Reception at
Alexandria--Inhabitants--Commerce--Fortifications--Battle
of Abukír--Administration of
Justice--Servants--Climate--Asses--Ruins of Old Alexandria--Lake
Madiah--Passage boats--The boat with the Author and his party
pursued and the passengers made prisoners--Their liberation--Bay
of Abukír--Lake Edko--Porters--Rosetta--House of Signor
Petrucci--Fleas and musquitoes--The town of Rosetta and
environs--Sedentary habits of the Turks--Abu Mandur--Exportation
of corn--Mashes, a kind of barge--Voyage up the Nile--Banks
of the river--Rich soil--Villages--First sight of the
Pyramids--Bulák--Cairo--Pasha and his suite--Lodgings--Lady
Hester’s attire--Her visit to the Pasha--Mameluke
riding--Horse-market--Opening of a mummy--French Mamelukes--Mr.
Wynne--Dancing Women--The Pyramids--Narrow escape from drowning.
We were conducted to the Frank quarter, where Lady Hester was provided
with a small house; whilst Mr. B., Mr. Pearce, and myself, were
accommodated with rooms in different families. I took up my abode with
Mr. Maltass, the English consul, who was anxious to have my advice on
a chronic complaint to which he was subject; and I have found, in my
intercourse with people in the Levant, that, although disinterested
hospitality is a virtue which they both know and practise, still my
professional services were no small recommendation in securing me a
more hearty welcome. The Turkish houses are in rows as in English
towns: but the Franks, for security from plague, riots, and the
domiciliary visits of marching troops, inhabit quadrangular buildings,
which have one strong gateway as an entrance, within which a staircase
leads to the corridor on the first story, and around it each family
occupies its separate apartments, the basement story being reserved for
stables and warehouses.
The impression left by the short reign of the French in Egypt was
still observable. The Franks assumed here more license than would be
tolerated in any other place in the Turkish dominions; though still
less than they did, before the failure of the last expedition of
the English, which convinced the natives that the Franks were not
irresistible.
Alexandria is a large maritime port, and the vast number of vessels in
the harbour gave sure evidence of its commerce. At the time to which
this narrative refers, the sale of corn by the Egyptian government
to the English brought in an immense profit to the Pasha of Egypt,
who monopolized that branch of commerce entirely; as he had done,
by degrees, every branch that was lucrative. Thus the rice mills,
formerly held by industrious individuals, whose separate interest
excited a competition in the trade, were in 1814–15–16 all taken into
the hands of the pasha. It was said that the Armenians, who were at
this time much employed about the person of the pasha, in the capacity
of scribes, bankers, tax-gatherers, and the like, were the persons
who prompted him to these measures, which in Europe would have been
considered beneath the dignity of governors and viceroys, but are
countenanced in Turkey by the general conduct of all persons, however
exalted their rank, only excepting the sultan.
To house the grain that is brought to Alexandria, the pasha, in 1815,
constructed on the strand of the western harbour a vast magazine, the
dimensions of which make it an object worthy of curiosity. It is a
single room, one hundred and twenty paces long by fifteen broad, and
the roof is supported by one hundred and twenty shafts, surmounted by
blocks of wood roughly worked into something in the shape of a capital,
but with no resemblance to any of the orders of architecture, and
probably not intended to imitate them.
As the pasha holds Alexandria to be the key of his dominions, he has
fortified it with ramparts, which his courtiers may tell him are
impregnable. In 1813, he demolished the old Saracen walls, which took
in the circuit of what is called the old city, comprehending to the
south-west a heap of ruins and rubbish greater in extent than the
modern town itself; and, on the site of them and from their fragments,
he erected a high but feeble wall, which, as it extends over a space
so considerable as to require a large garrison to defend it, is,
from its thinness, thought not to be capable of opposing a besieging
army. It was reported that he likewise intended levelling all the
inequalities around the city which could afford a cover for troops,
so as to make a glacis down to the bed of the lake. Pompey’s Pillar
and Cleopatra’s Needle have been too often mentioned to require any
description.
A morning or two after our arrival, we accompanied Mr. Thurburn over
the field of battle of the 21st of March, 1801, when the English made
good their footing in Egypt. The plain where the battle was fought has
neither ditch nor wall, nor indeed anything to impede the movements of
horse or foot; and the trial between the contending armies must have
been that of courage more than skill. The entrenchments, which the
French threw up after the battle, and where they made a stand of some
weeks, were still visible.
But the achievements of the French in Egypt, to be candid, seem to have
been a series of brilliant victories, not the least of which was the
last defeat of the Turks, when, under the conduct of the grand vizir,
they were routed on the same ground where the English afterwards beat
them.
