SUGAR PLANTATIONS AND MILLS.--SNAKE-CHARMERS.--SIGHTS AT BENI-HASSAN.
The first regular halt of the steamer was at Beni-sooef, where the
passengers were allowed two hours by the printed schedule. Of course
they went on shore at once, and devoted themselves to sight-seeing until
recalled by the whistle. The town has a population of about five
thousand, and is the capital of a province of the same name. Frank and
Fred strolled through the bazaars, but were disappointed, as there was
nothing to be found there which they had not already seen in the bazaars
of Cairo. The trade of the place has diminished considerably, and
Beni-sooef is of less importance to-day than it was three or four
centuries ago.
At Minieh, the next halting-place, they had an opportunity to visit a
sugar-mill, and eagerly embraced it. Minieh is the centre of the sugar
culture in Egypt, and the first sugar-mill in the country was erected
here and is still in operation. Of late years some very large mills have
been built, employing hundreds of people, and during the height of the
season they present a busy scene.
The mill visited by our friends was one of the largest. It was so
constructed that, from the time the cane enters the crushers till the
dry sugar is taken out, there is no lifting or handling of the material,
except in a few instances. The machinery is all of French manufacture,
and very expensive. A large amount of sugar is manufactured here every
year; but there is no profit in the business, partly owing to the great
cost of the mills, and partly, it is whispered, in consequence of the
frauds of the managers.
[Illustration: VIEW ON A SUGAR PLANTATION.]
The sugar culture is in the hands of the Khedive, and about two hundred
and fifty thousand acres of land are devoted to it, chiefly on the west
bank of the Nile between Cairo and Sioot. There are more mills than are
really needed for the amount of sugar made, and there is a large
quantity of machinery which has never been put up, but lies neglected
and rusting on the banks of the river. There is a system of railways for
bringing the cane to the mills, and connected with the line of railway
from Cairo up the Nile. The labor on the sugar estates is very poorly
paid, and more frequently is not paid at all. The laborers are gathered
from the villages along the river, and compelled to work three months on
the sugar estates when they should be cultivating their own fields at
home.
Frank and Fred could not understand this mode of conducting business
till the Doctor explained it to them after their return to the steamer.
"You observed," said the Doctor, "that the laborers included both sexes,
and all ages from five years old to fifty or sixty."
"Yes," answered one of the youths; "and I saw that they did not take
much interest in their work, and appeared to be half starved."
"You will not be surprised at it," replied Doctor Bronson, "when I tell
you they are never paid in money, with the exception of the chiefs of
gangs, and the men in charge of the machinery.
"They receive a daily allowance of bread; it is not such bread as we are
accustomed to, but simply coarsely ground wheat flour, containing a
liberal proportion of mud and chopped straw, and very carelessly baked.
With so bad a quality you might suppose the quantity would be abundant,
but it is not; a laborer can devour his day's allowance at a single
meal, and frequently it is not enough to satisfy his hunger."
"But is that all they get?" one of the boys asked.
"That is frequently all they get," was the reply. "True, they are
promised something more, but they do not often receive it.
"According to an official report on the subject," the Doctor continued,
"the wages of hands in the factories are fixed at fifteen cents a day
for a man, and eight cents for a boy, while those of the field hands are
eight cents for a man, and five for a boy. And when they are paid at all
it is invariably in _kind_--that is, in grain, sugar, or molasses, at a
high price--and not in money. It is difficult for them to sell these
articles, and the best they can do is to eat them, or perhaps barter
them off for something more desirable. Not one laborer in twenty has
anything to show for his work on the sugar estates or in the factories
except his thin cheeks, and the bones half protruding from his skin."
"It is no wonder," said Fred, "that they begged so hard for backsheesh,
and that they seemed, unlike the Arabs of Cairo, to be very grateful
when we gave them some small coins."
Frank thought it very strange that the sugar culture in Egypt should be
unprofitable when the labor cost next to nothing. The Doctor answered
that it would undoubtedly pay handsomely whenever it was honestly and
economically managed, but from present indications there was no prospect
of a change for the better.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A SUGAR-MILL.]
After visiting the sugar-mill our friends went to the market-square of
Minieh, where a juggler was amusing a crowd of natives with his tricks.
His performances were not remarkable for any particular skill, but they
served to entertain the people, though he did not succeed in drawing
much money from them. After pretending to swallow knives, coins, and
other inconvenient and indigestible things, he drew some snakes from a
basket and twined them around his neck.
Everybody was inclined to stand at a respectful distance during this
part of the show. Whenever the juggler wished to enlarge the circle of
spectators, he put the snake on the ground, and the crowd immediately
fell back without being invited to do so. The snake was a huge fellow,
seven or eight feet long, and perfectly black. The Doctor said he was
not dangerous, so far as his bite was concerned, as he belonged to the
family of constrictors, and killed his prey by tightening his coils
around it.
[Illustration: A SECURE POINT OF VIEW.]
