^aid Khaled, " if you 
 prefer Cairo to Suez ? " 
 
 " Ouih ! " responded the Sheikh, with the 
 motion of his lips that resembled a scarcely 
 audible whistle. " Indeed you need not ; there 
 is no comparison." 
 
 " I fancy there is no place like Cairo," said 
 Khaled. " What city has a river like the 
 Nile ? " 
 
 " Stop there ! " said Sheik Hamood, his 
 patriotism rather piqued. " You do not know 
 Suez." 
 
 " Has it the good air you so much prize ? " 
 
 " Ouih, the air of Suez is delightful, while 
 that of Cairo is not half so good."
 
 CIRCUMCISION PROCESSION. 215 
 
 " Yes," said Kaled ; " but I understand 
 that your water is brackish." 
 
 " You have no idea how good brackish water 
 is for the health ; the men of Suez are men of 
 iron," said Sheikh Hamood, doubhng his fists, 
 and shaking them as if he would, like Samson, 
 pull down the portals of the house. 
 
 " But," said Khaled, " where there is no 
 Nile and no gardens, as at Suez, the weather 
 must be fearfully hot ? " 
 
 '' Oh no ! " said Sheikh Hamood, who would 
 not allow that Suez was in any way deficient in 
 a single attraction of existence. " I almost 
 think that Suez is cooler than Cairo." 
 
 " And how are the women in Suez ?" said 
 the Jack Pudding, who now entered, his face 
 almost blue with standing on his head, and the 
 perspiration streaming down his temples, and 
 who called loudly to the coiFee-boy for a 
 draught of water, which, as he drank, Khaled 
 perceived that his hands were of peculiar for- 
 mation, having two palms growing out of each 
 wrist, and two very long fingers projecting from 
 each of them. Khaled thought at first that
 
 216 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 his knuckles had been spUt open to the wrist 
 by a hatchet, and not joined again, but both 
 hands were ahke, and the hnes on each of the 
 four palms quite distinct. " Ay,'' said this 
 Adonis, " how are the women in that country ; 
 that's the point that interests me. Are they 
 handsome in your country ? " 
 
 " Ouih ! " said Hamood ; " when the air is 
 good and the water brackish, how can the 
 women be otherwise than good-looking. I wish 
 I were back in Suez ; I was always happy 
 there. Then there is a coming and a going 
 with ships to Yemen and the Hedjas, and a 
 perpetual succession of the news of the events 
 of the whole world, — of Cairo, Djiddeh, and 
 Mecca and Medina ; — what the Mameluke 
 beys of Egypt did, and what other princes 
 and governors have said and done, and 
 ordered and forbidden. Suez is the centre of 
 the world," said Sheikh Hamood, triumph- 
 antly. 
 
 " Out of Cairo," said the Jack-pudding, 
 " there is no place like Nubia. What can 
 a man eat, like the dates of Ibreem ?
 
 CIRCUMCISION PROCESSION. 217 
 
 What can he drink like the water of the 
 Nile ? " 
 
 " Then why did you leave it ? " said Khaled. 
 
 " My father," said the Jack-pudding, " Hved 
 in one of the villages of the country of Derr, 
 and when my mother died, my father married 
 again ; but his wife detested my brother and 
 myself She used to break the pots and plates 
 when he was out, and then, when he came 
 home, said that we had done it. So my father 
 used to say, 'Oh Ahmed! Oh accursed! 
 Why did you do this ? "^ So, tired of the end- 
 less disputes, I said to my brother, ' Where 
 shall we go ? Shall we go to Darfour, where 
 the people sleep on fine ashes to keep them- 
 selves cool, or to Cairo, or to Alexandria on 
 the salt sea ? ' ' There is no life away from 
 the Nile," said my brother. So we took some 
 dates, and entered a ship, and came to Cairo ; 
 and here I lived by my hands, but not by the 
 labour of them. 1 showed them about, and 
 pocketed the fuddahs (small coins) that the 
 people gave me ; but, tired of idleness, I 
 wished to become acquainted with the arts and 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 218 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 sciences, and can now walk on my hands as 
 well as you can walk on your feet, and exhibit 
 cup and ball with any man on this side of the 
 mountain of Kaf, which is the end of the 
 world." 
 
 ** I wish I were a Jack-pudding,"" said Khaled 
 to himself, as he turned melancholy away to go 
 home ; for, Sheikh Hamood having proposed 
 that they should go and have some chat with 
 Sheikh Cassim during the procession, Khaled 
 felt by no means disposed to accept the propo- 
 sition or to have any encounter with him, under 
 present circumstances, and therefore politely 
 excused himself. 
 
 Sheikh Hamood and the Jack-pudding there- 
 upon rejoined the procession, which continued 
 its course : handfuls of salt being from time to 
 time thrown at the principal members of the 
 procession, which proved sometimes rather 
 sharp work for the eyes ; but an incident soon 
 occurred, which diverted the attention from the 
 coarse jokes of the merry- andrews, the salutes 
 of salt, and the antics of the jack-puddings. 
 At the bazaar of Sultan~el-Ghoury they seemed
 
 CIRCUMCISION PROCESSION. 219 
 
 to enter a magnificent Gothic cathedral, an effect 
 produced by a mosque on one side of the street 
 and a tomb on the other, of colossal propor- 
 tions ; while, notwithstanding the breadth which 
 separates them, the street is here roofed in 
 by great rafters, stretching from cornice to 
 cornice, the dimly lighted, pure and beautiful 
 Saracenic architecture of the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century, with the brilliant colours of 
 the dresses, producing an effect like that of a 
 grand picture of the Venetian school, while a 
 golden ray of sunshine, shooting through a 
 crevice in the roof, bisected the limpid gloom, 
 with its bright and well-defined radiance. 
 Nasif Bey, on horseback, here met the pro- 
 cession ; but another bright reflection from 
 something the sunbeam had fallen on, moment- 
 arily played on his face, and he pronounced 
 aloud the word Elmas I On which Sheikh 
 Cassim suddenly felt his pocket, and missed 
 his diamond snuff-box, which he never used 
 except on great and festival occasions like this. 
 
 " My diamond-box is gone ! '" said he. 
 
 " There is the thief ! " said the Bey, pointing 
 
 L 2
 
 220 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 to a dark-complexioned old man, with long 
 regular features and black glowing eyes. The 
 man quickly made a motion to let the box 
 drop, but, caught in the fact, evasion became 
 impossible, and, in spite of his own cries and 
 the loud lamentations and somewhat unrea- 
 sonable entreaties of Sitt Wurdy and the bey's 
 wqfe that he should be spared, he was collared 
 and carried forward to the Shoe-bazaar of the 
 Cassabat Rodouan, in the middle of which is a 
 gate, where a lamp was burning, although it 
 was broad daylight. The thief's jaw dropped 
 as he entered the court-yard, as if there was 
 something in his throat he could not swallow ; 
 and no wonder, for he was in a mortal terror, 
 as he saw, rolled up in one corner, a bloody 
 bulFs-hide ; — for here, housebreakers caught in 
 the night were summarily beheaded, and the 
 corners of the hide being gathered up, the body 
 of the malefactor was usually put on an ass and 
 conveyed to the washing-place at the Roumey- 
 leh. However, the thief knew that his doom 
 was not to be death, when the sergeant of 
 police ordered a little pan of pitch to be put on
 
 CIRCUMCISION PROCESSION. 221 
 
 a charcoal fire, and, when it had boiled, his 
 feet were bound, his left hand firmly grasped 
 by a strong canvas, and his right hand hacked 
 off just at the wrist, and the stump being 
 plunged into the pitch-pan, he fainted away 
 from pain ; and on being asked who he was, 
 answered, that he was a gipsy from Hosh 
 Bardak, and, being put on an ass, was taken 
 home. 
 
 This incident had thinned the procession of 
 several of the more curious ; although Cassim, 
 content to have his box again, never left the 
 procession. Sitt Wurdy considered it a bad 
 omen, and, turning round to the west, she 
 returned to the Mergoosh by the Derb-Ginein, 
 near the Syrian quarter ; and on arrival at 
 home the circumcision ought to have taken place, 
 but the barber having felt the pulse of Halil, 
 declared him to be too agitated, and the cere- 
 mony being postponed to the following morn- 
 ing, took place in the presence of a much 
 smaller company than formed the procession.
 
 222 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HOSH BARDAK. 
 
 Separated from the Castle of Cairo by the 
 Roumeyleh, or public square, is the mosque of 
 Sultan Hassan, the most magnificent temple of 
 Islamism. Four enormous pointed alcoves 
 form a hypaethral court, over which swells a 
 simple dome and minarets of unequal height ; 
 and such was the expense of its construction, 
 that the sultan said repeatedly, that he should 
 abandon it, if it were not from the fear of 
 ridicule attaching to the name of a sovereign 
 who undertook what he could not complete. 
 Neither buttress nor clerestory, chevroned 
 niche nor fretted pinnacle, break the sublime 
 simplicity that rises through eight lofty floors of 
 the collegiate apartments to the very architrave ;
 
 HOSH BARDAK. 223 
 
 and there Saracenic art, luxuriating in all the 
 revelry of stalactite and pendant, gives to the 
 edifice its crowning beauty, and receives in turn, 
 from the severe grandeur of the elevation, that 
 full and ample relief, which florid tracery 
 oftener seeks than finds in the Lombard, Nor- 
 man, and later Byzantine styles of architecture, 
 where decoration is used, not to adorn, but to 
 dismember, not to increase grace, but per- 
 versely to diminish magnitude of effect. 
 
 The classic scholar might trace, in this noble 
 monument of the fourteenth century, how the 
 rounded lines of beauty in antique statuary 
 were transferred to the gigantic Arabic writing 
 on the wall ; while, on the pavement, he might 
 see those lines, of which the circle is the unit 
 in the decorations of Pompeii, converted to the 
 triangle in the hands of a polished people, to 
 whom the imitation of the human form was 
 forbidden, and to whom the impartial historian 
 must assign the happy union of geometry and 
 art. 
 
 A few paces north from this mosque, in the 
 vicinity of the armourers' bazaar, is a scene of
 
 224 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 a totally different description, — the ruins of a 
 noble palace, all the marbles and rich tissues 
 of which have long since disappeared, and of 
 which nothing is seen but shattered pavements, 
 and crumbling pointed arches. This is Hosh 
 Bardak, the court-yard of the Emir of that 
 name, whose munificence in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury was only second to that of Sultan Hassan 
 himself; but his political fortunes, so bright at 
 one time, not prospering in the end, he was 
 murdered, and his house given as a prey to the 
 flames, and according to tradition, a Weli, or 
 inspired saint, had written these lines on him : 
 
 *' Oh ! cursed, son of accursed, 
 Who will extinguish this fire ? 
 (Which will burn) in all time night and day." 
 
 And, as if in fulfilment of the prophecy, the 
 gipsy forges of Cairo are now ensconced in the 
 alcoves of the ruined palace of the Emir Bardak ; 
 but while, in all Europe, there appears to be 
 only one tribe of gipsies — in Egypt, there are 
 two, the Nowar, who have all the thieving and 
 wandering propensities of the race throughout 
 Europe, — and the Ghagar, who are the more
 
 HOSH 15ARDAK. 21^5 
 
 settled and industrious, both being ofF-shoots of 
 the great Indian tribes, that, after their expul- 
 sion from the land of their birth, maintained, 
 for so long a period, a warlike reputation on 
 the shores of the Euphrates and Tigris, at a 
 period when their existence was unknown to 
 Europe. 
 
