INDUSTRY.
It is melancholy to contrast the present poverty of Egypt with its
prosperity in ancient times, when the variety, elegance, and exquisite
finish displayed in its manufactures attracted the admiration of
surrounding nations, and its inhabitants were in no need of foreign
commerce to increase their wealth, or to add to their comforts.
Antiquarian researches show us that a high degree of excellence in the
arts of civilized life distinguished the Egyptians in the age of Moses,
and at a yet earlier period. Not only the Pharaohs and the priests and
military chiefs, but also a great proportion of the wealthy
agriculturists, and other private individuals, in those remote times,
passed a life of the most refined luxury, were clad in linen of the most
delicate fabric, and reclined on couches and chairs which have served as
models for the furniture of our modern saloons. Nature is as lavish of
her favours as she was of old to the inhabitants of the valley of the
Nile; but, for many centuries, they have ceased to enjoy the benefit of
a steady government: each of their successive rulers, during this long
lapse of time, considering the uncertain tenure of his power, has been
almost wholly intent upon increasing his own wealth; and thus, a large
portion of the nation has gradually perished, and the remnant, in
general, been reduced to a state of the most afflicting poverty. The
male portion of the population of Egypt being scarcely greater than is
sufficient for the cultivation of as much of the soil as is subject to
the natural inundation, or easily irrigated by artificial means, the
number of persons who devote themselves to manufactures in this country
is comparatively very small; and as there are so few competitors, and,
at present, few persons of wealth to encourage them, their works in
general display but little skill. But the low state of the manual arts
has, in a great degree, been occasioned by another cause: the Turkish
Sultán Seleem, after his conquest of Egypt, took with him thence to his
own country, as related by El-Gabartee, so many masters of crafts which
were not practised in Turkey, that more than fifty manual arts ceased to
be pursued in Egypt.
Painting and sculpture, as applied to the representation of living
objects, are, I have already stated, absolutely prohibited by the
religion of El-Islám: there are, however, some Muslims in Egypt who
attempt the delineation of men, lions, camels, and other animals,
flowers, boats, etc., particularly in (what they call) the decoration of
a few shop-fronts, the doors of pilgrims’ houses, etc.; though their
performances would be surpassed by children of five or six years of age
in our own country. But the Muslim religion especially promotes
industry, by requiring that every man be acquainted with some art or
occupation by which he may, in case of necessity, be able to support
himself and those dependent upon him, and to fulfil all his religious
and moral duties. The art in which the Egyptians most excel is
architecture. The finest specimens of Arabian architecture are found in
the Egyptian metropolis and its environs; and not only the mosques and
other public buildings are remarkable for their grandeur and beauty, but
many of the private dwellings, also, attract our admiration, especially
by their interior structure and decorations. Yet this art has, of late
years, much declined, like most others in this country: a new style of
architecture, partly Oriental and partly European, and of a very plain
description, being generally preferred. The doors, ceilings, windows,
and pavements of the buildings in the older style, which have already
been described, display considerable taste, of a peculiar kind; and so,
also, do most of the Egyptian manufactures; though many of them are
rather clumsy, or ill finished. The turners of wood, whose chief
occupation was that of making the lattice-work of windows, were very
numerous, and their work was generally neater than it is at present:
they have less employment now, as windows of modern houses are often
made of glass. The turner, like most other artisans in Egypt, sits to
his work. In the art of glass-making, for which Egypt was so much
celebrated in ancient times, the modern inhabitants of this country
possess but little skill: they have lost the art of manufacturing
coloured glass for windows; but, for the construction of windows of this
material, they are still admired, though not so much as they were a few
years ago, before the adoption of a new style of architecture diminished
the demand for their work. Their pottery is generally of a rude kind: it
mostly consists of porous bottles and jars, for cooling, as well as
keeping, water. For their skill in the preparation of morocco leather,
they are justly celebrated. The branches and leaves of the palm-tree
they employ in a great variety of manufactures: of the former, they make
seats, coops, chests, frames for beds, etc.: of the latter, baskets,
panniers, mats, brooms, fly-whisks, and many other utensils. Of the
fibres, also, that grow at the foot of the branches of the palm-tree are
made most of the ropes used in Egypt. The best mats (which are much used
instead of carpets, particularly in summer) are made of rushes. Egypt
has lost the celebrity which it enjoyed in ancient times for its fine
linen: the linen, cotton, and woollen cloths, and the silks now woven in
this country, are generally of coarse or poor qualities.
