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SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT
A DESCRIPTION OF
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE
BY
STANLEY LANE-POOLE
"^it^ glUt^ftations en ^tccl and "^ood
A SUPPLEMENT TO ^^PICTURESQUE PALESTINE''
LONDON
J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., Limited, 294, CITY ROAD
{The right of Translation and Reproduction is reserved]
(0 7
CONTENTS.
PAGE
r
47
CHAPTER I.
THE TOWNSFOLK
Consen'atism of the Egyptian Middle Classes. — The Cairo Tradesman.— Shops.— Streets.— By-lanes. Houses.
Courts.— Rooms.— Daily Life.— Visiting.— Hartm.— Feminine Beauty.— Position of Women in Mohammadan
Countries.— Meals. — Feasting in the Middle Ages — Use of Wine.— Poetry and Music— HammM the Poet.
Ibrahim El-Mi5sily. — Mukhirik. — Music in the Present Day. — Modern Festivities. — Marriage. Public
Festivals. — Moharram. — Ashflra. — The Return of the Pilgrims. — The M61id En-Neby. — The Hasaneyn.
Bazaars on the Great Night of the Hasaneyn.— Other Feasts.— The Holy Carpet.— The Mahmal.— The Night
of the Drop. — Character of Egyptian Amusements.
CHAPTER IL
THE COUNTRYFOLK
Egypt an Agricultural Country. — Conditions of Cultivation. — The Annual Inundation.— Canals.— Corvee Labour.—
Water-engines. — Shadiifs, Sdkiyehs, and Steam-pumps. — The Indebtedness of the Fellihin. — An Egyptian
Calendar. — Character of the Peasant. — Villages.— Peasants' Huts. — The Village Saint. — ^A Country Town. —
Courts of "Justice." — The Copts.— A Coptic Wedding. — Industries. — Daily Life of the Peasants.— The Life
of the Women in the Country.— The Bedawis. — The Ababdeh. — Their Dress, Tents, Food, Employment, and
Character.
CHAPTER III.
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE 79
Education. — Home and Religious Training. — School.— University of the Azhar. — The Religion of Egypt. — General
Character of Isldm. — Dogmas.— Ritual.— Mosques. — The Mosques of 'Amr, of Ibn-Tdlun, of El-Hdkim. —
The Museum of Arab Art in the Mosque of El-Hikim. — The Mosques of Kala<in and En-N4sir. — Sultan
Hasan.^KAit-Bey. — Ornamentation of the Interior of Mosques. — Mosaics. — Tiles. — Bronze Work. — Wood
Carving. — Kamaiiyehs. — Lamps of Enamelled Glass. — Prayers. — Fasting : Ramadan.— Performance of a
Zikr by Darwishes. — Recitations of the entire Korin.
CHAPTER IV.
THE EUROPEAN ELEMENT 117
European Innovations. — Alexandria. — The Trail of the European throughout the Land. — The European Quarter
of Cairo. — The Triumph of Western Customs. — The Work of the ex-Khedive Isma'll. — Camels v. Railways.
— The Journey from Cairo to Suez. — Tell el-Maskhutah — Pithom-Succoth. — The Route of the Exodus. — The
Suez Canal. — Suez. — Lake Timsih.— Isma'ilta. — Kantarah. — Port Sa'id. — Result of all our Improvements. —
Immobility of the Egyptians. — The Present Outlook. — Uselcssness of attempting Constitutional Government.
CHAPTER V.
EPILOGUE 132
General Considerations. — The Prime Mistake in the Present System to be found in the Condition of the Women.
—Disastrous Results of the Vicious Training of Women. — Relations of Men and Women degraded by Early
Inculcation of Vicious Views of each other's Requirements. — The Lack of the Influence of a Lady. — Slight
Prospect of Improvement, so long as Islim is the Religion of Egypt.— Education of the Women must be the
First Step.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL.
The BAb Zuweyleh Frontispiece
Morning on the Nile Vignette
A Daughter OF THE East Toface:page 30
Pastime in Ancient Egypt ' . . 70
The School of Sultan Hasan g^
Feeding the Sacred Ibis in the Halls of Karnak 98
ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.
PAGE
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3
4
5
6
7
Street Scene '
Cairo, from the Tombs of the Memluks
A By-Street
The Ezbekiyeh in the Old Days ....
Mosque in a By-Street
Part of the Wall of the 'SVekaieh of Kait-Bey .
The Shopkeeper 8
A Closed Shop-front — an Open Shop-front . . 9
Coppersmith — Armourer ...... 10
A Blind Beggar— a Barbareen— an Armenian . . 11
Private Houses 12
A Solitary Court . . . . . . . -13
Upper Story — a Door Knocker 14
Door in the Quarter of the Copts .... 15
Entrance to a Mosque 16
Upper Story with Projecting Window ... 17
Dilapidated Window — Corbels supporting Upper
Windows 18
Sakka, or Water-Carrier, with Goatskin filled . . 19
Open Balcony ........ 20
A Watchman 21
In the Carpet Bazaar 22
BowwAbs or Doorkeepers 23
Mosque of Mohammad 'Aly— Cairo Windmills . . 24
Entrance to an Old House 25
Door and Wooden Lock 26
Meshrebiyeh with Screen in front to conceal the
inmates from the view of neighbours , , . 27
PAGE
A Cairene Houriyeh .28
Upper Part of a House 30
Old Window — Doorway with Arabesque Ornamenta-
tion 31
Arched Recess in the Woodwork of a Room — Brass
Ewer and Basin for Washing, and Coffee-Tray
with Cups 32
Carved Wooden Table in Museum of Arab Art at
Cairo — Panel of an Inlaid Ivory and Ebony
Table in Arab Art Museum 33
Table of Silver and Brass Filigree Work of the
Fourteenth Century, in Arab Art Museum at
Cairo 34
Top and Panel of Table of Silver and Brass Filigree
Work 35
Window with Shutters — Panelled Cupboard . . 36
Brass Coffee Jug — Porous Water Jar — Brass-handled
Dagger — Earthenware Jug — Coffee Cup in Brass
Stand — Iron Dag'ger — Nargileh, or Water-pipe
A Street Corner
Cairo Crowd waiting for a Procession on a Festival
Veiled — Unveiled
A Cairo Mount 41
Donkey Boy — a Stirrup — Donkey Saddle ... 42
Sal's, or Running Footman 43
Arab Marriage 44
Players on the Rabib or Viol, used to accompany
Reciters of Romances 45
?>1
38
39
40
VI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
A Balcony
The Mosque of Sultan Hasan from the South-west
Arched Recess
Doon\'ay with Red and White Ornamentation
Grove of Palms at Memphis
Village Huts
On the Banks of the Nile ....
Ophthalmic— a Water Crane
Shaduf .
Water-wheel
Village Sheykh
Nile-boat by Moonlight— The Nile at Kafr-el-Aydt
A Jew's House — ^Wall of a House, striped Red and
White
A Rude Door
Coming from the Well — a FellAh at Leisure
" Telegraph " — a Donkey-Boy — ^Waiting for "Cook
A Pipe— Water Bottle
Women bringing Water
Aqueduct — Nile Boatman .
A Merchant
Porter — Red Pottery of Asyut
Black Asyut Bottle— Asyut Pottery
Water Vessels— a Horse Trough — a Bow used for
separating Cotton — Shoes .
A Dragoman
" The Shadow of a Great Rock "
A Bedawy Tent .....
A Bedawy
Dromedary Saddle ....
A Controversy
Travelling in the Desert
A Nubian Boy — Ear-ring of Nubian
Bedouin
A Tomb in the outskirts of Cairo
Large Mosque Window
Entrance to the Tomb-mosque of Kait-Bey
An Alexandrian Minaret .
A Modern Minaret, Cairo .
The Mosque of ' Amr : " The Eye of the Needle '
Exterior of the Mosque of 'Amr, at "Old Cairo '
The Mosque of 'Amr : East Arcades .
Triforium Arches in the Mosque of Ibn-Tulun —
Door of Fountain in the Court of Ibn-Tulun' s
Mosque
Minaret of the Mosque of Ibn-TOlfln ....
Minaret (or Mibkhareh) of the Mosque of El-H4kim .
The Mosque of Kaladn in the S(ak En-Nahhasin,
from the Square in front of the Beyt El-KAdy
Minaret of a Tomb-mosque
The Mosque of the Imim Esh-Sh4fi'y
Woman-
PAGE
46
48
49
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52
53
54
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57
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59
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61
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64
65
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71
72
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89
90
91
92
93
PAGE
Fountain in Court of Mosque of Sultan Hasan . . 94
The Mosque of Sultan Hasan 95
Sixteenth Century Tomb-mosque in the Southern
Cemetery 97
Enamelled Glass Lamp from Mosque of Sultan
Hasan (Museum of Arab Art, Cairo) ... 98
Interior of the Tomb-mosque of Kait-Bey ... 99
The Minaret of Kait-Bey in the Eastern Cemetery . too
Dome of the Tomb-mosque of Kait-Bey . . .101
Panelled Door from Interior of a Mosque (Museum of
Arab Art, Cairo) 102
Mihrib or Niche from Mosque of Sitteh NefJseh
(Museum of Arab Art, Cairo) .... 103
Niche of a Mosque — Geometrical Kufy Inscription ' . 104
Arched Window of the School attached to the
Mosque of Kait-Bey 105
Mohammadan Graves 106
Houses for Visitors to the Cemeteries .- . . 107
Iron Mosque Lamp in the Museum of Arab Art at
Cairo 108
Base of Bronze Mosque Lamp in the Museum of
Arab Art at Cairo 109
A Tomb-Mosque no
The Hour of Prayer in a Mosque . . . .in
Muslim Worshippers 112
Performing a Rek'ah of Prayer 113
An Arab Family 114
A Cairo Donkey- Boy .116
Alexandria from the Palace of Meks .... 117
Hereditary Pilot of Alexandria 118
Alexandria from the Sea 119
The Palace of Meks 120
Modern Shop-door in the European Quarter . . 121
"Cleopatra's Needle " 122
Pompey's Pillar — Palace on the Island of Roda . 123
Arcade in the Ezbeklyeh 124
European Improvements — The Mark of the Frank . 125
European Building, Cairo — Suez .... 126
Interior of the Basin at Suez — Suez . . . .127
Ship in the Canal— Dredging Machine . . .128
Between Suez and Isma'ilia : a "Yam Suf," or Sea
of Reeds 129
Waterworks at Isma'ilia 130
Lock on the Freshwater Canal 131
On the Suez Canal: Station at El-Kantarah, "The
Bridge" 132
The Station at Kantarah on the Suez Canal . . 133
Line Men of the Oriental Telegraph Company on the
Road to Suez 134
Port Sa'id . . 135
Lake Mareotis 136
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
CHAPTER L
THE TOWNSFOLK.
LL who wish to know what the townspeople of Egypt
are like should make acquaintance with the Cairo shop-
man. The tradespeople are, indeed, the conservative
element in Egypt : it is they who keep up the old
traditions and walk in the old paths, as far as these are
still preserved. The upper classes are becoming daily
less and less oriental in outward appearance and habits,
though it will take some time to Europeanise their
characters. They dance with Frankish ladies, proh
pudor ! They wear Frankish clothes, smoke cigarettes,
enjoy M. Lecoq's choicest saletds at the " Theatre
Khedivial," and, but for their eastern habits of tyranny,
peculation, insincerity, and corruption, they might for all
the world be Europeans. They have, indeed, retained
one national feature, the red fez or tarbush; and the
collection of fezes (for the Mohammadan never takes off his hat) in the stalls of the opera,
and the veils of gauze stretched in front of the boxes on the grand tier, to hide the beauties
of the harim, are the only things in the Cairene opera that remind us that we are not in Paris.
Even the national coffee cups are manufactured in Europe.
But the working people are very much what they have been for many centuries. They
fully appreciate the advantages of dealing with Franks, whom they commonly cheat, but they
have no desire to imitate the customs or dress of these "dogs of infidels." Cairo, in its
bazaars and markets, is very much the same place as the Cairo Lane described so minutely in
his " Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians," upon which most later
descriptions are founded ; and Lane's Cairo was to all intents and purposes the city of Saladin
and the Memluks, the city so romantically pictured in the stories of the " Thousand and One
Nights." The course of the world runs slowly in the East. To use a paradox, those who
B
2 SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
know Lane's " Modern Egyptians," when they visit Cairo, are surprised to find that nothing
surprises them, that everything in the native quarters is still very much in the same state as it
■*^
THE TOWNSFOLK.
LJliuiiliiMi
13 2
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
was fifty years ago, and that the Cairene has stood still while all the rest of the world was
joining in the everlasting " move on " of modern civilisation.
We shall find this stand-still mortal in one of the main thoroughfares of the city. Leaving
the European quarter behind, and taking little note of the Greek and Italian shops in the
semi -civilised Musky, we
turn off to the right into
the Ghuriyeh — one of those
larger but still narrow streets
which are distinguished with
the name of shdri', or
thoroughfare. Such a street
is lined on either side with
little box-like shops, which
form an unbroken boundary
on either hand, except where
a mosque door, or a public
fountain, or the entrance to
another street interrupts for
a brief space the row of
stores. None of the private
doors or windows we are
accustomed to in Europe
breaks the line of shops.
For a considerable distance
all the traders deal in the
same commodity ■ — be it
sugar-plums or slippers. The
system has its advantages,
for if one dealer be too dear,
the next may be cheap ; and
the competition of many
contiguous salesmen brings
about a salutary reduction in
prices. On the other hand,
it must be allowed that it is
fatiguing to have to order your coat in half-a-dozen different places — to buy the cloth in one
direction, the buttons in another, the braid in a third, the lining in a fourth, the thread in a
fifth, and then to have to go to quite another place to find a tailor to cut it out and sew it
together. And as each dealer has to be bargained with, and generally smoked with, if
A BY-STREET.
THE TOWNSFOLK. 5
not coffeed with, if you get your coat ordered in a single morning you may count yourself
expeditious.
In one of these little cupboards that do duty for shops, we may or may not find the typical
tradesman we are seeking. It may chance he has gone to say his prayers, or to see a friend,
or perhaps he did not feel inclined for business to-day : in which case the folding shutters of
his shop will be closed, and as he does not live anywhere near, and as, if he did, there is no
bell, no private door, and no assistant, we may wait there for ever, so far as he is concerned.
THE EZBEkJyEH IN THE OLD DAYS.
and get no answer to our inquiries. His neighbour next door, however, obligingly informs us
that the excellent man whom we are seeking has gone to the mosque, and we accordingly
betake ourselves to our informer and make his acquaintance instead of his neighbour's.
Our new friend is sitting in a recess some five feet square, and rather more than six feet
high, raised a foot or two from the ground ; and within this narrow compass he has collected
all the wares he thinks he is likely to sell, and has also reserved room for himself and his
customers to sit down and smoke cigarettes while they bargain. Of course, his stock must be
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
very limited, but then all his neighbours are ready to help him ; and if )'ou cannot find what
you want within the compass of his four walls, he will leave you with a cigarette and a cup of
coffee, or perhaps Persian tea in a tumbler, while he goes to find the desideratum among the
wares of his colleagues round about. Meanwhile, you drink your scalding coffee— which is,
however, incomparably delicious— and watch the throng that passes by : the ungainly camels,
laden with brushwood oi green fodder, which seem to threaten to sweep everythino- and
everybody out of the street; the
respectable townspeople, mounted
on grey or brown asses, ambling
along contentedly, save when an
unusually severe blow from the in-
human donkey-boy running behind
makes their beasts swerve incon-
tinently to the right or left, as
though they had a hinge in their
middles ; the grandees in their two-
horse carriages, preceded by breath-
less runners, who clear the way for
their masters with shrill shouts —
"Shemdlak ya weled!" (" To thy
left, my boy ! ") " Yeminik ya Sitt ! "
(" To thy right, O lady!") " Iftah
'eynak, ya am!" ("Open thine eye,
O uncle!") and the like — the women
with trays of eatables on their heads,
the water-carrier with goatskin under
arm, and the vast multitude of blue-
robed men and women who have
something or other to do, which
takes them indeed along the street,
but does not take them very
hurriedly. In spite of the apparent
rush and crush, the crowd moves slowly, like everything else in the East. Our friend returns
with the desired article ; we approve it, guardedly, and with cautious tentative aspect demand,
"How much?" The answer is always at least twice the fair price. We reply, first by
exclaiming, " I seek refuge with God " (from your exorbitance), and then by offering about half
the fair price. The dealer shakes his head, looks disappointed with us, shows he expected
better sense in people of our appearance, folds up his goods, and sits down to another cigarette.
After a second ineffectual bid, we summon our donkey and prepare to mount. At this moment
.\ l;V-STKEET.
THE TOWNSFOLK. 7
the shopman relents, and reduces his price : but we are obdurate and begin riding away. He
pursues us, almost agrees to our terms ; we return, pay, receive our purchase, commend him
PART OK THE WALL OK THE VVEKALEH OK KALI' BEV.
to the protection of God, and wend our way on. But if, instead of going on, we accompany
our late antagonist in the bargain to his own home, we shall see what a middle-class Cairene
house is like. Indeed, a middle-class house in Cairo may sometimes chance to be a palace, for
8
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
the modern Pasha despises the noble mansions that were the pride and delight of better men
than he in the good old days of the Memluks, and prefers to live in shadeless " Route No. 29,"
or thereabouts, in the modern bricklayer's paradise known as the Isma'iliyeh quarter ; and
hence the tradesman may sometimes occupy the house where some great Bey of former times
held his state, and marshalled his retainers, when he prepared to strike a blow for the
precarious throne that was always at the command of the strongest battalions. But all Cairene
houses of the old style are very much alike : they differ only in the scale and the richness or
poverty of the decoration ; and if our merchant's house is better than most of its neighbours,
we have but to subtract a few of the
statelier rooms, and reduce the scale
of the others, to obtain a fair idea
of the houses on either hand and
round about.
The street we shall now enter is
quite different from that we have left.
A portion of the latter is seen in the
fine en^ravinof after Mr. Roberts's
picture, forming our frontispiece. On
the left is the lofty fa9ade of the
mosque of the Memluk Sultan El-
Muayyad, which has lately been sub-
jected to an unfinished course of
tasteless restoration. Its two minarets
stand upon the fine old gate called the
Bab Zuweyleh, in the centre of the
view. People now-a-days generally
call this gate the Bab El-Mutawelly,
because it is believed to be a favourite
resort of the mysterious Kutb El-
Mutawelly, or pope (for the time
being) of all the saints. This very
holy personage is gifted with powers
of invisibility and of instantaneous change of place : he flies unseen from the top of the
Kaabeh at Mekkeh to the Bab Zuweyleh, and there reposes in a niche behind the wooden
door. True believers tell their beads as they pass this niche, and the curious peep in to see
if the saint be there ; and if you have a headache, there is no better cure than to drive
a nail into the door ; while a sure remedy for the toothache, is to pull out the tooth and
hang it up on the same venerated spot. Perhaps pulling the tooth out might of itself cure the
ache ; but the suggestion savours of blasphemy, and at any rate it is safer to fix the tooth up.
THE SHOPKEEPER.
THE TOWNSFOLK.
A CLOSED SHOP-FRONT.
The door bristles with iinpleasing votive offerings of this sort, and if they were all successful
the Kutb must be an excellent doctor.
The street thus
barred by the Bab
Zuweyleh is, for Cairo,
a broad one ; and shops,
mosques, wekalehs, and
fountains form its
boundaries. The street
we now enter, as
we turn down a by-
lane and then wheel
sharply to the left, has
no shops, though there
is a little mosque, the
tomb of a venerated
saint, at the corner as we
enter. Its broad bands
of red and white relieve the deep shadows of the lane, each side of which is composed of the tall
faces of houses, with nothing to vary the whitewashed walls except the closely grated windowa
N either hand still narrower alleys open off, sometimes mere
culs-de-sac, but often threading the city for a considerable
distance. In these solitary courts we may still see the
meshrebtyehs, which are becoming so rare in the more fre-
quented thoroughfares. A meshrebiyeh is a projecting
window, constructed entirely, save its roof and bottom, of
ingeniously contrived lattice-work, at least in the houses of
the better sort, but made of rough boards in poorer houses.
The best are reserved for the interior windows of the house,
which look on the inner court or garden ; but there are still
not a few streets in Cairo where the passenger still stops to
admire tier upon tier and row after row of meshrebiyehs,
which give a singularly picturesque appearance to the houses.
The name is derived from the root which means to drink
(which occurs in " sherbet "), and is applied to these lattice-
windows because the porous water-bottles are often placed
in them to cool. Frequently there is a little semicircular
apse projecting out of the centre of the meshrebiyeh for the reception of a Kulleh, or water-
bottle. The delicately turned nobs and balls, by which the patterns of the lattice-work are
bilOP-l'KONT.
lO
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
formed, are sufficiently near together to conceal ^vhatever passes within from the eyes of
opposite neighbours, and yet there is enough space between them to allow free access of air.
HE meshrebiyeh is indeed a cooling place for human beings
as well as water-jars, and at once a convent-grating and a
spying-place for the women of the harim, who can watch
their enemies of the opposite sex through the meshes of
the windows without being seen in return. Yet there are
convenient little doors that open in the lattice-work if the
inmates choose to be seen as they see ; and it must be
allowed that the fair ladies of Cairo are not always above
the pardonable vanity of letting a passer-by see that they
are fair. When, as not seldom happens in the quiet by-
ways, the meshrebiyehs almost meet across the road, it may
be questioned whether the concealment is always so com-
plete as it is intended to be ; and one can easily imagine a
comfortable flirtation carried on between two proximate
lattices, especially with the doors ajar. This, however, is
not the reason that they are disappearing so fast from the
streets. The fatal opportu-
nities they afford to a con-
flagration, which leaps from
window to window with
COPPERSMITH.
inconceivable speed, is the chief reason : and the high prices
realised by well-made meshrebiyehs when the Frank enters the
market tempts many a householder to dispose of his lattice-
windows. The climate of Cairo, moreover, in winter seems
not so warm as it used to be ; and the meshrebiyeh is a sorry
defence against a cold wind.
In one of these by-lanes we stop before an arched doorway,
and tie our donkey to the ring beside it. The door itself is a
study. The upper part is surrounded by arabesque patterns,
which form a square decoration above it, often very tasteful in
the case of the older doorways, and not by any means ugly in
quite modern buildings. Sometimes the wooden door itself has
arabesques on it, and the inscription, " God is the Creator, the
Eternal," which is believed to act as a charm against sickness,
and demons, and the " evil eye," and also serves as a memento mori to the master of the
house whenever he comes home. But as a rule the door is plain. There is no bell— for the
Prophet declared that a bell is the devil's musical instrument, and the angels do not assort
ARMOURER,
THE TOWNSFOLK.
II
with any company where there is a bell* — and sometimes no knocker, so we batter upon the
door with our stick or fist. It generally takes several knockings to make oneself heard; but
this is not a land where people hurry overmuch — did not our lord Mohammad, upon whom be
peace, say that " haste came from the devil,"-— so we accommodate ourselves to the ways of the
land, and console ourselves with the antithetic test, " God is with the patient." At last a
fumbling sound is heard on the other side, the doorkeeper is endeavouring to fit a stick,
with little wire pins arranged upon it in a certain order, into corresponding holes which
are situated at the end of a deep mortice constructed in the sliding bolt of the door.
These are the key and lock of a Cairene door. The sliding bolt runs through a wooden
staple on the door into a slot in the jamb. When it is home, certain movable pins drop
down from the staple into holes in the sliding bolt and prevent its being drawn back. The
introduction of the key, or stick with pins corresponding to the holes in the bolt, lifts the
movable pins and permits the bolt to be slid back. Nothing could be clumsier or more easy
to pick. A piece of wax at the end of a stick will at once reveal the position of the pins,
and the rest is simple.
Within there is a passage, which bends sharply after the first yard or two, and thereby
renders any view into the interior impossible from the open door. In this passage the boivTvah,
or doorkeeper, generally an old servant, ought to be found ; but he is not always within earshot,
or he may chance to be asleep. At the inner end of this passage we emerge into an open
court, with a well of brackish water in a shady corner, and perhaps an old sycamore. On all
sides the apartments of the house surround the court, and their best windows, screened with
the finest lattice-work, look into it. The lower rooms, opening directly off the court, are
those into which a man may walk with impunity, and no risk of meeting any of the women.
Into one of these lower rooms our host conducts us, with polite entreaty to do him the honour
of making ourselves at home. It is the guest-room, or mandarah, and serves as an example
of the ordinary dwelling-room of the better sort. The part of the room where we enter is of
a lower level than the rest, and if it be a really handsome house we shall find this lower part
paved with marble mosaic and cooled by a fountain in the middle; while opposite the door
* S. Lane-Poole : " The Speeches and Table-talk of the Prophet Mohammad," Golden Treasury Series, 1882, page 168.
C 2
12
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
is a marble slab raised upon arches, where the water-bottles, coffee-cups, and washing materials
are kept. We leave our outer shoes on the marble before we step upon the carpeted part
of the room. Very generally there is a raised carpeted part on either side of the lower level,
but the room we are now in has only one. It is covered with rugs, and furnished by a low
divan round three sides. The end wall is filled by a meshrebiyeh, which is furnished within
with cushions, while above it some half-dozen windows, composed of small pieces of coloured
glass let into a framework of stucco, so as to form a floral pattern, admit a half-light. The
two sides, which are whitewashed
where there is neither wood nor
tiles, are furnished with shallow cup-
boards with doors of complicated
geometrical panelling — an instance
of necessity being the mother of
invention, for the need of panelling
to avoid warping in the heat of
Egypt led to the elaboration of
those intricate patterns, which are
so characteristic of Arab woodwork.
Small arched niches on either of the
cupboards, and a shelf above, are
filled with jars and vases, and other
ornaments. The ceiling is formed
by massive beams crossed by planks
and generally painted a dark red.
In old houses the ceilings are
often most beautifully decorated.
There are no tables, chairs, or
fireplaces, or indeed any of the
things a European understands to
be furniture. When a meal is to be
eaten, a little table is brought in ; if
the weather is cold a brazier of red-
hot charcoal is kindled; instead of
chairs the Cairene tucks his legs up under him on the divan. Chairs, however, are becoming
less rare in Cairo, and the time may come when our Mohammadan host will ask us to " put
our legs under his mahogany," like any English stockbroker ; but for the present we may rest
happy that these things as yet are not.
There is often another reception-room, raised above the ground, but entered by steps
from the court, into which it looks through an open arched front ; and frequently a recess in
PRIVATE HOUSES.
THE TOWNSFOLK.
13
the court, under one of the upper rooms, is furnished with a divan for hot weather. A door
opens out of the court into the staircase leading to the harim rooms, and here no man but
the master of the house dare penetrate.
"Harim" means what is "prohibited" to
other men, and also what is " sacred " to
the master himself The harim rooms are
the domestic part of the house. When a
man retires there he is in the bosom of his
family, and it would need a very urgent
affair to induce the doorkeeper to summon
him down to anyone who called to see
him. Among the harim apartments there
is generally a large sitting-room, like the
mandarah, called the kaah, with perhaps a
cupola over it ; and in front of the ka'ah
is a vestibule, which serves as a ventilatinsf
and cooling place, for a sloping screen over
an open space on the roof of this room is
so turned as to conduct the cool north
breezes into the house in hot weather ; and
here the family often sleep in summer.
There are no bedrooms in a Mohammadan
house, or rather no rooms furnished as
bedrooms, for there are plenty of separate
chambers where the inmates sleep, but not
one of them has any of what we imagine
to be the requisites of bedroom furniture.
The only iittings the Cairene asks for the
night consist of a mattress and pillow, and
perhaps a blanket in winter and a mosquito-
net in summer, the whole of which he rolls
up in the morning and deposits in some
cupboard or side-room, whereupon the bed-
room becomes a sittincj-room. Nor is the
sitting-room over-cumbered with furniture ;
a divan and a rug or two are all that cus-
tom requires, and at meal-time a little table is brought in, and a large brass or tinned tray is
placed upon it, and the family squats round it on the floor. It needs practice, however, and I
must warn Europeans that it is the best way I know of getting the cramp. There is another
A SOLITARY COUKT.
14
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
important department of the harim — the bathroom — not a mere room with a fixed bath in it,
but a suite of complicated heated stone apartments, exactly resembling the public Turkish
baths. It is only a large house that
boasts this luxury, however, and
most people go out to bathe, if
they care to bathe at all. Few
houses in Cairo are built higher
than two stories, and the upper
stories are often in a ruined and
dilapidated state, with ceilings
fallen in, walls bulging out and
meshrebiyehs dropping. Indeed,
house architecture at Cairo is by
no means famous for stability;
houses are falling in all quarters,
and leaning walls and cracked
corners show that many more
will follow their example. It is a
terrible matter to think how little
of Cairo will be standing fifty years
hence. It was not built to last, and
it must inevitably yield to time
and its own inherent weakness.
UPPER STORY.
The inhabitants of a house, such as that described, lead a dreary monotonous life:
fortunately, however, they are not often conscious of its dreariness. The master rises very
early, for the Muslim must say the daybreak prayers. A pipe and a cup of coffee is often all
THE TOWNSFOLK.
15
he takes before his light midday meal, and he generally reserves his appetite for the chief repast
of the day — the supper or dinner — which he eats soon after sunset. If he is in business, he
spends the day in more or less irregular attendance at his shop, smokes almost incessantly
either the new-fangled Turkish cigarette, or
the traditional long chibuk, with its handsome
amber mouthpiece, its long cherry-wood stem,
and red clay bowl filled with mild Gebely or
Latakia tobacco. If he has no special occupa-
tion, he amuses himself with calling on his
friends, or indulges in long dreamy hours in
the warm atmosphere of the public bath,
where the vapour of the hot-water tanks, and
the dislocation of all the joints in the sham-
pooing, and the subsequent interval of cooling
and smoking and coffee, are all exceedingly
delightful in a hot climate. When he goes out,
a man of any position or wealth never con-
descends to walk ; as a rule he rides a donkey,
sometimes a horse ; but the donkey is far the
more convenient in crowded streets. Indeed,
an Egyptian donkey of the best breed is a fine
animal, and fetches sometimes as much as a
hundred guineas ; his paces are both fast and
easy, and it is not difficult to write a letter on
the pummel of one of these ambling mounts.