 In an inner apartment of Hosh Bardak, with 
 a vaulted roof, perfectly black from smoke, 
 which found its way to the open air through a 
 break in the arch, and which had formerly been 
 the kitchen of the palace, were two men and a 
 woman ; the oldest of the men lay on a mat 
 by the side of the wall, apparently in consider- 
 able pain, and exclamations escaped him 
 from time to time, which showed that severe 
 mental as well as physical pain agonized him. 
 The other man sat on his haunches by his side, 
 while the woman, who was about fifty years of 
 age, with a thin withered countenance, and her 
 chin marked with blue, was occupied, blowing 
 some embers of charcoal, to cook a small 
 earthern pot of vegetables, close to which was 
 a large white dog, of ugly and uncleanly aspect, 
 
 L 5
 
 226 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 watching the progress of the cuUnary opera- 
 tions. 
 
 " And how is your hand now ? " said the 
 man on his haunches to the other. 
 
 " How should I know, since it is either at 
 the Cassabat Rodouan, or at the Mounds, or 
 thrown into a sink," said the wounded man, 
 who was no other than the thief caught in the 
 attempt to rob Sheikh Cassim. 
 
 " Pardon me," said the other, " I mean your 
 wrist." 
 
 " Why," said the other man, grinning and 
 contorting his features with an effort to be at 
 ease, " I seek patience and find it not ; when 
 the wrist is easier I fall a-thinking, and get 
 furious, and when my fury is out my wrist 
 pains me again, so that I am between Munker 
 and Nekeer." 
 
 At this moment Taj-el-Hosh, the gipsy-girl, 
 whose acquaintance we have already made, 
 entered the place, she belonging to the settled 
 tribe of gipsies called Gliagar, who lived by in- 
 dustry and petty deceptions, and paid no taxes ; 
 while the persons we here describe belonged to
 
 HOSH BARDAK. 2^7 
 
 the tribe of No war, notoriously addicted to 
 theft, vagabondage, and a prison existence. 
 As Taj entered the dog growled, and was 
 preparing to make a move, when the old wo- 
 man, seizing her slipper, knocked it on the 
 nose, and sent it sneaking to the other corner. 
 
 "Still here!" said Taj: "and how goes 
 the wound ? — we want you away from here ; 
 you bring us into disrepute. Are we not 
 Ghagars, and industrious folks, who gain an 
 honest living? Are we under the Pasha as 
 you are ? Are we not free men and women, 
 whom the Waly never has under lock and 
 key, prison bolt, or castle bar ? We have 
 given you leave to stay in the Hosh, and you 
 have made it ' a den of thieves.' Ya Allah ! 
 if that man were not in pain, and deserving 
 humanity, all of you, crone, dogs, and Nowar, 
 should have to tramp off on your travels again. 
 We shall have to suffer for your disorders, 
 for you get the Hosh into disrepute by your 
 doings."*"* 
 
 "" Gently,"" said the younger man. " Nowar 
 have frequented Hosh Bardak before you came
 
 228 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 out of the egg-oven, and will frequent it when 
 you are dead and gone. Show your papers 
 for the possession of these vaults. Are you of 
 the daughters of Bardak, that you claim the 
 Hosh for yourself? Keep yourself in a better 
 humour, and you won't grow old so quick. You 
 have had a bad day's sale in the bazaar, and 
 you are in a cross humour. Did no one answer 
 to your call?" and he began to imitate the 
 cry of the Ghagar women in the bazaars, 
 " Ya-binat," &c. 
 
 " Silence, you ruffian, you would do better 
 to imitate the deed of the honest, than mimic 
 their cry. You want lodgings ! well, kill as 
 well as steal, and then you will get bed and 
 washing at the Maghsal of the Roumeyleh.'"* 
 — Murderers' bodies are washed there. 
 
 " Nay, nay, Hosh Bardak is better. Come, 
 crone, why do you not do the honours of the 
 Hosh, and ask Taj to sup with you ?" 
 
 But the old woman shrugged her shoulders, 
 took no notice, and went on with her cook- 
 ing. 
 
 "Oh, ho!" said Taj, with a wink, "you
 
 HOSH BARDAK. S29 
 
 make me out to be a guest in Hosh Bardak,"" and 
 on this she Indulged herself in a loud contemp- 
 tuous laugh ; " no such thing, you shall learn 
 another story, for I have prepared for the in- 
 valid a cooling drink that will delight soul and 
 body, and which I will fetch directly. Come, 
 cheer up, Mahnioud,'' said she to the man 
 extended on the mat, " get on your legs again, 
 and turn to honest courses, with the whole 
 world before you, and then Nowar and Ghagar 
 may live together in Hosh Bardak, without 
 quarrelling. Ya Allah ! to ask people how are 
 their bodies, or their children, or their fathers, 
 or fortunes ! — ask them how are their con- 
 sciences, and remember the verses of Ebn Kha- 
 rouby, that old Hamid repeats at the cofFee- 
 shop : 
 
 '• ' My conscience dark, the world 's a-gloom, 
 The sun is dim, I see the tomb ; 
 So near, methinks, my youth is fled. 
 Wrinkles on brow, and grizzled locks on head. 
 
 " ' My conscience clear, the world *s a-gay, 
 Nature reflects the orb of day ; 
 And 'twixt the horns of silver light, 
 I seem to see a moon of fourteenth night.' "
 
 S30 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 " You are always ready with your scraps of 
 poetry," said the young man. " Will poetry 
 lay on the man's hand again ? — sound without 
 sense.'"* 
 
 " Nay, nay, by Allah, she is right," said the 
 man on the mat ; " her sense is as good as 
 her sound ; but we are like the palm-branch at 
 the cow's chest that floats no one knows where, 
 a chance for Rosetta, and a chance for Da- 
 mietta." * 
 
 Taj now departed, and returned in a few 
 minutes with a drink which she had prepared 
 for the wounded man, which he drank with 
 thanks, on which she returned to her own end 
 of the Hosh. 
 
 " And how runs time ? " said the man on the 
 mat. 
 
 " The night prayer has not yet been called ; 
 but here comes Mohammed," on this, a man 
 entered, who had something of the shabby dis- 
 reputable air of those who hawk goods by auc- 
 tion through the bazaars. 
 
 * The apex of the Delta, called " Batn-el-Bakar," where 
 the waters of the Nile divide.
 
 HOSH BARDAK. ^Sl 
 
 " Selam-Aleykom," said Mohammed, as he 
 entered, " I ought to have been here before 
 now, but was near getting into trouble. It is 
 easy and pleasant to catch the stuff, and not so 
 easy to get it ofl', and catch the cash for it."" 
 
 " Very pleasant indeed to catch the stuff,'* 
 said the old man, holding up his stump, " and 
 very unpleasant for you to catch the cash for it, 
 seeing how rich you have become." 
 
 " What ! handless ? '■* said Mohammed, look- 
 ing blank and surprised. 
 
 The younger man then related what had oc- 
 curred on the previous day at the circumcision 
 procession ; and when the matter was discussed, 
 and Mohammed had expressed his sympathy, 
 he followed the younger man into the inner 
 apartment, a closet or small apartment, quite 
 dark by daylight, which in the time of the 
 Emir Bardak had been entered by a cupboard, 
 and served as a hiding-hole to the Emir, but the 
 wood part of which had disappeared in the con- 
 flagration that consumed the palace ; and here, 
 at the end of the closet under a fagot of wood 
 which they removed, was a square slab of
 
 232 THE JMAMELUKES. 
 
 pavement, which being lifted with some diffi- 
 culty, a staircase was seen to lead to the vaults 
 below, whither the gipsy descended with a 
 paper lantern in his hand, followed by Mo- 
 hammed, and having arrived at the foot of the 
 staircase, found themselves in a large vault : 
 here, crossing a species of passage, they entered 
 a dry cellar, filled with a variety of objects, 
 including wearing apparel and arms, and on a 
 table were watches, silver cofFee-cup holders, 
 and a filigree censer. 
 
 " This censer hangs on our hand," said the 
 gipsy. 
 
 " And what can I do in the matter ? " said 
 Mohammed ; " its value is in the curious work- 
 manship ; if we melt it, the silver is only a few 
 ounces ; if we attempt to sell it in Cairo, 
 we risk discovery. Our only chance is to find 
 a traveller for Constantinople."" 
 
 Close to the door of the cellar were the 
 saddle-bags of a traveller, which were jDointed 
 out by the gipsy as a new object. The bags 
 were open, and they began taking out all the 
 articles one by one ; and when Mohammed
 
 HOSH BARDAK. ^33 
 
 had looked them through, he shrugged his 
 shoulders and said, " Surely you cannot expect 
 much out of this lot, — nothing to melt, — no- 
 thing of real value, except the new gold and 
 silk abay, and that at the most is not worth 
 two zerr-mahboubs." 
 
 ^' Conscience,**" said the gipsy ; " have you 
 no recollection of the living that you have had 
 out of us for so many years ? Recollect that if 
 things go wrong with us, and Hosh Bardak 
 makes acquaintance with the Waly, we are 
 only the journeymen employed by clever Mo- 
 hammed. What will you give for the 
 lot ? " 
 
 " Three zerr-mahboubs is all that I can 
 reasonably give,'' said Mohammed, with an 
 air of honest decision, which contrasted singu- 
 larly with the vicious cunning of his eye, and 
 the taciturnity of his habitual manner. 
 
 " Put up thy purse," said the gipsy, kicking 
 back the bags after Mohammed had sought to 
 tempt him with the sight of money ; " if Mo- 
 hammed do not give his journeymen their fair 
 hire for doing his work, they are better to
 
 234 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 share with the Waly. Four mahboubs, that is 
 my last word." 
 
 " There are three," said Mohammed. 
 
 " Let us quit the vault," said the gipsy, appa- 
 rently in a huff: but Mohammed adding a few 
 more silver pieces, began to put together the things 
 in the bag, while the gipsy, soon reconciled, told 
 Mohammed to be quick ; and laying aside the bag 
 to be called for on the morrow, they reascended 
 the stairs, and Mohammed went on his way, 
 while the gipsy remained within the upper 
 vault, until he had readjusted the trap-door and 
 the fagots ; but on the threshold of the apart- 
 ment in which the elder gipsy remained with 
 the crone, he heard a voice in colloquy with this 
 worthy couple. 
 
 "And what is this business for which we are 
 to receive this sum ? " said the old man. 
 
 " To carry off a child for a short time, and 
 treat him well during his absence from his 
 father's house ; and then to deliver him to me." 
 
 " All depends on persons and places," said 
 the old man. "Is it easy or difficult ? who 
 are the parties ? "
 
 HOSH BARDAK. 2oo 
 
 *' Sheikh Cassim in the Mergoosh has a son, 
 \\ho is taken by a Nubian servant every 
 Friday afternoon to the Long Garden ; and 
 there will be nothing more easy in such 
 a crowd and confusion of persons, than to 
 find the means of conveying him out of the 
 way." 
 
 '' Oh ! that is a difficult business. Sheikh 
 Cassim ! one of the eyes of the town ; that is 
 quite another affair, for he is surrounded with 
 servants. Do you pay cash down ? " 
 
 " We pay twenty dollars down, and fifty as 
 soon as the business is done."" 
 
