Interview with Mohammed Ali Pasha--Mode of lighting a Room in
Egypt--Personal Appearance of the Pasha--His Diamond-mounted
Pipe--The lost Handkerchief--An unceremonious Attendant--View of
Cairo from the Citadel--Site of Memphis; its immense extent--The
Tombs of the Caliphs--The Pasha's Mausoleum--Costume of Egyptian
Ladies--The Coboob, or Wooden Clog--Mode of dressing the Hair--The
Veil--Mistaken Idea that the Egyptian Ladies are Prisoners in the
Harem; their power of doing as they like--The Veil a complete
Disguise--Laws of the Harem--A Levantine Beauty--Eastern
Manners--The Abyssinian Slaves--Arab Girls--Ugliness of the Arab
Women when old--Venerable Appearance of the old Men--An Arab
Sheick.
It was in the month of February, 1834, that I first had the honour of an
audience with Mohammed Ali Pasha. It was during the Mahomedan month of
Ramadan, when the day is kept a strict fast, and nothing passes the lips
of the faithful till after sunset. It was at night, therefore, that we
were received. My companion and myself were residing at that time under
the hospitable roof of the Consul-General, and we accompanied him to the
citadel. The effect of the crowds of people in the streets, all carrying
lanterns, or preceded by men bearing the mashlak, blazing like a beacon
on the top of its high pole, was very picturesque. The great hall of the
citadel was full of men, arranged in rows with their faces towards the
south, going through the forms and attitudes of evening prayer under
the guidance of a leader, and with the precision of a regiment on drill.
Passing these, a curtain was drawn aside, and we were ushered at once
into the presence of the Viceroy, whom we found walking up and down in
the middle of a large room, between two rows of gigantic silver
candlesticks, which stood upon the carpet. This is the usual way of
lighting a room in Egypt:--Six large silver dishes, about two feet in
diameter and turned upside down, are first placed upon the floor, three
on each side, near the centre of the room. On each of these stands a
silver candlestick, between four and five feet high, containing a wax
candle three feet long, and very thick. A seventh candlestick, of
smaller dimensions, stands on the floor, separate from these, for the
purpose of being moved about; it is carried to any one who wants to read
a letter, or to examine an object more closely while he is seated on the
divan. Almost every room in the palace has an European chandelier
hanging from the ceiling, but I do not remember having ever seen one
lit. These large candlesticks, standing in two rows, with the little one
before them, always put me in mind of a line of life guards of gigantic
stature, commanded by a little officer whom they could almost put in
their pockets.
[Illustration: EGYPTIAN, IN THE NIZAM DRESS.]
Mohammed Ali desired us to be seated. He was attended by Boghos Bey, who
remained standing and interpreted for us. The Pasha at that time
was a hale, broad-shouldered, broad-faced man: his short grey beard
stuck out on each side of his face; his nostrils were very much opened;
and, with his quick sharp eye, he looked like an old grey lion. The
expression of his countenance was remarkably intelligent, but excepting
this there was nothing particular in his appearance. He was attired in
the Nizam dress of blue cloth. This costume consists of a red cap, a
jacket with flying sleeves, a waistcoat with tight sleeves under it, a
red shawl round the waist, a pair of trousers very full, like trunk
hose, down to the knee, from whence to the ankle they were tight. The
whole costume is always made of the same coloured cloth, usually black
or blue. He had white stockings and yellow morocco shoes.
When we were seated on the divan we commenced the usual routine of
Oriental compliments; and coffee was handed to us in cups entirely
covered with large diamonds. A pipe was then brought to the Pasha, but
not to us. This pipe was about seven feet long: the mouthpiece, of light
green amber, was a foot long, and a foot more below the mouthpiece, as
well as another part of the pipe lower down, was richly set with
diamonds of great value, with a diamond tassel hanging to it.