The native Christians of Egypt (I am disposed to believe) did not like
the French as masters so well as the Turks. In one respect, they made a
comparison between the two nations, which, from the proverbial venality
of a Turkish cadi, was truly laughable. They contrasted the promptitude
and celerity in the administration of justice by the Turks with the
dilatoriness and endless forms of the French courts. For example,
they said, a Turkish governor sends for a man accused of a crime, and
puts him face to face with his accusers. Both parties are heard, and
either the accused man is acquitted, or forthwith he is bastinadoed or
beheaded, and there is an end of the matter; or he is imprisoned, and
told that ten, fifteen, a hundred, or one thousand purses are required
of him. The prisoner sets his friends to work, who contrive a secret
interview with those who are supposed to have most influence with the
governor. To one they will say, “There are a thousand piasters for you;
speak a good word for our friend.” If there be some lady who is thought
to have captivated the governor, she receives from an unknown hand a
diamond ring, and is required to have pity on a distressed family. In
this way the governor is worried right and left: he relents: half the
fine, or perhaps all of it, is remitted, and the prisoner is set at
liberty. But with the Europeans, they say, a suit is never ended: and
how should it, when it is the interest of so many persons, notaries,
procureurs, and advocates, to perpetuate it?
Our time, owing to the kindness and hospitality of Colonel Misset,
passed very agreeably. The colonel, whose long residence in these parts
had made him a connoisseur in the Turkish dress, was much amused with
our costumes: and he might be with reason, for, as I have said above,
they were very ill assorted.
What Lady Hester’s opinion of Alexandria was may be shown from a letter
she wrote about this time to one of her correspondents:--
_Lady Hester Stanhope to ----_
Alexandria, February 12, 1812.
My dear ----,
I have not time to write a long letter, as we leave this place
to-morrow for Cairo.
Colonel Misset has been very kind to us, but the person to whom
we owe the most obligations is Captain Hope: nothing can have
equalled his attention and good nature. What we should have
done without him I know not; perhaps he will be the bearer of
this, and he will then give you a full account of us and of our
intentions.
This place I think quite hideous, and if all Egypt is like it I
shall wish to quit it as soon as possible. When I have seen the
pasha, I trust my letter will contain a little amusing if not
interesting matter: it would be affected in me to retail (even
had I time) the news of Alexandria, as you must receive it all
from higher authority. I have little more to add, at present,
than my constant best wishes, and to trouble you to forward the
enclosed letters; the packet to Lady Bute have the goodness to
send by the first opportunity. I wish you could see the letter I
received from her not long ago. She is a woman of ten thousand;
so amiable herself, yet so indulgent to others, and so sincere a
friend.
Adieu, my dear ----,
And believe me ever sincerely yours,
H. L. S.
Captain Hope (_Chivalry_ Hope he is to be called, for the
old knights of Malta and Rhodes could not have deserved more
praise from Burke)--Chivalry Hope then has taken under his
protection a box of conserves for you. Alas, they are by no
means so good as those I lost, or of the various sorts chance
then put me in possession of; but accept them, dear ----, as
they are. Colonel Misset has allowed me to take one of his iron
beds; if it could be replaced from Malta I should be very glad,
as I fear he will feel the loss of it. B---- desires to be most
kindly remembered to you.
Some time was necessary to replace the servants who had been dismissed
at Rhodes; and our stay was also prolonged at Alexandria in order to
purchase such articles as we had been unable to obtain at Smyrna: but,
at the end of a fortnight, preparations were made for our departure to
Cairo.
I cannot take leave of Alexandria without adverting to the common
belief of the little rain and great heat that is to be met with there.
I was lodged in a house which overlooked the East harbour; and it was
rarely that I had to complain of the heat. There were some houses,
built with lofty saloons on the same side, which did not require even
the windows to be opened to keep them cool. It is true that, to any
one caught in some spot where the rays of the sun have full play, and
where the wind has not, the heat is intolerable: but not so to those,
however, who will so far exert themselves by riding or walking as to
excite a copious perspiration.
The common beasts of burden in Egypt are asses, whose easy and quick
pace renders them agreeable as well as serviceable. As the Turkish
soldiers pay or do not pay for riding, according to their fancy, the
ass-drivers teach their animals to distinguish those unwelcome guests
from better paymasters; and no sooner does a soldier, whose exterior
denotes the bad state of his purse, lay hold of one of them, and mount
him, than the ass feigns himself ill, and neither kicks nor blows can
make him move a step. Some of these asses were hired to carry the
luggage down to the edge of Lake Edko, which it is necessary to cross
in going to Rosetta.
