_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_.
_Tuesday_, _January_ 5, 1864.
We left Siout this afternoon. The captain had announced that we should
start at ten o'clock, so I did not go into the town, but sent Omar to buy
food and give my letter and best salaam to Wassef. But the men of
Darfoor all went off declaring that they would stop, promising to cut off
the captain's head if he went without them. Hassan Effendi, the Turk,
was furious, and threatened to telegraph his complaints to Cairo if we
did not go directly, and the poor captain was in a sad quandary. He
appealed to me, peaceably sitting on the trunk of a palm-tree with some
poor _fellaheen_ (of whom more anon). I uttered the longest sentence I
could compose in Arabic, to the effect that he was captain, and that
while on the boat we were all bound to obey him. '_Mashallah_! one
English Hareem is worth more than ten men for sense; these Ingeleez have
only one word both for themselves and for other people:
_doghree_--_doghree_ (right is right); this Ameereh is ready to obey like
a memlook, and when she has to command--whew!'--with a most expressive
toss back of the head. The bank was crowded with poor _fellaheen_ who
had been taken for soldiers and sent to await the Pasha's arrival at
Girgeh; three weeks they lay there, and were then sent down to Soohaj
(the Pasha wanted to see them himself and pick out the men he liked);
eight days more at Soohaj, then to Siout eight days more, and meanwhile
Ismail Pasha has gone back to Cairo and the poor souls may wait
indefinitely, for no one will venture to remind the Pasha of their
trifling existence. _Wallah_, _wallah_!
While I was walking on the bank with M. and Mme. Mounier, a person came
up and saluted them whose appearance puzzled me. Don't call me a Persian
when I tell you it was an eccentric Bedawee young lady. She was eighteen
or twenty at most, dressed like a young man, but small and feminine and
rather pretty, except that one eye was blind. Her dress was handsome,
and she had women's jewels, diamonds, etc., and a European watch and
chain. Her manner was excellent, quite _ungenirt_, and not the least
impudent or swaggering, and I was told--indeed, I could hear--that her
language was beautiful, a thing much esteemed among Arabs. She is a
virgin and fond of travelling and of men's society, being very clever, so
she has her dromedary and goes about quite alone. No one seemed
surprised, no one stared, and when I asked if it was _proper_, our
captain was surprised. 'Why not? if she does not wish to marry, she can
go alone; if she does, she can marry--what harm? She is a virgin and
free.' She went to breakfast with the Mouniers on their boat (Mme. M. is
Egyptian born, and both speak Arabic perfectly), and the young lady had
many things to ask them, she said. She expressed her opinions pretty
freely as far as I could understand her. Mme. Mounier had heard of her
before, and said she was much respected and admired. M. Mounier had
heard that she was a spy of the Pasha's, but the people on board the boat
here say that the truth was that she went before Said Pasha herself to
complain of some tyrannical Moodir who ground and imprisoned the
_fellaheen_--a bold thing for a girl to do. To me she seems, anyhow, far
the most curious thing I have yet seen.
The weather is already much warmer, it is nine in the evening, we are
steaming along and I sit with the cabin window open. My cough is, of
course, a great deal better. _Inshallah_! Above Keneh (about another
150 miles) it will go away. To-day, for the first time, I pulled my
cloak over my head in the sun, it was so stinging hot--quite delicious,
and it is the 5th of January. _Poveri voi_ in the cold! Our captain was
prisoner for three years at Moscow and at Bakshi Serai, and declares he
never saw the sun at all--hard lines for an Egyptian. Do you remember
the cigarettes you bought for me at Eaux Bonnes? Well, I gave them to
the old Turkish Effendi, who is dreadfully asthmatic, and he is
enchanted; of course five other people came to be cured directly. The
rhubarb pills are a real comfort to travellers, for they can't do much
harm, and inspire great confidence.
Luckily we left all the fleas behind in the fore-cabin, for the benefit
of the poor old Turk, who, I hear, suffers severely. The divans were all
brand-new, and the fleas came in the cotton stuffing, for there are no
live things of any sort in the rest of the boat.
GIRGEH,
_January_ 9, 1864.
We have put in here for the night. To-day we took on board three
convicts in chains, two bound for Fazogloo, one for calumny and perjury,
and one for manslaughter. Hard labour for life in that climate will soon
dispose of them. The third is a petty thief from Keneh who has been a
year in chains in the Custom-house of Alexandria, and is now being taken
back to be shown in his own place in his chains. The _causes celebres_
of this country would be curious reading; they do their crimes so
differently to us. If I can get hold of anyone who can relate a few
cases well, I'll write them down. Omar has told me a few, but he may not
know the details quite exactly.