 The wounded man, smarting with resent- 
 ment at the loss of his hand, seemed to be 
 reflecting, and the younger gipsy was no sooner 
 seen by Khaled, the stranger, to enter the 
 apartment, than he said, " What, the Der- 
 vish of Bilbeis!" and apostrophising him at 
 the top of his voice, cried out, " Foul and 
 infamous impostor ! have I at length found 
 thee — that in religious guise goest about this 
 land to prey upon and ensnare the inexpe- 
 rienced ^ Know that I will have purse, bag-
 
 2S6 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 gage, and all that thou hast taken, and a full 
 settlement of our accounts."" 
 
 " Here is a shnple and inexperienced young 
 man," said the mock dervish, whose real name 
 was Hassan, " who wishes to deprive a Moslem 
 of his beloved son, and send him into the 
 country to smell the sweet fragrance of beans 
 in the encampment of the No war. If there is 
 to be a weighing and a balancing, there is what 
 I throw into the scale,"" on which he lifted a 
 pistol, and with perfect good-humour looked 
 at it, holding it in the air, and showing it to 
 Khaled in great hilarity. 
 
 Khaled, feeling himself in a false position, 
 and mortified to the core by the complication 
 gathering around him, was about suddenly to 
 rush out of the Hosh ; but looking round, he 
 saw the door of the apartment barred by the 
 old hag, who stood there with a long kitchen- 
 knife in her hand. 
 
 " What ! is this a murder trap ? "" said 
 Khaled. 
 
 " Do not be a fool ! "" said Hassan ; '' sit 
 quietly down, and let us talk the matter over.
 
 HOSH BARDAK. ^37 
 
 You plan an abduction for which you deserve 
 to lose your life ; — hold your tongue as to the 
 loss of your baggage, and the Nowar vvill not 
 only say nothing of yourself or your accom- 
 plices — but, as our accounts are not yet settled 
 with Sheikh Cassim and the police of Cairo, 
 your benevolent wish to give the Sheikh's 
 son a little country air will be accomplished. 
 So put up your knife, old woman, and let us 
 have a mouthful of coffee. And as for you, 
 young man, I make you welcome to Hosh 
 Bardak Sit down, and let us talk over all 
 the details of your plan, and come to a settle- 
 ment, both as to execution and payment." 
 
 On this Khaled sat down in gloomy silence, 
 more determined than ever to defeat the plans 
 of Abd-el-Aziz, of which he was the unwilling 
 instrument, and having, after settling with the 
 gipsy what was to be done in accordance with 
 the instructions which he had received from 
 the patriarch, reiterated his wish that the boy 
 should be well treated, took his departure from 
 Hosh Bardak, wishing that an earthquake 
 might swallow it and all its inhabitants.
 
 238 THE MAiMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE PLOT. 
 
 On the Thursday following this last trans- 
 action, Khaled, according to the instructions 
 he had received from the patriarch Abd-el- 
 Aziz (whose name no way appeared in the 
 matter), rented a house in a blind alley, 
 which had been pointed out to him. Rent- 
 ing a house in Cairo is not so formidable 
 an affair as it is in Europe, for an abun- 
 dance of habitable houses are to be had by 
 the month in the Egyptian metropolis, as 
 the purchase of a few divans, mats, bedding 
 and kitchen utensils enable a stranger to be 
 quickly installed. The house in question, which 
 had been previously tenanted by one Ali-el- 
 Gedawy, was not even furnished, as flight, after
 
 THE PLOT. 239 
 
 the termination of the operation projected, was 
 contemplated. Behind the house was a small 
 piece of unwatered ground, and consequently 
 without a hlade of grass ; but a couple of palms 
 vegetated on the latent humidity, which was 
 communicated, one scarce knew how, from the 
 neighbouring grounds. 
 
 Khaled had given the key to Salih Bela 
 Dukn — literally, the beardless Salih, for he had 
 not a long and vigorous hair on his body, and 
 was shabby and cowardly in character, but as 
 cunning as a fox ; and he was engaged in dust- 
 ing the place, while Khaled went for Abd-el- 
 Aziz, in order that a conference might take 
 place in this locality. 
 
 " Were you impatient for us ? " said Abd-el- 
 Aziz, as Salih opened the door to him and 
 Khaled. 
 
 " I was," said Salih ; "and somewhat hungry 
 too/' 
 
 " Business never allows Salih to forget his 
 appetite and his purse for one moment," said 
 Abd-el-Aziz to Khaled, with a chuckle, in 
 which he very seldom indulged. " Have you
 
 ^40 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 seen anything since we left you ? " continued 
 he, addressing Salih. 
 
 " Only the clouds of dust in cleansing out the 
 room, and the riding-boots of Ali-el-Gedawy, 
 or somebody else, which have been left behind 
 in that press," said Salih, showing a pair of old 
 red riding boots. 
 
 " Salih is hungry," said the old man ; " let 
 us see what provisions we have." 
 
 On which Khaled opened a reed reticule, 
 containing provisions, and Salih, pulling a 
 dusty invalided stool out of a corner, which 
 served as a table, and all three sitting down 
 on an old mat, made a frugal meal. Salih 
 expressing his own discomfort by regretting 
 that the old man should not have a better 
 cup of coffee. But the ruminations of Abd- 
 el-Aziz were very different from those of 
 Salih. He remained for some time silent and 
 absorbed in thought, and at length said, with 
 exultation — 
 
 " Now is the hour of accomplishment draw- 
 ing near. We have waited long, but we are 
 at length in sight of the haven ."
 
 THE PLOT. 241 
 
 " Or of the sunk rock on which we will foun- 
 der,"" said the beardless Salih. 
 
 " The seaman that has an object steadily in 
 view must not care for obstacles,*" said Abd-el- 
 Aziz. '' The High Ali favours the well-de- 
 vised plan, the strong will, and the persevering 
 sequence. This house, let me now inform you, 
 Khaled, is exactly behind that of Sheikh Cas- 
 sim's. To-morrow night the boy will in all 
 probability be in Hosh Bardak, and we will 
 have a boat ready for you to descend the 
 Nile with him, and thereafter Cassim must 
 die." 
 
 " And we become masters of a considerable 
 portion of his wealth," said Salih, 
 
 " Rejoice, Khaled," said Abd-el-Aziz, "that 
 you have the honour among all our nation of 
 striking this blow. I am old and feeble. Salih 
 is unused to the shedding of blood, but you are 
 accustomed to battle and death. You have the 
 strong arm and the steady hand of youth ; and 
 there," he concluded, '' is the instrument with 
 which the deed is to be done." 
 
 Abd-el-Aziz now put into the hand of Khaled 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 242 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 a large ivory-handed Khorassan dagger, which as 
 he drew it out of the scabbard showed itself to 
 be beautifully waved ; but it was with difficulty 
 that Khaled, although trained from infancy to 
 suppress all ebullition of feeling, could resist a 
 thrill of horror on hearing such a proposition, 
 and on seeing the instrument with which it was 
 to be effected. Brave in battle, he revolted at 
 assassination, even of his bitterest foe, and his 
 repugnance was tenfold increased when he 
 reflected, that the intended victim was a man 
 who had given him a substantial proof of good- 
 will, and was by the general voice proclaimed 
 to be a man of a fine moral nature. His first 
 emotion was indignantly to declare himself 
 recalcitrant ; but he reflected that this would 
 involve the sacrifice of his own life to a spirit of 
 hellish fanaticism, and that it would still be 
 open to these dark and gloomy bigots to accom- 
 plish the destruction of Cassim by other means. 
 His blood seemed to curdle within him as he 
 mechanically felt the sharp point and followed 
 the wavy temper of the poniard, and, with a 
 cold perspiration on his brow, he remarked aloud
 
 THE PLOT. 243 
 
 its ornamental knob of silver, gold and zinc 
 enamel. 
 
 " Ay,"" continued Abd-el-Aziz, " that is a 
 blade worth looking at, and Salih will tell you 
 that that weapon has drawn infidel blood before 
 now, both on the slopes of Salahieh and on the 
 slope of Kalat-el-Hossn. But come up to the 
 roof of the house while daylight enables us to 
 examine the locality." 
 
 Khaled and Salih now followed Abd-el-Aziz 
 to the roof of the house, which was perfectly 
 flat, and covered with a composition of gypsum 
 and sand, so as to exclude the little rain that 
 falls in that climate ; — a cement of a quality so 
 inferior to that of Syria, that if a really heavy 
 rain were to last three days, nearly all Cairo 
 would be unroofed. 
 
 Khaled was as yet somewhat imperfectly ac- 
 quainted with the curious labyrinth of Cairo 
 streets, which at first is almost as troublesome to 
 a stranger as the unfrequented parts of Venice. 
 It had not struck him therefore that this was 
 in such immediate approximation to Cassim's 
 house, the access was so very round about, and, 
 
 M 2
 
 ^44 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 on takiDg the house, he had seen only the view 
 from the lower roof, which looked northwards 
 towards the walls and the desert. It was to 
 the higher part of the roof, forming a sort of 
 square turret, that Khaled now followed Abd- 
 el-'Aziz up a wooden side -stair from the lower 
 roof, and here, protected by a parapet, was a 
 wide prospect, including the hills of Mokattam, 
 the great dome and lofty walls of Sultan Has- 
 san, above which rose the battlements of the 
 castle. The sun, being in Khaled's face, abs- 
 tracted for a moment his eyes from the sur- 
 rounding houses, but looking over the parapet 
 to the south, he at once perceived where he 
 was, on Abd- el-Aziz telling him that the build- 
 ing at the other end of a small garden, march- 
 ing with the back court of the house in which 
 he was, formed the northern side of the court- 
 yard in which he had enjoyed, sometime before, 
 the circumcision festivities of Cassim. 
 
 " Keep back,"" said Abd-el-Aziz, '' so as to 
 avoid observation, and look through the hole in 
 che parapet, so that we may see without being 
 seen. Observe, we must risk going over the
 
 THE PLOT. 245 
 
 roof of our neighbour's house in the night, so as 
 to get on the wall that leads across to Cassim's 
 roof. We have procured a ladder to let down 
 on the second roof, which communicates with 
 the room where his money is concealed ; — but 
 there comes the neighbour on his roof ! Let us 
 descend ! Rouse your wits during our absence. 
 Make yourself familiar with every corner of 
 house and garden ; and to-morrow we will 
 discuss the matter finally.'^ 
 
 When Abd-el-Aziz had concluded his provi- 
 sional instructions, he quitted the house along 
 with Salih, and Khaled felt as if a load had 
 been taken off his breast. He now resolved to 
 break at once and for ever with his connections, 
 and, regardless of the injunctions or maledic- 
 tions of kindred, to warn Cassim forthwith, 
 without denouncing his accomplices. And next 
 morning, on rising from the single mattress, 
 which formed, along with the old lumber-stool, 
 the only furniture in the room, he proceeded to 
 a scribe's shop in the bazaar, and wrote two 
 letters, one of which was to Abd-el-Aziz, tell- 
 ing him that he had renounced this business,
 
 246 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 but that he had no intention of betraying their 
 secret or of denouncing them to justice ; and, 
 in order to avert any evil consequences to 
 themselves, they had simply to desist from all 
 further prosecution of their designs. He related 
 to them how Cassim had relieved him from 
 prison, and confessed himself incapable of carry- 
 ing out a scheme of such vengeance, and that 
 he reproached himself for not having had the 
 courage to declare at once his final separation 
 from their faith, be the consequences to him 
 what they might ; that he was warning Cassim 
 not to send his son to the garden, which ren- 
 dered it unnecessary for him to have any 
 further communication with the gipsies of Hosh 
 Bardak, which was a den of thieves, that he 
 hoped never to enter again as long as he lived. 
 With regard to Sheikh Cassim, Khaled 
 having by daybreak given up the key of the 
 house to the proprietor, with the intelligence 
 that he did not intend to occupy or to reclaim 
 the month's rent paid in advance, he judged 
 that no immediate attempt would be made 
 to break into Sheikh Cassim'*s house ; he there-
 
 THE PLOT. 247 
 
 fore simply warned Cassim against allowing 
 his son to go out of sight, and told him to 
 be prepared against any attacks on his person 
 or property, and signed his letter, " One who 
 esteems you." Both letters were sent by 
 street porters, but that to Abd-el-Aziz was 
 delivered after he had gone out.
 
