 CHAPTER IV LIFE IN THE WAKALA The Wakala, as the caravan's array or con is called in Egypt, combines the offices of hotel, lodging house, and store. It is at Cairo, as at Constantinople, a massive pile of buildings surrounding a quadrangular hodge or courtyard. On the ground floor are rooms like caverns for merchandise and shops of different kinds – tailors, cobblers, bakers, tobacconists, fruiterers, and others. A roofless gallery or a covered veranda into which all the apartments open runs round the first and sometimes the second story. The latter, however, is usually exposed to the sun and wind. The accommodations consist of sets of two or three rooms, generally an inner one and an outer. The latter contains a hearth for cooking, a bathing place, and similar necessaries. The staircases are high, narrow, and exceedingly dirty, dark at night, and often in bad weather they prepare. A goat or donkey is tethered upon the different landings. Here and there a fresh skin is stretched in process of tanning, and the smell reminds the veteran traveler of those closets in the old French ends where a cat used to be prepared for playing the part of jugged hair. The interior is unfurnished. Even the pegs upon which clothes are hung have been pulled down for firewood. The walls are bare but for stains. Like cobwebs depend in festoons from the blackened rafters of the ceiling, and the stone floor would disgrace the civilized prison. The windows are huge, apertures carefully barred with wood or iron, and in rare places show remains of glass or paper pasted over the framework. In the courtyard the poor sort of travelers can sort with tethered beasts of burden, beggars howl, and slaves lie basking and scratching themselves upon mountainous heaps of cotton bales and other merchandise. This is not a tempting picture, yet is the Waqala a most amusing place, presenting a succession of scenes which were delight lovers of the Dutch school, a rich exemplification of the grotesque, and what is called by artists the dirty picturesque. I could find no room in the Waqala Khan Khalil, the longs or mirrors of native Cairo. I was therefore obliged to put up with the Jamelaya, a Greek quarter, swarming with drunken Christians, and therefore about as fashionable as Oxford Street or Covent Garden. Even for this I had to wait a week. The pilgrims were flocking to Cairo, and to none other would the prudent hotel keepers open their doors, for the following sufficient reasons. When you enter a Waqala, the first thing you have to do is pay a small sum, varying from two to five shillings, for the Mifta, the key. This is generally equivalent to a month's rent, so the sooner you leave the house the better for it. I was obliged to call myself a Turkish pilgrim in order to get possession of two most comfortless rooms, which I afterwards learned were celebrated for making travelers ill. And I had to pay 18 piastres for the key, and 18 ditto perminsum for rent, besides five piastres to the man who swept and washed the place. So that for this month my house hire amounted to nearly four pence a day. But I was fortunate enough in choosing the Jamalaya Waqala before I found a friend there. On board the steamer a fellow voyager, seeing me sitting alone, and therefore as he conceived in discomfort, placed himself by my side, and opened a hot fire of kind inquiries. He was a man about forty-five, of middle size, with a large round head closely shaven, a bull neck, limbs sturdy as a Saxons, a thin red beard, and handsome features beaming within envelopes. A curious dry-humour he had, delighted and quizzing, but in so quiet a solemn and quaint a way that before you knew him you could scarcely divide his drift. Thank Allah we carry a doctor, said my friend more than once, with a apparent fervor of gratitude after he had discovered my profession. I was fairly taken in by the pious ejaculation, and some days elapsed before the drift of his remark became apparent. Few doctors, he explained, when we were more intimate. What do you do? A man goes to you for ophthalmia, is a purge, a blister, and a drop in the eye. Is it for fever? Well, a purge, and kinakina, quinine. For dysentery a purge, an extract of opium. Wallahi! I am as good a physician as the best of you, he would add with a broad grin. If I only knew the dirham-birhams, the second is an imitative word, called an Arabic grammar tabiyah, as zaid-baid, zaid and others. So used it denotes contempt for drachms and similar parts of drugcraft. Drums and drachms, and a few break-jaw Arabic names of diseases. Haji Wali, this familiar abbreviation of Wali al-Din, was the name assumed by the enterprising traveler, Dr. Wali, therefore emphatically advised me to make bread by honestly teaching languages. We are doctor-ridden, said he, and I found it was the case. When we lived under the same roof, the Haji and I became fast friends. During the day we called on each other frequently. We dined together, and passed the evening in the mosque, or some other place of public pastime. Not only at first, but less guardedly as we grew bolder, we smoked the habidan weed, hashish. By the Indians called bang, the Persians bang, the Hattintots dakka, and the natives of Barbarifasuk. Even the Siberians, we are told, intoxicate themselves by the vapor of this seed thrown upon red hot stones. Egypt surpasses all other nations in the variety of compounds into which this fast and in-drug enters, and will one day probably supply the western world with Indian hemp when its solid merits are duly appreciated. At present, in Europe, it is chiefly confined, as cognac and opium used to be, to the apothecary's shelves. Some adventurous individuals at Paris, after the perusal of Monte Cristo, attempted an orgy in one of the cafes, but with poor success. Originally from Russia, he also had been a traveler, and in his wonderings, he had cast off most of the prejudice of his people. I believe in Allah and his prophet, and in nothing else was his sturdy creed. He rejected alkhani, jinnies, and magicians, and truly he had the most unoriental distaste for tales of wonder. When I entered the Wakala, he constituted himself my sister-in-law, and especially guarded me against the cheating of tradesmen. By his advice, I laid aside the dar waish gown, the large blue pantaloons, and the short shirt. In fact, all connection with Persia and the Persians. If you persist in being a jami, said the haji, you will get yourself into trouble. In Egypt, you will be cursed. In Arabia, you will be beaten because you are a heretic. You will pay the treble of what other travelers do, and if you fall sick, you may die by the roadside. After long deliberation about the choice of nations, I became a Pathan. The Indian name of an Afghan, supposed to be a corruption of their Arabic Fathan, a conqueror, or a derivation from the Hindustani Pathanat to penetrate into the hostile ranks. It is an honorable term in Arabia, where Khurasani, a native of Khurasan, leads men to suspect a Persian, and the other generic appellation of the Afghan tribe Sulamani, and to send it from Solomon, reminds the people of their proverb for Sulamani Hirani, the Afghans are Ruffians. Born in India of Afghan parents, who had settled in the country, educated at Rangoon, and sent out to wander, as men of that race frequently are, from early youth, I was well guarded against the danger of detection by fellow countrymen. To support the character requires of knowledge of Persian, Hindustani, and Arabic, all of which I knew sufficiently well to pass muster. Any trifling inaccuracy was charged upon my long residence at Rangoon. This was an important step. The first question at the shop, on the camel, and in the mosque is, what is thy name? The second, whence comes thou? This is not generally impertinent, or intended to be annoying. If however you see any evil intention in the questioner, you may rather roughly ask him what may be his maternal parent's name, equivalent to inquiring, anguish, in what church his mother was married, and escape your difficulties under cover of the storm. This is rarely necessary. I assume the polite, pliant manners of an Indian physician, and the dress of a small offendi, or gentleman. Still, however, representing myself to be a darwesh, and frequenting the places where darwesh is congregate, what business, asked the haji, have those reverend men with politics or statistics, or any of the information which you are collecting? Call yourself a religious wanderer if you like, and let those who ask the object of your peregrinations know that you are under a vow to visit all the holy places in Islam. Thus you will persuade them that you are a man of rank under a cloud, and you will receive much more civility than perhaps you deserve, concluded my friend with a dry laugh. The remark proved his agacity, and after ample experience I had not to repent having been guided by his advice. Haji Wali, by profession a merchant at Alexandria, had accompanied Kudabahsh, the Indian, to Cairo on law business. He soon explained his affairs to me, and as his case brought out certain oriental peculiarities in a striking light, with his permission I offer a few of his details. My friend was defendant in a suit instigated against him in HBM's consular court, Cairo, by one Mohammed Shafya, a scoundrel of the first water. This man lived, and lived well, by setting up in business at places where his name was not known. He enticed the unwary by our full displays of capital, and after succeeding in getting credit he changed residence, carrying off all he could lay hands upon. But swindling is a profession of personal danger in uncivilized countries, where law punishes pauper debtors by a short imprisonment, and where the cheated prefer to gratify the revenge by the cudgel or the knife. So Mohammed Shafya, after a few narrow escapes, hid upon a prime expedient, though known to be a native of Baccarat, he actually signed himself so in his letters, and his appearance that once bespoke his origin, he determined to protect himself by a British passport. Our officials are sometimes careless enough in distributing these documents, and by so doing they exposed themselves to a certain loss of reputation at Indian courts. For the simple reason that no Eastern power conferred such an obligation except for value received. In old times, when official honour was not so rigorous as it is now, the creditors of Eastern powers and principalities would present high sums to British residents and others for the privilege of being enrolled in the list of