I made further inquiries about the Bedawee lady, who is older than she
looks, for she has travelled constantly for ten years. She is rich and
much respected, and received in all the best houses, where she sits with
the men all day and sleeps in the hareem. She has been in the interior
of Africa and to Mecca, speaks Turkish, and M. Mounier says he found her
extremely agreeable, full of interesting information about all the
countries she had visited. As soon as I can talk I must try and find her
out; she likes the company of Europeans.
Here is a contribution to folk-lore, new even to Lane I think. When the
coffee-seller lights his stove in the morning, he makes two cups of
coffee of the best and nicely sugared, and pours them out all over the
stove, saying, 'God bless or favour Sheykh Shadhilee and his
descendants.' The blessing on the saint who invented coffee of course I
knew, and often utter, but the libation is new to me. You see the
ancient religion crops up even through the severe faith of Islam. If I
could describe all the details of an Arab, and still more of a Coptic,
wedding, you would think I was relating the mysteries of Isis. At one
house I saw the bride's father looking pale and anxious, and Omar said,
'I think he wants to hold his stomach with both hands till the women tell
him if his daughter makes his face white.' It was such a good phrase for
the sinking at heart of anxiety. It certainly seems more reasonable that
a woman's misconduct should blacken her father's face than her husband's.
There are a good many things about hareem here which I am barbarian
enough to think extremely good and rational. An old Turk of Cairo, who
had been in Europe, was talking to an Englishman a short time ago, who
politely chaffed him about Mussulman license. The venerable Muslim
replied, 'Pray, how many women have you, who are quite young, seen (that
is the Eastern phrase) in your whole life?' The Englishman could not
count--of course not. 'Well, young man, I am old, and was married at
twelve, and I have seen in all my life seven women; four are dead, and
three are happy and comfortable in my house. _Where are all yours_?'
Hassaneyn Effendi heard the conversation, which passed in French, and was
amused at the question.
I find that the criminal convicted of calumny accused, together with
twenty-nine others not in custody, the Sheykh-el-Beled of his place of
murdering his servant, and produced a basket full of bones as proof, but
the Sheykh-el-Beled produced the living man, and his detractor gets hard
labour for life. The proceeding is characteristic of the childish
_ruses_ of this country. I inquired whether the thief who was dragged in
chains through the streets would be able to find work, and was told, 'Oh,
certainly; is he not a poor man? For the sake of God everyone will be
ready to help him.' An absolute uncertainty of justice naturally leads
to this result. Our captain was quite shocked to hear that in my country
we did not like to employ a returned convict.
LUXOR,
_January_ 13, 1864.
We spent all the afternoon of Saturday at Keneh, where I dined with the
English Consul, a worthy old Arab, who also invited our captain, and we
all sat round his copper tray on the floor and ate with our fingers, the
captain, who sat next me, picking out the best bits and feeding me and
Sally with them. After dinner the French Consul, a Copt, one Jesus
Buktor, sent to invite me to a fantasia at his house, where I found the
Mouniers, the Moudir, and some other Turks, and a disagreeable Italian,
who stared at me as if I had been young and pretty, and put Omar into a
great fury. I was glad to see the dancing-girls, but I liked old Seyyid
Achmet's patriarchal ways much better than the tone of the Frenchified
Copt. At first I thought the dancing queer and dull. One girl was very
handsome, but cold and uninteresting; one who sang was also very pretty
and engaging, and a dear little thing. But the dancing was contortions,
more or less graceful, _very_ wonderful as gymnastic feats, and no more.
But the captain called out to one Latifeh, an ugly, clumsy-looking wench,
to show the Sitt what she could do. And then it was revealed to me. The
ugly girl started on her feet and became the 'serpent of old Nile,'--the
head, shoulders and arms eagerly bent forward, waist in, and haunches
advanced on the bent knees--the posture of a cobra about to spring. I
could not call it _voluptuous_ any more than Racine's _Phedre_. It is
_Venus toute entiere a sa proie attachee_, and to me seemed tragic. It
is far more realistic than the 'fandango,' and far less coquettish,
because the thing represented is _au grande serieux_, not travestied,
_gaze_, or played with; and like all such things, the Arab men don't
think it the least improper. Of course the girls don't commit any
indecorums before European women, except the dance itself. Seyyid Achmet
would have given me a fantasia, but he feared I might have men with me,
and he had had a great annoyance with two Englishmen who wanted to make
the girls dance naked, which they objected to, and he had to turn them
out of his house after hospitably entertaining them.
