that already described in the hareem of Habeeb Effendi, yet, as the
Kasr-ed-Dubarah may be considered as the centre of Cairo fashion, it would
be unpardonable to omit some notice of Mrs Poole's observations (somewhat
abridged) on this all-important subject. "The Turkish ladies wear the
_yelek_ (long vest) considerably longer than their height, forming a
graceful train, which, in walking over a mat or carpet, they hold in front
over the arm. The chemise is of silk gauze, fine muslin, or a very
beautiful thin crape, with glossy stripes, which is made of raw silk in
the hareems, and is cream colour: the sleeves are not confined at the
wrist. The _shintiyan_ (trousers) are extremely full, and generally of a
different material from the _yelek_; the former being of rich brocade,
large-patterned muslin or chintz, or sometimes of plain satin or
gros-de-Naples. The _yelek_, on the contrary, is made of a material with a
delicate pattern, generally a small stripe, whether of satin, India silk,
or muslin. Ladies of distinction always wear Cashmere shawls round the
waist, generally red; and those in Kasr-ed-Dubarah had a narrow edge of
gold, with gold cords and tassels at the corners." The tarboosh and
diamond ornaments are worn as before described; "but the front hair is cut
short, and combed towards the eyebrows, which is extremely unbecoming even
to a beautiful face, except when it curls naturally. The long hair is
disposed in numerous small plaits, and looped up on each side over the
handkerchief. The hair of the younger ladies and white slaves, in the
Turkish hareems, is often worn hanging loosely on the shoulders; but no
coiffure is so pretty as that worn by the Arab ladies, whose long hair,
hanging down the back, is arranged in many small plaits, often lengthened
by silk braid, and generally adorned with hundreds of small gold
ornaments, resembling oval spangles, which harmonize better with the
Eastern costume than any other fashion."
The hareems of the grandees are generally surrounded by lofty walls, as
high or higher than the neighbouring houses; a vigilant _bowwab_ or
doorkeeper is stationed at the outer portal; and within this the eunuchs
guard the curtains, heavy with golden embroidery, which cover the doorway
leading to the interior; and woe to the intruder who should attempt to
penetrate beyond the entrance! A closed door is never permitted in the
hareem; but etiquette forbids the husband to enter when slippers laid
before the doorway denote that his wife is receiving visitors--a method
of exclusion which is said to be sometimes kept in operation for many days
together. The scale of precedence among the inmates is regulated on a very
different system from that of European society. Mr Urquhart has correctly
remarked that "the precept, 'Thou shalt leave thy father and mother, and
cleave unto thy wife,' has not been transcribed from the Gospel to the
Koran: the wife in the East is not the mistress of the household; she is
the daughter of her husband's mother," to whom the appellation of _hanum_,
or chief lady belongs of right to the end of her life: and even if the
mother be not living, the sisters of the husband take precedence of the
wife, who is regarded by them as a _younger_ sister. The first wife,
however, where there is more than one, can only lose her pre-eminence of
rank by the misfortune of being childless, in which case she gives place
to one who has become a mother; but, among the higher classes, each wife
has her separate apartments and attendants, and in some cases even
inhabits separate mansion--all, however, within the bounding walls of the
hareem.
"In the great hareems, the hanum generally has four principal attendants,
two of whom are elderly, and act simply as companions; the third is the
treasurer, and the fourth is the sub-treasurer. The next in rank are those
who hand pipes and coffee, sherbet and sweetmeats; and each of these has
her own set of subordinates. Lastly rank the cooks and house slaves, who
are mostly negresses." The position of these _white slaves_, among whom
Mrs. Poole "found the most lovely girls in the hareem, many of them fully
justifying my preconceived ideas of the celebrated Georgian and Circassian
women," may, perhaps, be best understood by a reference to the familiar
pages of the Thousand and One Nights; the hareem scenes in which are
probably drawn from those of Syria and Egypt at the period when those
tales were written. "Though torn from their parents at an early age, they
find and acknowledge fathers and mothers in those to whom they are sold;
and, excepting in two cases, cheerfulness has appeared to reign among
them"--and the authoress was a witness of the deep sympathy felt by the
slaves of the wife of a Turkish grandee, who was confined in the state
prison by order of the Pasha. The principal employment of these fair
prisoners, independent of the preparation of sherbets and other household
duties, consists in embroidery, "which is extremely beautiful, as superior
as it is unlike to any fancy-work practised in England:--taste of a very
remarkable kind is displayed in its execution, similar in many respects to
that exhibited in the most elaborate decorations of Arabian architecture."
