CAIRO--THE TURKISH BAZAAR--TEST OF A SWORD-BLADE--THE “LITTLE
NILE”--RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PLAGUE--THE EGLINTOUN TENTS--PROCEEDINGS
IN THE “GREAT SQUARE”--ASTONISHMENT OF THE PASHA--A MAHOMEDAN
DINNER-PARTY--NOVEL DISHES--A JEWISH WEDDING--IMPERTINENT
CURIOSITY--THE BRIDE’S DOWER--A CUNNING HEBREW.
On arriving at Cairo, I refreshed myself with a bath, and accompanied
Captain J---- to see my friend Bell, who was still located at the house
of Dr. A. We found him dressed in a loose silken garment, squatted
cross-legged on a low divan, whilst he alternately puffed at a large
sheesheh of the doctor’s, and sipped his morning cup of coffee. Having
finished his toilet, which the addition of a pair of slippers rendered
complete, we took a long stroll through the Turkish Bazaar, which is
one of the chief attractions of Cairo, where jewels and gems of all
kinds, with golden stuffs and embroideries, and the varied productions
of Eastern ingenuity are displayed before the wondering gaze of the
stranger. The more precious goods are enclosed in glass cases on
either side of the narrow file of shops, and behind these is seated
the smiling merchant, who invites attention to his costly wares, or,
should you be personally known to him, points to a vacant cushion,
and replenishes your pipe with _gebelee_. We had a long chat in the
sanctum of one of these gentlemen, with whom Bell appeared on terms
of intimacy, and very civil and agreeable he was, explaining to us,
through the medium of our friend, the uses of various little objects
of luxury connected with the hareem and the domestic habits of the
Mooslim, which we might otherwise have had difficulty in ascertaining.
My own object in visiting the Bazaar, was to effect the purchase of a
sword or scymitar, in order to complete my _costume du pays_, but as
I found that those exposed for sale in the Turkish quarter were of a
better quality than I needed, and of a price far beyond what I intended
to give, we repaired to another portion of the Bazaar, where I could
select from among some thousands of all kinds and qualities. As the
weapon was to be used as an ornament only, and would have answered
my purpose equally well, had the blade been firmly screwed to the
scabbard, or altogether wanting, I selected an undeniable “Brummagem,”
with a tastily ornamented horn handle, and goodly external appearance.
For the silken cord and tassels which form the appendages, I had
to walk to an entirely different quarter, where such articles are
exclusively manufactured, and after a due proportion of bargaining,
I succeeded in completing my purchase. On returning to the hotel,
I submitted my weapon to the judgment of Raven and Dr. A----, who
resolved to test its value by actual experiment. A sword-blade is
considered to be of good quality, when it will sever a nail at one
blow. Placing, therefore, a full-sized tenpenny on a wooden door-sill,
Dr. A., who acted as _Scharfrichter_, took a deliberate aim, and let
fly. The nail vanished, and I was about to pronounce my blade a genuine
“Damascus,” when the doctor, lowering its point, coolly requested me
to withdraw the nail, which was fairly notched therein, and was found
unmarked by the blow. I then dared the doctor to a similar experiment
with his own sword, which was unhesitatingly agreed to and tried, but
with a very different result, the nail being severed; but as there is
a knack in directing the blow, so as to fall at a particular angle, I
doubt if he would have allowed me to perform his part in the ordeal.
As Captain J---- was anxious to be off to Alexandria, I ordered a
_cafass_ of provisions to be sent down to Boulac, and one of our best
boats to be got in readiness. We set sail with a fair wind, and a
tolerably high Nile, at seven in the evening, and were one day and two
nights in reaching Atféh. I much regretted the loss of my travelling
companion, whose society had proved most agreeable, although his health
was so impaired, that he appeared to move with difficulty. I lost sight
of him on reaching Alexandria, and imagine that he joined some one in
an extended tour into Upper Egypt.
On making my appearance in the morning at the “Agency Office,” I was
introduced by Furner to a Captain Proudfoot, who had just arrived in a
small steam-vessel called the “Little Nile,” recently purchased by Mr.
Waghorn, for the service between Cairo and Atféh. I was astonished,
when I went on board, that so frail a cockle-shell could ever have
lived in a rolling sea, like that of the Bay of Biscay. She is of iron,
flat-bottomed, and used to ply on the Thames, above bridge, and it
could scarcely have been any common inducement that tempted Captain
Proudfoot and his little crew, to undertake so perilous a voyage. Off
Cape Finisterre they encountered a severe storm, which lifted the very
boilers from their fastenings, and drove her on shore almost a wreck,
but they managed to repair her in such a way, that they reached Malta
in safety, and there patched her up more effectually. Mr. Raven has
now put her into the hands of one of the Pasha’s engineers, who is
altering her to suit the nature of the Nile service, and when complete,
she will be the fastest and most jaunty of the river steamers.
