[p.10]Egypt, this City of Misnomers, whose dry docks are ever wet, and
whose marble fountain is eternally dry, whose "Cleopatra's
Needle"[FN13] is neither a needle nor Cleopatra's; whose "Pompey's
Pillar" never had any earthly connection with Pompey; and whose
Cleopatra's Baths are, according to veracious travellers, no baths at
all. Yet it is a wonderful place, this "Libyan suburb" of our day, this
outpost of civilisation planted upon the skirts of barbarism, this
Osiris seated side by side with Typhon, his great old enemy. Still may
be said of it, "it ever beareth something new[FN#14];" and Alexandria,
a threadbare subject in Bruce's time, is even yet, from its perpetual
changes, a fit field for modern description.[FN#15]
[p.11]The better to blind the inquisitive eyes of servants and
visitors, my friend, Larking, lodged me in an out-house, where I could
revel in the utmost freedom of life and manners. And although some
Armenian Dragoman, a restless spy like all his race, occasionally
remarked voila un Persan diablement degage, none, except those who were
entrusted with the secret, had any idea of the part I was playing. The
domestics, devout Moslems, pronounced me an 'Ajami,[FN#16] a kind of
Mohammedan, not a good one like themselves, but, still better than
nothing. I lost no time in securing the assistance of a Shaykh,[FN#17]
and plunged once more into the intricacies of the Faith; revived my
recollections of religious ablutions, read the Koran, and again became
an adept in the art of prostration. My leisure hours were employed in
visiting the baths and coffee-houses, in attending the bazars, and in
shopping,-an operation which hereabouts consists of sitting upon a
chapman's counter, smoking, sipping coffee, and telling your beads the
while, to show that you are not of the slaves for whom time is made; in
fact, in pitting your patience against that of your adversary, the
vendor. I found time for a short excursion to a country village on the
banks of the canal; nor was an opportunity of seeing "Al-nahl," the
"Bee-dance;" neglected, for it would be some months before my eyes
might dwell on such a pleasant spectacle again.
"Delicias videam, Nile jocose, tuas!"
Careful of graver matters, I attended the mosque, and visited the
venerable localities in which modern Alexandria abounds. Pilgrimaging
Moslems are here
[p.12]shown the tomb of Al-nabi Daniyal (Daniel the Prophet),
discovered upon a spot where the late Sultan Mahmud dreamed that he saw
an ancient man at prayer.[FN#18] Sikandar al-Rumi, the Moslem Alexander
the Great, of course left his bones in the place bearing his name, or,
as he ought to have done so, bones have been found for him. Alexandria
also boasts of two celebrated Walis-holy men. One is Mohammed
al-Busiri, the author of a poem called Al-Burdah, universally read by
the world of Islam, and locally recited at funerals and on other solemn
occasions. The other is Abu Abbas al-Andalusi, a sage and saint of the
first water, at whose tomb prayer is never breathed in vain.
It is not to be supposed that the people of Alexandria could look upon
my phials and pill-boxes without a yearning for their contents. An
Indian doctor, too, was a novelty to them; Franks they despised,-but a
man who had come so far from East and West! Then there was something
infinitely seducing in the character of a magician, doctor, and fakir,
each admirable of itself, thus combined to make "great medicine." Men,
women, and children besieged my door, by which means I could see the
people face to face, and especially the fair sex, of which Europeans,
generally speaking, know only the worst specimens. Even respectable
natives, after witnessing a performance of "Mandal" and the Magic
mirror[FN#19], opined that the stranger was a holy man, gifted
[p.13]with supernatural powers, and knowing everything. One old person
sent to offer me his daughter in marriage; he said nothing about
dowry,-but I thought proper to decline the honour. And a middle-aged
lady proffered me the sum of one hundred piastres, nearly one pound
sterling, if I would stay at Alexandria, and superintend the
restoration of her blind left eye.