 248 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 THE LONG GARDEN. 
 
 When the porter delivered Khaled's letter 
 at the door of Sheikh Cassim, the Nubian 
 door-keeper told him that he was not within, 
 and on this Sheikh Hamood took the letter 
 and put it into his pocket, telling the porter 
 that Cassim should have it on his return ; but 
 as the hour arrived for Halil going to the 
 Long Garden, Sheikh Hamood accompanied 
 him, the letter having been forgotten. 
 
 The fierce glow of the Egyptian summer, 
 which seemed to burn al] up, and to make 
 the strongest vegetation droop, which ba- 
 nished every green blade from the ground, 
 and, instead of grass, herbage, or weeds, left 
 a fine parched and pulverized earth, and
 
 THE LONG GARDEN. 249 
 
 seemed to dissolve all Cairo and its environs 
 into one monotonous tone, was now succeeded 
 by the beautiful days in the latter end of 
 November, when the heat of summer is past, 
 and all the lakes around Cairo still contained 
 Nile water, which had oozed subterraneously ; 
 and the season, although the fall of the year, 
 was not the fall of the leaf, for the inunda- 
 tion brought round a second spring to the 
 husbandman, and Nature was just rising re- 
 freshed and beautiful from her autumnal bath. 
 
 Enchanting as the environs of Damascus 
 are, there are some points in which the suburbs 
 of Cairo aiford a more peculiar interest. Yon- 
 der, in Syria, no sooner are we beyond the 
 town, than adieu to all ornaments, to all ar- 
 chitecture, to taste, or to the monuments of 
 luxury. Not so in the environs of Cairo ; 
 here, suburban Nature does not dispense with 
 art, and in the villas beyond the Bab-el-Adouy, 
 the fountain, the garden gate, the villa en- 
 trance, the oratory, or the tomb, mingle in 
 one picture, — the chiselled arabesque in the 
 high light of foreground, and the deep green
 
 250 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 of the orange, the lemon, and the sycamore, 
 in deep shadowy relief. 
 
 Onwards trudged Halil on his little black 
 donkey, with silver-mounted bridle, accom- 
 panied by Sheikh Hamood on a mule, a groom, 
 and a Nubian servant, until they came to a 
 suburb, called the Hosseyneey, inhabited by the 
 butchers of Cairo, a set of men strong and 
 healthy in body, and comparatively honest and 
 generous in disposition, but coarse in language, 
 and violent and turbulent in demeanour. In the 
 midst of the suburb is a mosque and convent of 
 dervishes, not of Saracenic but of Turkish archi- 
 tecture, of the middle of the eighteenth century, 
 bearing the date 1171 of the Hegira, belong- 
 ing to the sect Bayoumy, who wear their hair 
 long ; and close to this mosque is a large cafe, 
 where the butchers assemble ; and here they 
 alighted to drink a cup of coffee, sitting down 
 on the benches of palm crate ranged along the 
 wall, an awning of mats being overhead. A 
 very fat man, advanced in years, sat at the end 
 of the bench, but leant only on one hip, in 
 consequence of a singular accident, that had
 
 THE LONG GARDEN. 251 
 
 happened to him some years previously. The 
 mohtissab, or inspector of weights and mea- 
 sures, having been a man of excessively cruel 
 disposition, and Abou-AH-el-Djezzar, the butcher 
 in question, having a very insolent tongue in his 
 head, was one day caught with short weights, 
 and vomiting a torrent of foul-mouthed abuse 
 on the mohtissah. This person caused him to 
 be stripped, and a small rumpsteak cut off his 
 hip ; but some of the tendons having been 
 interfered with in this rough method of justice, 
 he walked lame from that time to the period 
 we speak of, and always sat sideways, and was 
 now retired from business, and cross and testy 
 in manner. Beside him sat a new acquaintance 
 of Sheikh Hamood, a plausible, talkative man, 
 who had scraped acquaintance with him a few 
 days before, and who was no other than Hassan 
 the gipsy, — no longer a dervish, but in good 
 holiday clothes of a layman, accompanied by 
 an accomplice, one Hussein Hodour. 
 
 " Singular chance," said the gipsy to Sheikh 
 Hamood, "that I on my way to the Long Garden 
 should meet my trusty and jovial friends, and
 
 252 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 at the right moment too ! Look here, my 
 lads,'"* continued he, holding up a basket, 
 " what are the good things of this world with- 
 out a Httle fellowship ? Here are two cold 
 fowls stuffed with rice, and here are pistachio 
 nuts from Aleppo, and apricot kamareddin 
 from Damascus, and white cheese from the 
 Sheikh of the Caraites, fit to be eaten by a 
 king. So let us gladden our hearts with a day 
 of enjoyment ; for what can be fairer than the 
 Long Garden, with the song of its birds, or 
 the canoon, played with the fingers of the fair, 
 or the iVoy, piped by those who are cunning in 
 sweet sounds ? I was on my way thither with 
 my friend here, and you are truly welcome to 
 join us." 
 
 " By Allah, my brother," said Sheikh Ha- 
 mood, " I am touched with thy heart, which 
 dilates mine better than garden or psaltery." 
 
 " Whose son is that ? " said the batcher, 
 changing the position of his hip. 
 
 " The son of Sheikh Cassim Shah-Bandar-at- 
 Tudgar." 
 
 " It is long since I knew him," said the
 
 THE LONG GARDEN. 253 
 
 butcher. " Is the young man Abdallah still 
 clerk with him ? '^ 
 
 *' Young man indeed ! " said Sheikh Ha- 
 mood, " with a grey beard." 
 
 " I forgot,"" said the butcher, " tliat T was 
 then myself twenty years younger, and a more 
 active man than I am now with this mass of 
 fat ; and Cassim's partner, Sheikh Rifaa, who 
 used to live in the Atifet Shomar, and rode a 
 sleek Dongola horse, and used to pray in the 
 Hosseyneyn. What is he about ? " 
 
 " I do not know," said Sheikh Hamood. 
 
 " He is gone to the mercy of the high God,'' 
 said the Nubian, " and buried on the eve of the 
 festival Shim-el-Neseem, seven years ago." 
 
 " Ah ! there are few better men in Cairo 
 than your master," said the butcher. 
 
 " You are right," said the Nubian ; ''I have 
 served him fourteen years and more, and if he 
 were my father I could not love him more 
 when I hear his voice in command or for- 
 biddance. Mohammed, do this — Mohammed, 
 do that — Mohammed, go thither — Mohammed, 
 come hither — Mohammed, make — Mohammed,
 
 254 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 mend — by Allah ! I jump with alacrity, as if 
 if I were his right hand depending on his 
 shoulder." 
 
 "And of course,"' said the butcher, with a 
 coarse chuckle, "he does not forget to make 
 you a present at the festival of the Bairam ?" 
 
 " He does not," said the Nubian, " nor yet 
 at the festival of the Prophet." 
 
 They then wished the butcher good day, and 
 proceeded to the Long Garden, by the road of 
 the Lion and Panther, so called from the rude 
 effigies of this sort, standing at the gate of a 
 field, like the arms at the entrance to a park in 
 England. They were put up in the time of 
 Sultan Bibars, who so distinguished himself in 
 the Crusades, — and took so prominent a part in 
 the defeat of St. Louis at Damietta. So that 
 after Saladin, he is the principal figure in the 
 Crusades on the Moslem side. He used lions 
 as his arms as Macrisi distinctly states, and 
 similar effigies are to be seen at the so-called 
 Bridge of the Lion at the other end of 
 Cairo. 
 
 At the corner of a street near here, they saw
 
 THE LONG GARDEN. 255 
 
 a tomb, and Sheikh Haraood said to a man 
 with an open mouth and a vacant stare, 
 
 " Do you know to whom this tomb be- 
 longs ?^^ 
 
 " Oh f yes," said he, with great readiness. 
 
 " To whom ? " said Sheikh Hamood. 
 
 " Why," said the man, turning the matter 
 over in his mind, " to the man buried in 
 it." 
 
 '' And who is buried in it ? " said Hamood. 
 
 '' Ah ! that 's more than I can tell," said the 
 idiot, who passed on with his mouth more open, 
 and his stare more vacant than before. 
 
 They then came up to a Frank who had 
 been examining the effigies of the lion and the 
 panther — one Signor Muranesi, with his in- 
 terpreter, whom Sheikh Hamood asked as to 
 the object of his employer in that unfrequented 
 part of Cairo, and being informed that he was 
 an archaeologist. Sheikh Hamood remarked 
 that they had just spoken wdth a man who had 
 not ihe least turn for that class of study, — 
 " as ignorant as a buffalo," added he, " on these 
 matters."
 
 256 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 " Have you visited the pyramids ? " said 
 Sheikh Hamood to the Archaeologist through 
 the interpreter. 
 
 " Yes, I have," said the Archaeologist. 
 
 " And whether," said Sheikh Hamood, " are 
 these lions or the pyramids older ? " 
 
 " I think," said the Archaeologist, " that the 
 pyramids are several thousand years older than 
 these lions." 
 
 " You are right," said Sheikh Hamood; " the 
 pyramids were constructed about the time of 
 Adam. Are you able to read the hieroglyphics 
 on the temples ? " 
 
 " I know a few of the signs." 
 
 *' Then how long is it," said Hamood, " since 
 the Crusaders landed in Egypt ? " 
 
 " Between five and six hundred years." 
 
 " Mashallah ! " said Hamood, * what an 
 advantage it is to know hieroglyphics as you do 
 so precisely — six hundred years ; — we have just 
 parted with a man who was as ignorant of 
 history as a buffalo." 
 
 Leaving the Frank, they now entered a nar- 
 row dusty lane between the walls, where they
 
 THE LONG GARDEN. S57 
 
 wished the sun a little less powerful, though in 
 NoTember ; but presently piercing a gate, 
 where they experienced a sudden sensation of 
 coolness from a water-wheel, they found them- 
 selves in the Long Garden. Here large orange 
 and citron trees growing in luxuriant disorder 
 to the height of thirty or forty feet, an unusual 
 stature for them, give the Caireens the thick 
 shade which they desire in hot weather, without 
 any attempt at order or trimness : the dark 
 vistas occasionally broken with a flake of golden 
 sunshine. 
 
 The garden was full of company; on one 
 side were the members of the Incorporation of 
 Tanners, who were that day taking their an- 
 nual dinner, an ample repast, laid out along the 
 ground, to which that respectable body, headed 
 by their sheikh, did ample justice, squatted in 
 two long rows opposite each other, making 
 themselves merry with water, and the prospect 
 of coffee and tobacco, — the caterer of the din- 
 ner having no other stock in trade than the 
 requisite quantity of vessels and dishes for the 
 public garden dinners. At the other side of
 
 258 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 the garden were various hareems in little pic- 
 nic parties, chatting and singing among them- 
 selves, and lolling on the little carpets they had 
 brought with them. 
 
