Your letter and Laura's were a great pleasure to me in this distant land.
I could not answer before, as I have been very ill. But Samaritans came
with oil and wine and comforted me. It had an odd, dreary effect to hear
my friend Hekekian Bey, a learned old Armenian, and De Leo Bey, my
doctor, discoursing Turkish at my bedside, while my faithful Omar cried
and prayed _Yah Robbeena_! _Yah Saatir_! (O Lord! O Preserver!) 'don't
let her die.'
Alick is quite right that I am in love with the Arabs' ways, and I have
contrived to see and know more of family life than many Europeans who
have lived here for years. When the Arabs feel that one really cares for
them, they heartily return it. If I could only speak the language I
could see anything. Cairo _is_ the Arabian Nights; there is a little
Frankish varnish here and there, but the government, the people--all is
unchanged since that most veracious book was written. No words can
describe the departure of the holy Mahmal and the pilgrims for Mecca. I
spent half the day loitering about in the Bedaween tents admiring the
glorious, free people. To see a Bedaween and his wife walk through the
streets of Cairo is superb. Her hand resting on his shoulder, and
scarcely deigning to cover her haughty face, she looks down on the
Egyptian veiled woman who carries the heavy burden and walks behind her
lord and master.
By no deed of my own have I become a slave-owner. The American
Consul-General turned over to me a black girl of eight or nine, and in
consequence of her reports the poor little black boy who is the slave and
marmiton of the cook here has been entreating Omar to beg me to buy him
and take him with me. It is touching to see the two poor little black
things recounting their woes and comparing notes. I went yesterday to
deposit my cooking things and boat furniture at my washerwoman's house.
Seeing me arrive on my donkey, followed by a cargo of household goods,
about eight or ten Arab women thronged round delighted at the idea that I
was coming to live in their quarter, and offering me neighbourly
services. Of course all rushed upstairs, and my old washerwoman was put
to great expense in pipes and coffee. I think, as you, that I must have
the 'black drop,' and that the Arabs see it, for I am always told that I
am like them, with praises of my former good looks. 'You were beautiful
Hareem once.' Nothing is more striking to me than the way in which one
is constantly reminded of Herodotus. The Christianity and the Islam of
this country are full of the ancient worship, and the sacred animals have
all taken service with Muslim saints. At Minieh one reigns over
crocodiles; higher up I saw the hole of AEsculapius' serpent at Gebel
Sheykh Hereedee, and I fed the birds--as did Herodotus--who used to tear
the cordage of boats which refused to feed them, and who are now the
servants of Sheykh Naooneh, and still come on board by scores for the
bread which no Reis dares refuse them. Bubastis' cats are still fed in
the Cadi's court at public expense in Cairo, and behave with singular
decorum when 'the servant of the cats' serves them their dinner. Among
gods, Amun Ra, the sun-god and serpent-killer, calls himself Mar Girgis
(St. George), and is worshipped by Christians and Muslims in the same
churches, and Osiris holds his festivals as riotously as ever at Tanta in
the Delta, under the name of Seyd el Bedawee. The _fellah_ women offer
sacrifices to the Nile, and walk round ancient statues in order to have
children. The ceremonies at births and burials are not Muslim, but
ancient Egyptian.
The Copts are far more close and reserved and backward than the Arabs,
and they have been so repudiated by Europeans that they are doubly shy of
us. The Europeans resent being called 'Nazranee' as a genteel Hebrew
gentleman may shrink from 'Jew.' But I said boldly, '_Ana Nazraneeh_.
_Alhamdulillah_!' (I am a Nazranee. Praise be to God), and found that it
was much approved by the Muslims as well as the Copts. Curious things
are to be seen here in religion--Muslims praying at the tomb of Mar
Girgis (St. George) and the resting-places of Sittina Mariam and Seyidna
Issa, and miracles, brand-new, of an equally mixed description.
If you have any power over any artists, send them to paint here. No
words can describe either the picturesque beauty of Cairo or the splendid
forms of the people in Upper Egypt, and above all in Nubia. I was in
raptures at seeing how superb an animal man (and woman) really is. My
donkey-girl at Thebes, dressed like a Greek statue--Ward es-Sham (the
Rose of Syria)--was a feast to the eyes; and here, too, what grace and
sweetness, and how good is a drink of Nile water out of an amphora held
to your lips by a woman as graceful as she is kindly. 'May it benefit
thee,' she says, smiling with all her beautiful teeth and eyes.
'_Alhamdulillah_,' you reply; and it is worth thanking God for. The days
of the beauty of Cairo are numbered. The mosques are falling to decay,
the exquisite lattice windows rotting away and replaced by European glass
and jalousies. Only the people and the Government remain unchanged.
Read all the pretty paragraphs about civilisation here, and then say,
Bosh!
If you know anyone coming here and wanting a good servant and dragoman,
recommend my dear Omar Abou el-Halaweh of Alexandria. He has been my
friend and companion, as well as my cook and general servant, now for six
months, and we are very sad at our approaching separation. I am to spend
a day in his house with his young wife at Alexandria, and to eat his
bread. He sadly wants to go with me to Europe and to see my children.
Sally, I think, is almost as fond of the Arabs as I am, and very popular.
My poor ragged crew were for ever calling out 'Yah Sara' for some
assistance or other, hurt fingers or such calamities; and the quantity of
doctoring I did was fearful. Sally was constantly wishing for you to see
all manner of things and to sketch. What a yarn I have made!