AT length the slow "month of blessings" passed away. We rejoiced like
Romans finishing their Quaresima, when a salvo of artillery from the
citadel announced the end of our Lenten woes. On the last day of
Ramazan all gave alms to the poor, at the rate of a piastre and a half
for each member of the household-slave, servant, and master. The next
day, first of the three composing the Bayram or Id[FN#1] (the Lesser
Festival), we arose before dawn, performed our ablutions, and repaired
to the Mosque, to recite the peculiar prayer of the season, and to hear
the sermon which bade us be "merry and wise." After which we ate and
drank heartily; then, with pipes and tobacco-pouches in hand, we
sauntered out to enjoy the contemplation of smiling faces and street
scenery.
The favourite resort on this occasion is the large cemetery beyond the
Bab al-Nasr[FN#2]-that stern, old, massive gateway which opens upon the
Suez road. There we found a scene of jollity. Tents and ambulant
coffee-houses were full of men equipped in their-anglice
[p.116]-"Sunday best," listening to singers and musicians, smoking,
chatting, and looking at jugglers, buffoons, snake-charmers,
Darwayshes, ape-leaders, and dancing boys habited in women's attire.
Eating-stalls and lollipop-shops, booths full of playthings, and sheds
for lemonade and syrups, lined the roads, and disputed with swings and
merry-go-rounds the regards of the little Moslems and Moslemahs. The
chief item of the crowd, fair Cairenes, carried in their hands huge
palm branches, intending to ornament therewith the tombs of parents and
friends. Yet, even on this solemn occasion, there is, they say, not a
little flirtation and love-making; parties of policemen are posted,
with orders to interrupt all such irregularities, with a long cane; but
their vigilance is notoriously unequal to the task. I could not help
observing that frequent pairs, doubtless cousins or other relations,
wandered to unusual distances among the sand-hills, and that sometimes
the confusion of a distant bastinado struck the ear. These trifles did
not, however, by any means interfere with the general joy. Every one
wore something new; most people were in the fresh suits of finery
intended to last through the year; and so strong is personal vanity in
the breasts of Orientals, men and women, young and old, that from Cairo
to Calcutta it would be difficult to find a sad heart under a handsome
coat. The men swaggered, the women minced their steps, rolled their
eyes, and were eternally arranging, and coquetting with their
head-veils. The little boys strutting about foully abused any one of
their number who might have a richer suit than his neighbours. And the
little girls ogled every one in the ecstacy of conceit, and glanced
contemptuously at other little girls their rivals.
Weary of the country, the Haji and I wandered about the city, paying
visits, which at this time are like new-year calls in continental
Europe. I can describe the
[p.117]operation of calling in Egypt only as the discussion of pipes
and coffee in one place, and of coffee and pipes in another. But on
this occasion, whenever we meet a friend we throw ourselves upon each
other's breast, placing right arms over left shoulders, and vice versa,
squeezing like wrestlers, with intermittent hugs, then laying cheek to
cheek delicately, at the same time making the loud noise of many kisses
in the air.[FN#3] The compliment of the season is, "Kull'am antum bil
khayr"-"Every year may you be well!"-in fact, our "Many happy returns
of the day!" After this come abundant good wishes, and kindly
prophecies; and from a "religious person" a blessing, and a short
prayer. To complete the resemblance between a Moslem and a Christian
festival, we have dishes of the day, fish, Shurayk, the cross-bun, and
a peculiarly indigestible cake, called in Egypt Kahk,[FN#4] the
plum-pudding of Al-Islam.
This year's Id was made gloomy, comparatively speaking, by the state of
politics. Report of war with Russia, with France, with England, who was
going to land three million men at Suez, and with Infideldom in
general, rang through Egypt, and the city of Mars[FN#5] became
unusually martial. The government armouries, arsenals, and
manufactories, were crowded with kidnapped workmen. Those who purposed
a pilgrimage feared forcible detention. Wherever men gathered together,
in the Mosques, for instance, or the coffee-houses, the police
[p.118]closed the doors, and made forcible capture of the able-bodied.
This proceeding, almost as barbarous as our impressment law, filled the
main streets with detachments of squalid-looking wretches, marching to
be made soldiers, with collars round their necks and irons on their
wrists. The dismal impression of the scene was deepened by crowds of
women, who, habited in mourning, and scattering dust and mud over their
rent garments, followed their sons, brothers, and husbands, with cries
and shrieks. The death-wail is a peculiar way of cheering on the
patriot departing pro patria mori, and the origin of the custom is
characteristic of the people. The principal public amusements allowed
to Oriental women are those that come under the general name of
"Fantasia,"-birth-feasts, marriage festivals, and funerals. And the
early campaigns of Mohammed Ali's family in Syria, and Al-Hijaz having,
in many cases, deprived the bereaved of their sex-right to "keen" for
the dead, they have now determined not to waste the opportunity, but to
revel in the luxury of woe at the live man's wake.[FN#6]
Another cloud hung over Cairo. Rumours of conspiracy were afloat. The
Jews and Christians,-here as ready to take alarm as the English in
Italy,-trembled at the fancied preparations for insurrection, massacre,
and plunder. And even the Moslems whispered that some hundred
desperadoes had resolved to fire the city, beginning with the bankers'
quarter, and to spoil the wealthy Egyptians. Of course H.H. Abbas Pasha
was absent at the time, and, even had he been at Cairo, his presence
would have been of little use: the ruler can do nothing
[p.119]towards restoring confidence to a panic-stricken Oriental nation.
At the end of the Id, as a counter-irritant to political excitement,
the police magistrates began to bully the people. There is a standing
order in the chief cities of Egypt, that all who stir abroad after dark
without a lantern shall pass the night in the station-house.[FN#7] But
at Cairo, in certain quarters, the Azbakiyah[FN#8] for instance, a
little laxity is usually allowed. Before I left the capital the licence
was withdrawn, and the sudden strictness caused many ludicrous scenes.