But the reader must not be led to suppose that I acted "Carabin" or
"Sangrado" without any knowledge of my trade. From youth I have always
been a dabbler in medical and mystical study. Moreover, the practice of
physic is comparatively easy amongst dwellers in warm latitudes,
uncivilised peoples, where there is not that complication of maladies
which troubles more polished nations. And further, what simplifies
extremely the treatment of the sick in these parts is the undoubted
periodicity of disease, reducing almost all to one type-ague.[FN#20]
Many of the complaints of tropical climates, as medical men well know,
display palpably intermittent symptoms little known to colder
countries; and speaking from individual experience, I may safely assert
that in all cases of suffering, from a wound to ophthalmia, this
phenomenon has forced itself upon my notice. So much by way of excuse.
I therefore considered myself as well qualified for the work as if I
had taken out a buono per l'estero diploma at Padua, and not more
likely to do active harm than most of the regularly graduated young
surgeons who start to "finish" themselves upon the frame of the British
soldier.
After a month's hard work at Alexandria, I prepared to assume the
character of a wandering Darwaysh; after
[p.14]reforming my title from "Mirza"[FN#21] to "Shaykh"
Abdullah.[FN#22] A reverend man, whose name I do not care to quote,
some time ago initiated me into his order, the Kadiriyah, under the
high-sounding name of Bismillah-Shah:[FN#23] and, after a due period of
probation, he graciously elevated me to the proud position of a
Murshid,[FN#24] or Master in the mystic craft. I was therefore
sufficiently well acquainted with the tenets and practices of these
Oriental Freemasons. No character in the Moslem world is so proper for
disguise as that of the Darwaysh. It is assumed by all ranks, ages, and
creeds; by the nobleman who has been disgraced at court, and by the
peasant who is too idle to till the ground; by Dives, who is weary of
life, and by Lazarus, who begs his bread from door to door. Further,
the Darwaysh is allowed to ignore ceremony and politeness, as one who
ceases to appear upon the stage of life; he may pray or not, marry or
remain single as he pleases, be respectable in cloth of frieze as in
cloth of gold, and no one asks him-the chartered vagabond-
[p.15]Why he comes here? or Wherefore he goes there? He may wend his
way on foot alone, or ride his Arab mare followed by a dozen servants;
he is equally feared without weapons, as swaggering through the streets
armed to the teeth. The more haughty and offensive he is to the people,
the more they respect him; a decided advantage to the traveller of
choleric temperament. In the hour of imminent danger, he has only to
become a maniac, and he is safe; a madman in the East, like a notably
eccentric character in the West, is allowed to say or do whatever the
spirit directs. Add to this character a little knowledge of medicine, a
"moderate skill in magic, and a reputation for caring for nothing but
study and books," together with capital sufficient to save you from the
chance of starving, and you appear in the East to peculiar advantage.
The only danger of the "Mystic Path"[FN#25] is, that the Darwaysh's
ragged coat not unfrequently covers the cut-throat, and, if seized in
the society of such a "brother," you may reluctantly become his
companion, under the stick or on the stake. For be it known, Darwayshes
are of two orders, the Sharai, or those who conform to religion, and
the Bi-Sharai, or Luti, whose practices are hinted at by their own
tradition that "he we daurna name" once joined them for a week, but at
the end of that time left them in dismay, and returned to whence he
came.
[FN#1] "Remembering . . . . reason," afterwards altered by the author
to "much disliking, if fact must be told, my impolitic habit of telling
political truths, (in 1851 I had submitted to the Court of Directors
certain remarks upon the subject of Anglo-Indian misrule: I need hardly
say that the publication was refused with many threats), and not
unwilling to mortify my supporter (his colleague, Colonel W. Sykes),
refused his sanction, alleging as a no-reason," et seq.
[FN#2] The vagrant, the merchant, and the philosopher, amongst
Orientals, are frequently united in the same person.
[FN#3] In a communication made to the Royal Geographical Society, and
published in the 24th vol. of the Journal, I have given my reasons for
naturalising this word. It will be used in the following pages to
express a "hill water-course, which rolls a torrent after rain, and is
either partially or wholly dry during the droughts." It is, in fact,
the Indian "Nullah, or Nala."