Our procession home to the boat was very droll. Mme. Mounier could not
ride an Arab saddle, so I lent her mine and _enfourche'd_ my donkey, and
away we went with men running with 'meshhaals' (fire-baskets on long
poles) and lanterns, and the captain shouting out 'Full speed!' and such
English phrases all the way--like a regular old salt as he is. We got
here last night, and this morning Mustapha A'gha and the Nazir came down
to conduct me up to my palace. I have such a big rambling house all over
the top of the temple of Khem. How I wish I had you and the chicks to
fill it! We had about twenty _fellahs_ to clean the dust of _three
years_' accumulation, and my room looks quite handsome with carpets and a
divan. Mustapha's little girl found her way here when she heard I was
come, and it seemed quite pleasant to have her playing on the carpet with
a dolly and some sugar-plums, and making a feast for dolly on a saucer,
arranging the sugar-plums Arab fashion. She was monstrously pleased with
Rainie's picture and kissed it. Such a quiet, nice little brown tot, and
curiously like Rainie and walnut-juice.
[Picture: Luxor, by Edward Lear, showing Lady Duff Gordon's house, now
destroyed]
The view all round my house is magnificent on every side, over the Nile
in front facing north-west, and over a splendid range of green and
distant orange buff hills to the south-east, where I have a spacious
covered terrace. It is rough and dusty to the extreme, but will be very
pleasant. Mustapha came in just now to offer me the loan of a horse, and
to ask me to go to the mosque in a few nights to see the illumination in
honour of a great Sheykh, a son of Sidi Hosseyn or Hassan. I asked
whether my presence might not offend any Muslimeen, and he would not hear
of such a thing. The sun set while he was here, and he asked if I
objected to his praying in my presence, and went through his four
_rekahs_ very comfortably on my carpet. My next-door neighbour (across
the courtyard all filled with antiquities) is a nice little Copt who
looks like an antique statue himself. I shall _voisiner_ with his
family. He sent me coffee as soon as I arrived, and came to help. I am
invited to El-Moutaneh, a few hours up the river, to visit the Mouniers,
and to Keneh to visit Seyyid Achmet, and also the head of the merchants
there who settled the price of a carpet for me in the bazaar, and seemed
to like me. He was just one of those handsome, high-bred, elderly
merchants with whom a story always begins in the Arabian Nights. When I
can talk I will go and see a real Arab hareem. A very nice English
couple, a man and his wife, gave me breakfast in their boat, and turned
out to be business connections of Ross's, of the name of Arrowsmith; they
were going to Assouan, and I shall see them on their way back. I asked
Mustapha about the Arab young lady, and he spoke very highly of her, and
is to let me know if she comes here and to offer hospitality from me: he
did not know her name--she is called 'el _Haggeh_' (the Pilgrimess).
_Thursday_.--Now I am settled in my Theban palace, it seems more and more
beautiful, and I am quite melancholy that you cannot be here to enjoy it.
The house is very large and has good thick walls, the comfort of which we
feel to-day for it blows a hurricane; but indoors it is not at all cold.
I have glass windows and doors to some of the rooms. It is a lovely
dwelling. Two funny little owls as big as my fist live in the wall under
my window, and come up and peep in, walking on tip-toe, and looking
inquisitive like the owls in the hieroglyphics; and a splendid horus (the
sacred hawk) frequents my lofty balcony. Another of my contemplar gods I
sacrilegiously killed last night, a whip snake. Omar is rather in
consternation for fear it should be 'the snake of the house,' for Islam
has not dethroned the _Dii lares et tutelares_.
I have been 'sapping' at the _Alif Bey_ (A B C) to-day, under the
direction of Sheykh Yussuf, a graceful, sweet-looking young man, with a
dark brown face and such fine manners, in his _fellah_ dress--a coarse
brown woollen shirt, a _libdeh_, or felt skull-cap, and a common red
shawl round his head and shoulders; writing the wrong way is very hard
work. Some men came to mend the staircase, which had fallen in and which
consists of huge solid blocks of stone. One crushed his thumb and I had
to operate on it. It is extraordinary how these people bear pain; he
never winced in the least, and went off thanking God and the lady quite
cheerfully. Till to-day the weather has been quite heavenly; last night
I sat with my window open, it was so warm. If only I had you all here!
How Rainie would play in the temple, Maurice fish in the Nile, and you go
about with your spectacles on your nose. I think you would discard
Frangi dress and take to a brown shirt and a _libdeh_, and soon be as
brown as any _fellah_. It was so curious to see Sheykh Yussuf blush from
shyness when he came in first; it shows quite as much in the coffee-brown
Arab skin as in the fairest European--quite unlike the much
lighter-coloured mulatto or Malay, who never change colour at all. A
photographer who is living here showed me photographs done high up the
White Nile. One negro girl is so splendid that I must get him to do me a
copy to send you. She is not perfect like the Nubians, but so superbly
strong and majestic. If I can get hold of a handsome _fellahah_ here,
I'll get her photographed to show you in Europe what a woman's breast can
be, for I never knew it before I came here--it is the most beautiful
thing in the world. The dancing-girl I saw moved her breasts by some
extraordinary muscular effort, first one and then the other; they were
just like pomegranates and gloriously independent of stays or any
support.