If by chance you (clad in Oriental garb) had sent on your lantern to a
friend's house by your servant, and had leisurely followed it five
minutes after the hour of eight, you were sure to be met, stopped,
collared, questioned, and captured by the patrol. You probably punched
three or four of them, but found the dozen too strong for you. Held
tightly by the sleeves, skirts, and collar of your wide outer garment,
you were hurried away on a plane of about nine inches above the ground,
your feet mostly treading the air. You were dragged along with a
rapidity which scarcely permitted you to answer strings of questions
concerning your name, nation, dwelling, faith, profession, and self in
general,-especially concerning the present state of your purse. If you
lent an ear to the voice of the charmer that began by asking a crown to
release you, and gradually came down to two-pence half-penny, you fell
into a simple trap; the butt-end of a musket applied a posteriori,
immediately after the transfer of property, convicted you of wilful
waste. But if, more sensibly, you pretended to have forgotten your
purse, you
[p.120]were reviled, and dragged with increased violence of shaking to
the office of the Zabit, or police magistrate. You were spun through
the large archway leading to the court, every fellow in uniform giving
you, as you passed, a Kafa, "cuff," on the back of the neck. Despite
your rage, you were forced up the stairs to a long gallery full of
people in a predicament like your own. Again your name, nation,-I
suppose you to be masquerading,-offence, and other particulars were
asked, and carefully noted in a folio by a ferocious-looking clerk. If
you knew no better, you were summarily thrust into the Hasil or
condemned cell, to pass the night with pickpockets or ruffians,
pell-mell. But if an adept in such matters, you insisted upon being
conducted before the "Pasha of the Night," and, the clerk fearing to
refuse, you were hurried to the great man's office, hoping for justice,
and dealing out ideal vengeance to your captors,-the patrol. Here you
found the dignitary sitting with pen, ink, and paper before him, and
pipe and coffee-cup in hand, upon a wide Diwan of dingy chintz, in a
large dimly-lit room, with two guards by his side, and a semi-circle of
recent seizures vociferating before him. When your turn came, you were
carefully collared, and led up to the presence, as if even at that
awful moment you were mutinously and murderously disposed. The Pasha,
looking at you with a vicious sneer, turned up his nose, ejaculated
"'Ajami," and prescribed the bastinado. You observed that the mere fact
of being a Persian did not give mankind a right to capture, imprison,
and punish you; you declared moreover that you were no Persian, but an
Indian under British protection. The Pasha, a man accustomed to
obedience, then stared at you, to frighten you, and you, we will
suppose, stared at him, till, with an oath, he turned to the patrol,
and asked them your offence. They all simultaneously swore-by
Allah!-that you had been found without a lantern, dead-drunk, beating
respectable people,
[p.121]breaking into houses, invading and robbing harims. You openly
told the Pasha that they were eating abominations; upon which he
directed one of his guards to smell your breath,-the charge of
drunkenness being tangible. The fellow, a comrade of your capturers,
advanced his nose to your lips; as might be expected, cried "Kikh,"
contorted his countenance, and answered, by the beard of
"Effendina[FN#9]" that he perceived a pestilent odour of distilled
waters. This announcement probably elicited a grim grin from the "Pasha
of the Night," who loves Curaçoa, and who is not indifferent to the
charms of Cognac. Then by his favour, for you improved the occasion,
you were allowed to spend the hours of darkness on a wooden bench, in
the adjacent long gallery, together with certain little parasites, for
which polite language has no name.[FN#10] In the morning the janissary
of your Consulate was sent for: he came, and claimed you; you were led
off criminally; again you gave your name and address, and if your
offence was merely sending on your lantern, you were dismissed with
advice to be more careful in future. And assuredly your first step was
towards the Hammam.
But if, on the other hand, you had declared yourself a European, you
would either have been dismissed at once, or sent to your Consul, who
is here judge, jury, and jailor. Egyptian authority has of late years
lost half its prestige. When Mr. Lane first settled at Cairo, all
Europeans accused of aggression against Moslems were, he tells us,
surrendered to the Turkish magistrates. Now, the native powers have no
jurisdiction over strangers,
[p.122]nor can the police enter their houses. If the West would raise
the character of its Eastern co-religionists, it will be forced to push
the system a point further, and to allow all bona-fide Christian
subjects to register their names at the different Consulates whose
protection they might prefer. This is what Russia has so "unwarrantably
and outrageously" attempted. We confine ourselves to a lesser
injustice, which deprives Eastern states of their right as independent
Powers to arrest, and to judge foreigners, who for interest or
convenience settle in their dominions. But we still shudder at the
right of arrogating any such claim over the born lieges of Oriental
Powers. What, however, would be the result were Great Britain to
authorise her sons resident at Paris, or Florence, to refuse attendance
at a French or an Italian court of justice, and to demand that the
police should never force the doors of an English subject? I commend
this consideration to all those who "stickle for abstract rights" when
the interest and progress of others are concerned, and who become
somewhat latitudinarian and concrete in cases where their own welfare
and aggrandisement are at stake.