Mr. Pearce and myself, accompanied by an old janissary, whom Lady
Hester had brought with her from Rhodes, set off early in the morning
of the 28th of February. We passed through the ruins of the old city,
where a few granite columns, the brick subterraneous cisterns, and
that mass of stone and bricks which covers the surface for so many
feet in depth, could not fail, though so often seen, of arresting our
attention. Nor does the mind want objects to dwell upon out of the
walls, where the remains of foundations, fragments of marble, and a
soil composed of the remnants of art, forcibly strike the beholder,
and give rise to the melancholy reflection, how vast a city has fallen
to decay! At the end of two leagues, we came to lake Madiah. Here a
number of small barges, or flat-bottomed boats, ply for passengers;
and, before embarking, much time is to be spent in bargaining for
the passage, or much imposition must be submitted to. Woe to him who
manifests too great an anxiety to depart! he is sure to pay for it.
Nay, the mere exclamation of “How hot it is!”--“I wish we could get
to a place where we could find something to eat”--or any like marks of
impatience, cost some piasters more: and, as the boats are all subject
to one master, there is no flying from the extortion of one to another.
We at last settled the price; and, about twelve or one o’clock, got the
luggage and ourselves on board.
Our crew consisted of an old man and a boy. There was no wind, and we
were pushed along, as the lakes are seldom so deep that a pole cannot
reach the bottom. We had proceeded about two miles on our way towards
the mouth of the lake, where it enters into the bay of Abukír, when
we heard a halloo; but, not supposing it to be intended for us, we
paid no attention. Soon afterwards it was repeated, and we saw some
persons running along the shore and hailing us. Our old helmsman then
said there was something the matter, and that we must turn back. We
strongly objected to this, and as fast as he pushed the boat round we
altered the rudder to bring her back again. However, as he persisted,
we suffered him to do as he pleased. Presently, when we were within
half a mile of the shore, a boat was observed coming off to us, and
a musket-shot whistled over our heads. We could distinguish that the
people were armed soldiers, as well those on shore as in the boat.
Mr. Pearce and myself could do nothing but wait patiently to know
what was meant. The boat came alongside, the steersman directed our
boatman to quicken his speed, and kept close to us as we neared the
strand. When within a stone’s throw, I cried out in Turkish--“What do
you want?”--upon which we saw an Albanian, who appeared to command the
rest, kneel down to take aim at us. Our old janissary no sooner beheld
the muzzle of the gun than he dropped down in the boat: he expected the
Albanian officer (for such he proved to be) would have fired; but the
people with him were evidently urging him not to do so. We reached the
shore, and were immediately seized, disarmed, and a volley of oaths and
imprecations was vented upon us. In vain our trembling old janissary
said that we were Englishmen, belonging to a great English person, and
that those who did us harm would rue it: he was not heeded.
We were marched along the dam that separates Lake Mœris from Lake
Madiah, upon which there is a block-house, built, I believe, by the
French: we were led into it, and told that we were prisoners. It was
with difficulty that we could learn why we had been stopped, until,
at last, we comprehended that there was an existing order that the
passports of all persons were to be examined before embarking, for some
reasons of government, and that we were accused of having endeavoured
to evade the order. The soldiers treated us very roughly. At last, a
circumstantial conversation having convinced the officer that he was
detaining persons who might get him into trouble, he began by ordering
us coffee, and softened his expressions. But we had been too much
insulted (as we thought) to be reconciled so easily; and we threatened
him with punishment.
It was now about eight o’clock at night; and I proposed to the Albanian
captain to let me go up to Alexandria, leaving Mr. Pearce as a hostage,
to which, either from fear, or else because he thought people might
advise us to give him a present and let the matter drop, he consented.
Taking the janissary with me, I set off, and arrived, about eleven
o’clock, at Alexandria, where my return created no small surprise.
Colonel Misset, being made acquainted with our detention, immediately
sent his dragoman to the Governor; and, although he had retired to his
harým, a place where great Turks are never interrupted, the dragoman,
by the Colonel’s order, insisted on his being called up. When the
business was heard, a proper officer was sent back with me, with orders
to the Albanian to set us at liberty immediately. I returned to the
dam, and there I found Mr. Pearce asleep in the boat, exposed to the
dew, which in Egypt falls profusely, and passing a supperless night.
No sooner was the Albanian taken to task for what he had done, by
the officer who had accompanied me, than he became very humble; but
we accepted none of his apologies or proffers of service, and waited
impatiently for morning, to be gone.
This is one of three or four disagreeable adventures that happened to
me from contemptuous behaviour towards government officers in Turkey.
Had we quietly returned to the shore, when first hailed, there could
have been no plea whatever for detaining us; but our apparent wish to
get away naturally irritated the guard, and brought on us the treatment
we experienced, and which, perhaps, we deserved.
When it was day, we quitted the block-house and re-embarked; and, the
wind blowing fresh, we soon came to an outlet, which was once the
Canopic branch of the Nile, by which we got into Abukir bay; and,
after coasting the shore a mile or two, entered Lake Edko, the mouth
of which is, like that of Lake Madiah, a narrow opening into the sea,
with little or no current. The bars of these bogàzes are not free from
danger, though less so than the mouths of the Nile, where a large
stream of water makes, with the opposing wind and sea, most dangerous
breakers. We sailed up the lake, until we came to the village of Edko.
