You will have heard from my mother of my ill luck, falling sick again.
The fact is that the spring in Egypt is very trying, and I came down the
river a full month too soon. People do tell such lies about the heat.
To-day is the first warm day we have had; till now I have been shivering,
and Sally too. I have been out twice, and saw the holy Mahmaal rest for
its first station outside the town, it is a deeply affecting sight--all
those men prepared to endure such hardship. They halt among the tombs of
the Khalifah, such a spot. Omar's eyes were full of tears and his voice
shaking with emotion, as he talked about it and pointed out the Mahmaal
and the Sheykh al-Gemel, who leads the sacred camel, naked to the waist
with flowing hair. Muslim piety is so unlike what Europeans think it is,
so full of tender emotions, so much more sentimental than we imagine--and
it is wonderfully strong. I used to hear Omar praying outside my door
while I was so ill, 'O God, make her better. O my God, let her sleep,'
as naturally as we should say, 'I hope she'll have a good night.'
The Sultan's coming is a kind of riddle. No one knows what he wants.
The Pasha has ordered all the women of the lower classes to keep indoors
while he is here. Arab women are outspoken, and might shout out their
grievances to the great Sultan.
_April_ 15.--I continue to get better slowly, and in a few days will go
down to Alexandria. Omar is gone to Boulak to inquire the cost of a
boat, as I am not fond of the railroad, and have a good deal of heavy
baggage, cooking utensils, etc., which the railway charges enormously
for. The black slave girl, sent as a present to the American
Consul-General, is as happy as possible, and sings quaint, soft little
Kordofan songs all day. I hope you won't object to my bringing her home.
She wails so terribly when Omar tells her she is not my slave, for fear I
should leave her, and insists on being my slave. She wants to be a
present to Rainie, the little Sitt, and laughs out so heartily at the
thought of her. She is very quiet and gentle, poor little savage, and
the utter slavishness of the poor little soul quite upsets me; she has no
will of her own. Now she has taken to talking, and tells all her woes
and how _batal_ (bad) everyone was at Khartoum; and then she rubs her
little black nose on my hand, and laughs so merrily, and says all is
_quyis keteer_ (very good) here, and she hugs herself with delight. I
think Rainie will like her very much.
I am going to visit an old Muslim French painter's family. He has an
Arab wife and grown-up daughters, and is a very agreeable old man with a
store of Arab legends; I am going to persuade him to write them and let
me translate them into English. The Sultan goes away to-day. Even water
to drink has been brought from Constantinople; I heard that from Hekekian
Bey, who formerly owned the eunuch who is now Kislar Aghasy to the Sultan
himself. Hekekian had the honour of kissing his old slave's hand. If
anyone tries to make you believe any bosh about civilization in Egypt,
laugh at it. The real life and the real people are exactly as described
in the most veracious of books, the 'Thousand and One Nights'; the
tyranny is the same, the people are not altered--and very charming people
they are. If I could but speak the language I could get into Arab
society here through two or three different people, and see more than
many Europeans who have lived here all their lives. The Arabs are keenly
alive to the least prejudice against them, but when they feel quite safe
on that point they rather like the amusement of a stranger.
Omar devised a glorious scheme, if I were only well and strong, of
putting me in a takterrawan and taking me to Mecca in the character of
his mother, supposed to be a Turk. To a European man, of course, it
would be impossible, but an enterprising woman might do it easily with a
Muslim confederate. Fancy seeing the pilgrimage! In a few days I shall
go down to Alexandria, if it makes me ill again I must return to Europe
or go to Beyrout. I can't get a boat under 12 pounds; thus do the Arabs
understand competition; the owner of boats said so few were wanted, times
were bad on account of the railway, etc., he must have double what he
used to charge. In vain Omar argued that that was not the way to get
employment. 'Maleesh!' (Never mind!), and so I must go by rail. Is not
that Eastern? Up the river, where there is no railroad, I might have had
it at half that rate. All you have ever told me as most Spanish in Spain
is in full vigour here, and also I am reminded of Ireland at every turn;
the same causes produce the same effects.
To-day the Khamseen is blowing and it is decidedly hot, quite unlike the
heat at the Cape; this is close and gloomy, no sunshine. Altogether the
climate is far less bright than I expected, very, very inferior to the
Cape. Nevertheless, I heartily agree to the Arab saying: 'He who has
drunk Nile water will ever long to drink it again'; and when a graceful
woman in a blue shirt and veil lifts a huge jar from her shoulder and
holds it to your lips with a hearty smile and welcome, it tastes doubly
sweet. _Alhamdulillah_! Sally says all other water is like bad
small-beer compared to sweet ale after the Nile water. When the Khamseen
is over, Omar insists on my going to see the tree and the well where
Sittina Mariam rested with Seyidna Issa {55} in her arms during the
flight into Egypt. It is venerated by Christian and Muslim alike, and is
a great place for feasting and holiday-making out of doors, which the
Arabs so dearly love. Do write and tell me what you wish me to do. If
it were not that I cannot endure not to see you and the children, I would
stay here and take a house at the Abbassieh in the desert; but I could
not endure it. Nor can I endure this wandering life much longer. I must
come home and die in peace if I don't get really better. Write to
Alexandria next.