Besides patients, I made some pleasant acquaintances at Cairo. Antun
Zananire, a young Syrian of considerable attainments as a linguist,
paid me the compliment of permitting me to see the fair face of his
"Harim." Mr. Hatchadur Nury, an Armenian gentleman, well known in
Bombay, amongst other acts of kindness, introduced me to one of his
compatriots, Khwajah Yusuf, whose advice was most useful to me. The
Khwajah had wandered far and wide, picking up everywhere some scrap of
strange knowledge, and his history was a romance. Expelled from Cairo
for a youthful peccadillo, he started upon his travels, qualified
himself for sanctity at Meccah and Al-Madinah, became a religious
beggar at Baghdad, studied French at Paris, and finally settled
[p.123]down as a professor of languages,[FN#11] under an amnesty, at
Cairo. In his house I saw an Armenian marriage. The occasion was
memorable: after the gloom and sameness of Moslem society, nothing
could be more gladdening than the unveiled face of a pretty woman. Some
of the guests were undeniably charming brunettes, with the blackest
possible locks, and the brightest conceivable eyes. Only one pretty
girl wore the national costume;[FN#12] yet they all smoked chibuks and
sat upon the Diwans, and, as they entered the room, they kissed with a
sweet simplicity the hands of the priest, and of the other old
gentlemen present.
Among the number of my acquaintances was a Meccan boy, Mohammed
al-Basyuni, from whom I bought the pilgrim-garb called "Al-Ihram" and
the Kafan or shroud, with which the Moslem usually starts upon such a
journey as mine. He, being in his way homewards after a visit to
Constantinople, was most anxious to accompany me in the character of a
"companion." But he had travelled too much to suit me; he had visited
India, he had seen Englishmen, and he had lived with the "Nawab Balu"
of Surat. Moreover, he showed signs of over-wisdom. He had been a
regular visitor, till I cured one of his friends of an ophthalmia,
after which
[p.124]he gave me his address at Meccah, and was seen no more. Haji
Wali described him and his party to be "Nas jarrar" (extractors), and
certainly he had not misjudged them. But the sequel will prove how der
Mensch denkt und Gott lenkt; and as the boy, Mohammed, eventually did
become my companion throughout the Pilgrimage, I will place him before
the reader as summarily as possible.
He is a beardless youth, of about eighteen, chocolate-brown, with high
features, and a bold profile; his bony and decided Meccan cast of face
is lit up by the peculiar Egyptian eye, which seems to descend from
generation to generation.[FN#13] His figure is short and broad, with a
tendency to be obese, the result of a strong stomach and the power of
sleeping at discretion. He can read a little, write his name, and is
uncommonly clever at a bargain. Meccah had taught him to speak
excellent Arabic, to understand the literary dialect, to be eloquent in
abuse, and to be profound at Prayer and Pilgrimage. Constantinople had
given him a taste for Anacreontic singing, and female society of the
questionable kind, a love of strong waters,-the hypocrite looked
positively scandalised when I first suggested the subject,-and an
off-hand latitudinarian mode of dealing with serious subjects in
general. I found him to be the youngest son of a widow, whose doting
fondness had moulded his disposition; he was selfish and affectionate,
as spoiled children usually are, volatile, easily offended and as
easily pacified (the Oriental), coveting other men's goods, and profuse
of his own (the Arab), with a matchless intrepidity of countenance (the
traveller), brazen lunged, not more than half brave, exceedingly
astute, with an acute sense of honour, especially where his
[p.125]relations were concerned (the individual). I have seen him in a
fit of fury because some one cursed his father; and he and I nearly
parted because on one occasion I applied to him an epithet which,
etymologically considered, might be exceedingly insulting to a
high-minded brother, but which in popular parlance signifies nothing.
This "point d'honneur" was the boy Mohammed's strong point.
During the Ramazan I laid in my stores for the journey. These consisted
of tea, coffee, loaf-sugar, rice, dates, biscuit, oil, vinegar,
tobacco, lanterns, and cooking pots, a small bell-shaped tent, costing
twelve shillings, and three water-skins for the Desert.[FN#14] The
provisions were placed in a "Kafas" or hamper artistically made of palm
sticks, and in a huge Sahharah, or wooden box, about three feet each
way, covered with leather or skin, and provided with a small lid
fitting into the top.[FN#15] The
[p.126]former, together with my green box containing medicines, and
saddle-bags full of clothes, hung on one side of the camel, a
counterpoise to the big Sahharah on the other flank; the Badawin, like
muleteers, always requiring a balance of weight. On the top of the load
was placed transversely a Shibriyah or cot, on which Shaykh Nur
squatted like a large crow. This worthy had strutted out into the
streets armed with a pair of horse-pistols and a sword almost as long
as himself. No sooner did the mischievous boys of Cairo-they are as bad
as the gamins of Paris and London-catch sight of him than they began to
scream with laughter at the sight of the "Hindi (Indian) in arms,"
till, like a vagrant owl pursued by a flight of larks, he ran back into
the Caravanserai.
Having spent all my ready money at Cairo, I was obliged to renew the
supply. My native acquaintances advised me to take at least eighty
pounds sterling, and considering the expense of outfit for Desert
travelling, the sum did not appear excessive. I should have found some
difficulty in raising the money had it not been for the kindness of a
friend at Alexandria, John Thurburn, now, I regret to say, no more, and
Mr. Sam Shepheard, then of Shepheard's Hotel, Cairo, presently a landed
proprietor near Rugby, and now also gone. My Indians scrutinised the
diminutive square of paper[FN#16]-the
[p.127]letter of credit-as a raven may sometimes be seen peering, with
head askance, into the interior of a suspected marrow-bone. "Can this
be a bona-fide draft?" they mentally inquired. And finally they
offered, politely, to write to England for me, to draw the money, and
to forward it in a sealed bag directed "Al-Madinah." I need scarcely
say that such a style of transmission would, in the case of precious
metals, have left no possible chance of its safe arrival. When the
difficulty was overcome, I bought fifty pounds' worth of German dollars
(Maria Theresas), and invested the rest in English and Turkish
sovereigns.[FN#17] The gold I myself carried; part of the silver I
sewed up in Shaykh Nur's leather waistbelt, and part was packed in the
boxes, for this reason,-when Badawin begin plundering a respectable
man, if they find a certain amount of ready money in his baggage, they
do not search his person. If they find none they proceed to a bodily
inspection, and if his waist-belt be empty they are rather disposed to
rip open his stomach, in the belief that he must have some peculiarly
ingenious way of secreting valuables. Having passed through this
trouble I immediately fell into another. My hardly-earned Alexandrian
passport required a double visa, one at the Police office, the other at
the Consul's. After returning to Egypt, I found it was the practice of
travellers
[p.128]who required any civility from Dr. Walne, then the English
official at Cairo, to enter the "Presence" furnished with an order from
the Foreign Office.