As the water grows quite shallow near the shore, the boats generally
ground as far off as one hundred yards, when immediately the porters
come and take the luggage and the passengers on their shoulders, and
carry them to dry ground. There cannot be a more robust race of people
than those who work on the lakes of Egypt; they are often very tall and
muscular: they have no other clothing than a blue smock frock, which is
generally tucked up with little regard to decency.
At Edko a second bargain was to be made for the hire of our asses to
Rosetta; which being effected without entering the dirty village, where
all these boatmen and porters resided, we proceeded towards Rosetta.
The mirage, which we saw on the sands between Edko and Rosetta, was
indeed a deception most striking: for nothing but the conviction, which
arose from going over the ground where the mirage appeared, could have
convinced us that it was not a sheet of water. About half way, the road
passed through a forest of palm-trees, where the sands were exceedingly
heavy, and might be supposed to be very moveable, since numbers of
these palms were buried up to their very branches.
As we entered between the brick walls of the city of Rosetta, their
appearance was not calculated to excuse the defeat which the English
arms met with, before that place, in 1805. We wound through several
narrow but well-built streets, and arrived at last at the Frank quarter
on the banks of the Nile, where our mule-driver brought us to the
house allotted for us: it faced the river, commanding a prospect of
the country on the opposite side, which, being entirely flat, is very
little diversified. But the Nile itself is a never-ceasing source
of amusement; being at all times covered with barges, crowded with
men, cattle, and goods, and with pleasure-boats, not much inferior to
those on the Thames. The house which we were to occupy belonged to M.
Petrucci, a gentleman who had been long in the service of the English:
it had not been inhabited for some time, and was so full of fleas that
all the pains which were taken could not effect a clearance.
And it may not be out of place to observe, that, to a European, or
at least to an Englishman, neither deliciousness of climate, nor the
fertility of soil, nor the brilliancy of costumes, nor, finally,
even the splendid remains of antiquity, which present themselves in
that country, can counterbalance the distressing sensations which
the fleas and musquitoes give rise to. Whatever pains he may take to
keep his body free from fleas he tries in vain; in vain he repeatedly
changes his linen, has his room swept, and resorts to all the measures
he can think of to rid himself of these troublesome creatures. The
first native who pays him a visit undoes all his labour, and he finds
himself and his room filled anew. No remedy is then left him but to
forego all society; which, if he resolves on, he necessarily foregoes,
likewise, part of the advantages he must have proposed to himself in
his travels--the study of the manners and customs of the people he
is among. With respect to musquitoes, a net will certainly save a
person from their sting during the night; but, in the evenings, when
he would be anxious to pass an hour in reading or writing, he has the
mortification to find himself assailed by a score of almost invisible
enemies, whose bite does not fail to be the poison of his comfort,
and obliges him to leave his studies in despair. It may seem to some
persons that all this is unworthy of the consideration of a traveller;
but let them know that many a one has gone from Europe to Egypt to
visit its antiquities, and has perhaps never, when at Cairo, summoned
courage to finish the few remaining miles to the Pyramids, _because
the sun was too hot_: such is the effect of trifles on the success
of all enterprises.
Lady Hester arrived the next day, accompanied by Mr. B. and Captain
Hope. The few days we spent at Rosetta were agreeably occupied in
visiting the town and its environs. Rosetta is well built, and, in the
private streets, has several fine, lofty houses. It is spacious, and
not to be judged of by a mere superficial view of the street facing the
Nile and of the markets. The Mahometan inhabitants were not courteous
to Franks; nor are they generally so, wherever I have been, excepting
when, from some motive of interest, they affect a civility which is
not real. Rosetta, being the thoroughfare for trade from Alexandria
to Cairo, is a place of great business, as the crowded warehouses
and barges loading and unloading testified; for barges alone, owing
to the shallow water over the bar at the mouth of the river, enter
the port. The environs of Rosetta are celebrated for their beautiful
gardens, which we should rather call orchards, as containing chiefly
fruit trees, with ploughed ground beneath them, which is intersected
with trenches made for irrigation. Parterres of flowers, green turf,
winding or strait walks, are unknown there, and the so-called gardens
present to an Englishman an appearance totally foreign to what the name
imports in his own language. But the native of Egypt asks for nothing
but shade and running water; where, spreading his carpet, he lights
his pipe, and reclines at his ease. If you sit down and converse with
him, and contrast his indolence with the pleasure of strolling through
serpentine walks with an agreeable female companion, or of straying
through woods with a philosophical friend, he replies that conversation
can never be so pleasurable as when held without fatigue, and that the
beauties of nature are as striking to the tranquil spectator as to him
who hurries hastily over them. He styles the restlessness and bustle of
the Franks but a fever of the mind, from which he thanks God he is free.
