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diff --git a/old/17816.txt b/old/17816.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b42d33b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/17816.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12746 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Letters from Egypt, by Lucie Duff Gordon, +Edited by Janet Ross + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Letters from Egypt + + +Author: Lucie Duff Gordon + +Editor: Janet Ross + +Release Date: February 21, 2006 [eBook #17816] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM EGYPT*** + + + + + + +Transcribed from the 1902 R. Brimley Johnson edition by David Price, +email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + + +Lady Duff Gordon's Letters from Egypt + + +Revised Edition with Memoir by Her Daughter Janet Ross + +New Introduction by George Meredith + +_SECOND IMPRESSION_ + +LONDON: R. BRIMLEY JOHNSON +1902 + +[Photograph of Lady Duff Gordon from sketch by G. F. Watts, R.A., about +1848: ill1.jpg] + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The letters of Lady Duff Gordon are an introduction to her in person. She +wrote as she talked, and that is not always the note of private +correspondence, the pen being such an official instrument. Readers +growing familiar with her voice will soon have assurance that, addressing +the public, she would not have blotted a passage or affected a tone for +the applause of all Europe. Yet she could own to a liking for flattery, +and say of the consequent vanity, that an insensibility to it is inhuman. +Her humour was a mouthpiece of nature. She inherited from her father the +judicial mind, and her fine conscience brought it to bear on herself as +well as on the world, so that she would ask, 'Are we so much better?' +when someone supremely erratic was dangled before the popular eye. She +had not studied her Goethe to no purpose. Nor did the very ridiculous +creature who is commonly the outcast of all compassion miss having the +tolerant word from her, however much she might be of necessity in the +laugh, for Moliere also was of her repertory. Hers was the charity which +is perceptive and embracing: we may feel certain that she was never a +dupe of the poor souls, Christian and Muslim, whose tales of simple +misery or injustice moved her to friendly service. Egyptians, _consule +Junio_, would have met the human interpreter in her, for a picture to set +beside that of the vexed Satirist. She saw clearly into the later Nile +products, though her view of them was affectionate; but had they been +exponents of original sin, her charitableness would have found the +philosophical word on their behalf, for the reason that they were not in +the place of vantage. The service she did to them was a greater service +done to her country, by giving these quivering creatures of the baked +land proof that a Christian Englishwoman could be companionable, tender, +beneficently motherly with them, despite the reputed insurmountable +barriers of alien race and religion. Sympathy was quick in her breast +for all the diverse victims of mischance; a shade of it, that was not +indulgence, but knowledge of the roots of evil, for malefactors and for +the fool. Against the cruelty of despotic rulers and the harshness of +society she was openly at war, at a time when championship of the lowly +or the fallen was not common. Still, in this, as in everything +controversial, it was the [Greek text] with her. That singular union of +the balanced intellect with the lively heart arrested even in advocacy +the floods pressing for pathos. Her aim was at practical measures of +help; she doubted the uses of sentimentality in moving tyrants or +multitudes to do the thing needed. Moreover, she distrusted eloquence, +Parliamentary, forensic, literary; thinking that the plain facts are the +persuasive speakers in a good cause, and that rhetoric is to be suspected +as the flourish over a weak one. Does it soften the obdurate, kindle the +tardily inflammable? Only for a day, and only in cases of extreme +urgency, is an appeal to emotion of value for the gain of a day. Thus it +was that she never forced her voice, though her feelings might be at heat +and she possessed the literary art. + +She writes from her home on the Upper Nile: 'In this country one gets to +see how much more beautiful a perfectly natural expression is than any +degree of the mystical expression of the best painters.' It is by her +banishing of literary colouring matter that she brings the Arab and Copt +home to us as none other has done, by her unlaboured pleading that she +touches to the heart. She was not one to 'spread gold-leaf over her +acquaintances and make them shine,' as Horace Walpole says of Madame de +Sevigne; they would have been set shining from within, perhaps with a +mild lustre; sensibly to the observant, more credibly of the golden sort. +Her dislike of superlatives, when the marked effect had to be produced, +and it was not the literary performance she could relish as well as any +of us, renders hard the task of portraying a woman whose character calls +them forth. To him knowing her, they would not fit; her individuality +passes between epithets. The reading of a sentence of panegyric +(commonly a thing of extension) deadened her countenance, if it failed to +quicken the corners of her lips; the distended truth in it exhibited the +comic shadow on the wall behind. That haunting demon of human eulogy is +quashed by the manner she adopted, from instinct and training. Of her it +was known to all intimate with her that she could not speak falsely in +praise, nor unkindly in depreciation, however much the constant play of +her humour might tempt her to exalt or diminish beyond the bounds. But +when, for the dispersion of nonsense about men or things, and daintiness +held up the veil against rational eyesight, the _gros mot_ was demanded, +she could utter it, as from the Bench, with a like authority and +composure. + +In her youth she was radiantly beautiful, with dark brows on a brilliant +complexion, the head of a Roman man, and features of Grecian line, save +for the classic Greek wall of the nose off the forehead. Women, not +enthusiasts, inclined rather to criticize, and to criticize so +independent a member of their sex particularly, have said that her entry +into a ballroom took the breath. Poetical comparisons run under heavy +weights in prose; but it would seem in truth, from the reports of her, +that wherever she appeared she could be likened to a Selene breaking +through cloud; and, further, the splendid vessel was richly freighted. +Trained by a scholar, much in the society of scholarly men, having an +innate bent to exactitude, and with a ready tongue docile to the curb, +she stepped into the world armed to be a match for it. She cut her way +through the accustomed troops of adorers, like what you will that is +buoyant and swims gallantly. Her quality of the philosophical humour +carried her easily over the shoals or the deeps in the way of a woman +claiming her right to an independent judgement upon the minor rules of +conduct, as well as upon matters of the mind. An illustrious foreigner, +_en tete-a-tete_ with her over some abstract theme, drops abruptly on a +knee to protest, overpowered; and in that posture he is patted on the +head, while the subject of conversation is continued by the benevolent +lady, until the form of ointment she administers for his beseeching +expression and his pain compels him to rise and resume his allotted part +with a mouth of acknowledging laughter. Humour, as a beautiful woman's +defensive weapon, is probably the best that can be called in aid for the +bringing of suppliant men to their senses. And so manageable are they +when the idea of comedy and the chord of chivalry are made to vibrate, +that they (supposing them of the impressionable race which is overpowered +by Aphrodite's favourites) will be withdrawn from their great aims, and +transformed into happy crust-munching devotees--in other words, fast +friends. Lady Duff Gordon had many, and the truest, and of all lands. +She had, on the other hand, her number of detractors, whom she excused. +What woman is without them, if she offends the conventions, is a step in +advance of her day, and, in this instance, never hesitates upon the +needed occasion to dub things with their right names? She could +appreciate their disapproval of her in giving herself the airs of a man, +pronouncing verdicts on affairs in the style of a man, preferring +association with men. So it was; and, besides, she smoked. Her +physician had hinted at the soothing for an irritated throat that might +come of some whiffs of tobacco. She tried a cigar, and liked it, and +smoked from that day, in her library chair and on horseback. Where she +saw no harm in an act, opinion had no greater effect on her than summer +flies to one with a fan. The country people, sorely tried by the +spectacle at first, remembered the gentle deeds and homely chat of an +eccentric lady, and pardoned her, who was often to be seen discoursing +familiarly with the tramp on the road, incapable of denying her house- +door to the lost dog attached by some instinct to her heels. In the +circles named 'upper' there was mention of women unsexing themselves. She +preferred the society of men, on the plain ground that they discuss +matters of weight, and are--the pick of them--of open speech, more +liberal, more genial, better comrades. Was it wonderful to hear them, +knowing her as they did, unite in calling her _coeur d'or_? And women +could say it of her, for the reasons known to women. Her intimate +friendships were with women as with men. The closest friend of this most +manfully-minded of women was one of her sex, little resembling her, +except in downright truthfulness, lovingness, and heroic fortitude. + +The hospitable house at Esher gave its welcome not merely to men and +women of distinction; the humble undistinguished were made joyous guests +there, whether commonplace or counting among the hopeful. Their hostess +knew how to shelter the sensitively silent at table, if they were unable +to take encouragement and join the flow. Their faces at least responded +to her bright look on one or the other of them when something worthy of +memory sparkled flying. She had the laugh that rocks the frame, but it +was usually with a triumphant smile that she greeted things good to the +ear; and her own manner of telling was concise, on the lines of the +running subject, to carry it along, not to produce an effect--which is +like the horrid gap in air after a blast of powder. Quotation came when +it sprang to the lips and was native. She was shrewd and cogent, +invariably calm in argument, sitting over it, not making it a duel, as +the argumentative are prone to do; and a strong point scored against her +received the honours due to a noble enemy. No pose as mistress of a +salon shuffling the guests marked her treatment of them; she was their +comrade, one of the pack. This can be the case only when a governing +lady is at all points their equal, more than a player of trump cards. In +England, in her day, while health was with her, there was one house where +men and women conversed. When that house perforce was closed, a light +had gone out in our country. + +The fatal brilliancy of skin indicated the fell disease which ultimately +drove her into exile, to die in exile. Lucie Duff Gordon was of the +order of women of whom a man of many years may say that their like is to +be met but once or twice in a lifetime. + + + + +MEMOIR + + +Lucie Duff Gordon, born on June 24, 1821, was the only child of John and +Sarah Austin and inherited the beauty and the intellect of her parents. +The wisdom, learning, and vehement eloquence of John Austin, author of +the 'Province of Jurisprudence Determined,' were celebrated, and Lord +Brougham used to say: 'If John Austin had had health, neither Lyndhurst +nor I should have been Chancellor.' He entered the army, and was in +Sicily under Lord William Bentinck; but soon quitted an uncongenial +service, and was called to the Bar. In 1819 he married Sarah, the +youngest daughter of John Taylor of Norwich, {1} when they took a house +in Queen Square, Westminster, close to James Mill, the historian of +British India, and next door to Jeremy Bentham, whose pupil Mr. Austin +was. Here, it may be said, the Utilitarian philosophy of the nineteenth +century was born. Jeremy Bentham's garden became the playground of the +young Mills and of Lucie Austin; his coach-house was converted into a +gymnasium, and his flower-beds were intersected by tapes and threads to +represent the passages of a panopticon prison. The girl grew in vigour +and in sense, with a strong tinge of originality and independence and an +extreme love of animals. About 1826 the Austins went to Germany, Mr. +Austin having been nominated Professor of Civil Law in the new London +University, and wishing to study Roman Law under Niebuhr and Schlegel at +Bonn. 