In the beginning of September, Mr. Raven paid us a visit, in order
to see what progress had been made, and to carry out some ideas of
his own, with respect to the interior arrangements of the new vessel.
Finding that he intended to send back to England her binnacle and
compasses, I remarked, that he might find them useful in the event
of plague breaking out, as he could then make a run for one of the
islands in the Archipelago, and so avoid a tedious imprisonment. The
idea seemed to strike him as feasible, the more so, that he remembered
being shut up for six months in a house at Cairo, without once being
permitted to cross the threshold, the doors being sealed, and a
watchman constantly on the look-out. Provisions were drawn up in
baskets, and paid for by money let down in a bucket of water. These
precautions were rendered necessary, by the critical state of one of
the household, who was attacked with plague, but eventually recovered.
Poor Raven aired himself on the house-top, and almost got by heart
every book in the place, until the seals were knocked off, and he was
suffered to escape; but, as may well be imagined, the remembrance
of his captivity, and its horrors, is not easily to be effaced, and
he will scarcely suffer himself to be entrapped a second time. The
compasses were, therefore, safely deposited in our store, and I got
Captain Proudfoot to explain to me the arrangement of the magnets, with
which a sea-going iron boat is always furnished, so that I might be
able to replace them, in the event of their being wanted.
Some person having mentioned to the Pasha, that some curious tents
belonging to Mr. Waghorn, were lying in the custom-house, we have
received intimation of a vice-royal wish to see some of them erected.
It seems that the tents in question, formed part of those put up
at Eglintoun Castle, on the occasion of the famed tournament, and
that they were afterwards purchased by Mr. Waghorn, to serve as
sheltering-places on the desert, between the Stations. Mr. Raven
accordingly gave directions that the cases should be transported to
the far end of the square, where a fit spot, near the Greek Consulate,
was selected, Furner and I being deputed to unpack and overhaul them.
We soon found this to be no easy task, as they appeared to have been
huddled up together, without the slightest regard to arrangement; and
although we possessed an invoice, which enabled us in a measure to
identify them, we could only succeed in finding the component parts of
one out of the whole half-dozen.
We commenced our operations, by laying down the poles, and digging
a couple of deep holes to plant them in, but on attaching the roofs
of the tent thereto, and raising them into perpendicular position,
our edifice bore the appearance of two gigantic green umbrellas, and
the sides, when rigged up, failed to approach the ground by seven or
eight feet. We had therefore to shorten the poles, and erect a sort of
scaffolding, in which latter operation, we were assisted by the crew
of the “Little Nile,” but all our efforts to produce anything like a
tent were unavailing. Our sailors too, soon discovered that pitching
tents was very dry work, and struck for a supply of beer, which we
were but too glad to furnish; so availing ourselves of the agreeable
shelter afforded by the thick tarpaulin, we converted our marquee into
a beer-shop, very much to the astonishment of Mehemet Ali, who, calling
upon us as he took his usual afternoon airing, found half-a-dozen jolly
tars smoking their clay pipes, and discussing bottled beer in the
quondam shrine of the Queen of Beauty.[12]
We could not induce the Pasha to cross the threshold and inspect our
handiwork, although some of his suite had the curiosity to take a peep
at the interior. His Highness seemed fully satisfied with this one
visit, as he never again honoured us with a call, and the tent was soon
after taken down, and reconsigned with its fellows to the custom-house,
where I think it not unlikely that they still remain.
