Page images
PDF
EPUB

ally wind a long white stripe of the same material. The articles of furniture in their houses are extremely few. "The rooms of all people of decent rank," says Dr. Hume, "have a low sofa, called a divan, extending completely round three sides, and sometimes to every part of them except the doorway; but it is most commonly confined to the upper end of the chamber. On this divan the hours not devoted to exercise or business are invariably passed. It is about nine inches from the floor, and covered with mattresses; the back is formed by large cushions placed all along the wall so close as to touch each other, and more or less ornamented according to the wealth or taste of the owner. The beds are generally laid on wickerwork strongly framed, made of the branches of the date-tree, or consist of mattresses placed on a platform at the end of the room. For their meals they have a very low table, round which hey squat on the mats covering the floor; and in houses of repute I have sometimes seen this table made of copper hinly tinned over. The mats used in Egypt are made of traw, or of the flags attached to the branches of the dateree, and are very neatly worked in figures, such as squares, als, and other forms, with fanciful borders. They are ry durable, but harbour numbers of fleas, with which all he houses swarm, particularly in hot weather."*

The poorer sort of these Arabs seldom can afford to eat animal food, but subsist chiefly on rice made into a pilau, and moistened with the rancid butter of the country. Someimes they make a hearty meal on boiled horse-beans steeped in oil. The date supplies them with sustenance a part of the year; and in summer the vast quantities of gourds and melons which are then produced, place within their reach an agreeable variety. Their drink is the milk of buffaloes, or the water of the Nile purified and preserved in cisterns. None but the higher orders or those of dissolute lives ever taste wine; and hence, although grapes grow abundantly in several parts of Egypt, only a very small portion is manufactured into that exhilarating beverage which is forbidden to every true believer in the Prophet.

Some particular traits distinguish the Egyptian Arabs from other orientals. A country frequently laid under

* Walpole's Memoirs, p. 386.

water makes the art of swimming a valuable acquisition. The children learn it at play; even the girls become fond of it, and are seen swimming in flocks from village to village with all the dexterity of the fabled nymphs. At the festival of the opening of the canals, several professional swimmers perform a mock fight in the water, and land to attack an enemy in presence of the pasha. Their evolutions are executed with surprising vigour. They sometimes float down the river on their backs, with a cup of coffee in one hand and a pipe in the other, while the feet are tied together with a rope.*

In many parts the barbers are still the only practitioners in physic; and in a country where every man's head is shaved, the professors of the healing art cannot fail to be numerous. Their knowledge is of course extremely confined. They perform a few surgical operations, and are acquainted with the virtues of mercury and some standard medicines. The general remedy in cases of fever and other kinds of illness is a saphie from a priest, which consists of some sentence from the Koran written on a small piece of paper and tied round the patient's neck. This, if the sick man recovers, he carefully preserves by keeping it constantly between his scull-caps, of which he generally wears two or three. Saphies are very commonly used by the Mohammedans, being considered to possess much efficacy for the body as well as the soul, and occupy the same place in the estimation of the superstitious as did the frontlets of the Jews and the phylacteries of the early Christians. In every bazaar, however, some shops are found in which are sold some of the most common drugs, such as opium, rhubarb, and senna.†

The Egyptian Arabs are punctual in the performance of their religious duties at the stated hours appointed by their Prophet. They are often seen, after a hard day's work, kneeling with great devotion, offering up their prayers with their foreheads at times touching the ground. The respect in which idiots are held by the Mohammedans is well known; it being imagined that these unfortunate persons are possessed by a benign spirit, and under the special pro

* Malte Brun, iv. p. 108.

† Dr. Hume in Walpole's Memoirs, p. 389,

tection of Heaven. It is to be regretted that these notions of sanctity sometimes lead to customs not to be reconciled to European ideas of decorum; the use of clothes being thought inconsistent with the purity of mind and the holy functions which the superstition of an ignorant people has attributed to the natural fool.

Until the present viceroy introduced the European press, a printed book was a rare sight in Egypt either among Turks or Arabs. A class of men, similar to the copyists and caligraphers of the middle ages, earned a livelihood by forming manuscripts of the Koran and other works in high reputation, some of which were most beautifully executed in inks of various colours. The notes were generally done in red or light blue. Dr. Clarke, who made considerable purchases, informs us that writings of celebrity bear very great prices, especially treatises on history, geography, and astronomy. The Mamlouks are fonder of reading than the Turks; and some of their libraries in Cairo contained volumes valued at immense sums. This traveller obtained a transcript of the "Arabian Nights," which was brought to him in four quarto cases, containing one hundred and seventy-two tales, separated into one thousand and one portions for recital during the same number of nights. This valuable acquisition was unfortunately lost,—an event which is the more to be regretted, because many of the tales related to Syrian and Egyptian customs and traditions, which have not been found in any other copy of the same work.*

A custom still prevails in Egypt, which may be traced to the remotest times, as being alluded to by Herodotus, and distinctly mentioned by Pliny,-the practice of taming serpents, of sporting with the bites of the most poisonous vipers, and even of eating these animals alive. "A tumultuous throng," says Dr. Clarke, "passing beneath the windows of our house, attracted our attention towards the quay; here we saw a concourse of people following men apparently frantic, who with every appearance of convulsive agony were brandishing live serpents, and then tearing them with their teeth; snatching them from each other's mouths with loud cries and distorted features, and afterward

[blocks in formation]

falling into the arms of the spectators as if swooning; the women all the while rending the air with their lamentations."