'Our dear child,' writes Mrs. Austin to Mrs. Grote, 'is a great +joy to us. She grows wonderfully, and is the happiest thing in the +world. Her German is very pretty; she interprets for her father with +great joy and naivete. God forbid that I should bring up a daughter +here! But at her present age I am most glad to have her here, and to +send her to a school where she learns--_well_, writing, arithmetic, +geography, and, as a matter of course, German.' Lucie returned to +England transformed into a little German maiden, with long braids of hair +down her back, speaking German like her own language, and well grounded +in Latin. Her mother, writing to Mrs. Reeve, her sister, says: 'John +Mill is ever my dearest child and friend, and he really dotes on Lucie, +and can do anything with her. She is too wild, undisciplined, and +independent, and though she knows a great deal, it is in a strange, wild +way. She reads everything, composes German verses, has imagined and put +together a fairy world, dress, language, music, everything, and talks to +them in the garden; but she is sadly negligent of her own appearance, and +is, as Sterling calls her, Miss Orson. . . . Lucie now goes to a Dr. +Biber, who has five other pupils (boys) and his own little child. She +seems to take to Greek, with which her father is very anxious to have her +thoroughly imbued. As this scheme, even if we stay in England, cannot +last many years, I am quite willing to forego all the feminine parts of +her education for the present. The main thing is to secure her +independence, both with relation to her own mind and outward +circumstances. She is handsome, striking, and full of vigour and +animation.' + +From the very first Lucie Austin possessed a correct and vigorous style, +and a nice sense of language, which were hereditary rather than +implanted, and to these qualities was added a delightful strain of +humour, shedding a current of original thought all through her writings. +That her unusual gifts should have been so early developed is hardly +surprising with one of her sympathetic temperament when we remember the +throng of remarkable men and women who frequented the Austins' house. The +Mills, the Grotes, the Bullers, the Carlyles, the Sterlings, Sydney +Smith, Luttrell, Rogers, Jeremy Bentham, and Lord Jeffrey, were among the +most intimate friends of her parents, and 'Toodie,' as they called her, +was a universal favourite with them. Once, staying at a friend's house, +and hearing their little girl rebuked for asking questions, she said: +'_My_ mamma never says "I don't know" or "Don't ask questions."' + +In 1834 Mr. Austin's health, always delicate, broke down, and with his +wife and daughter he went to Boulogne. Mrs. Austin made many friends +among the fishermen and their wives, but 'la belle Anglaise,' as they +called her, became quite a heroine on the occasion of the wreck of the +_Amphitrite_, a ship carrying female convicts to Botany Bay. She stood +the whole night on the beach in the howling storm, saved the lives of +three sailors who were washed up by the breakers, and dashed into the sea +and pulled one woman to shore. Lucie was with her mother, and showed the +same cool courage that distinguished her in after life. It was during +their stay at Boulogne that she first met Heinrich Heine; he sat next her +at the _table d'hote_, and, soon finding out that she spoke German +perfectly, told her when she returned to England she could tell her +friends she had met Heinrich Heine. He was much amused when she said: +'And who is Heinrich Heine?' The poet and the child used to lounge on +the pier together; she sang him old English ballads, and he told her +stories in which fish, mermaids, water-sprites, and a very funny old +French fiddler with a poodle, who was diligently taking three sea-baths a +day, were mixed up in a fanciful manner, sometimes humorous, often very +pathetic, especially when the water-sprites brought him greetings from +the North Sea. He afterwards told her that one of his most charming +poems, + + 'Wenn ich am deinem Hause + Des Morgens voruber geh', + So freut's mich, du liebe Kleine, + Wenn ich dich am Fenster seh',' etc., + +was meant for her whose magnificent eyes he never forgot. + +Two years later Mr. Austin was appointed Royal Commissioner to inquire +into the grievances of the Maltese. His wife accompanied him, but so hot +a climate was not considered good for a young girl, and Lucie was sent to +a school at Bromley. She must have been as great a novelty to the school +as the school-life was to her, for with a great deal of desultory +knowledge she was singularly deficient in many rudiments of ordinary +knowledge. She wrote well already at fifteen, and corresponded often +with Mrs. Grote and other friends of her parents. {4} At sixteen she +determined to be baptized and confirmed as a member of the Church of +England (her parents and relations were Unitarians). Lord Monteagle was +her sponsor and it was chiefly owing, I believe, to the influence of +himself and his family, with whom she was very intimate in spite of her +Radical ideas, that she took this step. + +[Lucie Austin, aged fifteen, from a sketch by a school friend: ill4.jpg] + +When the Austins returned from Malta in 1838, Lucie began to appear in +the world; all the old friends flocked round them, and many new friends +were made, among them Sir Alexander Duff Gordon whom she first met at +Lansdowne House. Left much alone, as her mother was always hard at work +translating, writing for various periodicals and nursing her husband, the +two young people were thrown much together, and often walked out alone. +One day Sir Alexander said to her: 'Miss Austin, do you know people say +we are going to be married?' Annoyed at being talked of, and hurt at his +brusque way of mentioning it, she was just going to give a sharp answer, +when he added: 'Shall we make it true?' With characteristic +straightforwardness she replied by the monosyllable, 'Yes,' and so they +were engaged. Before her marriage she translated Niebuhr's 'Greek +Legends,' which were published under her mother's name. + +On the 16th May, 1840, Lucie Austin and Sir Alexander Duff Gordon were +married in Kensington Old Church, and the few eye-witnesses left still +speak with enthusiasm of the beauty of bridegroom and bride. They took a +house in Queen Square, Westminster, (No 8, with a statue of Queen Anne at +one corner), and the talent, beauty, and originality, joined with a +complete absence of affectation of Lady Duff Gordon, soon attracted a +remarkable circle of friends. Lord Lansdowne, Lord Monteagle, Mrs. +Norton, Thackeray, Dickens, Elliot Warburton, Tennyson, Tom Taylor, +Kinglake, Henry Taylor, and many more, were habitues, and every foreigner +of distinction sought an introduction to the Duff Gordons. I remember as +a little child seeing Leopold Ranke walking up and down the drawing-room, +and talking vehemently in an _olla-podrida_ of English, French, German, +Italian, and Spanish, with now and then a Latin quotation in between; I +thought he was a madman. When M. Guizot escaped from France on the +outbreak of the Revolution, his first welcome and dinner was in Queen +Square. + +The first child was born in 1842, and soon afterwards Lady Duff Gordon +began her translation of 'The Amber Witch'; the 'French in Algiers' by +Lamping, and Feuerbach's 'Remarkable Criminal Trials,' followed in quick +succession; and together my father and mother translated Ranke's 'Memoirs +of the House of Brandenburg' and 'Sketches of German Life.' A remarkable +novel by Leon de Wailly, 'Stella and Vanessa,' had remained absolutely +unnoticed in France until my mother's English version appeared, when it +suddenly had a great success which he always declared he owed entirely to +Lady Duff Gordon. + +In a letter written to Mrs. Austin from Lord Lansdowne's beautiful villa +at Richmond, which he lent to the Duff Gordons after a severe illness of +my father's, my mother mentions Hassan el Bakkeet (a black boy): 'He is +an inch taller for our grandeur; _peu s'en faut_, he thinks me a great +lady and himself a great butler.' Hassan was a personage in the +establishment. One night, on returning from a theatrical party at +Dickens', my mother found the little boy crouching on the doorstep. His +master had turned him out of doors because he was threatened with +blindness, and having come now and then with messages to Queen Square, he +found his way, as he explained, 'to die on the threshold of the beautiful +pale lady.' His eyes were cured, and he became my mother's devoted slave +and my playmate, to the horror of Mr. Hilliard, the American author. I +perfectly recollect how angry I was when he asked how Lady Duff Gordon +could let a negro touch her child, whereupon she called us to her, and +kissed me first and Hassan afterwards. Some years ago I asked our dear +friend Kinglake about my mother and Hassan, and received the following +letter: 'Can I, my dear Janet, how can I trust myself to speak of your +dear mother's beauty in the phase it had reached when first I saw her? +The classic form of her features, the noble poise of her head and neck, +her stately height, her uncoloured yet pure complexion, caused some of +the beholders at first to call her beauty statuesque, and others to call +it majestic, some pronouncing it to be even imperious; but she was so +intellectual, so keen, so autocratic, sometimes even so impassioned in +speech, that nobody feeling her powers could go on feebly comparing her +to a statue or a mere Queen or Empress. All this touches only the +beauteous surface; the stories (which were told me by your dear mother +herself) are incidentally illustrative of her kindness to +fellow-creatures in trouble or suffering. Hassan, it is supposed, was a +Nubian, and originally, as his name implies, a Mahometan, he came into +the possession of English missionaries (who had probably delivered him +from slavery), and it resulted that he not only spoke English well and +without foreign accent, but was always ready with phrases in use amongst +pious Christians, and liked, when he could, to apply them as means of +giving honour and glory to his beloved master and mistress; so that if, +for example, it happened that, when they were not at home, a visitor +called on a Sunday, he was sure to be told by Hassan that Sir Alexander +and Lady Duff Gordon were at church, or even--for his diction was equal +to this--that they were "attending Divine service." Your mother had +valour enough to practise true Christian kindness under conditions from +which the bulk of "good people" might too often shrink; when on hearing +that a "Mary" once known to the household had brought herself into +trouble by omitting the precaution of marriage, my lady determined to +secure the girl a good refuge by taking her as a servant. Before taking +this step, however, she assembled the household, declared her resolve to +the servants, and ordered that, on pain of instant dismissal, no one of +them should ever dare say a single unkind word to Mary. Poor Hassan, +small, black as jet, but possessed with an idea of the dignity of his +sex, conceived it his duty to become the spokesman of the household, and +accordingly, advancing a little in front of the neat-aproned, tall, +wholesome maid-servants, he promised in his and their name a full and +careful obedience to the mistress's order, but then, wringing his hands +and raising them over his head, he added these words: "What a lesson to +us all, my lady."' On the birth of a little son Hassan triumphantly +announced to all callers: 'We have got a boy.' Another of his delightful +speeches was made one evening when Prince Louis Napoleon (the late +Emperor of the French) dropt in unexpectedly to dinner. 