The Egyptians have long been famous for the art of hatching fowls’ eggs
by artificial heat. This practice, though obscurely described by ancient
authors, appears to have been common in Egypt in very remote times. The
building in which the process is performed is called, in Lower Egypt,
“maamal el-firákh,” and, in Upper Egypt, “maamal el-farroog:” in the
former division of the country, there are more than a hundred such
establishments; and in the latter, more than half that number. Most of
the superintendents, if not all, are Copts. The proprietors pay a tax to
the government. The maamal is constructed of burnt or sun-dried bricks;
and consists of two parallel rows of small ovens and cells for fire,
divided by a narrow, vaulted passage; each oven being about nine or ten
feet long, eight feet wide, and five or six feet high, and having above
it a vaulted fire-cell, of the same size, or rather less in height. Each
oven communicates with the passage by an aperture large enough for a man
to enter; and with its fire-cell by a similar aperture: the fire-cells,
also, of the same row, communicate with each other; and each has an
aperture in its vault (for the escape of the smoke), which is opened
only occasionally: the passage, too, has several such apertures in its
vaulted roof. The eggs are placed upon mats or straw, and one tier above
another, usually to the number of three tiers, in the ovens; and burning
“gelleh” (a fuel before mentioned, composed of the dung of animals,
mixed with chopped straw, and made into the form of round, flat cakes)
is placed upon the floors of the fire-cells above. The entrance of the
maamal is well closed. Before it are two or three small chambers, for
the attendant, and the fuel, and the chickens when newly hatched. The
operation is performed only during two or three months in the year—in
the spring—earliest in the most southern parts of the country. Each
maamal in general contains from twelve to twenty-four ovens; and
receives about a hundred and fifty thousand eggs, during the annual
period of its continuing open; one quarter or a third of which number
generally fail. The peasants of the neighbourhood supply the eggs: the
attendant of the maamal examines them; and afterwards usually gives one
chicken for every two eggs that he has received. In general, only half
the number of ovens are used for the first ten days; and fires are
lighted only in the fire-cells above these. On the eleventh day, these
fires are put out, and others are lighted in the other fire-cells, and
fresh eggs placed in the ovens below these last. On the following day,
some of the eggs in the former ovens are removed, and placed on the
floor of the fire-cells above, where the fires have been extinguished.
The general heat maintained during the process is from 100° to 103° of
Fahrenheit’s thermometer. The manager, having been accustomed to this
art from his youth, knows, from his long experience, the exact
temperature that is required for the success of the operation, without
having any instrument, like our thermometer, to guide him. On the
twentieth day, some of the eggs first put in are hatched; but most, on
the twenty-first day; that is, after the same period as is required in
the case of natural incubation. The weaker of the chickens are placed in
the passage: the rest, in the innermost of the anterior apartments,
where they remain a day or two before they are given to the persons to
whom they are due. When the eggs first placed have been hatched, and the
second supply half hatched, the ovens in which the former were placed,
and which are now vacant, receive the third supply; and, in like manner,
when the second supply is hatched, a fourth is introduced in their
place. I have not found that the fowls produced in this manner are
inferior in point of flavour, or in other respects, to those produced
from the egg by incubation. The fowls and their eggs in Egypt are, in
both cases, and with respect to size and flavour, very inferior to those
in our country.—In one of the Egyptian newspapers published by order of
the government (No. 248, for the 18th of Ramadán, 1246, or the 3d of
March, 1831, of our era) I find the following statement:—
Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt.
Number of establishments for the 105 59
hatching of fowls’ eggs in the
present year
Number of eggs used 19,325,600 6,878,900
Number spoiled 6,255,867 2,529,660
Number hatched 13,069,733 4,349,240
Though the commerce of Egypt has much declined since the discovery of
the passage from Europe to India by the Cape of Good Hope, and in
consequence of the monopolies and exactions of its present ruler, it is
still considerable.
-------------------------------------------
[Illustration: SHOPS IN A STREET IN CAIRO.]
The principal object in this view is the shop of an “Attar,” who sells
drugs, perfumes, wax candles, etc. The inscription on the shutter is,
“Yá fettáh” (See chap. xi.)
_Lane’s Modern Egyptians_] [_Page 289_
-------------------------------------------
The principal _imports_ from Europe are woollen cloths (chiefly from
France), calico, plain muslin, figured muslin (of Scotch manufacture,
for turbans), silks, velvet, crape, shawls (Scotch, English, and French)
in imitation of those of Kashmeer, writing-paper (chiefly from Venice),
fire-arms, straight sword-blades (from Germany) for the Nubians, etc.,
watches and clocks, coffee-cups and various articles of earthenware and
glass (mostly from Germany), many kinds of hardwares, planks, metal,
beads, wine and liqueurs; and white slaves, silks, embroidered
handkerchiefs and napkins, mouth-pieces of pipes, slippers, and a
variety of made goods, copper and brass wares, etc., from
Constantinople:—from Asia Minor, carpets (among which, the seggádehs, or
small prayer-carpets), figs, etc.:—from Syria, tobacco, striped silks,
’abáyehs (or woollen cloaks), soap:—from Arabia, coffee, spices, several
drugs, Indian goods (as shawls, silks, muslins, etc.):—from Abyssinia
and Sennár and the neighbouring countries, slaves, gold, ivory,
ostrich-feathers, kurbágs (or whips of hippopotamus’ hide), tamarind in
cakes, gums, senna:—from El-Gharb, or the West (that is, northern
Africa, from Egypt westwards), tarbooshes (or red cloth scull-caps),
burnooses (or white woollen hooded cloaks), heráms (or white woollen
sheets, used for night-coverings and for dress), yellow morocco shoes.
