I shall stay on here till it gets colder, and then go up the Nile either
in a steamer or a boat. The old father of my donkey-boy, Hassan, gave me
a fine illustration of Arab feeling towards women to-day. I asked if Abd
el-Kader was coming here, as I had heard; he did not know, and asked me
if he were not _Achul en-Benat_, a brother of girls. I prosaically said
I did not know if he had sisters. 'The Arabs, O lady, call that man a
"brother of girls" to whom God has given a clean heart to love all women
as his sisters, and strength and courage to fight for their protection.'
Omar suggested a 'thorough gentleman' as the equivalent of Abou Hassan's
title. Our European _galimatias_ about the 'smiles of the fair,' etc.,
look very mean beside 'Achul en Benat,' methinks. Moreover, they carry
it into common life. Omar was telling me of some little family
tribulations, showing that he is not a little henpecked. His wife wanted
all his money. I asked how much she had of her own, as I knew she had
property. 'Oh, ma'am! I can't speak of that, shame for me if I ask what
money she got.' A man married at Alexandria, and took home the daily
provisions for the first week; after that he neglected it for two days,
and came home with a lemon in his hand. He asked for some dinner, and
his wife placed the stool and the tray and the washing basin and napkin,
and in the tray the lemon cut in quarters. 'Well, and the dinner?'
'Dinner! you want dinner? Where from? What man are you to want women
when you don't keep them? I am going to the Cadi to be divorced from
you;' and she did. The man must provide all necessaries for his Hareem,
and if she has money or earns any she spends it in dress; if she makes
him a skullcap or a handkerchief he must pay her for her work. _Tout
n'est pas roses_ for these Eastern tyrants, not to speak of the unbridled
license of tongue allowed to women and children. Zeyneb hectors Omar and
I cannot persuade him to check her. 'How I say anything to it, that one
child?' Of course, the children are insupportable, and, I fancy, the
women little better.
A poor neighbour of mine lost his little boy yesterday, and came out in
the streets, as usual, for sympathy. He stood under my window leaning
his head against the wall, and sobbing and crying till, literally, his
tears wetted the dust. He was too grieved to tear off his turban or to
lament in form, but clasped his hands and cried, 'Yah weled, yah weled,
yah weled' (O my boy, my boy). The bean-seller opposite shut his shop,
the dyer took no notice but smoked his pipe. Some people passed on, but
many stopped and stood round the poor man, saying nothing, but looking
concerned. Two were well-dressed Copts on handsome donkeys, who
dismounted, and all waited till he went home, when about twenty men
accompanied him with a respectful air. How strange it seems to us to go
out into the street and call on the passers-by to grieve with one! I was
at the house of Hekekian Bey the other day when he received a parcel from
his former slave, now the Sultan's chief eunuch. It contained a very
fine photograph of the eunuch--whose face, though negro, is very
intelligent and of charming expression--a present of illustrated English
books, and some printed music composed by the Sultan, Abd el Aziz,
himself. _O tempera_! _O mores_! one was a waltz. The very ugliest and
scrubbiest of street dogs has adopted me--like the Irishman who wrote to
Lord Lansdowne that he had selected him as his patron--and he guards the
house and follows me in the street. He is rewarded with scraps, and
Sally cost me a new tin mug by letting the dog drink out of the old one,
which was used to scoop the water from the jars, forgetting that Omar and
Zeyneb could not drink after the poor beast.
_Monday_.--I went yesterday to the port of Cairo, Boulak, to see
Hassaneyn Effendi about boats. He was gone up the Nile, and I sat with
his wife--a very nice Turkish woman who speaks English to perfection--and
heard all sorts of curious things. I heard the whole story of an unhappy
marriage made by Leyla, my hostess's sister, and much Cairo gossip. Like
all Eastern ladies that I have seen she complains of indigestion, and
said she knew she ought to go out more and to walk, but custom _e contra
il nostro decoro_.
Mr. Thayer will be back in Egypt on December 15, so I shall embark about
that time, as he may want his house here. It is now a little fresh in
the early morning, but like fine English summer weather.
_Tuesday_.--Since I have been here my cough is nearly gone, and I am
better for having good food again. Omar manages to get good mutton, and
I have discovered that some of the Nile fish is excellent. The _abyad_,
six or eight feet long and very fat, is delicious, and I am told there
are still better; the eels are delicate and good too. Maurice might hook
an _abyad_, but how would he land him? The worst is that everything is
just double the price of last year, as, of course, no beef can be eaten
at all, and the draught oxen being dead makes labour dear as well. The
high Nile was a small misfortune compared to the murrain. There is a
legend about it, of course. A certain Sheykh el-Beled (burgomaster) of
some place--not mentioned--lost his cattle, and being rich defied God,
said he did not care, and bought as many more; they died too, and he
continued impenitent and defiant, and bought on till he was ruined, and
now he is sinking into the earth bodily, though his friends dig and dig
without ceasing night and day. It is curious how like the German legends
the Arab ones are. All those about wasting bread wantonly are almost
identical. If a bit is dirty, Omar carefully gives it to the dog; if
clean, he keeps it in a drawer for making breadcrumbs for cutlets; not a
bit must fall on the floor. In other things they are careless enough,
but _das liebe Brod_ is sacred--_vide_ Grimm's _Deutsche Sagen_. I am
constantly struck with resemblances to German customs. A Fellah wedding
is very like the German _Bauern hochzeit_ firing of guns and display of
household goods, only on a camel instead of a cart. I have been trying
to get a teacher of Arabic, but it is very hard to find one who knows any
European language, and the consular dragoman asks four dollars a lesson.
I must wait till I get to Thebes, where I think a certain young Said can
teach me. Meanwhile I am beginning to understand rather more and to
speak a very little. Please direct to me to Briggs and Co. at Cairo; if
I am gone, the letters will follow up the river.