'Please, my +lady,' said he, on announcing that dinner was ready, 'I ran out and +bought two pen'orth of sprats for the honour of the house.' + +Though I was only six I distinctly remember the Chartist riots in 1848. +William Bridges Adams, the engineer, an old friend of my great-uncle, +Philip Taylor, had a workshop at Bow, and my mother helped to start a +library for the men, and sometimes attended meetings and discussed +politics with them. They adored her, and when people talked of possible +danger she would smile and say: 'My men will look after me.' On the +evening of April 9 a large party of stalwart men in fustian jackets +arrived at our house and had supper; Tom Taylor made speeches and +proposed toasts which were cheered to the echo, and at last my mother +made a speech too, and wound up by calling the men her 'Gordon +volunteers.' The 'Hip, hip, hurrah!' with which it was greeted startled +the neighbours, who for a moment thought the Chartists had invaded the +quiet precincts of the square. + +To Mrs. Austin, who was then in Paris, her daughter wrote, on April 10: + + Dearest Mutter, + + 'I had only time to write once yesterday, as all hands were full of + bustle in entertaining our guests. I never wish to see forty better + gentlemen than we had here last night. As all was quiet, we had + supper--cold beef, bread and beer--with songs, sentiments and toasts, + such as "Success to the roof we are under," "Liberty, brotherhood and + order." Then they bivouacked in the different houses till five this + morning, when they started home. Among the party was a stray + policeman, who looked rather wonder-struck. Tom Taylor was capital, + made short speeches, told stories, and kept all in high good-humour; + and Alick came home from patrolling as a special constable, and was + received with great glee and affection. All agreed that the fright, + to us at least, was well made up by the kindly and pleasant evening. + As no one would take a penny, we shall send books to the library, or a + contribution to the school, all our neighbours being quite anxious to + pay, though not willing to fraternise. I shall send cravats as a + badge to the "Gordon volunteers." + + 'I enclose a letter from Eothen [Kinglake] about Paris, which will + interest you. My friends of yesterday unanimously decided that Louis + Blanc would "just suit the 'lazy set.'" + + 'We had one row, which, however, ceased on the appearance of our + stalwart troop; indeed, I think one Birmingham smith, a handsome + fellow six feet high, whose vehement disinterestedness would neither + allow to eat, drink, or sleep in the house, would have scattered + them.' + +Mr. and Mrs. Austin established themselves at Weybridge in a low, +rambling cottage, and we spent some summers with them. The house was +cold and damp, and our dear Hassan died in 1850 from congestion of the +lungs. I always attributed my mother's bad health to the incessant colds +she caught there. I can see before me now her beautiful pale face +bending over poor Hassan as she applied leeches to his chest, which a new +maid refused to do, saying, with a toss of her head, 'Lor! my lady, I +couldn't touch either of 'em!' The flash of scorn with which she +regarded the girl softened into deep affection and pity when she looked +down on her faithful Nubian servant. + +In 1851 my father took a house at Esher, which was known as 'The Gordon +Arms,' and much frequented by our friends. In a letter, written about +that time to C. J. Bayley, then secretary to the Governor of the +Mauritius, Lady Duff Gordon gives the first note of alarm as to her +health: 'I fear you would think me very much altered since my illness; I +look thin, ill, and old, and my hair is growing gray. This I consider +hard upon a woman just over her thirtieth birthday. I continue to like +Esher very much; I don't think we could have placed ourselves better. +Kinglake has given Alick a great handsome chestnut mare, so he is well +mounted, and we ride merrily. I expressed such exultation at the idea of +your return that my friends, all but Alick, refused to sympathize. +Philips, Millais, and Dicky Doyle talked of jealousy, and Tom Taylor +muttered something about a "hated rival." Meanwhile, all send friendly +greetings to you.' + +One summer Macaulay was often at Esher, his brother-in-law having taken a +house near ours. He shared my mother's admiration for Miss Austen's +novels, and they used to talk of her personages as though they were +living friends. If, perchance, my grandfather Austin was there, the talk +grew indeed fast and furious, as all three were vehement, eloquent, and +enthusiastic talkers. + +When my mother went to Paris in the summer of 1857 she saw Heine again. +As she entered the room he exclaimed 'Oh! Lucie has still the great +brown eyes!' He remembered every little incident and all the people who +had been in the inn at Boulogne. 'I, for my part, could hardly speak to +him,' my mother wrote to Lord Houghton, who asked her to give him some +recollections of the poet for his 'Monographs,' 'so shocked was I by his +appearance. He lay on a pile of mattresses, his body wasted so that it +seemed no bigger than a child's under the sheet that covered him, the +eyes closed and the face altogether like the most painful and wasted +_Ecce Homo_ ever painted by some old German painter. His voice was very +weak, and I was astonished at the animation with which he talked; +evidently his mind had wholly survived his body.' He wished to give my +mother the copyright of all his works, made out lists how to arrange +them, and gave her _carte-blanche_ to cut out what she pleased, and was +especially eager that she should do a prose translation of his songs +against her opinion of its practicability. To please him she translated +'Almanzor' and several short poems into verse--the best translations I +know. + +After trying Ventnor for two winters, my mother went out to the Cape of +Good Hope in a sailing vessel, but on her return was unfortunately +persuaded to go to Eaux Bonnes in the autumn of 1862, which did her great +harm. Thence she went to Egypt, where the dry hot climate seemed to +arrest the malady for a short time. The following memoir written by Mrs. +Norton in the _Times_ gives a better picture of her than could any words +of mine, the two talented and beautiful women were intimate friends, and +few mourned more deeply for Lucie Duff Gordon than Caroline Norton: + +'"In Memoriam." The brief phrase whose solemnity prefaced millions of +common place epitaphs before Tennyson taught grief to speak, lamenting +his dead friend in every phase and variety of regret. With such +gradation and difference of sorrow will the recent death of a very +remarkable woman, Lucie, Lady Duff Gordon, be mourned for by all who knew +her, and with such a sense of blank loss will they long continue to +lament one whose public success as an author was only commensurate with +the charm of her private companionship. Inheriting from both parents the +intellectual faculties which she so nobly exercised, her work has been +ended in the very noontide of life by premature failure of health; and +the long exile she endured for the sake of a better climate has failed to +arrest, though it delayed, the doom foretold by her physicians. To that +exile we owe the most popular, perhaps, of her contributions to the +literature of her country, "Letters from the Cape," and "Letters from +Egypt," the latter more especially interesting from the vivid, life-like +descriptions of the people among whom she dwelt, her aspirations for +their better destiny, and the complete amalgamation of her own pursuits +and interests with theirs. She was a settler, not a traveller among +them. Unlike Lady Hester Stanhope, whose fantastic and half-insane +notions of rulership and superiority have been so often recorded for our +amazement, Lady Duff Gordon kept the simple frankness of heart and desire +to be of service to her fellow-creatures without a thought of self or a +taint of vanity in her intercourse with them. Not for lack of flattery +or of real enthusiastic gratitude on their part. It is known that when +at Thebes, on more than one of her journeys, the women raised the "cry of +joy" as she passed along, and the people flung branches and raiment on +her path, as in the old Biblical descriptions of Eastern life. The +source of her popularity was in the liberal kindliness of spirit with +which she acted on all occasions, more especially towards those she +considered the victims of bad government and oppressive laws. She says +of herself: "one's pity becomes a perfect passion when one sits among the +people as I do, and sees all they endure. Least of all can I forgive +those among Europeans and Christians who can help to break these bruised +reeds." And again: "Would that I could excite the interest of my country +in their suffering! Some conception of the value of public opinion in +England has penetrated even here." Sympathizing, helping, doctoring +their sick, teaching their children, learning the language, Lady Duff +Gordon lived in Egypt, and in Egypt she has died, leaving a memory of her +greatness and goodness such as no other European woman ever acquired in +that country. It is touching to trace her lingering hopes of life and +amended health in her letters to her husband and her mother, and to see +how, as they faded out, there rose over those hopes the grander light of +fortitude and submission to the will of God. + +'Gradually--how gradually the limits of this notice forbid us to +follow--hope departs, and she begins bravely to face the inevitable +destiny. And then comes the end of all, the strong yet tender +announcement of her own conviction that there would be no more meetings, +but a grave opened to receive her in a foreign land. + + '"Dearest Alick, + + '"Do not think of coming here, as you dread the climate. Indeed, it + would be almost too painful to me to part from you again; and as it + is, I can wait patiently for the end, among people who are kind and + loving enough to be comfortable without too much feeling of the pain + of parting. The leaving Luxor was rather a distressing scene, as they + did not think to see me again. The kindness of all the people was + really touching, from the Cadi, who made ready my tomb among his own + family, to the poorest fellaheen." + +'Such are the tranquil and kindly words with which she prefaces her +death. Those who remember her in her youth and beauty, before disease +rather than time had altered the pale heroic face, and bowed the slight, +stately figure, may well perceive some strange analogy between soul and +body in the Spartan firmness which enabled her to pen that last farewell +so quietly. + +'But to the last her thought was for others, and for the services she +could render. In this very letter, written, as it were, on the verge of +the tomb, she speaks with gratitude and gladness of the advancement of +her favourite attendant, Omar. This Omar had been recommended to her by +the janissary of the American Consul-General, and so far back as 1862, +when in Alexandria, she mentions having engaged him, and his hopeful +prophecy of the good her Nile life is to do her. "My cough is bad; but +Omar says I shall lose it and 'eat plenty' as soon as I see a crocodile." + +'Omar "could not leave her," and he had his reward. One of the last +events in the life of this gifted and liberal-minded Englishwoman was the +visit to her dahabeeyeh, or Nile boat, of the Prince and Princess of +Wales. Then poor Omar's simple and faithful service to his dying +mistress was rewarded in a way he could scarcely have dreamt; and Lady +Duff Gordon thus relates the incident: "Omar sends you his heartfelt +thanks, and begs the boat may remain registered at the Consulate in your +name, as a protection, for his use and benefit. The Prince has appointed +him his dragoman, but he is sad enough, poor fellow! all his prosperity +does not console him for the loss of "the mother he found in the world." +Mahomed at Luxor wept bitterly, and said: "Poor I--poor my children--poor +all the people!" and kissed my hand passionately; and the people at Esneh +asked leave to touch me "for a blessing," and everyone sent delicate +bread and their best butter and vegetables and lambs. They are kinder +than ever now that I can no longer be of any use to them. If I live till +September I will go up to Esneh, where the air is softest and I cough +less; I would rather die among my own people on the Saeed than here. Can +you thank the Prince for Omar, or shall I write? He was most pleasant +and kind, and the Princess too; she is the most perfectly simple-mannered +girl I ever saw; she does not even try to be civil like other great +people, but asks blunt questions and looks at one so heartily with her +clear, honest eyes, that she must win all hearts. They were more +considerate than any people I have seen, and the Prince, instead of being +gracious, was, if I may say so, quite respectful in manner: he is very +well bred and pleasant, and has, too, the honest eyes that make one sure +he has a kind heart. My sailors were so proud at having the honour of +rowing him in _our own boat_ and of singing to him. I had a very good +singer in the boat." + +'Long will her presence be remembered and wept for among the +half-civilized friends of her exile, the poor, the sick, the needy and +the oppressed. She makes the gentle, half-playful boast in one of her +letters from the Nile that she is "very popular," and has made many cures +as a Hakeem, or doctor, and that a Circassian had sat up with a dying +Englishman because she had nursed his wife. + +'The picture of the Circassian sitting up with the dying Englishman +because an English lady had nursed his wife is infinitely touching, and +had its parallel in the speech of an old Scottish landlady known to the +writer of this notice, whose son had died in the West Indies among +strangers. "And