 A mat was demanded of the garden-keeper, 
 and placed by Hussein Hodour in a nook of the 
 wall, very near the gate, on which they seated 
 themselves, and the contents of the basket being 
 laid out, they began to eat. Hassan, the ex- 
 dervish, making a business of entertaining Ha- 
 mood, and Hussein, his accomplice, taking an 
 especial delight in amusing Halil with carolling 
 round among the trees when they had done their 
 repast ; the remains of which were eaten up 
 by the servants at a short distance. 
 
 '* This is the hour of diversion and good- 
 humour," said Hassan to Hamood ; '' the in- 
 fidels have their wine, which is forbidden ex- 
 cept as a medicine ; but there is a jar of 
 Persian sherbet, that will sweeten your mouth 
 and clear your brain," so first of all pretending 
 to take a draught of it himself, he handed to 
 Sheik Hamood a small jar of a red intoxicat- 
 ing wine — who took a long pull at it.
 
 THE LONG GARDEN. 259 
 
 " By Allah ! " said Hamood, in a whisper, 
 " if this be a day of pleasure it is a day of 
 sin ; for, if I mistake not, that is wine."" 
 
 "Hush, my friend," said Hassan; "name 
 not that word, for this is an open garden. 
 Citrons and sycamores have no eyes, but men 
 have ears. When the hour of delight steeps 
 my soul in oblivion I need a moderator like 
 yourself to tell me when and where to stop," 
 and he again placed the jar of wine in 
 Hamood's hand. 
 
 '* We have yet time," said Sheikh Hamood, 
 with a shame-faced smile. " We have eaten 
 and are filled ; the sun is still well above the 
 meridian. I delight not in wine, but as it 
 makes me relish your sweet discourse," and he 
 again took a long draught from the jar. 
 
 " Wine is forbidden," said the gipsy, putting 
 the jar again to his lips, and making a sem- 
 blance of drinking, " so take one draught more, 
 and then we will dash the wine-jar in pieces on 
 the ground, so as to avoid intoxication," and 
 again placed the jar in the hands of Hamood, 
 who took it with a languid smile.
 
 260 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 '' Verily," said Hamood, " my refuge is in 
 repentance, and not in resistance. Verily, the 
 Lord loveth him that repenteth ;" and, raising 
 the wine to his lips, took another long draught 
 of it, and repeated the lines — 
 
 " Is the juice of the grape intoxication and a deadly- 
 sin? 
 
 Nay, verily, the hand of man maketh it a deadly 
 poison. 
 
 Can the cup of its own accord reach the lips of the 
 creature ? 
 
 Nay, verily, the hand of man lifteth the deadly 
 poison ; 
 
 And the hand made for righteous works is the 
 instrument of the tempter." 
 
 " This is the happiest day of my life,'' said 
 the gipsy, "for I am united with you in the 
 bonds of fellowship and good humour. After 
 all," said the gipsy in a whisper, " the la\^^ul 
 is bitter, but the forbidden is sweet as honey ; 
 so hand me the jar again before I break 
 it." 
 
 " Sweet is the forbidden, do you say ? " said 
 Hamood, with a demure look, interrupted by a 
 hiccup. " You forget," added he, attempting 
 to look stern, while his eyes showed a con-
 
 THE LONG GARDEN. 261 
 
 strained rollicking humour, " sycamores and 
 citrons have no eyes, but men have ears." 
 
 " So they have," said Hassan, " and mine 
 are for poetry, but of a merrier sort than the 
 last you quoted." 
 
 " Merrier," said Hamood, with a wink of his 
 eye and another hiccup. " Well, then, what 
 say you to this ? — 
 
 " The life of the poor is a weary walk with a heavy 
 burden. 
 
 Even the great king is a stranger to the sweetness 
 of delirious desire, 
 
 Or the enjojonent of trickling fountains in dome- 
 crowned pavilions ; 
 
 For he never tasted the bitter draught of poverty. 
 
 But thou, rosy liquor, art made to be the solace of 
 my soul ! 
 
 To delight the sated king and to drown the cares of 
 the poor !" 
 
 " Good," said Hassan ; *' I think it was nei- 
 ther Lokman nor yet Solomon the wise, that 
 wrote these lines." 
 
 " No," whispered Hamood, with swimming 
 eyes ; " it was a pupil of him that taught 
 ' Sweet is the forbidden — -.' But, how strange ! 
 the world seems to be all whirling round, so I
 
 %62 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 will e'en sit still, and wait until Mergoosh Street 
 passes by, and then step into our own house." 
 
 No sooner did Hussein-el-Hodour see the 
 groom go with the Nubian to eat up the 
 remainder of the repast than he pointed to be- 
 yond the wall of the Long Garden, and asked 
 Halil if he had ever heard of the Cadi of Cairo 
 causing all the cats to be fed at the hour of 
 afternoon prayer, and Halil remembered the 
 intense delight with which he had one day seen 
 that banquet. " That," said the gipsy, "be- 
 yond there, is the Garden of the Cat ; shall we 
 go and see it ? " 
 
 " I should like to see the Garden of the Cat," 
 said Halil ; "let us go and see it." And the 
 gipsy, seeing the exit from the Long Garden 
 unobstructed by the attention of the groom and 
 the Nubian, took the boy into the lane unno- 
 ticed ; and once there, the curiosity of the boy- 
 was sufficiently active to make him walk smartly 
 with the gipsy in the direction of the garden. 
 Instead, however, of taking him thither, he 
 went on with him to near the Bridge of the 
 Goose, and then turning suddenly into a lane to
 
 THE LONG GARDEN. 263 
 
 the eastward, pointed him out a garden, which 
 was not that of the Cats. At which Hahl 
 expressed much disappointment, as he expected 
 to see a number of cats there, and wished to 
 return. 
 
 " The road we came by, my dear," said the 
 gipsy, " is too round about ; we will return by 
 another road," and took him farther up the 
 lane, so that they were on the desert, with the 
 tombs of the Mameluke Sultans in the distance. 
 
 Halil, having now walked a good pace, 
 was weary, and asked where Sheikh Hamood 
 was. " Close by, my lad,"" said Hussein ; " but 
 you are tired, so there is a donkey you cq^ 
 mount, in order that we may arrive quickly." 
 
 A miserable donkey stood, held by a dark 
 gipsy lad, who had been sitting by a small 
 dome tomb. He stood up, and exchanging a 
 wink with Hussein, the latter mounted, with 
 Halil in front of him, and both set out at a trot 
 along the sands, Halil not understanding any- 
 thing of the matter, and giving evident signs of 
 impatience, and asking when they would arrive 
 and see Sheikh Hamood. Instead, however,
 
 264 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 of returning in that direction, he was describing 
 a wide semicircle ; and at last, when the sun 
 was sinking, and Halil, in alarm, began to cry 
 with impatience, the gipsy quarrelled with the 
 lad for taking the wrong road, and, it being too 
 late to return to the garden, he bade him go 
 direct to the house of Sheikh Cassim in the 
 Mergoosh. 
 
 This tranquillized the boy for a while, but 
 the gipsy ass-driver had had his cue, and, keep- 
 ing along the hollow, between Mount Mokat- 
 tam and Cairo, at the foot of the mounds of 
 rubbish, they entered the Bab Mahrook at 
 sunset, and, after passing through a great many 
 streets that Halil did not know, all leading to 
 the Mergoosh, as Halil thought, — it was quite 
 dark when the donkey entered Hosh Bardak, 
 — the gipsy said he would wait there only a 
 moment, and the donkey being driven into the 
 apartment occupied by the Nowar, and the 
 large wooden door being locked, Halil was 
 lifted off the donkey before he knew what he 
 was about, and pushed down the trap stairs. 
 There he raised a loud and piercing cry of
 
 THE LONG GARDEN. 265 
 
 alarm, but the old gipsy, who was waiting 
 with the lantern, put his hand on his mouth, 
 and the trap being immediately closed over 
 them by the old gipsy above, no noise was 
 heard to alarm the other inhabitants of Hosh 
 Bardak. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 266 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE ADIEUS OF WURDY. 
 
 The servants were the first to notice the 
 absence of the boy. Sheikh Hamood having 
 fallen asleep, and both of his friends having 
 disappeared, this discovery, along with the 
 recollection that he had brought with him a 
 letter to Sheikh Cassim, instead of delivering it 
 to him, at once sobered him ; and not daring 
 to mention the word wine, said, that a stupi- 
 fying drug had been administered to him, by 
 the aid of which the boy had been taken off. 
 Searches and inquiries were made in all direc- 
 tions, and it was not until past sunset that the 
 groom was despatched with the intelligence to 
 the Mergoosh. 
 
 It were vain to depict the despair which this
 
 ADIEUS OF VVURDY. 267 
 
 eveut produced in the family of Sheikh Cassim, 
 and instead of dwelling on the details of his 
 mental state, and of that of his wife, it is 
 sufficient to say, that on the third night Sitt 
 Wurdy reclined on a divan, bolstered up with 
 pillows, and looked so pale and exhausted that 
 it was evident, even by the flickering of two 
 lamps, that Death held his dart poised and 
 ready to strike another victim. Cassim sat 
 beside her, bathed in tears ; the two black 
 attendants glided from side to side, wringing 
 their hands, rather than rendering needful as- 
 sistance, while a female physician, holding a 
 cup with an air of nonchalance, kept repeating, 
 mechanically, 
 
 " Cheer up, fruit of my liver ! all will yet 
 be well. This is a passing illness. — The 
 boy will yet be found. — Do not lose heart, 
 but be of good cheer. — This is a sore anxiety 
 for you, Sheikh Cassim ; but, Inshallah ! if I 
 have any skill in the noble art of medicine, 
 and any confidence in the potency of the slips 
 of the Koran selected by Sheikh Soyouty, 
 according to the most undeniable astrological
 
 268 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 data, your wife will recover. — Come, apple of 
 my eye, take one more draught of violets, and 
 let soul and body be comforted ! " 
 
 " I have seen my last sun," said the invalid, 
 feebly; "to-morrow will rise on the cold re- 
 mains of Wurdy.*" 
 
 " Oh, Wurdy ! Wurdy ! " said Cassim, as if 
 imploring his wife to do something that lay in 
 her power ; " while there is life, there is hope. 
 Oh ! my beloved, remain to comfort us." 
 
 " It was as yesterday, Cassim," said the 
 invalid, " when after marriage I entered this 
 apartment ; but alas ! the bridal chamber too 
 soon became the abode of despair. Give me 
 the draught again," said Wurdy, and the 
 female physician presented it ; but Cassim took 
 the cup and gave it to his wife, who called the 
 black girl and said, — " Oh ! Zeynab, the 
 world is vain and empty. Oh ! Zeynab, learn 
 truth, and keep your heart white ; bekind to 
 old Zahrah, for she is weak and feeble, and oh ! 
 Cassim, let Zeynab always remain here." 
 
 ZeynaVs tears ran down her black cheeks, 
 while she knelt down and put the yellow and
 
 ADIEUS OF WURDY. 269 
 
 lifeless hand of Wurdy to her dusky lips ; and 
 Cassim said, " She shall never be put away 
 by me ; and I will read to her the passages 
 of the Koran that you liked." 
 