We visited the town of Abu Mandûr, to the south of the town, where
were the head-quarters of the English army in 1805. The facility with
which Rosetta was taken, and the neglect by which it was immediately
lost again, were talked of very frequently by the natives, who knew not
how to reconcile the failure of the latter invasion with the complete
success of the former, when the successful one was against the French,
the conquerors of Egypt, and the latter against the Turks, so often
beaten by them.
We visited the public bath, near the Frank quarter, which exceeds in
elegance the baths of Alexandria and the greater part of those of
Cairo. The fertility of Egypt was well exemplified by the vast heaps
of corn of all kinds that were lying on the wharfs, ready to be shipped
for Alexandria, but particularly of wheat, the exportation of which, by
English transports, formed, at this time, no small part of the revenue
of the viceroy: and there is no better proof of it, than the vast
fortunes that were amassed by individuals from agency and brokerage
only.
Lady Hester’s stay at Rosetta was no longer than was sufficient to
prepare the boats necessary for conveying us up to Cairo. The Nile was
at this time at its lowest ebb. Two barges of a large size were hired,
one for Lady Hester and her maids, and one for Mr. B., Mr. Pearce,
and myself. They are called, in Arabic, _mashes_, and are very
commodious; they have sometimes a single lateen sail, sometimes two
or three. The portion of the vessel towards the stern is covered in,
like a London pleasure-barge, and the mouldings and doors are neatly
carved and gilded. They have two cabins of about eight feet square;
small indeed, but sufficiently large to contain a bed, to eat in, and
for whatever purposes a cabin can be wanted. The sail is used when the
wind is fair, and, from the windings of the river, it happens that no
one wind is always unfair: if the sail will not serve, then towing
is resorted to; and the sailors show no little skill in keeping the
head of the barge to the stream, and in forcing her onwards. There is
a fireplace in the forecastle, and every village on the banks of the
river supplies eggs, milk, and poultry: so that nothing can exceed the
convenience of such a conveyance.
Having taken leave of Captain Hope, who returned to Alexandria, we left
Rosetta, on the 9th of March: and, proceeding up the Nile, we sailed in
company for two days, generally landing once or twice a day to walk by
the river-side, keeping pace with the boats, which often ran aground,
owing to the sand-banks that abound, when the water is low. Not far
up the river, in conformity with a promise I had made the Mufti of
Rosetta to visit his brother, shaykh of a place named Debby, abreast
of which we now were, and which is about a mile from the waterside, I
landed; and, accompanied by Mr. B. and Mr. Pearce, was conducted to
the house of the shaykh, who was labouring under ophthalmia: I gave
him a collyrium, and we took our leave. As a mark of his gratitude
for this little service, he sent on board three live lambs, one
hundred eggs, and a gallon of milk, having previously overwhelmed us
with thanks. We re-embarked: the stream was gentle, and the motion
scarcely perceptible. Celebrated as the Nile has been in all ages, it
has nothing to recommend it in point of beauty, and the water is the
most turbid that can be seen. The third day, our barge ran aground so
firmly, that, during the time that was spent in getting her off, Lady
Hester’s barge got so much the start of us as to reach Cairo one day
before us: and when we arrived, on the 14th of March, the sixth day
from our departure, she was already settled in the house prepared for
her.
During the season of the ebb of the river, the banks are so high that
nothing whatever can be seen from the boat; it is necessary, therefore,
to land to get a view of the country. When landed, the eye roves
over an endless plain, the sameness of which is broken by groves of
date-trees, and, in the midst of them, on low eminences, generally
stand villages and towns. The spectator feels a kind of loneliness, and
is forced to recall to his mind the productiveneness of the land--to
balance the useful with the agreeable--before he can bring himself to
admit that Egypt in reality equals its renown. When, however, he walks
inland a few furlongs, when he beholds the richness of vegetation, the
variety of grain, the indescribable fatness of the soil--the whole
together, if he reflects, must forcibly strike him as an example of
fertility, well worthy of all the praises that poets and historians
have bestowed upon it. The miserable villages of the peasants were an
assemblage of hovels, made of mud, or of mud bricks baked in the sun.
As they are fearful of Bedouins, or robbers of other kinds, the village
is generally shut in by a mud wall, more often rudely quadrangular than
otherwise, of a height sufficient to prevent a man’s getting over. To
this there is one gate. On entering, a street somewhat wide generally
leads from it, and here will be found the villagers squatted on their
haunches, eyeing with suspicious looks every stranger that enters,
lest he should be some government officer, some soldier, or one of
those from whom they are accustomed to experience harm or loss. If the
stranger, led by the curiosity natural to a European, should endeavour
to penetrate farther into the village, he finds himself, at every
instant, opposed by a blind alley; or he winds through a lane which,
perhaps, brings him out just where he entered: and, in some villages,
we found mazes more intricate than the Cretan labyrinth is reported to
have been. Then the alarm of the women running to hide themselves, and
of the children scampering after them, the jealousy of the husbands,
and sometimes the barking of dogs, make it altogether difficult for a
European to do more than to seat himself in some open space, and limit
his curiosity to the sight of what comes before him.