The pummel is the most curious thing about
the saddle ; it rises sometimes nine inches or
more above the seat and is covered with
leather, while the rest of the saddle is covered
with soft woollen stuff. The animals are very
sure-footed, but if they do come down on the
slimy mud that often lies deep in the principal
thoroughfares, the rider, if he wisely abjures
stirrups, simply stands up on his feet and
walks over the donkey's head. The common
method of urging the animal on is by keeping up a tattoo on his flanks with one's heels ; and
he is generally guided by a rap on the side of the neck or head from the stick which the rider
carries, instead of by the management of the reins. An attendant runs behind, however, to
keep up the pace ; and in former days a great man used to employ a couple of runners, armed
DOOR IN THE QUARTER OF THE COPTS.
i6
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
with long sticks (nebbuts), to clear the way in front; but now great riien ride in carriages,
and the saises run some yards in front of the horses. How the sai's and the ordinary
donkey-boy manage
to hold their own
against the rapid
driving and riding
of their masters is
a mystery. It is
said they injure their
health by the exces-
sive strain, and die
young ; and humane
people never allow
the runners to go
before them in long
drives. Perhaps this
barbaric state is
necessary among a
people with whom
appearances count
for so much ; but
the representatives
of England could
surely afford to
dispense with idle
pomp, which in-
volves real suffering
to those who contri-
bute to it. No one
who was in Cairo in
1883 could help re-
gretting that Lord
Dufferin and Sir E.
Malet should coun-
tenance, even to the
small extent they
did, a custom which the present width of the streets of Cairo renders superfluous, and which
cannot but wear the look of cruelty and barbarism.
While their lord is paying his calls or attending to his shop, the women of his household
ENTRANCE TO A MOSQUE.
THE TOWNSFOLK.
17
make shift to pass the time as best they may. In spite of popular ideas on the subject,
Mohammadans seldom have more than one wife, though they sometimes add to their regular
marriage a left-handed connection with an Abyssinian or other slave girl. Efforts, however,
are being made to put down the traffic in
slaves, and if the trade is really suppressed
the Cairene will become monoofamous.
The Khedive himself sets an excellent
example in this, as in most other respects,
and the better sort of Muslims are, to say
the least, as moral as ordinary Christians.
Facility of divorce is the real difficulty.
Men will not keep several wives, because
it costs a good deal to allow them separate
houses or suites of rooms, and it does not
conduce to domestic harmony : but they
do not hesitate to divorce a wife when they
are tired of her, and take a new one in
her place. It is said the Khalif ' Aly thus
married and divorced two hundred women
in his time ; and a certain dyer of Baghdad
even reached the astonishing total of nine
hundred wives : he died at the good old
age of eighty-five, and if he married at
fifteen, he would have had a fresh spouse
for every month during seventy years of
conjugal felicity! A recent governor of
JJ pper Egypt was no mean disciple of this
illustrious leader ; but the habit has become
more and more uncommon ; European influ-
ence and increased prices have discouraged
alike plurality of wives and divorce ; and
wise legislation, and, better still, good ex-
amples from Anglo- Egyptians, would soon
turn the Mohammadans of Egypt into
genuine monogamists.
There would be much more excuse for ^^p^r story with projecting window.
the women to demand polyandria than for the men to ask for polygynsecia ; for while the one
husband can go about and enjoy himself as he pleases, the women of his family are often hard
pushed to it to find any diversion in their dull lives. Sometimes they make up a party and
D
i8
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
DILAPIDATED WINDOW.
engage a whole public bath ; and then the screams of laughter bear witness how the girls of
Egypt enjoy a romp and a frolic. Or else the mistress goes in state to call upon some friends,
mounted upon the high ass, enveloped in a balloon of black silk,
her face concealed all but the eyes by a white veil, and attended
by a trusty man-servant. These visits to other harims are the
chief delights of the ladies of Cairo : unlimited gossip, sweet-
meats, inspection of toilettes, perhaps some singers or dancers
to hear and behold — these are their simple joys. They have
no education whatever, and cannot understand higher or more
intellectual pleasures than those their physical senses can appre-
ciate : to eat, to dress, to chatter, to sleep, to dream away the
sultry hours on a divan, to stimulate their husband's affections
and keep him to themselves — this is to live, in a harim ! An
Englishwoman asked an Egyptian lady how she passed her time.
" I sit on this sofa," she answered, " and when I am tired, I cross
over and sit on that." Embroidery is one of the few occupations
of the harim ; but no lady thinks of busying herself with the
flower-garden which is often attached to the house. Indeed, the
fair houris we imagine, behind the lattice-windows of the harim,
are very dreary uninteresting people ; they know nothing, and take
but an indifferent interest in anything that goes on : they are just beautiful, and nothing more.
Of course, the stranger does not see the true " Light of
the Harim" at all: the only women who will show themselves
unveiled to him are those of the lower orders, and the peculiar
caste of Ghawazy, or dancing-girls. The forms of the peasant
women are often singularly noble and well developed ; but their
faces are not striking, except for the lustrous eyes. The Ghawizy
are, so far as I have seen them, uniformly ugly and repulsive.
But neither of these is a tyjDe of oriental loveliness : the beautiful
Circassians, "sights to dream of, not to tell," the warm-skinned
Gallas, and the other beauties of the rich man's harim, are not to
be seen by the profane eyes of strangers. It Is true the modern
belle is not quite so particular about hiding her charms as her
grandmother was (and is) ; the wives of pashas now drive along
the Shubra road, on Friday and Sunday afternoons, with the thin
gauze yashmak of Constantinople, instead of the opaque white
veil of Egypt. Still, we hardly get a good look at them, and
must go to the native essayists to learn what a woman's beaut>' ought to be to fulfil the
demands of Arab taste.
CORBELS SUPPORTING UPPER
WINDOWS.
THE TOWNSFOLK.
19
Although ladies' figures in Egypt do certainly tend towards embonpoini, the weighty fair
of central Africa is not the Arab ideal of a beauty. The maid of enchanting loveliness,
to whom poets and Khalifs devoted their most passionate lays and vows, is, contrariwise,
slenderly graceful, " like the twig of the oriental willow." Her face is like the full moon, and
her dusky locks fall in a cascade to her waist. A mole, like a drop of ambergris upon a ruby,
enhances the fascination of her blush. Her eyes are " intensely black, large, and long, of
the form of an almond : they are full of brilliancy, but this is softened by a lid slightly
depressed, and by long silken lashes, giving a tender and languid expression that is full of
SAKKA, OR WATER-CARRIER, WITH GOATSKIN FILLED.
enchantment, and scarcely to be improved by the adventitious aid of the black border of
Kohl ; for this the lovely maiden adds rather for the sake of fashion than necessity, having
what the Arabs term natural Kohl. The eyebrows are thin and arched, the forehead is wide
and fair as ivory ; the nose straight ; the mouth, small ; the lips of a brilliant red, and the
teeth 'like pearls set in coral.' The forms of the bosom are compared to two pomegranates;
the waist is slender ; the hips are wide and large ; the feet and hands small ; the fingers
tapering, and their extremities dyed with the deep orange-red imparted by the leaves of
the henna. The maid in whom these charms are combined exhibits a lively image of ' the
D 2
20
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
rosy-fingered Aurora'; her lover knows neither night nor sleep in her presence and the
constellations of heaven are no longer seen by him when she approaches."*
Such is the Arabian beauty of the poets. It is to be feared, however, that in these
degenerate days the great pashas of the East are not contented with mere beauty, but have
acquired a meretricious taste for coquetry in their mistresses : they want to be amused and
teased, as well as charmed. Hence, they sometimes seek their partners in Europe, and the
following translation of a Turkish ode in
praise of Greek girls shows that the Otto-
man taste inclines to the gr
feminine accomplishments :
man taste inclines to the grisette order of
OPEN BALCONY.
.... If a mistress thou should'st seek,
Then I pray thee let thy loved one be a Greek.
Unto her the fancies of the joyous bend,
For there's leave to woo the Grecian girl, my friend I
Caskets of coquetry are the Grecian maids,
And their grace the rest of womankind degrades.
What that slender wai.st, so delicate and slight ! "
What those gentle words the sweet tongue doth indite!
What those blandishments, that heart-attracting talk !
What that elegance, that heart-attracting walk !
What that figure, as a cypress, tall and free,
In the park of God's creation a young tree !
Given those disdainful airs to her alone.
And her legacy — that accent and that tone ?
strung the regal pearls of her enchanting speech,
Pounded seem they when her gentle mouth they reach.
Moving lithely, she from side to side will turn.
That the hearts of all her lovers she may burn.
That cap, which on one side she daily wears,
That jaunty step, those joyous, heedless airs ;
Those motions — they are just to our delight ;
And her tripping on two toes, how fair a sight !
'Twas as though with fire her pathway were inlaid.
That would burn the feet of yonder moonlike maid.
Thou would'st deem her lovers' hearts upon her way.
Burning with their love for her, all scattered lay. f
A young lady, such as the Ottoman
poet imagines, exists no doubt in many
an Egyptian harim ; but she does not
impart her peculiar graces to her native
sisters. In truth the Egyptian ladies
cannot venture to give themselves airs ;
they suffer from the low opinion which all Mohammadans entertain of the fair sex. The
unalterable Iniquity of womankind is an incontrovertible fact among the men of the East ; it Is
part of their religion. For did not the blessed Prophet say, " I stood at the gate of Paradise,
and Id ! most of Its Inhabitants were the poor : and I stood at the gate of Hell, and lo! most of
Its inhabitants were women ?" Is it not, moreover, a physiological fact that woman was made
* Lane : "Arabian Society in the Middle Ages," ed. S. Lane-Poole, pages 214, 215. 18S3.
\ E. J. W. Gibb : " Ottoman Poetry," pages 142-44. iSSz.
THE TOWNSFOLK.
21
out of a crooked rib of Adam, which if you tried to bend it would break, and if you left it
alone it would always remain crooked ? And is it not related that when the Devil heard of
the creation of woman, he was delighted, and said, " Thou art half of my host, and thou art the
depository of my secret, and thou art my arrow with which I shoot and miss not ! " It is no
wonder that a learned doctor o-ave advice
to his disciple, before he entered upon
any serious undertaking, " to consult ten
intelligent persons among his particular
friends, or if he have not more than five
such friends, let him consult each of them
twice ; or if he have not more than one
friend, he should consult him ten times,
at ten different visits ; if he have not one
to consult, let him return to his wife and
consult her, and whatever she advises him
to do, let him do the contrary : so shall
he proceed rightly in his affair and attain
his object."* Following in the steps of
this pious Father, the Muslims have
always treated women as an inferior
order of beings, necessary, indeed, and
ornamental, but certainly not entitled to
respect or deference. Hence they do
not educate their daughters ; hence they
seek in their wives beauty and docility,
and treat them either as pretty toys, to
be played with and broken and cast
away, or as useful links in the social
economy, good to bear children and
order a household ; but to regard them
as helpmeets, to share with them his
troubles and hopes, to repose in their
consolation, and rouse himself under their
encouragement and counsel, — are ideas
which could not enter a Muslim's head. The wife, except perhaps among a few Europeanised
Turks, is in Egypt always part of a lower creation. Very often she may not even eat her
meals with her lord, who devours his food apart from his devoted slave, and when he has
finished she may begin, unless he calls her to minister to his amusement and pleasure.
A WATCHMAN.
* Lane : " Arabian Society in the Middle Ages," page 220.
22
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
These meals are very simple affairs, and the Egyptian is no gourmet. After every one
IN THE CARPET BAZAAR.
has washed his hands, or rather has had water poured over them, the dinner-party sit down on
THE TOWNSFOLK.
23
the carpet, or some on the carpet and some on the corners of the divan, so as to surround the
large tinned tray which has already been placed upon the little inlaid table and furnished with
large cakes of bread, spoons, and glasses or cups, but no tablecloth, knives, or forks. The cakes
of bread serve as plates, our fingers as knives and forks ; the towels we wiped our hands with,
as napkins. After saying " in the name of God " [bts-millah), the host begins the repast by
plunging his spoon into the bowl of soup, and the guests follow his example : the spoons
plying between the one bowl and
the several mouths with consider-
able effect. Then some made-
dishes are brought in, and each
man arms himself with a little
piece of bread, and holding it to
the edge of the dish with the
thumb and first two fingers of
his right hand — the left is never
used at meals except in cases of
extreme necessity — draws a por-
tion of meat upon it and conveys
it to his mouth. The operation is
a really clean and tidy one, at
least in polite society and with
most dishes. It is not, however,
very easy to carry a load of
haricot beans, done in oil, to the
mouth without a slip ; and food
that has to be conveyed gingerly
also requires to be deposited well
inside the lips ; so that the inex-
perienced European cannot help
reflecting on the number of fingers
that go with the beans right into
the mouths, and then all go back
Into the same dish. A more unpleasant sight, however, to the uninitiated is the management
of the whole lamb, which generally forms the pihe de resistance of an Egyptian banquet.
This is one of those cases of sheer necessity where the left hand may be brought into use,
but some fine carvers can dispense with it even here. The operator thrusts his two
thumbs deep into the flesh of the lamb, and then grubbing with his fingers tears out huge
shapeless hunks, disjecta membra, and hands them in his fists, shining with grease, to each of
the guests. It is one of the most awful sights that the Western stomach has to accommodate
BOWWABS OR DOOKKEEPICKS.
24
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
itself to. The rending and mauling of the lamb, and the view of the successive coatings of
^ different varieties of grease and of juice,
hot and cold, savoury and sweet, accumu-
lated, like arrears of wall-paper, one upon
the other, on the same brown hand and
wrist, are, however, the only seriously
trying parts of an Arab dinner. The
cooking is generally admirable, the variety
of dishes surprising, and as soon as one
has grown accustomed to the principle of
having mouths in common, there is no
doubt that a diner a Varabe is infinitely
preferable to the pseudo- French dinners
one gets at the hotels. " Among the more
common dishes are the following," says
Mr. Lane: "Lamb or mutton, cut into
small pieces and stewed with various
vegetables, and sometimes with peaches,
apricots, or jujubes and sugar ; cucumbers,
or small gourds, or the fruit of the black
or white egg plant, stuffed with rice and
minced meat, vine-leaves, or pieces of
lettuce-leaf or cabbage -leaf, enclosing a
filii.
MOSQUE OF MOHAMMAD 'ALY.
similar composition ; small morsels of lamb or mutton, roasted on skewers, and called kebab ;
fowls simply roasted or boiled, or boned
and stuffed with raisins, pistachio-nuts,
crumbled bread, and parsley, and various
kinds of pastry. The repast is frequently
opened with soup, and is generally ended
with boiled rice, mixed with a little butter,
and seasoned with salt and pepper ; and
after this is served, a water-melon or other
fruit, or a bowl of a sweet drink com-
posed of water with raisins, and sometimes
other kinds of fruit, boiled in it, and then
sugar with a little rosewater added to it
CAIRO WINDMILLS. when cool." Many of these dishes and
preparations are exceedingly tasty, and it is a marvel that Europeans living in the East do not
commonly adopt them.
THE TOWNSFOLK.
25
An Arab dinner is a very sedate affair; only water is drunk with it, "champagne du Nil,"
as our host at Luxor facetiously called it ; and it is not often that music or laughter enlivens the
banquet, though a hired
singer is sometimes intro-
duced on great occasions.
It was not thus with the
feasts in " the golden prime
of the good Harun Er-
Rashid," nor with the revels
of many another epoch of
Mohammadan history, as
described in the writinos of
the revellers themselves.
Wine was no less forbidden
then than now, but a poet-
khalif could write : —
I run to the wine-cup at morning, I take the
same journey o' nights :
On my life, I can see no harm in a deed
which my soul delights ;
And one whom mine eyes confound with
the moon, as she shines at the full—
Who is human, indeed, but of humankind
the most beautiful —
Tendered me wine from the hand, and wine
from the honeyed lips,
And made me alone twice drunk in a circle
of rips.
My comrades are all asleep ere my eyelids
begin to droop.
Yet I am the first of them all to run for my
morning stoup.
These lines belong to
the four-bottle age of Ara-
bian toping, a time when
every man in the charmed
circle had " his ain pint
stoup," and emptied it pretty
often. The Arabs were
ever vulgar epicures, they
did not understand refined
gluttony, and frankly ate to
get full and drank to get drunk. They prepared themselves carefully for the entertainment,
put on their best clothes, scented their beards with civet, and sprinkled their dress with
rosewater ; the table was gay with flowers, and the room was sweet with the incense of
ENTRANCE TO AN OLD HOUSE.
26
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
ambergris. And when they were thus arrayed, and surrounded as men should be who mean to
be festive, they set to their work with an astonishing will. The huge banquets chronicled in
Arabian histories seem incredible. In one case
we read of a table laid with twenty-one immense
dishes, each of which contained twenty-one baked
sheep, three years old and fat, and three hundred
and fifty pigeons and fowls, heaped up to a man's
height and cased in sweetmeat ; while between
these large chargers, five hundred lesser dishes
held each seven fowls and a quantity of sweet-
meats, and two huge sugary edifices, each
weighing near a ton, were brought in on
shoulder-poles. At such a feast a man might
eat his sheep or two without attracting remark.
It needed a good deal of liquid to wash down
repasts of this heroic model, and there is reason
to believe that the Muslims of those days did
not spare the cellars of "the famous Nushirwan
the Good " stored
With wine, which the jovial friars of old
Have carefully laid up in store,
In readiness there for their feast days to hold —
With liquor, of which, if a man were but told,
He'd roll away drunk from the door.
There is indeed a case on record of a man
who became so intoxicated that he vowed he
Avould not budge until he had embraced the
moon, and, persisting in extending loving arms
towards that luminary, fell and broke his nose ;
and, on being informed of the cause of this
disaster next morning, resolved never again to
taste a liquor that could make such a fool of a
man. But this penitent was an exception : Mus-
lims in general do not understand the pleasure
of drinking without getting actually drunk, and
it must be feared that most of the feasts of the
Golden Prime at Baghdad ended, if not under
the table, upon the floor.
" Wine is the body, music the soul, and joy is their offspring," says the pious judge who
wrote in Arabic a famous but highly indecorous history of toping : and the banquet was not
DOOR AND WOODEN LOCK.
THE TOWNSFOLK.
27
complete without the presence of the " heavenly Maid." The voices of singing-men and singing-
women added to the delights of the feast. A beauteous slave-girl, with a face like the full
moon and a willowy form, ravished men's hearts, while she sang them soft sad Arabian ditties,
to the accompaniment of the lute, till they fell upon their backs with rapture, and " their reason
departed from them." And the intervals of song were enlivened by the sallies of a wit — no
mere punster, though he could pun on occasion, but a man of letters, well stored with the
literature of the Arabs, able to
finish a broken quotation, gifted
with taste and discrimination in his
compositions, and with a sweet
voice to sing or recite them. Such
a man could bring about a revolu-
tion, or the downfall of a powerful
minister. So intense was the de-
votion of Khalifs and Wizirs to
poetry and song, that they could
refuse nothing to the poet who
pleased them. A beggar who gave
an answer in a neatly-turned verse
Avould find his jar filled with gold ;
and a good repartee would cram the
mouth that uttered it with jewels,
and load the speaker's back with
costly dresses. One poet left be-
hind him, at his death, a hundred
complete court suits, two hundred
shirts, and five hundred state tur-
bans. Twenty or thirty thousand
gold pieces were given for a single
couplet. The story is told of the
poet Hammad, that the Khalif
Hisham sent for him and bade
him recall a certain verse of which the Khalif could only remember the last word. Hammad
at once recited it, and the Khalif ordered one of the two lovely slaves who stood in waiting,
to bring wine. They both drank, and, whether it was the wine or the girl who served it,
Hamitiad declared he lost a third of his reason. The Khalif told him to say the lines again,
and then a second stoup was brought, and Hammad said, " O Prince of the Faithful, two-thirds
of my reason have departed from me!" Hisham laughed and advised him to ask what he
would before the remaining third was gone. " One of those girls," cried the poet ; and the
E 2
MESHREBIYEH WITH SCREEN IN FRONT TO CONCEAL THE INMATES
FROM THE VIEW OF NEIGHBOURS.
28
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
Khalif replied, " Nay, but both are thine, and all they possess, and fifty thousand pieces of gold
to boot." " I kissed the ground before him," says Hammad, "and drank a third cup, and was
unconscious of what happened after " ; till he awoke next morning and found the Khalif had
been even better than his word.*
Ibrahim el-M6sily, the famous musician, who assisted at so many of Harun Er-Rashid's
carousals, as all readers of " The Thousand and One Nights " remember, received from his
master a hundred and fifty thou-
sand silver dirhems (of about the
value of francs) as a first fee, a
monthly allowance of ten thousand
francs a month, and occasional
presents, which sometimes reached
the sum of a hundred thousand
francs for a single song ; he was
also allowed the produce of certain
farms, three sheep a day for his
kitchen, besides birds, three thou-
sand francs a month for fruits and
perfumes, and a thousand a month
for clothes. And he spent it !
When he died, there was not
enough money to cover his debts.
The following story of an evening
spent by another famous singer,
Mukharik, will give a fair idea of
how life was understood in the
Golden Prime of Arabian Society.
The singer tells it himself: —
" After drinking with the
Khalif a whole night, I asked his
permission to take the air in the
Rusafeh quarter of Baghdad, which
he granted ; and while I was walking there, I saw a damsel, who appeared as if the rising sun
beamed from her face. She had a basket, and I followed her. She stopped at a fruiterer's,
and bought some fruit ; and, observing that I was following her, she looked back and abused
me several times ; but still I followed her, until she arrived at a great door, after having filled
her basket with fruits and flowers and similar things. When she had entered, and the door
was closed behind her, I sat down opposite to it, deprived of my reason by her beauty, and
* See Lane : " Arabian Society in the Middle Ages," pages ii8 — 120 ; and Saturday Review, Dec. 2, 1882.
A CAIRENE HOURIYEH.
THE TOWNSFOLK. 29
knew that there must be in the house a wine-party. The sun went down upon me while I sat
there ; and at length there came two handsome young men on asses, and they knocked at the
door, and when they were admitted, I entered with them ; the master of the house , thinking
that I was their companion, and they imagining that I was one of his friends. A repast was
brought up, and we ate, and washed our hands, and were perfumed. The master of the house
then said to the young men, ' Have ye any desire that I should call such a one ? ' (mentioning
a woman's name). They answered, ' If thou wilt grant us the favour, well.' So he called
for her, and she came, and lo ! she was the maiden whom I had seen before, and who had
abused me. A servant-maid preceded her, bearing her lute, which she placed on her lap.
Wine was then brought, and she sang, while we drank, and shook with delight. ' Whose
air is that?' they asked. She answered, 'My master Mukharik's.' She then sang another
air, which she said was also mine ; while they drank by pints ; she looking aside and doubtfully
at me, until I lost my patience, and called out to her to do her best : but in attempting to do
so, singing a third air, she overstrained her voice, and I said, ' Thou hast made a mistake : ' —
upon which she threw the lute from her lap in anger, so that she nearly broke it, saying, ' Take
it thyself, and let us hear thee.' I answered, ' Well ;' and, having taken it and tuned it perfectly,
sang the first of the airs which she had sung before me ; whereupon all of them sprang upon
their feet and kissed my head. I then sang the second air, and the third ; and their reason
almost fled with ecstasy. The master of the house, after asking his guests and being told by
them that they knew me not, came to me, and kissing my hand, said, ' By Allah, my master,
who art thou ?' I answered, ' By Allah, I am the singer Mukharik ! '■ — ' And for what purpose,'
said he, kissing both my hands, ' camest thou hither ? ' I replied, ' As a sponger,' — and related
what had happened with respect to the maiden : whereupon he looked towards his two com-
panions, and said to them, ' Tell me, by Allah, do ye not know that I gave for that girl thirty
thousand dirhems, and have refused to sell her ? ' They answered, ' It is so.' Then said he,
' I take you as witnesses that I have given her to him.' — 'And we,' said the two friends, 'will
pay thee two- thirds of her price.' So he put me in possession of the girl, and in the evening,
when I departed, he presented me with rich dresses and other gifts, with all of which I went
away ; and as I passed the places where the maiden had abused me, I said to her, ' Repeat
thy words to me ; ' but she could not for shame. Holding the girl's hand, I went with her
immediately to the Khalif, whom I found in anger at my long absence ; but when I had related
my story to him, he was surprised, and laughed, and ordered that the master of the house and
his two friends should be brought before him, that he might requite them : to the former he
gave forty thousand dirhems, to each of his two friends thirty thousand, and to me a hundred
thousand ; and I kissed his feet and departed." *
-These jovial experiences are past and gone. They were always stolen joys, and were
reprobated by the godfearing : for Mohammad the Prophet was not musical, and regarded
musical instruments as engines of the Devil. Good Muslims, therefore, should have no ear.
• The Halbet El-Kumeyt, or Race of the Ruby, quoted in Lane : " Arabian Society in the Middle Ages," pages 173—76.
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
Whether it be in consequence of increased piety or increased stupidity, the modern Egyptian
certainly has forgotten how to enjoy himself in the unholy manner of his ancestors ; or rather
he has sobered a good deal in his way of enjoying them, and takes them less often and in
moderation. For the singers and performers are still to be heard in Egypt. I have heard
the sweetest piping in the world in a darwish mosque in Cairo, and some wonderful fiddling
on the Kemengeh, at Thebes. There is the class of 'Almehs, or singing-women, who follow
their art with considerable success, and whose singing has a strange charm to those who can
accustom their ears to the peculiar intervals of the Arab scale and the weird modulations of the
dirge-like melodies. Sometimes one of
these 'Almehs — whose respectable pro-
fession must not be confused with the
voluptuous trade of the dancing-girls —
is hired to sing after a dinner-party ; but,
as a rule, all musical and other enter-
tainments are reserved for those special
occasions when the Egyptian makes it a
matter of conscience to revel, — such as
marriage feasts and the periodical fes-
tivals of the Muslim Kalendar. It is
then that parties of 'Almehs are engaged
to sing ; groups of wanton Ghawazy
dancers are introduced into the presence
of decent women, to entertain them with
their ungraceful and allusive writhings ;
and clowns and buffoons are employed
to divert the guests with their grotesque
and generally disgusting fooling ; just as
they diverted the ancestors of these very
people in the days of the Pharaohs by
the farcical g-estures and dances which
Mr. Alma-Tadema has represented in his well-known picture of " Pastime in Ancient Egypt,"
engraved farther on. As a quiet English citizen, who goes to his work every day and to
his doze every evening, and never thinks of festivities, considers it his bounden duty to launch
out into untold extravagance on the occasion of his daughter's wedding, so the Egyptian,
however poor he is, will rather pay cent, per cent, interest all his life, than not borrow enough
money to celebrate his own or his family's weddings with pomp and revelry.
An Egyptian wedding is a very curious performance. In the first place, you must not think
of seeking a wife yourself Young ladies in the East are not wooed in person, and no lover's
eyes may see his mistress until he has married her. Modesty, according to Mohammadan ideas,
UPPER PART OF A HOUSE.
J. DE!vLAJJ"NEZ , SCULPT
A UAUGHTEE OF TffllE EAST ,
THE TOWNSFOLK.
31
OLD WINDOW.
is incompatible with visibility, and if young men and maidens do happen to see each other's
faces, " the curse of God is on the seer and the seen." " The best of women," said the blessed
Fatimeh, daughter of the Prophet, " is she who sees not men, and
whom they see not." Hence the would-be bridegroom must act
through an intermediary. Probably, however, you will not have to
trouble yourself in the matter : your excellent father, following the
example of Abraham, who sent out a faithful servant to bring back
a wife for his son Isaac (with results, it must be allowed, which were
hardly a success), will betake himself to the Cairene equivalent of
a registry-office, namely, an old woman called a " Khatibeh" or
" betrother," who is in fact a sort of perambulating " Matrimonial
News," and
knows ex-
actly who
wants to
marry off a
daugh ter
and how
much he will
take for her.
For the next thing, after the report
of the old woman, is the question
of the dowry, which is an essential
part of every marriage, and is set-
tled by the bridegroom on the bride,
together with her own personal
effects, furniture, dresses, and the
rest. Twenty pounds, however,
form an average dowry, and even
five shillings will satisfy the law.
You will pay down two-thirds on
the spot, and it will be used for
the bride's trousseau. The rest is to
be paid on the occasion of the be-
trothal or marriage contract, which
generally takes place a week or so
before the actual wedding-, though
some betrothals are made in the childhood of the contracting parties. This betrothal is a
religious ceremony, and it is as well to choose a propitious time, like the month of Shawwal,
DOORWAY WITH ARABESQUE ORNAMENTATION.
32
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
ARCHED RECESS IN THE WOODWORK
OF A ROOM.
for its performance. The Kady and two witnesses are summoned, the bridegroom and the
bride's father (or some other deputy) meet, and after magnifying God, invoking blessings on
the Prophet, and reciting passages from the Koran, the bridegroom pays the balance of the
dowry, and then, sitting down opposite the bride's father,
grasps his hands. A handkerchief is then thrown over the
joined hands, and the father of the bride says, " I betroth to
thee my daughter [Amnah], the virgin, for a dowry of [twenty
pounds];" to which the bridegroom answers, "I accept her
betrothal from thee." Thus the contract is completed, and
everybody recites the Fatihah, or opening chapter of the
Koran : —
Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds !
The Compassionate, the Merciful !
King of the Day of Judgment !
Thee we worship, and Thee we asl< for Help.
Guide us in the straight way
The way of those to whom Thou art gracious ;
Not of those upon whom is Thy wrath, nor of the erring. Amen.
The legal part of the marriage being thus arranged, the
festivities soon follow. A string of camels brings the bride's
furniture to her future husband's house ; and the bridegroom
gives his farewell bachelor banquets to his friends. For several nights his house is bright with
lamps, and gay with little red and
green flags, hung on cords stretched
across the street. Now, if ever, the
excesses of the Golden Prime are
reproduced. Singers charm the
ears of the guests, dancers excite
their senses, and Arabian cookery,
disdaining the Prophet's frugal ex-
ample of interpreting the fatted
calf by one goat, tempts the palates
of the revellers with its choicest
, dishes. " Wein, Weib, und Gesang"
are the order of the day, unless the
bridegroom be one of those excel-
lent souls who cannot imagine a
cheerfuller mode of entertaining
their friends than having the Koran
chanted from cover to cover by
hired reciters. Whether the programme be sacred or profane, no one who is asked dare refuse
to come and join in the rejoicings. " On the day preceding that on which she is conducted to
BRASS EWER AND BASIN FOR WASHING, AND COFFEE-TRAY WITH CUPS,
THE TOWNSFOLK.
33
the bridegroom's house, the bride goes to the public bath, accompanied by a number of her
female relations and friends. The procession generally pursues a circuitous route, for the sake
of a greater display, and on leaving the house, turns to the right. In Cairo the bride walks
under a canopy of silk, borne by four men, with one of her near female relations on each side
of her. Young unmarried girls walk before her ; these are preceded by the married ladies, and
the procession is headed and closed by a few musicians with drums and hautboys. The bride
wears a kind of pasteboard crown or cap, and is completely veiled from the view of spectators
CARVED WOODEN TABLE IN MUSL.
AT CAIRO.
.:>U ART
PANEL OF AN INLAID IVORY AND EBONY TABLE
IN ARAB ART MUSEUM.
by a~ cashmere shawl placed over her crown and whole person, but some handsome ornaments
of the head are attached externally. The other women are dressed in the best of their walking
attire. In the case, however, of a bride of high rank, or of wealth, and often in the case of one
belonging to a family of the middle class, the ladies ride upon high-saddled asses, without music
or canopy ; and the bride is distinguished only by a cashmere shawl, instead of the usual black
silk covering, one or more eunuchs sometimes riding at the head. In the bath, after the
ordinary operations of washing, &c., a feast is made, and the party are often entertained by
F
34
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
female singers. Having returned in the same manner to her home, the bride's friends there
partake of a similar entertainment with her. Her hands and feet are then stained with
henni, and her eyes ornam.ented with kohl, and her friends give her small presents of money,
and take their leave. 'It is a Sunneh ordinance that the bride wash her feet in a clean
vessel, and sprinkle the water in the corners of the chamber, that a blessing may result from
this. She should also brighten her face, and put on the best of her apparel, adorn her eyes
with kohl, and stain her hands and feet with henna ; and she should abstain during the first
week from anything that contains mustard,
and from vinegar and sour apples.'
" The bride is conducted to the house of
the bridegroom on the following day, in the
same manner as to the bath, or with more
pomp. In Cairo the bridal processions of
people of very high rank are conducted with
singular display. The train is usually headed
by buffoons and musicians, and a water-
carrier, loaded with a goat's-skin filled with
sand and water, of very great weight, which
is often borne for many hours before, as well
as during, the procession, merely to amuse
the spectators by this feat of strength.
Then follow (interrupted by groups of male
or female dancers, jugglers, and the like)
numerous decorated open waggons or cars,
each of which contains several members of
some particular trade or art engaged in their
ordinary occupations, or one such person with
attendants: — in one, for instance, a Kahwejy,
with his assistants and pots and cups and fire,
making coffee for the spectators ; in a second,
TABLE OF SILVER AND BRASS FILIGREE WORK OF THE , - . , . , ,
FOURTEENTH CENTURY, IN ARAB ART MUSEUM AT makers 01 sweetmeats ; m a third, makers
CAIRO. .....
of pancakes (fatirehs) ; in a fourth, silk-lace
manufacturers ; in a fifth, a silk-weaver with his loom ; in a sixth, tinners of copper vessels at
their work ; in a seventh, whitewashers, whitewashing over and over again a wall ; — in short,
almost every manufacture and trade has its representatives in a separate waggon. El-Jabarty
describes a procession of this kind, in which there were upwards of seventy parties of different
trades and arts, each party in a separate waggon, besides buffoons, wrestlers, dancers, and others,
followed by various officers, the eunuchs of the bride's family, ladies of the harim with their
attendants, then the bride in a European carriage, a troop of memluks clad in armour, and a
Turkish band of music. It was a procession of which the like had not before been seen.
THE TOWNSFOLK.
35
" The bride and her party, having arrived at the house, sit down to a repast. The bride-
groom does not yet see her. He has already been to the bath, and at nightfall he goes in
procession with a number of his friends to a mosque, to perform the night-prayers. He is
accompanied by musicians and singers, or by chanters of lyric odes in praise of the Prophet, and
by men bearing cressets — poles with cylindrical frames of iron at the top filled with flaming
wood ; — and on his return, most of his other attendants bear lighted wax candles and bunches
of flowers. Returned to his house, he leaves his friends in a lower apartment, and goes up to
the bride, whom he finds seated with a shawl thrown over her head, so as to conceal her face
TOP AND PANEL OF TABLE OF SILVER AND BRASS FILIGREE WORK,
Bearing the name and titles, in Naskhy and Kflfic writing, of the Memlfik Sultan El-Melik En-Nasir ibn Kalattn, fourteenth century, in Arab
Art Museum at Cairo.
completely, and attended by one or two females. The latter he induces to retire by means of
a small present. He then gives a present of money to the bride, as ' the price of uncovering
the face ; ' and, having removed the covering (saying, as he does so, 'In the name of God, the
Compassionate, the Merciful '), he beholds her, generally for the first time. On the occasion of
this first visit, he is recommended to perfume himself, and to sprinkle some sugar and almonds
on the head of the bride and on that of each woman with her. Also, when he approaches
her, he should perform the prayers of two rek'ahs, and she should do the same, if able : then he
should take hold of the hair over her forehead, and say, ' O God, bless me in my wife, and bless
F 2
36
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
my wife in me ! O God, bestow upon me offspring by her, and bestow upon her offspring by me !
O God, unite us, as thou hast united, happily, and separate, when thou separates!, happily.' " *
[HERE are public festivals enough to satisfy the most
dissipated, even if an Egyptian and his friends cannot
muster enough weddings among themselves to furnish
excuses for merrymaking all the year round. There
seems to be always a festival going on in Cairo, and
you have hardly recovered from the effects of one such
" Molid " when another comes to distract you even more.
And the Muslim Molids are not one-day festivals, like
the feasts of the Christian Church — they last three, four,
and even nine days at a stretch. There is hardly a week
in the year that has not some excitement, some saint to
be honoured, some memory to be cherished, some rite to
be performed. In the opening month of the year, the
sacred Moharram, the first ten days are specially holy,
for in them the pious alms prescribed in the Koran ought
to be paid. The paying of alms is not, indeed, in itself
WINDOW WITH SHUTTERS.
an excitement ; but the duty, whether fulfilled or not, is
the signal for all sorts of curious customs and superstitions.
People of good position carry their children about the
street, and assail passers-by with demands for alms, and
then sew the small coins thus obtained into the boys'
caps, as charms against misfortune. Even the genii, if
they are God-fearing, come to pay alms in this blessed
period. A ghostly water-carrier knocks at your door one
night, and asks where he shall empty his goatskin.
Knowing that no human water-carrier ever comes at
night, you recognise the visitor as one of the Ginn, and
bid him empty his skin into your water-jar — and lo! the
jar is found to be flowing over with pieces of gold. Or
a mule, laden with heavy saddle-bags, and ridden by
naught but a dead man's head, stops at your door : you are
expecting him, and without hesitation take off the head,
empty the saddle-bags of their contents (which turn out
to be gold coins), and replace them with straw, and then
dismiss the animal with " Depart, O blessed ! " Some
time ago, if you bought anything in a certain part of the
• Lane : "Arabian Society in the Middle Ages," pages 233—37.
_Lii jjfiiE^O'^fzz^asi:"
1 ijiiLrr^T^
.:J:,v.
s.}
' ^ ^a"^ '-^ * - i,.
PANELLED CUPBOARD.
THE TOWNSFOLK.
Z7
Salibeh, opposite an ancient sarcophagus, near the Kal'at El-Kebsh, were it only a handful of
dates, it instantly turned into gold : for this was a meeting-place of the pious Ginn in the holy
ten days. But now the Ginn have ceased
to meet in the Salibeh, and the sarco-
phagus is in the British Museum, where
no such miracle has been known to
happen, either to the visitors or the
officials in charge of this valuable monu-
ment.
The tenth day of Moharram is the
most sacred of all, for on this day occurred
the martyrdom of our lord Hoseyn on
the field of Kerbela. Persia is, indeed,
the country where this day is most highly
honoured, and the Passion Play of Hasan
and Hoseyn is performed before deeply
sympathetic audiences. But in Cairo, too,
the people reve-
rence the memory
of the martyr ; eat
Ashura (or " Tenth
Day") cakes in
his honour, and
crowd to the
mosque of the
Hasaneyn, where
the head of the
saint is buried,
to do homage at
the shrine, and
wonder at the
performances of
the darwishes, who are shouting and whirling, eating glass and fire,
and wagging their heads for hours to the name of Allah. Women
especially select this night to visit the mosque —
The holy blissful martyr for to seke,
That them hath holpen when that they were sick —
And scandal whispers that the few men who go there go mainly for the pleasure, such as it is,
of being hustled in the dense crowd of women.
nargIleh, or water-pipk.
38
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
In the second month, the Egyptian caravan of pilgrims returns from Mekkeh, and people
go out a couple of days' journey, or, at least, as far as the Birket El-Hagg, to meet their
returning friends. The ceremony of welcoming the pilgrims becomes a holiday, and almost
degenerates into a picnic, though the wails and shrieks of those who learn that their pilgrim
kinsfolk have succumbed to the rigours of the road take off the edge of the enjoyment. Those,
however, who do return rejoice the hearts of their friends by the relics they bring with them —
sealed blue bottles, filled with water from the blessed well of Zemzem, the very well which
A STREET CORNER.
sprang up in the desert for Hagar and Ishmael in their hour of need ; dust from the
Prophet's tomb at Medina, shreds from the old covering of the Kaabeh, and other venerable
things. In return, these friends have prepared the pilgrim's house for him, painted it with red
and white stripes, and adorned it with vivid green pictures of trees, and camels, and other
natural objects ; or, perhaps, hung a stuffed baby-hippopotamus over the door, to show that he
who dwells within is a travelled thane.
Rabi' el-Awwal, the third month of the Muslim year, has also its special event, for it is
then that the festival of the Prophet's birth, the great " Molid en-Neby," is held. In former
THE TOWNSFOLK.
39
years— not so very long ago— this famous feast was celebrated in the waste land called the
Ezbekiyeh, then a large lake during high Nile, but a fine open piece of ground when the river
retired to its banks. Tents were pitched, wherein darwishes recited zikrs (of which more
hereafter), interspersed with songs in praise of Mohammad, couched in mystical amatory
language like that of the
Song of Solomon. Romancers
sat on benches, and recited
the famous stories of Antar
and Abu-Zeyd and Del-
hemeh to an entranced au-
dience ; conjurers, buffoons,
rope-dancers, exerted them-
selves to please the spec-
tators; swings and whirligigs
attracted old and young to
simple joys ; and, finally, the
Sheykh of the Doseh rode
his horse innocuously over
the prostrate bodies of three
score fanatics. These things
are somewhat changed now.
The Ezbekiyeh is turned into
an Italian garden, rather like
St. Stephen's Green at Dub-
lin, and is occupied by a few
dusty promenaders, who go
to hear the band play Wald-
teufel's waltzes ; and the
Prophet's Birthday has to be
kept with less comfort else-
where. The tents have
mostly disappeared, the ro-
mances are dying out, and
the barbaric Doseh has very
properly been abolished by
the Khedive. The amusements, however, still go on very much as they used to fifty years ago,
and the Molid en-Neby is a famous carnival-time for the people of Cairo.
No sooner is it over than other festivals begin. To say nothing of minor commemorations,
like the Molid at Bulak, the great feast of the Hasaneyn treads quickly on the heels of the
CAIRO CROWD WAITING FOR A PROCESSION ON A FESTIVAL.
40
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
Prophet's Birthday, and rivals, if not surpasses, it in the magnificence of the street displays and
the hilarity of the population. Since Hoseyn, in whose honour it is held (forming together
with his elder brother, Hasan, the " Hasaneyn," or "Two Hasans"), is especially the saint of the
heretical Persians, and has given rise, through no merit of his own, to more schisms in the
Mohammadan world than any other person,* it is strange that the Cairenes, who are almost all
orthodox Sunnis, should pay such particular reverence to this feast. But the truth is, they
are glad of any excuse for a holiday ; and, after all, was not our lord Hoseyn the grandson of
the Prophet ? and is he to be given over wholly to those heretical dogs of Sht'is ? Whatever
the argument, Hoseyn is deeply revered in Cairo, and his Molid is one of the sights of the
capital that most delight the European visitor. Nothing more picturesque and fairylike can
VEH.ED.
UNVEILED.
be imagined than the scenes in the streets and bazaars of Cairo on the great night of the
Hasaneyn. This year (1883) the feast was observed with as much gaiety as ever, in spite of
the ill-feeling stirred up by the war and the presence of an English garrison. The curious
thing was, that when I stood — for riding was impossible — in the midst of the dense throng in
the Musky, and struggled into the by-street that leads to the Kady's court and the mosque of the
Hasaneyn, there was not a sign of ill-humour or fanaticism. A more good-natured crowd was
never seen. It might have been expected that at least some slight demonstration would have
been made against the many Europeans who wandered about in the gaily illuminated streets ;
but English ladies walked through the bazaars, English officers and tourists mingled in the
throng and even reached the doors of the sacred mosque itself without the slightest molestation
or even remark. Once or twice a woman might have been heard sarcastically inviting some
* See S. Lane-Poole: " Studies in a Mosque" (1883), chap, vii., " Tlie Persian Miracle Play."
THE TOWNSFOLK.
41
Christian to " bless the Prophet ; " but if the Christian charitably replied, " God bless and save
him," she was nonplussed ; and even if he did not know the proper answer, nothing came of it.
The general good nature inspired by the festival obliterated all memories of war and heresy,
and it may safely be asserted that no English mob could have been trusted to behave in so
A CAIRO MOUNT.
orderly and friendly a manner in the presence of a detested minority. The new gendarmerie
had literally nothing to do.
The scene, as I turned into one of the narrow lanes of the great Khan El-Khalily, or
Turkish bazaar, which fronts the mosque of the Hasaneyn, was like a picture in the "Arabian
G
42
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
Nights." The long bazaar was lighted by innumerable chandeliers and coloured lamps and
candles, and covered by awnings of rich shawlc and stuffs from the shops beneath ; while, between
the strips of awning, one could see the sombre cutlines of the unlighted houses above, in striking
contrast to the brilliancy and gaiety below. The shops had quite changed their character. All
the wares which were usually littered about had dis-
appeared ; the trays of miscellaneous daggers and rings
and spoons and what-not, were gone ; and each little
shop was turned into a beautifully furnished reception-
room. The sides and top were hung
with silks and cashmeres, velvets,
brocades, and embroideries, of the
greatest beauty and rarity— costly
stuffs, which the most inquisitive
purchaser never managed to see on
ordinary occasions. The whole of
the sides of the bazaar formed one long blaze of gold
and light and colour. And within each shop the owner
sat surrounded by a semicircle of friends, all dressed
in their best, very clean, and superbly courteous — for
the Cairo tradesman is always a gentleman in aspect, even when he is cheating you most
outrageously. The very man with whom you haggled hotly in the morning will now invite
you politely to sit down with him and smoke; at his side is a little ivory or mother-of-pearl
v'-t
DONKEY BOY.
DONKEY SADDLE.
table, from which he takes a bottle of some sweet drink flavoured with almonds or roses, and
offers it to you with finished grace. Seated in the richly-hung recess of your friend, you can
see the throng pushing by ; the whole population, it seems, of Cairo, all in their best array and
merriest tempers. All at once the sound of drums and pipes is heard, and a band of darwlshes,
THE TOWNSFOLK.
43
chanting benedictions on the Prophet and Hoseyn, pass through the dehghted crowd. On
your left is a shop — nay, a throne-room in miniature — where a story-teller is holding an
audience spell-bound
1^^
as he relates, with
dramatic gestures,
some favourite tale.
Hard by, a holy man
is revolving his head
solemnly and un-
ceasingly, as he re-
peats the name of
God, or some pecu-
liarly potent text from
the Korin. In
another place, a party
of darwishcs are per-
forming a zikr, or a
complete recital of
the Koran is being
chanted by swaying
devotees. The whole
scene is utterly unreal
and fairylike. We
can imagine ourselves
in the land of the
Ginn, or in the City
of Brass, but not in
Cairo, or in the nine-
teenth century.
Outside the
Khan, dense masses
of p,eople are crowd-
ing into the mosque of
the Hasan eyn, where
specially horrible per-
formances of dar-
wishes take place, and
where the shrine of Hoseyn must be circumambulated. Near by, a string of men are entering
a booth ; we follow, and find tumblers at work, and a performing pony, and a clown who
G 2
SAIS, OR RUNNING FOOTMAN.
44
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
always imitates the feats of the gymnasts, always fails grotesquely, and always provokes roars
of laughter. In another booth Kara-Guz is carrying on his intrigues : this Egyptian Punch is
better manipulated than our own, whom he nearly resembles ; but he is not so choice in his
language or behaviour, and we are glad before long to leave a place where the jokes are rather
broad, and certain saltatory insects unusually active. People of the lower class, however, care
nothing for these drawbacks ; they laugh till their sides ache at Kara-Guz's sallies, and
whatever they see, wherever they go, whoever they meet, whatsoever their cares and their
ARAB MARRIAGE.
poverty, on this blessed night of the Hasaneyn they are perfectly happy. An Egyptian crowd
is very easily amused : the simplest sights and oldest jests delight it ; and it is enough to
make a fastidious European regret his niceness to see how these simple folk enjoy themselves
upon so small an incentive.
Certainly there are plenty of such incentives, if they are not very varied or very exciting.
The Hasaneyn festival is followed by the Molids of many other holy personages — whether
they are female saints, like our Lady Zeyneb, or learned divines, like the famous ImSm Esh-
Shdfi'y — into the boat on the leaden dome of whose mosque a quantity of grain used to be
THE TOWNSFOLK.
45
poured every month of ShaaMn. Then there is the Feast of the Miraculous Ascent — to wit,
the visit to Paradise, which Mohammad dreamed he made upon the back of the fabulous beast
Borak, and which his disciples manufactured into a real bodily ascent into heaven. There is
the great fast of Ramadan, of which we shall speak when the religion of the modern Egyptians
comes under discussion ; and after the fast comes the feast, the 'Id es-Saghir, when every one
rejoices that the penance is over and done, and shouts with the Poet-Khalif EI-Mo'tezz —
Welcome ! and heartily, lute and reed,
And a stoup of wine from the hands of the slim !
The Fast is over at last, and the 'Id
Is announced by the young moon's sickle rim ;
The Pleiades fly from her greedy gape,
Which yawns like a glutton's on clustering grape.
Ever}' one puts on his Very best clothes— quite new clothes, if he can — and prepares to enjoy
himself after his privations. Friends kiss each
other in the street ; all the world pours out thankful
prayers at the mosque ; servants receive bakhshish
from masters, past and present ; pancakes and salt
fish are devoured in every house ; whole families
pay visits to the tombs of their relations, break
green palm branches over them, and spread sweet
basil around ; while swings and whirligigs at the
approaches to the cemetery show that even grave-
visiting is a cTieerful thing.
Presently the time arrives for the procession
of the Kisweh — the Holy Carpet, which is carried
in solemn pomp, and in presence of all the court
and the army, from the citadel to the Hasaneyn,
where its sewing is finished, and it is made ready
to be taken with the pilgrims to Mekkeh and hung
over the holy Kaabeh. And soon after, a second
procession follows — the passing of the Mahmal,
which, like the Ark of the Covenant, is carried
before the pilgrim caravan to Mekkeh and back
again. It is a sort of howdah — a square frame of wood, with a pyramidal top, covered with
brocade and inscriptions worked in gold, with the Tughri, or Sultan's cipher, at the top, and
a view of the temple of Mekkeh on the front. It contains nothing, but two copies of the Korin
are attached to it outside. Its origin is traced to the beautiful Queen Shejer-ed-durr (" Tree
of Pearls " is her romantic name, being interpreted), wife of the founder of the dynasty of
Turkish Memluks, who performed the pilgrimage to Mekkeh in a litter of this shape in the
year 1272. Ever tifterwards a litter was sent with the Egyptian caravan of pilgrims as an
emblem of royalty. But there is no doubt that the Mahmal has an older origin than this : it
PLAYERS ON THE RABAB OR VIOL, USED TO
ACCOMPANY RECITERS OF ROMANCES.
46
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
is, perhaps, a survival of the Sacred Barques of the Ancient Egyptian temples, or represents
the curious standards of some of the Arab tribes.
Time will not allow us to speak of the 'Id El-Kebir, in the last month of the year; or of
the ceremony of "Smelling the Breeze," when the period of hot winds, called Khamasin, comes
on ; or of the " Night of the Drop," when a miraculous drop falls into the Nile and makes
it begin to rise, and when people put lumps of dough on their house-tops, and anxiously
inspect them in the morning— for a cracked lump of dough means death in the course of the
year; or of the joyous feast which accompanies the cutting of the canal, when the Nile is
at its height. Each of these and of many other festivals furnishes an occasion for merry-
making and enjoyment ; and it is the Cairene's own fault if he does not amuse himself The
curious feature about these many feasts is that they are not at all
in accord with the austere spirit of the Mohammadan religion.
Indeed, many of them are not Mohammadan in origin, but are
clearly descended from ancient Egyptian rites and customs. Islam
itself, as taught by Mohammad, lends no countenance to such
superstitions ; but human nature triumphs over creeds, and people
must amuse themselves sometimes, in spite of their religion ; and
thus, finally, what was no part of the religion, and, indeed, was
inconsistent with it, became to the Egyptians the most cherished
and essential portion of it.
It will have been noticed that the amusements of the
Egyptian, whether religious or secular, are quiet amusements.
He enjoys looking at dancers, but he does not dance himself;
he listens to music, but to sing or play himself would demand
too much exertion; he watches the gymnast, but tries no feats
A of strength in his own person ; he wanders through illuminated
A BALCONY. Streets and listens to zikrs and romances, but he proceeds in
as leisurely a manner as possible. If he plays games they are
sedentary games — chess, draughts, backgammon, cards, mankalah : such exercises as cricket,
foot-ball, or even lawn-tennis, would be quite beyond his energies. There was a time when
he hunted and hawked, but now he does not understand sport or the chase. Throwing
the jerid is out of fashion ; and, in short, anything athletic or virile is foreign to the indolent,
sedate character of the Egyptian. If he is to enjoy himself, it must be in a tranquil manner.
In a hot climate, one is not over-anxious to move, —
But, propt on beds of asphodel and moly,
How sweet (while warm air lulls us, blowing lowly)
With half-dropt eyelid still
Beneath a heaven dark and holy.
To watch the long bright river drawing slowly
His waters from the purple hills.
CHAPTER II.
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
^HGYPT is before all things an agricultural country. Its wealth
is in its crops ; manufactures and industries merely divert the
land and the people from their proper and most profitable
employment Those who have seen the rich plain of Abydos —
well named "the granary of Egypt" — or the fertile fields of
Thebes, or have traversed the luxuriant vegetation of Lower
Egypt, whose triangular form has procured it the name of the
Delta (A), can alone realise the extraordinary productiveness of
the soil. With reasonable management three crops a year can
be raised out of the rich dark earth, and, if the land were equally
distributed, there would be food and to spare for every one at
the cost of comparatively light labour and next to no capital.
Recent investigations have shown that the yield of each acre is
not only sufficient to pay the taxes and the interest on borrowed capital, and to support the
peasant proprietor, but ought to leave a considerable margin of profit. According to
Mr. Villiers Stuart, M.P., who has been at great pains to discover the true condition and
burdens of the Egyptian peasantry, the yield of an acre in Egypt is worth at least a third more
than what an English farmer can get out of even the best land in Great Britain, while the rent,
expense of labouring the land, taxes, and cost of living are all greatly in favour of the
Egyptian. With the exception of the comparatively trifling, though harassing, salt, sheep, and
date taxes, the only charge on the cultivator is the land tax, which constitutes the rent, and
certainly does not average more than thirty or thirty-five shillings an acre, while the produce of
that, acre is worth from sixteen to twenty-five pounds a year. There Is no such thing as
income tax, poor rate, inhabited house duty, tithes, or any other of the vexatious burdens of the
English farmer. The Egyptian peasant pays his land tax, and, if he has sheep or palms, his
sheep and date taxes, and then he is free to reap the full profits of the fertile soil so cheaply
acquired and retained.
Such, at least, ought to be the case. Every Egyptian peasant proprietor ought to be well
off. Unfortunately there are many circumstances that militate against this happy consummation.
The land, it is true, will bear three crops a year; but In order to do so it needs scientific
48
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
irrigation. The fertility of Egypt depends entirely on the Nile. Herodotus saw this more
than a score of centuries ago, when he called Egypt " the gift of the river," Iwpov tov ■noTa/xov,
as we read in every book that has ever been written on this subject. The Nile in its annual
inundation — the consequence of periodical rains in the Abyssinian mountains where the tributary
called the Blue Nile has its source — spreads a thick layer of the black alluvial soil which it has
carried down from the tropics over the surface of the fields on either side of its course ; and it is
this alluvial deposit that gives the land its unparalleled fertility and wholly supersedes the
necessity for manuring and even for lying fallow. Whenever the water and its alluvial
solution touches the land, seed can be sown and re-sown and rich harvests gathered. But the
inundation of itself would not naturally extend much beyond the lowlands in the immediate
neighbourhood of the banks. The higher lands would thus
remain barren desert, as every spot in Egypt does remain,
unless the Nile is brought to water it. The principal function
of Egyptian agriculture, therefore, consists in artificially in-
creasing the area, whilst controlling the direction, of the
inundation. This is effected by a network of canals which
intersects the whole country, and maps it out in squares like a
chessboard. The Nile water is let into these canals in the
inundation, instead of being allowed to spread at random over
the fields, where it might do as much damage as benefit in its
indiscriminate arrosion. Dams keep the water in the canals
when the Nile begins to sink, and the water thus confined is
used for irrigation as long as possible. In order to reach the
higher lands, pumps and water-engines of various kinds are
employed, by which the water is raised from the large low-level
canals to higher channels, whence it can be spread over the
fields by means of narrow drains. Water-engines are also used
for keeping the low-level canals supplied when the Nile falls
below their mouths.
It is clear, therefore, that the prosperous condition of the peasant farmer, which has been
shown to be a possibility, depends in a great degree upon the management of the irrigation
system. Unhappily, there is no system worthy of the name. The canals are badly constructed
and unscientifically connected, and the engineers in charge of them are in the habit of selling
the water, which is the rightful property of the people, and the condition of their livelihood, to
the highest bidder ; so that a rich man can always get all the water of the neighbourhood by a
bribe to the engineer, while the lands of the poor are suffered to lie barren, or can with
difificulty be rendered capable of bearing an exiguous crop by the unceasing toil of the peasants
at clumsy hand water-engines.
One of the worst features of the present system of canalisation is the manner in which
THE MOSQUE OF SULTAN HASAN
FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
49
the canals are kept up. This is done by the corvde, or forced labour, which means that every
landholder, up to the owner of one hundred acres, is bound to come in person, or pay a
substitute, to work for two or three months in the year at the repair of the canals. The corvde
labourer gets no pay and no rations, his food has to be brought by his family from his village —
often many miles away — and he has
even to furnish his tools, which,
however, generally consist simply
of his own fingers and a basket.
He grubs in the ground and fills
his basket, and deposits its contents
outside the embankment, and so the
canal gradually becomes deeper. At
night he sleeps without shelter or
wrap. Half the population of Upper
Egypt are thus engaged for three
or four months in the year, to the
destruction of their second crops.
Their health suffers — we are told that twenty
thousand men died in making theMahmudtyeh
Canal at Alexandria for Mohammad 'Aly — and
the work is badly done. As Lord Dufferin
remarks, after a conscientious and penetrating
inquiry, "five hundred men may be called out for
two or three weeks for work which three hundred
men could finish in three days," and half that
number with proper tools and organization. " The
co7'vde implies the annual withdrawal from agricul-
tural labour of from one hundred thousand to one
hundred and thirty thousand men for a period which
varies from sixty to one hundred and twenty days."
Organized gangs of workmen, furnished with spades
and shovels and wheelbarrows, would do the work much
better, and at infinitely less cost ; for the corvee means
nothing less than the pauperisation of the people.
Added to the defects of the canal system and the corruption of the water engineers —
things which can only be remedied by constant and detailed English inspection and supervision
— the poverty and conservatism of the people and the shortsightedness of their rulers impose
an unnecessary disability in the employment of primitive, laborious, and wasteful machines.
Instead of clubbing together to buy steam-pumps, or forcing a loan for the purpose from the
H
ARCHED RECESS.
50
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
Government, the Egyptians as a body go on with their miserable shad^fs and their superior
but still inadequate sdkiyehs, and waste time and labour in doing badly by hand what
experience in the Delta has shown can be done quickly, cheaply, and thoroughly by steam.