[FN#4] "In provinciis Arabum, ait Ibn Haukal, nullus dignoscitur
fluvius, aut mare quod navigia ferat." This truth has been disputed,
but now it is generally acknowledged.
[FN#5] A French traveller, the Viscount Escayrac de Lanture, was living
at Cairo as a native of the East, and preparing for a pilgrimage when I
was similarly engaged. Unfortunately he went to Damascus, where some
disturbance compelled him to resume his nationality. The only European
I have met with who visited Meccah without apostatising, is M.
Bertolucci, Swedish Consul at Cairo. This gentleman persuaded the
Badawin camel men who were accompanying him to Taif to introduce him in
disguise: he naïvely owns that his terror of discovery prevented his
making any observations. Dr. George A. Wallin, of Finland, performed
the Hajj in 1845; but his "somewhat perilous position, and the filthy
company of Persians," were effectual obstacles to his taking notes.
[FN#6] No one felt the want of this "silent friend," more than myself;
for though Eastern Arabia would not have been strange to me, the
Western regions were a terra incognita. Through Dr. Norton Shaw,
Secretary to the Royal Geographical Society, I addressed a paper full
of questions to Dr. Wallin, professor of Arabic at the University of
Helsingfors. But that adventurous traveller and industrious Orienta1ist
was then, as we afterwards heard with sorrow, no more; so the queries
remained unanswered. In these pages I have been careful to solve all
the little financial and domestic difficulties, so perplexing to the
"freshman," whom circumstances compel to conceal his freshness from the
prying eyes of friends.
[FN#7] "Then came Trafalgar: would that Nelson had known the meaning of
that name! it would have fixed a smile upon his dying lips!" so says
the Rider through the Nubian Desert, giving us in a foot note the
curious information that "Trafalgar" is an Arabic word, which means the
"Cape of Laurels." Trafalgar is nothing but a corruption of Tarf
al-Gharb-the side or skirt of the West; it being the most occidental
point then reached by Arab conquest.
[FN#8] In Arabic "Ras al-Tin," the promontory upon which immortal
Pharos once stood. It is so called from the argile there found and
which supported an old pottery.
[FN#9] "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the (three) worlds!" a pious
ejaculation, which leaves the lips of the True Believer on all
occasions of concluding actions.
[FN#10] "Bakhshish," says a modern writer, "is a fee or present which
the Arabs (he here means the Egyptians, who got the word from the
Persians through the Turks,) claim on all occasions for services you
render them, as well as for services they have rendered you. A doctor
visits a patient gratis-the patient or his servant will ask for a
bakhshish (largesse); you employ, pay, clothe, and feed a child-the
father will demand his bakhshish; you may save the life of an Arab, at
the risk of your own, and he will certainly claim a bakhshish. This
bakhshish, in fact, is a sort of alms or tribute, which the poor Arab
believes himself entitled to claim from every respectable-looking
person."
[FN#11] Mafish, "there is none," equivalent to, "I have left my purse
at home." Nothing takes the Oriental mind so much as a retort
alliterative or jingling. An officer in the Bombay army (Colonel
Hamerton) once saved himself from assault and battery by informing a
furious band of natives, that under British rule "harakat na hui,
barakat hui," "blessing hath there been to you; bane there hath been
none."
[FN#12] In a coarser sense "kayf" is app1ied to all manner of
intoxication. Sonnini is not wrong when he says, "the Arabs give the
name of Kayf to the voluptuous relaxation, the delicious stupor,
produced by the smoking of hemp."
[FN#13] Cleopatra's Needle is called by the native Ciceroni "Masallat
Firaun," Pharaoh's packing needle. What Solomon, and the Jinnis and
Sikandar zu'l karnain (Alexander of Macedon), are to other Moslem
lands, such is Pharaoh to Egypt, the "Caesar aut Diabolus" of the Nile.