The principal _exports_ to Europe are wheat, maize, rice, beans, cotton,
flax, indigo, coffee, various spices, gums, senna, ivory,
ostrich-feathers:—to Turkey, male and female Abyssinian and black slaves
(including a few eunuchs), rice, coffee, spices, henna, etc.:—to Syria,
slaves, rice, etc.:—to Arabia, chiefly corn:—to Sennár and the
neighbouring countries, cotton and linen and woollen goods, a few Syrian
and Egyptian striped silks, small carpets, beads and other ornaments,
soap, the straight sword-blades mentioned before, fire-arms, copper
wares, writing-paper.
To convey some notion of the value of money in Cairo, I insert the
following list of the present prices of certain common articles of food,
etc. In the country towns and villages, most kinds of provisions are
cheaper than in the metropolis: meat, fowls, and pigeons, about half the
prices here mentioned: wheat and bread, from about one third to half.
P. F. (£ _s._ _d._)
Wheat, the ardebb (or about five bushels), from 63 0 (0 13 2⅕)
50 P. to
Rice, the ardebb, about 240 0 (2 8 0 )
Mutton or lamb, the ratl 1 0 (0 0 2⅖)
Beef, do. 0 35 (0 0 2⅒)
Fowls, each, 1 P. 10 F. to 1 20 (0 0 3⅗)
Pigeons, the pair, 1 P. 10 F. to 1 20 (0 0 3⅗)
Eggs, three for 0 5 (0 0 03୵10)
Fresh butter, the ratl 2 0 (0 0 4⅘)
Clarified butter, do. 2 P. to 2 10 (0 0 5⅖)
Coffee do. 6 P. to 7 0 (0 1 4⅘)
Gebelee tobacco, the ukkah, 15 P. to 18 0 (0 3 7⅕)
Sooree do. do. 5 P. to 10 0 (0 2 0 )
Egyptian loaf-sugar, the ratl 2 0 (0 0 4⅘)
European do do. 2 10 (0 0 5⅖)
Summer grapes do. 0 10 (0 0 0⅗)
Later do do. 20 F. to 0 30 (0 0 1⅘)
Fine biscuit, the kantár 160 0 (1 12 0 )
Water, the kirbeh (or goat’s skin), 10 F. to 0 20 (0 0 1⅕)
Fire-wood, the donkey-load 11 0 (0 2 2⅖)
Charcoal, the ukkah, 20 F. to 0 30 (0 0 1⅘)
Soap, the ratl 1 30 (0 0 4⅕)
Tallow candles, the ukkah 8 20 (0 1 8⅖)
Best wax do do. 25 0 (0 5 0 )
_Note._—The “ratl” is about 15¾ oz., and the “ukkah” nearly 2¾ lbs.,
avoir-dupois. The “kantár” is 100 ratls. P. denotes Piasters: F.,
Faddahs. For a full account of Egyptian measures, weights, and moneys,
see the Appendix.
There are in Cairo numerous buildings called “wekálehs,”[434] chiefly
designed for the accommodation of merchants, and for the reception of
their goods. The wekáleh is a building surrounding a square or oblong
court. Its ground-floor consists of vaulted magazines for merchandise,
which face the court; and these magazines are sometimes used as shops.
Above them are generally lodgings, which are entered from a gallery
extending along each of the four sides of the court; or, in the place of
these lodgings, there are other magazines; and in many wekálehs, which
have apartments intended as lodgings, these apartments are used as
magazines. In general, a wekáleh has only one common entrance; the door
of which is closed at night, and kept by a porter. There are about two
hundred of these buildings in Cairo; and three-fourths of that number
are within that part which constituted the original city.