We discoursed for three quarters of an hour about the possibility of
laying a railway across the Isthmus of Suez, which was the project then
uppermost in the Pasha's mind; but the circumstance which most strongly
recalls this audience to my memory, and which struck me as an instance
of manners differing entirely from our own, was, in itself, a very
trivial one. The Pasha wanted his pocket handkerchief, and looked about
and felt in his pocket for it, but could not find it, making various
exclamations during his search, which at last were answered by an
attendant from the lower end of the room--"Feel in the other pocket,"
said the servant. "Well, it is not there," said the Pasha. "Look in the
other, then." "I have not got a handkerchief," or words to that effect,
were replied to immediately,--"Yes, you have;"--"No, I have not;"--"Yes,
you have." Eventually this attendant, advancing up to the Pasha, felt in
the pocket of his jacket, but the handkerchief was not to be found; then
he poked all round the Pasha's waist, to see whether it was not tucked
into his shawl: that would not do. So he took hold of his Sovereign and
pushed him half over on the divan, and looked under him to see whether
he was sitting on the handkerchief; then he pushed him over on the other
side. During all which manœuvres the Pasha sat as quietly and passively
as possible. The servant then, thrusting his arm up to the elbow in one
of the pockets of his Highness's voluminous trousers, pulled out a
snuff-box, a rosary, and several other things, which he laid upon the
divan. That would not do, either; so he came over to the other pocket,
and diving to a prodigious depth he produced the missing handkerchief
from the recesses thereof; and with great respect and gravity, thrusting
it into the Pasha's hand, he retired again to his place at the lower end
of the hall.
After being presented with sherbet, in glass bowls with covers, we took
our leave, and rode home through the crowds of persons with paper
lanterns, who turn night into day during the month of Ramadan.
The view from that part of the bastions of the citadel which looks over
the place of the Roumayli and the great mosque of Sultan Hassan is one
of the most extraordinary that can be seen any where. The whole city is
displayed at your feet; the numerous domes and minarets, the towers of
the Saracenic walls, the flat roofs of the houses, and the narrowness of
the streets giving it an aspect very different from that of an European
town. You see the Nile and the gardens of Ibrahim Pasha in the island of
Rhoda to the left; and the avenue of Egyptian sycamores to the right,
leading to the Pasha's country palace of Shoubra. Beyond the Nile, the
bare mysterious-looking desert, and the Pyramids standing on their rocky
base, lead the mind to dwell upon the mighty deeds of ancient days. The
forest of waving palm-trees, around Saccara, stretches away to the
south-west, shading the mounds of earth which cover the remains of the
vast city of Memphis, in comparison to which London would appear but a
secondary town: for if we may judge from the line of pyramids from Giseh
to Dashour, which formed the necropolis of Memphis, and the various
mounds and dykes and ancient remains which extend along the margin of
the Nile for nearly six-and-thirty miles, the extreme length of London
being barely eight, and of Paris not much more than four, Memphis must
have been larger than London, Paris, and ancient Rome, all united; and
judging from the description which Herodotus has given us of the
enormous size of the temples and buildings, which are now entirely
washed away, in consequence of their having been built on the alluvial
plain, which is every year inundated by the waters of the Nile, Memphis
in its glory must have exceeded any modern city, as much as the Pyramids
exceed any mausoleum which has been erected since those days.
The tombs of the Caliphs, as they are called, although most of them are
the burial-place of the Mameluke Sultans of Egypt, are magnificent and
imposing buildings. Many of them consist of a mosque built round a
court, to which is attached a great hall with a dome, under which is
placed the Sultan's tomb. These beautiful specimens of Arabian
architecture form a considerable town or city of the dead, on the east
and south sides of Cairo, about a mile beyond the walls. I was
astonished at their exceeding beauty and magnificence. Most of them
were built during the two centuries preceding the conquest of Egypt, by
Sultan Selim, in 1517, who tortured the last of the Mameluke Sultans,
Toman Bey, and hung him with a rope, which is yet to be seen dangling
over the gate called Bab Zuweyleh, in front of which criminals are still
executed.
The mausoleum of Sultan Bergook is a triumph of Saracenic architecture.