I had neglected the precaution, and had ample reason to regret having
done so. Failing at the British Consulate, and unwilling to leave Cairo
without being "en regle,"-the Egyptians warned me that Suez was a place
of obstacles to pilgrims,[FN#18]-I was obliged to look elsewhere for
protection. My friend Haji Wali was the first consulted; after a long
discussion he offered to take me to his Consul, the Persian, and to
find out for what sum I could become a temporary subject of the Shah.
We went to the sign of the "Lion and the Sun," and we found the
dragoman,[FN#19] a subtle Syrian Christian, who,
[p.129]after a rigid inquiry into the state of my purse (my country was
no consideration at all[FN#20]), introduced me to the Great Man. I have
described this personage once already, and he merits not a second
notice. The interview was truly ludicrous. He treated us with exceeding
hauteur, motioned me to sit almost out of hearing, and after rolling
his head in profound silence for nearly a quarter of an hour,
vouchsafed the information that though my father might be a Shirazi,
and my mother an Afghan, he had not the honour of my acquaintance. His
companion, a large old Persian with Polyphemean eyebrows and a mulberry
beard, put some gruff and discouraging questions. I quoted the verses
"He is a man who benefits his fellow men,
Not he who says ‘why?' and ‘wherefore?' and ‘how much?'"
upon which an imperious wave of the arm directed me to return to the
dragoman, who had the effrontery to ask me four pounds sterling for a
Persian passport. I offered one. He derided my offer, and I went away
perplexed. On my return to Cairo some months afterwards, he sent to say
that had he known me as an Englishman, I should have had the document
gratis,-a civility for which he was duly thanked.
At last my Shaykh Mohammed hit upon the plan. "Thou art," said he, "an
Afghan; I will fetch hither the principal of the Afghan college at the
Azhar, and he, if
[p.130]thou make it worth his while," (this in a whisper) "will be thy
friend." The case was looking desperate; my preceptor was urged to lose
no time.
Presently Shaykh Mohammed returned in company with the principal, a
little, thin, ragged-bearded, one-eyed, hare-lipped divine, dressed in
very dirty clothes, of nondescript cut. Born at Maskat of Afghan
parents, and brought up at Meccah, he was a kind of cosmopolite,
speaking five languages fluently, and full of reminiscences of toil and
travel. He refused pipes and coffee, professing to be ascetically
disposed: but he ate more than half my dinner, to reassure me, I
presume, should I have been fearful that abstinence might injure his
health. We then chatted in sundry tongues. I offered certain presents
of books, which were rejected (such articles being valueless), and the
Shaykh Abd al-Wahhab having expressed his satisfaction at my account of
myself, told me to call for him at the Azhar Mosque next Morning.
Accordingly at six P.M. Shaykh Mohammed and Abdullah Khan,[FN#21]-the
latter equipped in a gigantic sprigged-muslin turband, so as to pass
for a student of theology,-repaired to Al-Azhar. Passing through the
open quadrangle, we entered the large hall which forms the body of the
Mosque. In the northern wall was a dwarf door, leading by breakneck
stairs to a pigeon-hole, the study of the learned Afghan Shaykh. We
found him ensconced behind piles of musty and greasy manuscripts,
surrounded by scholars and scribes, with whom he was cheapening books.
He had not much business to transact; but long before he was ready, the
stifling atmosphere drove us out of the study, and we repaired to the
hall. Presently the Shaykh joined us, and we all rode on to the
citadel, and waited in a Mosque till the office hour struck. When the
doors were opened we went into the
[p.131]"Diwan," and sat patiently till the Shaykh found an opportunity
of putting in a word. The officials were two in number; one an old
invalid, very thin and sickly-looking, dressed in the Turco-European
style, whose hand was being severely kissed by a troop of religious
beggars, to whom he had done some small favours; the other was a stout
young clerk, whose duty it was to engross, and not to have his hand
kissed.
My name and other essentials were required, and no objections were
offered, for who holier than the Shaykh Abd al-Wahhab ibn Yunus
al-Sulaymani? The clerk filled up a printed paper in the Turkish
language, apparent1y borrowed from the European method for spoiling the
traveller; certified me, upon the Shaykh's security, to be one
Abdullah, the son of Yusuf (Joseph), originally from Kabul, described
my person, and, in exchange for five piastres, handed me the document.
I received it with joy.
With bows, and benedictions, and many wishes that Allah might make it
the officials' fate to become pilgrims, we left the office, and
returned towards Al-Azhar. When we had nearly reached the Mosque,
Shaykh Mohammed lagged behind, and made the sign. I drew near the
Afghan, and asked for his hand. He took the hint, and muttering, "It is
no matter!"-"It is not necessary!"-"By Allah it is not required!"
extended his fingers, and brought the "musculus guineorum" to bear upon
three dollars.
Poor man! I believe it was his necessity that consented to be paid for
the doing a common act of Moslem charity; he had a wife and children,
and the calling of an Alim[FN#22] is no longer worth much in Egypt.
My departure from Cairo was hastened by an accident. I lost my
reputation by a little misfortune that happened in this wise.