they were so good to him," said she, "that I vowed if +ever I had a lodger sick I would do my best for that stranger in +remembrance." In remembrance! Who shall say what seeds of kindly +intercommunion that dying Englishwoman of whom and of whose works we have +been speaking may have planted in the arid Eastern soil? Or what "bread +she may have cast" on those Nile waters, "which shall be found again +after many days"? "Out of evil cometh good," and certainly out of her +sickness and suffering good came to all within her influence. + +'Lady Duff Gordon's printed works were many. She was an excellent German +scholar, and had the advantage in her translations from that difficult +language of her labours being shared by her husband. Ranke, Niebuhr, +Feuerbach, Moltke, and others, owe their introduction to our +English-reading public to the industry and talent of her pen. She was +also a classic scholar of no mean pretensions. Perhaps no woman of our +own time, except Mrs. Somerville and Mrs. Browning in their very +different styles, combined so much erudition with so much natural +ability. She was the daughter of Mr. Austin, the well-known professor of +jurisprudence, and his gifted wife, Sarah Austin, whose name is familiar +to thousands of readers, and whose social brilliancy is yet remembered +with extreme admiration and regret by the generation immediately +preceding our own. + +'That Lucie, Lady Duff Gordon, inherited the best of the intellect and +qualities of both these parents will, we think, hardly be disputed, and +she had besides, of her own, a certain generosity of spirit, a widespread +sympathy for humanity in general, without narrowness or sectarianism, +which might well prove her faith modelled on the sentence which appeals +too often in vain from the last page of the printed Bible to resenting +and dissenting religionists, "Multae terricolis linguae, coelestibus +una."' + +* * * * * + +The last two years of my mother's life were one long struggle against +deadly disease. The last winter was cheered by the presence of my +brother, but at her express desire he came home in early summer to +continue his studies, and my father and I were going out to see her, when +the news came of her death at Cairo on July 14, 1869. Her desire had +been to be among her 'own people' at Thebes, but when she felt she would +never see Luxor again, she gave orders to be buried as quietly as +possible in the cemetery at Cairo. The memory of her talent, simplicity, +stately beauty, and extraordinary eloquence, and her almost passionate +pity for any oppressed creature, will not easily fade. She bore great +pain, and what was almost a greater trial, absence from her husband, her +little daughter Urania, and her many friends, uncomplainingly, gleaning +what consolation she could by helping her poor Arab neighbours, who +adored her, and have not, I am told, forgotten the 'Great Lady' who was +so good to them. + +* * * * * + +The first volume of Lady Duff Gordon's 'Letters from Egypt' was published +by Messrs. Macmillan and Co. in May, 1865, with a preface by her mother, +Mrs. Austin, who edited them, and was obliged to omit much that might +have given offence and made my mother's life uncomfortable--to say the +least--in Egypt. Before the end of the year the book went through three +editions. + +In 1875 a volume containing the 'Last Letters from Egypt,' to which were +added 'Letters from the Cape,' reprinted from 'Vacation Tourists' (1864), +with a Memoir of my mother by myself, was published by Messrs. Macmillan +and Co. A second edition appeared in 1876. + +I have now copied my mother's letters as they were written, omitting only +the purely family matter which is of no interest to the public. Edward +Lear's drawing of Luxor was printed in 'Three Generations of +Englishwomen,' edited by Mrs. Ross, but the other illustrations are now +reproduced for the first time. + +The names of villages alluded to in the 'Letters' have been spelt as in +the Atlas published by the Egyptian Exploration Fund. + +JANET ROSS. + + + + +LETTERS FROM EGYPT + + +November 11, 1862: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +GRAND CAIRO, +_Tuesday_, _November_ 11, 1862. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I write to you out of the real Arabian Nights. Well may the Prophet +(whose name be exalted) smile when he looks on Cairo. It is a golden +existence, all sunshine and poetry, and, _I_ must add, kindness and +civility. I came up last Thursday by railway with the American Consul- +General, a charming person, and had to stay at this horrid Shepheard's +Hotel. But I do little but sleep here. Hekekian Bey, a learned old +Armenian, takes care of me every day, and the Amerian Vice-Consul is my +sacrifice. I went on Sunday to his child's christening, and heard Sakna, +the 'Restorer of Hearts.' She is wonderfully like Rachel, and her +singing is _hinreisend_ from expression and passion. Mr. Wilkinson (the +Consul) is a Levantine, and his wife Armenian, so they had a grand +fantasia; people feasted all over the house and in the street. Arab +music _schmetterte_, women yelled the _zaghareet_, black servants served +sweetmeats, pipes, and coffee, and behaved as if they belonged to the +company, and I was strongly under the impression that I was at +Nurreddin's wedding with the Vizier's daughter. Yesterday I went to +Heliopolis with Hekekian Bey and his wife, and visited an Armenian +country lady close by. + +My servant Omar turns out a jewel. He has _deterre_ an excellent boat +for the Nile voyage, and I am to be mistress of a captain, a mate, eight +men and a cabin boy for 25 pounds a month. I went to Boulak, the port of +Cairo, and saw various boats, and admired the way in which the English +travellers pay for their insolence and caprices. Similar boats cost +people with dragomans 50 to 65 pounds. But, then, 'I shall lick the +fellows,' etc., is what I hear all round. The dragoman, I conclude, +pockets the difference. The owner of the boat, Sid Achmet el-Berberi, +asked 30 pounds, whereupon I touched my breast, mouth and eyes, and +stated through Omar that I was not, like other Ingeleez, made of money, +but would give 20 pounds. He then showed another boat at 20 pounds, very +much worse, and I departed (with fresh civilities) and looked at others, +and saw two more for 20 pounds; but neither was clean, and neither had a +little boat for landing. Meanwhile Sid Achmet came after me and +explained that, if I was not like other Ingeleez in money, I likewise +differed in politeness, and had refrained from abuse, etc., etc., and I +should have the boat for 25 pounds. It was so very excellent in all +fittings, and so much larger, that I thought it would make a great +difference in health, so I said if he would go before the American Vice- +Consul (who is looked on as a sharp hand) and would promise all he said +to me before him, it should be well. + +Mr. Thayer, the American Consul-General, gives me letters to every +consular agent depending on him; and two Coptic merchants whom I met at +the fantasia have already begged me to 'honour their houses.' I rather +think the poor agents, who are all Armenians and Copts, will think I am +the republic in person. The weather has been all this time like a +splendid English August, and I hope I shall get rid of my cough in time, +but it has been very bad. There is no cold at night here as at the Cape, +but it is nothing like so clear and bright. + +Omar took Sally sightseeing all day while I was away, into several +mosques; in one he begged her to wait a minute while he said a prayer. +They compare notes about their respective countries and are great +friends; but he is put out at my not having provided her with a husband +long ago, as is one's duty towards a 'female servant,' which almost +always here means a slave. + +Of all the falsehoods I have heard about the East, that about women being +old hags at thirty is the biggest. Among the poor fellah women it may be +true enough, but not nearly as much as in Germany; and I have now seen a +considerable number of Levantine ladies looking very handsome, or at +least comely, till fifty. Sakna, the Arab Grisi, is fifty-five--an ugly +face, I am told (she was veiled and one only saw the eyes and glimpses of +her mouth when she drank water), but the figure of a leopard, all grace +and beauty, and a splendid voice of its kind, harsh but thrilling like +Malibran's. I guessed her about thirty, or perhaps thirty-five. When +she improvised, the finesse and grace of her whole _Wesen_ were +ravishing. I was on the point of shouting out 'Wallah!' as heartily as +the natives. The eight younger Halmeh (_i.e_., learned women, which the +English call Almeh and think is an improper word) were ugly and +screeched. Sakna was treated with great consideration and quite as a +friend by the Armenian ladies with whom she talked between her songs. She +is a Muslimeh and very rich and charitable; she gets 50 pounds for a +night's singing at least. + +It would be very easy to learn colloquial Arabic, as they all speak with +such perfect distinctness that one can follow the sentences and catch the +words one knows as they are repeated. I think I know forty or fifty +words already, besides my 'salaam aleikum' and 'backsheesh.' + +The reverse of the brilliant side of the medal is sad enough: deserted +palaces, and crowded hovels scarce good enough for pigstyes. 'One day +man see his dinner, and one other day none at all,' as Omar observes; and +the children are shocking from bad food, dirt and overwork, but the +little pot-bellied, blear-eyed wretches grow up into noble young men and +women under all their difficulties. The faces are all sad and rather +what the Scotch call 'dour,' not _mechant_ at all, but harsh, like their +voices. All the melody is in walk and gesture; they are as graceful as +cats, and the women have exactly the 'breasts like pomegranates' of their +poetry. A tall Bedaween woman came up to us in the field yesterday to +shake hands and look at us. She wore a white sackcloth shift and veil, +_und weiter nichts_, and asked Mrs. Hekekian a good many questions about +me, looked at my face and hands, but took no notice of my rather smart +gown which the village women admired so much, shook hands again with the +air of a princess, wished me health and happiness, and strode off across +the graveyard like a stately ghost. She was on a journey all alone, and +somehow it looked very solemn and affecting to see her walking away +towards the desert in the setting sun like Hagar. All is so Scriptural +in the country here. Sally called out in the railroad, 'There is Boaz, +sitting in the cornfield'; and so it was, and there he has sat for how +many thousand years,--and Sakna sang just like Miriam in one war-song. + +_Wednesday_.--My contract was drawn up and signed by the American Vice- +Consul to-day, and my Reis kissed my hand in due form, after which I went +to the bazaar to buy the needful pots and pans. The transaction lasted +an hour. The copper is so much per oka, the workmanship so much; every +article is weighed by a sworn weigher and a ticket sent with it. More +Arabian Nights. The shopkeeper compares notes with me about numerals, +and is as much amused as I. He treats me to coffee and a pipe from a +neighbouring shop while Omar eloquently depreciates the goods and offers +half the value. A water-seller offers a brass cup of water; I drink, and +give the huge sum of twopence, and he distributes the contents of his +skin to the crowd (there always is a crowd) in my honour. It seems I +have done a pious action. Finally a boy is called to carry the _batterie +de cuisine_, while Omar brandishes a gigantic kettle which he has picked +up a little bruised for four shillings. The boy has a donkey which I +mount astride _a l'Arabe_, while the boy carries all the copper things on +his head. We are rather a grand procession, and quite enjoy the fury of +the dragomans and other leeches who hang on the English at such +independent proceedings, and Omar gets reviled for spoiling the trade by +being cook, dragoman, and all in one. + +I went this morning with Hekekian Bey to the two earliest mosques. The +Touloun is exquisite--noble, simple, and what ornament there is is the +most delicate lacework and embossing in stone and wood. This Arab +architecture is even more lovely than our Gothic. The Touloun is now a +vast poorhouse, a nest of paupers. I went into three of their lodgings. +Several Turkish families were in a large square room neatly divided into +little partitions with old mats hung on ropes. In each were as many bits +of carpet, mat and patchwork as the poor owner could collect, and a small +chest and a little brick cooking-place in one corner of the room with +three earthern pipkins for I don't know how many people;--that was +all--they possess no sort of furniture, but all was scrupulously clean +and no bad smell whatever. A little boy seized my hand and showed where +he slept, ate and cooked with the most expressive pantomime. As there +were women, Hekekian could not come in, but when I came out an old man +told us they received three loaves (cakes as big as a sailor's biscuit), +four piastres a month--_i.e_., eightpence per adult--a suit of clothes a +year, and on festive occasions lentil soup. Such is the almshouse here. +A little crowd belonging to the house had collected, and I gave sixpence +to an old man, who transferred it to the first old man to be _divided_ +among them all, ten or twelve people at least, mostly blind or lame. The +poverty wrings my heart. We took leave with salaams and politeness like +the best society, and then turned into an Arab hut stuck against the +lovely arches. I stooped low under the door, and several women crowded +in. This was still poorer, for there were no mats or rags of carpet, a +still worse cooking-place, a sort of dog-kennel piled up of loose stones +to sleep in, which contained a small chest and the print of human forms +on the stone floor. It was, however, quite free from dust, and perfectly +sweet. I gave the young woman who had led me in sixpence, and here the +difference between Turk and Arab appeared. The division of this created +a perfect storm of noise, and we left the five or six Arab women +out-shrieking a whole rookery. I ought to say that no one begged at all. + +_Friday_.