 " And the institutes of Abd-el-Gliany-el- 
 Nabolsi," said Wurdy, " which you used to 
 read to your son. Oh ! Halil ! Halil ! where 
 art thou, my beloved ? too soon, alas ! too soon 
 were you torn from the arms of a sorrowing 
 mother. Oh ! I had died in peace, if blessed 
 with one look or one accent of thy voice. 
 Oh ! Duniah ! one look — one look or one word 
 — only one word" — and all around her sobbed 
 — a tear glistened in the eye of even the old 
 female physician ; but Wurdy's own well of 
 tears had been dried up. " Zeynab," added 
 she, " bring me the clothes he wore ;" on 
 which the attendant went and brought the 
 scarlet embroidered suit he wore on the cir- 
 cumcision occasion. And Wurdy again asked, 
 " Where is the wearer ? Oh ! Halil ! HaUl !" 
 Cassim groaned, and repeated verses of the 
 Koran. The female physician now dropt her 
 mechanical exhortation to comfort, and this
 
 270 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 effort having exhausted Wurdy, she asked for 
 a pipe, attempting to smoke a whiff and put 
 it away, saying that she saw her son burning 
 in the tobacco. She then fell into a sort of 
 slumber, and suddenly awaking, said, — " Who 
 is that ? " 
 
 " Your Cassim, who loves you,"" said her 
 husband, and then she muttered as if forget- 
 ting her own grief and addressing a third party, 
 
 " Oh ! poor Cassim ! he has no son to kiss 
 his hand in the morning — a childless old age ! 
 — oh ! poor Cassim." 
 
 Cassim, with a sort of terror that he had 
 never felt before during her physical sufferings, 
 viewed the gradual disappearance of her reason 
 as if some part of his accustomed self had taken 
 a strange departure, and left a blank that the 
 mind could not realize. 
 
 " Wurdy, Wurdy ! do you know me ? who 
 am I ? who am I ? " said he, in a transport of 
 grief. 
 
 " You are the Jewish physician, " said 
 Wurdy, as if seeking to arouse herself from a 
 slumber.
 
 ADIEUS OF WURDY. 271 
 
 " She is no longer of this world," said Cassim, 
 raising his hands with a groan. 
 
 Loud breathing now began, and when it had 
 ended with the climax of the death rattle and 
 perfect stillness, Cassim closed her eyes, and 
 said aloud, 
 
 " She is gone to the mercy of the High 
 God. And the Prophet hath said in the Surat 
 of Mariam, ' that those that enter paradise 
 shall not be wronged, and that his promises 
 shall be fulfilled to the godly.'" 
 
 Meanwhile, active search was made for the 
 boy by the agents of the Waly of Cairo. Cas- 
 sim and his wife had, at the first, thought of 
 the gipsy girl, and she was apprehended, as 
 well as her father and stepmother, and for 
 three days subjected to severe interrogatories ; 
 but their answers, although separately ques- 
 tioned, so concurred in exculpating them, that, 
 although they were still retained in durance 
 vile, the real culprits were left unscathed, as the 
 old gipsy, who had lately lost his hand, had 
 again become dangerously ill, and it was not 
 supposed that a person in that state would
 
 272 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 undertake or assist in the abduction of a son of 
 one of the principal men of the town. And as 
 for Sheikh Hamood, he stoutly maintained 
 that some stupifying drug or poison had been 
 administered to him ; and, ignorant of the 
 contents of the letter, which he had supposed 
 to be on some ordinary business, he altogether 
 forgot to deliver it even on his return, and this 
 gross and culpable negligence was for a time 
 undiscovered. 
 
 Khaled had fully calculated that Cassim, 
 receiving a timely warning, would not allow 
 his son to go to the garden ; and that the 
 plans of Abd-el-Aziz would be equally discon- 
 certed ; and his mind being set at rest, he now 
 thought of his own safety, so as to be beyond 
 the reach of the vengeance of the now exas- 
 perated patriarch, and of rejoining Melusina in 
 Aleppo ; for a return to Taraf-el-Gharb was 
 not possible, as he had fairly broken with his 
 own people ; but before starting for Aleppo, he 
 thought it best to go into the Mousky, or 
 Frank quarter, in consequence of an incident 
 that had occurred a few days before.
 
 ADIEUS OF WURDY. 273 
 
 He was standing in the crowded bazaar of 
 Hordageey, looking at a shop arrayed in snuff- 
 boxes, cofFee-cup holders, and other articles of 
 hardware, when a voice that he had heard 
 before struck upon his ear; and turning his 
 head, he perceived that Signor Moro, the uncle 
 of ]\Ielusina, had passed him, conversing with 
 another Frank. Association forthwith conjured 
 her image to his view, as he last saw her in the 
 castle by moonlight, with all the accessorial 
 circumstances of the owl that disturbed their 
 conversation, and the parental malediction that 
 followed the evil omen. Hence he thought it 
 better before starting for Aleppo, to proceed to 
 the Frank quarter, and attempt to find out, 
 through third parties, whether Melusina was at 
 Aleppo or still at Taraf-el-Gharb, he therefore 
 removed to a room in a khan, not very far 
 from the Mousky, which is the name for the 
 Frank quarter in Cairo. But before we relate 
 the further adventures of Khaled, it may be as 
 well now to say something of what befel Melu- 
 sina after the departure of Khaled from Taraf- 
 el-Gharb. 
 
 N 5
 
 274 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 MOUNT CASSIUS AGAIN. 
 
 On the morning following the interview of 
 Khaled with Melusina in the castle, Moro, at 
 sunrise, was sitting wrapped up in his dressing- 
 gown, with disturbed and anxious brow, and 
 beside him stood the Armenian, in his old 
 red Tunis nightcap, with stunted blue tassel, 
 smoking his early pipe. 
 
 " Who could ever have suspected such a 
 thing ? The bare thought of it fills me with 
 gall and bitterness," said Moro. 
 
 " But," said the Armenian, " you say, that 
 before you let her go to bed she confessed 
 that he had promised to become a Christian, 
 and to remove himself from hence. Is not this
 
 MOUNT CASSIUS AGAIN. 275 
 
 noble on his j)art ? Is not every addition to 
 the Christian faith an advantage?^' 
 
 '' Oh, ho ! you begin to take her part, do 
 you?" said Moro. " Christian, indeed ! The 
 devil take such Christianity ! Death terrilies 
 the greatest sinner, and a honeymoon would 
 coax the greatest saint. When a youth is 
 twenty years of age, it is not easy to resist an 
 apostle with a pair of bright black eyes, and 
 manners as soft as satin. The question is not 
 to be entertained for a moment. I will never 
 hear of it." 
 
 " Hist !" said the Armenian, in a low tone, 
 looking round. " What can that be ? She 
 speaks in her sleep." 
 
 Moro and the Armenian listened again, and 
 became conscious of Melusina's speaking, the 
 room in which she slept being closed, not by a 
 door, but by a curtain, as in Oriental houses. 
 Moro rose, and passing through a small ante- 
 room, gently lifted up the curtain, and entered ; 
 the Armenian not trusting himself, but remain- 
 ing at the door to hold the curtain. 
 
 The room had plain stone and un plastered
 
 276 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 walls, but a feminine neatness and taste might 
 be seen in even the temporary disposition of 
 the apartment, out of the scanty means fur- 
 nished by the baggage that had made the 
 journey from Aleppo on mule-back. She lay 
 on the mats, carpets, and bedding spread on 
 the ground, beautiful in sleep. A small, red, 
 night fez, that covered her head, was bound 
 round with a light blue and white silk scarf 
 handkerchief, of the Tripoli fashion, while her 
 glossy hair, bound in plaits, fell down on an 
 alabaster neck : a slight perspiration stood on 
 her brow. She spoke at intervals. The re- 
 pose of her classical features was disturbed by 
 an agitating dream, and she kept muttering in 
 a low but distinct tone. 
 
 " Oh, Khaled, Khaled ! Oh, my beloved ! 
 I alone it is — I alone, who have brought you 
 iuto this terrible strait. Oh, Khaled, pardon 
 me ! Can you pardon me ? — pardon your Me- 
 lusina ? O ! good people, save him ! spare 
 him ! Take my life instead of his ! Oh, spare 
 him ! spare him ! " 
 
 " You hear,'"* whispered Moro : " something
 
 MOUNT CASSIUS AGAIN. 277 
 
 he may have said last night is uppermost in her 
 mind. Sh ! sh ! She mutters again ! " 
 
 '' Oh, Khaled, Khaled ! but one hour to 
 live ! Oh, terrible ! Take the knife away ! 
 My eyeballs ache ! Oh ! spare him ! Plunge 
 it in my heart, instead of his ! Oh ! Khaled ! 
 what is life when you are no more ! " 
 
 " Poor lovely girl ! "^ whispered the Arme- 
 nian ; " woe 's my heart ! woe 's my heart ! 
 Sure, it were better to wake her, and end the 
 nightmare ! '' 
 
 " It is all a nightmare," said Moro. " The 
 nightmare of the moment is nothing. We 
 must dispel the nightmare of a lifetime, and 
 preserve our house from the barest possibility of 
 such an union." 
 
 '' See," said the Armenian ; " see what a 
 countenance ! She is in a frenzy ! The fit 
 begins again ! " 
 
 " Curse on you, fiends of hell ! " continued 
 Melusina, clenching the tapering fingers of a 
 small white hand. " Oh, kill me too ! and 
 bury us in one tomb ! You fiends in human 
 shape ! Oh ! Khaled ! dead ! Oh, God !
 
 278 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 Not a word to your Melusina ! Give me his 
 heart to keep in my blue vase, with fragrant 
 flowers. Ah, me ! All my days to do nothing 
 but weep — and weep ! '' 
 
 " The crisis is violent," said Moro, dropping 
 the curtain ; " send in your wife to awake her, 
 and then come to me in the garden. I have 
 formed a resolution, and you must assist me in 
 it, for my brain is getting confused, and I am 
 so fiill of spleen, that I could take a delight in 
 seizing all that crockery on the shelves and 
 dashing it in pieces ! '" 
 
 So saying, Moro went into the garden, and 
 was soon joined by the Armenian, who informed 
 him that his wife had awakened his niece, but 
 that she complained of violent headache. 
 
 " I have resolved to start from hence this 
 very day," said Moro, sitting down under a 
 retired walnut-tree. 
 
 '' What ! back to Aleppo ? " said the Arme- 
 nian. 
 
 " No, forward to Cairo," said Moro. " If I 
 took her back to her uncle in Aleppo, the 
 sudden return would cause whisperings and
 
 MOUNT CASSIUS AGAIN. 219 
 
 annoy her ; besides, from thence she might 
 easily return hither, for she would still be 
 within hail of this cursed magic mountain ; but 
 the difficulty arises from this disease in her 
 mind, which is evidently in the most violent 
 crisis ; and as she has a will of her own, I fear 
 that if I propose to take her to Egypt with 
 me (whither I intended to go, after her uncle 
 came to take her back to Aleppo), that I might 
 meet some opposition, and risk an elopement 
 with this barbarian. So I have resolved — but, 
 remember, not a word to a living soul — to 
 give her a sleeping draught, so as to make 
 her unconscious ; and, as we are near the 
 sea " 
 
 " A crime ! " said the Armenian, with a look 
 of horror. 
 
 " No crime at all," said Moro. " A plea- 
 sant voyage to Rosetta, and a trip on the Nile 
 to Cairo, which is a gay, pleasant place, is the 
 only project I meditate ; and, as change of 
 scene is the best cure for love, she would soon 
 forget this low cut-throat.*" 
 
 " Good," said the Armenian ; " but the sleep-
 
 280 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 ing draught is not to my mind ; and upon my 
 word, willing as I am to serve you, the fact is, 
 with all due respect, I have a most invincible 
 repugnance to her leaving my home in such a 
 state. Could she not, for instance, be enticed 
 on board under some pretext ? " 
 
 " Then we should have a terrible scene. I 
 will consult, if you like, Hannah Surur of 
 Antioch, who is the most skilful physician in 
 the country." 
 