The minarets of these tombs are most richly ornamented with tracery,
sculpture, and variegated marbles. The walls of many of them are built
in alternate layers of red and white or black and white marble. The dome
of the tomb of Kaitbay is of stone, sculptured all over with an
arabesque pattern; and there are several other domes in different
mosques at Cairo equally richly ornamented. I have met with none
comparable to them either in Europe or in the Levant. It is strange that
none of the Italian architects ever thought of domes covered with rich
ornamental work in stone or marble; the effect of those at Cairo is
indescribably fine. Unfortunately they are now much neglected; but in
the clear dry air of Egypt, time falls more lightly on the works of man
than in the damp and chilly climates of the north, and the tombs of the
Mameluke sovereigns will probably last for centuries to come if they are
not pulled down for the materials, or removed to make way for some
paltry lath and plaster edifice which will fall in the lifetime of its
builder.
Besides these larger structures, many of the smaller tombs, which are
scattered over the desert for miles under the hills of Mokattam, are
studies for the architect. There are numerous little domes of beautiful
design, richly ornamented doors and gateways, tombs and tomb-stones of
all sorts and sizes in infinite variety, most of them so well preserved
in this glorious climate that the inscriptions on them are as legible as
when they were first put up.
The Pasha has built himself a house in this city of the dead, to which
many members of his family have gone before him. This mausoleum consists
of several buildings covered with low heavy domes, whitewashed or
plastered on the outside. Within, if I remember right, are the tombs of
Toussoun and Ismael Pashas, and those of several of his wives,
grand-children, and relatives; they repose under marble monuments,
somewhat resembling altars in shape, with a tall post or column at the
head and feet, as is usual in Turkish graves; the column at the head
being carved into the form of the head-dress distinctive of the rank or
sex of the deceased. These sepulchral chambers are all carpeted, and
Cashmere shawls are thrown over many of the tombs, while in arched
recesses there are divans with cushions for the use of those who come to
mourn over their departed relatives.
We will now return to the living; but so perfect an account of the
Arabian population of Cairo is to be found in Mr. Lane's 'Modern
Egypt,' that there is little left to say upon that subject, except that
since that work was published the presence of numerous Europeans has
diminished the originality of the Oriental manners of this city, and
numerous vices and modes of cheating, besides a larger variety of
drunken scenes, are offered for the observation of the curious, than
existed in the more unsophisticated times, before steamers came to
Alexandria, and what is called the overland journey to India was
established. The population of Cairo consists of the ruling class, who
are all Turks, who speak Turkish, and affect to despise all who have
never been rowed in a caïque upon the Bosphorus. Then come the Arabs,
the former conquerors of the land; they form the bulk of the
population--all the petty tradesmen and cultivators of the soil are of
Arab origin. Besides these are the Copts, who are descended from the
original lords of the country, the ancient Egyptians, who have left such
wonderful monuments of their power. After these may be reckoned the
motley crew of Jews, Franks, Armenians, Arabs of Barbary and the Hejaz,
Syrians, negroes, and Barabra; but these are but sojourners in the land,
and, except the Jews, can hardly be counted among the regular subjects
of the Pasha. There are besides, the Levantine Christians, who are under
the protection of one or other of the European powers. Many of this
class are rich and influential merchants; some of them live in the
Oriental style, and others are ambitious to assume the tight clothing
and manner of life of the Franks. The older merchants among the
Levantines keep more to the Oriental ways of life, while the younger
gentlemen and ladies follow the ugly fashion of Europe, particularly the
men, who leave off the cool and convenient Eastern dress to swelter in
the tight bandages of the Franks; the ladies, on the contrary, are apt
to retain the Oriental costume, which in its turn is neither so becoming
nor so easy as the Paris fashions. It must be the spirit of
contradiction, so natural to the human race, which causes this
arrangement; for if the men kept to their old costume they would be more
comfortable than they can be with tight clothes, coat-collars, and
neckcloths, when the thermometer stands at 112° of Fahrenheit in the
coolest shade, besides the dignity of their appearance, which is cast
away with the folds of the Turkish or Arabian dress. The ladies would be
much improved by the artful devices of the Parisian modistes; for
although, when young and pretty, all women look well in almost any
dress, the elder ladies are sometimes but little to be admired in the
shapeless costumes of the Levant, where the richness of the material
does not make up for the want of fit and gracefulness which is the
character of their dress. This may easily be imagined when it is
understood that both men's and women's dresses may be bought ready made
in the bazaar, and that any dress will fit anybody unless they are
supernaturally fat or of dwarfish stature.