It has already been mentioned, in the Introduction to this work, that
the great thoroughfare-streets of Cairo generally have a row of shops
along each side, not communicating with the superstructures. So, also,
have many of the bye-streets. Commonly, a portion of a street, or a
whole street, contains chiefly, or solely, shops appropriated to one
particular trade[435]; and is called the Sook (or Market) of that trade;
or is named after a mosque there situated. Thus, a part of the main
street of the city is called “Sook en-Nahháseen,” or the market of the
sellers of copper wares (or simply “the Nahháseen”—the word “Sook” being
usually dropped); another part is called “the Góhargeeyeh,” or [market
of] the jewellers; another, “the Khurdageeyeh,” or [market of] the
sellers of hardwares; another, “the Ghóreeyeh,” or [market of] the
Ghóreeyeh, which is the name of a mosque situated there. These are some
of the chief sooks of the city. The principal Turkish sook is called
“Khán El-Khaleelee.” Some of the sooks are covered over with matting, or
with planks, supported by beams extending across the street, a little
above the shops, or above the houses.
The shop (“dukkán”) is a square recess, or cell, generally about six or
seven feet high, and between three and four feet in width; or it
consists of two cells, one behind the other, the inner one serving as a
magazine.[436] The floor of the shop is even with the top of a
“mastab′ah,” or raised seat of stone or brick, built against the front.
This is usually about two feet and a half, or three feet, in height; and
about the same in breadth. The front of the shop is furnished with
folding shutters, commonly consisting of three leaves, one above
another: the uppermost of these is turned up in front; the two other
leaves, sometimes folded together, are turned down upon the mastab′ah,
and form an even seat, upon which is spread a mat or carpet, with,
perhaps, a cushion or two. Some shops have folding doors instead of the
shutters above described. The shopkeeper generally sits upon the
mastab′ah, unless he be obliged to retire a little way within his shop
to make room for two or more customers, who mount up on the seat, taking
off their shoes before they draw up their feet upon the mat or carpet.
To a regular customer, or one who makes any considerable purchase, the
shopkeeper generally presents a pipe (unless the former have his own
with him, and it be filled and lighted), and he calls or sends to the
boy of the nearest coffee-shop, and desires him to bring some coffee,
which is served in the same manner as in the house, in small china cups
placed within cups of brass. Not more than two persons can sit
conveniently upon the mastab′ah of a shop, unless it be more spacious
than is commonly the case; but some are three or four feet broad, and
the shops to which they belong five or six feet in width; and
consequently these afford room enough for four persons, or more, sitting
in the Eastern fashion. The shopman generally says his prayers upon the
mastab′ah in the sight of the passengers in the street. When he leaves
his shop for a few minutes, or for about half an hour, he either relies
for the protection of his property upon the next shopkeepers, or those
opposite, or hangs a net before his shop. He seldom thinks it necessary
to close and lock the shutters, excepting at night, when he returns to
his house; or when he goes to the mosque, on the Friday, to join in the
noon-prayers of that day.—The apartments above the shops have been
described in the Introduction.
-------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
THE SHOP OF A TURKISH MERCHANT IN THE SOOK CALLED KHÁN EL-KHALEELEE.
]
_Lane’s Modern Egyptians_] [_Page 293_
-------------------------------------------
Buying and selling are here very tiresome processes to persons
unaccustomed to such modes of bargaining. When a shopkeeper is asked the
price of any of his goods, he generally demands more than he expects to
receive; the customer declares the price exorbitant, and offers about
half or two-thirds of the sum first-named; the price thus bidden is, of
course, rejected: but the shopkeeper lowers his demand; and then the
customer, in his turn, bids somewhat higher than before: thus they
usually go on until they meet about half-way between the sum first
demanded and that first offered, and so the bargain is concluded. But I
believe that most of the tradesmen are, by European travellers, unjustly
blamed for thus acting; since I have ascertained that many an Egyptian
shopkeeper will sell an article for a profit of one _per cent._, and
even less. When a person would make any but a trifling purchase, having
found the article that exactly suits him, he generally makes up his mind
for a long altercation: he mounts upon the mastab′ah of the shop, seats
himself at his ease, fills and lights his pipe, and then the contest of
words commences, and lasts often half an hour, or even more. Sometimes
the shopkeeper, or the customer, interrupts the bargaining by
introducing some irrelevant topic of conversation, as if the one had
determined to abate his demand no further, or the other to bid no
higher: then again the haggling is continued. The bargain being
concluded, and the purchaser having taken his leave, his servant
generally receives, from the tradesman, a small present of money, which,
if not given spontaneously, he scruples not to demand. In many of the
sooks in Cairo auctions are held on stated days, once or twice a week.
They are conducted by “delláls” (or brokers), hired either by private
persons who have anything that they wish to sell in this manner, or by
shopkeepers; and the purchasers are of both these classes. The “delláls”
carry the goods up and down, announcing the sums bidden with cries of
“harág” or “haráj,” etc.—Among the lower orders, a bargain of the most
trifling nature is often made with a great deal of vehemence of voice
and gesture: a person ignorant of their language would imagine that the
parties engaged in it were quarrelling, and highly enraged. The peasants
will often say, when a person asks the price of anything which they have
for sale, “Receive it as a present:”[437] this answer having become a
common form of speech, they know that advantage will not be taken of it;
and when desired again to name the price, they will do so, but generally
name a sum that is exorbitant.