The shadHf, of which an engraving is given farther on, consists of a pole with a huge lump of
Nile mud at one end swinging between tivo posts after the fashion of a steel-yard balance, and
having a rude bucket attached to the end of the longer arm by a light pole. The labourer
pulls down the long arm by means of the perpendicular pole, till the bucket fills in the Nile or
canal ; then allows the weight of the mud balance-weight to bring the bucket up again to the
higher level to which it is proposed
to raise the water, and empties its
contents into the higher channel.
The process is extremely laborious,
as any one may prove in a few
minutes to his own complete satis-
faction ; it is also slow and ineffectual,
and takes away the best part of the
labouring population from other
work. Sometimes it needs as many
as four shadufs, one above the other,
to raise the water by stages from
the Nile at low level to the fields
above ; and the bank is crowded
with figures toiling at these ante-
diluvian machines in a burning sun
from dawn to sunset. It is lament-
able to see such waste of power and
needless aggravation of suffering
going on daily and yearly for lack
of a little common sense and enter-
prise. The sdkiyehs are a decided
improvement upon the shadHfs : they are wheels, cogged, as it were, with water jars, which
fill below and empty above as the wheel goes round, worked by a yoke of buffaloes. They
can be managed by a boy or woman, and are thus an inestimable saving of labour. But
they cost about thirty pounds to set up, without reckoning the buffaloes and driver, and
the initial cost is a serious matter in a country where co-operation is not understood, and
where local government loans are not yet introduced. Consequently, in the upper country,
where people are poorer than in the Delta, and the land is on a higher level, the shaduf
still holds its own, and the strength of the men is squandered in unnecessary and ineffectual
labour.
DOORWAY WITH RED .4ND WHITE ORNAMENTATION.
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
51
GROVE OF PALMS AT MEMPHIS.
H 2
52
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
I. — With shadiifs it takes six men, toiling from dawn to sunset almost without intermission,
to water two acres of barley or one of cotton or sugar-cane. As there is only one able-bodied
man to three acres of cultivated land in Egypt, it is clear that shadufs cannot irrigate the whole
country. 2. — A sdkiyeh, worked by two or three yokes of buffaloes, will water thirteen acres
of cereals, or five of cotton, or four of cane, working day and night, and managed by a couple
of boys. 3. — A ten-horse-power
steam-pump will water a hundred
acres for the season.
In the Delta the farmers are
joining together here and there
and purchasing steam-pumps, and
sakiyehs are preferred to shadufs;
but in Upper Egypt there is no such
improvement ; and until the canali-
sation is reformed, and buffalo labour
(sakiyehs) or steam-pumps substi-
tuted for hand labour, the Egyptian
peasant will never make the best of
the wonderful soil he has the good
fortune to possess.
Indeed, it is a question whether
he does possess it. Instead of being
parcelled out into small holdings as
it once was, the land is passing more
and more into the hands of large
owners, and the peasants, partly in
consequence of their inveterate habit
of borrowing and the extortionate
terms of the usurers — who spoil the
Egyptians even more unconscionably
than the ancestors of all money-
lenders did in the days of the first
Moses — partly from the total absence of justice in the land and the helplessness of the ignorant
fellah in the clutches of corrupt governors, venal judges, and a heartless and conscienceless upper
class — the peasants are rapidly being deprived of their lands and turned into day labourers or
tenants at rack-rent on the estates of the great men who robbed them. These things will
improve under British rule ; but it will take time to wipe off the immense domestic debt of the
fellahin and re-establish small farming, which, with proper co-operation in machinery and reform
of the irrigation system, is the one thing that can restore prosperity to the people.
VILLAGE HUTS.
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
53
54
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
The agricultural population may really be called " the people," for they form four-fifths of
the inhabitants of Egypt. The townsfolk of Egypt form an inconsiderable minority. Cairo
and Alexandria may boast half-a-million of inhabitants between them, but the other great towns
of the Delta — Damietta, Mansiirah, Zakazik, Tanta, and Rosetta — do not muster more than
twenty or thirty thousand apiece. In Upper Egypt there are really no large towns. Asyut,
the upper capital, is a sort of magnified village ; Aswan
is hardly so big; and Luxor, Esne, Minyeh, and the
rest would be called villages if there did not chance to
be smaller villages and hamlets that absorb the name
to themselves. Egypt may strictly be said to consist
in a large farm, dotted over with a number of villages,
inhabited by an agricultural population. This agri-
cultural population is known as the felldhin, whereof
the singular \s fellah, and means literally a " cleaver " or " cutter '" of the ground, and hence a
peasant. No term could be less appropriate, for the soil requires scarcely any ploughing or
turning. The fresh alluvial deposit each year needs no delving to make it fit for sowing.
Deep subsoil ploughs would only turn up the worn-out earth beneath, and the least scratching
of the surface is all that is needed preparatory to casting the seed. " Waterer " would be a
better name than "cleaver" for the Egyptian peasant, since, under the present antiquated
system, he is watering the ground from morning till night, except when he is forcibly
compelled to mend canals for other people— which is still a kind of watering. But for this
difficulty of irrigation and keeping up canals the Egyptian peasant would
have an easy time of it. He has few of the anxieties of the English
farmer. No dread of rain and rot affect him. The one thing that can
make or mar his crops is the annual inundation : a "good Nile," i.e. a full
flood, means plenty; a "bad Nile," i.e. one below the height necessary
for irrigation, means starvation, though even here machinery and enter-
prise would mitigate the misfortune. Beyond this one vital element in
Egyptian agriculture there is no natural cause to dread. Nor is any
artificial aid necessary — no superphosphates, no complicated manures.
The whole process is as simple as possible ; the cultivator has only to see
that the alluvial deposit has been spread over the land, to pass a light
primitive plough over it, scatter the wheat or barley seed, keep the birds off the young crops, cut
them v;hen ripe with the old-fashioned sickle, thresh them with a curious crushing-cart with heavy
iron wheels, winnow them by throwing them up in the air, and the grain is ready for the mill.
There is no room for any mistake, no adaptation of crops to soils. All the land is good after a
good Nile, and all the crops come up well. Sugar and cotton are of course different ; they are new
importations, the advantages of which have not yet been sufficiently demonstrated ; but ordinary
cereal and leguminous crops are easily cultivated at a great profit and with little labour.
^"^^K>^u,
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
55
The following is the Eg>'ptian agricultural calendar, as given by Dr. Klunzinger in his
delightful book on Upper Egypt :— *
September.
15. Cotton han-est (little cotton is planted in Upper Egypt).
16. Dew begins to fall.
17. Pomegranates eown.
19. Olive gathering (in Lower Egypt).
20. Time of limunes (or small Egyptian citrons).
2 1 . Dates (also as early as August).
24. Pomegranates.
27. Fresh fruit, best kind of fruit.
29. Eat tuttke {terid, that is, bread and broth made with
meat).
shadOf.
I . Good is it to glance towards the clouds.
8. The fruit (the banujeh fruit) ripens (?).
9. (Sowing of clover, which gives three or four crops in
Upper Egypt ; instead of it the chickling vetch and
licorice vetch are more commonly sown as fodder
and pasture plants).
10. (Maize harvest).
October.
15. Rice harvest (only in Lower Egypt).
16. End of high water in the Nile.
18. Drink cooling drinks (juice of fruits).
23. Flax sown.
25. Wheat sown (also barley).
26. Avoid sleeping in the open air.
27. Beginning of morning coldness.
• " Upper Egypt : its People and its Products," pages 131—33. By C. B. Klunzinger, M.D. (Blackie, 1878.)
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
November.
2. Do not drink at night.
5. Roses.
7. Violets sown.
16. Saffiron gathered.
17. Rain.
18. South winds. Drink warm water fasting.
21. Durah harvest (autumn crop which stood during the
inundation).
24. Horses pastured.
25. The whole night becomes cold.
In the course of November most of the winter crops are
sown — lentils, chickpeas, wheat, barley, beans, peas,
lupins, saflBower, lettuce, flax, poppy, winter durah.
December.
Time of the black
1. Caraway, anise, black cumin sown.
crabs.
4. Olive-pressing.
5. Eat everything hot.
10. (First cutting of clover).
11. Insects perish. Serpents and mosquitoes disappear.
15. Sugar-cane ripe. (Winter melons sown.)
16. Drink nothing out of open vessels for three nights.
17. The ants penetrate deep into the ground.
18. Vapours rise from the soil.
23. First frost.
25. Late wheat sown.
29. Vines pruned.
January.
3. Avoid eating fowls.
10. (Chickling and licorice vetch cut or eaten off).
11. Tobacco sown. Strong cold.
17. Baptismal feast Greatest cold of winter (called bap-
tism cold. At this time the Christians in their
pious zeal take a cold plunge bath.) The Nile
becomes sweet and clear.
18. The depths of the earth become warm.
22. Eat hot (that is, heating) articles of food (such as
legumes).
28. Last severe cold.
February.
1 . The sap rises in the stems. Cattle in heat.
3. Plums sown. Trees planted.
10. Young lambs.
13. The cold is broken.
18 — 20. The little sun.
21. Birds pair.
22. Young cucumbers.
25. Avoid sitting in the sun.
March.
2. Water- fowl in great multitudes.
10. Indian cotton (and rice) sown. Silkworms gathered.
(All this only in Lower Egypt.) Barley harvest.
12. Locusts developed.
14. Sesame sown.
17. Violent hurricanes and whirlwinds.
March — continued.
20. Large sun.
24. Sugar-cane sown. (Winter melons ripe.)
25. Egyptian cotton sown. Flax reaped.
26. North winds.
29. Caraway sown.
30. Eat the flesh of goats and fowls.
April.
1. Avoid eating cheese.
5. Time for blood-letting.
6. Trees in blossom (dates in blossom, summer durah and
indigo sown).
8. Time for purging.
10. (Wheat harvest in Upper Egypt).
12. The almonds form fruits.
16. Colds prevail.
17. First harvest in Cairo.
20. Preser\'e roses.
29. Easter Monday. Beginning of Khamasin. (Easter
varies however.)
May.
2. Henna sown.
4. Make use of acids.
6. Strong gusts of wind from the north.
7. Blood-letting and blood-purifying drinks.
11. (Summer) cucumbers sown.
12. Late wheat harvest.
14. Avoid salted meats.
17. (Summer) durah sown in Upper Egypt.
21. Poppy-heads gathered.
22. Falling of manna and quails. Safflower blossoms
gathered.
27. Beginning of the strong heat. Sirius sets.
31. Time of apricots.
June.
1 . The sap of the trees begins to diminish.
2. According to Hippocrates medical treatment should be
avoided for seventy-five days from this time.
5. End of the " Nile-burning" (drought).
7. Rice sown.
8. Nile water changes.
9. Rise of the Pleiades (TV^reya:).
10.' Great heat in men's bodies.
II. The soil becomes cracked.
14. Stinking miasmata.
15. Honey taken from the hives.
16. Drink no water from the Nile for fifteen days.
16—17. "Night of the Drop."
19. First grapes.
20. Water melons.
22. Strongest heat.
zy The Nile begins to rise.
24. Bathe in cold water.
25. Use tamarinds.
26. Press juice from unripe grapes {Jiusuii).
2']. Use acids.
29. Peaches and plums.
30. Last time for sowing sesame.
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
57
July.
3. The height of the Nile proclaimed.
4. Avoid purgatives.
5. The locusts perish.
7. The Nile becomes rapid.
9. Rather strong north winds.
ID. Chief time for honey.
II. The air becomes temperate.
14. Miasmata and fleas vanish. The plagTie ceases where
■it has prevailed.
19. Strong winds.
20. Mustard-seed gathered. (Summer durah har\'est,)
21. Samoom winds for forty days.
25. Eye complaints common.
26. Avoid washing clothes for seven days.
27. Grapes. Figs,
28. Black cumin.
29. Grape must.
August.
I. Summer melons.
3. Sirius rises.
9. Radishes sown. Cotton-picking.
10. Pistaccio nut ripe.
12. First of the pomegranates.
15. (Autumn durah sown).
17. Beware of the stings of insects.
18. The leaves of the trees changed.
19. Avoid eating sweets. Garlic and onions sown.
20. Weaning of the domestic animals.
24. Vermin, mosquitoes.
25. Morning coldness. Young lambs.
29. Drink thick curdled milk. Avoid the warm bath.
31. Rape-sowing. Fish fry. Drink less water.
In spite of all these operations, the countryman, unless he be engaged constantly at the
shaduf, has a certain amount of leisure in which to smoke and drink coffee, not to say raki, and
WATER-WHEEL.
chat with his friends. Ground down as he has been for thousands of years, the fellah is yet
neither sullen nor vindictive. Grievances he knows he has, but they do not prevent him being
happy and merry ; he will sing songs and crack jokes among his fellows, and laugh as the
townsman seldom laughs. We cannot expect him to be very intelligent, when the one object
of all his rulers, from Menes to Ismail, has been to treat him as a machine and to do his
thinking for him. Yet he is no fool, and sometimes can see as far as most people. He is not,
certainly, fit at present to govern himself — it may be doubted whether a purely rustic and
agricultural people ever is — and representative institutions will probably remain a mystery
to him for a good many lustres to come. He needs nursing and guiding and protecting
(against himself as well as against his oppressors) like a child for many years, until the evil
influences of bondage, the terror that breeds lies and deceit, the reckless despair, in face of
oppression and injustice, that leads to borrowing and eviction and ruin, and the distrust of
mankind that comes of centuries of perjured rulers, have had time to vanish from his nature.
I
58
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
He has the making of a fine man in him. His physique is splendid ; his temper is equable and
happy ; he is incapable of brutality — you never heard of a fellah kicking his wife, though his
treatment of animals might well be improved — and his brain is probably as weighty as the
brain of any other agricultural class, and as capable of education. Freed from the burdens
that now oppress him, the fellah should have a prosperous future before him, if our politicians
at home do not try to force him on too fast.
An Egyptian village is a thing by itself A causeway of earth, raised high enough to be
above the reach of the inundation, conducts the traveller from the Nile to a greyish-brown
mass, which is unlike anything he has seen in other lands. The huts form a complete wall
round the village, with no opening save where the main entrance is, or where a hut has fallen
down, and, as usually happens, has not been re-
paired. The huts are built of bricks merely
dried in the sun — the same material suffices for
all secular buildings in Egypt, from the dwell-
ings at Memphis downwards. It was at bricks
like these that the children of Israel were made
to labour, and I have seen the very bricks they
made — sun-dried and mixed with straw — in the
newly excavated store-city of Pithom. If there
were any continuous rain these bricks would turn
into liquid mud, as is often seen in the Arabian
desert on the road to Koseyr ; but such a disaster
never happens in Egypt proper by the action of
rain, though it is not unusual to see houses
gradually melting away in the inundation when
they have not been built sufficiently high to escape
the wash of the Nile. An Arab hut is at the best
a temporary-looking erection. The walls are not
straight or at right angles, every part looks fit to
fall, and there is no attempt at either solidity or beauty. The roof consists of a mat or bundle
of durah stalks cemented with mud. One room of small dimensions accommodates an entire
family, and a little yard outside affords room for the children, animals, and fowls to roll in
the dirt and enjoy themselves to their utmost capacity. Indeed, the poorest huts are not
even so fine as this, and resemble ancient Celtic habitations more than anything else. In
these, " the fellah kneads for himself a hovel out of the clay left by the Nile in every hollow,
mixed with some cut straw. A room is thus formed which may be entered by creeping
through a hole. It is covered over with reeds, straw mats, and rags. Round it he then
builds a wall of clay about as high as a man^ which incloses a yard. Cylindrical hollow spaces
are let into the wall at intervals, and serve for keeping grain, as a pigeon-house, fowl-house.
VILLAGE SHEYKH.
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
59
NILE-BOAT BY MOONLIGHT.
an oven, and a cupboard."* On the roof and walls prowl the village dogs, which are
admirable guardians, but have not yet attained the dignity of pets. In the midst of the
huts a rude sort of chimney of whitewashed brick serves as a minaret to the primitive little
mosque, and all around rise the curious conical towers,
like ancient pylons of temples, crowned with batriements,
perforated with holes, and bristling with twig-perches,
where the large flocks of pigeons find shelter after their
daily assaults upon the corn and conflicts with the slingers,
who endeavour to protect the young crops from their
ravages. The pigeons have their uses, but also un-
doubtedly their drawbacks. The houses or huts of an
Egyptian village are all huddled together without plan
or order ; it is next to impossible to discover by mere
outside inspection where one tenement ends and the
next begins. There is nothing like a street, except
where the sheykh's house stands in a small open space,
whither the elders resort to smoke their pipes and con-
verse on the affairs of their little world. A rambling,
ill-defined lane conducts to the other houses, and a
broken-down wall or fallen hovel often supplies the best mode of egress to the inhabitants of
the neighbourhood. Outside the hut-constructed rampart which shuts off the outer world is the
ditch, the village drain, a
place of horrible smells and
sights, where, however, the
dogs and children delight to
play, heedless of the swarms
of flies that settle upon their
eyes and mouth. When one
sees the normal fly-ridden
countenances of the Egyptian
children, it is impossible to
be surprised at the enormous
proportion of blind or one-
eyed adults. Ophthalmia
arises in various ways, but it is undoubtedly propagated by flies, and to the carelessness
and prejudices of mothers and the uncleanness of infants must be ascribed a good deal of its
prevalence. The women think it is unlucky to wash a baby's face, and prefer to let him go blind
all his life to removing the pestilential flies that cover his eyes like a patch of court-plaister.
• Klunzinger : " Upper Egypt," page 121.
I 2
THE NILE AT KAFR-EL-AYAT.
6o
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
In the neighbourhood of every village there is a well, shaded by a clump of palm-trees.
Here the men often collect for gossip, and hither the women come to fetch water, their tall,
upright, well-formed figures moving gracefully under the
weight ot the large pitchers they carry on their heads.
Not far off will be found the tomb of a local saint, where
the piety of the villagers maintains ever-burning lamps,
and whither those in trouble or sickness resort for the
miraculous virtues which defunct Mohammadan saints,
like those of other churches, are believed to possess.
" More things are wrought by faith " in Egypt, as in
more Western countries, than most men fancy ; not
because the object is worthy of faith, but because faith
In a worthless thing has its subjective effect, and~ people
may become cured, in imagination, almost as easily as
they can get ill, in imagination. There is hardly a
village in Egypt which has not wonderful tales to tell of
the magical cures wrought by its saint, and the most
unblushing liars can be made to speak the truth if their
hands are laid on a holy man's grave. The Egyptians
have an extraordinary
reverence for their saints,
who are frequently harm-
less lunatics, but are more
often ingenious impostors.
Some of them go about
stark naked, with un-
kempt beard and flowing
locks, eat chopped straw
and broken glass, or dress
themselves fantastically in parti-coloured raiment, and play
ridiculous antics, and worse, in the public streets. If one of
these scoundrels meets you in the road and asks alms you are
bound to give, unless you choose to risk the probable mis-
fortunes that, according to popular superstition, will follow your
refusal. Sometimes a burly saint, armed as usual with a long
heavy staff, becomes violent, and it has chanced to more than
one traveller to spend an unpleasant quarter of an hour holding
on to the sharpened point of a nebbut with which a holy brawny man was prodding him.
It is not, however, till he is dead that the saint becomes truly great ; he is respected while
A JEW'S HOUSE.
WALL OF A HOUSE, bll
AND WHITE.
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
6i
living, but almost worshipped when defunct, and his life and miracles then receive the
marvellous embellishments which Muslims love to bestow upon their martyrs and confessors.
There is a certain family likeness among most Mohammadan saints which is a little discouraging
to those who would fain believe. The holy men show a lamentable poverty of invention, and
content themselves too often with the well-worn performances of their predecessors. They are
fond of making their ddbut in a sheen of soft white light, and of suffusing an odour of musk.
In the course of a long life spent in solitary meditation, at the expense of the neighbourhood,
they contrive to impose a couple of tolerable miracles upon the simple folk on whom they trade,
and then dying, very much like other people, they expect their kubbehs, or tombs, to be visited
by generations of pious worshippers who are in need of blessings, spiritual or temporal —
paradise, children, or rich crops — and are pre-
pared to pay for them. And the wonderful
thing is that these lame and stale impositions
really succeed. The country people, credulous
like all rustics and not a few town-bred folk,
flock to the grave of the saint, over which is
erected a simple whitewashed dome ; and calling
down blessings on his head, perform the circuit
from left to right of the wooden railing which
encloses the grave, muttering prayers or portions
of the Koran, and benedictions on the Prophet
and all holy men, ending with " O God, I
conjure thee by the Prophet and by him to
whom this place is dedicated, to grant me such
and such blessings," or " My burdens be on God
and on thee, O thou to whom this place is sacred."
They kiss the railing and the walls and threshold,
distribute water and bread and money to the poor
for the saint's sake, sacrifice a calf at the tomb in return for answered prayers, place flowers and
myrtle and palm-leaves on the grave. Suspended ostrich eggs, lamps, and relics, gorgeous
canopies and embroidered cloth hangings, quaint bird's-eye views of Jerusalem and Mekkeh and
other sacred places, testify to the zeal and devotion of the neighbours. To be guardian of a
saint's tomb is no honorary post, for the poor women of the neighbourhood frequently come
with little offerings of bread or money, by which they hope to secure the saint's intercession
and favour, and we may be sure the keeper of the tomb does not always forward their votive
gifts to paradise. The strangest feature of this hagiolatry, however, is the superstition of the
Christians of Egypt, who are so greedy of blessings that they will try to obtain them by fair
means or foul, and will often visit a Muslim saint's tomb, and kiss it, and leave money on it, in
the belief that such conciliatory conduct will redound to their advantage in this world and the
A RUDE DOOR.
62
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
CO.Ml.NG FKUM THE WELL.
next. Indeed, Christian and Mohammadan saints have many things in common : sometimes
we trace an episode from the Legenda Aurea in the narratives of the Acta Sanctorum
Islamismi, and it is impossible to say how much of the
veracious histories of Giacomo Voraggio was borrowed from a
Mohammadan source.
A country town is very much the same thing as a village,
but it is larger, and contains a few good buildings — a respectable
mosque or two, the governor's and judge's house, perhaps, and
the local law court or police station. A country law court is a
remarkable spectacle to a European. Passing through a yard
shaded with old sycamore-trees, we enter a room full of Coptic
scribes — an exclusive guild, who act as clerks in all the
governors' and minor courts. The Coptic clerk is, indeed,
practically the judge of first instance, for it depends upon his
favour whether the peasant's suit ever reaches the governor's
or judge's ears at all, and this favour is only to be obtained by
hard cash, so that unless the peasant has enough money about
him to bribe the Coptic intermediary he never wins audience of the judge himself at all.
Perhaps it makes little difference, for this legal magnate, who sits smoking his pipe on a divan
in the next room, entertains very
similar notions to those of his Coptic
clerk as to the evidential value of
bakhshish and the salutary effects
of a sound bastinading impartially
administered to the soles of both
accuser and accused, plaintiff and
defendant. The only plan is to
"square" the scribe, and thus you
obtain, not necessarily justice, but
your suit.
These Coptic scribes are found
in every town, and at some places,
such as Girgeh, a large proportion of
the population is Coptic. The black
turban and kaftan would always dis-
tinguish them, but a glance at their
faces is generally enough. It is
difficult to say exactly in what they differ in appearance from Mohammadans, but one is seldom
wrong in identifying them. They constitute the lower official class, and are decidedly more
JT^
\
A FELLAH AT LEISURE.
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
63
' TELEGRAPH.'
corrupt and voracious than the Turkish governors themselves. There is an exceedingly good
understanding established between the two orders of thieves ; so far resembling that which
exists between a local justice of the peace and the clerk to the justices, that it is really the
clerk who knows and administers the law while the great man
takes the credit of it. Probably any other official class in
Egypt would prove as venal as the Coptic scribes — indeed
the experiment has been tried with native Muslims without
improving matters — but there can be no doubt that so long
as our friend Girges or Hanna holds the clerkly inkstand
and portfolio there will be no justice in the land. The
Coptic Church is, however, a curious if an unpleasant study.
A Jacobite offshoot of the Orthodox (Greek) Church, dating
from the fifth century, it has resisted all attempts at reform,
extension, or dissolution. It still exists to the small extent
originally proselytised, but it does not seek to extend its
borders. It preserves unchanged the peculiar rites and
customs of its commencement; it uses in its liturgies the
Coptic language, a form of the ancient Egyptian expressed in Greek letters, but it has forgotten
how to speak it ; it marries among its members, and thus preserves the individuality of its facial
type, which most clearly recalls the physiognomy of the subjects of Pharaoh. In former times
the Copts were often and grievously persecuted by the Mohammadans of Egypt, probably not
without provocation, but now the two creeds are on a very friendly footing, and Muslim and
Copt live side by side like brothers, except when an altercation reminds the true believer that
his neighbour is but a " dog of an infidel."
The Copt dresses like the Muslim, but
prefers sombre colours ; like the Muslim
he abjures swine's flesh, and adds camel's
flesh to the prohibition ; unlike the Muslim,
however, he atones for his frequent
abstinences by immense potations of
date-spirit, whereby he waxes corpulent,
in spite of the vegetable regimen on
which he is forced to subsist during the
months of abstinence ordained by his
Church. Unlike the Muslim, too, he
marries but one wife, and he marries her with quite different ceremonies from those of his
Mohammadan neighbours. Mr. Lawrence Oliphant thus describes a Coptic wedding in his
"Land of Khemi," p. 164^, a book wherein is much profit and no little humour: —
" On the following night I witnessed the marriage of a peasant couple, which took place
•-^-*~
WAITING FOR "COOK."
64
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
about ten o'clock, and which was, in some respects, more interesting than the aristocratic
wedding that succeeded it at midnight.
"In the centre of the church benches were arranged
so as to form three sides of a square. In the middle of the
centre bench sat the bride and bridegroom side by side,
their bare feet dangling about six inches from the ground.
The male friends extended from him to the right, and the
female from her to the left. As they were of the fellah
class the women's faces were uncovered, and they wore the
''- ^ f/ blue gown and headgear common to the country people.
The bride, however, was an exception; her face was entirely
concealed by a red cotton handkerchief, strained so tightly
across it that it was a mystery how she could draw a breath.
The bridegroom, who was quite a youth, looked exceedingly
shy and uncomfortable, and held a white handkerchief persistently to his mouth as if he was
suffering from toothache. At first I thought he was ; but as, when his hands were otherwise
engaged, he held his handkerchief in his teeth, I concluded that it was only modesty. All,
priests included, had bare feet, and were most poorly
clad. The ecclesiastic who performed the ceremony
occupied evidently a very subordinate position in the
church, and his principal object seemed to be to finish
the operation as speedily as possible, and get paid for
it. He seated himself on a low chair in front of
the happy couple, pulled a Coptic prayer-book out of
his breast, and gave the signal to his attendants to
commence operations, on which a man squatting on his
heels behind his chair clashed a huge pair of cymbals,
and half-a-dozen others in a like attitude set up a
lugubrious chant in a loud nasal voice. Whenever
they paused, the women ranged on the benches burst
forth in a shrill scream, with a quaver or ululation
resembling the note of the screech-owl. This is accom-
plished by moving the tongue rapidly between the lips
while screaming, and is the cry of female rejoicing
common to Muslims and Christians alike throuo-hout the
East. It is called the Zaghareet. It had a wild,
barbaric effect, as from time to time it broke in
upon the uncouth chanting and clanging cymbals of the choir. Then the priest took
up his part, and read the service at racing speed. All this time men were talking and
WATER BOTTLE.
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
65
laughing loudly, babies were crying, and every now and then the priest would stop, apparently to
hold a little general conversation with those nearest to him on the topics of the day. Anything
more irreverent or less like a religious cere-
mony it would be difficult to imagine. In
the midst of it all, and apropos to nothing
particular, the priest seized the bride-
groom's left hand and put a ring upon his
little finger. After some more chanting,
reading, screeching, and general conversa-
tion, he took a phial, which I presumed
contained holy water, and crossed the fore-
heads of the bride and bridegroom with
its contents. He then opened the robe of
the latter in front and made another cross
upon his breast, and then, baring his arms,
made crosses on them. After another
interlude he took off the bridegroom's red
cap and put a white one under it and re-
placed the red one. Again, after an in-
terval, he produced a black cord which he
bound round the body of the bridegroom
under his outer garment; then, taking off
the red cap again, he tied a piece of scarlet
thread round his head, and did the same
to the bride, who must long since have
been nearly stifled. All this time the
audience were chattering, and holding little
tallow-dips which cast a sickly light over
the scene. In spite of the rapidity with
which . the service was read, what with
chanting and talking, and the perpetual
recurrence of ' Kyrie Eleison,' followed by
the Zaghareet, at least an hour elapsed
before the priest seized the heads of the
bride and bridegroom, apparently with the
view of knocking them together. However,
he contented himself with pressing them
against one another and waving his hand over them, which, I presume, was a blessing. He
then untied the cords and threads which he had fastened round them — meaning, I suppose, that
K
WOMEN BRINGING WATER
66
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
AQUEDUCT.
another and spiritual knot had been tied— and then abruptly snatched the handkerchief out of
the bridegroom's mouth and spread it over his own knees. For the first time there was a
silence as of hushed expectation ; then some silver coins,
amounting, I should say, to about ten shillings, were dropped
into the handkerchief, and the priest rose suddenly, put some
of the money into his pocket, and proceeded to distribute the
rest among the minor officials, on which arose the most furious
clamour and dispute as to how the filthy lucre should be divided.
It seemed to me that the man with the cymbals got less than
his share, and he appeared to be of the same opinion, while a
villainous-looking old creature, who acted as a sort of beadle,
endeavoured to grab the whole. The priest, who had had the
first pull, seemed to be a good deal abused by the others for
having taken too much ; but order was somehow at last re-
stored, and the bridegroom got up and walked to the door.