Few, even of the ladies of rank, can read or write their own language--but
there are some exceptions--the accomplished family of Habeeb Effendi has
already been noticed; and Mrs Poole was acquainted with another instance,
in which the daughters had learned, under the tuition of a brother who had
been educated in Europe, to read and understand not only the literature of
their own country, but the poets of Italy. The surveillance exercised over
the young white slaves "can only be compared to that which is established
in the convent. A deviation from the strictest rules of modesty is
followed by severe punishment, and often by the death of the delinquent
... but if they conduct themselves well, they are frequently married by
their masters to persons of high respectability; and the ceremony of the
marriage[24] of a slave in the high hareems is conducted with extreme
magnificence. Those, however, who from their personal charms have become
the favourites of their master, and particularly those who have borne him
a child, are seldom or never thus dismissed, and cannot legally be sold:
having in this respect the advantage of the wife, who is always liable to
be divorced without cause assigned, and at a moment's notice."
In the hareems of the middle and lower classes, the same system of strict
seclusion cannot, of course, be maintained as in the case of the "hidden
jewels" (as they are called) of the grandees:--the women frequent the
public baths, and are allowed to visit their neighbours without restraint;
but shopping is generally prohibited, for reasons which may be gathered
from the Thousand and One Nights:--and goods for sale are brought to the
hareems by female brokers. The system of blindfold marriages is universal;
and except among the lowest class, it is scarcely possible that the
bridegroom and bride should get a glimpse of each other before their
espousals--and the betrothals are generally made at a ridiculously early
age. A lady gravely asked Mrs Poole whether one of her boys, thirteen
years of age, was married--and she witnessed a marriage procession in
which the almost infant bride, taking the whole affair as a good joke,
thought proper to walk backwards before the canopy fanning her friends,
instead of submitting to be fanned. The natural consequence of these early
marriages is, that "among the lower orders some husbands are sad tyrants;
they marry such little young creatures, that they are more like children
than wives, and their inexperience unjustly provokes their husbands." An
original sort of revenge was threatened in her hearing by a man irritated
by the abusive language of a little girl, whose tongue was the plague of
the neighbourhood--"When I have a little more money, I will marry you, and
punish you every day." Mrs Poole indeed expresses her conviction,
reluctantly forced upon her, that in the middle and lower classes,[25]
both wives and female slaves are often treated with the utmost brutality;
and she mentions two instances in her own neighbourhood, in which the
death of women of the latter class was caused by the cruelty of their
masters. In both these cases, however, the men were Copts--a people of
whom (in spite of the efforts of the English Missionary Society to make
them something more than nominal Christians) she was assured, by one who
knew them well, "that their moral state is far worse than that of the
Muslims, and that in the _conduct_ of the latter there is much more
Christianity than is exhibited in that of the former."[26] An anecdote,
casually introduced, enables us to judge of the education which children
receive on this point. On a visit to the wife of the keeper of the tombs
of Mohammed Ali's family, a boy just able to walk was brought in, when
"the chief lady called for a stick, that puss, who was quietly crossing
the carpet, might be beaten for his amusement. I interceded for the cat,
when she replied mysteriously, 'I like her very much--I will not hurt
her.' Accordingly she raised her arm with considerable effort, and let it
fall gently. She next desired one of her slaves to kneel, which the girl
did most gracefully, and bent her head with an air of mock submission to
receive the _kurbaj_, and the same farce was repeated. Though neither
slave nor cat was a sufferer, the effect must have been equally bad on the
mind of the child. Alas! for the slaves and cats when he is big enough to
make them feel!"