[p.132]At Haji Wali's room in the Caravanserai, I met a Yuzbashi, or
captain of Albanian Irregulars, who was in Egypt on leave from
Al-Hijaz. He was a tall, bony, and broad-shouldered mountaineer, about
forty years old, with the large bombe brow, the fierce eyes, thin lips,
lean jaws, and peaky chin of his race. His mustachios were enormously
long and tapering, and the rest of his face, like his head, was close
shaven. His Fustan[FN#23] was none of the cleanest; nor was the red
cap, which he wore rakishly pulled over his frowning forehead, quite
free from stains. Not permitted to carry the favourite pistols, he
contented himself with sticking his right hand in the empty belt, and
stalking about the house with a most military mien. Yet he was as
little of a bully as carpet knight, that same Ali Agha; his body showed
many a grisly scar, and one of his shin bones had been broken by a
Turkish bullet, when he was playing tricks on the Albanian hills,-an
accident inducing a limp, which he attempted to conceal by a heavy
swagger. When he spoke, his voice was affectedly gruff; he had a sad
knack of sneering, and I never saw him thoroughly sober.
Our acquaintance began with a kind of storm, which blew over, and left
fine weather. I was showing Haji Wali my pistols with Damascene barrels
when Ali Agha entered the room. He sat down before me with a grin,
which said intelligibly enough, "What business have you with
weapons?"-snatched the arm out of my hand, and began to inspect it as a
connoisseur. Not admiring this procedure, I wrenched it away from him,
and, addressing myself to Haji Wali, proceeded quietly with my
dissertation. The captain of Irregulars and I then looked at each
other. He cocked his cap on one side, in token of excited pugnacity. I
twirled my moustachios to display a kindred emotion. Had he been armed,
and in Al-Hijaz,
[p.133]we should have fought it out at once, for the Arnauts are
"terribili colla pistola," as the Italians say, meaning that upon the
least provocation they pull out a horse-pistol, and fire it in the face
of friend or foe. Of course, the only way under these circumstances is
to anticipate them; but even this desperate prevention seldom saves a
stranger, as whenever there is danger, these men go about in pairs. I
never met with a more reckless brood. Upon the line of march Albanian
troops are not allowed ammunition; for otherwise there would be half a
dozen duels a day. When they quarrel over their cups, it is the fashion
for each man to draw a pistol, and to place it against his opponent's
breast. The weapons being kept accurately clean, seldom miss fire, and
if one combatant draw trigger before the other, he would immediately be
shot down by the bystanders.[FN#24] In Egypt these men,-who are used as
Irregulars, and are often quartered upon the hapless villagers, when
unable or unwilling to pay taxes,-were the terror of the population. On
many occasions they have quarrelled with foreigners, and insulted
European women. In Al-Hijaz their recklessness awes even the Badawin.
The townspeople say of them that, "tripe-sellers, and bath-servants, at
Stambul, they become Pharaohs (tyrants, ruffians,) in Arabia." At
Jeddah the Arnauts have amused themselves with firing at the English
Consul, Mr. Ogilvie, when he walked upon his terrace. And this
man-shooting appears a favourite sport with them: at Cairo numerous
stories illustrate the sang froid with which they used to knock over
the camel-drivers, if any one dared to ride past their barracks. The
Albanians vaunt their skill in using weapons, and their pretensions
impose upon Arabs as well as Egyptians; yet I have never found them
wonderful with any arm
[p.134](the pistol alone excepted); and our officers, who have visited
their native hills, speak of them as tolerable but by no means
first-rate rifle shots.
The captain of Irregulars being unhappily debarred the pleasure of
shooting me, after looking fierce for a time, rose, and walked
majestically out of the room. A day or two afterwards, he called upon
me civilly enough, sat down, drank a cup of coffee, smoked a pipe, and
began to converse. But as he knew about a hundred Arabic words, and I
as many Turkish, our conversation was carried on under difficulties.
Presently he asked me in a whisper for "'Araki."[FN#25] I replied that
there was none in the house, which induced a sneer and an ejaculation
sounding like "Himar," (ass,) the slang synonym amongst fast Moslems
for water-drinker. After rising to depart, he seized me waggishly, with
an eye to a trial of strength. Thinking that an Indian doctor and a
temperance man would not be very dangerous, he exposed himself to what
is professionally termed a "cross-buttock," and had his "nut" come in
contact with the stone floor instead of my bed, he might not have drunk
for many a day. The fall had a good effect upon his temper. He jumped
up,
[p.135]patted my head, called for another pipe, and sat down to show me
his wounds, and to boast of his exploits. I could not help remarking a
ring of English gold, with a bezel of bloodstone, sitting strangely
upon his coarse, sun-stained hand. He declared that it had been
snatched by him from a Konsul (Consul) at Jeddah, and he volubly
related, in a mixture of Albanian, Turkish, and Arabic, the history of
his acquisition. He begged me to supply him with a little poison that
"would not lie," for the purpose of quieting a troublesome enemy, and
he carefully stowed away in his pouch five grains of calomel, which I
gave him for that laudable purpose. Before taking leave he pressed me
strongly to go and drink with him; I refused to do so during the day,
but, wishing to see how these men sacrifice to Bacchus, promised
compliance that night. About nine o'clock, when the Caravanserai was
quiet, I took a pipe, and a tobacco-pouch,[FN#26] stuck my dagger in my
belt, and slipped into Ali Agha's room. He was sitting on a bed spread
upon the ground: in front of him stood four wax candles (all Orientals
hate drinking in any but a bright light), and a tray containing a basin
of stuff like soup maigre, a dish of cold stewed meat, and two bowls of
Salatah,[FN#27] sliced cucumber, and curds. The "materials" peeped out
of an iron pot filled with water; one was a long, thin, white-glass
flask of 'Araki, the other a bottle of some strong
[p.136]perfume. Both were wrapped up in wet rags, the usual
refrigerator.