The bride, however, seemed more difficult to deal with ; what
she wanted I could not discover, but her mother and two or
three other women seemed to be packing her up in some
mysterious way against her will. She was a slight little thing,
and they rolled her about on the
bench like some bale of goods. At last, in the midst of her
struggles, a man, 1 presume her father, rushed in, put her on
his shoulder and carried her off, followed by the rest of the
women, two of whom scrambled upon a flat platform on the
back of a squatting camel ; the bride was wedged in between
them. The animal gave a lurch forward, and I thought they
were all going over his head ; then a lurch backward, and they
seemed all about to be precipitated over his tail ; and so he
gained his feet, and stalked off with his precious burden, just
in time to make way for the procession of the aristocratic bride
at whose house I had been the night before."
It is by such joys as these that the monotonous life of the
common people is diversified. That life is very much the same
as that of the Cairene, only still more inactive and deliberate.
The felldh, indeed, does work hard at the shaduf, but he can
hardly be said to overwork himself The inhabitant of a
country town, however, does scarcely any work at all. There
are but few trades to employ him ; most articles requiring skill in their manufacture are
imported, and the few industries that remain do not engage many workers or much of their
NILE BOATMAN.
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
67
time. Tanning, dyeing, rude carpentry and turnery, using bow-drills, in which the toes take
their share, weaving, tinkering, and pottery may be seen in operation in the Egyptian country
A MERCHANT.
town, and the last is perhaps the most attractive to the tourist, who never fails to purchase
large crates full of the pipe-bowls, censers, ash-trays, candlesticks, and other red and black
pottery made at Asyut. The kidlehs and large water vessels made at Kin^ and Ballaseh are
K 2
68
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
also famous, and the indigo-dyed cloths of Esne form the characteristic material of the peasants'
dress in Lower and Middle Egypt. But nobody seems to fatigue himself in any of these
industries. The artisan does as much as he feels inclined to do,
and then enjoys a placid doze. He is an early riser, partly
because he is expected to say the daybreak prayers, and partly
because it is considered unhealthy to sleep under the risen sun.
But he atones for this matutinal energy by a comfortable
soothing pipe in the neighbouring coffee-house, and eats a simple
breakfast of bread and beans and milk. Then he sets about
his business, whatever it may be, but always in a graceful,
indolent manner, which does not allow room for such an idea
as urgency. If you attempt to hurry him he has his ready
answer, " Bukra — to-morrow, an' it please God." In the mid-
^fl^fek ! IW^BEC day he sleeps, after a frugal dinner of bread and fruit, and does
^"^'"^ "^ ''^ 1 not begin moving again until the afternoon is well advanced,
when he bestirs himself, says his prayers, drinks his coffee,
smokes his pipe, and makes some show of activity. " With the last rays of the setting sun
the call from the minaret is again heard, the trader shuts his shop, the workman flings by his
tool, the scholar, the writer, and the man of learning shut their books. After his evening
devotions the dweller in the town moves slowly homeward to
his house, where his supper is already awaiting him. At this
meal, which is generally the principal meal of the day, he quite
acts the gourmand. His wife brings it to him on a round
wooden board elevated on pieces of wood or short feet. The
basis of the meal is bread made of wheat or millet flour, or hot
unleavened cakes — of which he devours incredible quantities —
baked over a fire of dung. His wife has also boiled or fried for
him a fish with onions and oil, or there lies in the pot a young
pigeon or a fowl, the juice of which tastes excellently when the
cakes are dipped in it. Sometimes also a small piece of mutton,
buffalo, camel, or goat flesh has been procured, with which the
soaked baniyehs, or the viscous-juiced, spinach-like moluchieh,
are cooked. These, however, are the more expensive viands ;
and in the evening also people on ordinary occasions are
satisfied with the ful (or broad beans) which has become so
much a national dish. Whenever it is possible, two or three
kinds of dishes must be on the table, and the inhabitant of the
town tastes of them indiscriminately, taking a piece now from this, now from that. The
fellah of the poorer sort is generally content with a purely vegetable diet — bread and garlic,
RED POTTERY OF ASYUT.
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
69
BLACK ASyOt bottle.
sugar-cane, peas, maize, and dom-nut. He rarely indulges in meat, or eggs, or milk. After
the evening meal our citizen either remains at home, enjoying a dignified ease in his harim, or
he takes up his position before his house, stretched out in the dust of
the street or squatting amidst a knot of peaceful neighbours ; less
frequently he visits the cafe again, or calls on a friend in his house or
courtyard, if he has a friend able and ready to gather his friends
around him for a social meeting in the evening. The light of the
moon and stars suffices, or if in winter they must retreat into the
dark chamber, the weak glimmer of an oil lamp. In this country
nothing is known of nocturnal labours either of hand or head, even
among the learned ; and the many blind and blear-eyed people that
here wander about have not contracted their ailments through over-
straining their eyes. As to-day is, so is to-morrow, and the most
momentous events passing in the great world here make on most
people no impression whatever, for it is only a very few that receive
a newspaper, and still fewer understand it. It is only the most
urgent necessity that causes the citizen to take a journey, and when
he does travel he makes a pilgrimage to Mekka, or, at most, goes
to come other country in which Islam prevails."*
E AS ANT women spend much more "laborious days" than
their husbands. They do all the housework — wash, scour,
cook, look after the children (after a fashion), and bake the
bread. They are up before sunrise, preparing their husbands'
coffee, and sometimes washing themselves in the Nile; but
this is not an absolute duty. They are not burdened with
the numerous prayers of the men, and a pious woman is a
great rarity. Their chief amusements are going to the bath
and making protracted calls upon their lady friends. It is,
however, essential that no man — not even their husbands —
be present at these merry-makings. Out of doors the
countrywoman is not very particular about letting herself be
seen by men, and when one arrives in Nubia the swarthy
ladies of the land seem to dispense with a great part even of
the ordinary scanty attire of the peasantry ; but no man may
witness the social convivialities of the harims within doors.
Some Egyptian women never leave their house after they are married ; but the poor cannot
afford this luxury of virtue, since they must fetch the water from the well, forage for firewood,
and purchase household necessaries.
* C. B. Klunzinger: " Upper Egypt," pages 158—61.
asyOt pottery.
70
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
>V^.a.
'iy
The country life of Egypt, it is seen, is even more quiet and monotonous than rural
existence at home. The people have, indeed, their festivals,
but they are not held with the pomp and
display which characterize the same feasts
in the capital. The loud laughter caused
by the antics of buffoons and mimics, and
the excitement aroused by the allusive
performances of the dancing-girls, con-
stitute the peasant's delirious joys ; and near the ruins of '\,f^
the great temple of Luxor one may still see the lineal
descendants of the rude entertainments which delighted the Pharaohs and their subjects, and
of which Mr. Tadema's famous picture
is a reconstruction. But the even .tenor
of the peasant's life suffers few rude
shocks, and is seldom upset by gaiety or
excitement. The festivities of marriages
and births and the saints' days form the
chief varieties in the quiet routine of
leisurely work. Even the Bedawis,
whose tribes fringe the cultivated lands,
and whose nomad life has so many
romantic associations, enjoy but little
variety of scene or occupation. Looking
after sheep and cattle, diversified with
petty larceny and occasional raids on
villages, probably forms as monotonous
an existence as sowing and reaping crops
or drilling pipe-stems. But the Bedawis
are not Egyptians, and though they form
a picturesque feature in the sights of
Egypt, space is wanting to describe them.
There are, however, other "Be-
douins" than those who roam the Syrian
and Lower Egyptian plains. " Bedouin "
is a barbarous European plural of
Bedawy, which means simply a man " of
the Desert; " and there are various races
inhabiting the Egyptian deserts which
may properly be termed Bedawis. As we travel southwards we come across very different
A BOW USED FOR SEPARATING COTTON.
I
1=1
1=^
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
71
types of people from the well-known Bedawy of Syria and Arabia. Every one who reaches
Aswan ought to visit the neighbouring village of the Bishariyeh, if he would see some of the
finest men and most beautiful women in Egypt. And the valleys which intersect the rocky
ranges of the Desert on the Arabian side of the Nile throughout its upper course, from the
tropics to Asyut, have been peopled from the earliest times by the Ababdeh, the Gebadei of
Pliny, whom the old geographers used to designate by the well-known names of Troglodytes
and Ichthyophagi. The Ababdeh are wholly unlike the Bedawis who roam the Desert farther
north. Instead of the clear brown skin and keen features of the true Arab, the Ababdeh
shows us a deep bronze, almost black complexion, a straight nose, and a mild and pleasant
expression. Their long black hair, which is never woolly like the negro's, is trained in hanging
curls or done in long plaits which fall over
the shoulders, and arranged in a short curly
tuft in front, — the source of much solicitude
and pride, and the recipient of an inordinate
amount of grease. Curling-pins and pomade-
bowls are essential articles of the Abady's
toilette materials. The thick bush of hair
supersedes the need of a cap, turban, or
any covering, and in this, as well as in the
long white smock, which forms his sole
garment when he wears any garment at all,
the Abady stands in strong contrast to the
fellah and the Arab. He affects a javelin
and a knife or sword, but he is not much of
a fighter or huntsman ; and, again unlike
the Arab, he never carries a gun. The
women wear a white gown, which covers
the bosom but leaves the shoulders and
arms bare, and a voluminous cloak over this,
which can be drawn over the head and the whole figure. In winter they adopt the brown
woollen dress of the fellaheh. The men affect ear-rings, and the women add nose-rings,
necklaces, bangles, and as many ornaments of glass beads, strings of white shells, and brass
as they can amass.
The Bedawy tent, of which an engraving is given on page 73, is much too luxurious a
shelter for the ambition of an Abady. He has to content himself with a wretched hut made of
a few poles, covered and enclosed with old straw mats, which form the walls and sloping roof,
but leave one side of the oblong tenement open, or partly closed with a hanging curtain, for a
door. " The internal space is generally only two or three paces long and about four feet high,
so that a person can only sit or lie inside ; but, indeed, the inhabitants of these regions
A DRAGOMAN.
72
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
generally cannot imagine that there is any pleasure or domestic comfort in standing. Into this
the family creep, for in every hut there is room for a pair to live comfortably together with a
swarm of children. An Ababdeh settlement generally numbers only four to eight such huts,
with as many families. It is only in a few settlements, such as the Desert village of Laketa,
which contains about fifty dwellings, in the villages of the Nile valley, in the Ababdeh suburb of
Koseyr, the inhabitants of which have partially given up their nomadic life, that we see hole-like
houses of clay or rough stones, in the style of those of the Nile peasantry. Many dwell also, at
times, in natural caves, and are therefore ' Troglodytes,' as the ancients called them. Dwelling
in these caves is here somewhat dangerous on account of the serpents. In the caves are found
remains, such as cinders, ashes, blackened stones, &c., which generally show them to have been
tenanted, at least temporarily, by men. The caravans often stop at these for their siesta, and
perform their cooking in the inside, whence the sun and
wind are excluded. It is possible that, if excavations
of sufficient depth were made, traces of the ancient
Troglodytes might be found.
" Other household appliances are quite in keeping with
the wretched abodes. They consist of a few cooking
utensils of clay or soapstone, skins for water and milk,
leathern buckets, drinking-cups of wood, a wooden or
leathern bowl for eating out of, a few grinding-stones, a
straw mat or a coarse woollen carpet, and for a fire-
place a few stones picked up at random. Everything
has the provisional, nomadic character. For cutting they
make use only of an iron knife ; they do not use flint
(of which their limestone mountains are so full) for this
purpose, employing it only to strike fire.
" The food of the Ababdeh is chiefly milk and durah.
The latter they enjoy either raw or roasted, or in the form of unleavened cakes, baked on a
glowing fire of camel's dung. The few fruits that the Desert affords are also made the most of
They seldom allow themselves to indulge in fresh meat, since they sell their cattle, and are not
great hands at hunting. Any wild animals that they can get hold of, however, they consider
dainties, including hyenas, hares, jerboas, foxes, and gazelles. Those dwelling on the coast live
chiefly on fish and molluscs. Such being their scanty fare, it is not to be wondered at that the
Abady is always hungry. When a caravan is doing its cooking some son of the Desert always
makes his appearance, having smelt it from a distance. He does not beg, but regards the
persons eating with such a doglike and piteous air that they cannot but invite him to partake,
especially the Muslim, who when he eats can never allow a stranger to stand without giving
him an invitation. And when the camp is pitched beside an Ababdeh settlement the least
signal brings the hungry and naked Bedawy "children bounding up, who, with amusing
'THE SHADOW OF A GREAT ROCK."
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
73
eagerness, stuff their mouths with the left pieces of bread and meat offered them, and for
which they never beg. As soon as the camp breaks up hungry creatures of the Desert of all
classes forthwith fall upon what it has left.
" The chief employment of the Ababdeh is flock-keeping and camel-driving. They keep
camels, goats, and sheep, but never horses or cattle. Some also possess an ass, and they all
have a dog. Pasture is only available for a time when winter rains have fallen and called the
vegetable germs into life ; in the dry season, and in dry years, the herdsman must often make
long journeys in the mountains in order to find pasture ; nay, he mUst then diminish his herd,
and is even obliged to hire himself out for a time in the Nile valley as an agricultural or other
labourer. But when his Desert valleys are once more verdant he is sure to return again to his
A BEDAWV TENT.
beloved fatherland. The value of the plants of the Desert as nutriment is certainly small, and
accordingly the catde of the Ababdeh, like the people themselves, are lean and hungry,
notwithstanding that they browse continually the whole day and the night too. In making a
journey with an Ababdeh camel one would require to take into consideration the delay caused
by its almost constant eating. The water caravans from Koseyr to a well ten leagues distant
require about thirty hours, those of the Ababdeh from two to three days. The Ababdeh
camels pass no bush without stripping it, and they are not disturbed in doing so, since they get
nothing else to eat, while the camels of the fellahin in journeying through the Desert, besides
being allowed a little pasture, are always fed at camping time with straw and the nourishing
beans. The Abady at most scatters before bis camels a sackful of dry zilla stems, which he has
L
74
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
collected in the course of the day on the route. The camels of the Ababdeh are, therefore,
always lean, and not adapted for carrying heavy loads, but for the same reason they are excellent
and celebrated runners. A good running camel over which it is the custom to hang a splendid
sheepskin as housings, and a double saddle-bag with long tassels, performs a journey of forty
leagues in twenty to thirty hours, including the necessary stoppages. All the Ababdeh are
excellent dromedary riders.
" The Ababdeh derive their livelihood from converting the
products of their country into money, as well as from stock-
rearing ; in particular they supply excellent fuel in the shape of
timber, brushwood, camels' dung, and excellent charcoal made by
themselves from acacia wood : they are therefore also charcoal-
burners. They also collect fodder plants and medicinal herbs,
such as senna-leaves, colocynth, a kind of wormwood, and gum arable on the
acacias so common in the Desert. Others support themselves by carrying water on camels or
asses. In Koseyr, for every camel-load of water, which consists of six goatskins, and which,
as already mentioned, occupies them three days, they receive, according to the market price,
which varies with circumstances, from one shilling and sixpence to six shillings.
" The people dwelling on the Nile are now
more frequently employed than the Ababdeh as
camel-drivers in large caravans, but according
to the accounts of travellers the Ababdeh seem
formerly to have mainly conducted the traffic.
Some live close to the caravan route, and,
besides keeping stock, earn something from the
services of various kinds which they render to
caravans passing by or camping near — fetching
water, branches, and wood, watering the camels,
loading and unloading, &c. For these services
they receive from the camel-drivers a few handfuls
of corn and durah. They are also placed here
as road-watchers, and are said to receive payment
for this duty from their chief, but they do not
appear to get much. If there is a cessation of
the traffic (which consists on their roads chiefly in
the export of corn from Egypt) even the road-
guards break up their huts and remove somewhere
else. A few Ababdeh are attached as dromedary-
riders to the stations of the carpenters who have to keep the Desert telegraphs in repair.
For these carpenters the Government has already erected stone dwellings of a somewhat more
A UEDAWY.
THE COUNTRYFOLK.
75
solid character. Lastly, many live as camel-dnvers in the service of others as masters, or
they accompany through the Desert herds of cattle bought up by merchants, or are fishermen
and shell-gatherers by profession. A considerable number, as already mentioned, have settled
in the Nile valley and practise agriculture. There also they prefer to stick to each other,
building villages for themselves, and not mixing readily with the fellahin.
" Their trade with the settled country is carried on by money, but among themselves more
by barter ; the women in the interior accordingly scarcely know the value of money, and when
one wishes anything from them, such as wood or milk, they do not give it though offered a
great deal of money, but readily give it for a piece of bread, some corn, or a piece of cloth." *
Dr. Klunzinger, from whom the preceding graphic description of the Ababdeh is derived,
entertains the highest opinion of
this race in every respect. Their
forms are noble and beautiful; he
says, they are very intelligent
within the compass of their needs,
and their character is shy and timid,
peaceable and honourable. Their
poverty, however, compels them
to eschew the finer virtues of the
Arab. Hatim Tayy, who would
even kill his horse rather than let
his guest or the stranger who had
cast himself upon his hospitality
go hungry, is an ideal character
almost incomprehensible to people
who are never rich, have never
known the delights of prodigality,
and who are almost always hungry.
A wayfarer who has lost his path,
a shipwrecked sailor who is cast upon their coast, will get cold comfort at the hands of the
Ababdeh, unless he has money or can offer reasonable security. In his fine sense of honour
and hospitality the Arab of old had the superiority; but since he has learned the meanness
and greed of Europeans it may be doubted whether much of his pristine virtue remains.
The Ababdeh are Muslims of a lax sort, practise the rites of Islam, and speak a mixed
Arabic tongue, about which they maintain a peculiar secrecy. As a rule they are monogamous,
solely on the ground of expense, however, for the marriage vow is less strictly observed among
them than among the fellahin. They have their own special ceremonies of marriage and the
like, and they pile stones over the graves of their dead after the manner of the cairns of our
* C. B. Klunzinger : " Upper Egypt," pages 257—62, &c.
L 2
DROMEDARY SADDLE.
76
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
Celtic ancestors. In many ways they are the most curious people in Egypt. Dr. Klunzinger
estimates their numbers at about thirty thousand. They are ruled by a hereditary chief, who
A CONTROVERSY.
nominates, controls, and deposes subordinate sheykhs for the principal districts, and although
nominally a vassal of the Khedive, pays no tribute, but, on the contrary, receives a sort of
78
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
subsidy derived from a portion of the road dues levied on the caravans which pass through
the Ababdeh country. The chief and his lieutenants and the elders of the tribe settle all
internal disputes, and the Egyptian Government has nothing to do with the clansmen : it
neither taxes them nor forces them into its army. The chief is, however, personally
responsible for the safe conduct of travellers by the caravan routes which traverse his country ;
he provides camels and guides, and, living himself in the Nile valley, is held a hostage for
the security of the Desert roads. Mohammad 'Aly introduced this system of hostages
among the Bedawis, and the result of this wise precaution has been " profound peace
and absolute security in these inhospitable tracts. Before his time these and all other
Bedawis were much-dreaded robbers ; they made inroads from time to time into the cultivated
territories, and the merchants and pilgrims (as late even as the time of Burckhardt) only
ventured to pass through the Desert when armed and collected in large caravans. All this is
now quite different, and now even articles that have been lost may be recovered on giving
intimation to an Ababdeh sheykh." *
* Klunzinger : " Upper Egypt," page 255.
A TOMB IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF CAIRO.
CHAPTER III.
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
'THHE educational system of Egypt is certainly not open to the charge of being over-
-■- elaborate. Although the Prophet Mohammad entertained a high opinion of the merits
of wisdom, and said, " Whoso pursueth the road of knowledge, God will direct him to the road
of Paradise ; and verily the angels spread out their arms to welcome the searcher after wisdom,
and all things in Heaven and Earth ask grace for him: for the pre-eminence of a learned man
over. a mere worshipper is as the full moon above the stars;" and although the Prophet's
followers are noted for their veneration for wise men, it cannot be said that they often attain
wisdom themselves. Many of them, indeed, show a praiseworthy zeal in the pursuit of the
crabbed scholastic theology and hermeneutics of the Azhar University, but outside religious lore
their minds are ill-stored with learning or even common information. They are nimble-witted
enough when the various interpretations of a problematical passage in the Korin is under dis-
cussion, but of science, general literature, foreign languages, philosophy proper, and history,
8o
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
they are for the most part absolutely ignorant. The education of the intellect Is, indeed, the
last thing a parent considers in bringing up his child. To teach him the articles of faith and
train him in polite behaviour are the first
objects of the Egyptian father. In the
latter respect there is nothing to find fault
with. The Egyptian child is generally a
thorough gentleman. His long seclusion
in the harim, where he becomes accustomed
to behave himself courteously among women,
gives him a singular grace and self-posses-
sion. The awe in which the head of the
house is held by the women breeds a fine
sense of respect in the son. " God's pleasure
is in a father's pleasure," said Mohammad
the Prophet, "and God's displeasure is a
father's displeasure." On this dictum the
children of the East model their behaviour
towards their father. The little son stands
respectfully in the father's presence, kisses
his hand, and will on no account sit down
unless invited to do so by his parent. A
grown-up son will not smoke or lounge in
his father's sight, and I have seen sons of
thirty or forty attentively waiting on their
father while he dines, and absolutely re-
fusing to eat anything until he has finished.
The careful inculcation of respect to parents
and elders produces the happiest results in
the outward bearing of Mohammadans.
Nothing more greatly surprises the Euro-
pean traveller than the polite and gentle-
manlike manners of Egyptians of all classes.
They always do the right thing in the
most courteous, graceful, and self-possessed
manner, and intentional rudeness to an
older man or a superior in rank is almost
unknown among Cairenes. An undutiful child is the rarest of beings. But beyond manners
and the bare formulas of religion, the father teaches the son nothing— for the excellent reason
that he seldom knows anything himself What the child is taught, by father and schoolmaster,
LARGE MOSQUE WINDOW.
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
8i
is little more than how to say his prayers (which he seldom begins to say till he is grown up),
how to perform the ablutions preparatory to prayer, to recite the Korin, and to read. The
very first thing that happens to the luck-
less infant is a man's shoutinsf in his ear
the addn, or call to prayer : " God is most
great ! God is most great ! God is most
great ! God is most great ! I testify that
there is no god but God ! I testify
that there is no god but God ! I testify
that Mohammad is God's apostle ! I
testify that Mohammad is God's apostle !
Come to prayer ! Come to prayer ! Come
to security! Come to security! God is
most great ! God is most great ! There
is no god but God!" Soo\i after which
performance, to harden the child against
the fear of noise, a woman clashes a brass
mortar and pestle close to his ear, and he
is then put into a sieve and thoroughly
shaken up.
The religious education, thus begun,
is continued as soon as the child begins to
speak by his father's teaching him to say
the kelinieh, or credo : " There is no god
but God ; Mohammad is the apostle of
God." To which he adds, " Wherefore
exalted be God, the King, the Truth!
There is no god but He, the Lord of the
glorious Throne ; " and proceeds to learn
certain favourite verses of the KorAn.
When the boy is five or six years old he
is sent to the public school. An institution
of this kind is attached to almost every
mosque and drinking fountain in Cairo and
the country towns. (The school attached
to the mosque of Sultan Hasan is shown in
the steel engraving opposite page 87.) It consists of a single room, where the pupils, who are not
too numerous to form one class, squat in rows before the schoolmaster, and are duly provided, for
a very trifling payment, with what passes for a polite education in Egypt. This consists, first, in
M
ENTRANCE TO THE TOMB-MOSQUE OF KAIT-BEY.
82
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
learning the alphabet, which the master writes out in bold characters on a small white board,
which the pupil holds in his hands. Next, reading is taught by easy stages, but very often this
accomplishment is never properly acquired, and the pupil passes on to learning the Kordn, or
part of the Korin, by heart. To be able to recite certain portions of the Koran is essential to
the due performance of the rites of religion ; whereas most people can get on in Egypt very
well without being very proficient in reading. Hence the learning of the Koran is the chief
business of the school, and reading
is directed mainly to that end. The
pupil is given a chapter of the
sacred book, opened out on a little
desk made of palm-sticks, and pro-
ceeds to commit it to memory by
chanting it aloud in a sing-song
fashion, swinging the body to and
fro to the rhythm of the verses. It
is not difficult to ascertain when, a
school is at work : the babel of
confused noise which proceeds from
the simultaneous chantino- of dif-
ferent portions of the Korin by the
various scholars is audible at some
distance.
This is all that the boy gene-
rally learns at school. Indeed, the
schoolmaster could not teach him
much more. The worthy man knows
his Koran, and can instil it, with
the help of a stout cane, into his
pupils' skulls ; but he is thoroughly
illiterate, and sometimes cannot
even read, and has to get a pupil-
teacher to write the alphabets and
copies, on the pretence of having
himself weak eyes. Writing is not usually taught at a school, and the lower classes do not
feel any urgent necessity for this accomplishment. Public writers are always to be had
if a letter has to be indited on rare occasions. Arithmetic and anything beyond " the
three R's" must be acquired from other masters. If the pupil wishes to attain the summit of
Egyptian learning he must attend the classes of the collegiate mosque called the Azhar. In
theory this is an admirable institution. It is a mosque in which the great open court is
AN ALEXANDRIAN MINARET.
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
83
surrounded by covered porticoes, each of which is divided into various compartments called
riwdks, reserved for the separate use of students of different nations : one partition, for instance,
is appropriated to students from Morocco, another to Mekkans, a third to Syrians, a fourth
to Turks, and so on. Eager young men travel hither from the farthest quarters of the
Mohammadan world — from West Africa, from India, from the Malay Peninsula — to be
instructed in the refinements of theology, grammar, prosody, rhetoric, Korin exegesis, the
sacred Traditions, jurisprudence,
and whatsoever else appertains to
the Mohammadan scholastic system.
Learned professors expound these
sciences, according to the methods
of the four orthodox sects of Islam,
to enthusiastic knots of students,
who sit on the ground before them
in a semicircle, just like the little
scholars in the elementary school,
and sway to and fro as they commit
to memory some important state-
ment or some cardinal example of
prosody, exactly as before they
swayed when they chanted the
Koran to their irascible old school-
master. But if the fees for the
schoolmaster were insignificant, the
training at the Azhar is purely
gratuitous. The most learned men
in Egypt, and indeed in the coun-
tries round about, come hither to
teach the results of their study with-
out reward. The students receive
daily allowances of food, provided
by the endowments of the riwdk to
which they are attached — the bequests of pious folk who wished to pave their own road to
Paradise ; and being very poor, these earnest followers on the path of wisdom eke out a scanty
livelihood by taking private pupils and copying manuscripts. By the same methods, and by
reciting the Koran at festivals, the professors who devote their lives to teaching at the Azhar
manage to keep themselves alive. After some years of teaching they often become kadis,
muftis, imims, or schoolmasters ; but some remain all their lives at the Azhar, and attain the
coveted honour of being enrolled among the " Ulama," or "wise men," of the university,
M 2
A MODERN MINARET, CAIRO.
84
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
The Azhar is indeed the university of Islam. Its influence is felt wherever the
Mohammadan religion reaches, and its disciples are collected from all parts of the Muslim
world. In it we see something of the ancient zeal
and pure search after wisdom which distinguished
the universities of Europe in the great twelfth
century, when they produced scholars, not country
gentlemen, and prepared men for a laborious life
of study, not for Lord's and Mortlake. The
constitution of the Azhar University is ideally
perfect. The poorest youth who comes to it will
be immediately welcomed, and will be taught all
that the professors know — which is synonymous
with all Muslim learninof. He will receive the
highest education that a Muslim can receive, by
Muslim methods, without being called upon to pay
a single piastre. When we stand in the midst of
the crowds of students, of whom ten thousand
throng the Azhar every year, we cannot but
feel shame at the contrast in aim between the
Mohammadan university and our own Oxford and
Cambridge, and marvel that with all our boasted
progress we are still so far behind a despised and
alien race that we have not yet discovered that
education is the natural right of every citizen, and
that the State should provide that education with-
out money and without price to every one of its
members. Instead of college dues, university
dues, battels, servants' fees, lecturers' fees, pro-
fessors' fees, examination fees, degree fees, the
undergraduates of the Azhar are partly supplied
with food, are taught for nothing, and receive a
license on the strength of their proficiency as
teachers and students. Instead of wine-parties
and " bump suppers," they meet together over a
crust of bread and a water bottle to debate
questions of grammar and Koranic criticism, and
their headaches come from thought and not from punch. Instead of pinching their parents to
meet their tailor's bills and the subscriptions to the boat club, cricket club, and all the other
clubs, the Azhar undergraduates earn their frugal living themselves. Any comparison between
THE MOSQUE OF 'AMR: "THE EYE OE THE
NEEDLE."
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
85
the two is wholly in favour of the Cairo University as far as the principle is concerned ; and the
unhappy fact that the subjects taught in the Azhar are perhaps even less profitable in after
life than the art of turning hexameters and sapphics does not detract from the beauty of
the system. The Azhar training is undoubtedly mistaken and obsolete. The grammar and
rhetoric and casuistry belong to the age of the schoolmen, and are of little practical use to
the learners, except perhaps as mental discipline. Moreover, the tendency of these studies is
inevitably towards fanaticism. The Ulama and professors of the Azhar are as a rule the most
bigoted of their race, and at times it would be almost impossible for a Christian to set foot
within the building without danger of insult and even personal injury. Just at present a
EXTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF 'AMR, AT "OLD CAIRO.'
British garrison has instilled more tolerant views, but without this reserve of force no European
could have ventured within the Azhar this year.
It has been shown that the education of the Egyptians is almost wholly religious.