It would be tedious and uninteresting to enumerate all the trades
pursued in Cairo. The principal of them are those of the draper, or
seller of materials for dress (who is simply called “tágir,” or
merchant), and of the seller of ready-made dresses, arms, etc. (who has
the same appellation); the jeweller (“góhargee”); the goldsmith and
silversmith (“sáïgh”), who only works by order; the seller of hardwares
(“khurdagee”); the seller of copper wares (“nahhás”); the tailor
(“kheiyát”); the dyer (“sabbágh”); the darner (“refta”); the ornamental
sewer and maker of shereet, or silk lace, etc. (“habbák”); the maker of
silk cords, etc. (“’akkád”); the maker of pipes (“shibukshee”); the
druggist and perfumer (“’attár”), who also sells wax candles, etc.; the
tobacconist (“dakhákhinee”); the fruiterer (“fákihánee”); the seller of
dried fruits (“nukalee”); the seller of sherbet (“sharbetlee”); the
oilman (“zeiyát”), who sells butter, cheese, honey, etc., as well as
oil; the greengrocer (“khudaree”); the butcher (“gezzár”); and the baker
(“farrán”), to whom bread, meat, etc., are sent to be baked. There are
many cooks’ shops, where kebáb and various other dishes are cooked and
sold; but it is seldom that persons eat at these shops, generally
sending to them for provisions when they cannot conveniently prepare
food in their own houses. Shopkeepers often procure their breakfast or
dinner from one of these cooks, who are called “tabbákhs.” There are
also many shops in which fateerehs, and others in which boiled beans
(fool mudemmes) are sold. Both these articles of food have been
described in a former chapter. Many persons of the lower orders eat at
the shop of the “fatátiree” (or seller of fateerehs), or at that of the
“fowwál” (or bean-seller).
Bread, vegetables, and a variety of eatables, are carried about for
sale. The cries of some of the hawkers are curious, and deserve to be
mentioned. The seller of “tirmis” (or lupins) often cries, “Aid! O
Imbábee! Aid!” This is understood in two senses; as an invocation for
aid to the sheykh El-Imbábee, a celebrated Muslim saint, buried at the
village of Imbábeh, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Cairo, in the
neighbourhood of which village the best tirmis is grown; and also as
implying that it is through the aid of the saint above mentioned that
the tirmis of Imbábeh is so excellent. The seller of this vegetable also
cries, “The tirmis of Imbábeh surpasses the almond!” Another cry of the
seller of tirmis is, “O how sweet the little offspring of the river!”
This last cry, which is seldom heard but in the country towns and
villages of Egypt, alludes to the manner in which the tirmis is prepared
for food. To deprive it of its natural bitterness, it is soaked, for two
or three days, in a vessel full of water, then boiled; and, after this,
sewed up in a basket of palm-leaves (called “fard”), and thrown into the
Nile, where it is left to soak again two or three days, after which it
is dried, and eaten cold, with a little salt.—The seller of sour limes
cries, “God make them light [or easy of sale]! O limes!”—The toasted
pips of a kind of melon called “’abdalláwee,” and of the water-melon,
are often announced by the cry of “O consoler of the embarrassed! O
pips!” though more commonly by the simple cry of “Roasted pips!”—A
curious cry of the seller of a kind of sweetmeat (“haláweh”) composed of
treacle fried with some other ingredients, is, “For a nail! O
sweetmeat!” He is said to be half a thief: children and servants often
steal implements of iron, etc., from the house in which they live, and
give them in exchange for his sweetmeat.—The hawker of oranges cries,
“Honey! O oranges! Honey!” and similar cries are used by the sellers of
other fruits and vegetables, so that it is sometimes impossible to guess
what the person announces for sale, as when we hear the cry of
“Sycamore-figs! O grapes!” excepting by the rule that what is for sale
is the least excellent of the fruits, etc., mentioned; as sycamore-figs
are not so good as grapes.—A very singular cry is used by the seller of
roses: “The rose was a thorn; from the sweat of the Prophet it
blossomed.” This alludes to a miracle related of the Prophet.—The
fragrant flowers of the henna-tree (or Egyptian privet) are carried
about for sale, and the seller cries, “Odours of paradise! O flowers of
the henna!”—A kind of cotton-cloth, made by machinery which is put in
motion by a bull, is announced by the cry of “The work of the bull! O
maidens!”