Ali Agha welcomed me politely, and seeing me admire the preparations,
bade me beware how I suspected an Albanian of not knowing how to drink;
he made me sit by him on the bed, threw his dagger to a handy distance,
signalled me to do the same, and prepared to begin the bout. Taking up
a little tumbler, in shape like those from which French postilions used
to drink la goutte, he inspected it narrowly, wiped out the interior
with his forefinger, filled it to the brim, and offered it to his
guest[FN#28] with a bow. I received it with a low salam, swallowed its
contents at once, turned it upside down in proof of fair play, replaced
it upon the floor, with a jaunty movement of the arm, somewhat like a
pugilist delivering a "rounder," bowed again, and requested him to help
himself. The same ceremony followed on his part. Immediately after each
glass,-and rapidly the cup went about,-we swallowed a draught of water,
and ate a spoonful of the meat or the Salatah in order to cool our
palates. Then we re-applied ourselves to our pipes, emitting huge
puffs, a sign of being "fast" men, and looked facetiously at each
other,-drinking being considered by Moslems a funny and pleasant sort
of sin.
The Albanian captain was at least half seas over when we began the
bout, yet he continued to fill and to drain without showing the least
progress towards ebriety. I in vain for a time expected the bad-masti
(as the Persians call it,) the horse play, and the gross facetiae,
which generally
[p.137]accompany southern and eastern tipsiness. Ali Agha, indeed,
occasionally took up the bottle of perfume, filled the palm of his
right hand, and dashed it in my face: I followed his example, but our
pleasantries went no further.
Presently my companion started a grand project, namely, that I should
entice the respectable Haji Wali into the room, where we might force
him to drink. The idea was facetious; it was making a Bow-street
magistrate polk at a casino. I started up to fetch the Haji; and when I
returned with him Ali Agha was found in a new stage of "freshness." He
had stuck a green-leaved twig upright in the floor, and had so turned
over a gugglet of water, that its contents trickled slowly, in a tiny
stream under the verdure; whilst he was sitting before it mentally
gazing, with an outward show of grim Quixotic tenderness, upon the
shady trees and the cool rills of his fatherland. Possibly he had
peopled the place with "young barbarians at play;" for verily I thought
that a tear "which had no business there" was glistening in his stony
eye.
The appearance of Haji Wali suddenly changed the scene. Ali Agha jumped
up, seized the visitor by the shoulder, compelled him to sit down, and,
ecstasied by the old man's horror at the scene, filled a tumbler, and
with the usual grotesque grimaces insisted upon its being drunk off.
Haji Wali stoutly refused; then Ali Agha put it to his own lips, and
drained it, with a hurt feeling and reproachful aspect. We made our
unconvivial friend smoke a few puffs, and then we returned to the
charge. In vain the Haji protested that throughout life he had avoided
the deadly sin; in vain he promised to drink with us to-morrow,-in vain
he quoted the Koran, and alternately coaxed, and threatened us with the
police. We were inexorable. At last the Haji started upon his feet, and
rushed away, regardless of any thing but escape,
[p.138]leaving his Tarbush, his slippers, and his pipe, in the hands of
the enemy. The host did not dare to pursue his recreant guest beyond
the door, but returning he carefully sprinkled the polluting liquid on
the cap, pipe, and shoes, and called the Haji an ass in every tongue he
knew.
Then we applied ourselves to supper, and dispatched the soup, the stew,
and the Salatah. A few tumblers and pipes were exhausted to obviate
indigestion, when Ali Agha arose majestically, and said that he
required a troop of dancing girls to gladden his eyes with a ballet.
I represented that such persons are no longer admitted into
Caravanserais.[FN#29] He inquired, with calm ferocity, "who hath
forbidden it?" I replied "the Pasha;" upon which Ali Agha quietly
removed his cap, brushed it with his dexter fore-arm, fitted it on his
forehead, raking forwards, twisted his mustachios to the sharp point of
a single hair, shouldered his pipe, and moved towards the door, vowing
that he would make the Pasha himself come, and dance before us.
I foresaw a brawl, and felt thankful that my boon companion had
forgotten his dagger. Prudence whispered me to return to my room, to
bolt the door, and to go to bed, but conscience suggested that it would
be unfair to abandon the Albanian in his present helpless state. I
followed him into the outer gallery, pulling him, and begging him, as a
despairing wife might urge a drunken husband, to return home. And he,
like the British husband, being greatly irritated by the unjovial
advice, instantly belaboured with his pipe-stick[FN#30] the first person
[p.139]he met in the gallery, and sent him flying down the stairs with
fearful shouts of "O Egyptians! O ye accursed! O genus of Pharaoh! O
race of dogs! O Egyptians!"
He then burst open a door with his shoulder, and reeled into a room
where two aged dames were placidly reposing by the side of their
spouses, who were basket-makers. They immediately awoke, seeing a
stranger, and, hearing his foul words, they retorted with a hot volley
of vituperation.
Put to flight by the old women's tongues, Ali Agha, in spite of all my
endeavours, reeled down the stairs, and fell upon the sleeping form of
the night porter, whose blood he vowed to drink-the Oriental form of
threatening "spiflication." Happily for the assaulted, the Agha's
servant, a sturdy Albanian lad, was lying on a mat in the doorway close
by. Roused by the tumult, he jumped up, and found the captain in a
state of fury. Apparently the man was used to the master's mood.
Without delay he told us all to assist, and we lending a helping hand,
half dragged and half carried the Albanian to his room. Yet even in
this ignoble plight, he shouted with all the force of his lungs the old
war-cry, "O Egyptians! O race of dogs! I have dishonoured all
Sikandariyah-all Kahirah-all Suways.[FN#31]" And in this vaunting frame
of mind he was put to bed. No Welsh undergraduate at Oxford, under
similar circumstances, ever gave more trouble.