An Egyptian lady's dress consists of a pair of immensely full trousers
of satin or brocade, or often of a brilliant cherry-coloured silk: these
are tied under the knees, and descending to the ground, have the
appearance of a very full petticoat. The Arabic name of this garment is
Shintian. Over this is worn a shirt of transparent silk gauze (Kamis).
It has long full sleeves, which, as well as the border round the neck,
are richly embroidered with gold and bright-coloured silks. The edge of
the shirt is often seen like a tunic over the trousers, and has a pretty
effect. Over this again is worn a long silk gown, open in front and on
each side, called a yelek. The fashion is to have the yelek about a foot
longer than the lady who wears it; so that its three tails shall just
touch the ground when she is mounted on a pair of high wooden clogs,
called cobcobs, which are intended for use in the bath, but in which
they often clatter about in the house: the straps over the instep, by
which these cobcobs are attached to the feet, are always finely worked,
and are sometimes of diamonds. The husband gives his bride on their
marriage a pair of these odd-looking things, which are about six or
eight inches high, and are always carried on a tray on a man's head in
marriage processions. The yelek fits the shape in some degree down to
the waist; it comes up high upon the neck, and has tightish sleeves,
which are long enough to trail upon the ground. "Oh! thou with the
long-sleeved yelek" is a common chorus or ending to a stanza in an Arab
song. Not round the waist but round the hips a large and heavy Cashmere
shawl is worn over the yelek, and the whole gracefulness of an Egyptian
dress consists in the way in which this is put on. In the winter a long
gown, called Jubeh, is superadded to all this: it is of cloth or velvet,
or a sort of stuff made of the Angora goat's hair, and is sometimes
lined with fur.
Young girls do not often wear this nor the yelek, but have instead a
waistcoat of silk with long sleeves like those of the yelek. This is
called an anteri, and over it they wear a velvet jacket with short
sleeves, which is so much embroidered with gold and pearls that the
velvet is almost hid. Their hair hangs down in numerous long tails,
plaited with silk, to which sequins, or little gold coins, are attached.
The plaits must be of an uneven number: it would be unlucky if they were
even. Sometimes at the end of one of the plaits hangs the little golden
bottle of surmeh with which they black the edges of their eyelids; a
most becoming custom when it is well done, and not smeared, as it often
is, for then the effect is rather like that of a black eye, in the
pugilistic sense of the term. On the head is worn a very beautiful
ornament called a koors. It is in the shape of a saucer or shallow
basin, and is frequently covered with rose diamonds. I am surprised
that it has never been introduced into Europe, as it is a remarkably
pretty head-dress, with the long tresses of jet black hair hanging from
under it, plaited with the shining coins. Round the head a handkerchief
is wound, which spoils the effect of all the rest: but a woman in the
East is never seen with the head uncovered, even in the house; and when
she goes out, the veil, as we call it, though it has no resemblance to a
veil, is used to conceal the whole person. A lady enclosed in this
singular covering looks like a large bundle of black silk, diversified
only by a stripe of white linen extending down the front of her person,
from the middle of her nose to her ungainly yellow boots, into which her
stockingless feet are thrust for the occasion. The veils of Egypt, of
which the outer black silk covering is called a khabara, and the part
over the face a boorkoo, are entirely different from those worn in
Constantinople, Persia, or Armenia; these are all various in form and
colour, complicated and wonderful garments, which it would take too long
to describe, but they, as well as the Egyptian one, answer their
intended purpose excellently, for they effectually prevent the display
of any grace or peculiarity of form or feature.