As the water of the wells in Cairo is slightly brackish, numerous
“sakkas” (carriers or sellers of water) obtain their livelihood by
supplying its inhabitants with water from the Nile. During the season of
the inundation, or rather during the period of about four months after
the opening of the canal which runs through the metropolis, the sakkas
draw their water from this canal: at other times they bring it from the
river. It is conveyed in skins by camels and asses, and sometimes, when
the distance is short, and the skin small, by the sakka himself. The
water-skins of the camel (which are called “rei”) are a pair of wide
bags of ox-hide. The ass bears a goat’s skin (called “kirbeh”); so also
does the sakka, if he have no ass. The rei contain three or four
kirbehs. The general cry of the sakka is, “O! may God compensate [me]!”
Whenever this cry is heard, it is known that a sakka is passing. For a
goat’s skin of water, brought from a distance of a mile and a half, or
two miles, he obtains scarcely more than a penny.
[Illustration: WATER-CARRIERS.]
There are also many sakkas who supply passengers in the streets of the
metropolis with water. One of this occupation is called “sakka
sharbeh:” his kirbeh has a long brass spout, and he pours the water
into a brass cup, or an earthen kulleh, for any one who would
drink.—There is a more numerous class who follow the same occupation,
called “hemalees.” These are mostly darweeshes, of the order of the
Rifá’ees, or that of the Beiyoomees, and are exempt from the
income-tax called firdeh. The hemalee carries, upon his back, a vessel
(called “ibreek”) of porous grey earth. This vessel cools the water.
Sometimes the hemalee has an earthen kulleh of water scented with
“móyet zahr” (or orange-flower-water), prepared from the flowers of
the “náring” (a bitter orange), for his best customers; and often a
sprig of náring is stuck in the mouth of his ibreek. He also,
generally, has a wallet hung by his side. From persons of the higher
and middle orders he receives from one to five faddahs for a draught
of water; from the poor, either nothing, or a piece of bread or some
other article of food, which he puts in his wallet. Many hemalees, and
some sakkas who carry the goat’s skin, are found at the scenes of
religious festivals, such as the moolids of saints, etc., in Cairo and
its neighbourhood. They are often paid, by visitors to the tomb of a
saint on such occasions, to distribute the water which they carry to
passengers; a cupful to whoever desires. This work of charity is
called “tesbeel;” and is performed for the sake of the saint, and on
other occasions than moolids. The water-carriers who are thus employed
are generally allowed to fill their ibreeks or kirbehs at a public
fountain, as they demand nothing from the passengers whom they supply.
When employed to distribute water to passengers in the street, etc.,
they generally chant a short cry, inviting the thirsty to partake of
the charity offered them in the name of God, most commonly in the
words, and to the air, here following:—
[Stanza]
Se - beel Al - láh Yá ’at - shán.
and praying that paradise and pardon may be the lot of him who affords
the charitable gift; thus—
[Stanza]
[Stanza]
El - gen - neh wa - l - magh - fi - reh
lak, yá sá - heb es - se - beel.
There are numerous other persons who follow occupations similar to that
of the hemalee. Among these are sellers of “’erksoos,” or infusion of
liquorice, mentioned in a former chapter. The “’erk-soosee” (or seller
of this beverage) generally carries a red earthen jar of the liquid on
his left side, partly supported by a strap and chain, and partly by his
left arm: the mouth having some leaf (or fibres of the palm-tree)
stuffed into it. He also carries two or more brass or china cups, which
he knocks together.—In the same manner, many “sharbetlees” (or sellers
of sherbet) carry about for sale “zebeeb” (or infusion of raisins). The
sharbetlee commonly bears, in his left hand, the glass vessel of a
“sheesheh,” filled with zebeeb; and a large tin or copper jug full of
the same, and several glass cups, in his right hand. Some sharbetlees
carry, on the head, a round tinned copper tray, with a number of glass
cups of “teen meblool,” or “belah meblool,” which are figs and dates
steeped in water; and a copper vessel, or a china bowl, of the same.
Sahlab (a thin jelly, made of water, wheat-starch, and sugar, boiled,
with a little cinnamon or ginger sprinkled upon it; or made as a drink
without starch) is likewise carried about in the same manner; and
“soobiya” (which is a drink made of the pips of the ’abdalláwee melon,
moistened and pounded, and steeped in water, which is then strained, and
sweetened with sugar; or made with rice instead of the pips) is also
vended in a similar way, and carried in vessels like those used for
zebeeb; but the glass cups are generally placed in a kind of trough of
tin, attached, by a belt, to the waist of the seller.
[Illustration: HEMALEES.]
It has been mentioned before that many poor persons in Cairo gain their
livelihood by going about to clean pipes. The pipe-cleaner
(“musellikátee”) carries a number of long wires for this purpose in
three or four hollow canes, or tubes of tin, which are bound together
and slung to his shoulder. A small leather bag, full of tow, to wind
round the top of the wire with which the pipe is cleaned, is attached to
the canes or tin tubes. The musellikátee generally obtains no more than
a “nuss faddah” (or about a quarter of a farthing) for each pipe that he
cleans.