Doctor Bronson farther explained to the youths that the snake-charmers
of Egypt are a peculiar class. They give exhibitions in the streets in
front of houses, and when they do so the favorite place for seeing the
show is an upper window or balcony, as in that case the spectator is out
of the reach of any possible harm. There are several snakes in Egypt,
but only two or three of them are poisonous. The _cobra di capella_, the
famous hooded snake of India, is often carried about by the performers;
but he is imported from the land of his nativity, and does not belong to
the Valley of the Nile. Before he is used for show purposes he is
deprived of his fangs, and is therefore harmless, but it is not a
pleasing sight to see him strike as though he meant serious business.
The Egyptian snake-charmers have a way of making a living by going to
houses, and pretending to discover that snakes are concealed about the
walls. They offer to remove them for a stipulated sum, and their
proposal is generally accepted. Then they begin a sort of incantation,
calling upon the snake to come forth, and threatening him with death if
he does not. In a little while the snake falls from the ceiling or from
a crack in the wall, and is picked up by the performer and exhibited to
the family as proof of his skill, and that he has earned his money.
"Of course it is strongly suspected," the Doctor continued, "that the
charmer secretly liberates the snake, or hires a confederate to do so,
in order that he may obtain pay for catching him. This is undoubtedly
the case in many instances, as the performer generally operates in a
room where there is little light, and nobody is inclined to come near
him for fear of being bitten. But not infrequently he has to perform in
an open court-yard where there are many spectators, and sometimes he is
taken suddenly to a house, and carefully examined before he begins
operations. His trick, if it be one, has never been discovered, and the
Egyptian snake-charmer may be considered, on the whole, quite as skilful
as his fellow-craftsman in India."
One of the most deadly serpents of Egypt is the asp, which was made
famous centuries ago by Cleopatra. There is another poisonous snake
called the _naya_; it is of a greenish-brown color, and has a hood that
expands like that of the Indian cobra when the snake is enraged. Some
authorities suppose that the serpent with which Cleopatra killed
herself, after the death of Marc Antony, is none other than the naya.
This is the snake which appears so often among the Egyptian
hieroglyphics, and it was worshipped as the representative of one of the
divinities in the days of the Pharaohs. A person who is bitten by a naya
generally dies in a few minutes, and thus far no antidote has been
discovered for its poison.
Sight-seeing among the temples and tombs of Upper Egypt began at
Beni-Hassan, about fifteen miles above Minieh. The boat touched at the
landing-place, and the natives came down in dozens, bringing their
donkeys for the tourists to ride to the tombs, three miles away. The
natives had a most villainous appearance, and the donkeys, while no
doubt more honest than their owners, were, if possible, less
respectable, so far as looks were concerned. The people at Beni-Hassan
have long had a bad reputation, and they were so notorious for their
thievery during the reign of Ibrahim Pacha that he sent a military force
to destroy their village and scatter its occupants. The village has been
rebuilt, and the people have assembled again, but neither has improved
by the severe lesson given by the son of Mohammed Ali.
Frank and Fred selected two of the donkeys, and their saddles were
brought out and placed on the beasts. The Doctor likewise obtained a
donkey; but he afterward said that the most agreeable way of riding the
animal was to walk by his side. His donkey had a habit of sitting down
suddenly, very much to the inconvenience of the rider, and no doubt
induced by the weight of the latter. Frank had not gone a dozen yards
before he was pitched over the head of his steed, to the great amusement
of Fred. While the latter was laughing over the discomfiture of his
cousin, he found himself stretched on the sand, and speedily concluded
that the similarity of position left no farther reason for being amused.
They remounted with greater caution; but it was observed that they had
quite enough of saddle exercise on their way to the tombs, and concluded
to walk back to the boat.
The rest of the party met with varied mishaps on their way to the tombs,
but nobody was seriously hurt, and all were inclined to laugh over the
incidents of the ride, particularly those that happened to others. It is
a curious circumstance that it is much more ludicrous to see some one
else pitched over the head of a donkey, and left sprawling in the sand,
than to be pitched over and sprawled yourself. Of course we refer only
to Egypt in commenting on this matter; but it has been said in America
that the fun of a mishap or a practical joke is never as apparent to the
victim of it as to his friends.
But the troubles of the ride were forgotten when the party reached the
tombs which they went to see.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A TOMB AT BENI-HASSAN.]
The tombs of Beni-Hassan are hewn in the solid rock, some in a cliff
overlooking the Nile, and others in a valley running back from the
river. The rock is a soft limestone, which is very easy to quarry, and
some geologists think it was even softer five thousand years ago than at
present. A great deal of labor was devoted to it, and the inscriptions
on the walls are so numerous that very little space is left uncovered.
Some of the tombs are entered through door-ways on a level with the
floor, and others can only be reached by means of ladders.
[Illustration: SECTION OF A TOMB.]
The tombs are cut with pillars and vaulted roofs, in imitation of
buildings; they belong to the eleventh and twelfth dynasties of ancient
Egypt, and are therefore older than the tombs and temples of Thebes, but
more modern than the Pyramids of Sakkara and Gizeh. They were made for
the resting-places of kings and priests, but were rifled of their
contents centuries ago; their chief value at present is in the
sculptures, which represent many of the trades and occupations of the
ancient Egyptians, and thus throw a vivid light on their daily life.