This singular power over so dangerous an animal is claimed only by one tribe, who, on account of some signal act of piety performed by their ancestors, are understood to be protected by the Prophet from any injury that might befall them. These persons, however, do not always escape; for the author of the book of Ecclesiasticus asks, Who will pity a charmer that is bitten by a serpent? Forskal says, that the leaves of the aristolochia sempervirens was used during forty days by those who wished to be rendered invulnerable; and we observe in the examination which an Abyssinian ecclesiastic underwent at the instance of some British travellers who wanted to ascertain the accuracy of Bruce, it is stated that the plant must be used at the moment the charm is performed.

At Pella, too, if we may believe Lucian, the serpents were rendered so tame and familiar that they were fed by the women, and slept with the children. Dr. Hume relates, that when he lived at Alexandria a nest of snakes was discovered in his house. Following the advice of his interpreter he sent for one of the gifted family, who was an old man, and by trade a carpenter. He prayed fervently at the door a quarter of an hour, and at length, pale and trembling, he ventured into the room; while an English sailor, who was employed as a servant, cleared away the rubbish in which they were concealed, and killed them with a shovel.

We conclude this chapter with a remark truly characteristic of the manners of modern Egypt, and of the feelings which were ingrafted upon the minds of the higher class by the long-continued sway of the Mamlouks. Before the reign of the present viceroy, it was customary, even among a people rigidly attached to the distinctions of hereditary rank, to reserve their highest respect for the purchased slave whose relations were unknown, and whose bravery or other personal qualities had raised him to the first honours in the country. General Reynier mentions that he has heard even Turkish officers say of persons who occupied great posts, "He is a man of the best connexions, he was bought."*

* Reynier, L'Egypte, p. 68, quoted by M. Malte Brun, vol. iv. p. 107.

CHAPTER XI.

The Natural History of Egypt.

GEOLOGY-Valley of the Nile-Alluvial Formation-Primitive RocksSerpentine-Of Upper Egypt-Limestone Strata-Sandstone and Trap -Puddingstone--Verde Antico-Natron Rocks-Minerals-Precious Stones-Öres-ZOOLOGY-Camelus Dromedarius-Giraffe-Civet Cat -Ichneumon-Sorex, or Shrew-Jerboa-Hippopotamus-Crocodile; cherished by Ancients-Monitor of the Nile-Hyena-Capra Aigros -Ovis Tragelaphus-Locust - BIRDS-Chenelopex-Ostrich-Ibis Ardea; Ibis Religiosa-Vulture; Mistake of Bruce-Oriental Dotterell--Charadrius Himantopus-Corvus Egyptiacus-Alcedo Egyptiacus-Anas Nilotica-Sterna Nilotica-The Pelican-The Quail, or Tetrao Coturnix-FISHES-Echencis Neucrates-Sparus NiloticusLabrus Niloticus-The Perch-Silurus Clarias-Salmo NiloticusTetraodon-Mugil Cephalus and Clupea Alosa--PLANTS-Papyrus; Uses-Persea-Lotus-Rose-lily-Rhamnus Lotus-Phoenix Dactylifera-Ficus Sycomorus-Plantain-tree-Cucumis Chate-Cucur bita Lagenaria-Colocasium-Carthamus Tinctorius-Acacia; Gum; Frankincense-Henna-The Aloe-ZoorHYTES-Corallines-Red Coral-Sponges-Polypes-Madrepores, Millepores, Gorgonia or Sea-fan.

SECTION 1.-GEOLOGY.

THE valley of the Nile, which taken by itself is strictly an alluvial formation, presents, nevertheless, a variety of features highly deserving the notice of the geologist. It is bounded by two chains of hills, which, after gradually passing from the primitive order of rocks into the secondary and flatz-trap, terminate in deposites belonging to the most recent description of stratified minerals.

The district between Philoe and Es Souan, on the left bank of the river, is occupied by the northern extremity of that granitic range which stretches into Nubia; containing a particular species of stone to which, from the mixture of a small portion of hornblende, the name of syenite is usually given. It is in this neighbourhood that those quarries are still seen from which the ancients hewed the stupendous masses required for their colossal statues and obelisks. The granite is occasionally diversified by alternations of gneiss, porphyry, clay-slate, quartz, and serpentine, which contain, as imbedded minerals, a great variety of carnelions

« PreviousContinue »