--I went to-day on a donkey to a mosque in the bazaar, of what +we call Arabesque style, like the Alhambra, very handsome. The Kibleh +was very beautiful, and as I was admiring it Omar pulled a lemon out of +his breast and smeared it on the porphyry pillar on one side of the arch, +and then entreated me to lick it. It cures all diseases. The old man +who showed the mosque pulled eagerly at my arm to make me perform this +absurd ceremony, and I thought I should have been forced to do it. The +base of the pillar was clogged with lemon-juice. I then went to the +tombs of the Khalifah; one of the great ones had such arches and such +wondrous cupolas but all in ruins. There are scores of these noble +buildings, any one of which is a treasure, falling to decay. The next, +strange to say, was in perfect repair. I got off the donkey, and Omar +fidgeted and hesitated a little and consulted with a woman who had the +key. As there were no overshoes I pulled my boots off, and was rewarded +by seeing the footprints of Mohammed on two black stones, and a lovely +little mosque, a sort of _Sainte Chapelle_. Omar prayed with ardent +fervour and went out backwards, saluting the Prophet aloud. To my +surprise the woman was highly pleased with sixpence, and did not ask for +more. When I remarked this, Omar said that no Frank had ever been inside +to his knowledge. A mosque-keeper of the sterner sex would not have let +me in. I returned home through endless streets and squares of Moslem +tombs, those of the Memlooks among them. It was very striking; and it +was getting so dark that I thought of Nurreddin Bey, and wondered if a +Jinn would take me anywhere if I took up my night's lodging in one of the +comfortable little cupola-covered buildings. + +My Coptic friend has just called in to say that his brother expects me at +Kenneh. I find nothing but civility and a desire to please. My boat is +the _Zint el Bachreyn_, and I carry the English flag and a small American +distinguishing pennant as a signal to my consular agents. We sail next +Wednesday. Good-bye for the present, dearest Mutter. + + + +November 21, 1862: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +BOAT OFF EMBABEH, +_November_ 21, 1862. + +Dearest Alick, + +We embarked yesterday, and after the fashion of Eastern caravans are +abiding to-day at a village opposite Cairo; it is Friday, and therefore +would be improper and unlucky to set out on our journey. The scenes on +the river are wonderfully diverting and curious, so much life and +movement. But the boatmen are sophisticated; my crew have all sported +new white drawers in honour of the Sitti Ingleezee's supposed modesty--of +course compensation will be expected. Poor fellows! they are very well +mannered and quiet in their rags and misery, and their queer little +humming song is rather pretty, 'Eyah Mohammad, eyah Mohammad,' _ad +infinitum_, except when an energetic man cries 'Yallah!'--_i.e_., 'O +God!'--which means 'go it' in everyday life. Omar is gone to fetch one +or two more 'unconsidered trifles,' and I have been explaining the +defects to be remedied in the cabin door, broken window, etc., to my Reis +with the help of six words of Arabic and dumb show, which they understand +and answer with wonderful quickness. + +The air on the river is certainly quite celestial--totally unlike the +damp, chilly feeling of the hotel and Frank quarter of Cairo. The +Isbekeeyeh, or public garden, where all the Franks live, was a lake, I +believe, and is still very damp. + +I shall go up to the second Cataract as fast as possible, and return back +at leisure. Hekekian Bey came to take leave yesterday, and lent me +several books; pray tell Senior what a kindness his introduction was. It +would have been rather dismal in Cairo--if one could be dismal +there--without a soul to speak to. I was sorry to know no Turks or +Arabs, and have no opportunity of seeing any but the tradesman of whom I +bought my stores but that was very amusing. The young man of whom I +bought my _finjaans_ was so handsome, elegant and melancholy that I know +he was the lover of the Sultan's favourite slave. How I wish you were +here to enjoy all this, so new, so beautiful, and yet so familiar, +life--and you would like the people, poor things! they are complete +children, but amiable children. + +I went into the village here, where I was a curiosity, and some women +took me into their houses and showed me their sleeping-place, cookery, +poultry, etc.; and a man followed me to keep off the children, but no +backsheesh was asked for, which showed that Europeans were rare there. +The utter destitution is terrible to see, though in this climate of +course it matters less, but the much-talked-of dirt is simply utter +poverty. The poor souls are as clean as Nile mud and water will make +their bodies, and they have not a second shirt, or any bed but dried mud. + +Give my love to my darlings, and don't be uneasy if you don't get +letters. My cough has been better now for five days without a bad return +of it, so I hope it is really better; it is the first reprieve for so +long. The sun is so hot, a regular broil, November 21, and all doors and +windows open in the cabin--a delicious breeze. + + + +November 30, 1862: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +FESHN, +_Monday_, _November_ 30, 1862. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I have now been enjoying this most delightful way of life for ten days, +and am certainly much better. I begin to eat and sleep again, and cough +less. My crew are a great amusement to me. They are mostly men from +near the first Cataract above Assouan, sleek-skinned, gentle, patient, +merry black fellows. The little black Reis is the very picture of good- +nature and full of fun, 'chaffing' the girls as we pass the villages, and +always smiling. The steersman is of lighter complexion, also very +cheery, but decidedly pious. He prays five times a day and utters +ejaculations to the apostle Rusool continually. He hurt his ankle on one +leg and his instep on the other with a rusty nail, and they festered. I +dressed them with poultices, and then with lint and strapping, with +perfect success, to the great admiration of all hands, and he announced +how much better he felt, 'Alhamdulillah, kieth-el-hairack khateer ya +Sitti' (Praise be to God and thanks without end O Lady), and everyone +echoed, 'kieth-el-hairack khateer.' The most important person is the +'weled'--boy--Achmet. The most merry, clever, omnipresent little rascal, +with an ugly little pug face, a shape like an antique Cupid, liberally +displayed, and a skin of dark brown velvet. His voice, shrill and clear, +is always heard foremost; he cooks for the crew, he jumps overboard with +the rope and gives advice on all occasions, grinds the coffee with the +end of a stick in a mortar, which he holds between his feet, and uses the +same large stick to walk proudly before me, brandishing it if I go ashore +for a minute, and ordering everybody out of the way. 'Ya Achmet!' +resounds all day whenever anybody wants anything, and the 'weled' is +always ready and able. My favourite is Osman, a tall, long-limbed black +who seems to have stepped out of a hieroglyphical drawing, shirt, skull- +cap and all. He has only those two garments, and how anyone contrives to +look so inconceivably 'neat and respectable' (as Sally truly remarked) in +that costume is a mystery. He is always at work, always cheerful, but +rather silent--in short, the able seaman and steady, respectable 'hand' +_par excellence_. Then we have El Zankalonee from near Cairo, an old +fellow of white complexion and a valuable person, an inexhaustible teller +of stories at night and always _en train_, full of jokes and remarkable +for a dry humour much relished by the crew. I wish I understood the +stories, which sound delightful, all about Sultans and Efreets, with +effective 'points,' at which all hands exclaim 'Mashallah!' or 'Ah!' (as +long as you can drawl it). The jokes, perhaps, I may as well be ignorant +of. There is a certain Shereef who does nothing but laugh and work and +be obliging; helps Omar with one hand and Sally with the other, and looks +like a great innocent black child. The rest of the dozen are of various +colours, sizes and ages, some quite old, but all very quiet and +well-behaved. + +We have had either dead calm or contrary wind all the time and the men +have worked very hard at the tow-rope. On Friday I proclaimed a halt in +the afternoon at a village at prayer-time for the pious Muslims to go to +the mosque; this gave great satisfaction, though only five went, Reis, +steersman, Zankalonee and two old men. The up-river men never pray at +all, and Osman occupied himself by buying salt out of another boat and +stowing it away to take up to his family, as it is terribly dear high up +the river. At Benisouef we halted to buy meat and bread, it is _comme +qui dirait_ an assize town, there is one butcher who kills one sheep a +day. I walked about the streets escorted by Omar in front and two +sailors with huge staves behind, and created a sensation accordingly. It +is a dull little country town with a wretched palace of Said Pasha. On +Sunday we halted at Bibbeh, where I caught sight of a large Coptic church +and sallied forth to see whether they would let me in. The road lay past +the house of the headman of the village, and there 'in the gate' sat a +patriarch, surrounded by his servants and his cattle. Over the gateway +were crosses and queer constellations of dots, more like Mithraic symbols +than anything Christian, but Girgis was a Copt, though the chosen head of +the Muslim village. He rose as I came up, stepped out and salaamed, then +took my hand and said I must go into his house before I saw the church +and enter the hareem. His old mother, who looked a hundred, and his +pretty wife, were very friendly; but, as I had to leave Omar at the door, +our talk soon came to an end, and Girgis took me out into the divan, +without the sacred precincts of the hareem. Of course we had pipes and +coffee, and he pressed me to stay some days, to eat with him every day +and to accept all his house contained. I took the milk he offered, and +asked him to visit me in the boat, saying I must return before sunset +when it gets cold, as I was ill. The house was a curious specimen of a +wealthy man's house--I could not describe it if I tried, but I felt I was +acting a passage of the Old Testament. We went to the church, which +outside looked like nine beehives in a box. Inside, the nine domes +resting on square pillars were very handsome. Girgis was putting it into +thorough repair at his own expense, and it will cost a good deal, I +think, to repair and renew the fine old wood panelling of such minute and +intricate workmanship. The church is divided by three screens; one in +front of the eastern three domes is impervious and conceals the holy of +holies. He opened the horseshoe door for me to look in, but explained +that no Hareem might cross the threshold. All was in confusion owing to +the repairs which were actively going on without the slightest regard to +Sunday; but he took up a large bundle, kissed it, and showed it me. What +it contained I cannot guess, and I scrupled to inquire through a Muslim +interpreter. To the right of this sanctum is the tomb of a Muslim saint! +enclosed under the adjoining dome. Here we went in and Girgis kissed the +tomb on one side while Omar salaamed it on the other--a pleasant sight. +They