 '' Ah ! that is another affair," said the Ar- 
 menian, " and sets my mind at rest ; he would 
 know exactly what to do on such an occasion, 
 both in the matter of convenience and of medical 
 skill, and nothing could happen in my house 
 contrary to what is right, if he had the manage- 
 ment of the business." 
 
 " Well," said Moro, " I will ride over to 
 Antioch, and bring Surur with me ; and do you 
 go at once to Suediah, and hire a large boat, 
 and make the skipper lie off the beach below 
 Taraf-el-Gharb by midnight, and instruct him 
 to get ready water for a long voyage. Get 
 somebody here to roast a quantity of fowls, and
 
 MOUNT CASSIUS AGAIN. 281 
 
 I will bring from Antioch what dry provisions 
 I can get in the bazaar/' 
 
 " Good ! '" said the Armenian ; "I will 
 manage as well as I can."
 
 282 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ANTIOCH. 
 
 On the same day at noon, Morons horse, 
 reeking with perspiration, was reined in as he 
 came in sight of the noble environs of Antioch ; 
 the wide Orontes flowing through the plain, the 
 city encompassed with luxuriant gardens skirt- 
 ing it for some distance, while, high above, the 
 world-renowned hills which crown the scene 
 were crested with those wide-spreading historic 
 walls, which, if destitute of the grace of the 
 harmonious colonnade, or the massiveness of the 
 primseval substructure, yet, from their extent, 
 are prominent among the monuments of Syria, 
 and create surprise at the prodigious labour -and 
 perseverance displayed in the works of the 
 ancients, even during periods when the vital
 
 ANTIOCH. 283 
 
 sap of empire was exuding, before the final 
 crash of rottenness. Antioch is no longer the 
 queen of the East — the city of either Mace- 
 donian soldier princes, or of Roman luxury — of 
 Greek orthodoxy and dialectics, or of Latin 
 feudal valour ; shrunk to a tithe of former ex- 
 tent, she is a puny provincial capital, more 
 Turkish than Arab, the Greeks but a remnant, 
 and, instead of the sights and sounds of courts 
 and camps, offered nothing to attract the notice 
 of Moro, as he entered, but the creaking of 
 floating mills, the rattle of a few silk-looms, 
 and the unsightly processes of tanners' craft, 
 with the crimson and yellow skins stretched on 
 boards, while the most prominent figures that 
 filled up the fore-ground of this picture were the 
 disinherited pedestrian Greek timidly standing 
 aside, and saluting the Turkish effendi mounted 
 on his sleek-coated barb. 
 
 Moro alighted at the house of Hannah Surah, 
 and passing through the paved court, where his 
 wife .was sifting a pile of corn, he entered the 
 divan of the man of science, which contained no 
 furniture except a foetus in a glass bocal, some
 
 284 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 papers of medicine, and a few Arabic books on a 
 shelf, bound in black with flaps and strings. 
 Hannah himself was engaged in prescribing for 
 one Manoel Branca, a Portuguese agent from 
 Scanderoon, who, addicted to strong liquors in 
 that deadly climate, lost his health, and, 
 attracted by the fame of Hannah in fevers of 
 the country, had come hither to consult him. 
 His face was so sallow, and his form so ema- 
 ciated, that when he went out, Moro asked 
 him what he would give for his life. " Very 
 little," said Hannah, " for he lives in Scanderoon, 
 that lazar-hospital and grave-yard, and he has 
 been assisting nature the wrong way." 
 
 Hannah Surur was a Syrian Christian ; in 
 person, a strong, powerful, jolly, middle-aged 
 man, with a good-natured countenance and in- 
 telligent black eyes. He had a great reputation 
 in the country as a practical man, and, although 
 unlearned in anatomy, could cut off a fever, or 
 set a bone with a promptitude and success that 
 were particularly displeasing to a Florentine 
 graduate of the University of Pisa, settled 
 in the place, who spoke of him with the greatest
 
 ANTIOCH. 285 
 
 contempt. " The fellow has some genius,"' 
 said he ; "but without education he is like an 
 uncoined piece of gold ; " which being repeated 
 to Hannah by what Mr. Dangle calls " some 
 d — d good-natured friend," he remarked, " Bet- 
 ter the uncoined gold, than the right stamp 
 on the base metal ;"' for there was no love lost 
 between them, and the hatred of this Florentine 
 was the only gall that never disappeared from 
 his gay jolly temper and familiar manner. 
 Hannah, although without a university breed- 
 ing, was not only well acquainted with the 
 works of Avicenna, and the translations of Hip- 
 pocrates and Galen, whom he used to pronounce 
 Gilenos, as well as the Arabic translation of the 
 Medical Encyclopedia of the Jesuits, which had 
 shortly before issued from the Roman press ; 
 but had intense yearning after all knowledge, 
 however or wherever it could be picked up. 
 
 " How are you, Hannah ? " said Moro ; " it 
 is now some odd years since I knew you in 
 Aleppo." 
 
 "Some years, indeed, you may say," said 
 Hannah ; " I go there once a year, and have
 
 286 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 often asked after you, but ' still in Egypt,' was 
 the invariable answer. Believe me, Signer 
 Moro, our Syrian air is better for mankind than 
 yours of Cairo ; the fire of life burns too fast 
 there." 
 
 " But the flesh-pots of Egypt, Hannah, the 
 flesh-pots of Egypt, man, which boil all the 
 better with a torrid heat." 
 
 " True," said Hannah, " so welcome to you. 
 Ya-Mariam ! " continued he, calling in his 
 wife from the court-yard ; " Signor Moro will 
 dine with us, and, Inshallah ! does not stir 
 from hence until to-morrow's sun be risen." 
 
 "Softly," said Moro; "another time. I 
 come on a serious business," — and after a pause, 
 during which his wife made her exit, he added, 
 " I come on a most serious business ; but first 
 of all, I must exact from you a pledge of the 
 most solemn secrecy." 
 
 "That is the first condition of our priest- 
 hood," said Hannah. " I rather think that 
 our confessional is a more sincere one on the 
 part of both confessor and confessed, than if it 
 were chapel, convent, or oratory. I cannot
 
 ANTIOCH. 2S7 
 
 tell what heaven may be, but if I wished to 
 give the wicked folks of Antioch a taste of 
 hell, I should tell one patient what I heard 
 from another." 
 
 " I ask your pardon,'' said Moro, " and con- 
 fide in your prudence. This is a most extraor- 
 dinary and unusual case." 
 
 " Not worse than incest or murder, surely," 
 said Hannah. 
 
 *' No, not worse, certainly," said Moro, 
 slightly oiFended, ''nor so bad, I hope ;" and 
 pipes and coffee having been served, he then 
 related the whole affair of his niece, concluding, 
 " I wish a strong dose to produce temporary 
 insensibility, so as to be able to carry the 
 lady without resistance with me to sea to 
 Egypt." 
 
 " It is a delicate matter," said Hannah, 
 thoughtfully ; " but first of all, and before 
 proceeding farther, are you sure that you are 
 in no mistake, or under no delusion as to her 
 state of mind." 
 
 "Impossible," said Moro, "unless I have 
 been in a dream or trance ; when you ride over
 
 288 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 to Taraf-el-Gharb with me, you can convince 
 yourself from the lips of the Armenian Avegeg- 
 him of what I have told you/"' 
 
 " Well," said Hannah, " you are rendering 
 the girl a most signal service in breaking off 
 this connection. I do not advise a draught, 
 which might have the most inconvenient results. 
 I know of a much better method of produc- 
 ing insensibility by means of an ancient art, 
 known in the countries of Irak, Coufa, and 
 elsewhere, from time immemorial ; which, used 
 in this case, would have the results you desire, 
 without any of the inconveniences, risks, and 
 perils of a draught." 
 
 " None of your Arab spells and incantations, 
 I hope," said Moro. " How can reasonable 
 men like you dream of such a thing ? " 
 
 " Neither spells nor incantations. Do you 
 take me to be Ahmed Ebn Telamees in Aleppo, 
 with his scraps of Koran, and books of astro- 
 logy. I mean a magnetic sleep." 
 
 " Explain yourself," said Moro. 
 
 " There is no mystery in the matter," said 
 Hannah. " To explain myself. The circle,
 
 ANTIOCH. 289 
 
 which is the qiiintessent unit of beauty, is the 
 principle of the universe. The fashion of the 
 earth's sphere, and the eartli's orbit in the 
 heavens, and the mists that rise, the rains that 
 descend, and the rivers that flow, are earth's 
 circulation ; even storms are rotatory and move 
 on wheels. Now, the principal circulations of 
 the body are, the blood in the veins and a 
 finer and more subtle circulation of magnetic 
 fluid in connection with the nervous system. 
 This magnetic circulation, more or less identi- 
 fied with electricity, which may be called the 
 right hand of Omnipotence, is the principle of 
 life, intelligence and sensation, and, by the road 
 of the muscles, is the ambassador of the will to 
 the extremities, and is the spirit which is the 
 invisible bridegroom of the flesh — married, for 
 better or for worse, enjoying reciprocally and 
 suflering reciprocally. Now, as winter is the 
 sleep of vegetable nature, passing from exhaus- 
 tion to insensible reproduction of power, sleep is 
 the winter of animal nature, the period of in- 
 sensible reproductions of power, that succeed 
 to sensible exhaustion. Ordinary sleep is the 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 290 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 suspension of the magnetic circulation ; magne- 
 tic sleep, its withdrawal from the members and 
 concentration in the seat of intelligence ; and 
 although the body be rendered quite insensible, 
 the spirit is quickened." 
 
 " You surely do not mean to tell me," said 
 Moro, " that a person in this state knows what 
 she is about ?" 
 
 " Yes, but she has not the power to act ; 
 and a person in this state can even penetrate 
 the unknown." 
 
 " Nonsense," said Moro. 
 
 " The mind," said Hannah, " cannot enfran- 
 chise space ; it cannot divine without data. 
 But this faculty of divination is marvellous. It 
 may be called the highest form of suspicion ; 
 and the suspicion of every-day life, or the 
 attempt to divine the whole truth out of vague 
 and slender data, is the very same operation of 
 the intellect, exercised under the disadvantage of 
 a defective supply of that magnetic fluid, which 
 aliments life and intelligence, in consequence of 
 its diffusion through the body in order to carry 
 on the other operations of organic existence."
 
 ANTIOCH. 291 
 
 " Can the future be foretold ? " said Moro. 
 
 '* Certainly not/' said Hannah ; " for the 
 most sldlful of those whom I have seen playing 
 billiards at the house of the French consul in 
 Aleppo, can scarcely foretel the carambolage 
 of billiard-balls in poule. How can the future 
 be foretold, when men are billiard-balls by the 
 million ? to whom the slightest impulses from 
 without, give infinite multiplications of abnormal 
 direction. Why, even if the devil had for data 
 the inmost desires of ten men's hearts, the hu- 
 man intellect cannot conceive a faculty capable 
 of calculating the future. This is so plain, that 
 the income such fellows as Ahmed-el-Telamees 
 makes gives me a contempt for human nature." 
 