The children, however, occasionally fare no better than the slaves; and Mr
Lane was not seldom obliged, by the screams of the sufferers, to interfere
to stop the cruelty practised in his neighbourhood, when "the answer
usually returned was of the most civil kind, assuring us, with many
salutations, that _for our sakes_ the offender shall be forgiven." On one
occasion an old woman, to punish her little grandson for a trifling theft,
had employed the services of a professional _beater_, who had tied the
child's legs and arms, and was beating him with a ponderous stick, while
his grandmother cried, "again!" and only desisted on a peremptory
remonstrance from Mr Lane; yet the same woman disturbed the neighbourhood
with her lamentations every alternate Monday for the loss of her son, the
little boy's father! It is perhaps hardly fair to cite instances of
brutality like this, to which our own police-offices afford abundance of
parallels, as examples of the national manners of Egypt; and Mrs Poole
does full justice to the spirit of mutual aid which prevails among the
poor in all Moslem countries, and teaches them "to bear each other's
burdens." The women, especially those of the higher class, are admitted to
be the "most affectionate of mothers." They are so possessed, however, by
terror of the "evil eye," which they firmly believe may be cast on their
children by an admiring word or glance, that the smallest allusion to them
is hazardous. Mrs Poole was much amused by the agitation of an Arab lady,
in conversation with whom she had congratulated herself that the strength
of her eldest boy's constitution had preserved him from the ill effects of
the heat. "In an instant she vociferated, 'Bless the Prophet! bless the
Prophet!' and coloured deeply." And it was with difficulty that Mrs Poole
could calm her, or convince her that the English apprehended no danger
from the expression of their satisfaction in the welfare of those they
love.
It is not easy for even the most experienced to avoid _contretemps_ of
this kind in the East, where even the ordinary observances of life seem to
have been arranged on a system diametrically opposite to our own; and some
amusing anecdotes are given of the _gaucheries_ unconsciously committed by
raw tourists from Europe. At the house of an Egyptian grandee, an European
gentleman, on receiving the sherbet after pipes and coffee, which was
handed to him first as a stranger, "looked at it for a moment, and then at
the gaily-embroidered napkin hung over the arm of the slave who presented
it; and following the impulse given, I conclude, by his preconceptions of
Eastern habits of cleanliness, dipped his fingers in the sweet beverage,
and wiped them on the napkin!" A less pardonable breach of etiquette, as
it proceeded not from ignorance but want of good-breeding, was committed
by two Franks, who, arranged in a motley mixture of European and Oriental
costume, made their way into the Pasha's palace at Shubra, and, after
rambling from room to room without meeting any one, at length entered the
bedroom of the Pasha, who was nearly undressed! "Though taken by surprise,
his Turkish coolness did not forsake him; calling for his dragoman, he
said, 'Ask those gentlemen where they bought their tarbooshes?' 'At
Constantinople.' 'And _there_,' rejoined the Pasha, 'I suppose they
learned their manners. Tell them so.' Judging from this retort that their
presence was not agreeable, the Franks saluted the viceroy, and withdrew."
As we profess to deal with Mrs Poole solely in her own peculiar province,
as a delineator of female manners and female society in Egypt, we shall
pass with brief notice her visit to the Pyramids, the account of which
contains much valuable information, supplied (as she avows,) from the
notes of her brother. The excursion, though at a short distance from
Cairo, is not altogether unattended with danger, especially to ladies,
from the attacks of the Bedawees; as appears from the remarks of some
young men, the sons of a Bedawee sheykh at some distance, who had ridden
over, as they admitted, in the hope of seeing the faces of the ladies of
the party, and were much disappointed at finding them veiled. They had
been much struck by the charms of a beautiful American whom they had seen
a few weeks before; and one of then exclaimed, in speaking of her--"But
the sword! the sword! if we dared to use it, we would kill that man,"
alluding to the lady's companion, whether her husband or brother, "and
take her for ourselves."--"'Tis well for pretty women travelling in the
East, that these lawless Arabs are kept under a degree of subjection by
the present government," says Mrs Poole; and the anecdote affords an
indication that, when the reins of administration are released by the
death of the present Pasha, the overland route to India may not be quite
so secure as it is at present.