were much more particular about our shoes than in the mosques. Omar +wanted to tie handkerchiefs over my boots like at Cairo, but the priest +objected and made me take them off and march about in the brick and +mortar rubbish in my stockings. I wished to hear the service, but it was +not till sunset, and, as far as I could make out, not different on Sunday +to other days. The Hareems are behind the screen furthest removed from +the holy screen, behind a third screen where also was the font, locked up +and shaped like a Muslim tomb in little. (Hareem is used here just like +the German _Frauenzimmer_, to mean a respectable woman. Girgis spoke of +me to Omar as 'Hareem.') The Copts have but one wife, but they shut her +up much closer than the Arabs. The children were sweetly pretty, so +unlike the Arab brats, and the men very good-looking. They did not seem +to acknowledge me at all as a _co-religionnaire_, and asked whether we of +the English religion did not marry our brothers and sisters. + +The priest then asked me to drink coffee at his house close by, and there +I 'sat in the gate'--_i.e_., in a large sort of den raised 2 feet from +the ground and matted, to the left of the gate. A crowd of Copts +collected and squatted about, and we were joined by the mason who was +repairing the church, a fine, burly, rough-bearded old Mussulman, who +told how the Sheykh buried in the church of Bibbeh had appeared to him +three nights running at Cairo and ordered him to leave his work and go to +Bibbeh and mend his church, and how he came and offered to do so without +pay if the Copts would find the materials. He spoke with evident pride, +as one who had received a Divine command, and the Copts all confirmed the +story and everyone was highly gratified by the miracle. I asked Omar if +he thought it was all true, and he had no doubt of it. The mason he knew +to be a respectable man in full work, and Girgis added that he had tried +to get a man to come for years for the purpose without success. It is +not often that a dead saint contrives to be equally agreeable to +Christians and Mussulmans, and here was the staunch old 'true believer' +working away in the sanctuary which they would not allow an English +fellow-Christian to enter. + +Whilst we sat hearing all these wonders, the sheep and cattle pushed in +between us, coming home at eve. The venerable old priest looked so like +Father Abraham, and the whole scene was _so_ pastoral and Biblical that I +felt quite as if my wish was fulfilled to live a little a few thousands +of years ago. They wanted me to stay many days, and then Girgis said I +must stop at Feshn where he had a fine house and garden, and he would go +on horseback and meet me there, and would give me a whole troop of +Fellaheen to pull the boat up quick. Omar's eyes twinkled with fun as he +translated this, and said he knew the Sitt would cry out, as she always +did about the Fellaheen, as if she were hurt herself. He told Girgis +that the English customs did not allow people to work without pay, which +evidently seemed very absurd to the whole party. + +GEBEL SHEYK EMBARAK, +_Thursday_. + +I stopped last night at Feshn, but finding this morning that my Coptic +friends were not expected till the afternoon, I would not spend the whole +day, and came on still against wind and stream. If I could speak Arabic +I should have enjoyed a few days with Girgis and his family immensely, to +learn their _Ansichten_ a little; but Omar's English is too imperfect to +get beyond elementary subjects. The thing that strikes me most is the +tolerant spirit that I see everywhere. They say 'Ah! it is your custom,' +and express no sort of condemnation, and Muslims and Christians appear +perfectly good friends, as my story of Bibbeh goes to prove. I have yet +to see the much-talked-of fanaticism, at present I have not met with a +symptom of it. There were thirteen Copt families at Bibbeh and a +considerable Muslim population, who had elected Girgis their headman and +kissed his hand very heartily as our procession moved through the +streets. Omar said he was a very good man and much liked. + +The villages look like slight elevations in the mud banks cut into square +shapes. The best houses have neither paint, whitewash, plaster, bricks +nor windows, nor any visible roofs. They don't give one the notion of +human dwellings at all at first, but soon the eye gets used to the +absence of all that constitutes a house in Europe, the impression of +wretchedness wears off, and one sees how picturesque they are, with palm- +trees and tall pigeon-houses, and here and there the dome over a saint's +tomb. The men at work on the river-banks are exactly the same colour as +the Nile mud, with just the warmer hue of the blood circulating beneath +the skin. Prometheus has just formed them out of the universal material +at hand, and the sun breathed life into them. Poor fellows--even the +boatmen, ragged crew as they are--say 'Ah, Fellaheen!' with a +contemptuous pity when they see me watch the villagers at work. + +The other day four huge barges passed us towed by a steamer and crammed +with hundreds of the poor souls torn from their homes to work at the +Isthmus of Suez, or some palace of the Pasha's, for a nominal piastre a +day, and find their own bread and water and cloak. One of my crew, +Andrasool, a black savage whose function is always to jump overboard +whenever the rope gets entangled or anything is wanted, recognised some +relations of his from a village close to Assouan. There was much +shouting and poor Andrasool looked very mournful all day. It may be his +turn next. Some of the crew disloyally remarked that they were sure the +men there wished they were working for a Sitti Ingleez, as Andrasool told +them he was. Think too what splendid pay it must be that the boat-owner +can give out of 25 pounds a month to twelve men, after taking his own +profits, the interest of money being enormous. + +When I call my crew black, don't think of negroes. They are elegantly- +shaped Arabs and all gentlemen in manners, and the black is transparent, +with amber _reflets_ under it in the sunshine; a negro looks _blue_ +beside them. I have learned a great deal that is curious from Omar's +confidences, who tells me his family affairs and talks about the women of +his family, which he would not to a man. He refused to speak to his +brother, a very grand dragoman, who was with the Prince of Wales, and who +came up to us in the hotel at Cairo and addressed Omar, who turned his +back on him. I asked the reason, and Omar told me how his brother had a +wife, 'An old wife, been with him long time, very good wife.' She had +had three children--all dead. All at once the dragoman, who is much +older than Omar, declared he would divorce her and marry a young woman. +Omar said, 'No, don't do that; keep her in your house as head of your +home, and take one of your two black slave girls as your Hareem.' But +the other insisted, and married a young Turkish wife; whereupon Omar took +his poor old sister-in-law to live with him and his own young wife, and +cut his grand brother dead. See how characteristic!--the urging his +brother to take the young slave girl 'as his Hareem,' like a respectable +man--that would have been all right; but what he did was 'not good.' I'll +trouble you (as Mrs. Grote used to say) to settle these questions to +everyone's satisfaction. I own Omar seemed to me to take a view against +which I had nothing to say. His account of his other brother, a +confectioner's household with two wives, was very curious. He and they, +with his wife and sister-in-law, all live together, and one of the +brother's wives has six children--three sleep with their own mother and +three with their _other_ mother--and all is quite harmonious. + +SIOUT, +_December_ 10. + +I could not send a letter from Minieh, where we stopped, and I visited a +sugar manufactory and a gentlemanly Turk, who superintended the district, +the Moudir. I heard a boy singing a _Zikr_ (the ninety-nine attributes +of God) to a set of dervishes in a mosque, and I think I never heard +anything more beautiful and affecting. Ordinary Arab singing is harsh +and nasal, but it can be wonderfully moving. Since we left Minieh we +have suffered dreadfully from the cold; the chickens died of it, and the +Arabs look blue and pinched. Of course it is _my weather_ and there +never was such cold and such incessant contrary winds known. To-day was +better, and Wassef, a Copt here, lent me his superb donkey to go up to +the tomb in the mountain. The tomb is a mere cavern, so defaced, but the +view of beautiful Siout standing in the midst of a loop of the Nile was +ravishing. A green deeper and brighter than England, graceful minarets +in crowds, a picturesque bridge, gardens, palm-trees, then the river +beyond it, the barren yellow cliffs as a frame all around that. At our +feet a woman was being carried to the grave, and the boys' voices rang +out the Koran full and clear as the long procession--first white turbans +and then black veils and robes--wound along. It is all a dream to me. +You can't think what an odd effect it is to take up an English book and +read it and then look up and hear the men cry, 'Yah Mohammad.' 'Bless +thee, Bottom, how art thou translated;' it is the reverse of all one's +former life when one sat in England and read of the East. '_Und nun sitz +ich mitten drein_' in the real, true Arabian Nights, and don't know +whether 'I be I as I suppose I be' or not. + +Tell Alick the news, for I have not written to any but you. I do so long +for my Rainie. The little Copt girls are like her, only pale; but they +don't let you admire them for fear of the evil-eye. + + + +December 20, 1862: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +THEBES, +_December_ 20, 1862. + +Dear Alick, + +I have had a long, dawdling voyage up here, but enjoyed it much, and have +seen and heard many curious things. I only stop here for letters and +shall go on at once to Wady Halfeh, as the weather is very cold still, +and I shall be better able to enjoy the ruins when I return about a month +hence, and shall certainly prefer the tropics now. I can't describe the +kindness of the Copts. The men I met at a party in Cairo wrote to all +their friends and relations to be civil to me. Wassef's attentions +consisted first in lending me his superb donkey and accompanying me about +all day. Next morning arrived a procession headed by his clerk, a +gentlemanly young Copt, and consisting of five black memlooks carrying a +live sheep, a huge basket of the most delicious bread, a pile of cricket- +balls of creamy butter, a large copper caldron of milk and a cage of +poultry. I was confounded, and tried to give a good baksheesh to the +clerk, but he utterly declined. At Girgeh one Mishrehgi was waiting for +me, and was in despair because he had only time to get a few hundred +eggs, two turkeys, a heap of butter and a can of milk. At Keneh one Issa +(Jesus) also lent a donkey, and sent me three boxes of delicious Mecca +dates, which Omar thought stingy. Such attentions are agreeable here +where good food is not to be had except as a gift. They all made me +promise to see them again on my return and dine at their houses, and +Wassef wanted to make a fantasia and have dancing girls. How you would +love the Arab women in the country villages. I wandered off the other +day alone, while the men were mending the rudder, and fell in with a +troop of them carrying water-jars--such sweet, graceful beings, all +smiles and grace. One beautiful woman pointed to the village and made +signs of eating and took my hand to lead me. I went with her, admiring +them as they walked. Omar came running after and wondered I was not +afraid. I laughed, and said they were much too pretty and kindly-looking +to frighten anyone, which amused them immensely when he told them so. +They all wanted me to go and eat in their houses, and I had a great mind +to it, but the wind was fair and the boat waiting, so I bid my beautiful +friends farewell. They asked if we wanted anything--milk or eggs--for +they would give it with pleasure, it was not their custom to sell things, +they said, I offered a bit of money to a little naked child, but his +mother would not let him take it. I shall never forget the sweet, +engaging creatures at that little village, or the dignified politeness of +an old weaver whose loom I walked in to look at, and who also wished to +'set a piece of bread before me.' It is the true poetical pastoral life +of the Bible in the villages where the English have not been, and happily +they don't land at the little places. Thebes has become an English +watering-place. There are now nine boats lying here, and the great +object is to _do the Nile_ as fast as possible. It is a race up to Wady +Halfeh or Assouan. I have gained so much during this month that I hope +the remaining three will do real good, as