I have just received your letter of March 3 with one from Janet, which
shows of how little moment the extermination of four villages is in this
country, for she does not allude to our revolt and evidently has not
heard of it.
In my last letter to Mutter I told how one Achmet et Tayib, a mad
darweesh had raised a riot at Gau below Keneh and how a boat had been
robbed and how we were all rather looking out for a _razzia_ and
determined to fight Achmet et Tayib and his followers. Then we called
them _haramee_ (wicked ones) and were rather blood-thirstily disposed
towards them and resolved to keep order and protect our property. But
now we say _nas messakeen_ (poor people) and whisper to each other that
God will not forget what the Pasha has done. The truth of course we
shall never know. But I do know that one Pasha said he had hanged five
hundred, and another that he had sent three hundred to Fazoghlou (_comme
qui dirait Cayenne_) and all for the robbery of one Greek boat in which
only the steersman was killed. I cannot make out that anything was done
by the 'insurgents' beyond going out into the desert to listen to the
darweesh's nonsense, and 'see a reed shaken by the wind;' the party that
robbed the boat was, I am told, about forty strong. But the most horrid
stories are current among the people of the atrocities committed on the
wretched villagers by the soldiers. Not many were shot, they say, and
they attempted no resistance, but the women and girls were outraged and
murdered and the men hanged and the steamers loaded with plunder. The
worst is that every one believes that the Europeans aid and abet, and all
declare that the Copts were spared to please the _Frangees_. Mind I am
not telling you _facts_ only what the people are saying--in order to show
you their feelings. One most respectable young man sat before me on the
floor the other day and told me what he had heard from those who had come
up the river. Horrible tales of the stench of the bodies which are left
unburied by the Pasha's order--of women big with child ripped open, etc.,
etc. 'Thou knowest oh! our Lady, that we are people of peace in this
place, and behold now if one madman should come and a few idle fellows go
out to the mountain (desert) with him, Effendina will send his soldiers
to destroy the place and spoil our poor little girls and hang us--is that
right, oh Lady and Achmet el-Berberi saw Europeans with hats in the
steamer with Effendina and the soldiers. Truly in all the world none are
miserable like us Arabs. The Turks beat us, and the Europeans hate us
and say _quite right_. By God, we had better lay down our heads in the
dust (die) and let the strangers take our land and grow cotton for
themselves. As for me I am tired of this miserable life and of fearing
for my poor little girls.'
Mahommed was really eloquent, and when he threw his _melayeh_ over his
face and sobbed, I am not ashamed to say that I cried too. I know very
well that Mahommed was not quite wrong in what he says of the Europeans.
I know the cruel old platitudes about governing Orientals by fear which
the English pick up like mocking birds from the Turks. I know all about
'the stick' and 'vigour' and all that--but--'I sit among the people' and
I know too that Mohammed feels just as John Smith or Tom Brown would feel
in his place, and that men who were very savage against the rioters in
the beginning, are now almost in a humour to rise against the Turks
themselves just exactly as free-born Britons might be. There are even
men of the class who have something to lose who express their disgust
very freely.
I saw the steamer pass up to Fazoghlou but the prisoners were all below.
The Sheykh of the Abab'deh here has had to send a party of his men to
guard them through the desert. Altogether this year is miserable in
Egypt. I have not once heard the _zaghareet_. Every one is anxious and
depressed, and I fear hungry, the land is parched from the low Nile, the
heat has set in six weeks earlier than usual, the animals are scarecrows
for want of food, and now these horrid stories of bloodshed and cruelty
and robbery (for the Pasha takes the lands of these villages for his own)
have saddened every face. I think Hajjee Ali is right and that there
will be more disturbances. If there are they will be caused by the
cruelty and oppression at Gau and the three neighbouring villages. From
Salamieh, two miles above Luxor, every man woman and child in any degree
kin to Achmet et-Tayib has been taken in chains to Keneh and no one here
expects to see one of them return alive. Some are remarkably good men, I
hear, and I have heard men say 'if Hajjee Sultan is killed and all his
family we will never do a good action any more, for we see it is of no
use.'
There was a talk among the three or four Europeans here at the beginning
of the rumours of a revolt of organizing a defence among Christians only.