their subjects or servants. This they made profitable, for their claims, however exorbitant, went back by a name of fear, were certain to be admitted, unless the resident's conscience would allow his being persuaded by way to your arguments of a similar nature to abandon his protege. It is almost needless to remark that nothing of the kind can occur in the present day, and at the same time that throughout the Eastern world it is firmly believed that such things are of a daily occurrence. Ill fame descends to distant generations, whilst good deeds, if they boss them, as we are told, and the dust are at least as short-lived as they are sweet. Still, Mohammad Shafi'ah found some difficulties in affecting his fraud. To recount all his renaissance would weary the reader, suffice it to say that by proper management of the subalterns in the consulate he succeeded without ruining himself. Armed with this new defense, he started boldly for Jeddah on the Arabian coast, having entered into partnership with Haji Wali, whose confidence he had won by prayers, fastings, and pilgrimagees. He openly trafficked in slaves, sending them to Alexandria for sale, and riding with matchless impudence to his correspondent that he would dispose of them in person, but for fear of losing his British passport and protection. Presently an unlucky adventure embroiled this worthy British subject with Faraz Yusuf, the principal merchant of Jeddah, and also an English protege. Fearing so powerful an adversary, Mohammad Shafi'ah packed up his spoils and departed for Egypt. Presently he quarrels with his former partner, thanking him a soft man, and claims from him a debt of £165. He supports his pretensions by a document and four witnesses, who are ready to swear that the receipt and question was signed, sealed, and delivered by Haji Wali. The latter reduces his books to show that accounts have been settled, and can prove that the witnesses in question are paupers, therefore not legal. Moreover, that each has received from the plaintiff $2, the price of hergery. Now had such a suit been carried into a Turkish court of justice, it would very sensibly have been settled by the Basinado, for Haji Wali was a respectable merchant, and Mohammad Shafi'ah a notorious swindler. But the latter was a British subject, which notably influenced the question. The more to annoy his adversary, he went up to Cairo and began proceedings there, hoping by this acute step to receive part payment of his demand. Arriving at Cairo, Mohammad Shafi'ah applied himself statually to the task of bribing all who could be useful to him, distributing shawls and piastres with great generosity. He secured the services of an efficient lawyer, and determined to enlist heaven itself in his cause. He passed the Ramazan ostentatiously. He fasted and each slaughtered sheep to feed the poor. Meanwhile, Haji Wali, a simple truth telling man, who could never master the rudiments of that art, which teaches men to blow hot and to blow cold with the same breath, had been persuaded to visit Cairo by Kudukvash, the Wiley Indian, who promised to introduce him to influential persons, and to receive him in his house, so he could provide himself with the lodging at the Wakala. But Mohammad Shafi'ah, who had once been in partnership with the Indian, and who possibly knew more than was fit to meet the public ear, found this out, and partly by begging, partly by bullying, persuaded Kudukvash to transfer the influential introductions to himself. Then the Hakim, a doctor, a learned man, not to be confounded with Hakim, a ruler. Abdullah, your humble servant, appears upon the scene. He has traveled in faringistan. He has seen many men in their cities. He becomes an intimate and an advisor of the Haji. He finds out evil passages in Mohammad Shafi'ah's life, upon which Kudukvash ashamed, or rather afraid of his duplicity, collects his Indian friends. The Hakim, Abdullah draws up a petition addressed to Mr. Wal, HBM's consul, by the Indian merchants and others resident at Cairo, informing him of Mohammad Shafi'ah's birth, character, and occupation as a vendor of slaves, offering proof of all assertions, and praying him for the sake of their good name to take away his passport. And all the Indians affix their seals to this paper. Then Mohammad Shafi'ah threatens to wailay and beat the Haji. The Haji, not loud or hectoringly, but with a composed smile, advises his friends to hold him off. One would suppose that such a document would have elicited some inquiry, but Haji Wali was a Persian protege, and proceedings between the consulates had commenced before the petition was presented. The pseudo-British subject, having been acknowledged as a real one, must be supported. No notice was taken of the Indian Petition, where still no inquiry into the slave affair was set on foot. It may be as well to remark that our slave laws require reform throughout the East. Their severity, like Draco's code, defeating their purpose. In Egypt, for instance, they require modification. Constitute the offence of misdemeanor, not a felony. Inflict a fine, say a hundred pounds, half of which should be given to the informer, and make the imprisonment either a short one, or what would be better still let it be done away with, except in cases of non-payment. And finally, let the consul or some other magistrate residing at the place have power to inflict the penalty of the law, instead of being obliged, as at present, to transmit offenders to Maltha for trial. As the law now stands, our officials are unwilling to carry its rigors into effect. They therefore easily lend an ear to the standard excuse, ignorance, in order to have an opportunity of decently dismissing a man, with a warning not to do it again. And it was discovered that the passport having been granted by a consul general could not with official etiquette be resumed by a consul. Yet at the time there was at Alexandria an acting consul general, to whom the case could with strict propriety have been referred. Thus matters were destined to proceed as they began. Mohammad Shafia had offered five thousand piestres to the Persian consul's interpreter. This of course was refused, but still, somehow or other, all the Haji's affairs seemed to go wrong. His statements were mis-translated, his accounts were misunderstood, and the suit was allowed to drag on to his suspicious length. When I left Cairo in July, Haji Wali had been kept away nearly two months from his business and family, though both parties, before the plaintiff's purse was rapidly thinning, appeared eager to settle the difference by arbitration. When I returned from Arabia in October, matters were almost in state to quill ante, and when I started for India in January, the proceedings had not closed. Such is a brief history, but too common, of a case in which the subject of an eastern state has to contend against British influence. It is doubtless a point of honor to defend our protégés from injustice, but the higher principles should rest upon the base of common honesty. The worst part of such a case is that the injured party has no redress. Fiat injustitia ruet coelum is the motto of his natural protectors, who would violate every law to gratify the false pride of a petty English official. In saving the rare exceptions were rank or wealth command consideration. With what face, to use the needy phrase, would a hapless Turk appeal to the higher powers, our ministers or our parliament? After lodging myself in the Wakala, my first object was to make a certain stir in the world. In Europe, your traveling doctor advertises the loss of a diamond ring, the gift of a Russian autocrat, or he monopolizes a whole column in a newspaper, feeling perhaps a title for the use of a signature. The large brass plate, the gold-headed cane, the rattling chariot, and the summons from the sermon complete the work. Here there is no such royal, wrote to medical fame. You must begin by sitting with the porter, who is sure to have blear eyes into which you drop a little nitrate of silver, whilst you instill into his ear the pleasing intelligence that you never take a fee from the poor. He recovers, his report of you spreads far and wide, crowding your doors with paupers. They come to you as though you were their servant, and when cured they turn their backs upon you forever. Hence it is that European doctors generally complain of ingratitude on the part of their oriental patients. It is true that if you save a man's life he naturally asks you for the means of preserving it. Moreover, in none of the Eastern languages with which I am acquainted is there a single term conveying the meaning of our gratitude. In none but Germans, Johann Gottlieb expressedly declares that the scope of his system has never been explained by words, and that it even admits not of being so explained. To make his opinions intelligible he would express them by a system of figures, each of which must have a known and positive value. Have ideas that are unexplainable by words, but you must not condemn this absence of a virtue without considering the cause. An oriental deems that he has the right to your surplus. Daily bread is divided by heaven, he asserts, and eating yours he considers it his own. Thus it is with other things. He is thankful to Allah for the gifts of the Creator, but he has a claim to the good offices of a fellow creature. In rendering him a service you have but done your duty, and he would not pay you so poor a compliment as to praise you for the act. He leaves you, his benefactor, with a short prayer for the length of your days. Thank you, being expressed by Allah, increase thy will, or the selfish wish that your shadow, with which you protect him and his fellows, may never be less. And this is probably the last you hear of him. There is a discomfort in such proceedings, a reasonable, a metaphysical coldness, ugly contrasting in theory with the genial warmth which a little more heart would infuse into them. In theory I say, not in practice. Human nature feels kindness is displayed. To return it in kind. But Easterns do not carry out the idea of such obligations as we do. What can be more troublesome than when you have lodged a man to run the gauntlet of his and his family's thanksgivings, to find yourself become a master from being a friend, a great man when you were an equal, not to be contradicted, were shortly before everyone gave his opinion freely. You must be unamiable if these considerations deter you from benefiting your friend. Yet, I humbly opine, you still may fear his