"You had better start on your pilgrimage at once,"
[p.140]said Haji Wali, meeting me the next morning with a "goguenard"
smile.
He was right. Throughout the Caravanserai nothing was talked of for
nearly a week but the wickedness of the captain of Albanian Irregulars,
and the hypocrisy of the staid Indian doctor. Thus it was, gentle
reader, that I lost my reputation of being a "serious person" at Cairo.
And all I have to show for it is the personal experience of an Albanian
drinking-bout.
I wasted but little time in taking leave of my friends, telling them,
by way of precaution, that my destination was Meccah via Jeddah, and
firmly determining, if possible, to make Al-Madinah via Yambu'.
"Conceal," says the Arab's proverb, "Thy Tenets, thy Treasure, and thy
Travelling."
[FN#1] Festival. It lasts the three first days of Shawwal, the month
immediately following Ramazan, and therefore, among Moslems,
corresponds with our Paschal holidays, which succeed Lent. It is called
the "Lesser Festival," the "Greater" being in Zu'l Hijjah, the
pilgrimage-month.
[FN#2] In Chap. V. of this Volume, I have mentioned this cemetery as
Burckhardt's last resting-place.
[FN#3] You are bound also to meet even your enemies in the most
friendly way-for which mortification you afterwards hate them more
cordially than before.
[FN#4] Persian.
[FN#5] With due deference to the many of a different opinion, I believe
"Kahirah" (corrupted through the Italian into Cairo) to mean, not the
"victorious," but the "City of Kahir," or Mars the Planet. It was so
called because, as Richardson has informed the world, it was founded in
A.D. 968 by one Jauhar, a Dalmatian renegade before mentioned, when the
warlike planet was in the ascendant.
[FN#6] "There were no weeping women; no neighhours came in to sit down
in the ashes, as they might have done had the soldier died at home;
there was no Nubian dance for the dead, no Egyptian song of the women
lauding the memory of the deceased, and beseeching him to tell why he
had left them alone in the world to weep."-(Letter from Widdin, March
25, 1854, describing a Turkish soldier's funeral.)
[FN#7] Captain Haines wisely introduced the custom into Aden. I wonder
that it is not made universal in the cities of India, where so much
iniquity is perpetrated under the shadow of night.
[FN#8] The reason being that respectable Europeans, and the passengers
by the Overland Mail, live and lodge in this quarter.
[FN#9] "Our lord," i.e. H.H. the Pasha. "Kikh" is an interjection
noting disapproval, or disgust.-"Fie!" or "Ugh!"
[FN#10] Shortly after the Ramazan of 1853, the Consul, I am told,
obtained an order that British subjects should be sent directly from
the police office, at all hours of the night, to the Consulate. This
was a most sensible measure.
[FN#11] Most Eastern nations, owing to their fine ear for sounds, are
quick at picking up languages; but the Armenian is here, what the
Russian is in the West, the facile princeps of conversational
linguists. I have frequently heard them speak with the purest accent,
and admirable phraseology, besides their mother tongue, Turkish,
Arabic, Persian, and Hindustani, nor do they evince less aptitude for
acquiring the Occidental languages.
[FN#12] It has been too frequently treated of, to leave room for a
fresh description. Though pretty and picturesque, it is open to the
reproach of Moslem dressing, namely, that the in-door toilette admits
of a display of bust, and is generally so scanty and flimsy that it is
unfit to meet the eye of a stranger. This, probably the effect of
secluding women, has now become a cause for concealing them.
[FN#13] He was from the banks of the Nile, as his cognomen, al-Basyuni
proves, but his family, I was told, had been settled for three or four
generations at Meccah.
[FN#14] Almost all the articles of food were so far useful, that they
served every one of the party at least as much as they did their owner.
My friends drank my coffee, smoked my tobacco, and ate my rice. I
bought better tea at Meccah than at Cairo, and found as good sugar
there. It would have been wiser to lay in a small stock merely for the
voyage to Yambu', in which case there might have been more economy. But
I followed the advice of those interested in setting me wrong. Turks
and Egyptians always go pilgrimaging with a large outfit, as notably as
the East-Indian cadet of the present day, and your outfitter at Cairo,
as well as Cornhill, is sure to supply you with a variety of
superfluities. The tent was useful to me; so were the water-skins,
which I preferred to barrels, as being more portable, and less liable
to leak. Good skins cost about a dollar each; they should be bought new
and always kept half full of water.
[FN#15] This shape secures the lid, which otherwise, on account of the
weight of the box, would infallibly be torn off, or burst open. Like
the Kafas, the Sahharah should be well padlocked, and if the owner be a
saving man, he does not entrust his keys to a servant. I gave away my
Kafas at Yambu', because it had been crushed during the sea-voyage, and
I was obliged to leave the Sahharah at Al-Madinah, as my Badawi
camel-shaykh positively refused to carry it to Meccah, so that both
these articles were well nigh useless to me. The Kafas cost four
shillings, and the Sahharah about twelve. When these large boxes are
really strong and good, they are worth about a pound sterling each.
[FN#16] At my final interview with the committee of the Royal
Geographical Society, one member, Sir Woodbine Parish, advised an order
to be made out on the Society's bankers; another, Sir Roderick
Murchison, kindly offered to give me one on his own, Coutts & Co.; but
I, having more experience in Oriental travelling, begged only to be
furnished with a diminutive piece of paper, permitting me to draw upon
the Society. It was at once given by Dr. Shaw, the Secretary, and it
proved of much use eventually. It was purposely made as small as
possible, in order to fit into a talisman case. But the traveller must
bear in mind, that if his letters of credit be addressed to Orientals,
the sheet of paper should always be large, and grand-looking. These
people have no faith in notes,-commercial, epistolary, or diplomatic.