The ichneumon becomes "Pharaoh's cat,"-even the French were bitten and
named it, le rat de Pharaon; the prickly pear, "Pharaoh's fig;" the
guinea-worm, "Pharaoh's worm;" certain unapproachable sulphur springs,
"Pharaoh's bath;" a mausoleum at Petra, "Pharaoh's palace;" the mongrel
race now inhabiting the valley of the Nile is contemptuously named by
Turks and Arabs "Jins Firaun," or "Pharaoh's Breed;" and a foul kind of
vulture (vultur percnopterus, ak baba of the Turks, and ukab of Sind),
"Pharaoh's hen." This abhorrence of Pharaoh is, however, confined to
the vulgar and the religious. The philosophers and mystics of Al-Islam,
in their admiration of his impious daring, make him equal, and even
superior, to Moses. Sahil, a celebrated Sufi, declares that the secret
of the soul (i.e., its emanation) was first revealed when Pharaoh
declared himself a god. And Al-Ghazali sees in such temerity nothing
but the most noble aspiration to the divine, innate in the human,
spirit. (Dabistan, vol. iii.)
[FN#14] [Greek text] "Quid novi fert Africa?" said the Romans. "In the
same season Fayoles, tetrarch of Numidia, sent from the land of Africa
to Grangousier, the most hideously great mare that was ever seen; for
you know well enough how it is said, that ‘Africa always is productive
of some new thing.'"
[FN#15] Alexandria, moreover, is an interesting place to Moslems, on
account of the prophecy that it will succeed to the honours of Meccah,
when the holy city falls into the hands of the infidel. In its turn
Alexandria will be followed by Kairawan (in the Regency of Tunis); and
this by Rashid or Rosetta, which last shall endure to the end of time.
[FN#16] A Persian as opposed to an Arab.
[FN#17] A priest, elder, chieftain, language-master, private-tutor,
&c., &c.
[FN#18] The Persians place the Prophet's tomb at Susan or Sus,
described by Ibn Haukal (p. 76). The readers of Ibn Batutah may think
it strange that the learned and pious traveller in his account of
Alexandria (chap. 2.) makes no allusion to the present holy deceased
that distinguish the city. All the saints are now clear forgotten. For
it is the fate of saints, like distinguished sinners, to die twice.
[FN#19] The Mandal is that form of Oriental divination which owes its
present celebrity in Europe to Mr. Lane. Both it and the magic mirror
are hackneyed subjects, but I have been tempted to a few words
concerning them in another part of these volumes. Meanwhile I request
the reader not to set me down as a mere charlatan; medicine in the East
is so essentially united with superstitious practices, that he who
would pass for an expert practitioner, must necessarily represent
himself an "adept."
[FN#20] Hence the origin, I believe, of the Chronothermal System, a
discovery which physic owes to my old friend, the late Dr. Samuel
Dickson.
[FN#21] The Persian "Mister." In future chapters the reader will see
the uncomfortable consequences of my having appeared in Egypt as a
Persian. Although I found out the mistake, and worked hard to correct
it, the bad name stuck to me; bazar reports fly quicker and hit harder
than newspaper paragraphs.
[FN#22] Arab Christians sometimes take the name of "Abdullah," servant
of Allah-"which," as a modern traveller observes, "all sects and
religions might be equally proud to adopt." The Moslem Prophet said,
"the names most approved of God are Abdullah, Abd-al-rahman (Slave of
the Compassionate), and such like."
[FN#23] "King in-the-name-of-Allah," a kind of Oriental
"Praise-God-Barebones." When a man appears as a Fakir or Darwaysh, he
casts off, in process of regeneration, together with other worldly
sloughs, his laical name for some brilliant coat of nomenclature rich
in religious promise.
[FN#24] A Murshid is one allowed to admit Murids or apprentices into
the order. As the form of the diploma conferred upon this occasion may
be new to many European Orientalists, I have translated it in Appendix
I.
[FN#25] The Tarikat or path, which leads, or is supposed to lead, to
Heaven.
[p.16]CHAPTER II.