the weather will improve with +the new year they tell me. All the English stay here and 'make +Christmas,' as Omar calls it, but I shall go on and do my devotions with +the Copts at Esneh or Edfou. I found that their seeming disinclination +to let one attend their service arose from an idea that we English would +not recognise them as Christians. I wrote a curious story of a miracle +to my mother, I find that I was wrong about the saint being a Mussulman +(and so is Murray); he is no less than Mar Girghis, our own St. George +himself. Why he selected a Mussulman mason I suppose he best knows. + +In a week I shall be in Nubia. Some year we must all make this voyage; +you would revel in it. Kiss my darlings for me. + + + +February 11, 1863: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +THEBES, +_February_ 11, 1863. + +Dearest Alick, + +On arriving here last night I found one letter from you, dated December +10, and have received nothing else. Pray write again forthwith to Cairo +where I hope to stay some weeks. A clever old dragoman I met at Philae +offers to lend me furniture for a lodging or a tent for the desert, and +when I hesitated he said he was very well off and it was not his business +to sell things, but only to be paid for his services by rich people, and +that if I did not accept it as he meant it he should be quite hurt. This +is what I have met with from everything Arab--nothing but kindness and +politeness. I shall say farewell to Egypt with real feeling; among other +things, it will be quite a pang to part with Omar who has been my shadow +all this time and for whom I have quite an affection, he is so thoroughly +good and amiable. + +I am really much better I hope and believe, though only within the last +week or two. We have had the coldest winter ever known in Nubia, such +bitter north-east winds, but when the wind by great favour did not blow, +the weather was heavenly. If the millennium really does come I shall +take a good bit of mine on the Nile. At Assouan I had been strolling +about in that most poetically melancholy spot, the granite quarry of old +Egypt and burial-place of Muslim martyrs, and as I came homewards along +the bank a party of slave merchants, who had just loaded their goods for +Senaar from the boat on the camels, asked me to dinner, and, oh! how +delicious it felt to sit on a mat among the camels and strange bales of +goods and eat the hot tough bread, sour milk and dates, offered with such +stately courtesy. We got quite intimate over our leather cup of sherbet +(brown sugar and water), and the handsome jet-black men, with features as +beautiful as those of the young Bacchus, described the distant lands in a +way which would have charmed Herodotus. They proposed to me to join +them, 'they had food enough,' and Omar and I were equally inclined to go. +It is of no use to talk of the ruins; everybody has said, I suppose, all +that can be said, but Philae surpassed my expectations. No wonder the +Arab legends of Ans el Wogood are so romantic, and Abou Simbel and many +more. The scribbling of names is quite infamous, beautiful paintings are +defaced by Tomkins and Hobson, but worst of all Prince Puckler Muskau has +engraved his and his _Ordenskreuz_ in huge letters on the naked breast of +that august and pathetic giant who sits at Abou Simbel. I wish someone +would kick him for his profanity. + +I have eaten many odd things with odd people in queer places, dined in a +respectable Nubian family (the castor-oil was trying), been to a Nubian +wedding--such a dance I saw. Made friends with a man much looked up to +in his place (Kalabshee--notorious for cutting throats), inasmuch as he +had killed several intrusive tax-gatherers and recruiting officers. He +was very gentlemanly and kind and carried me up a place so steep I could +not have reached it. Just below the cataract--by-the-by going up is +nothing but noise and shouting, but coming down is fine fun--_Fantasia +khateer_ as my excellent little Nubian pilot said. My sailors all prayed +away manfully and were horribly frightened. I confess my pulse +quickened, but I don't think it was fear. Well, below the cataract I +stopped for a religious fete, and went to a holy tomb with the darweesh, +so extraordinarily handsome and graceful--the true _feingemacht_ noble +Bedaween type. He took care of me through the crowd, who never had seen +a Frank woman before and crowded fearfully, and pushed the true believers +unmercifully to make way for me. He was particularly pleased at my not +being afraid of Arabs; I laughed, and asked if he was afraid of us. 'Oh +no! he would like to come to England; when there he would work to eat and +drink, and then sit and sleep in the church.' I was positively ashamed +to tell my religious friend that with us the 'house of God' is not the +house of the poor stranger. I asked him to eat with me but he was +holding a preliminary Ramadan (it begins next week), and could not; but +he brought his handsome sister, who was richly dressed, and begged me to +visit him and eat of his bread, cheese and milk. Such is the treatment +one finds if one leaves the highroad and the backsheesh-hunting +parasites. There are plenty of 'gentlemen' barefooted and clad in a +shirt and cloak ready to pay attentions which you may return with a civil +look and greeting, and if you offer a cup of coffee and a seat on the +floor you give great pleasure, still more if you eat the dourah and +dates, or bread and sour milk with an appetite. + +At Koom Ombo we met a Rifaee darweesh with his basket of tame snakes. +After a little talk he proposed to initiate me, and so we sat down and +held hands like people marrying. Omar sat behind me and repeated the +words as my 'Wakeel,' then the Rifaee twisted a cobra round our joined +hands and requested me to spit on it, he did the same and I was +pronounced safe and enveloped in snakes. My sailors groaned and Omar +shuddered as the snakes put out their tongues--the darweesh and I smiled +at each other like Roman augurs. I need not say the creatures were +toothless. + +It is worth going to Nubia to see the girls. Up to twelve or thirteen +they are neatly dressed in a bead necklace and a leather fringe 4 inches +wide round the loins, and anything so absolutely perfect as their shapes +or so sweetly innocent as their look can't be conceived. My pilot's +little girl came in the dress mentioned before carrying a present of +cooked fish on her head and some fresh eggs; she was four years old and +so _klug_. I gave her a captain's biscuit and some figs, and the little +pet sat with her little legs tucked under her, and ate it so _manierlich_ +and was so long over it, and wrapped up some more white biscuit to take +home in a little rag of a veil so carefully. I longed to steal her, she +was such a darling. Two beautiful young Nubian women visited me in my +boat, with hair in little plaits finished off with lumps of yellow clay +burnished like golden tags, soft, deep bronze skins, and lips and eyes +fit for Isis and Hathor. Their very dress and ornaments were the same as +those represented in the tombs, and I felt inclined to ask them how many +thousand years old they were. In their house I sat on an ancient +Egyptian couch with the semicircular head-rest, and drank out of crockery +which looked antique, and they brought a present of dates in a basket +such as you may see in the British Museum. They are dressed in drapery +like Greek statues, and are as perfect, but have hard, bold faces, and, +though far handsomer, lack the charm of the Arab women; and the men, +except at Kalabshee and those from far up the country, are not such +gentlemen as the Arabs. + +Everyone is cursing the French here. Forty thousand men always at work +at the Suez Canal at starvation-point, does not endear them to the Arabs. +There is great excitement as to what the new Pasha will do. If he ceases +to give forced labour, the Canal, I suppose, must be given up. Well, I +must leave off and send my letter to Mustapha Aga to forward. I shall +stay here ten days or so, and then return slowly to Cairo on March 10, +the last day of Ramadan. I will stay a short time at Cairo, and then +take a small boat and drop down to Alexandria and see Janet. How I did +wish for my darling Rainie to play with Achmet in the boat and see the +pretty Nubian boys and girls. I have seen and heard so much, that like +M. de Conti _je voudrais etre leve pour l'aller dire_. I long to bore +you with traveller's tales. Pray write soon. + +Omar wanted to hear all that 'the gentleman' said about 'weled and bint' +(boy and girl), and was quite delighted to hear of Maurice's good report +at school, he thinks that the 'Abou el welad' (father of the +children--you, to wit) will send a sheep to the 'fikee' who teaches him. +I have learned a new code of propriety altogether--_cela a du bon et du +mauvais_, like ours. When I said 'my husband' Omar blushed and gently +corrected me; when my donkey fell in the streets he cried with vexation, +and on my mentioning the fall to Hekekian Bey he was quite indignant. +'Why you say it, ma'am? that shame'--a _faux pas_ in fact. On the other +hand they mention all that belongs to the production of children with +perfect satisfaction and pleasure. A very pleasing, modest and handsome +Nubian young woman, wishing to give me the best present she could think +of, brought me a mat of her own making, and which had been her marriage- +bed. It was a gift both friendly and honourable, and I treasure it +accordingly. Omar gave me a description of his own marriage, appealing +to my sympathy about the distress of absence from his wife. I intimated +that English people were not accustomed to some words and might be +shocked, on which he said, 'Of course I not speak of my Hareem to English +gentleman, but to good Lady can speak it.' + +Good-bye, dear Alick, no, that is improper: I must say 'O my Lord' or +'Abou Maurice.' + + + +March 7, 1863: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +A FEW MILES BELOW GIRGEH, +_March_ 7, 1863. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I was so glad to find from your letter (which Janet sent me to Thebes by +a steamer) that mine from Siout had reached you safely. First and +foremost I am wonderfully better. In Cairo the winter has been terribly +cold and damp, as the Coptic priest told me yesterday at Girgeh. So I +don't repent the expense of the boat for _j'en ai pour mon argent_--I am +_all_ the money better and really think of getting well. Now that I know +the ways of this country a little, which Herodotus truly says is like no +other, I see that I might have gone and lived at Thebes or at Keneh or +Assouan on next to nothing, but then how could I know it? The English +have raised a mirage of false wants and extravagance which the servants +of the country of course, some from interest and others from mere +ignorance, do their best to keep up. As soon as I had succeeded in +really persuading Omar that I was not as rich as a Pasha and had no wish +to be thought so, he immediately turned over a new leaf as to what must +be had and said 'Oh, if I could have thought an English lady would have +eaten and lived and done the least like Arab people, I might have hired a +house at Keneh for you, and we might have gone up in a clean passenger +boat, but I thought no English could bear it.' At Cairo, where we shall +be, Inshallaha, on the 19th, Omar will get a lodging and borrow a few +mattresses and a table and chair and, as he says, 'keep the money in our +pockets instead of giving it to the hotel.' I hope Alick got my letter +from Thebes, and that he told you that I had dined with 'the blameless +Ethiopians.' I have seen all the temples in Nubia and down as far as I +have come, and nine of the tombs at Thebes. Some are wonderfully +beautiful--Abou Simbel, Kalabshee, Room Ombo--a little temple at El Kab, +lovely--three tombs at Thebes and most of all Abydos; Edfou and Dendera +are the most perfect, Edfou quite perfect, but far less beautiful. But +the most lovely object my eyes ever saw is the island of Philae. It +gives one quite the supernatural feeling of Claude's best landscapes, +only not the least like them--_ganz anders_. The Arabs say that Ans el +Wogood, the most beautiful of men, built it for his most beautiful +beloved, and there they lived in perfect beauty and happiness all alone. +If the weather had not been so cold while I was there I should have lived +in the temple, in a chamber sculptured with the mystery of Osiris' burial +and resurrection. Omar cleaned it out and meant to move my things there +for a few days, but it was too cold to sleep in a room without a door. +The winds have been extraordinarily cold this year, and are so still. We +have had very little of the fine warm weather, and really been pinched +with cold most of the time. On the shore away from the river would be +much better for invalids. + +Mustapha