Frank wrote the following in his note-book on his return to the steamer:
"We have been able to see to-day how the ancient Egyptians lived, and
what they did; and it seems as if I have only to close my eyes and
imagine myself carried back five thousand years. There are barbers at
work on their customers, and closely reminding us of the barbers of
to-day; there are shoemakers cutting the leather, and preparing the
thread for stitching shoes and sandals together; and there are spinners
and weavers at work, the former using the spindle just as it is now used
in nearly all countries, and will probably be used as long as the world
stands.
[Illustration: SPINNING AND WEAVING.]
"There are glass-blowers and jewellers employed at their trades, both
using the familiar blow-pipe, and evidently understanding it as
perfectly as one could wish. Painters are busy with their brushes, some
making pictures on panels or on sheets of papyrus, and others engaged in
coloring statues or decorating walls. There are tailors and carpenters,
boat-builders and stone-cutters, and there is a series of pictures
representing the whole process of preparing flax, and making it into
twine and cloth. One man brings water to fill a tank, in which other men
are placing the flax; beyond the tank two men are beating the flax after
it has been properly soaked; others are twisting the fibres into yarn;
others make the yarn into ropes or cloth; and, lastly, two men hold up a
piece of cloth that has just been finished. No description in words
could be more clear than is this pictorial representation.
[Illustration: ARTISTS AT WORK.]
"But industry is not the only thing seen on the walls of the tombs of
Beni-Hassan. Musicians are playing on instruments of different kinds.
Men and women are dancing or singing, others are seated at table or
around fish-ponds, and others are playing ball, throwing heavy stones,
or engaged at games similar to our chess or backgammon. They knew how to
enjoy themselves fifty centuries ago no less than now. There are
unpleasant things, too, depicted on the walls of the tombs: some of the
tortures of prisoners are shown, and in one of the paintings several
peasants are being held on the ground while a man strikes them across
the shoulders with a heavy whip.
[Illustration: FISHING SCENE AT BENI-HASSAN.]
"In one of the tombs there is a picture representing the arrival of some
strangers, and their presentation to the King. This was long thought to
be the arrival of Joseph and his brethren; but as the tombs are known to
have been made several hundred years before Joseph was born, the
pictures must refer to somebody else. There are thirty-seven figures in
all in this group, and their faces and style of dress show that they
came from some other country than Egypt.
[Illustration: AN ANCIENT DONKEY.]
"We found a picture of a donkey with a saddle on his back exactly like
the one he wears to-day for carrying burdens. There are several
representations of this patient little beast, not only at Beni-Hassan,
but in the tomb of Tih, at Sakkara; in the latter whole droves are
shown, so that the donkey must have been a common beast of burden in
ancient, as he his in modern Egypt. If there were any doubt on the
subject it could be settled by reference to the Old Testament, where the
donkey, or ass, is frequently mentioned.
"The conductor interrupted us in the middle of our studies of the
sculptures, and said it was time to move on. We went to several tombs
and found something interesting in all of them; we have not time to
describe a tenth of what we saw, and, if you want to learn more about
the place, we must refer you to the descriptions by Wilkinson and
others. These gentlemen spent a long time here making sketches, and
taking impressions by means of wet paper; as far as we know, their
descriptions are accurate, though they do not always agree as to the
exact meaning of the hieroglyphics which are above some of the pictures.
[Illustration: A RESPECTABLE CITIZEN.]
"When we came back to the boat we were annoyed by the natives begging
for backsheesh; they were nearly as persistent as the Arabs at the
pyramids, and if we had been a small party they might have been
insolent. As soon as we were on board the steamer they gathered on the
bank close to it, and kept up such a howl that one of the passengers
threw a few copper coins for them to scramble after.
"How they rolled over each other, and tossed the dust in the air! Every
time a coin was thrown, there was a rush for it, and the rule seemed to
be that might made right. The small children were pushed aside by the
larger boys, and several times they would fight for the possession of a
penny till both the combatants were exhausted, and had to stop to take
breath.
"Some coins were thrown into the shallow water at the stern of the boat,
and instantly the boys flung off their scanty clothing and plunged in.
They would not go far out from the bank, or, rather, they would not try
to find coins in any depth where they could not wade; the water of the
Nile is not at all transparent, and it was probably because they could
not see to any depth that they refused to dive. We fastened a coin in a
piece of wood and threw it far out into the river; half a dozen of the
boys swum for it, and there was a very pretty race between them to get
the prize. It was far better than the rough scramble on the bank, and we
repeated the performance several times till the boat was ready to start
from the landing-place.
"These boys are excellent swimmers, and now that the crocodiles have
pretty well disappeared from the Nile below the first cataract, they do
not run much risk in exercising in the water. Doctor Bronson says there
were many crocodiles in the river thirty years ago, but they have been
hunted so much by tourists that very few of them are left."
[Illustration: AN OLD INHABITANT.]