Whatever teaching there is of science, history, languages, or anything unconnected with the
Korcln, is the work of Europeans, or the few schools founded on European models. These are
doing a good though very slow and gradual office ; but the orthodox Egyptian naturally abhors
institutions that smack of the Frank and infidelity. The ordinary Egyptian learns, as we have
seen, little beyond his Koran and prayers, and the other duties of his religion. What that
religion is it now becomes needful to explain. It is called Islam, or " resignation," " self-
surrender," and was first promulgated by Mohammad in the beginning of the seventh century
of our era. So rapid was its spread, that in less than a century it was acknowledged from the
Atlantic to the Caspian. It is a development of the Jewish religion, modified to suit the character
of the Arabs, and mixed with not a few superstitions and rites belonging to Arabia. The
86
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
source of our knowledge of this religion must ever be the Koran— the strange and complex
record of Mohammad's impassioned rhapsodies, studied harangues, legal decisions, ordinances of
ritual, and other heterogeneous matters.* It is a mistake, however, to imagine, that the KorAn
contains a formulated dogmatic system or a code of laws : the proportion of definite precepts
and ordinances in it is curiously small, and the major part of the book is composed of
passionate appeals to the people to leave their idols and turn to the living God ; of vivid
pictures of the horrible end of those who refuse to believe, and the glorious future of the
THE MOSQUE OF 'AMR: EAST ARCADES.
faithful in God's Paradise ; of analogies drawn from the works of nature, from the stars and
the sun, the seasons and the resurrection of the earth in spring, from the thunder and the
deep sea — all used with the sole object of bringing home to the minds and imaginations of his
hearers the majesty and awfulness of the One God whom to serve and obey was the highest
happiness of man, and whose worship it was Mohammad's paramount and all-absorbing mission
to preach and enforce by prayers and threats, entreaties, arguments, and denunciations. This
worship of one God is Islam, Mohammadanism ; it is a form of pure theism, simple, austere,
exacting ; lofty in its conception of the relation of man to God, and noble in its doctrine of
* See S. Lane-Poole : " The Speeches and Table-Talk of the Prophet Mohammad." (Macmillan.)
I
I|i-g1i .ltjil|:i<'M-,tll<>ili|M-
m
m
Q
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE. 87
the duty of man to man. Over-rigid and formal it may be in practice ; it puts a prophet and
a book between man and his Maker ; it lacks the loving-kindness of Christianity : but in its
high, stern monotheism it is supremely grand.
Men trained in European ideas of religion have always found a difficulty in understanding
the fascination which the Muslim faith has for so many minds in the East " There is no god
but God, and Mohammad is his prophet." There is nothing in this, they say, to move the
heart. Yet this creed has stirred an enthusiasm that has never been surpassed. Islam has
had its martyrs, its self-tormentors, its recluses, who have renounced all that life offered and
have accepted death with a smile for the sake of the faith that was in them. It is idle to say
that the eternity of happiness will explain this. The truest martyrs of Islam as of Christianity
did not die to gain paradise. And if they did, the belief in the promises of the creed must
follow the hearty acceptance of the religion. Islam m.ust have possessed a power of seizing
men's belief before it could have inspired them with such a love of its paradise. Mohammad's
conception of God has, I think, been misunderstood, and its effects upon the people consequently
underestimated. The God of Isldm is commonly represented as a pitiless tyrant, who plays
with humanity as on a chess-board, and works out his game without regard to the sacrifice
of the pieces ; and there is a certain truth in the figure. There is more in Islam of the potter
who shapes the clay than of the father pitying his children. Mohammad conceived of God
as the Semitic mind has always preferred to think of him ; his God is the Almighty, the All-
knowing, the All-just. Irresistible power is the first attribute he thinks of; the Lord of the
Worlds, the Author of the Heavens and the Earth, who hath created Life and Death, in whose
hands is Dominion, who maketh the Dawn to appear and cause th the Night to cover the Day,
the Great All-powerful Lord of the glorious Throne ; the Thunder proclaimeth His perfection,
the whole earth is His handful, and the Heavens shall be folded together in His right hand.
And with the power he conceives the knowledge that directs it to right ends. God is the Wise,
the Just, the True, the Swift in reckoning, who knoweth every ant's weight of good and of ill
that each man hath done, and who suffereth not the reward of the faithful to perish. " God !
There is no God but He, the living, the steadfast! Slumber seizeth Him not, nor sleep.
Whatsoever is in the Heavens, and whatsoever is in the Earth, is His. Who is there that
shall plead with Him, save by His leave ? He knoweth what was before and what shall come
after, and they compass not aught of His knowledge but what He willeth. His Throne over-
spreadeth the Heavens and the Earth, and the keeping of both is no burden to Him ; and He
is the High, the Great." (The " T hr one- verse " : Koran ii. 256.)
But with this power there is also the gentleness that belongs only to great strength. God
is the Guardian over His servants, the Shelterer of the orphan, the Guider of the erring, the
Deliverer from every affliction; in His hand is Good, and He is the Generous Lord, the
Gracious, the Hearer, the Near-at-hand. Each Siirah of the Korin begins with the words,
" In the name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful," and Mohammad was never tired of
telling the people how God was Very -forgiving, that His love for man was more tender than
the mother-bird for her young.
88
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
IP- V i
1
s. iniiS
mi^ik^*^^ .'. .-...,:,. A.: ^:'j:^
The doctrine of one Supreme God, to whose will it is the duty of every man to surrender
himself, is the kernel of Islim, the truth for which Mohammad lived and suffered and triumphed.
But it was no new teaching, as he himself was constantly saying.
His was only the last of revelations. Many prophets — Abraham,
Moses, and Christ — had taught the same faith before ; but people
had hearkened little to their words. So Mohammad was sent,
not differing from them, a simple messenger, yet the last and
greatest of them, the "seal of prophecy," the "most excellent of
the creation of God." This is the second dogma of Islam:
"Mohammad is the apostle of God." It is well worthy of
notice that it is not said " Mohammad is the only apostle of
God." Islam is more tolerant in this matter than other religions.
Its prophet is not the sole commissioner of the Most High,
nor is his teaching the only true teaching the world has ever
received. Many other messengers had been sent by God to
guide men to the right, and these taught the same religion that
was in the mouth of the preacher of Islam. Hence Muslims
reverence Moses and Christ only next to Mohammad. All they
claim for their founder is that he was the last and best of the
messengers of the one God.* The Prophet said : " Whosoever
shall bear witness that there is one God: and that
Mohammad is His servant and messenger; and that
Jesus Christ is His servant and messenger, and that he
is the son of the handmaid of God, and that he is the
word of God, the word which was sent to Mary, and a
spirit from God ; and shall bear witness that there is
truth in Heaven and Hell, will enter into paradise what-
ever sins he may be charged with."f
Besides the doctrine of one God, and of Mohammad's
prophetic mission, the Muslim must believe in angels and
evil spirits, in paradise and hell, in the resurrection and
the judgment The practical duties of Islam are
peculiarly onerous : they consist chiefly in prayer, alms-
giving, fasting, and making the pilgrimage to Mekkeh.
The prayers of Muslims are elaborate performances;
they not only take time, but they require the worshipper
first to perform certain ablutions of the face, mouth, neck, arms, and feet, which are essential
to the due observance of prayer. Five times a day the adan or call to prayer (see page 8i)
* S. Lane-Poole : " Studies in a Mosque," pages 88—91. f " Mishkat El-Masablh," vol. i. page 11.
TRIFORIUM ARCHES IN^ THE
MOSQUE OF IBN-TOlUN.
DOOR OF FOUNTAIN IN THE COURT OF
IBN-TUlCn'S MOSQUE.
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
89
sounds from the minarets of the mosques ; and so many times should the worshipper wash
himself according to minutely ordained rules, and say certain no less minutely ordained formulas
of prayer. The rules are not to be found in the Koran, indeed, but Mohammadans profess to
find the needful instructions in the personal example of their prophet, duly noted and recorded
by his disciples. The prayers may
be said anywhere, and it is quite
usual to see a shopman with whom
you are bargaining, when the call to
prayer sounds, spread out his carpet
with the point of the pattern set
towards Mekkeh, and go through
the prescribed rites. On the other
hand, many say their prayers very
irregularly, or omit them altogether.
The best of prayers are those said
in the mosques. The general form
and appearance of these charac-
teristic buildings have often been
described, and it will only be neces-
sary here to recall the universal
arrangement of the open court, sur-
rounded by porticoes of columns, or
four large arched transepts, of which
the portico or transept on the east
side is the deepest and the most
elaborately decorated, and contains
the necessary pulpit and platform
for the performance of the Friday
service. It will be well, however,
to pause here a moment, and de-
scribe a few of the most important
mosques in Cairo. There are more
than three hundred mosques in the
city, to say nothing of chapels ; and
it is necessary to make a selection. The general type of mosques is, however, so uniform,
that when one has seen twenty it is easy to generalise from these to the rest ; and it is only in
the minor details of decoration and tombs that a large proportion of the three hundred mosques
show any salient differences. Many are, indeed, quite plain and undeserving of notice ; but
most of them possess some fragment of decoration— a variety of mosaic, or of tiles, or carving —
N
MINARET OF THE ilOSyUE OF IBX-TULUN.
90 SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
which is worth seeing ; and a visitor to Cairo may pass a whole winter in mosque-exploring
MINARET (OR MIBKHAREH) OF THE MOSQUE OF EL-HAKIM.
without seeing everything that is beautiful. The mosques of 'Amr (a.d. 643), of Ibn-Tulun
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE. 91
(a.d. 873), of El- Hakim (a.d. iooo), of Kalaun (a.d. 1287), Sultan Hasan (a.d. 1356), and
THE MOSQUE OF KALaOn IN THE sCk EN-NAHHAS1n, FROM THE SQUARE IN FRONT OF THE BEYT EL-KADY.
Kait-Bey (a.d. 1470), will, however, give an idea of the history of mosque architecture.
N 2
92
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
" The first mosque built in Egypt was erected, soon after the Mohammadan conquest of
the country, by the Conqueror himself, 'Amr ibn el-As, at his new capital, the city of Fustat,
and it still bears his name. It is sometimes alluded to by old writers as 'The Mosque of the
Conquest,' and is also known as ' The Crown of the Mosques.' The foundation of this
mosque was laid in the twenty-first year of the Hijreh, corresponding with a.d. 643. According
to early Arab historians it was a very simple structure originally, but was enlarged and enriched
with the spoils of churches and temples by succeeding
rulers of Egypt, and attained its present magnificent
dimensions apparently in the tenth century of our era.
Since that period it has been restored again and again,
having suffered from war, fire, and earthquake. Salah-
ed-dtn (Saladin), in the twelfth century, greatly em-
bellished it, and it may be said of him, with regard to
this building, that where he found stone and wood he
left marble. Although in ruins now, it is still one of the
most interesting buildings of Mohammadan origin. It
stands to the eastward of the present Masr el-'Atlkah
(called by Europeans Old Cairo), on the confines of the
mounds of rubbish, the charred and calcined remains of
that part of the ancient city of Fustat which was destroyed
by the Mohammadans by order of Shawir, the Wezir of
the last of the Fatimy Khalifs, in a.d. 1168, to prevent
its falling a prey to the Crusaders under Amaury, King
of Jerusalem, who had already destroyed the town of
Bilbeys, in the Delta, and were then marching towards
Fustat. The plan of this mosque in its present state
is very simple, and is in accordance with the typical
rectangular form, founded on the sacred enclosure at
Mekkeh. It is three hundred and thirty-nine feet wide,
and three hundred and ninety feet long. The exterior
gives no indication whatever of the grandeur of the
interior. There is nothing to be seen outside but the
long, high, grey brick walls rising amid the mounds of
rubbish, without windows or architectural adornment of any kind. Only two plain minarets
and a palm-tree tower above them. (See page 85.) There were formerly three gateways in
the western wall : two of these arc now blocked up. The one in use is close to the larger
minaret, not far from the south-west angle. Immediately on passing through it, the stranger
recognises with astonishment the vast extent and imposing character of the building, with its
lofty colonnades, its immense number of marble columns, and its spacious open court, in which
MINARET OF A TOMB-MOSQUE.
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
93
thousands of worshippers could easily assemble. In the centre of this court, which is called
the Fasha, there is an octagonal Hanaftyeh, or raised reservoir, shaded by a wooden roofing,
supported by eight marble columns. Round the edge of this reservoir jets are placed at
convenient distances apart, that the faithful may perform their ceremonial ablutions in running
water before beginning their prayers. A palm-tree and a thorn-tree, planted long ago, still
flourish near this fountain.
" On the west side there is an arcade formed of marble columns, with carved capitals,
supporting plain round arches. On the north side there were originally four rows of columns,
also supporting arches ; but these are nearly all destroyed, or have been removed to be used
in the construction of other buildings, the bases of the columns alone remaining to show where
the shafts once stood. The greater part of the southern colonnade, which was formed of
THE MOSQUE OF THE IMAM ESH-SHAFI'Y.
three rows of columns, is in the same state of decay. Fortunately the Liivdn, or Sanctuary, on
the eastern side of the court, is in a good state of preservation. Here there are six rows of
columns (see page 86), and also a row of columns, or pilasters, attached to the eastern wall ;
these support lofty arches, and thus form six arcades, above which there is a flat roof of
unconcealed rafters. These arches, which are quite plain, and, with a few exceptions, of a
circular form, are evidently modern. They spring from square piers built above the columns.
Old historians describe the roof as ' very low ; ' it was probably originally supported by columns
only. There are some examples of the pointed arch between the pilasters in the southern
wall, the dates of which are uncertain ; it is probable they are of the ninth century of our era.
The columns are formed of marble of many kinds, and are surmounted by richly carved
capitals of various orders of architecture. Classical and Byzantine. They have been appropriated
94
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
from Christian churches and more ancient temples for the adornment of this mosque. They
are not of uniform height, but this defect has generally been remedied by raising some of the
bases higher than others. Sometimes an inverted capital has been used to raise a column to
the required height, without any regard to its style, the size evidently being the only point
considered in its selection. The arches do not follow the direction of the walls, as in ordinary
cloisters, but form arcades from north to south, and unarched aisles from west to east. There
are cross-bars of wood between all the columns, just above the capitals. Each capital is
surmounted by an abacus of sycamore-wood, on which the beams rest. Thus all the columns
are linked together, and the bars serve for the suspension of lamps. According to the historian
El-Makrizy, this mosque was at one period lighted every night by eighteen thousand lamps,
and possessed twelve hundred and ninety copies of the
Koran.
" Near the north-east corner of the Sanctuary there is
a carefully protected cenotaph, which is said to cover the
remains of the celebrated general, 'Amr, the founder of the
mosque. Some, however, regard it as the tomb of his son,
Sheykh 'Abdallah.
" The Kibleli, or prayer niche, is in the middle of the
eastern wall, and near to it is a pulpit, in front of which there
is a grey marble column bearing the name of Mohammad.
This column is believed by Mohammadans to have been
transported miraculously from Mekkeh to Cairo, at the
request of 'Amr, when he was building the mosque. The
mark of the Prophet's whip, or kurbdj (a streak of white in
the grey marble), is shown as a proof of the miracle ! For
it is said that after he had twice commanded it in vain to
move, he struck it with his whip, shouting, ' I command thee,
in the name of Allah, O column, arise, and betake thyself to Misr!' (It is unfortunate for the
probability of this legend that Egypt was not conquered till after the Prophet's death !)
" On the western colonnade there were formerly many double columns, but only one pair
now remains (see page 84). These two columns are near the entrance, and are placed at a
distance of only eight or ten inches apart. Visitors are invited, as a test of faith or piety, to
endeavour to squeeze themselves between them. There is at Jerusalem, within the Haram
esh-Sherif, a similar ' narrow way ' — a curiously literal representation of the ' narrow way that
leadeth to eternal life.'
" No very recent attempts have been made to preserve or restore this building, and yet
there is a tradition to the effect that the downfall of this Mosque of 'Amr and of Moham-
madanism will be simultaneous. Probably this belief at one time had considerable Influence
in prompting its repeated restorations." *
FOUNTAIN IN COURT OF MOSQUE OF
SULTAN HASAN.
» E. T. Rogers and Miss Rcgers in The Art Journal for 1880, page 17.
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
95
THE MOSQUE OF SULTAN HASAN.
96 SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
Proceeding in chronological order, the next important mosque in Cairo is that of Ibn-
Tulun, built by that prince in a.d. 879, at a cost of ^72,000, on the eminence known as the
Kal'at-el-Kebsh, or " Fort of the Ram." This magnificent but grievously decayed building
was constructed of brick and stucco. The lofty pointed arches which surround the immense
court are bordered with exquisitely worked Kufy inscriptions and conventional foliage, and an
upper row of triforium windows of beautiful and varied designs are framed in an even more
delicate embroidery of arabesques (see page 88). It stands to the later Memluk mosques much
as Early English does to Perpendicular, and it presents the earliest examples in existence
of the pointed arch. Its curious minaret with external staircase, and the entrance to the
fountain in the centre of its fine court, are shown on pages 88 and 89. The university mosque
of El-Azhar stands next, historically, to that of Ibn-Tulun, but very little remains of the
original building of Jowhar, the conqueror of Egypt on behalf of the Fatimy Khalif El-Mo'izz
(a.d. 970), beyond some fine arcades with Kufy inscriptions in the eastern portico. The
Mosque of El-Hakim (built between a.ii. 380 and 393), the notorious mad Khalif, whose name
is associated with the strange doctrines of the Druses, and whose caprices and cruelties fill a
terrible chapter of Egyptian history, preserves much of its original form, though it was repaired
by Es-Salih Ayyub, grand-nephew of Saladin, about a.d. 1242, and has since suffered greatly
from earthquakes and neglect. Its splendid open court is strewn with fragments of columns,
and was used till lately as a rope-walk, a dyer's drying-ground, and a glass manufactory. The
original entrances are walled up, and visitors now enter through a cafe, a brewery, or a
glass factory, where beads and bracelets are made for sale in the Sudan. The fine arcade of
pointed and horseshoe arches on the west side is filled up and turned into workshops, over
which tower the peculiar mibkharehs, or minarets, shored up with pylonlike bases (see the
cut on page 90). The northern wall connects the two ancient city gates called the Bab en-Nasr
and the Bab el-Futuh, and during the French occupation was loopholed for muskets.
"The eastern arcades of the mosque were the most sacred part; they were deeper and
had more rows of arches ; and here was the pulpit, the niche or fiiihrdb that points to Mekkeh,
and the rest of the simple furniture of a Mohammadan place of worship. The sanctuary
(liwdii), or east-end, of the mosque of El-Hdkim has, however, long been disused, and the
Minister of Wakfs has allowed it to be set apart for the purposes of a Museum of Arab Art.
Whether it will be more than a temporary home for the collection is uncertain ; but it may be
urged that, so long as the building is spacious enough, there could be no more suitable place
wherein to store the treasures of Arab Art than this earliest mosque of El-Kahirah, built by
the son and the grandson of the Fdtimy Khalif who conquered Egypt in the middle of the
tenth century, and founded those twin magnificent palaces which in time developed into the
modern city of Cairo.
" Entering a vestibule where native workmen are engaged in cleaning and restoring some
of the inlaid woodwork with considerable skill but doubtful advantage, and passing through a
wooden partition, we find ourselves in the principal colonnade of the sanctuary, the avenue that
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
97
leads up through a succession of arches to the mihrdb, or niche, which, with the pulpit on its
south side, still stands exactly where they stood in the days when the mad khalif assumed to
SIXTEENTH CENTURY TOMB-MOSQUE IN THE SOUTHERN CEMETERY.
himself the divine honours which his subjects acknowledged on the very pavement we now
stand upon. Neither the niche nor the pulpit are remarkable as specimens of Arab Art, but
the noble K6fy inscription which runs round the building above the arches and close to the
o
98
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
plain palm-beam roof is a magnificent example of that most characteristic of Muslim arts,
calligraphy. Scattered among the arches of the sanctuary, placed on temporary unvarnished
deal tables, set up against walls and columns, or protected in the two glass cases — the pride and
glory of the Museum — objects of beauty and interest delight us at every step. Many of them
must have lain concealed in the store-chambers of mosques for years past, others have been
rescued from the restorer's hands. The very first things that meet the eye arc, perhaps, the
most exquisite specimens in the whole collection. They consist of a series of those low tables,
called kiu'sy, upon which, after placing
a large round metal tray on the top, the
]>.Iohammadan eats his meals. These
little tables are ordinarily made of
common wood, covered with inlaid
squares and triangles of mother-of-pearl
and ebony and coloured woods, arranged
in geometrical patterns. They may be
seen in process of manufacture in the
street leading from the Ghuriyeh to the
Azhar, and cost about thirty francs.
These are the commonest sort. A
better kind used formerly to be made,
especially in Syria, with stalactite cor-
bels supporting the top of the table,
medallions of carved mother-of-pearl
between open panels, and with carving
on every piece of the thousand squares
of mother-of-pearl that, alternating with
ebony, formed the surface of the table.
The Arab Museum does not at present
possess an example of this kind, but
it has others which are probably unique.
Two of the tables, of which engravings
are shown on pages 34 and 35, are
unlike any that one meets with even in the most superbly furnished houses. The first is a
sbc-sided kursy, made of silver and brass open filigree work of exceedingly beautiful design
and extraordinary delicacy, resembling lace more than metal. The other is of very similar
workmanship, but heavier and with stronger lines ; a panel of it and the top are shown on
page 35. The panel, it will be noticed, has folding-doors, probably intended for the insertion
of a brazier, which would stand on the shelf inside. This knrsy is covered with Arabic
inscriptions, of a fair type of Naskhy or cursive Arabic. The inscription on the top bar of
ENAMELLED GLASS LAMP FROM MOSQUE OF SULTAN HASAN.
(Museum of Arab Art, Cairo.)
E.J I-OYHTER.Ic A-HUXT
F.JOUBERT, SCULPT
FEEBINTG- '^T're gACKEB IBIS
JE MALLS OF JKAJRIfAKo
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
99
INTERIOK OF THE TOMB-MOSQUE OF KAIT-BEY.
O 2
lOO
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
the panel reads, 'Glory to our lord the Sultin EI-Melik En-Ndsir Nasir ed-dunya wa-d-din
Mohammad, son of the Sultan El-Melik El-MansOr Esh-Shahid Kalaun Es-Salihy ! God
increase his triumphs ! ' We read the same in-
scription on the bars above and below the doors,
but in these cases the name of the prince,
Mohammad, is enclosed in a silver circle. The
large Arabic letters in the two panels above and
below the doors contain laudatory titles and
epithets of the same prince ; and the same may
be said of the inscription that runs round the top,
and is repeated in Kufy in the inner circle. The
medallions in the centres of the doors have the
words (right), 'Glory to our lord the Sultin;'
(left), 'El-Melik En-Nasir, Mohammad;' and
that in the panel above concludes the sentence,
'Son of El-Mansur Kalafin.' Kalaun was a
Memluk slave of Es-Salih, a grand-nephew of
Saladin, who governed Egypt at the time of
the Crusade of St. Louis, near the middle of
the thirteenth century. Kalaun himself came to
the throne soon after the death of Beybars, the
establisher of the power of the Memluk Sultans ;
and after reigning from 1279 — 1290, and build-
ing the famous Maristan or Mosque-hospital, and
his beautiful tomb-mosque (see page 91), left
the kingdom to his sons, of whom El-Melik En-
Nasir Mohammad, during whose reign this table
was made, ruled Egypt, and Syria, with several
intermissions, from 1293 to 1341. His mosque,
next to the Maristan, and his other and more
interesting mosque on the Citadel, to say nothing
of many other monuments, attest his wealth and,
better still, his taste."*
What is commonly said to be the " grandest
and most magnificent specimen of Mohammadan
architecture in Cairo is the mosque of Sultan
Hasan, situated near the citadel. This mosque was built by El-Melik en-N4sir, Abu-1-Ma'aly-
Hasan ibn Mohammad ibn Kalaun, who began it in a.h. 751 =a.d. 1356, and during the three
* S. Lane-Poole, in The Art Journal, 1883.
THE MINARET OF KAIT-BEY IN THE EASTERN
CEMETERY.
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE,
lOI
years occupied in its construction is said to have spent twenty thousand dirhems per day, or
one thousand dinars of gold, equal to about six hundred pounds sterling. El-Makrizy, who
wrote his famous 'History of Cairo' before the middle of the ninth century, or less than a
hundred years after the death of the Sultan Hasan, says that ' this mosque surpassed all the
mosques ever built in any part of the Mohammadan Empire.' The span of one of the arches
(about seventy English feet) is, he says, ' five cubits wider than that of Chosroes at Madain in
Irak.' Its great marble-paved central quadrangle, surrounded by lofty walls, is one hundred
and fourteen by one hundred and five feet
square, and roofed only by the sky. It has on
each side a spacious arched recess, in which
hundreds of lamp-chains are suspended, and
hundreds of devotees find rest and shelter
daily. The great arch referred to by El-
Makrizy spans the recess on the south-eastern
side, which is much larger than the others,
being ninety feet deep and ninety feet high.
This is the Liwan, or Sanctuary, where, as in
all other mosques, the prayer niche and the
reader's platform are placed : the raised dais
is strewn with prayer-carpets. At the level
of the spring of the great arch, and continued
round the three sides of the recess, there is a
broad frieze, consisting of a chapter of the
Koran in bold Ktify characters, carved in
stone on an ornamental field of elaborate
scroll-work, very beautifully executed.
" To the right of the prayer niche in the
Sanctuary there is a door which leads to the
shrine of the Sultan Hasan, the founder of
the mosque. It is a ruinous, but majestic
structure, crowned with a dome one hundred
and eighty feet in height. The inner doors communicating with this apartment are covered
with bronze plates, bordered and intersected by an interlacing band of solid bronze, the whole
engraved and inlaid with fine lines of gold and silver of the most exquisite designs. Some
years ago a ruthless dealer in antiquities brought to Mr. E. T. Rogers a dozen bronze plaques
as a specimen of a hundred or more that he said were for sale. Mr. Rogers fortunately
recognised them immediately, although the dealer declared that they came from Upper Egypt.
He secured them, and they are now readjusted in their original position, though not without
much deterioration and the loss of many small pieces. In the chamber of the tomb there is an
DOME OF THE TOMB-MOSQUE OF KAIT-BEY.
I02
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
inscription carved in wood, giving the date of the edifice. The outer walls of this stately
mosque are nearly a hundred feet in height, and they are capped by a cornice thirteen feet
hio'h, projecting six feet, formed of stalactite, or pendentive ornament, which has ever since
been a marked feature in Arabian architecture. The arches of the doorways and of the
numerous windows, and even the capitals of the columns built into the external angles of the
walls, are similarly enriched. The great
doorway in the northern side is situated in a
recess sixty-six feet in height. The design
of the columns supporting the arch is very
peculiar : the base is square, and as it ascends
in opposing triangular facets, it assumes an
octagonal form, from which rises the cylindrical
column. The minaret is also gracefully con-
verted from a square at its base to an octagon
in its upper part. It is the highest minaret
in existence, measuring two hundred and
eighty feet. (A companion minaret felt with
disastrous loss of life ; and a third, but smaller
minaret, stands at the north angle.) Mr.
Seymour's little sketch (see page 48), which
was taken from the south-west, shows how
this splendid mosque towers above all the
surrounding buildings."*
It is, however, more by its size than by
the beauty of its decoration that the mosque
of Sultan Hasan has assumed the first place
amonof the buildings of Cairo. Its outside
walls are plain and ugly, its dome squat, and
its huge minaret ill-proportioned ; whilst the
internal ornamentation is meagre and coarse.
To our mind the mosques of Ka'it-Bey, — that
near Ibn-Tuliin, and the tomb-mosque in the
eastern cemetery, — are far more beautiful.
In them we see arabesque decoration in its
prime. Kait-Bey was the royal builder of Cairo, par excellence. In all parts of the city one
meets with his well-known medallion — the circle inscribed on the wall, with his name and
titles and a benediction, arranged about a broad fess. From the fine wekileh, near the Gate
of Victory on the north, to the Gate of Sitteh Nefiseh on the south, noble buildings of all
» E. T. Rogers and Miss Rogers, in The Art Journal, 1880, pages 77—79.
PANELLED DOOR FROM INTERIOR OF A MOSQUE.
(Museum of Arab Art, Cairo.)
W
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
103
descriptions testify to the munificence and artistic taste of this Memluk Sultan of the fourteenth
century. Foremost among his secular edifices stands the great wekaleh near the Azhar, the
whole front of which is covered with
delicate arabesque tracery (see a spe-
cimen on page 7). But K ait- Bey's
chefs-d'ceuvre are his two mosques, of
which it is difficult to say which is the
more perfect. The outward appear-
ance of his tomb-mosque in the eastern
cemetery is, perhaps, unrivalled among
the monuments of Arab art in Egypt.
The geometrical tracery over a leafy
pattern upon the exquisite fawn-
coloured dome, and the graceful bal-
conied minaret, one hundred and sixty-
four feet high, have ever excited the
enthusiasm of travellers. Views of
the dome, minaret, entrance, and the
interior (eastern arch with pulpit and
niche), are given on pages 100 and 10 1,
together with a window of horseshoe
arches (page 105), resting on marble
columns belonging to the adjacent
school. The interior is comparatively
plain, and in this respect Kait- Bey's
other mosque, in the neighbourhood of
Ibn-Tulun, undoubtedly bears away
the palm, whilst in outer appearance
it stands but little inferior to its sister
in the eastern cemetery. " The dome
is decorated with an intricate tracery
of strap-work ; stars of eight points,
deeply cut at regular intervals, evidently
form the foundation of the design.
The minaret, with its balconies rising
one above the other, is especially
elegant. It is square at the base, and
is converted into an octagon, simply by cutting away the corners. On four sides of his
octagon there are trefoil arched doorways, with boldly projecting brackets, supported on twin
MIHRAB OR NICHE FROM MOSQUE OF SITTEH NEFISEH.