A very great number of persons of both sexes among the lower orders in
Cairo, and many in other towns of Egypt, obtain their subsistence by
begging. As might be expected, not a few of these are abominable
impostors. There are some whose appearance is most distressing to every
humane person who sees them, but who accumulate considerable property. A
case of this kind was made public here a few months ago. A blind felláh,
who was led through the streets of the metropolis by a young girl, his
daughter, both of whom were always nearly naked, was in the daily habit
of bringing to his house a blind Turkish beggar to sup with him. One
evening he was not at home; but his daughter was there, and had prepared
the supper for his Turkish friend, who sat and ate alone; and, in doing
this, happened to put his hand on one side and felt a jar full of money,
which, without scruple, he carried away with him. It contained the sum
of a hundred and ten purses (then equivalent to rather more than five
hundred and fifty guineas), in kheyreeyehs, or small coins of nine
piasters each. The plundered beggar sought redress at the Citadel, and
recovered his property, with the exception of forty kheyreeyehs, which
the thief had spent, but was interdicted from begging in future.
Children are often seen in Cairo perfectly naked; and I have several
times seen females from twelve to twenty years of age, and upwards, with
only a narrow strip of rag round the loins, begging in the streets of
this city. They suffer little from exposure of the bare person to the
cold of winter or the scorching sun of summer, being accustomed to it
from infancy; and the men may, if they choose, sleep in some of the
mosques. In other respects, also, their condition is not quite so bad as
their appearance might lead a stranger to suppose. They are almost sure
of obtaining either food or money sufficient for supplying the absolute
wants of nature in consequence of the charitable disposition of their
countrymen and the common habit which the tradespeople have of eating in
their shops, and generally giving a morsel of their food to those who
ask for it. There are many beggars who spend the greater part of the
day’s gains to indulge themselves at night with the intoxicating
hasheesh, which, for a few hours, renders them, in imagination, the
happiest of mankind.
The cries of the beggars of Cairo are generally appeals to God. Among
the most common are—“O Exciter of compassion! O Lord!”—“For the sake of
God! O ye charitable!”—“I am seeking from my Lord a cake of bread!”—“O
how bountiful Thou art! O Lord!”—“I am the guest of God and the
Prophet!”—in the evening, “My supper must be Thy gift! O Lord!”—on the
eve of Friday, “The night of the excellent Friday!”—and on Friday, “The
excellent day of Friday!”—One who daily passed my door used to exclaim,
“Place thy reliance upon God! There is none but God!” and another, a
woman, I now hear crying, “My supper must be Thy gift! O Lord! from the
hand of a bountiful believer, a testifier of the unity of God! O
masters!”—The answers which beggars generally receive (for they are so
numerous that a person cannot give to all who ask of him) are, “God help
thee!”—“God will sustain!”—“God give thee!”—“God content, or enrich,
thee!”—They are not satisfied by any denial but one implied by these or
similar answers. In the more frequented streets of Cairo, it is common
to see a beggar asking for the price of a cake of bread, which he or she
holds in the hand, followed by the seller of the bread. Some beggars,
particularly darweeshes, go about chanting verses in praise of the
Prophet, or beating cymbals, or a little kettle-drum. In the country,
many darweeshes go from village to village begging alms. I have seen
them on horseback; and one I lately saw thus mounted, and accompanied by
two men bearing each a flag, and by a third beating a drum: this beggar
on horseback was going from hut to hut asking for bread.
The most important of the occupations which employ the modern Egyptians,
and that which (as before mentioned) engages all but a very small
proportion of them, is agriculture.
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[Illustration: THE SHÁDOOF.]
_Lane’s Modern Egyptians_] [_Page 300_
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The greater portion of the cultivable soil is fertilized by the natural
annual inundation; but the fields in the vicinity of the river and of
the large canals, and some other lands, in which pits are dug for water,
are irrigated by means of machines of different kinds. The most common
of these machines is the “shádoof,” which consists of two posts or
pillars of wood, or of mud and canes or rushes, about five feet in
height, and less than three feet apart, with a horizontal piece of wood
extending from top to top, to which is suspended a slender lever, formed
of a branch of a tree, having at one end a weight chiefly composed of
mud, and at the other, suspended to two long palm-sticks, a vessel in
the form of a bowl, made of basket-work, or of a hoop and a piece of
woollen stuff or leather: with this vessel the water is thrown up to the
height of about eight feet into a trough hollowed out for its reception.