As a strong wind generally prevails during the heat of the day, the
dust raised by it is sometimes borne in such volumes as almost to
blind a person: and it is this that serves (not to generate, but once
generated) to keep up the ophthalmia so common in Egypt. Eyes that have
once become sore are seldom entirely cured in this country; and the
soreness either terminates in blear eyes or blindness.
We were within ten or fifteen miles of Cairo, and at dinner, when we
were informed that the Pyramids were in sight; we naturally rose from
table, and hastened to behold these wonderful monuments: but at this
distance they excited no astonishment, for the size of their bases is
so large as to render their height much less striking than it otherwise
would be.
In the night of the fifth day from our departure, we arrived at Bulák,
where are the warehouses and quays of Cairo. We had retired to rest,
and, on waking in the morning, the crowd and bustle on the shore marked
the vicinity of a metropolis. The mode of conveyance all through Egypt
is on asses for short distances, and on camels for longer ones. The
asses are trained to go at an amble so expeditiously and pleasantly
that Indolence could not invent anything more agreeable. Their saddles
were not made of leather, but of a sort of web, and stuffed, with a
high pummel and low croup, to a considerable thickness. The stirrups
were of bronze, and of the shape of those worn by the hussar cavalry.
The bridle reins were made of silk and worsted, with gay tassels. The
whole furniture of a gentleman’s ass would cost not less than from
five to ten pounds. Each ass had its driver, who ran behind with a
small goad, and warned the passengers to clear the road; and, as the
passengers were many, and the roads generally narrow, his lungs were
never at rest for a moment.
Being all mounted, and the luggage-asses loaded, we set off about nine
o’clock in the morning for Cairo, which is (as far as I recollect)
about a mile from the river. In entering the city from this quarter,
the road passed through a large meadow in the suburbs, called the
Usbekéah, on one side of which was the palace of the pasha. He
happened to be returning from a ride at the moment we were passing;
and, just in the centre of the meadow, where the two main roads cut
each other at right angles, he came up one as we came up the other. He
was on a mule, accompanied by a numerous suite, more splendidly mounted
and dressed than any retinue I had ever seen in Turkey, except in the
imperial procession at Constantinople. Our ass-drivers immediately told
us to get down until the pasha had passed by, which, being unaccustomed
to such orders, we did not comply with. The pasha cast his eyes upon
us, and naturally concluded we were strangers. His suite looked
indignantly upon us, as if they waited for the word to make us dismount
by force; for the liberties which the Franks think themselves entitled
to in Turkish countries are always beheld with an eye of jealousy. The
pasha passed on to his palace, and we entered the streets of Cairo.
As the Frank quarter is close to the Usbekéah, we soon came to it, and
were shown to Lady Hester’s house through some streets hardly ten feet
broad, and where the bow windows on the first floor almost touched:
it was insufficient to contain all the party, and Mr. Pearce and
myself had to look out lodgings for ourselves. He chose the Franciscan
monastery, and I the house of a merchant, built in the flourishing
times of Egypt. In some respects, it exceeded any house I afterwards
saw. Every room, for the sake of coolness, was floored with marbles,
variegated in mosaic work, and wooden blinds, of curious workmanship
not unlike the backs of old-fashioned cane chairs, admitted a dim light
into the room, and excluded the glaring rays of the sun. The inmates of
the house were the merchant himself and a black slave, his mistress--a
gentleman who was said to be an apostate Jew, and who had at different
times been commissary in the English army, a merchant, and I know not
what--an Italian merchant who had become bankrupt, and who was in
lodgings until he had retrieved his affairs; and a young clerk. In
Turkish towns, where Franks are established, it is not uncommon to meet
with adventurers of every kind; and those quiet persons who live by
honest and plain dealing would fall into poverty in this country, where
chicanery is considered as admissible in all transactions.
Lady Hester’s first care was to equip herself with proper clothes
to appear in before the pasha. She chose (among the costumes of
Mahometans) that of the people of Barbary, I believe of the Tunisians,
and purchased a sumptuous dress, beautifully embroidered, of purple
velvet and gold.[18] I dressed myself in the common costume of a
gentleman or an effendi.
In four or five days everything was ready for this important visit,
no doubt very interesting to the pasha, as he had never seen an
Englishwoman of rank before. Indeed her Ladyship’s arrival in Cairo
had created a wonderful curiosity in all ranks both of Turks and
Christians, and everybody was ambitious of her acquaintance. The pasha
sent five horses, richly caparisoned after the Mameluke fashion, on
which we mounted, and were conducted to the Usbekéah palace. Much
honour was shown her on the occasion: as in the number of silver sticks
that walked before her; in the privilege of dismounting at the inner
gate; and in other such trifles, which are, however, the scale by which
the spectators measure the consequence of a person.