A few days after this, I was invited with Furner and our Greek friend
L----, to an entertainment at the house of a Mahomedan acquaintance,
who wished us to partake of a dinner served in the Eastern way. On
reaching his dwelling, situated in the most agreeable portion of the
Arab quarter, or old town, we were ushered up some outside stairs,
into a long room on the first floor, which was tastefully carpeted
and fitted with low divans. As we entered at one door, there was a
great rustling of silks and shuffling of feet through another at the
far extremity, which we attributed to the rapid escape of a portion
of our friend’s hareem, who had been taking a sly peep at us from a
window above, as we stood talking in the court-yard. Placed on the
carpet were half-a-dozen little octagonal tables of coloured reeds,
about eighteen inches high, and upon these, as soon as we had squatted
ourselves down, were deposited as many dishes of pewter, of enormous
size, filled with a great variety of meats and poultry, baked, stewed,
and roasted, from among which a whole kid and a gigantic turkey,
greeted us conspicuously. Our host apologized to us for having the
whole of the first course placed upon the table at once, as such is not
customary, but he felt more satisfied that we should “see our dinner,”
and thus partake of what pleased us best. It was impossible for us to
make any objection to so excellent an arrangement, so, having carefully
cleansed, or rather moistened our finger-ends with rose-water, we fell
to without ceremony. In deference, however, to our European habits,
knives and forks were placed within our reach, and I soon succeeded
in making a hole in the kid, which was elaborately stuffed with
raisins and pistachio nuts. It would be useless for me to attempt an
enumeration of all the dishes, of which indeed I have but an imperfect
recollection: I had already dined, when another course was brought in,
consisting of sweets and vegetables, and a large rice-pudding, in a red
sea of damson-juice; love-apples and pumpkins, elegantly _farçies_,
and fruits both stewed and dried, completed our repast; and as it is
said, that good eating requires good drinking, there was no lack of
excellent wine. Pipes and coffee followed as a matter of course, and
we were afterwards favoured with an instrumental performance by the
Pasha’s private band, from which infliction, we made as speedy an
escape as possible, although our host would not allow us to depart,
until the whole five were put completely “hors de combat,” by Furner’s
timely administration of brandy-and-water, alluded to in a former
chapter.
Quitting our friend’s house, and gaining the more frequented portion
of the city, we were astonished by the unusual appearance of an
enormous crowd of persons of both sexes, and the still more uncommon
sound of military music. Upon inquiry, we learned that the hubbub was
caused by a long bridal procession, in celebration of the “_noces_”
of a Jew and a Levantine girl, and being anxious to see all we could,
Furner and I joined in with the rest. The band, composed of amateurs,
led the way, followed by the bride and her attendants, with a “posse
comitatus” from all quarters. We walked I suppose, about half-a-mile,
accompanied by ambulating pots of fire, halting at every fifth or sixth
house to perform a “serenata.” At length we reached the dwelling of
the bridegroom, where the bride and her immediate suite were forthwith
admitted, and I, having in vain looked round for my friend, was making
an effort to cross the threshold with the rest, when the door was
unceremoniously slammed in my face.
The old “_bawaub_,” however, was not proof against a nine-piastre
piece, which is an infallible open-sesame, and having ascended the
flight of stone-steps, which led to the upper story, I found myself in
a large room, in presence of some fifty or more persons of all ages,
and, to judge by their costume, from every part of the Mediterranean.
I soon discovered that I was the only Englishman in the company, and
with one or two exceptions, the only individual in a Frank dress, and
my casual glance round the room failing to reveal one single face that
was known to me, I began to feel in rather an awkward situation. It
was too late to retreat, as I had been already noticed, and concluding
that I should best avoid an appearance of singularity, by doing as the
rest, I made a profound salutation to the husband, who escorted me to
a divan at the upper end of the apartment, and in a manner the most
obsequious, motioned me to a seat, and remained near me until I was
served with sherbet and a pipe. I was at a loss to assign a cause for
so much courtesy towards a pork-eating unbeliever, though the reason
was shortly afterwards, rendered sufficiently obvious.
At midnight there was a great commotion at the other end of the room:
the bride was introduced, and placed on a chair in the middle of the
floor, covered with a very thin veil of pink gauze, and resplendent
with jewels. All her attendants were more or less shrouded in veils,
most of them weighed down with rows of gold twenty-piastre pieces, by
way of fringe. The bride appeared, as well as I was able to judge,
very beautiful, and was in a charming state of confusion, every now
and then glancing stealthily at her husband, whom she now saw, in all
probability, for the first time. No sooner were the company gathered
round the trembling girl, than two of the attendants held up the
corners of her apron, to receive the contributions of such as were
inclined to make her a wedding present, and now my mind was enlightened
as to the unlooked for politeness of the Jew bridegroom. I turned
round, and encountered his gaze full upon me, but I felt myself a match
for him. Keeping close to the side of a jolly old Alexandrian, who was
fumbling in his girdle, and seizing the moment when he ostentatiously
let fall a shower of gold coin, I suddenly put forth my hand and
dropped my modest donation, in such a way as entirely to conceal its
amount from the eyes of the wily Hebrew. Judging from the quantity of
money collected, I should say that the newly-married couple made a very
good thing of it, as every one contributed, and nothing but gold was
offered. This ceremony over, the bride, half-fainting with fatigue and
terror, was led away to her apartments; and not wishing to encroach
farther on the hospitality of the Jew, I quitted the _fantasia_, and
returned home.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] Our invoice led us to infer, that the tent in question, was that
which had been appropriated to Lady Seymour at the Eglintoun festival,
but from the style of its furniture, we were compelled to judge
differently, believing rather, that those purchased by Mr. Waghorn,
though very substantial and costly, could never have occupied a very
prominent place at the tournament.