But there is another, a modern wonder of Cairo, which, of late years, has
almost equally divided with the Pyramids the attention of Frank
travellers. We allude to the sheykh Abdel-Kadir el-Maughrabi, in whose
enchanted mirror of ink, poured into the palm of an unsophisticated Arab
boy, men from all parts of the earth were compelled to appear before the
tent of the Sultan, with its seven mystic flags, and submit to a
description of their persons and dress, which would have satisfied the
vigilance of the Russian police. The oracular sagacity of the _Quarterly
Review_ was unable to solve the mystery; and even Mr Lane, in his _Modern
Egyptians_, hesitates whether to doubt or to believe; but the bubble (as
we learn from Mrs Poole) has at last burst; and the two familiar spirits,
Turshoon and Turyooshoon, stand revealed in the late Osman Effendi,
interpreter to the British consulate. Since the death of this respectable
personage, who usually acted as master of the ceremonies at his
performances, the good fortune of the sheykh has totally deserted him, as
he himself inadvertently admitted to Mr Lane, when he not long since
accompanied two English travellers to witness the exhibition, which proved
an entire failure; and since that time his attempts have been even more
signally unsuccessful. Whatever may have been the means employed, there is
no longer any doubt that Osman Effendi, who sat quiet and demure in a
corner, without word or sign, was the prime agent in the deception; and
with him the reputation of the last representative of Pharaoh's magicians
has vanished for ever, like the visions in his own magic mirror.
* * * * *
The series of Mrs Poole's letters closes abruptly in April 1844, with the
relation of one of her visits to the friendly harem of Habeeb Effendi; and
no intimation is given either of the cause of the second cessation, or
whether a second series may be hereafter expected. We hope that this may
be the case; for, independent of the interest attaching to the subject,
and the difficulty of finding another equally qualified by opportunity and
powers of observation to do it justice, the time must inevitably soon be
past when it will be possible to depict the habitudes and manners of the
Arab population in their integrity. Cairo is at present, with the single
exception perhaps of Damascus, the most purely Arab city in the East; but
the ruthless reforms of the Pasha, and the constant passage of the Franks
on this new high-road to India, will erelong divest it of its
distinguishing characteristics, and give it as hybrid an aspect as that of
the Frank intruders into the Pasha's chamber. An English hotel has already
started up; and Mrs Poole informs us, that "by a proclamation of the
Pasha, the houses are to be whitewashed within and without; those who
inhabit ruined houses are to repair or sell them; and uninhabited
dwellings are to be pulled down, for the purpose of forming squares and
gardens; _meshreebeyehs_ (projecting first-floor windows) are forbidden;
and _mastabahs_ (the seats in front of shops) are to be removed. Cairo,
therefore, will no longer be an Arab city, and will no longer possess
those peculiarities which render it so picturesque and attractive. The
deep shade in the narrow streets, increased by the projecting windows; the
picturesque tradesmen, sitting with one friend or more before his shop,
enjoying the space afforded by his mastabah--these will be no more; and
while I cannot but acknowledge the great necessity for repairing the city,
and removing the ruins which threaten the destruction of passengers, I
should have liked these features retained which are essentially
characteristic--which help, as it were, to group the people, and which
form such admirable accessories to pictures."
PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE--STEPHENS' BOOK OF THE FARM, &c.
The growing demand for information among the agricultural classes, makes
the appearance of new books of a really trustworthy kind of greater
national value at the present time than at any former period. Besides, as
our knowledge is rapidly advancing, good books upon practical agriculture
are becoming more difficult to write. They require from their authors a
larger acquaintance with the newer branches of elementary science than
many practical men can be expected as yet to possess. These considerations
induce us to advert for the second time to the work now before us. We drew
the attention of our readers to the first volume when it made its
appearance; two other volumes completing the work having since been
published, we feel ourselves under a kind of obligation to follow the
author cursorily through the remainder of his book.