The pasha, rising at her entrance, received Lady Hester in a small
kiosk, or pavilion, being a detached room in the garden of his harým,
painted and gilded so beautifully within and without that it looked
like a fairy palace. The room had a divan or sofa of scarlet velvet
gorgeously embroidered with gold, on three sides, and a fountain in the
centre. A delicious sherbet of a green colour was first presented in
cut glass cups: the pipe was presented, but declined by her ladyship,
who had not yet learned to smoke. Coffee was then served in china cups,
supported in gold zerfs, ornamented with precious stones. The pasha
smoked a rich pipe, and drank his coffee out of a cup equally costly:
he is a small man, and was plainly though richly dressed. I do not
now recollect what the conversation turned on. The visit lasted about
an hour. The person who acted as interpreter on the occasion was Mr.
Boghoz, a gentleman of the most courtier-like manners, and who, to a
great fidelity of interpretation, of which, from his knowledge of many
languages, he was perfectly capable, added an amiability that seemed to
embellish the phrases he had to repeat. On taking leave, we were shown
through the apartments of the harým, at that time under repair. They
were in too confused a state for us to judge what they finally would
be; but the ceilings which were finished had not half the taste that I
afterwards observed in the arabesque gilding in some of the old houses
of Cairo and Damascus.
One of our first employments in Cairo was to see the best riders of
the old Mamelukes, whose reputation for horsemanship in Turkey is
unrivalled. For this purpose we rose every morning with the sun; and,
mounting asses, went to the open space in front of the castle, where
the parades and drills are held, and where the officers of the court
amuse themselves in throwing the girýd. The result of what we saw
during ten or fifteen days was that a Mameluke will, in the _bas
airs_ of horsemanship, do as much as a European, but that his
practice is founded on no rules, and is derived from a cruel exercise
of the power that an irresistible bit gives him over the animal, who is
otherwise so overweighted with a heavy saddle and accoutrements that
he cannot resist if he would.[19] The rapidity of his charge for a
short distance, and the suddenness of his halt, are likewise matters of
admiration. We were, however, present at Cairo at a time when the most
famous of the Mamelukes no longer existed. The massacre of 1811 had
destroyed or dispersed the whole of that body, and their very name and
attire were enough to expose a person to suspicion.
The Place, or square before the castle, was likewise used for buying
and selling horses. A common riding horse fetched about ten or twelve
pounds, and a very good one about double that money. Franks, however,
always seemed to have some disadvantage in purchasing, from their
ignorance of the language, and their general custom of being more
liberal of their money than the Turks and Christians of the country,
and hence they always paid dearer.
Soon after our arrival, Monsieur Drovetti, the French consul, a
Piedmontese, invited Lady Hester to be present at the opening of
a mummy. I went with her, and there we found also Mr. Milner and
Mr. Calthorpe, English gentlemen on their travels. A French surgeon
performed the dissecting part, which consisted in dividing a vast
number of folds of fine linen or cotton which bandaged the body tight
round from head to foot. When these were removed, the right hand was
found to hold a papyrus. The features were not in good preservation.
But M. Drovetti had in his possession the head of one so little changed
that the spectator could with difficulty persuade himself of its great
antiquity, as the features, hair, and teeth, still existed in good
preservation. The surgeon drew a tooth from the mummy before us, which
broke in the extraction, as a recent one would do.
Frequent opportunities occurred of seeing the troop of French
Mamelukes, which remained in Egypt in the service of the beys after the
evacuation of that country by the French army. Their complexion and
look rendered them distinguishable from the other cavalry of the pasha.
They were (by guess) from thirty to sixty in number; and, when the
remnant of the Mamelukes fled to Nubia, they joined Mohammed Aly Pasha.
As renegadoes and deserters, they would not seem to deserve our esteem;
but the circumstances of the times in which they changed their religion
and their masters must serve as their excuse. Certain it is that those
whose sentiments we had an opportunity of knowing did not repent the
change. He that was a soldier in the French army, and subject to the
hardships of a soldier’s life, found himself enabled, as a Mameluke, to
keep his horse, his groom, and, what most accords with a Frenchman’s
ideas, to take a wife and repudiate her as often as he liked, without
scandal too. And he that worshipped the Goddess of Reason, or had no
religion at all, had adopted a creed at least of some sort, although
the creed of an impostor. As their characters accorded but very little
with those of the Egyptians, so did their manners; which, with the
exception of sitting and dressing like a Turk, were as much French
as ever they were. They played at billiards, drank, and gamed as
heretofore, and were always to be found in the Frank quarter.