gratefulness. To presume, when the mob has raised you to fame, patients of a better class will slowly appear on the scene. After some coqueting about etiquette, whether you are to visit them, or they are to call upon you, they make up their minds to see you, and to judge with their eyes whether you are to be trusted or not. Whilst you, on your side, set out with the determination that they shall at once cross the Rubicon. In less classical phrase, swallow your drug. If you visit the house, you insist upon the patient's service that is tending you. He must also provide and pay an ass for your conveyance, no matter if it be only to the other side of the street. Your confidential man accompanies you, primed for replies to the fifty searching questions of the servant's hall. You are lifted off the saddle tenderly as nurses dismount their charges. When you arrive at the gate and you waddle upstairs with dignity, arrived at the sick room, you salute this presence with a general peace be upon you, to which they respond, and upon thee be the peace and the mercy of Allah, and his blessing. To the end of that you say, there is nothing to matter, please Allah, except the health, to which the proper answer, for here every sign of ceremony has its countersign, MC the Percival, Arabic Grammar, and Lane, modern Egyptians, Chapter 8, at Passam, give specimens. Is, may Allah give the health? When you sit down and acknowledge the presence of the company by raising your right hand to your lips and forehead, bowing the wiles circularly, each individual returns the civility by a similar gesture. Then inquiry about the state of your health ensues. Then you are asked what refreshment you will take. You studiously mention something not likely to be in the house, but at last you rough it with a pipe and a cup of coffee. Then you proceed to the patient, who extends his wrist, and ask you what his complaint is. Then you examine his tongue. You feel his pulse, you look to learn it, and he is talking all the time. After hearing a detailed list of all his ailments, you gravely discover them, taking for the same as much praise to yourself as does the practicing phrenologist for a similar simple exercise of the reasoning faculties. The disease, to be respectable, must invariably connected with one of the four temperaments, or the four elements, or the humors of hypocrites. Cure is easy, but it will take time, and you, the doctor, requires attention. Any little rudeness it is in your power to punish by an alteration in the pill, or the powder. And so unknown is professional honor that none will brave your displeasure. If you would pass for a native practitioner, you must finally proceed to the most uncomfortable part of your visit, bargaining for fees. Nothing more effectively arouses suspicions than disinterestedness in a doctor. I once cured a rich, hazard amount, merchant of rheumatism, and neglected the making pay for treatment. He carried off one of my coffee cups, and was unceasingly wondering where I came from. So I made him produce five piastres, a shilling, which he threw upon the carpet, cursing Indian avarice. You will bring on another illness, said my friend, the haji, when he heard of it. Properly speaking, the fee for a visit to a respectable man is 20 piastres, but with the rich patient you begin by making a bargain. He complains, for instance, of dysentery and sciatica. You demand 10 pounds for the dysentery and 20 pounds for the sciatica, but you will rarely get it. The Eastern pays the doctor's bill as a orish man does his rent, making a grievance of it. Your patient will show indisputable signs and convalescence. He will laugh and jest half the day. But the moment you appear, groans and lengthens visage, and pretend it complains, welcome you. Then your way is to throw out some hints as, the world is a carcass, and they who seek it are dogs. And you refuse to treat the second disorder, which conduct may bring the refractory one to his senses. That galanus opus, however, is a Western apathosum. The utmost galanus can do for you here is to provide you with the necessaries and comforts of life. Whatever you prescribe must be solid and material, and if you accompany it with something painful, such as rubbing to scarification with a horse brush, so much the better. Easterns, like our peasants in Europe, wish the doctor to give them the value of their money, besides which rough measures act beneficially upon their imagination. So the Hakim of the king of Persia cured fevers by the Bassinado. Patients are beneficially baked in a bread oven at Baghdad, and an Egyptian at Alexandria, whose court and resisted the strongest appliances of European physics, was effectively healed by the actual caudary, which a certain Arab shake applied to the crown of his head. You administer, with your own hand, the remedy, half a dozen huge bread pills dipped in a solution of alloys or cinnamon water, flavored with asafetida, which, in the case of the dyspectic rich, often suffice, if they will, but die at themselves. You are careful to say, in the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful. And after the patient has been dosed, praise be to Allah, the curer, the healer. You then call for pen, ink, and paper, and write some such prescription as this. A. A monogram is generally placed at the head of writings. It is the initial letter of Allah and the first of the alphabet used from time immemorial to denote the act of creation. I am the alpha and omega, the first and the last. In the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful. And blessings and peace be upon our Lord, the apostle, and his family, and his companions, one and all. But afterwards let him take bees, honey, and cinnamon, and album, and greekum, of each half a part, and a ginger, a whole part, which let him pound and mix with the honey, and form boluses. Each bolus the weight of a miscal, and of it let him use every day a miscal on the saliva. A la rik, that is to say fasting, the first thing in the morning. Verily its effects are wonderful. And let him abstain from flesh, fish, vegetables, sweet meats, flatulent food, acids of all descriptions, as well as the major ablution, and live in perfect quiet. So shall he be cured by the help of the king, the healer, the almighty, and the peace. Wa salam, a'i ad-yuh. The diet, I need scarcely say, should be rigorous. Nothing has tended more to bring the European system of medicine into contempt among orientals than our inattention of this branch of the therapeutic art. When a Hindi or a Hindu takes medicine, he prepares himself for it by diet and rests two or three days before ad-yuhi shun. And as gradually, after the dose, he relapses into his usual habits. If he break through the regime, it is concluded that fatal results must ensue. The ancient Egyptians we learn from Herodotus, devoted a certain number of days in each month to the use of alternatives. And the period was consecutive, doubtless in order to graduate the strength of the medicine. The Persians, when under salivation, shut themselves up in a warm room, never undress, and so carefully guard against cold that they even drink tepid water. When the African princes find it necessary to employ Chabchini, the Jinsing. From M. Huk, we learn that Jinsing is the most considerable article of Manchurian commerce, and that throughout China there is no chemist shop, unprovided, with more or less of it. He adds, the Chinese report marvels of the Jinsing, and no doubt it is for Chinese organization a tonic of very great effect for old and weak persons, but its nature is too heedy. The Chinese physicians admit, for the European temperament, are already, in their opinion, too hot. The price is enormous, and doubtless its dearness contributes with the people like the Chinese to raise its celebrity so high. The rich and the Mandarin's probably use it only because it is above the reach of other people, and out of pure ostentation. It is the principal tonic used throughout Central Asia, and was well known in Europe when Sarsaparilla arose to dispute with it the palm of popularity. In India, Persia, and Afghanistan, it is called Chabchini, the Chinese wood. The preparations are in two forms. One, Sufuf, or powder. Two, kawa, or decoction. The former is compound of Reddick's China Quarant, with gum, mashed dish, and sugar candy. Equal parts, about a dram of this compound, is taken once a day, early in the morning. For the decoction, one ounce of fine perions is boiled for a quarter of an hour, and a quart of water. When the liquid assumes a red color, it is taken off a fire and left to cool. Furthermore, there are two methods of attributing the Chochini. One, band, two, cola. The first is when the patient confines himself to a garden, listening to music, enjoying the breeze, the sound of birds, and the bubbling of a flowing stream. He avoids everything likely to trouble and annoy him. He will not even open a letter, and the doctor forbids anyone to contradict him. Some grandees in Central Asia will go through a course of 40 days in every second year. It reminds one of Epicura's style of treatment. The downy bed, the garlands of flowers, the good wine, and the beautiful singing girl, and is doubtless at least as efficacious in curing as a sweet relaxation of Graffenburg or Malvern. So says Socrates, according to the Anonymous of Melancholy. Oculum non curibus sine toto capite, ne caput sine toto corpore, ne totum corpus sine animal. The cola signifies that you take the tonic without other precautions than the avoiding acids, salt, and pepper, and choosing summertime as cold as supposed to induce rheumatism. Or China Roots so celebrated as a purifier, tonic, and aphrodisiac, they choose the spring season. They remove to a garden where flowers and trees and bubbling streams soothe their senses. They carefully avoid fatigue and trouble of all kinds, and will not even hear a letter read unless it should contain bad news. When the prescription is written out, you will fix an impression of your ring seal to the beginning and to the end of it, that no one may be able to add to or take from its contents. And when you send medicine to a patient of rank who is sure to have enemies, you adopt some similar precaution against the box or the bottle being opened. One of the poshers whom I attended, a brave soldier who had been a favorite with Muhammad Ali, and therefore was degraded by his successor, kept an impression of my ring and wax to compare with that upon the files. Men have not forgotten how frequently and former times those who became obnoxious to the state were seized with sudden and fatal cramps in the stomach. In the case of the doctor, it is common prudence to adopt these precautions, as all evil consequences would be charged upon him and he would be exposed to the family's revenge. End of section seven. Chapter four of Pilgrimage to Al Medina and Mecca. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Ted Garbet. Chapter four of Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Medina and Mecca by Richard Francis Burton. Cairo, though abounding in medical practitioners, can still support more, but to thrive they must be Indians, Chinese, or Mahrabis. The Egyptians are thoroughly disgusted with European treatment, which is here about as efficacious as in India. That is to say, not at all. But they are ignorant of the medicine of hand, and therefore great is its name, deservedly perhaps, for skill and symbols and dietetics, besides which the Indian may deal in charms and spells, things to which the latitude gives such force that even Europeans learn to put faith in them. The traveler who, on the banks of the Seine, scoffs at sights and sounds, table-turning at spirit-wrapping, sees in the wiles of tertiary and Tibet as something supernatural and diabolical in the bungley sifa of the Bhakti. Certain lamas, who we learn from Mr. Hoek, before famous sifa, or supernaturalisms, such as cutting open the abdomen, licking red-hot irons, making incisions in various parts of the body, which in instant afterwards leave no trace behind, et cetera, et cetera. The devil may have a great deal to do with the matter in tartary, for all I know, but I can assure Mr. Hoek that the Rife-Darracias in India and the Sayidiyah at Cairo perform exactly the same feats. Their jugglery, seen through the smoke of incense, and amidst the enthusiasm of a crowd, is tolerably dexterous and no more. Some sensible men, who pass for philosophers among their friends, have been caught by the incantations of the turban and bearded Cairo magician. In our West African colonies, the phrase growing black was applied to colonists who, after a term of residence, became thoroughly imbued with the superstitions of the land. And there are not wanting old Anglo-Indians, intelligent men, that place firm trust in tales and tenets to purile, even for the Hindus to believe. As a Hindi, I could use animal magnetism, taking care, however, to give the science of species supernatural appearance. Haji Wally, who professing positive skepticism, showed the greatest interest in the subject as a curiosity, advised me not to practice pure mesmerism, otherwise, that I should infallibly become a companion of devils. You must call this an Indian secret, said my friend, for it is clear that you are no more a shake. Hey, holy man, the word has a singular signification in a plural form, honoris causa. And people will ask, where are your drugs, and what business have you with charms? It is useless to say that I followed his counsel, yet patients would consider themselves my myrids, disciples, and delighted in kissing the hand of the Sahab Nafas. I titled literally meaning the master of breath, one who can cure ailments, physical as well as spiritual, by breathing upon them, a practice well known to mesmerists. The reader will allow me to observe in self-defense, otherwise, he might look suspiciously upon so credulous a narrator, that when speaking of animal magnetism as a thing established, I allude to the lower phenomena, rejecting the discussion of all disputed points as the existence of a magnetic aura and of all its unintelligibilities, provision, levitation, introvision, and other divisions of clairvoyance. Or my or saint, the haji repaid me for my docility by launting me everywhere as the very phoenix of physicians. My first successes were in the Wakala. Opposite to me, they lived an Arab slave dealer whose Abyssinians constantly fell sick. A tender race, they suffered when first transported to Egypt from many complaints, especially consumption, dysentery, and varicose veins. I succeeded in curing one girl. As she was worth at least 15 pounds, the gratitude of her owner was great, and I had to dose half a dozen others in order to cure them of the pernicious and price-lowering habit of snoring. Living in rooms opposite these slave girls and seeing them at all hours of the day and night, I had frequent opportunities of studying them. They were average specimens of the stethiopigus Abyssinian breed, broad-shouldered, thin-flanked, fine-limbed, and with haunches of a prodigious size. None of them had handsome features, but the short curly hair that stands on end being concealed under a kerchief. They were something pretty in the brow, eyes, and upper part of the nose, coarse and sensual independent lips, large jowl and projecting mouth, whilst the whole had a combination of frequency with sweetness. Their style of flirtation was peculiar. How beautiful thou art, O' Maryam, what eyes, what, then why would respond the lady, don't you buy me? We are of one faith, of one creed, formed to form each other's happiness. Then why don't you buy me? Conceive, O' Maryam, the blessing of two hearts. Then why don't you buy me? And so on. Most effectual gag to cupid's eloquence, yet was not the plain-spoken Maryam's reply without its moral. How often is it our faith, in the west as in the east, to see in bright eyes and to hear from rosy lips and implied, if not expressed, why don't you buy me? Or we're still, why can't you buy me? All I required, in return for my services from the slave dealer, whose brutal countenance and manners were truly repugnant, was to take me about the town and explain to me certain mysteries in his craft, which knowledge might be useful in time to come. Little did he suspect who his interrogator was, and freely in his unsusficionless he entered upon the subject of slave hunting in the Somali country and Zanzibar, of all places, the most interesting to me. I have, however, nothing new to report concerning the present state of bondsman in Egypt. England has already learned that slaves are not necessarily the most wretched and degraded of men. Some have been bold enough to tell the British public that in the generality of oriental countries, in the generality, not in all, nothing, for instance, can be more disgraceful to human nature than the state of cradle slavery or serfs attached to the Gleeb, when Malabar was under the dominion of the mild Hindu. And as a rule in the East, it is only the domestic slaves who taste the sweets of slavery. Yet there is truth in Sunini's terrible remark, the severe treatment under which the slaves languished in the West Indies is the shameful prerogative of civilization and is unknown to those nations among whom barbarism is reported to whole sway. Travels in upper and lower Egypt volume two. The serf fares better than the servant or indeed than the poorest orders of freemen. The laws of Mahomet enjoy his followers to treat slaves with the greatest mildness and the Muslims are in general scrupulous observers of the apostles recommendation. Slaves are considered members of the family and in houses where free servants are also kept, they seldom do any work than filling the pipes, presenting the coffee, accompanying their master when going out, rubbing his feet when he takes a nap in the afternoon and driving away the flies from him. When a slave is not satisfied, he can legally compel his master to sell him. He has no care for food, lodging, clothes and washing and has no taxes to pay. He is exempt from military service and suckage and in spite of his bondage is freer than the freest fellow in Egypt. The author has forgotten to mention one of the principal advantages of slaves, namely the prospect of arriving at the highest rank of the empire. The Pasha of the Syrian caravan with which I traveled to Damascus had been the slave of a slave and he is but a solitary instance of cases perpetually occurring in all Muslim lands. Sezum um debonfamee, said a Turkish officer in Egypt. Yilek ashe ashe te. This is, I believe, a true statement, but of course it in no wise affects the question of slavery and the abstract. A certain amount of reputation was the consequence of curing the Abyssinian girls. My friend Haji Wali carefully told the news to all the town and before 15 days were over, I found myself obliged to decline extending the practice which threatened me with fame. Servants are most troublesome things to all Englishmen in Egypt, but especially to one traveling as a respectable native and therefore expected to have slaves. After much deliberation, I resolved to take a berbery, a barbarian from Nubia and upper Egypt. Some authorities, Mr. Lane, for instance, attribute the good reputation of these people to their superior cunning. Sinini says they are intelligent and handy servants but naves. Others believe in them. As far as I could find out, they were generally esteemed more honest than the Egyptians and they certainly possessed a certain sense of honor unknown to the northern brethren. Berbery is a term of respect. Masry, corrupted from misery, in the mouth of a Badali or an Arab of Arabia is a reproach. He shall be called an Egyptian means he shall belong to a degraded race. And accordingly summoned a sheikh. There was a sheikh for everything down to thieves in the east. In Egypt since the days of Daodorus, Ciculus and made no by want. The list of sign qua nones was necessarily rather an extensive one. Good health and a readiness to travel anywhere. A little skill in cooking, sewing and washing, willingness to fight and a habit of regular prayers. After a days of lay, the sheikh brought me a specimen of his choosing, a broad-shouldered, bandy-legged fellow with the usual bull-logged expression of the Berberus. In his case, rendered doubly expressive by the drooping of an eyelid. An accident brought about with accurate juice in order to avoid conscription. He responded certainly to all my questions. Some Egyptian, donkey boys and men were making a noise in the room at the time and the calm ferocity with which he ejected them commanded my approval. When a needle, thread and an unhymn napkin were handed to him, he sat down, held the edge of the cloth between his big toe and his neighbor and finished the work in quite a superior style. Walking out, he armed himself with a curb badge which he used, not lightly, then heavily upon all laden animals, biped and quadruped that came in the way. His conduct proving equally satisfactory in the kitchen after getting security