(Museum of Arab Art, Cairo.)
I04
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
brackets. Above the first continuous balcony the minaret is cylindrical, and its surface is
decorated with a design resembling that on the dome. Above the next balcony the minaret is
encircled by pilasters, supporting the brackets
of the highest balcony."* Many of the
Memluk tomb-mosques, which rise among
the simple head and foot stones of the
humbler white graves (see page io6), follow
the style of K ait- Bey's mosques, ihough
others exhibit the less graceful zigzag or
ribbed domes, which are seen in the illustra-
tion on page 97. The dome of the Imam
Shdfi'y's mosque (see page 93) is of lead,
but the interior is beautifully decorated.
There is a magnificent frieze of wood-carving
beneath the spring of the dome, which
probably dates back to Ayyuby times ; and
the interior of the dome itself, with bold
corner stalactites and rich colouring, is as
fine as anything in Cairo. Inscriptions in-
side record the restoration of the decorations
by both Kait-Bey and El-Ghury, but the
general design and much of the ornament
certainly belong to the thirteenth century. t
Chief among the points for ornamenta-
tion in the mosques of Cairo are the eastern
niche, or chancel, the doors, windows, and
lamps; sometimes the walls are decorated, and occasionally the pavement. The last is
generally of plain white stone, but sometimes, by accident rather than of design, carved marble
slabs are let into the paving ; as
in the mosque of Suyurghatmish,
where the beautiful slabs in the
entrance and the open court were
assuredly not originally designed for
people's feet. The walls, again, are
commonly the least cared-for parts
of the mosque ; a coat of whitewash answers most purposes, except those of art, and with
whitewash the worshippers are content. But the Itwdn, or eastern recess (corresponding to
NICHE OF A MOSQUE.
GEOMETRICAL KUFY INSCRIPTION.
* E. T. Rogers and Miss Rogers in The Art Journal, 1880, page 80.
f See an account of a visit to the mosque contributed by S. Lane-Poole to The Athenaum, March 31st, 1S83.
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
105
the chancel of our churches), is generally decorated with a dado of marble mosaic, and is
sometimes faced with blue and white tiles on the principal wall. These marbles and tiles are
often exceedingly beautiful. The mosaics are of fine design and workmanship ; but time and
neglect have left few perfect specimens, and in many of the mosques their fragments strew
the floor or have partially disappeared. The tomb-mosque of Kalaiin, however, among others,
preserves its admirable decorations. The finest example of a tiled liwdn is in the mosque of
Aksunkur, restored by Ibrahim
Agha, where the whole eastern wall
is one expanse of blue and white
tiles with here and there a touch of
Rhodian red. Some of the tiles
unite to form a large design of
trees, especially cypresses, with re-
presentations of swinging lamps
between them ; others are of the
branching leaf pattern ; but uni-
formity, or even harmony, is the
last thing that enters the mind of
the mosque restorer. He finds the
tiles, some in their places, some
fallen, some vanished, and he re-
places and adds to them with a
single-minded view of filling up the
space. Border tiles are stuck up-
right side by side, and a so-called
Rhodian piece is introduced in thfe
very middle of an arrangement in
blue. The niche, or mihrdb, which
indicates the direction of Mekkeh,
towards which the worshipper must
pray, is generally adorned with
beautiful mosaics of marble and
mother-of-pearl, and with sculptured miniature arcades in high relief Sometimes, however,
the niche is of carved wood, as in the case of the mihrab from the mosque of Sitteh Nefiseh,
now in the Museum of Arab Art, an engraving of which is shown on page 103.
Very exquisite work is bestowed upon the doors of the mosques. No one who has been
to Cairo has failed to be struck with the magnificent bronze-plated doors of Sultan Hasan (see
page 1 01) and other mosques, though the neglect and depredations that have aided the ruin
of Arab Art monuments have deprived these splendid gates of much of their perfection ; the
ARCHED WINDOW OF THE SCHOOL ATTACHED TO THE MOSQUE
OF KAIT-BEY.
io6
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT,
bronze plates are often partially torn off, beautifully-worked hinges are gone, and dirt and
ill-usage have everywhere left their traces. There is another kind of door, made entirely of
wood, which is sometimes seen within the liwdn, or sanctuary, and is generally used to close
the chambers or cupboards where the mosque properties are kept. Sometimes these inner
doors are composed of large panels of plain wood, divided by other panels carved over with
arabesques and geometrical patterns. There is, moreover, a third and singularly beautiful
kind of door, in which the large panels are filled up with exquisite geometrical mosaics, formed
by small carved pieces of coloured wood, ivory, and ebony, producing a very rich effect (see
page 102).
A very beautiful style of wood-carving is also sometimes employed to adorn the tombs of
the mosque founders. The design resembles in many respects that of the door engraved
on page 102, the pattern being always geometrical, and the interstices richly carved. The
best specimen of a carved tomb in Cairo is that of
Es-Silih AyyClb, the grandnephew of Saladin, in his
ruined mosque in the Suk en-Nahhasin. A similar style
of carving is employed for the pulpit, the form of which
may be seen on page 99. A fine specimen of Kait-
Bey's pulpits is in the South Kensington Museum. The
■^,,^^^Mi~~— ----„,, .... pulpit in the tomb-mosque of Barkuk is of stone, carved
|ll|^*>(j#*il' 'JMHWi -"^ in exquisite geometrical patterns ; and that of Sultan
The mosque windows, or kmnartyehs, as they are
called in Arabic, are generally placed high up, and are
made of stucco, with little pieces of coloured glass inserted
so as to form a geometrical or floral pattern. They are
by no means of uniform merit, either in design or in the
quality of the glass. The latter never attains to the beauty of our old stained glass, but the
more ancient specimens show rich and subdued colours, which the later artists failed to
produce; and the general effect of the light coming through the little deep-toned panes is
singularly beautiful.
The lamps with which the larger mosques were formerly lighted are among the most
remarkable products of Arab Art. Sometimes they consist of large chandeliers, like that
engraved on page 108, which is of iron, with a central band of shining copper ; or like the fine
brass lamp from the mosque of El-Ghliry, the last of the Memluk Sultans, who died at the time
of the Turkish conquest of Egypt in 15 17, the bottom of which, inscribed with El-Ghilry's
name and titles on some of its bosses, is engraved on page 109. But the usual mosque-lamp
was of enamelled glass of various colours, and was about a foot high and nine inches in
diameter. These lamps have become exceedingly rare, and as much as ;^200 has been given
for a single specimen, A few fine ejjamples may be seen in the Slade Collection at the British
MOHAMMADAN GRAVES.
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
107
Museum and at South Kensington. Once, no doubt, they hung in every large mosque,
but now those which are open at night are lighted by diminutive and by no means artistic
oil-lamps of common glass, which certainly shed a dim, and no doubt a religious, light over the
worshippers. The mosque guardians probably discovered the value of the enamelled lamps,
and hid them away in safety, to be disposed of to European collectors. At any rate, they
disappeared from the mosques, and only in one mosque — of which I shall withhold the
name, lest some vandal should be seized with the desire for plunder — did I see any lamps
of the old pattern still hanging by their wires to the framework of wooden brackets which
are constructed round the interior of every mosque for the
purpose.
HE Commission for the Preservation of the Monuments of
Arab Art fortunately lighted upon some concealed hoards of
lamps, and ordered their removal to the Museum of El-Hikim,
where they now stand in glass cases, and are the joy of the
beholder. A few of them are plain and opaque, of a pale green
fl||j I or blue hue ; but the majority are of transparent glass, worked
;'' I over with enamel, forming arabesque and floral ornaments,
I recording the names and titles of the Sultan in whose mosque
they hung, together with a verse from the Korin in flowing
Naskhy Arabic characters. They came from about a dozen
mosques, but the larger number were derived from those of
Sultan Hasan and Bark(ik. As glass they are by no means
excellent, being, indeed, of bad colour and full of bubbles ; nor
is the shape beautiful. It is the design of the enamel which
gives these lamps their unique attraction. Sometimes the
enamel forms the ground, through which the transparent design
must have shone out with fine efiect when the light was inside ;
sometimes the pattern is In enamel, and the ground is of plain
glass. The outlines are generally in thin strokes of a dull red,
and the thicker lines and ornaments are in cobalt blue. Red
and blue, with touches of white and pale green, are the usual
colours. A beautiful coloured illustration of one of these lamps is given as a frontispiece to
Mr. Nesbitt's " Descriptive Catalogue of the Glass Vessels in the South Kensington Museum."
I was fortunate enough, when in Cairo this year, to obtain from the Khedive a loan of
four duplicates of the lamps in the Arab collection for exhibition in the South Kensington
Museum, where they are now to be seen. Three of them bear the name of Sultan Hasan,
and one the titles of Barktik, both Memldk Sultans of the latter part of the fourteenth
century. The specimen engraved on page 98 is one of these four lamps, and bears, besides
the name and titles of Sultan Hasan in the large central inscription and in the fesses of the six
HOUSES FOR VISITORS TO THE
CEMETERIES.
P 2
io8
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
medallions, an appropriate verse on the neck from the Kordn, chap, xxiv., " God is the Light
of the Heavens and the Earth : His Light is as a niche wherein is a lamp," etc. Six glass
loops served to attach the lamp to the wires by which it was suspended from a wooden
bracket*
A mosque is primarily a place of prayer, though it generally partakes of the character of
a school, a refuge, and a quiet, cool spot for repose in the heat of the day : it is never a place for
exhibiting dresses, for staring at neighbours, or
for extorting money. The mosque is free to all,
there are no pew-rents, no Easter offerings, no
collections. Nor is a mosque a place of priestly
processions, such as those which paced the solemn
halls of Karnak, where the sacred Ibis was
religiously tended (see Mr. Poynter's painting,
engraved opposite page 98). The Mohammadan
religion has no priests and no processions.
Prayers are the sole rites observed in the mosques,
except on Fridays, when a short sermon is added
to the service. It is a singular sight to watch
the groups of people at prayer, when the call
from the minaret has summoned them at the
appointed time from their various avocations.
Mohammadan prayers are certainly full of repe-
titions, and governed by minute laws of ritual, the
exact performance of which reflects no little credit
on the memory of the worshipper. The following
is the description of a Muslim's prayers, given by
Mr. Lane, in his " Manners and Customs of the
Modern Egyptians : " —
" The prayers, which are performed daily at
the five periods, are said to be of so many
' rek'ahs,' or inclinations of the head. The wor-
shipper, standing with his face towards the Kibleh
(that is, towards Mekkeh), and his feet not quite close together, says inaudibly that he has
purposed to recite the prayers of so many rek'ahs (sunneh or fard), the morning prayers (or
the noon, &c.) of the present day (or night) ; and then raising his open hands on each side of
his face, and touching the lobes of his ears with the ends of his thumbs, he says, ' God is
most Great !' (' Allahu Akbar.') This ejaculation is called the ' tekblr.' He then proceeds to
recite the prayers of the prescribed number of rek'ahs, thus : — Still standing, and placing his
IRON MOSQUE-LAMP IN THE MUSEUM OF ARAB
ART AT CAIRO.
• S. Lane-Poole, in Jht Art Journal, 1883.
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
109
hands before him, a little below his girdle, the left within the right, he recites (with his eyes
directed towards the spot where his head will touch the ground in prostration) the Fitihah, or
opening chapter of the Korin, and after it three or more other verses, or one of the short
chapters of the Koran ; very commonly the 112th chapter, but without repeating the bismillah
(in the name of God, &c.) before the second recitation. He then says, ' God is most Great ! '
and makes, at the same time, an inclination of his head and body, placing his hands upon his
knees, and separating his fingers a little. In this posture he says, ' I extol the perfection
of my Lord, the Great!' (three times), adding, 'May God hear him who praiseth Him. Our
Lord, praise be unto Thee ! ' Then, raising his head and body, he repeats, ' God is most
Great!' He next drops gently upon his knees, and, saying again, 'God is most Great!'
places his hands upon the
ground, a little before his knees,
and puts his nose and forehead
also to the ground (the former
first) between his two hands.
During this prostration he says,
' I extol the perfection of my
Lord, the Most High!' (three
times). He raises his head
and body (but his knees remain
upon the ground) sinks back-
wards upon his heels, and places
his hands upon his thighs, say-
ing at the same time, 'God is
most Great!' and this he re-
peats as he bends his head a
second time to the ground.
During this second prostration
he repeats the same words as
in the first, and in raising his
head again, he utters the tekblr as before. Thus are completed the prayers of one rek'ah.
In all the changes of posture, the toes of the right foot must not be moved from the spot
where^they were first placed, and the left foot should be moved as little as possible.
" Having finished the prayers of one rek'ah, the worshipper rises upon his feet (but
without moving the toes from the spot where they were, particularly those of the right foot)
and repeats the same ; only he should recite some other chapter, or portion, after the Fdtihah
than that which he repeated before, as for instance, the io8th chapter.
" After every second rek'ah (and after the last, though there be an odd number, as In the
evening fard), he does not immediately raise his knees from the ground, but bends his left foot
BASE OF BRONZE MOSQUE-LAMP IN THE MUSEUM OF ARAB ART
AT CAIRO.
no
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
under him, and sits upon it, and places his hands upon his thighs, with the fingers a Httle
apart. In this posture he says, ' Praises are to God, and prayers, and good works. Peace be
on thee, O Prophet, and the mercy of God and His blessings. Peace be on us and on (all)
the righteous worshippers of God.' Then raising the first finger of the right hand (but not the
hand itself), he adds, ' I testify that there is no deity but God, and I testify that Mohammad
is His servant and His Apostle.'
" After the last rek'ah of each of the prayers, after saying, ' Praises are to God,' &c.,
the worshipper, looking upon his right
shoulder, says, ' Peace be on you, and
the mercy of God!' Then, looking upon
the left, he repeats the same. These
salutations are considered by some as
addressed only to the guardian angels who
watch over the believer and note all his
actions, but others say that they are
addressed to both angels and men
Before the salutations in the last prayer
the worshipper may offer up any short
petition (in scriptural language rather than
his own), while he does so looking at the
palms of his two hands, which he holds
like an open book before him, and then
draws over his face from the forehead
downwards."
There are supererogatory acts of
prayers, like repeating the ninety-nine
" Most Beautiful Names " of God, which
the believer will occasionally perform ; but
the prayers above described are the
ordinary formulas. In spite of their com-
plication they scarcely occupy five minutes
in repetition; and, notwithstanding their
apparent lifelessness, they do not give the
impression of " vain repetitions," so devout
and absorbed is the bearing of the worshippers, so reverent their air. On Friday — the
Mohammadan Sabbath — special public pfayers are conducted by an Imim, or choragus, called
the " Khatib," who is in no sense a priest, or a member of any special class or caste, but merely
a schoolmaster or shopman of the neighbourhood, appointed by the mosque warden to read the
prayers and preach the sermon, for which he used to be paid about twopence or threepence
A TOMB-MOSQUE.
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE,
III
a month ! The same rek'ahs of prayer are said as on week-days, but chapters of the Korin
are recited by a reader, and the Khatib, sitting on the top step of the pulpit, and holding a
wooden sword, delivers first a short sermon and then recites a form of benediction upon various
holy personages of Islam, down to the reigning Sultan of Turkey, and finishes with these words,
" Verily God commands justice, and the doing of good and giving his rights to one's kindred,
and forbids wickedness and iniquity and oppression : He warns you that ye may consider.
Remember God : He will remember you.
And thank him : He will multiply bless-
ings upon you. Praise be to God the
Lord of the Worlds!" After a few
prayers the congregation disperses.
The next important obligation of the
Muslim after prayer is fasting. The
Mohammadans do not observe special
days of fasting in the week, or once in a
way, but keep a whole month of Fast.
This month is called Ramadan, and durine
it, from sunrise to sunset, no Muslim in
sound health must touch food or drink, or
smoke, or smell a scent, or even swallow
his own saliva intentionally, on pain of
begfinninof the fast over again. When
the shifting of the lunar year brings
Ramadan to summer, the fast becomes
terribly onerous, for a summer day lasts
sixteen hours, and the unhappy fasters are
half dead when at last night falls upon
their hunger. The poor have to work
all day as usual, but the rich sleep and
lounge and do nothing beyond becoming
exceedingly cross and morose, till kindly
night brings with it the permission to
enjoy .a tremendous supper. During
Ramadan the night is turned into day. All the shops are open and lighted, and the exhausted
populace take refuge in wild carousals, in listening to reciters and other performers, and
generally trying to pick up their spirits before another dreaded day of fasting begins. A
favourite form of entertainment during Ramadan is the recital of a zikr by a group of darwishes.
The following is an account of a zikr Mr. Lane witnessed : —
" The zikkirs, or [unpaid] performers of the zikr, who were about thirty in number, sat
THE HOUR OF PRAYER IN A MOSQUE.
112
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
cross-legged upon matting extended close to the houses on one side of the street, in the form ot
an oblong ring. Within this ring, along the middle of the matting, were placed three very large
wax candles, each about four feet high, and stuck in a candlestick. Most of the zikkirs were
MUSLIM WOKSHIPPERS.
Ahmedy darwishes, persons of the lower orders, and meanly dressed ; many of them wore
green turbans. At one end of the ring were four munshids (or singers of religious odes), and
with them was a player on the kind of flute called ndy. I procured a small seat of palm-sticks
SCHOOL AND MOSQUE.
113
from a coffee-shop close by, and, by means of a little pushing and the assistance of my servant,
obtained a place with the munshids, and sat there to hear a complete act, or mejlis, of the zikr,
which act commenced at about three o'clock, Muslim time (or three hours after sunset), and
continued two hours. The performers began by reciting the opening chapter of the Kuran all
together, their sheykh, or chief, first exclaiming, ' El-Fatihah ! ' They then chanted the
following words : ' O God, bless our lord Mohammad among the latter generation ; and bless
our lord Mohammad in every time and period ; and bless our lord Mohammad in the highest
degree, unto the day of judgment; and bless all the prophets and apostles among the inhabitants
PERFORMING A REK'AH OF PRAYER.
of the heavens and of the earth ; and may God (whose name be blessed and exalted !) be well
pleased with our lords and masters, those persons of illustrious estimation, Abu-Bekr and 'Omar
and 'Othman and ' Aly, and with all the favourites of God. God is our sufficiency ; and excellent
is the Guardian ! There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great, O God, O
our Lord, O thou liberal of pardon, O thou most bountiful of the most bountiful, O God, amen ! '
They were then silent for three or four minutes, and again recited the Fatihah, but silently.
This form of prefacing the zikr is commonly used by all orders of darwishes in Egypt.
" The performers now began the zikr itself Sitting in the manner above described,
Q
114
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
AN ARAB FAMILY.
SCHOOL AND MOSOUE.
"5
they chanted, in slow measure, ' La ilaha illa-llah ' (' There is no deity but God '), to the
followinsf air : —
■S — ^^-
m
La
-^::i=i--
il^
-f— / —
^ss
:::aE
la - ha il - la-1 - lah.
La
la - ha i - 1 - la - 1 - la - h. La i - la - ha il - la-1 lah.
bowing the head and body twice in each repetition of ' La ilaha illa-llah.' Thus they continued
about a quarter of an hour, and then for about the same space of time they repeated the same
words to the same air, but in a quicker measure and with correspondingly quicker motions. In
the meantime the munshids frequently sang to the same (or a variation of the same) air
portions of a kastdeh or a muweshshah, an ode of a similar nature to the Song of Solomon,
generally alluding to the Prophet as the object of love and praise ; and at frequent intervals
one of them sang out the word ' Meded,' implying an invocation for spiritual or supernatural
aid. The zikkirs, after having performed as above described, next repeated the same words to
a different air for about the same length of time, first very slowly, then quickly. The air was
as follows : —
h
m^^mm^^^m^^^^^^^
La i
La i
la - ha il - lal - lah.
la - ha il - la-1 - la - h. La i - la - ha il - lal - la
Then they repeated these words again, to the following air, in the same manner
:|j=isi7r:zr=j^--3---=asirj ^^-r-r-js
Li
^53
z^nnz:^
m
i
la - ha il - lal - lah. La i - la - ha il - lal - lah.
" They next rose, and standing in the same order in which they had been sitting, repeated
the same words to another air. After which, still standing, they repeated these words in a very
deep and hoarse tone, laying the principal emphasis upon the w'ord ' La ' and the penultimate
syllable of the following words, and uttering apparently with a considerable effort : the sound
much resembled that which is produced by beating the rim of a tambourine. Each zikktr
turned his head alternately to the right and left at each repetition of 'La ilaha illa-llah !'
" One of them, a eunuch, at this part of the zikr, was seized with an epileptic fit, evidently
the result of a high state of religious excitement; but nobody seemed surprised at it, for
occurrences of this kind at zikrs are not uncommon. All the performers now seemed much
excited, repeating their ejaculations with greater rapidity, violently turning their heads, and
sinking the whole body at the same time, some of them jumping. The eunuch above mentioned
was again seized with fits several times ; and I generally remarked that this happened after
one of the munshids had sang a line or two and exerted himself more than usual to excite his
hearers. The singing was, indeed, to my taste very pleasing. The contrast presented by the
vehement and distressing exertions of the performers at the close of the zikr and their calm
gravity and solemnity of manner at the commencement w-as particularly striking."*
* Lane : " .\rabian Society in the Middle Ages," page 73.
Q 2
ii6
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
all great
Another form of entertainment highly enjoyed by Mohammadans is a khatmeh, or recital
of the entire Koran. This tedious performance is undertaken by a group of reciters, who
take turns at the monotonous chanting which so curiously delights the Eastern mind. Happy
bridegrooms of a pious turn
<i:^ <c%^:^-:$^^^^s^:;^^S&^vT * i ^^4:L ^» are wont to hire a party to
recite a khatmeh for the
delectation of the wedding--
guests ; and on
festivals there is no more
popular form of entertain-
ment among the respectable
classes. When the people of
Cairo go to visit the graves
of their defunct relations, at
the great festivals, the houses
reserved for the use of
mourners (such as those
sketched on page 107) are
often filled with the solemn
chanting of the Koran in
honour of the dead. In his
amusements, as in everything
else, the Egyptian is, before
all things, a religious man.
Intercourse with Franks
doubtless weakens this cha-
racteristic in individuals, and
in the special classes with
whom Europeans chiefly
come in contact ; but the
mass of the people, un-
sophisticated as of old, enjoy
themselves after the staid
Muslim fashion, by listening
to the words of the great Muslim book. It must not be forgotten that the Koran is peculiarly
well adapted for the purposes of recital. If not quite poetry, it is more than prose, for the
verses rhyme in a musical fashion and the sentences generally fall in a rhythmical cadence.
A CAIRO DONKEY-BOY.
ALEXANDRIA FROil THE PALACE OF MEKS.
CHAPTER IV.
THE EUROPEAN ELEMENT.
I ^OR the last fifty years it has been the policy of the rulers of Egypt to imitate the
-^ fashions and material improvements, rather than the energy and morals, of Europe.
From Mohammad 'Aly to the present Khedive the viceroys of the reigning family have
attempted, with varied success, to introduce among their subjects European customs and
inventions, and from the Suez Canal to the omnipresent cigarette, western machines and
manufactures are encountered at every step in the land of the Pharaohs.
The first thing the traveller sees from the steamer's deck as he approaches Alexandria is
the powerful lighthouse (see above) that replaces the famous Pharos, which the ancients reckoned
among the wonders of the world. The next object that attracts attention is the barbaric
Palace of Meks (see page 1 20), which the Viceroy Said, bitten with the mania for building semi-
European palaces, began and left unfinished ; and when a member of the swarthy family which
has enjoyed for centuries the monopoly of pilotage (see next page) has steered the vessel safely
over the bar and past the great breakwater — itself a monument of English engineering, and we
fear we must add of inordinate contractors' profits — the most prominent building overlooking
the fine harbour is the Khedive's Alexandrian palace of Ras et-Tin on the left hand, a
thoroughly European erection. The quays and wharfs and warehouses are like their English
ii8
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
counterparts ; the famous pillar set up by Pompey the prefect, not Caesar's great rival, in honour
of the Emperor Diocletian (see page 123) may fairly be called European ; and even "Cleopatra's
Needle" (page 122), though it is an obelisk belonging to the age of the great Theban empire,
HEREDITARY PILOT OF ALEXANDRIA.
awakens more associations with Rome and Shakespeare and the Victoria Embankment than
with Thothmes or Ptolemy.
Alexandria is indeed thoroughly uneastern. A Greek port in origin, it still retains its
European character. There are quarters in it where the native element prevails, and some of
its out-of-the-way bazars are purely oriental. But the predominant impression of the city is
western. The noble houses of its merchant princes, the great square, in its ruin and desolation
THE EUROPEAN ELEMENT.
119
still preserving evidences of its former grandeur, the suburban villas, all resemble the buildino-s
of many another southern seaport ; and the traveller would be in danger of forgetting that he
is in the land of Cheops and Rameses, of Saladin and the Memluks, if the apparition of a
closely-veiled woman here and of a blue-robed peasant there, a vista of red fezzes and white
turbans, and a babel of guttural sounds, did not recall him to the fact that he is really in a
Mohammadan country.
Inland, the traces of European handiwork are everywhere visible. Instead of going up to
Cairo in a sailing-boat on the Mahmudiyeh Canal, as everybody did forty years ago, and
ALEXANDRIA FROM THE SEA.
grumbled very audibly at the dreariness and discomfort of the tedious voyage, we now perform
the journey in five hours in a railway furnished with carriages exactly like those of England
twenty years ago. Dusty, rattling, and old fashioned, they are still railway-coaches, and they
are managed by guards and porters, ticket-collectors and station-masters, who closely resemble
their European contemporaries, except that they are less expeditious and infinitely more
civil. We dine or lunch on the journey at a station restaurant where a regular table-d'hote
of the stereotyped order, which becomes so insufferably tedious and monotonous after a very
brief experience of travel, awaits us, to be moderately paid for in francs ; and on arriving at
I20
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
Cairo, where the terminus irresistibly recalls a small station on the Brighton and South Coast
Line, we find an omnibus in attendance ready to convey us to an unmistakably European hotel,
where French and Italian waiters and German managers speak all the languages of the world,
and Indian coolies do the meaner departments of work. Crowds of donkey-boys and
THE PALACE OF MEKS.
dragomans only confirm the European impression, for they address us with instant discrimination
in our native tongue, whatever it may be, and charm our ears with our national expletives. In
front of the spacious verandah of Shepheard's Hotel— the meeting-place of all Frankish Cairo
in the afternoon, and a delightful lounge when we are too lazy or tired to go sight-seeing— the
eminently European shops of the Ezbekiyeh display their j^late-glass windows and commonplace
THE EUROPEAN ELEMENT.
121
doors and the Greek, Italian, and Levantine rogues who stand smoking within, ready to cheat
us ; and we shall have to go some distance before we can find the picturesque cupboard-shop of
the East, with its sedate occupant and its queer little stock-in-trade. In the evening, if we like,
we can hear a French opera bouffe and see a French ballet — both accentuated to suit Turkish
appreciation of the indecent — in a theatre
exactly resembling those we left behind in
London. If we call upon our consul, we shall
find him in a Galilean villa surrounded by a
hundred similar villas, which might belong to
any Mediterranean city, but for a vision of
negro footmen and bronzed guards. Wherever
we go we find palaces of the Khedive or
members of his family, Abdin and Ismailla
are the chief palaces in Cairo itself, though
there are others, and beyond the limits of the
metropolis the name of these gorgeous mansions
is legion. At Kasr-en-Nil and all along the
neighbouring banks of the Nile, on the islands
of Roda (see page 123) and Gezireh, at Gizeh,
'Abbasiyeh, Shubra, Kubeh, everywhere rise
the unsightly and ill-built palaces in which
viceregal extravagance and ostentation has
found an outlet. Not one of all these huge
buildings is other than an eyesore. Not one
is tastefully furnished. The Khedive's re-
ception-room at Abdin palace is a monument
of the meretricious style which rejoices in gold
and crimson and pier-glasses.
Not content with building a separate
European quarter — the assemblage of villas
grouped about parallel roads known as the
suburb of Ismailia — and piling up stones into
barrack-like palaces, the genius (or Khedivelry,
as an indignant lover of art termed it) of the
Khedive Ismail set about the remodelling of
the picturesque native quarters, and opened out the dreary thoroughfare called the " Boulevard
Mohammad ' Aly " from the Ezbekiyeh to the citadel— pulling down the old houses of the
oriental style, and leaving local builders to set up whatever they chose in their place. The
consequence is that the houses are after the worst pattern of a fifth-rate artisans' suburb ;
R
MODERN SHOP-DOOR IN THE EUROPEAN QUARTER.
122
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
there is no regularity, no attempt at either magnificence or beauty ; and the " Boulevard
Mohammad ' Aly " is a disgrace to Cairo. Happily the present Khedive has abjured his
father's methods, and we may hope to see no more wanton barbarism of this description.
It is not only the buildings outside the strictly native quarters that give a European
impression : half the people in the streets wear European dress, modified in the case of native
officials and others by the red fez, and a slight change in the cut of the frock-coat, which brings
it more into accord with the clerical
pattern. The ladies of the rich
harims go about in broughams,
driven by English coachmen. The
familiar street-lamps of our native
isle greet our eyes at every corner
in all their inevitable unsigrht-
liness; the only difference is that
the lamplighters are drawn up on
parade by an officer, and dispatched
in couples on their rounds with a
smart military precision which is
highly edifying. If we go up the
Nile, it will probably be in one of
Messrs. Cook's comfortable steamers
— the "Masr" for choice — whence
one can visit every important place
and monument from Cairo to the
First Cataract in three weeks, with
all imacrinable comfort and without
the risks and delays, though also
without the romance and privacy,
of the dahahiyeh. At Thebes we
may stay at well-found European
hotels ; or a detestably dusty and
superannuated railway, which is,
we hope, soon to experience the
reforming influence of Mr. Le Mesurier, the energetic Director of Railways, will convey us,
half smothered, as far up the country as Asyut, whence a regular service of postal steamers
will enable us to continue the journey by water. From point to point we can telegraph our
whereabouts to all parts of the world. In fine, if we choose, we can go through Egypt in
as European a manner as through Switzerland.