[FN#17] Before leaving Cairo, I bought English sovereigns for 112, and
sold them in Arabia for 122 piastres. "Abu Takahs," (pataks, or Spanish
pillar-dollars), as they are called in Al-Hijaz, cost me 24 piastres,
and in the Holy City were worth 28. The "Sinku" (French five franc
piece) is bought for 22 piastres in Egypt, and sells at 24 in Arabia.
The silver Majidi costs 20 at Cairo, and is worth 22 in the Red Sea,
and finally I gained 3 piastres upon the gold "Ghazi" of 19. Such was
the rate of exchange in 1853. It varies, however, perpetually, and in
1863 may be totally different.
[FN#18] The reason of this will be explained in a future chapter.
[FN#19] The Consular dragoman is one of the greatest abuses I know. The
tribe is, for the most part, Levantine and Christian, and its
connections are extensive. The father will perhaps be interpreter to
the English, the son to the French Consulate. By this means the most
privy affairs will become known to every member of the department,
except the head, and eventually to that best of spy-trainers, the
Turkish government. This explains how a subordinate, whose pay is L200
per annum, and who spends double that sum, can afford, after twelve or
thirteen years' service, to purchase a house for L2,000 and to furnish
it for as much more. Besides which, the condition, the ideas, and the
very nature of these dragomans are completely Oriental. The most timid
and cringing of men, they dare not take the proper tone with a
government to which, in case of the expulsion of a Consul, they and
their families would become subject. And their prepossessions are
utterly Oriental. Hanna Massara, dragoman to the Consul-General at
Cairo, in my presence and before others, advocated the secret murder of
a Moslem girl who had fled with a Greek, on the grounds that an
adulteress must always be put to death, either publicly or under the
rose. Yet this man is an "old and tried servant" of the State. Such
evils might be in part mitigated by employing English youths, of whom
an ample supply, if there were any demand, would soon be forthcoming.
This measure has been advocated by the best authorities, but without
success. Most probably, the reason of the neglect is the difficulty how
to begin, or where to end, the Augean labour of Consular reform.
[FN#20] In a previous chapter I have alluded to the species of
protection formerly common in the East. Europe, it is to be feared, is
not yet immaculate in this respect, and men say that were a list of
"protected" furnished by the different Consulates at Cairo, it would be
a curious document. As no one, Egyptian or foreigner, would, if he
could possibly help it, be subject to the Egyptian government, large
sums might be raised by the simple process of naturalising strangers.
At the Persian Consulate 110 dollars-the century for the Consul, and
the decade for his dragoman-have been paid for protection. A stern fact
this for those who advocate the self-government of the childish East.
[FN#21] Khan is a title assumed in India and other countries by all
Afghans, and Pathans, their descendants, simple as well as gentle.
[FN#22] A theologian, a learned man.
[FN#23] The stiff, white, plaited kilt worn by Albanians.
[FN#24] Those curious about the manners of these desperadoes may
consult the pages of Giovanni Finati (Murray, London, 1830), and I will
be answerable that he exaggerates nothing.
[FN#25] Vulgarly Raki, the cognac of Egypt and Turkey. Generically the
word means any spirit; specifically, it is applied to that extracted
from dates, or dried grapes. The latter is more expensive than the
former, and costs from 5 to 7 piastres the bottle. It whitens the water
like Eau de Cologne, and being considered a stomachic, is patronised by
Europeans as much as by Asiatics. In the Azbakiyah gardens at Cairo,
the traveller is astonished by perpetual "shouts" for "Sciroppo di
gomma," as if all the Western population was afflicted with sore
throat. The reason is that spirituous liquors in a Moslem land must not
be sold in places of public resort; so the infidel asks for a "syrup of
gum," and obtains a "dram" of 'Araki. The favourite way of drinking it,
is to swallow it neat, and to wash it down with a mouthful of cold
water. Taken in this way it acts like the "petit verre d'absinthe."
Egyptian women delight in it, and Eastern topers of all classes and
sexes prefer it to brandy and cognac, the smell of which, being
strange, is offensive to them.
[FN#26] When Egyptians of the middle classes call upon one another, the
visitor always carries with him his tobacco-pouch, which he hands to
the servant, who fills his pipe.
[FN#27] The "Salatah" is made as follows. Take a cucumber, pare, slice
and place it in a plate, sprinkling it over with salt. After a few
minutes, season it abundantly with pepper, and put it in a bowl
containing some peppercorns, and about a pint of curds. When the dish
is properly mixed, a live coal is placed upon the top of the compound
to make it bind, as the Arabs say. It is considered a cooling dish, and
is esteemed by the abstemious, as well as by the toper.
[FN#28] These Albanians are at most half Asiatic as regards manner. In
the East generally, the host drinks of the cup, and dips his hand into
the dish before his guest, for the same reason that the master of the
house precedes his visitor over the threshold. Both actions denote that
no treachery is intended, and to reverse them, as amongst us, would be
a gross breach of custom, likely to excite the liveliest suspicions.
[FN#29] Formerly these places, like the coffee-houses, were crowded
with bad characters. Of late years the latter have been refused
admittance, but it would be as easy to bar the door to gnats and flies.
They appear as "foot-pages," as washerwomen, as beggars; in fact, they
evade the law with ingenuity and impunity.
[FN#30] Isma'il Pasha was murdered by Malik Nimr, chief of Shendy, for
striking him with a chibuk across the face. Travellers would do well to
remember, that in these lands the pipe-stick and the slipper disgrace a
man, whereas a whip or a rod would not do so. The probable reason of
this is, that the two articles of domestic use are applied slightingly,
not seriously, to the purposes of punishment.
[FN#31] Anglice, Alexandria, Cairo, and Suez,-an extensive field of
operations.
[p.141]CHAPTER VIII.