Conceive what a silly and gratuitous provocation! There was no religion
in the business at all and of course the proper person to organize
defence was the Maohn, and he and Mustapha and others had planned using
my house as a castle and defending that in case of a visit from the
rioters. I have no doubt the true cause of the row is the usual
one--hunger--the high price of food. It was like our Swing, or bread
riots, nothing more and a very feeble affair too. It is curious to see
the travellers' gay dahabiehs just as usual and the Europeans as far
removed from all care or knowledge of the distresses as if they were at
home. When I go and sit with the English I feel almost as if they were
foreigners to me too, so completely am I now _Dint el-Beled_ (daughter of
the country) here.
I dined three days running with the Kevenbrincks and one day after dinner
we sent for a lot of Arab Sheykhs to come for coffee--the two Abab'deh
and a relation of theirs from Khartoum, the Sheykh of Karnac, one
Mohammed a rich fellah, and we were joined by the A'gha of Halim Pasha's
Hareem, and an ugly beast he is. The little Baroness won all hearts.
She is a regular _vif argent_ or as we say _Efreeteh_ and to see the dark
faces glittering with merry smiles as they watched her was very droll. I
never saw a human being so thoroughly amused as the black Sheykh from the
Soudan. Next day we dined at the Austrian agent's and the Baroness at
last made the Maohn dance a polka with her while the agent played the
guitar. There were a lot of Copts about who nearly died of laughing and
indeed so did I. Next day we had a capital dinner at Mustapha's, and the
two Abab'deh Sheykhs, the Sheykh of Karnac, the Maohn and Sheykh Yussuf
dined with us. The Sheykh of Karnac gave a grand performance of eating
like a Bedawee. I have heard you talk of _tripas elasticas_ in Spain but
_Wallahi_! anything like the performance of Sheykh Abdallah none but an
eyewitness could believe. How he plucked off the lamb's head and handed
it to me in token of the highest respect, and how the bones cracked
beneath his fingers--how huge handfuls of everything were chucked right
down his throat all scorching hot. I encouraged him of course, quoting
the popular song about 'doing deeds that Antar did not' and we all grew
quite uproarious. When Sheykh Abdallah asked for drink, I cried 'bring
the _ballaree_ (the big jar the women fetch water in) for the Sheykh,'
and Sheykh Yussuf compared him to Samson and to Og, while I more
profanely told how Antar broke the bones and threw them about. The
little Baroness was delighted and only expressed herself hurt that no one
had crammed anything into her mouth. I told the Maohn her disappointment
which caused more laughter as such a custom is unknown here, but he of
course made no end of sweet speeches to her. After dinner she showed the
Arabs how ladies curtsey to the Queen in England, and the Abab'deh acted
the ceremonial of presentation at the court of Darfour, where you have to
rub your nose in the dust at the King's feet. Then we went out with
lanterns and torches and the Abab'deh did the sword dance for us. Two
men with round shields and great straight swords do it. One dances a
_pas seul_ of challenge and defiance with prodigious leaps and pirouettes
and Hah! Hahs! Then the other comes and a grand fight ensues. When the
handsome Sheykh Hassan (whom you saw in Cairo) bounded out it really was
heroic. All his attitudes were alike grand and graceful. They all
wanted Sheykh Yussuf to play _el-Neboot_ (single stick) and said he was
the best man here at it, but his sister was not long dead and he could
not. Hassan looks forward to Maurice's coming here to teach him 'the
fighting of the English.' How Maurice would pound him!
On the fourth night I went to tea in Lord Hopetoun's boat and their
sailors gave a grand _fantasia_ excessively like a Christmas pantomime.
One danced like a woman, and there was a regular pantaloon only 'more
so,' and a sort of clown in sheepskin and a pink mask who was duly
tumbled about, and who distributed _claques_ freely with a huge wooden
spoon. It was very good fun indeed, though it was quite as well that the
ladies did not understand the dialogue, or that part of the dance which
made the Maohn roar with laughter. The Hopetouns had two handsome boats
and were living like in May Fair. I am so used now to our poor shabby
life that it makes quite a strange impression on me to see all that
splendour--splendour which a year or two ago I should not even have
remarked--and thus out of 'my inward consciousness' (as Germans say),
many of the peculiarities and faults of the people of Egypt are explained
to me and accounted for.
_April_ 2.--It is so dreadfully hot and dusty that I shall rather hasten
my departure if I can. The winds seem to have begun, and as all the land
which last year was green is now desert and dry the dust is four times as
bad. If I hear that Ross has bought and sent up a dahabieh I will wait
for that, if not I will go in three weeks if I can.