There is no greater mistake than to suppose that Eastern ladies are
prisoners in the harem, and that they are to be pitied for the want of
liberty which the jealousy of their husbands condemns them to. The
Christian ladies live from choice and habit in the same way as the
Mahomedan women: and, indeed, the Egyptian fair ones have more
facilities to do as they choose, to go where they like, and to carry on
any intrigue than the Europeans; for their complete disguise carries
them safely everywhere. No one knows whether any lady he may meet in the
bazaar is his wife, his daughter, or his grandmother: and I have several
times been addressed by Turkish and Egyptian ladies in the open street,
and asked all sorts of questions in a way that could not be done in any
European country. The harem, it is true, is by law inviolable: no one
but the Sultan can enter it unannounced, and if a pair of strange
slippers are seen left at the outer door, the master of the house cannot
enter his own harem so long as this proof of the presence of a visitor
remains. If the husband is a bore, an extra pair of slippers will at all
times keep him out; and the ladies inside may enjoy themselves without
the slightest fear of interruption. It is asserted also that gentlemen,
who are not too tall, have gone into all sorts of places under the
protection of a lady's veil, so completely does it conceal the person.
But this is not the case with the Levantine or Christian ladies:
although they live in a harem, like the Mahomedans, it is not protected
in the same way: the slippers have not the same effect; for the men of
the family go in and out whenever they please; and relations and
visitors of the male sex are received in the apartments of the ladies.
On one occasion I accompanied an English traveller, who had many
acquaintances at Cairo, to the house of a Levantine in the vicinity of
the Coptic quarter. Whilst we were engaged in conversation with an old
lady the curtain over the doorway was drawn aside, and there entered the
most lovely apparition that can be conceived, in the person of a young
lady about sixteen years old, the daughter of the lady of the house. She
had a beautifully fair complexion, very uncommon in this country,
remarkably long hair, which hung down her back, and her dress, which was
all of the same rich material, rose-coloured silk, shot with gold,
became her so well, that I have rarely seen so graceful and striking a
figure. She was closely followed by two black girls, both dressed in
light-blue satin, embroidered with silver; they formed an excellent
contrast to their charming mistress, and were very good-looking in their
way, with their slight and graceful figures. The young Levantine came
and sat by me on the divan, and was much amused at my blundering
attempts at conversation in Arabic, of which I then knew scarcely a
dozen words. I must confess that I was rather vexed with her for smoking
a long jessamine pipe, which, however, most Eastern ladies do. She got
up to wait upon us, and handed us the coffee, pipes, and sherbet, which
are always presented to visitors in every house. This custom of being
waited upon by the ladies is rather distressing to our European notions
of devotion to the fair sex: and I remember being horrified shortly
after my arrival in Egypt at the manners of a rich old jeweller to whom
I was introduced. His wife, a beautiful woman, superbly dressed in
brocade, with gold and diamond ornaments, waited upon us during the
whole time that I remained in the house. She was the first Eastern lady
I had seen, and I remember being much edified at the way she pattered
about on a pair of lofty cobcobs, and the artful way in which she got
her feet out of them whenever she came up towards where we sat on the
divan, at the upper end of the apartment. She stood at the lower end of
the room; and whenever the old brute of a jeweller wanted to return
anything, some coins which he was showing me, or anything else, he threw
them on the floor; and his beautiful wife jumping out of her cobcobs
picked them up; and when she had handed them to some of the maids who
stood at the door, resumed her station below the step at the further end
of the room. She had magnificent eyes and luxuriant black hair, as they
all have, and would have been considered a beauty in any country; but
she was not to be compared to the bright little damsel in pink, who,
besides her beauty, was as cheerful and merry as a bird, and whose
lovely features were radiant with archness and intelligence. Many of the
Abyssinian slaves are exceedingly handsome: they have very expressive
countenances, and the finest eyes in the world, and, withal, so soft and
humble a look, that I do not wonder at their being great favourites in
Egyptian harems. Many of them, however, have a temper of their own,
which comes out occasionally, and in this respect the Arab women are not
much behind them. But the fiery passions of this burning climate pass
away like a thunderstorm, and leave the sky as clear and serene as it
was before.
The Arab girls of the lower orders are often very pretty from the age of
about twelve to twenty, but they soon go off; and the astounding
ugliness of some of the old women is too terrible to describe. In Europe
we have nothing half so hideous as these brown old women, and this is
the more remarkable, because the old men are peculiarly handsome and
venerable in their appearance, and often display a dignity of bearing
which is seldom to be met with in Europe. The stately gravity of an Arab
sheick, seated on the ground in the shade of a tree, with his sons and
grandsons standing before him, waiting for his commands, is singularly
imposing.