In the southern parts of Upper Egypt, four or five shádoofs are
required, when the river is at the lowest, to raise the water to the
level of the fields. There are many shádoofs with two levers, etc.,
which are worked by two men. The operation is extremely
laborious.—Another machine much used for the same purpose, and almost
the only one employed for the irrigation of gardens in Egypt, is the
“sákiyeh.” This mainly consists of a vertical wheel, which raises the
water in earthen pots attached to cords, and forming a continuous
series; a second vertical wheel fixed to the same axis, with cogs; and a
large, horizontal, cogged wheel, which, being turned by a pair of cows
or bulls, or by a single beast, puts in motion the two former wheels and
the pots. The construction of this machine is of a very rude kind, and
its motion produces a disagreeable creaking noise.—There is a third
machine, called “táboot,” used for the irrigation of lands in the
northern parts of Egypt, where it is only requisite to raise the water a
few feet. It somewhat resembles the “sákiyeh:” the chief difference is,
that, instead of the wheel with pots, it has a large wheel with hollow
jaunts, or fellies, in which the water is raised. In the same parts of
Egypt, and often to raise the water to the channel of the “táboot,” a
vessel like that of the “shádoof,” with four cords attached to it, is
also used. Two men, each holding two of the cords, throw up the water by
means of this vessel, which is called “katweh.”—In the process of
artificial irrigation, the land is divided into small squares, by ridges
of earth, or into furrows; and the water, flowing from the machine along
a narrow gutter, is admitted into one square or furrow after another.
The “rei” lands (or those which are naturally inundated) are, with some
exceptions, cultivated but once during the year. After the waters have
retired, about the end of October or beginning of November, they are
sown with wheat, barley, lentils, beans, lupins, chick-peas, etc. This
is called the “shitawee” (or winter) season. But the “sharákee” lands
(or those which are too high to be subject to the natural inundation),
and some parts of the rei, by artificial irrigation are made to produce
three crops every year; though not _all_ the sharákee lands are thus
cultivated. The lands artificially irrigated produce, first, their
shitawee crops, being sown at the same period as the rei lands,
generally with wheat or barley. Secondly, in what is called the
“seyfee,” or, in the southern parts of Egypt, the “keydee,” or “geydee”
(that is, the summer) season, commencing about the vernal equinox, or a
little later, they are sown with millet (“durah seyfee”), or with
indigo, or cotton, etc. Thirdly, in the “demeereh” season, or period of
the rise of the Nile, commencing about, or soon after the summer
solstice, they are sown with millet again, or with maize (“durah
shámee”), etc., and thus crowned with a third harvest.—Sugar is
cultivated throughout a large portion of Upper Egypt, and rice in the
low lands near the Mediterranean.
For the purpose of separating the grain of wheat, barley, etc., and
cutting the straw, which serves as fodder, the Egyptians use a machine
called “nórag,” in the form of a chair, which moves upon small iron
wheels, or thin circular plates, generally eleven, fixed to three thick
axle-trees, four to the foremost, the same number to the hindmost, and
three to the intermediate axle-tree. This machine is drawn, in a circle,
by a pair of cows or bulls, over the corn. The plough, and the other
implements which they use in husbandry, are of rude and simple kinds.
The navigation of the Nile employs a great number of the natives of
Egypt. The boatmen of the Nile are mostly strong, muscular men. They
undergo severe labour in rowing, poling, and towing; but are very
cheerful; and often the most so when they are most occupied, for then
they frequently amuse themselves by singing. In consequence of the
continual changes which take place in the bed of the Nile, the most
experienced pilot is liable frequently to run his vessel aground; on
such an occurrence, it is often necessary for the crew to descend into
the water, to shove off the boat with their backs and shoulders. On
account of their being so liable to run aground, the boats of the Nile
are generally made to draw rather more water at the head than at the
stern, and hence the rudder is necessarily very wide. The better kind of
boats used on the Nile, which are very numerous, are of a simple but
elegant form, mostly between thirty and forty feet in length, with two
masts, two large triangular sails, and a cabin, next the stern,
generally about four feet high, and occupying about a fourth, or a
third, of the length of the boat. In most of these boats, the cabin is
divided into two or more apartments. Sudden whirlwinds and squalls being
very frequent on the Nile, a boatman is usually employed to hold the
main-sheet in his hand, that he may be able to let it fly at a moment’s
notice: the traveller should be especially careful with respect to this
precaution, however light the wind.
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Footnote 434:
“Wekáleh” (generally pronounced by the Franks _occaleh_, _occal_,
etc.) is for “Dár el-Wekáleh,” signifying a _factory_.
Footnote 435:
This has long been the case in other Eastern countries. See Jeremiah
xxxvii. 21.
Footnote 436:
The tradesman keeps his main stock of goods (if more than his shop
will contain) in this magazine, or in his private dwelling, or in a
wekáleh.
Footnote 437:
As Ephron did to Abraham, when the latter expressed his wish to
purchase the cave and field of Machpelah. See Genesis xxiii. 11.
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