Some days after us, Mr. Henry Wynne, brother of Sir W. W. Wynne,
arrived at Cairo, with a dragoman and servant, having crossed the
Desert from Gaza in Syria, on camels. That servant was the means of
saving the life of Lady Hester Stanhope, and two or three persons who
were with her, when returning from the Pyramids. This excursion, though
the Pyramids are so near to Cairo, was not then altogether free from
danger, or at least strangers who were desirous of visiting them were
led to believe so. Lady Hester, therefore, engaged the French Mamelukes
with their captain to accompany her, and she invited Monsieur Aslyn,
a French savant and linguist, residing at Cairo, to be of the party.
Mounted and armed, we left Cairo in the afternoon. Four camels carried
a tent, provisions, and water. We proceeded to Old Cairo, on the east
bank of the Nile, once the capital of Egypt, and now in complete
ruins, where it was settled that we should sleep. Mr. Pearce and Mr.
Wynne were also of the party. Lady Hester had apartments provided for
her in a separate house, and, being fatigued, retired to rest almost
immediately.
Not knowing how to pass the evening, we resolved to send for the
dancing women. As it was late, they were not found without difficulty;
at last three came, attended by their keeper, who was likewise the
tabor player. Just awaked from sleep, their motions at first were
sluggish; but it was suggested that liquor would animate them: the
experiment was tried, and succeeded admirably: they became gay, and
accompanied their dancing with such gestures as are supposed to
constitute its chief excellence; but, as they were devoid of grace,
not being first-rate performers, they excited disgust rather than
admiration.[20] They had castanets on their fingers, with which they
made good music. A blouse, with a girdle round the waist, was their
only covering.
And here it may not be amiss to contrast with this light dress the
usages of Europe with regard to the stays, bandages, collars, and other
means, by which it is endeavoured to give uprightness and justness
to the female shape. No race of people can be better formed than the
Egyptians, who, from their infancy, scarcely wear any covering but a
blue cotton shift with a girdle. They know not what stays are; yet, to
see the women as they walk along, one is tempted to call them all tawny
Venuses.
The next morning we ferried over the Nile; and, riding across the
country for about six miles, through fields where reapers were now
harvesting, we came to the edge of the Desert, about half a mile
from the Pyramids. On the top of the highest we perceived a man, who,
the Mamelukes said, was planted there to give notice of the approach
of Bedouins from the side of the Desert. On any alarm the peasants
immediately retired with their cattle to a place of safety. The moment
we could suppose he had made out what kind of persons we were, he
scampered down the outside, just as if it had been a staircase; and,
having met us, offered himself as a guide to conduct such as wished to
mount to the top. The height is nearly 500 feet, and it was necessary
to clamber, taking advantage of the receding layers of the stones that
compose the vast mass, and making use of them as steps. From the summit
we enjoyed a prospect, which is singular in its character, presenting
on one hand a line of verdure intersected by the Nile, and of a
cheerful aspect, with flocks, herds, and villages; and on the other a
sandy desert, so dreary that it makes the beholder shudder merely to
look across it. An English traveller, who had preceded us a short time,
had acquired a temporary celebrity, by passing a night on the top of
the Great Pyramid. We descended, and prepared to enter these stupendous
monuments of antiquity: this was done by stripping off as much clothes
as decency will permit, to save being too much oppressed by the heat
within. Lady Hester, not choosing to venture in, awaited our coming out
under a tent.
The first suggestions of common sense are often founded on better
grounds than the parade of reasoning will allow them to be. Every
person who enters the chamber of the Great Pyramid would immediately
and naturally say, when he saw the granite cist in the centre--this was
a sarcophagus; and to enclose that in security from sacrilege, or for
the purpose of veneration, has been the object of the builder of this
vast pile.
Having carved our names over the door, and breakfasted near it, we left
the spot to return, and arrived at the Nile before sunset. Here it was
necessary to divide into separate parties, as the ferry-boats were of
unequal sizes. Lady Hester Stanhope, Mr. B., Mr. Wynne, his servant,
and myself, entered one which was both rickety and dirty, and rowed
by a single man. The river at this place was broad, and the stream
rapid. We had reached the middle; when, either from the strain which
the old man made with his foot against the ribs of the boat, or from
pure rottenness, a plank sprung in the bottom, and the water gushed in
in a stream. In a moment we should have been overwhelmed. George, Mr.
W.’s servant, whilst others were staring at their danger, pulled off
his turban, and stuffed it into the leak; then, doubling his fist in
the boatman’s face, he declared with vehemence that, if he did not pull
with all his might, he would kill him. Urged by his fright, the man
laboured hard, and we reached the shore. George there pulled his turban
out of the hole, and the boat sunk immediately. We got to Cairo without
any further danger; our horses having been ferried over in barges at
the same time with ourselves.