Most of these innovations are due to the genius and the recklessness of the ex-Khedive
'CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE."
THE EUROPEAN ELEMENT.
123
Ismail. A man of undoubted ability, possessed of unusual energy in administration, fully
appreciative of the importance of Western civilisation, fired with the ambition proper in the
grandson of Mohammad 'Aly, the ex-Khedive at first appeared a ruler such as Egypt had
scarcely seen since the Arab conquest. After
removing, at great cost, much of the irksome
control of the Porte, and obtaining for himself
and his dynasty a settled regal rank and a Euro-
pean order of succession, Ismail began a series
of reforms, or at least innovations, such as no
previous governor of Egypt had ever contem-
plated. He restored and improved Mohammad
'Aly's administrative system, remodelled the
customs, purchased the post-office, and placed it
under an official from St. Martin's-le- Grand, who
soon brought it into an admirably efficient state,
and established branch offices and a regular postal
service all over the country. He revived the
military schools founded by his grandfather, and
endeavoured in various ways to introduce some
approach to an educational system into Egypt.
The unfair advantages accorded to Europeans
by the old system of consular jurisdiction were
done away when Ismail founded the new Mixed Tribunals in 1876, wherein European
and native judges sit side by side to try mixed cases without prejudice, and where certainly
more justice is awarded than in the distinctively native courts, though there is still room for
improvement and for extension. Justice is still one of the rarest of Egyptian products or of
European imports. Public works formed
a large item in the ex- Khedive's budget
of reforms. Railways, telegraphs, light-
houses, harbour-works at Suez, Port Said,
and Alexandria, all testify to his energy,
if not to his prudence. The railways,
which are State property, cover more than
eleven hundred miles, and connected
Alexandria and Cairo with every part of
the Delta and Suez, and run halfway to the First Cataract. The telegraphs extend over four
thousand miles ; and fourteen lighthouses have been built on the coasts of the Mediterranean
and the Red Sea.
Public works, reforms, and changes of all sorts cannot be carried out for nothing ; and
R 2
POMPEY'S PILLAR.
PALACE ON THE ISLAND OF RODA.
124
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
the ex- Khedive was so poor a financier and so reckless a spendthrift, that he phmged
his country into debt to the extent of nearly a hundred millions, and was reduced to
tyrannical and dishonest shifts to meet the calls of his creditors. The result was his
deposition, and the establishment of his son Tewfik, under the control of various and ever-
changing liquidating bodies. Egypt was, in fact, treated as a bankrupt, and provided with
trustees Avhose duty it was at all hazards to find the money for the dividends. Hence came
all the financial schemes, the international
jealousies, the late war, and the dilemma
in which we now find ourselves. But for
Ismail's Europeanizing tendencies none
of these things would have come to pass ;
and it may be questioned whether the
material advantages he conferred on
Egypt are not far more than balanced by
the calamities of war and debt which have
been the outcome of his policy. Doubt-
less, he was not wholly to blame ; per-
sonally he reaped small profits from his
borrowings, and was more robbed than a
robber. But while we may denounce
English and French financing-houses for
their unblushing plunder of Egypt, we
cannot forgive the ex- Khedive his share
in the loans which have proved so fatal
to his country.
The overland route to India has
undergone considerable simplification by
the introduction of European ideas into
Egypt. It is not so very long ago that
passengers for India had to ascend the
Nile as far as Kine, and then strike across
the Desert to Koseyr on the Red Sea
coast ; and the Oriental Telegraph men
used to journey on camel-back from Cairo to Suez by the old caravan route. To say nothing
of the loss of time, the discomforts of Desert-travelling were neither few nor inconsiderable.
The mere process of mounting and dismounting the surly animals, in which, for some
inexplicable reason, travellers have seen all the virtues of the brute creation, are obstacles to
the inexperienced, and, unless we are fortunate enough to get a dromedary or running-camel,
the jolting and rolling of the "ship of the Desert" are likely to produce veritable sea-sickness.
ARCADE IN THE EZBEkIyEH.
THE EUROPEAN ELEMENT.
125
EUROPEAN IMPROVEMENTS.
Yet for those who have time and health, a ride on a camel through the Desert has its charm,
as readers of Dr. Klunzinger's admirable description of the caravan route to Koseyr* must agree.
Now, however, except for choice, we do not travel across
Egypt by caravan and camel, but go through the Suez Canal, or
cross the Delta from Cairo to Suez by rail. It is by no means
a picturesque journey. Soon after leaving Zagazig, we see
nothing on either side but yellow-grey desert. Here and there
we stop at a rough shed which serves as a station, and a few
white buildings and a cluster of huts tell us we are passing
through a village. Then the long lines of Tell el-Kebir come
in sight, and as the train runs through them we can see the
height and strength of the rampart of earth, and the formidable
width and depth of the trench before it. Traces of the campaign
lie all about : signs of imperfectly buried horses and men ;
empty preserved-meat tins ; a coat here and a forage-cap there ;
and Araby's curious horse-mangers are seen in groups at short
intervals. Then more desert, till we arrive at the square
excavated chambers of Tell el-Maskhutah, which M. Naville, who was sent out by the " Egypt
Exploration Fund " of London, chiefly at the expense of Sir Erasmus Wilson, has proved to
be none other than the treasure-city of Pithom, described in
Exodus (i. 11) as having been built for Pharaoh by the
Children of Israel. The discovery that Tell el-Maskhutah
is Pithom, and the further discovery that Pithom was also
called Succoth, joined to other facts established by M.
Naville's excavations, have thrown more light upon the area
of the country occupied by the Israelites and the direction
of their Exodus than any previous researches. Succoth, which
is now known to be Tell el-Maskhutah, was the first camping-
ground of the Chosen People after their departure from
Rameses ; and its position entirely overthrows Dr. Brugsch's
famous theory of the route of the Exodus by the northern
road to Syria. The same excavations have also established
the identity of Rameses II. with Pharaoh the Oppressor, and
have considerably altered the views of archaeologists as to the
true positions of Clysma, Pihahiroth, and other places. A few
miles beyond the excavations at Pithom we arrive at Nefisheh,
near Ismailia, and turn down southwards to Suez. Through-
out the journey from Zagazig to Suez the railway runs close beside the Freshwater Canal.
THE MARK OF THE FRANK.
* " Upper Egypt," chapter iv.
126
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
mh
0W^ik:
m$
The Suez Maritime Canal is the greatest of European works in Egypt, though its
benefits have been bestowed less upon Egypt than upon Europe, and especially on England,
since four-fifths of the shipping that passes through it is British ; while the Egyptians have
suffered by it to a great extent in the destruction of
their transport trade. The increase of passengers by
the new route is amazing. One company alone is
said to have taken seventy thousand passengers
through the Canal in five years. In 1870 one or two
ships a day went through : now there are probably
ten steamers a day ; and one of the commonest sights
is to see half-a-dozen steamers waiting their turns.
These steamers are almost all English, and recently
an experienced sea-captain, who had been many times
through the Canal, is reported to have said he never
saw but one French steamer there, and she ran into
his ship. Yet the standing joke of the dull voyage is to ask the
French pilot as every new ship comes into sight, " Pray, Monsieur,
of what nationality is the approaching steamer?" "French, of
course," is the invariable reply, to be falsified immediately by
the appearance of the British flag.*
The history and construction of the Canal has so often been
described that it would be superfluous to enter into details in the present work. Briefly, its
length is one hundred miles, its width at the bottom seventy-tAvo feet, at the water-line from
one hundred and ninety to three hundred and twenty feet, and it-s depth twenty-six feet. It
was opened in 1869. If there is no accident or
block, the passage occupies about sixteen hours. - :^,^A=,i!^yr^s3mBa^-^
Starting from Suez (see pages 126 — 28), a common-
place and mean-looking town, whose dirty hovels
and insignificant mosques mingle curiously with the
big warehouses and stores of the great steam com-
panies, and are overlooked by the Khedive's villa —
the Canal traverses ten miles of the plain of Suez,
and then enters the deep cutting at Shaluf, where
the land rises twenty feet above the sea-level and
forms a bar between the Bitter Lakes (formerly the
Heroopolite Gulf) and the Red Sea, which once were one water. It was, perhaps, some such
" Reedy Sea" (not Red Sea) as that depicted on page 129 that the children of Israel crossed
when they fled before Pharaoh and his host ; for the recent discoveries at Pithom (Tell
EUROPEAN BUILDING, CAIRO.
•ji^s^g^
SUEZ.
See the Saturday Review of June 2, 1883, " From Port Said to Suez.'
THE EUROPEAN ELEMENT.
127
el-Maskhutah) have almost demonstrated that the passage of the Exodus must be sought
somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Bitter Lakes, or of Lake Timsah. On the shore of
the latter, which being interpreted means the "Crocodile" Lake, stands Ismailia, the second
important town on the Canal, but a very dreary place — a depot for the French officials and
INTERIOR OF THE BASIN AT SUEZ.
engineers, and nothing more. The usual viceregal palace, M. de Lesseps' house, various
warehouses and offices, do not form a very inviting ensemble, but the powerful waterworks by
which the water of the Freshwater Canal (see page 131) is pumped through iron pipes all the
way to Port Said, fifty miles distant, and is supplied to self-filling cisterns at intervals of two
miles and a half all along the Canal, are a fine example of the engineering skill which has been
applied to Egypt of late years (see page 1 30). After Lake Timsah, the deep cutting through
SUEZ,
the seiiil called El-Gisr, which is sixty feet above the sea-level, conducts into Lake Ballah,
one of " a series of shallow lakes, dotted with sandy tamarisk-tufted islets ; " and the low
sandhills of Kantarah, a name which appropriately signifies "the Bridge," form a threshold
to the dreary morasses of Lake Menzeleh — a vast expanse of salt water and marsh, the home
128
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
of countless flocks of wild fowl, with numerous islands, inhabited by a wild fisher-folk. Through
this sombre expanse the course of the Canal leads us finally to Port Said, with its magnificent
breakwaters, its powerful lighthouse, which can be seen from a distance of twenty-four miles at
sea, and its protecting harbour, dear to the voyager whose appetite has been undermined by
the tumbling seas which frequent
this corner of the INIediterranean.
Port Said has, however, other
associations. A traveller from New
York was asked what Port Said
was like, and made answer, " Well,
sir, I never saw Sodom and
Gomorrah in their palmy days,
but I guess they were something
like Port Said!" This port is, in
fact, the resort of the worst class
of Levantine rascals ; its grog-
shops, gambling-houses, and various
dens of vice are notorious, and it is not safe to go about unarmed. It is European in its
vices and in its complexion. You see Orientals, it is true, but you see quite as many Italians,
Greeks, and Frenchmen, to say nothing of the sailors of the English vessels— the chief
employers of the Canal. Port Said is the creation of the Canal, and as the Muslims relate
anent the original creation of the camel, its creator must be very much astonished at the
peculiar beast it has produced.
But while the trail of the Frank is everywhere discernible in Egypt, from his massive
SHIP IN THE CANAL.
DREDGING-MACHINE.
breakwaters on the coast, up the railways and steamers, to the tourists' whittlings on the
monuments of Philse, it may be questioned whether Europe has effected any considerable
mental or moral change in the Egyptian. We have given him our material improvements,
THE EUROPEAN ELEMENT.
129
facilities of communication, and the mechanical aids to wealth and prosperity, but the Egyptian
makes little use of them, and is no more prosperous, but, on the contrary, less prosperous,
than he was before we took him in hand. The country has certainly grown in wealth, but it
must be remembered that much of the increased wealth comes into European pockets, and for
every pound Europeans have laid out in Egypt, they have reaped ten. The fellahin— the
people of Egypt— have profited little by all our interference. They are poorer than ever,
and quite as ignorant. Our schools are doubtless training up a few Egyptians in European
methods, and the sons of the rich are often sent to Paris for their education, with results
that are not always satisfactory. But the mass of the people remain exactly where they
were in the days when Cheops set them to build the Great Pyramid. The immobility of the
BETWEEN SUEZ AND ISMA'Il! A : A "YAM SUE," OR SEA OF REEDS.
peasantry seems to defy time and foreign influence. The upper classes adopt our vices
without our virtues ; the lower classes keep to the old paths, and learn nothing from us, except,
perhaps, improved methods of cheating. The officials, in spite of European supervision, are
little less corrupt than of old, and though they pretend to admire Western methods of
government, they inwardly adhere to their ancient predilection for the rule of the stick. It
must be remembered that we have not been very careful of the example we set them.
Europeans have dealt with Egypt as a land to be plundered, and the people cannot help
regarding us as their spoilers. A long record of usury and bonds and financial jugglery has
to be effaced before we can talk about honesty to the Egyptians. Moreover, we are, and shall
ever be, infidels and aliens in their eyes. It Is not likely that the barriers of religion and
s
I30
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
nationality will ever be broken down. Yet, if ever we shall be able to help the Egyptians to
improve their condition, it will be under the system now inaugurated. The clumsy and
equivocal government by dual control has given way to a rule in which the financial claims
of Europe are not allowed to be the prime consideration. We are lending Egypt a body of
single-minded and capable officials, who are responsible not to bondholders, but to England
and the Khedive, and whose first aim is to do well by the people of Egypt themselves, and not
by foreign stockbrokers. How we shall succeed is a very debatable question ; but for the
first time we are governing Egypt thoroughly and with right motives, and now, if ever, the
Egyptians will be taught what English influence means in the hands of just rulers. Hitherto
our hands have not been clean enough to warrant any affectation of moral superiority. Now
we have the chance of showing that Europe has other than selfish interests in Egypt, and
WATERWORKS AT ISMA'IlIA.
that English rule makes no distinction between races and persons, but aims at the general
good of the community. If the new scheme works well, there will yet be a new and happier
chapter to write on European influence in Egypt. At the same time it would be a very vain
hope to look forward to anything like European civilisation in Egypt. One must recognise
the essential differences of race and history. Seven thousand years of monotonous oppression
can hardly be expected to produce the same results as a long past filled with successful efforts
in the direction of self-government. Those who know the people can with difficulty restrain
a smile when they read of " local institutions " and a representative system whereby the
Egyptians will be enabled to govern themselves. Such visions of a future belong to dreamland,
not to practical statecraft. If we ever see the agricultural resources of the country developed
to their fullest capabilities, an honest official class substituted for the present pashadom, an
THE EUROPEAN ELEMENT.
131
incorruptible judicature dealing even-handed justice to rich and poor, and some approach to a
European standard of education, we may be well pleased with the progress of Egypt. Indeed,
England will have good cause to be proud of herself if she accomplishes half this programme.
The vis inerticB of the Egyptians is a terrible power to be reckoned with, and we shall do
LOCK ON THE FRESHWATER CANAL.
well to be modest in our expectations and sparing in our application of terms of Teutonic
government to an Oriental nation. Whatever reforms we introduce into Egypt, we may be
sure that the machinery of representative government will not be the most successful, and that,
do what we will, we shall never be able to convert the Fellah into the British working-maa=
s 2
ON THE SUEZ CANAL: STATION AT EL-KANTARA, "THE BRIDGE."
EPILOGUE,
A N outline of the social state of Egypt, however brief, suggests some important conclusions.
Egyptian society has its undoubted merits. The original principle of a universal
equality and fraternity among true believers, preached by Mohammad, still retains much of its
force. Rich men are not respected simply on account of their wealth, and the poor man feels
himself the equal in all essential respects of his richer neighbour. The differences of rank
are much less glaring in the East than in Europe. There is also no doubt that in the minor
matter of manners the Egyptian could give lessons to his Western contemporary. But in the
essentials of civilisation the Egyptians have everything to learn. In education they lack the
very rudiments, and in the higher departments of morals they have hardly made a beginning.
The fatal spot in Mohammadanism is the position of woman. The Prophet himself regarded
women as crooked ribs which it was impossible to bend straight, as playthings to sport with.
EPILOGUE.
133
but never as helpmeets fit to share man's troubles and struggles ; and his doctrine has
impressed itself upon the whole Mohammadan world. Women in the East are the rich man's
toys and the poor man's drudges. Their education is entirely neglected ; as for their morals,
they are simply taught to make themselves seductive to their husbands, and thus learn only
the arts which are most easily applicable to others than their legal objects. Their whole
education is one vast blunder. They are brought up with the sole aim and object of getting
a husband, and the objectionable acquirements of the Ghawazy dancing-girls are held up to
them as the fittest qualifications of a wife. They are completely secluded from the other sex
THE STATION AT KANTARAH, ON THE SUEZ CANAL.
save in the cases of their own intimate relations, and never see a strange man without the idea
of marriao-e. The degraded view of womanhood taken by women themselves of course reacts
upon the men. To them a woman is desirable solely on account of her sex, and any high
ideal of chivalry, so potent an element in the noblest manhood, becomes impossible in the
Muslim social state. True love is too rare in the East, and faithful devotion to one woman is
not to be reckoned among ordinary Muslim virtues. The usual result of the separation of the
sexes, which forms so characteristic and so ruinous a feature of Egyptian social life, is— not as
is generally supposed, polygamy — but divorce. Few men risk the expense and domestic
134
SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
discomfort of more than one wife, though they may buy slaves ; but most indulge in a more
or less frequent change of wives ; and the result of this inconstancy is the degradation of the
relations between the sexes and the loss of some of the best and purest sentiments whereof
human nature is capable. And this false relation between husband and wife makes itself
felt in the bringing up of children. The early years of childhood, perhaps the most critical
in a whole life, are tainted by the corrupt influences of the harim, where the boy learns that
sensual attitude towards women which is the curse of his after life, and the girl acquires those
abandoned notions of the requirements of the opposite sex which spoil her for the highest
functions of womanhood. The refining power of a lady is seldom possessed or exercised in
the East The restraining and purifying influence of wife on husband, of mother on child.
LINE MEN OF THE ORIENTAL TELEGRAPH COMPANY ON THE ROAD TO SUEZ.
of a hostess upon her guests, is non-existent in a Mohammadan state. In a word, the finest
springs of society are wanting.
The worst of this deplorable state of things is that there seems no reasonable prospect
of improvement. The Mohammadan social system is so thoroughly bound up with the
religion that it appears an almost hopeless task to attempt to separate the two. Undoubtedly
very little of the social system is to be found in the Korin, but as much may be said of many
points in both the doctrines and ritual of Islam, and it is often to these very points that the
Muslim is most devotedly attached. It is seldom that the original character of a religion
remains unchanged for any great length of time. What was vital and supreme in the eyes of
the first preacher becomes a matter of secondary importance to his later disciples, while a
EPILOGUE. 135
trifling detail in the original creed gradually develops into the " one thing needful " of its
modern descendant. It is so with Islam : the trivial observances of the founder have acquired
an even greater sanctity than the dogmas he expounded, and the social system he allowed
136 SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT.
has become so thoroughly a part of the religion, that the permissions of divorce and polygamy
are regarded as equally divine with the declaration of the unity of God. As long as the
Mohammadan religion exists, the social life with which it has unfortunately become associated
will also survive ; and so long as the latter prevails in Egypt we cannot expect the higher
results of civilisation. The conclusion is doubtless a melancholy one, but it were idle to allow
LAKE MAREOTIS.
the unrivalled picturesqueness of Egyptian life to blind us to the really diseased condition of
Muslim society. Until Egyptian women are raised to a higher knowledge of their duties
and influence, and are better trained to exercise them, the most determined optimist cannot
expect to discover " sweetness and light " in Egypt.
INDEX.
Ababdeh, 71 jf.
Abdin, 121.
Abydos, plain of, 47.
Agriculture, 47 ff.
Alexandria, J17/.
Almanac, farmers', S$jf.
'Almehs, 30.
Almsgiving, 36.
Alphabet, 82.
'Aly the Khalif s wives, 17.
'Amr, mosque of, 92.
Amusements, Egyptian, 46.
Apostleship of Mohammad, 88.
Arabic poetry, 25, 26.
Arabs, wandering, 70.
Art, Museum of Arab, 96^.
Ascent, miraculous, 45.
AshOra, 37.
Azhar, mosque, 83, 96,
Bab Zuweyleh, 8.
Ballih, Lake, 127.
Banquets, 25^.
Bargaining, 6.
BarkQk, lamp of, 107.
Barques, sacred, 46.
Bazaar, 4, 40 ^.
Beauty, Arab ideal of, 19.
Egyptian, 18.
Bedouin, 70 jf.
Bed-rooms, 13.
Bells, 10.
Betrothal, 31.
Birthday of the Prophet, 38/.
Borik, 45.
Boulevard Mohammad 'Aly, 121.
Bowwabs, II.
Bronze work, 106.
Brugsch, Dr., 125.
Buffoons, 30.
Buying and selling, 6.
Calendar, Egyptian, 55^.
Camel, 124.
Canal, Freshwater, 125.
Suez, 126 — 128.
Canals, 49,
Carpet, Holy, 45.
Carving, 104/'.
Chanting a zikr, 115.
the Koran, 32, 116.
Children, 80.
Christ, Mohammad's view of,
Cleopatra's Needle, 118.
Clowns, 30.
Clysma, 125.
Copts, 62 — 66.
Corv6e labour, 49.
Countryfolk, 47 ff.
Country town, 62.
Court of a house, 11.
Courts of law, 123.
Credo, 81.
Cries, street, 6.
Crops, 47/.
Danxing-giels, 18.
Darwishes, 112 ff.
Decoration of mosques, 104 ff.
Dedications, 61.
Delta, fertility of, 47.
Desert life, 72^., 124.
Dishes, Egyptian, 23.
Donkeys, 15.
Doors, 10.
of mosques, 105.
D6seh, 39.
Dowry, 31,
Drop, night of the, 46.
Dufferin, Earl of, 49.
Dyer of Baghdad, wives of, 17.
Eating, manner of, 23.
Education, 79^.
Enamel, 107.
Engineers of Canals, 48.
England in Egypt, 130.
European element, 117.
quarter of Cairo, 121.
Exodus, route of, 125.
Exploration Fund, Egyptian,
125-
Ezbekiyeh, 39, 120.
Fanaticism, 84.
Farming in Egypt, 54/.
Fast, 45, III.
Fatihah, the, 32, 113.
Feast-days in the country, 70.
Feasting, 25 ff.
Fellahln, 54.
Fertility of Egypt, 47.
Festivals, public, 36 — 46.
Finances, 124.
Franks, 122.
Freshwater Canal, 125.
Friday prayers, no.
Furniture of rooms, 12.
Fustat, burning of, 92.
Future of Muslim society, 134/.
Gate-keepers, ii.
Gate?, 10.
Genii, 36.
Ghawazy, 18, 30.
Ghuriyeh, 4, 8.
Ginn, 36.
Gisr, el-, 127.
Glass work, id^ff.
God of Islam, 87.
Graves, 45, 104, ii5.
Guest-room, 11.
Habits of the men, 15.
Hakim, mosque of el-, 96.
Hammad, the poet, 27.
Harlm rooms, 13.
system, 133 ff.
HarOn Er-Rashtd, Khalif, 28/.
Hasan and Hoseyn, 37.
Hasan, mosque of Sultan, lao ff.,
107.
Hasaneyn, 37, 40.
Hero5polite Gulf, 126.
Hisham, the Khalif, 28.
Home training, 80.
Hosejm, head of, 43.
Houses, 8.
Howdah, 45.
Id el-Kebir, 46.
Id es-Saghir, 45.
Imam, no.
Improvements, modern, 117.
Industries, 67.
Infancy, 81.
Irrigation, 48/.
Islam, 85/.
Ismail, the ex-Khedive, 123, 124.
Isma'ilia, 127.
Israelites, 125.
Jugglers, 44.
Ka'ah, 13.
Kalt-Bey, a royal builder, 102^.
Kal'at el Kebsh, 37, 96.
Kaladn, mosque of, 100.
Kamariyehs, 106.
Kantarah, 127.
Kara-Guz, 44.
Kelimeh, or Credo, 81.
Keys, II.
Khamastn, 46.
Khatib, no.
Khatibeh, 31.
Khatmeh, 116.
Kisweh, or Holy Carpet, 45.
Klunzinger, Dr. C. B., 55, 59, 69,
75. 78. 125-
Knockers, 11.
Kohl, 19.
Koran, 32, 82, 86, 116.
KOfy inscriptions, 97.
Kullehs, 9, 67.
Kurbaj of the Prophet, 94.
Kursy or table, 98, 99.
Kutb, or saint, 8,
Labour, forced, 49.
Lakes, Bitter, 126.
Lamps, enamelled glass, 106 jf.
Land-tax, 47.
Lane, E. W., i.
Lattice, 9.
Law-courts, 123.
Life, daily, 15.
in the country, 57, 68.
Liwan, or sanctuary, 96, 104,
Loans, 124.
Locks, II.
Louis, St., 100.
Mahmal, 45.
Mandarah, 11.
Market, 4.
Maristan, 100.
Marriage, 31.
Masr, the steamer, 122.
Meals, Arab, 23.
Medallion of Kalt-Bey, 102.
Meks, Palace of, 117.
Memlilks, tombs of, 104.
Menzeleh, Lake, 127.
Meshreblyeh, 9.
Mohammad, 88.
Mohammad 'Aly, 78.
Moharram, tenth day of, 37.
M61id en-Neby, 38/.
Molids, 36—46.
Monotheism, 87.
Mosaics, 105.
Mosque schools, 81.
Mosques, 89 — 108.
Muayyad, mosque, 8.
Mukharik, the poet, 29.
Munshids, 112.
Museum of Arab Art, 96^.
Music, 26 — 30.
Musky, 4.
Mutawelly, Bab, 8.
Names, the Most Beautiful, no.
Nisir, en-, mosque, of, 100.
Naville, M., 125.
Nay, or flute, 112.
Nefiseh, gate of Sitteh, 102.
niche of Sitteh, 105.
Nefisheh, 125.
Nesbitt, Mr. A., 107.
Niches of mosques, 105.
Nile, good and bad, 54.
Odes, 35, 112.
Oliphant, Mr. Lawrence, 63.
Opera at Cairo, i.
Ophthalmia, 59.
Ornamentation of mosques,
104 #.
Ottoman poetry, 20.
Palaces of the Khedive, 121.
Parents and children, 80.
Passion Play, 37.
Peasants, 47, 54/., 59.
Pharaoh the Oppressor, 125.
Pigeon-towers, 59.
Pihahiroth, 125.
Pilgrimage, 45.
Pilgrims' trophies, 38.
Pithom, 125.
Poetry, Arabic, 25, 26.
Poets, 27.
Pompey's Pillar, 118.
Population, agricultural, 54.
Porters, n.
Port Said, 128.
Prayer, 8g, 108/.
Prayers, bridal, 35.
Processions, bridal, 33.
Pulpits of mosques, loC.
Pumps, steam, 50.
Railways, Egyptian, 119, 123.
Ramadan, 45, in.
Red Sea, passage of, 126.
Rek'ahs of prayer, 108^.
138
INDEX.
Relics, 6i.
Religion, Mohammadan, 85 j^.
Results of Europeanising, 129^.
Return of the pilgrims, 38.
Rewards of literature, 27.
Riwaks, 83.
Rogers, E. T. and Miss, 94, loi,
I02.
Romances, public, 39.
SaId, Port, 128.
Saints, 8, doff.
SaSses, 16.
Sakiyehs, 50.
Salibeh, 37.
galih, es-, 96, 100, 106.
Sanctuary of mosques, 96, 104.
School and mosque, 79 — 116.
Schoolmaster, 82.
Sermons, Muslim, in.
Shadaf, 50.
Shafi'y, Imim, festival and
mosque, 44, 104.
Shalfif, 126.
Shejer-ed-Durr, 45.
Sheykh of the Ababdeh, 76.
Shops, 4 — 6.
Showwaj, the month, 31.
Singers, 27.
Song, 27.
Steam and railway service, 122.
Steam-pumps, 50.
Streets of Cairo, 4.
Store-city, 125.
Stuart, Mr. Villiers, 47.
Succoth, 125.
Suez, 126.
Canal, 126 — 128.
Sultan Hasan, mosque of, 100/.,
107.
Suyurghatmish, mosque of, 104.
Tables of filigree silver, 98.
Taxation, 47.
Telegraphs, 123.
Tell el-Kebir, 125.
Tell el-Maskhfltah, 125.
Tent of the Ababdeh, 71.
Theatre Khedivial, i.
Theology, Mohammadan, 83.
Throne-verse, 87.
Tiles, 105.
Timsah, Lake, 127.
Tomb of a saint, 60.
Tomb-mosques, 104.
Tombs, visiting, 45.
Tooth-ache, cure for, 8.
Town, provincial, 62.
Townsfolk, the, i.
Trades, 67.
Tradesmen, 4^.
Tribunals, mixed, 123.
TillCln, mosque of Ibn, 96.
Ulama, or wise men, 83.
University of the Azhar, 83.
Usury, 52.
Village, 58, 59.
Visits to the tombs, 45.
Water-bottles, 9.
Water-carrier, ghostly, 36.
Water-engines, 50.
Weddings, 31, 34, 63 — 66.
Wekaleh of Kait-Bey, 102.
Well, village, 60.
Wilson, Sir Erasmus, 125.
Windows, lattice, 9.
of mosques, io5.
Wine-drinking, 25.
Wisdom, 79.
Wits, 27.
Women, country, 69.
disabilities of, 133 #.
life of, 17.
Mohammadan opinion of, 20.
Wood-work of mosques, 106.
Works, public, 123.
Yashmak, 18.
Zagazig, 125.
Zikr, 112.
Zuweyleh, Bab, 8.
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