from him and having his name registered by the sheikh. Who becomes responsible and must pay for any theft his protégé may commit? Berberus, being generally less sweet of respectable establishments, are expected to be honest. Like an assert from experience that, as a native, you will never recover the value of a stolen article without having a recourse to the police. For his valuable security, the sheikh demands a small fee, seven or eight piastres, which, despite the urgent remonstrances of protector and protégé, you deduct from the latter's wages. The question of pay is a momentous one. Too much always spoils a good servant, too little leaves you without one. An Egyptian of the middle class would pay his berbery about 40 piastres a month, besides board lodging some small prerequisites and presents on special occasions. This, however, will not induce a man to travel, especially across the sea. I closed with him for 80 piastres a month, but Ali, the berbery, and I were destined to part. Before fortnight, he stabbed his fellow servant, a surat lad, who, wishing to return home, forced his services upon me. And for this trick, he received, with his dismissal, 400 blows on the feet by order of the Zabit, or police magistrate. After this failure, I tried to, a number of servants, Egyptians, Saidis, a man from the Said, or upper Egypt, and clean and unclean eating, a favorite way of annoying the berberers is to repeat the saying, we have eaten the clean, we have eaten the unclean, meaning that they are by no means cunning in the difference between right and wrong, pure and impure. I will relate to the origin of the saying, as I heard it differently, from Mansfield Parkins, Life in Abyssinia, Chapter 31. A berbery, said my informant, had been carefully fattening a fine sheep for a feast, when his cottage was burned by an accident. In the ashes he found roasted meat, which looked tempting to a hungry man. He called his neighbors, and all sat down to make merry over the mishap. Presently they came to the head, which proved to be that of a dog, some enemy having doubtless stolen the sheep, and put the impure animal in its place. Whereupon, sadly perplexed, all the berberies went to their priest, and hopefully related the circumstance, expecting absolution, as the offense was involuntary. You have eaten filth, said the man of Allah. Well, replied the berberies, falling by him with their fists. Filth or not, we have eaten it. The berbery, I must remark, is the patty of this part of the world, celebrated for bulls and blunders. Berberies. Recommended by different sheiks, all had some fatal defect. One cheated recklessly, another robbed me, a third drank, a fourth was always in scrapes for infreaging the Julian Edict, and the last, a long-legged Nubian, after remaining two days in the house, dismissed me for expressing a determination to travel by sea from Suez to Yambu. I kept one man, he complained that he was worked to death. Two, they did nothing but fight, and three, they left me, as Mr. Elway said of old, to serve myself. At last, thoroughly tired of Egyptian domestics, and one servant being really sufficient for comfort, as well as suitable to my assumed rank, I determined to keep only the Indian boy. He had all the defects of his nation, a brave at Cairo, he was an errant coward at Al Medina. The butterwind despised him hardly for his effeminacy in making his camel kneel to dismount, and he could not keep his hands from picking and sealing. But the choice had its advantages. His swarthy skin and chubby features made the Arabs always call him an Abyssinian slave, which, as it favored my disguise, I did not care to contradict. He served well, he was amenable to discipline, and being completely dependent upon me, he was therefore less likely to watch, and especially to pray about my proceedings. As master and man, we performed the pilgrimage together, then on my return to Egypt after the pilgrimage, sheik, become haji, ner, finding me to be a sahib, the generic name given by Indians to English officials, changed for the worse. He would not work, and reserved all his energy for the purpose of pilfering, which he practiced so audaciously upon my friends, as well upon myself, that he could not be kept in the house. Perhaps the reader may be curious to see the necessary expenses of a bachelor residing at Cairo. He must observe, however, in the following list that I was not a strict economist, and besides that, I was a stranger to the country. Inhabitants and old settlers would live as well for a little more than two-thirds of some. House rent at 18 piastros perminsum, 24 pence. Servant at 80 piastros per do, 2 shillings, 26 pence. Breakfast for self and servant, 10 eggs, 5 pence. Coffee, 10 pence. Watermelon, now 5 piastros, 1 shilling. 2 rolls of bread, 10 pence. 2 pounds of meat, 2 shillings, 20 pence. 2 rolls of bread, 10 pence. Dinner, vegetables, 20 pence. Rice, 5 pence. Oil and clarified butter, 1 shilling. A skin of Nile water, 1 shilling. Sundries, tobacco, 1 shilling. There are 4 kinds of tobacco smoked in Egypt. The first and best is the well-known Latakia, generally called Jabali, either from a small seaport town about 3 hours journey south of Latakia, or more probably because grown on the hills near the ancient Laodicea. Pure. It is known by its blackish color, fine shredding, absence of stalk, and an undescribable odor, to me resembling that of Creosote. The leaf, too, is small, so that when made into cigars, it must be covered over with a slip of the yellow Turkish tobacco called Bafra, except that the highest house is unadulterated Latakia is not to be had in Cairo. Yet, mixed as it is, no other growth exceeds it in flavor and fragrance. Miss Martino smoked it, we are told, without inconvenience, and it differs from our shag, bird's eye, and returns, in degree, as does Chateau Margaux from a bottle of cheap, strong Spanish wine. To bring out its flavor, the connoisseur smokes it in long pipes of cherry, jasmine, maple, or rosewood, and these require a servant skilled in the arts of cleaning and filling them. The best Jabali at Cairo costs about seven piasteries a pound, after which a small sum must be paid to the phyram or chopper, who prepares it for use. Second, Suri, Tyria, or Shammi, or Suryana, grown in Syria, an inferior growth of a lighter color than Latakia, and with a greenish tinge. When cut, its value is about three piasteries per pound. Some smokers mix this leaf with Jabali, which Chamate spoils the flavor of the latter without proving the former. The strongest kind, called Kaurani, or Jabali, is generally used for cigarettes. It costs, when at first-rate quality, about five piasteries per pound. Third, Tambak, or Persian tobacco, called Hajazi, because imported from the Hajaz, where everybody smokes it, and supposed to come from Shiraz, Kazarun, and other celebrated places in Persia. It is all but impossible to buy this article, unadulterated, except from the caravans returning after the pilgrimage. The Egyptians mix it with native growths, which ruins its flavor and gives it an acridity that catches the throat, whereas good comeback never yet made a man cough. Yet the taste of this tobacco, even when second-rate, is so fascinating to some smokers that they will use no other. To be used, it should be whetted and squeezed, and it is invariably inhaled through water into the lungs. Almost every town has its favorite description of pipe, tobacco. Hemem, hot bath, three shillings, 20 pence. Oil and clarified butter, one shilling, two pence. Total, 12 shillings, 50 pence, equal to about two shillings and six pence. In these days, who at Cairo without a shake? I thought it right to conform to popular custom, and accordingly, after having secured a servant, my efforts were directed to finding a teacher, the pretext being that as an Indian doctor, I wanted to read Arabic works on medicine, as well as to perfect myself in divinity and pronunciation. A study essential to the learned, as in some particular portions of the Koran, a mispronunciation becomes a sin. My theological studies were in the Shafay school for two reasons. In the first place, it is the least rigorous of the four orthodox, and secondly, it must resemble Zashiyah heresy, with which long intercourse with Persians had made me familiar. The Shafay, to quote but one point of similarity, abused Yazid, the Syrian tyrant, who caused the death of the Iron Man Hussein. This expression of indignation is forbidden by the Hanafi doctors who originally ordered their disciples to judge not. My choice of doctrine however, confirmed those around me in their conviction that I was a rank heretic for the Ajami, taught by his religion to conceal offensive tenets. A systematic concealment of doctrine and profession of popular tenets technically called by the Shias, taqiyah, the literal meaning of the word is fear or caution. In lands where the open expression would be dangerous, always represents himself to be a Shafay. This, together with the original mistake of appearing publicly at Alexandria as a Merza in a Persian dress, caused me infinite small annoyance at Cairo, in spite of all precautions and contrivances. And throughout my journey, even in Arabia, though I drew my knife every time an offensive hint was thrown out, the ill fame clung to me like the shirt of Nessus. It was not long before I happened to hit upon a proper teacher in the Persian of Sheikh Mohammed al-Atar, or the drugists. He had known prosperity, having once been a Qatayb, preacher, and one of Mohammed al-Ismasq. But his highness the late Pasha had dismissed him, which disastrous event with its subsequent train of misfortunes he dates from the Melaq Ali Day when he took to himself a wife. He talks of her abroad as a stern and rigid master dealing with a naughty slave, though by the look that accompanies his Rotomontad, I am convinced that at home he was the very model of managed men. His dismissal was the reason that compelled him to fall back upon the trade of a drugist, the refuge for the once wealthy, though now destitute, sages of Egypt. His little shop in the Jamilaya, quarter is a perfect gem of melodic queerness. A hole, about five feet long and six deep, pierced in the wall of some house, is divided into two compartments separated by a thin partition of wood and communicating by a kind of arch cut in the boards. The inner box, germ of a back parlor, acts as a storeroom as the pile of empty old baskets tossed in dusty confusion upon the dirty floor shows. In the front is displayed the stock and trade, a