_The Book of the Farm_ might be called _The Practical Farmer's Library_,
since it contains full information upon almost every practical subject
upon which the intelligent young farmer is likely to require assistance or
advice. The scientific branch alone is not systematically discussed,
though here and there useful scientific points are treated of and
explained. But this was not to be expected in a really practical work; and
the author, upon this branch, very properly refers his readers to the
published works of Professor Johnston.[27]
The feature that struck us most in the perusal of the first volume, was
the remarkably wide range of minutely practical information which the
author possesses and embodies in his book. He describes every practical
operation as if he had not only assisted at it on some former occasion,
but as if he were actually performing it while he is describing it with
his pen. This gives a truthfulness and self-evident accuracy to his
descriptions, which are rarely to be met with in agricultural works, and
which could not be expected from one who was not really familiar with the
points of which he treats. He seems even to enjoy every labour he
describes, to enter into the spirit of every operation to be
performed--into the heart and fun of the thing as it were. He becomes an
actual participator in the fact--a _particeps criminis_.
No matter whether it is the currying or the skinning of his horse--the
shoeing or the riding--taking him to the field or to the tanner, Mr
Stephens is equally ready and willing for all. He tells you with the same
glee, how to shelter your sheep on the hill side, and how to cut their
throats after the most approved fashion; how to lay on fat on your
short-horns--what are the marks of their being ripe for the butcher--and
how you can kill them in the _most Christian_ way. He pets his sheep-dog
and praises him, tells you how kindly you should treat him, what constant
encouragement you should give to so faithful a servant, at what age he
should be hanged, and how you can make most of his skin. He instructs you
to tend your young lambs, he helps you to select a pet from the flock; he
goes with you afterwards to the barn, helps you to kill and skin it,
teaches you to score and cross it in the most approved style, cuts it up
for you like an anatomist, selects the best joint for your own cook; sits
down with you afterwards at your own table and carves it, and after he has
helped you all to your general satisfaction, he is still connoisseur
enough to keep the best bit of all for his own plate.
Besides this living spirit, which pervades all the descriptions of methods
and operations, another excellence we have remarked in these volumes is
the _kind_ of opinions given upon practical points, in reference to which
a difference of sentiment prevails among practical men. They are in
general _safe_ opinions--leaning always to the prudent side in cases of
doubtful practice. If they appear, therefore, in some cases, not to come
up to the notions of those lovers of change, who would improve agriculture
as engineers make railroads--without regard to their cost or to the
interest of the capital expended--they will appear to all sound men to be
so much the better fitted to guide the rising farmers of the present day.
These young men _must_ possess more knowledge than their fathers, if they
are to continue upon the land; but they will also soon disappear from the
land, notwithstanding their knowledge, if a balance of profit at the end
of the year be not considered an indispensable element in their system of
husbandry.
The book, as we formerly stated, is divided into four parts, embracing in
succession the proper operations to be performed in the four seasons,
commencing with those of the winter.
To the greater part of the winter operations, as described and explained
by Mr Stephens, we adverted in our former notice: there remains one topic,
however, to which, from its great national importance, we must still turn
for a little.
Among the various improvements which, in the dead season of the year, the
farmer may undertake with profit to himself and advantage to his farm, is
that of draining. Of this kind of improvement almost every farm in the
country is more or less susceptible. But how should it be done, at what
depth, and with what material? As to the depth, the young farmer who
wishes to do his work well, will neither imitate nor rely too much on the
practice of the district he comes from, or in which his own farm may
happen to be situated. If so, he will, in Ayrshire--by the advice of the
wise-acres in that county--put in his drains only twenty inches, or two
feet, in depth; in Berwickshire he will sink them to three feet; and in
Sussex he may be carried along with the rising tide to put none in
shallower than four feet. He will not trust, we say, wholly to example. He
will say to himself rather, what is the object I have in view, and what
implements have I to effect it?
In draining he has one leading, one master object, we may call it, to
attend to. He has to deepen his soil, that the roots of his crops may
descend further--may draw their food from greater depths, and from a
larger body of earth. The more completely he can effect this, the better
will his work be done.
How deep will his crops send down their roots? In favourable circumstances
his wheat and clover, and even his turnips, will descend to a depth of
three feet. His operations, then, would be in some degree perfect, if he
could so open, and drain, and doctor his land as to enable and induce the
roots of his crops to go down so far as this.
But they will never, or rarely at least, descend lower than the level of
the water in the bottom of his drains. He cannot, therefore, hope to make
his soil available for the growth of his crops to a greater depth than
that to which his drains descend. Three feet then, he will say, appears to
be a reasonable depth for a _perfect_ drain.