 " Well, Hannah,"" said Moro, " you are a 
 strange man, and no doubt have an immense 
 reputation in the country, notwithstanding 
 what the priests in the convent say about your 
 secret dealings with the devil in the laboratory 
 behind your house, and the suspicions that 
 exist of your keeping fast-days with great 
 slackness. But tell me, has all your know- 
 ledge made you a happier man ? "
 
 292 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 '' It has, and it has not," said Hannah : 
 " after a man has fairly asked, and answered 
 himself the question, What was he sent forth 
 to perform in this world ? and made his election 
 accordingly — activity in a congenial sphere is, 
 no doubt, the chief source of happiness ; but I 
 often lament, like a bird that sees a glimpse of 
 daylight from a cage at the bottom of a dry 
 well. Oh, if I had only learned a single Frank 
 language, or been bred at Padua or Bologna ! 
 I should have braced my pennons on the quar- 
 ries of science like a young falcon ! The man 
 that trudges a-foot does not more envy the man 
 that rides a noble Nedjd barb, than I do a 
 man that has had the key of the magazines of 
 European knowledge," continued he, in a glow 
 of enthusiasm, very unusual with so lymphatic 
 a temperament ; " and the hope of adding a 
 single grain to those stores — the very smallest 
 discovery in the empire of the mind over matter 
 — of surprising one of the secrets of Nature'*s 
 smithies and laboratories, would have made me 
 toil night and day by sunlight and lamplight ; 
 but I am often sickened when I think that in
 
 ANTIOCH. 293 
 
 some sciences the veriest tyro of a European 
 university is a better man than myself." 
 
 *' Strange ! " said Moro : " and why did you 
 not go to Italy ? " 
 
 "And my wife and children ? " said Hannah ; 
 *' and my mother and sister? whom I have all 
 had to support since twenty-two years of age ; 
 for^ my father died of plague at Tripoli in the 
 time of Khosref Agha — " 
 
 " Dinner is ready,'" said his wife, entering. 
 
 " Yetfaddal^'''' said Hannah, rising and show- 
 ing Moro into the other apartment, whither it is 
 not necessary that we should follow them, as 
 the events of that night were never revealed 
 by either Moro or Hannah. 
 
 The sun set as they entered the rugged defiles 
 of CassiuSjOn their return toTaraf-el-Gharb; and 
 rose next morninof behind Lebanon in unclouded 
 splendour as the long Arab boat, hired by the 
 Armenian, scudded away to the southward. 
 The Arab skipper, whose coarse features, em- 
 browned by fifty summers, were surmounted by 
 a white cotton turban, remarked as he looked 
 
 at the green waves, that, marbled with veins 
 
 3
 
 294 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 of white foam, seemed to roll rapidly astern 
 with the breeze that swelled his large patched 
 latine sail, that they were now sixty good miles 
 on their way to Egypt. Moro, pleased with 
 the apparent success of his scheme, enjoyed 
 the sublime spectacle of the ridges of Lebanon, 
 rising to the height of eight or nine thousand 
 feet above the level of the sea, — the bold 
 profiles of sunlit rock springing from the yellow 
 sanded beach, relieved by wide intervals of the 
 villages, woods, and vineyards, somewhat more 
 faintly delineated in the tender violet hues of the 
 morning mountain air. Hannah paid attention 
 to neither land nor sea, his eyes were fixed on 
 Melusina, who lay, with serene countenance, 
 under a little awning, that had been rigged 
 up to keep her from dew or sun, — and then 
 turning to Moro, Hannah whispered him. 
 
 " We are now fairly at sea, the sun is high, 
 the scene is exhilarating. I think we may 
 awake her." 
 
 " Do so," said Moro. 
 
 And Hannah did so ; but hebetude with its 
 leaden wino-s hovered over Melusina. On the
 
 ANTIOCH. .^^95 
 
 evening of the third day a speck on the horizon 
 was noticed by the man at the bow, who, on 
 seeing the first indication of the Pharos of 
 Alexandria, pronounced aloud the word " Sken- 
 derieh." 
 
 " There is the land of your birth," said 
 Moro to his niece. 
 
 But a flood of tears was the only answer 
 of Melusina.
 
 296 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE NILE. 
 
 Hannah — the sight of whom Melusina could 
 not bear — was sent back to Syria, and Moro 
 and his niece proceeded to Rosetta, where they 
 embarked on the Nile. Melusina once more 
 navigated this venerable patriarch of rivers, 
 which was turbid and rapid at this season of 
 the year, but bounteously spreading his swollen 
 waters far and wide, while on the left, the 
 Delta, in her harvest-home attire of green satin, 
 basked in the golden Moghreb. Next morning 
 at sunrise, a slight fog covered the river, as if 
 they had been on the Waal or the Scheldt, but 
 not so thick as to prevent them seeing both 
 banks ; for Egypt, with its coasts, " where the 
 broad ocean leans against the land,'' its large
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE NILE. 297 
 
 salt-water lakes, its river entering the sea by 
 several mouths, its canal-life and boat-popula- 
 tion, is a sort of Holland of the East, where 
 
 * " Men do not live but go on board. 
 
 On the following afternoon, something on the 
 horizon, like the latine peaks of a hull-down 
 craft, denoted their approach to the Pyramids. 
 This was not Melusina's first sight of them ; 
 and yet so strangely solemn are those ancient 
 sentinels of this enchanted land, that they 
 riveted her gaze. She saw how slowly they 
 rose from this nether world, as the boat, im- 
 pelled by the northern breeze, ascended the 
 Nile. She saw how clearly defined were the 
 outlines of those forms, the broad yellow light 
 on their vast slopes, and the distinctly-bounded 
 shadows averted from the departing day. Moro 
 watched her countenance with anxiety, for the 
 hebetude, that nothing seemed able to dispel, had 
 alarmed him, and he perceived with pleasure 
 that the cloud was beginning to dissipate. Re- 
 flecting a little, he came to the conclusion that 
 the pure air of Upper Egypt, and the changeful
 
 ^98 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 scene of a Nile voyage, was more likely to com- 
 plete the cure of her romantic and imprudent 
 attachment, than a sudden descent upon the 
 monotony of the dull Frank quarter of Cairo ; 
 he therefore determined to take in additional 
 provisions and prosecute the voyage. 
 
 " Melusina," said Moro, without in the least 
 alluding to the circumstances of their departure 
 from Syria, " you have often heard of the 
 wonders of the Nile, but have not seen them. 
 Although a native of Egypt, you, hke myself, 
 who have resided so long in Cairo, know less of 
 this country of marvels than a stranger from the 
 most distant parts of Europe. We are now 
 afloat, and may as well continue our voyage, 
 for the heats of summer are passed. What say 
 you, Melusina ? speak ; be yourself again, and 
 let me once more think you the woman that 
 has grown out of the lively spirited girl that 
 years ago kept us in such good humour in the 
 Mousky." 
 
 " You are my guardian,"" said Melusi- 
 na ; "I have no opposition to offer to your 
 wishes."
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE NILE. 299 
 
 So the Nile voyage was commenced. Pyra- 
 mid after pyramid sentinelled their water way ; 
 and each afternoon, when the heat of the day 
 was passed, they anchored at some pleasant 
 verdant spot, near a grove of palms, and took 
 a short walk on a carpet of turf, which the 
 fresh recession of the inundation had left green. 
 On their return to the vessel, the solemnity of 
 sunset prayer would produce silence from stem 
 to stei-n, while the unctuous prostrations of the 
 crew proceeded ; and as night came on, the 
 chorus of the boatmen produced in Melusina 
 the resonance of other harmonies, — not of the 
 ears, but of the spirit, the memory of joys that 
 were ,past, " pleasant and mournful to the 
 soul." 
 
 The cities of the Thebaid were seen in suc- 
 cession ; — Luxor, with its marvels of stone ; 
 Esneh, with its pure, dry, healthy air, and the 
 roof of its then unexcavated temple ; Edfou, 
 with the awe-striking grandeur of its propylon, 
 which wants the grace of classic architecture, 
 and the curious detail of Saracenic and Gothic, 
 with their subdivisions indispensable to practical
 
 300 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 construction, but is the heau ideal of useless 
 barbaric majesty. Here ended the open expanse 
 of the Thebaid, and here the valley soon con- 
 tracted to the mere channel of the stream. The 
 flat alluvial region was exchanged for arid 
 rocks, overhanging the now swollen and turbid 
 waters of the Nile ; and the quarries from which 
 the raw materials of Egyptian architecture were 
 hewn, engaged their attention, and they saw 
 how sharply cut and clearly defined were, in 
 this dry climate, those beds of blocks, removed 
 some three or four millennia ago ; and Silsili 
 showed Moro that what, in the palaces of the 
 Venetian canal, was called " the gnawing tooth 
 of time,'' was merely humiditi/. 
 
 Melusina was no archaeologist, but Philoe 
 more than anything roused her, for she felt the 
 charm that the frame of pleasing scenery im- 
 parted to an architectural picture. This isle 
 of lofty palms, massive propylons, and their 
 connecting colonnades, rising from the bosom of 
 the Nile, which is here enclosed by rocks, some 
 precipitous and some fantastic, produced an 
 miexpected pleasure to the traveller, who,
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE NILE. oOl 
 
 coming from the Mediterranean, ascended the 
 Nile, with its pinguid flats on either hand. 
 But nothing that Melusina saw made her forget 
 the north of Syria. The masses of Egyptian 
 architecture struck her with astonishment, but 
 there was no background to lend enchantment 
 to the view, no soft-hued hills to relieve the 
 uniformity of art by the fascinating irregularity 
 of natural scenery. Philoe was the exception, 
 which made the rule. In short, the Egypt of 
 the ancients was seen with surprise by an 
 imperfectly educated Frank, but on Northern 
 Syria she dwelt with alternate delight and 
 regret. 
 
 As for the mercantile Moro, he thought less 
 of history and antiquity than even Melusina ; 
 but at Assouan he did not fail to remark 
 symptoms of nearer approach to the barbarous 
 nations of the interior of Africa. Here wore 
 no criers of shawls, carpets and pistols, as at 
 Cairo ; nor in these days had articles of anti- 
 quity become a matter of trade on the Nile ; 
 but here were seen the ostrich eggs, the spears, 
 ebony clubs, and shields of hippopotamus hide ; 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 302 THE MAMELUKES. 
 
 and here were heard songs of uncouth blacks, 
 in a language having an alphabet of the nar- 
 rowest compass. At Siout, the point of arrival 
 of the caravans from Darfour, that strange 
 country, where the nice etiquette of the court 
 compels an officer of high rank to wipe the 
 ground every time his majesty the king of that 
 country condescends to spit on the ground— 
 Moro met several mercantile acquaintances, 
 and at various other provincial towns on the 
 Nile paid a visit to the Mameluke beys, with 
 whom he happened to be acquainted, and who 
 lived gorged with luxury, while all around 
 was pinching poverty — a poverty not springing 
 from niggard Nature, but from the defective 
 institutions of man — the rapacity of governors, 
 and the indolence of the governed, in a land 
 where he that sowed was never sure to reap. 
 
 Melusina visited several of the principal 
 hareems of the towns where they stopped, and, 
 preparatory to her residence in Cairo, saw the 
 provincial side of Egyptian life ; but fits of 
 melancholy, of absence and of despondency 
 frequently recurred. Moro gradually began to
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE NILE. 303 
 
 reason with her on the folly of giving way 
 to it, but finding that he himself, from the 
 irascibility of his own temper and the im- 
 possibility of stopping himself when he was 
 once agoing, at length gave up the project, 
 and resolved to trust to all-potent Time for 
 a change. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 Priuted by Samuel Bestley and Co., 
 
 Bangor House, Shoe Lane.
 
 /'y
 
 X