matting full of Persian tobacco and pipe bowls of red clay, a palm leaf bag containing vile coffee and large lumps of coarse whitey brown sugar wrapped up in browner paper. On the shelves and ledges are rows of well-thumbed wooden boxes, labeled with the greatest carelessness, pepper for rhubarb, arsenic for taffle, or wash clay, and sulfate of iron where saw ammonia should be. There is also a square case containing a new lock and key, small change and some choice to articles of commerce, damaged perfumes, bad etymology for the eyes, and pernicious rouge. And dangling close above it is a rusty pair of scales, ill-poised enough for Egyptian themas herself to use. To hooks over the shop front are suspended reeds for pipes, tallow candles, dirty wax tapers, and cigarette paper. Instead of plate glass windows and brass-handled doors, a ragged net keeps away the flies when the master is in, and the thieves, when he goes out to recite in the Hassanain mosque, his daily chapter, Yassin. One of the most esteemed chapters of the Koran, frequently recited as Awazifah or daily task by religious Muslims in Egypt. A wooden shutter, which closes down at night time, and by day two palm-stick stools intensely dirty and full of fleas, accompanying the place of the mastaba or earthen bench. The mastaba here is a long earthen bench plastered over with clay and raised about two feet from the ground, so as to bring the purchaser's head to a level with the shop. Muhammad Ali ordered the people to remove them as they narrowed the streets. Their place is now supplied by kafahs, cages, or stools of wicker work, which accommodated purchasers complete the furniture of my preceptor's establishment. There he sits, or rather lies, for verily I believe he sleeps through three-fourths of the day. A thin old man about fifty-eight, a great age in lower Egypt, where but few reached the twelfth luster. Even the ancients observed that the old Egyptians, despite their attention to diet and physics, were the most short-lived and the prisons, despite their barbarism, the longest lived of them. With features once handsome and regular, a shallow face, shaved in head, deeply wrinkled cheeks, eyes hopelessly blared, and a rough gray beard, ignorant of oil and comb. His turban, though large, is brown with wear. His coat and small clothes displayed many a whole, and though his face and hands must be frequently washed preparatory to devotion, still they have the quality of looking always unclean. It is wonderful how fierce and gruff he is to the little boys and girls who flock to him, grasping farthings for pepper and sugar. On such occasions, I sit admiring to see him when forced to exertion, wheel about on his place, making a pivot of that portion of our organization, which mainly distinguishes our species from the other families of the Simidae, to reach some distant drawer, or to pull down a case from its custom shelf. How does he manage to say his prayers? To kneel and to prostrate himself upon that two feet of ragged rug, scarcely sufficient for a British infant to lie upon. He hopelessly owns that he knows nothing of his craft, and the seats before his shop are seldom occupied. His great pleasure appears to be when the haji and I sit by him a few minutes in the evening, bringing with us pipes, which he assists us to smoke, and order and coffee, which he insists upon sweetening with a lump of sugar from his little store. There we make him talk and laugh, and occasionally quote a few lines, strongly savoring of the jovial. We provoke him to long stories about the love born him in his student days by the great and holy Sheikh Abdul Al-Rahman, and the antipathy with which he was regarded by the equally great and holy Sheikh Nazir al-Din, his memorable single imprisonment for contumacy. This is the imposition of Oxford and Cambridge, and the temperate but effective lecture beginning with almost entirely destitute of shame, delivered on that occasion in presence of other undergraduates by the right reverend principal of his college. Then we consult him upon matters of doctrine and quizzing tenderly about his powers of dormition and flatter him, or rather his age with such phrases as the water from my hand is of the waters of Zimzim, or we have sought thee to deserve the blessings of the wise upon our undertakings. Sometimes, with interested motives that must be owned, we induce him to accompany us to the hamam. The hamam, or hot bath, being a kind of religious establishment, is one of the class of things so uncomfortably numerous in eastern countries left a la jidat to thy generosity. Consequently, you are pretty sure to have something disagreeable there which you would vainly attempt to avoid by liberality. The best way to deal with all such extortioners with the longingee undresser of a Cairo hamam or the Jarvie of the London handsome is to find out the fairer and never to go beyond it, never to be generous. The hamam has been too often noticed to bear another description, one point, however, connected with it, I must be allowed to notice. Mr. Lane, modern Egyptians, asserts that a Muslim should not pray nor recite the Koran in it as the bath is believed to be a favorite resort of genies, or genie. On the contrary, it is the custom of some sects to recite a rik'atayn, to bow prayer immediately after religious ablution in the hot sister. This, however, is makra or improper without being sinful to the followers of Abu Hanifah. As a general rule throughout Islam, the far's obligatory prayers may be recited everywhere, no matter how impure the place may be, but those belonging to the classes sonnet, traditionary, and nafila, superrogatory, are makra, though not actually unlawful in certain localities. I venture this remark on account of the extreme accuracy of the work referred to, a wonderful contrast to the generality of oriental books. It amply deserves a revision in the rare places requiring care. Where he insists upon paying the smallest sum, quarreling with everything and everybody, and giving the greatest trouble, we are generally his only visitors, a coin since he appears to have few, and no friends. He must have had them once, for he was rich, but is not so now, so they have fallen away from the poor old man. When the Sheikh Mohammed sits with me, or I climb up into his little shop for the purpose of receiving a lesson from him, he is quiet at his ease, reading when he likes, or making me read, and generally beginning each lecture with some such preamble as this. Europeans so seldom see the regular old Sheikh, whose place is now taken by polite young men educated in England or France, that this scene may be new even to those who have studied of late years on the banks of the Nile. Iowa, Iowa, Iowa! This word is often used to signify simply yes. It is corrupted from ay-waha-yi, yes by Allah. In pure Arabic, ay or ay is synonymous with our yes or ay, and Allah in those countries enters somehow into every other phrase. Even so, even so, even so, we take refuge with Allah from Satan the Stoned. In the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful, and the blessings of Allah upon our Lord Mohammed, and his family, and his companions, one and all. Thus saith the author, may Almighty Allah have mercy upon him. Section 1 of chapter 2 upon the orders of prayer, etc. He becomes fiercely sarcastic when I differ from him in an opinion, especially upon a point of grammar, or the theology over which his beard has grown gray. Subhan Allah, Allah be glorified. This is, of course, ironical. Allah be praised for creating such a prodigy of learning as thou art. What words are these? If thou be right, enlarge thy turban. The larger the turban, the greater are the individual's pretensions to religious knowledge and respectability of demeanor. This is the custom in Egypt, Turkey, Persia, and many other parts of the Muslim world, i.e. set up as a learned man, and throw away thy drugs, for verily it is better to quicken men's souls than to destroy their bodies, O Abdullah. Oriental like, he revels in giving good counsel. Thou art always writing, O my brave, like gada, as the Egyptians pronounce it, is used exactly like the mombrob of France and are my good man. This is said on the few occasions when I venture to make a note in my book. What evil habit is this? Surely thou hast learned it in the lands of the Frank. Repent. He loaves my giving medical advice greatest. Thou hast two servants to feed on my son. The doctors of Egypt never write A, B, without a reward. Wherefore art thou ashamed? Better go and sit upon the mountain. The mountain in Egypt and Arabia is what the jungle is in India. When informed that you come from the mountain, you understand that you are considered a mere clothopper. When asserting that you will sit upon the mountain, you hint to your hearers an attention of turning anchorite or magician. At once, i.e. go to the desert and say thy prayers day and night. And finally, he is prodigal of preaching upon the subject of household expenses. Thy servant did write down two pounds of flesh yesterday. What words are these, O he? Yahoo! A common interpellative, not perhaps of the politeness description. Dost thou never say Gardus Allah from the sin of extravagance? He delights also in abruptly interrupting a serious subject when it begins to weigh upon his spirits. For instance, now the waters of evolution mean of seven different kinds. It results that hast thou a wife? No. Then verily, thou must buy thee a female slave, O youth. This conduct is not right, and men will save thee. Repentance. I take refuge with Allah. A religious formula used when compelled to mention anything abominable or polluting to the lips of a pious man. Of the truth his mouth watereth for the spouses of other Muslims. But sometimes he nods over a difficult passage under my very eyes or he reads it over a dozen times and they wanton the vitalness or he takes with schoolboys call a long shot most shamelessly at the signification. When this happens I lose my temper and raise my voice and shout verily there is no power nor might save in Allah the high, the great. Then he looks at me and with passing meekness whispers fear Allah, O man. In the Chapter 4 Chapter 5 of Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Mecca this is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Papagesty on the 20th of February 2010 Chapter 5 of Personal Narrative of the Programmes to Al-Madinah and Mecca by Sir Richard Francis Bowden Chapter 5 The Ramasand This year the Ramasand befell in June and the fearful inflection was that of last month making the Muslim unhealthy and unamiable. For the space of 16 consecutive hours in a quarter we were forbidden to eat, drink, smoke, snuff and even to swallow or as alive as designably. I say forbidden for although the highest orders of Turks the class is popular described as Turkofino Mangia Pocoe Vivivino may break the ordinance in strict privacy. Public opinion would condemn any open infraction of it with uncommon severity. In this, as in most human things how many are there who hold that the shay ansikrein li pa pa shay se ne ke le kle ke ke fe le crein. The middle and lower ranks observe the duties of the season however arduous with exceeding steel of all who suffered severely from such total abstinence I have found for one patient who would eat even to save their life and among the vulgar sinners who habitually drink when they should pray will fast and perform their devotions for the Ramasam. Like the Italian, the Anglo-Catholic and the Greek class the chief effect of the blessed month of Huntru Belivis is to darken their tempest into positive gloom. The voices, never of the softest acquire especially after noon a terribly harsh and creeping tone. The men curse one another and beat the women. The women slap and abuse the children and knees in their turn cruelly entreat and use bad language to the dogs and cats. You can scarcely spend 10 minutes in any populous part of the city without hearing some violent dispute. The caracoon or station houses are filled with lords who are administered an undue dose of justicement to the ladies and of ladies who are scratched, bitten and otherwise injured the bodies of their lords. The musts are crowded with the solky grumbling population making themselves offensive to one another on earth whilst working their way to heaven and in the shade under the outer walls the little boys who have been expelled of the church attempt to forget their miseries in spiritless play. In the bazaars and streets pale long drawn faces looking for the most part in troll of blue cross catch your eye and at this season a stranger will sometimes meet with positive intervility. A shopkeeper for instance usually says when he rejects an insufficient offer you have to Allah. Allah opens. During the Ramasand he will grumble about the boar of Ghashim or Joannu Ross and gruff will tell you not to stand there wasting his time. But as a rule the shops are either shut or destitute or shopman emotions will not purchase and students will not study. In fine the Ramasand for many classes is one twelfth of the year and once on the throne away. The following is the routine of a fasting. About half an hour after midnight the gun sounds its warning to faithful men that it is time to prepare for the sahur early breakfast or morning meal. My servant then wakes me if I have slept, brings water for ablution, spreads the sofra or leather cloth and places before me certain remnants of the evening's meal. It is sometime before the stomach becomes accustomed to such hours but in matters of appetite habit is everything and for health's sake one should strive to eat as plentifully as possible. Then sounds this alarm of blessings on the Prophet an introduction to the call of morning prayer. Smoking some three pipes with tenderness as if taken leave of a friend and until the second gone fired at about half past two a.m. gives the Insak the order to abstain from food I wait the Assan which in this month is called somewhat early than usual. Then after ceremony termed the Niyah purpose of fasting I say my prayers and prepare for repose. At 7 a.m. the labors of the day begin for the working classes of society. The rich spend the night in reveling and rest in down from dawn till noon. The first thing I'm writing is to perform the Wusuf a lesser ablution which invariably follows sleep in a reclining position. Before this it would be improper to pray to enter the mosques to approach a religious man or to touch the Quran. A few proper patients usually visit me at this hour report the phenomena of their complaints which they do by the by with unpleasant minuteness of detail and receive fresh instructions. At 9 a.m. Sheikh Mohammed enters with lecture written upon his ring of brow or pick him up on the way and proceed straight to the mosque al-Assaq. After three hours hard reading with little interruption from bystanders this is long vacation most of the students being at home comes to call to midday prayer. The founder of al-Islam ordained by the few devotions for the morning which is the business part of the eastern day but during the afternoon and evening they succeed one another rapidly and the length increases. It is then time to visit my rich patients and afterwards by way of accustoming myself to the sun to wander among the bookshops for an hour or two assembly to idol in the street at 3 p.m. I return home beside the afternoon prayers and reapply myself to study. This is the worst part of the day in Egypt the summer nights and mornings are generally speed and pleasant but the forenoons are solitary and the afternoons are serious. A wind wafting the fine dust and furnace heat of the desert blows over the city the ground returns with interest the showers of caloric from above and not a cloud or a vapor breaks the dreary expanse of splendor on high. There being no such comforts as Indian tatties and few but the wealthiest houses boasting glass windows the interior of your room is somewhat more fury than the street. Weakened with fasting the body feels the heat trebly and the disordered stomach almost affects the brain. Every minute is counted with morbid fixity of idea as it passes on towards the blessed sunset especially by those whose terrible lot is manual labor at such a season. A few try to forget the afternoon miseries and slumber but most people take the kailula or siesta shortly after the meridian holding it on wholesome sleep late in the day. As the maghrib the sunset hour approaches and how slowly it comes the town seems to recover from a trance. People flock to the windows and balconies in order to watch the moment of their release. Some pray others tell the beat while others gathering to get in groups of hang visits exert themselves to well away the lacking time. Oh gladness at length it sounds that gone from the citadel simultaneously rises the sweet cry of the muassim calling men to prayer and the second cannon booms from the abasya pallets. Al-Fitr al-Fitr fast-breaking fast-breaking shout the people and a hum of joy rises from the silent city. Your cute ears waste not a moment in conveying the delightful intelligence to your parched tongue empty stomach and languid limbs. You exhaust a pot full of water no matter its size. You clap hurried hands for a pipe. You order coffee and provided with these comforts you sit down and calmly contemplate the coming pleasures of the evening. Poor men eat heartily at once. The rich break their fast with a light meal a little bread and fruit pressure dry especially watermelon sweetmeats or such digestible dishes as mohalaba a thin jelly of milk starch and rice flour. They then smoke a pipe drink a cup of coffee or a glass of sherbet and recite the evening prayers. For the devotions of this hour are delicate things and while smoking a first pipe after 16 hours abstinence time easily slips away. Then they sit down to the fatua breakfast the meal of the 24 hours and eat plentifully if they would avoid illness. There are many ways of spending a Ramasana evening. The Egyptians have a proverb like ours of the Salanitam score. After all Garda rests if it be but for two minutes. After all Asha walks if it be but two steps. The streets are now crowded with good humans from the strollers. The many bend on pleasure the few winding the way to the mosque where the Imam recites Tara V prayers. They saunter about the accustomed pipe man hand shopping for the salsa oven till a late hour or the sitting cry at the coffee house entrance moving sheeshaws, water pies, chatting and listening to storytellers, singers and itinerant preachers. Here a barefooted girl trails and quavers accompanied by a noisy tambourine and a scramble pipe of abominable discordance in honor of a perverse saint whose corpse insisted upon being buried inside some respectable man's dwelling house. The scene reminds you strongly of the sonnures of Brittany and it's unpognari from the Abrucian highlands backpiping before the Madonna. There at all gone Magrabi displays upon a square yard of dirty paper certain lines and blood supposed to represent the venerable Kaba and collect cupboards to defray the expenses of his pilgrimage. A steady stream of laundry sets through the principal for affairs towards the Aspaquia garden which skirt the Frank Porter. There they sit in the moonlight listening to greek and turkish bands or making merry wolf cakes, turkish green coffee, sugar drinks and the broad pleasantries of Cara Gheous, the local conscious duty. Here the scene is less thoroughly oriental than within the city but the appearance of Frank dress amongst the varieties of eastern costume the moonlit sky and the light mishandling over the deep shade of the acacia trees whose rich-centered yellow-white blossoms are popularly compared to the old Pasha's beard make it passing quick to risk. And the traveler from the far east remarks wonder the presence of certain ladies whose only mark of modesty is the burqa or face wheel upon the toxicity the police looks with leaning eyes in as much as until very lately it paid a respectable tax to the state. Returning to the Muslim quarter you are bewildered by its variety of sounds. Everyone talks and talking here is always in extremes either in a whisper or in a scream. Desticulation excites the lungs and strangers cannot persuade themselves the immense of converse without being or becoming furious. All the street providers too are in a soprano key. In thy protection, in thy protection! shouts a fellow peasant to a sentinel who is flocking him towards the station house followed by a tale of women screaming The boys have elected a Pasha whom they are conducting in procession with wisps of straw for mashals or crescents and adornments. All who's saying with ten schoolboy power over thy right, over thy left, over thy face, over thy heel, over thy back, thy back! Christ the panting footman who, huge torch on shoulder, once before the grandee's carriage bless the prophet and get out of the way O Allah bless him! respond the good Muslims some shrinking up to the walls to avoid the stick others rushing across the road so as to give themselves every chance of being knocked down The donkey boy beats his ass with a heavy palm cudgel he fears no treadmill here cursing him at the top of his voice for a panda, a Jew, a Christian and a son of the one-eyed whose portion is eternal punishment O chickpeas, O pips! sings the vendor of parched grains rattling the unsavory load in his basket out of the way and say there is one God times the industrious water carrier laden with a skin fit burden for a buffalo sweet water and gladdened eyes soul or lemonade pipes the cellar of that luxury clanging his brass cups together then come the becky's intensely oriental my supper is in Allah's hands my supper is in Allah's hands whatever thou givest that will go with thee turns the old vagrant whose wallet perhaps contains more variation than the basket of many a respectable shopkeeper Nala Bouk, Rook's life father O brother of the Nordic sister is the response of some petrol in Greek to the touch of the old man's staff the bravest darkness and good deeds are its lamp sings the blind women wrapping two sticks together upon Allah upon Allah O daughter cry the bystanders when the obstinate bint daughter of sixty years ceases their hands and will not let go without extorting a farthing bring the sweet that is fire and take the full that is empty cup you priestly cry the lung moustache fierce borrowed honours to the coffeehouse keeper who stands by them jammed by the rhyming graffiti that flows readily from their lips Hanion may be pleasant to thee is his signal for encounter though drink is for ten replies the utter instead of returning the usual religious salutation I am the cook and though at the hen is the rejoinder a tough one nay I am the thick one and though at the fin resumes the first speaker and so on till they come to equivokes which will not bear a literal English translation and sometimes high above the hopper rises the melodious voice of the blind woman sin who from his balcony in the beatling tower rings forth he yeet to devotion he yeet to salvation and at morning prayer time he adds devotion is better than sleep devotion is better than sleep then good Muslims peacefully stand up and mother previous to prayer he am I at thy call oh Allah he am I at thy call sometimes I walk with my friend to the citadel and sat upon a high wall one of the artworks of Muhammad Ali's mosque enjoying a view which seemed by night when the summer moon is near the fall has a charm no power of language can embody or a scape link from Stifle Cairo's filth would pass through the gate of victory into the wilderness beyond the city of the dead seated upon some mound of ruins we inhale the fine air of the desert and spiriting as a cordial when starlight and doom is diversified a scene which by day is one broad sea of yellow loam with billows of chalk rock thinly covered by a film like spray of sand surging and floating in the fury wind there within a mile of crowded life all is desolate the time walls seem crumbling to decay the hovels are tenetless and the paths untrudden behind you lies the world before you the person tombstones ghastly in their whiteness while beyond them the tall dog forms of the Mamluk soldier's towers rise from the low and hollow ground like the spirits of kings guarding ghastly subjects in the shadowy realm no less weird in the scene or the sounds the hyenas laugh the howl of the world dog and the screech of the low flying owl or we spend the evening at some taqiya the gracious oratory the only preferring that called the balshani near the Muayyid Mosque outside the mutawali sandy door there's nothing attractive in its appearance you mount a flight of wreckage steps and enter a low revantha in closing an open stuccoid terrace where stands the holy man's dome tomb the two stories contain small dark rooms in which the da waisha dwells and the grand floor doors open into the revantha during the past months sikirs are rarely performed in the taqiyas the inmates pray there in congregations or they sit conversing upon benches in the shade and a curious medley of men they are composed of the cherished lakabans from every nation of al-islam beyond this I must not describe the taqiyah or the doings there for the path of the da waisha may not be charred by people feign curious to see something of my old friends the persians I call the pachmali upon one miyasa hussain who by virtue of his dignity a shabandar he calls himself consul general ranked of the dozen little quasi-dippamatic kings of kairu he suspends over his lofty gate a signboard in which the lion and the sun iran's parrot ensign are by some egyptian lemna's art made him a foist into a preternatural tabby cat grasping a skimitar with the jolly fat face of a gay young lady curls and all complete wrestling fondly upon a pet's concave back this high dignitarious reception room was a courtyard subdued fronting the door with benches and cushions composing the sattra of high place with the parallel rows of d ones spread down the less dignified sides and the line of naked boards the lowest seats ranged along the door wall in the middle stood three little tables supporting three huge lanterns as is the size so is the only stignity each of each contained three of the largest firmacity candle the hajj and i entered took a seat upon the side benches for humility and exchanged salutations with the great man on the sattra when the daba or levy was full and saw the miyasa and all the rows as he called me that visited himself off his shoes and with all due solemnity as soon as his proper cushion he is a short thin man about 35 with regular features and the usual preposterous lamp thin cap and beard two peak black combs at least four feet in length measured from the tips resting on slender basement of pale yellow face after a quarter of an hour of ceremonies polite muttering and low bendings of the right hand on the left breast the miyasa's pipe was handed to him first in token of his dignity at the heron he was probably an undercloak in some government office in due time we were all served with kalyans Persian hookahs and coffee by the servants who made royal conscious whenever they passed the great man and more than once the janissary in dignity of belt and truly sabre entered the court to quicken our awe the conversation was the usual oriental thing at least for instance understood that you have seen strange things in strange lands for yasheng's victory quotes the miyasa the quotation is a hagnate one but it steps forth majestic as to pause and emphasis rarely you reply with equal ponderousness of pronunciation a novelty of citation in leaving home one learned slide yet a journey is a bit of janim or if you are physician the luke moon will be little learned doctors the body destroy little learned parson's the soul destroy to which you will make answer if you would pass for a man of belletta by the well-known lines of the truth the physician have power of drugs which long as the patients have life may relieve him but the tale of our days being duly told the doctor's staff and his drugs deceive him after sitting there with dignity like the rest of the guests I took my leave delighted with the truly Persian apparatus of the scene the miyasa having their celery lifts by face extorted from his subjects for pay rather than lack protection and his fragment for account of people sell their interests shamelessly he is a hidalco of blue blood and pride pompousness and poverty there is not a sheet of writing paper in the consulate when they want one of farthing is sent to the grossest yet the consul drives out in an old carriage with four outriders two tall cat men proceeding and two following the crazy vehicle and the Egyptians laugh heartily at this display being accustomed by Muhammad Ali to consider all such parade obsolete about half an hour before midnight signs the abrah or call to prayer at which time the latest wonders return home to prepare for the sahur the dawn meal you are careful on the way to address each sentinel with a peace be upon thee especially if you have no lantern otherwise you may chance to sleep in the guardhouse and she among the song you cannot but stop to gaze at streets as little like what civilized europe understands by that name as is an induption temples the new houses of parliament there are certain scenes can only term can speckle which print themselves upon memory and which endure as long as memory lasts he found a cloud bursting upon the alps a night of stormy darkness of the cape an african tornado and perhaps most awful of all a solitary journey over the sandy desert of this class is a stroll through the forefares of olcara by night all the squalor in the brilliancy of noonday in darkness you see nothing but a silhouette when however the moon is high in the heavens and the summer stars rain light upon guards world there is something not of earth in the view a glimpse at the strip of pale blue sky above scarcely reveals three alps of red in many places the interval is less here the copings meet and there are the outriggings of the houses seen to interlace now they are parted by a pencil of snowy sheen then by a flood of silvery splendor while under the projecting cornices and the huge hanging balcony windows of fantastic woodwork supported by gigantic brackets and corbels and under deep verandas and gateways vast enough of ehemoth to pass through and in blind winds and long cul-de-sacs lie patches of thick darkness made visible by the dimmest of all lamps the arch is a favorite feature in one place you see it a mere skeleton rip opening into some huge desolated hole in another the ochre is full of threaded stone and wood carved like lacework another line is straight the tall dead walls of the mosques slope over their messy buttresses and the thin minarets seem about to fall across your path the cornices project crookedly from the houses while the great garribles stand merely by force of perhesion and at the line of view you may not be wondering the graceful bending in form of the palm on whose topmost fellers hovering in the cool night breeze the moonbeam glistens springs from a gloomy mound or from the darkness of a mass of houses almost level with the ground briefly the whole view is so strange so fantastic so ghostly that it seems preposterous to imagine that in such places human beings like ourselves can be born and lived through life and carry out the command and freeze and multiply and die End of Chapter 5 Recording by Abekesty 20th of February 2010 Copenhagen, Denmark