Aga, the consular agent at Thebes, has offered me a house of +his, up among the tombs in the finest air, if ever I want it. He was +very kind and hospitable indeed to all the English there. I went into +his hareem, and liked his wife's manners very much. It was charming to +see that she henpecked her handsome old husband completely. They had +fine children and his boy, about thirteen or so, rode and played Jereed +one day when Abdallah Pasha had ordered the people of the neighbourhood +to do it for General Parker. I never saw so beautiful a performance. The +old General and I were quite excited, and he tried it to the great +amusement of the Sheykh el Beled. Some young Englishmen were rather +grand about it, but declined mounting the horses and trying a throw. The +Sheykh and young Hassan and then old Mustapha wheeled round and round +like beautiful hawks, and caught the palm-sticks thrown at them as they +dashed round. It was superb, and the horses were good, though the +saddles and bridles were rags and ends of rope, and the men mere +tatterdemalions. A little below Thebes I stopped, and walked inland to +Koos to see a noble old mosque falling to ruin. No English had ever been +there and we were surrounded by a crowd in the bazaar. Instantly five or +six tall fellows with long sticks improvised themselves our body-guard +and kept the people off, who _du reste_ were perfectly civil and only +curious to see such strange 'Hareem,' and after seeing us well out of the +town evaporated as quietly as they came without a word. I gave about ten- +pence to buy oil, as it is Ramadan and the mosque ought to be lighted, +and the old servant of the mosque kindly promised me full justice at the +Day of Judgment, as I was one of those Nasranee of whom the Lord Mohammed +said that they are not proud and wish well to the Muslimeen. The Pasha +had confiscated all the lands belonging to the mosque, and allowed 300 +piastres--not 2 pounds a month--for all expenses; of course the noble old +building with its beautiful carving and arabesque mouldings must fall +down. There was a smaller one beside it, where he declared that +anciently forty girls lived unmarried and recited the Koran--Muslim nuns, +in fact. I intend to ask the Alim, for whom I have a letter from +Mustapha, about such an anomaly. + +Some way above Bellianeh Omar asked eagerly leave to stop the boat as a +great Sheyk had called to us, and we should inevitably have some disaster +if we disobeyed. So we stopped and Omar said, 'come and see the Sheyk, +ma'am.' I walked off and presently found about thirty people, including +all my own men, sitting on the ground round St. Simon Stylites--without +the column. A hideous old man like Polyphemus, utterly naked, with the +skin of a rhinoceros all cracked with the weather, sat there, and had sat +day and night, summer and winter, motionless for twenty years. He never +prays, he never washes, he does not keep Ramadan, and yet he is a saint. +Of course I expected a good hearty curse from such a man, but he was +delighted with my visit, asked me to sit down, ordered his servant to +bring me sugar-cane, asked my name and tried to repeat it over and over +again, and was quite talkative and full of jokes and compliments, and +took no notice of anyone else. Omar and my crew smiled and nodded, and +all congratulated me heartily. Such a distinction proves my own +excellence (as the Sheyk knows all people's thoughts), and is sure to be +followed by good fortune. Finally Omar proposed to say the Fathah in +which all joined except the Sheykh, who looked rather bored by the +interruption, and desired us not to go so soon, unless I were in a hurry. +A party of Bedaween came up on camels with presents for the holy man, but +he took no notice of them, and went on questioning Omar about me, and +answering my questions. What struck me was the total absence of any +sanctimonious air about the old fellow, he was quite worldly and jocose; +I suppose he knew that his position was secure, and thought his dirt and +nakedness proved his holiness enough. Omar then recited the Fathah +again, and we rose and gave the servants a few foddahs--the saint takes +no notice of this part of the proceeding--but he asked me to send him +twice my hand full of rice for his dinner, an honour so great that there +was a murmur of congratulation through the whole assembly. I asked Omar +how a man could be a saint who neglected all the duties of a Muslim, and +I found that he fully believed that Sheykh Seleem could be in two places +at once, that while he sits there on the shore he is also at Mecca, +performing every sacred function and dressed all in green. 'Many people +have seen him there, ma'am, quite true.' + +From Bellianeh we rode on pack-donkeys without bridles to Abydos, six +miles through the most beautiful crops ever seen. The absence of weeds +and blight is wonderful, and the green of Egypt, where it is green, would +make English green look black. Beautiful cattle, sheep and camels were +eating the delicious clover, while their owners camped there in reed huts +during the time the crops are growing. Such a lovely scene, all +sweetness and plenty. We ate our bread and dates in Osiris' temple, and +a woman offered us buffalo milk on our way home, which we drank warm out +of the huge earthen pan it had been milked in. At Girgeh I found my +former friend Mishregi absent, but his servants told some of his friends +of my arrival, and about seven or eight big black turbans soon gathered +in the boat. A darling little Coptic boy came with his father and wanted +a '_kitaab_' (book) to write in, so I made one with paper and the cover +of my old pocket-book, and gave him a pencil. I also bethought me of +showing him 'pickys' in a book, which was so glorious a novelty that he +wanted to go with me to my town, 'Beled Ingleez,' where more such books +were to be found. + +SIOUT, +_March_ 9. + +I found here letters from Alick, telling me of dear Lord Lansdowne's +death. Of course I know that his time was come, but the thought that I +shall never see his face again, that all that kindness and affection is +gone out of my life, is a great blow. No friend could leave such a blank +to me as that old and faithful one, though the death of younger ones +might be more tragic; but so many things seem gone with him into the +grave. Many indeed will mourn that kind, wise, steadfast man--_Antiqua +fides_. No one nowadays will be so noble with such unconsciousness and +simplicity. I have bought two Coptic turbans to make a black dress out +of. I thought I should like to wear it for him--here, where 'compliment' +is out of the question. + +I also found a letter from Janet, who has been very ill; the account was +so bad that I have telegraphed to hear how she is, and shall go at once +to Alexandria if she is not better. If she is I shall hold to my plan +and see Beni Hassan and the Pyramids on my way to Cairo. I found my kind +friend the Copt Wassef kinder than ever. He went off to telegraph to +Alexandria for me, and showed so much feeling and real kindness that I +was quite touched. + +I was grieved to hear that you had been ill again, dearest Mutter. The +best is that I feel so much better that I think I may come home again +without fear; I still have an irritable cough, but it has begun to have +lucid intervals, and is far less frequent. I can walk four or five miles +and my appetite is good. All this in spite of really cold weather in a +boat where nothing shuts within two fingers' breadths. I long to be +again with my own people. + +Please send this to Alick, to whom I will write again from Cairo. + + + +March 10, 1863: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +_March_ 10, 1863. + + 'If in the street I led thee, dearest, + Though the veil hid thy face divine, + They who beheld thy graceful motion + Would stagger as though drunk with wine. + + Nay, e'en the holy Sheykh, while praying + For guidance in the narrow way, + Must needs leave off, and on the traces + Of thine enchanting footsteps stray. + + O ye who go down in the boats to Dumyat, + Cross, I beseech ye, the stream to Budallah; + Seek my beloved, and beg that she will not + Forget me, I pray and implore her by Allah. + + 'Fair as two moons is the face of my sweetheart, + And as to her neck and her bosom--Mashallah. + And unless to my love I am soon reunited + Death is my portion--I swear it by Allah.' + +Thus sings Ali Asleemee, the most _debraille_ of my crew, a _hashshash_, +{48} but a singer and a good fellow. The translation is not free, though +the sentiments are. I merely rhymed Omar's literal word-for-word +interpretation. The songs are all in a similar strain, except one funny +one abusing the 'Sheykh el-Beled, may the fleas bite him.' Horrid +imprecation! as I know to my cost, for after visiting the Coptic monks at +Girgeh I came home to the boat with myriads. Sally said she felt like +Rameses the Great, so tremendous was the slaughter of the active enemy. + +I had written the first page just as I got to Siout and was stopped by +bad news of Janet; but now all is right again, and I am to meet her in +Cairo, and she proposes a jaunt to Suez and to Damietta. I have got a +superb illumination to-night, improvised by Omar in honour of the Prince +of Wales's marriage, and consequently am writing with flaring candles, my +lantern being on duty at the masthead, and the men are singing an +epithalamium and beating the tarabookeh as loud as they can. + +You will have seen my letter to my mother, and heard how much better I am +for the glorious air of Nubia and the high up-country. Already we are +returning into misty weather. I dined and spent the day with Wassef and +his Hareem, such an amiable, kindly household. I was charmed with their +manner to each other, to the slaves and family. The slaves (all Muslims) +told Omar what an excellent master they had. He had meant to make a +dance-fantasia, but as I had not good news it was countermanded. Poor +Wassef ate his boiled beans rather ruefully, while his wife and I had an +excellent dinner, she being excused fasting on account of a coming baby. +The Copt fast is no joke, neither butter, milk, eggs nor fish being +allowed for fifty-five days. They made Sally dine with us, and Omar was +admitted to wait and interpret. Wassef's younger brother waited on him +as in the Bible, and his clerk, a nice young fellow, assisted. Black +slaves brought the dishes in, and capital the food was. There was plenty +of joking between the lady and Omar about Ramadan, which he had broken, +and the Nasranee fast, and also about the number of wives allowed, the +young clerk intimating that he rather liked that point in Islam. I have +promised to spend ten or twelve days at their house if ever I go up the +Nile again. I have also promised to send Wassef all particulars as to +the expense, etc. of educating his boy in England, and to look after him +and have him to our house in the holidays. I can't describe how +anxiously kind these people were to me. One gets such a wonderful amount +of sympathy and real hearty kindness here. A curious instance of the +affinity of the British mind for prejudice is the way in which every +Englishman I have seen scorns the Eastern Christians, and droll enough +that sinners like Kinglake and I should be the only people to feel the +tie of the 'common faith' (_vide_ 'Eothen'). A very pious Scotch +gentleman wondered that I could think of entering a Copt's house, adding +that they were the publicans (tax-gatherers) of this country, which is +partly true. I felt inclined to mention that better company than he or I +had dined with publicans, and even sinners. + +The Copts are evidently the ancient Egyptians. The slightly aquiline +nose and long eye are the very same as the profiles of the tombs and +temples, and also like the very earliest Byzantine pictures; _du reste_, +the face is handsome, but generally sallow and rather inclined to +puffiness, and the figure wants the grace of the Arabs. Nor has any Copt +the thoroughbred, _distingue_ look of the meanest man or woman of good +Arab blood. Their feet are the long-toed, flattish foot of the Egyptian +statue, while the Arab foot is classically perfect and you could put your +hand under the instep. The beauty of the Ababdeh, black, naked, and +shaggy-haired, is quite marvellous. I never saw such delicate limbs and +features, or such eyes and teeth. + +CAIRO, +_March_ 19. + +After leaving Siout I caught cold. The worst of going up the Nile is +that one must come down again and find horrid fogs, and cold nights with +sultry days. So I did not attempt Sakhara and the Pyramids, but came a +day before my appointed time to Cairo. Up here in the town it is much +warmer and dryer, and my cough is better already. I found all your +letters in many volumes, and was so excited over reading them that I +could not sleep one moment last night, so excuse dulness, but I thought +you'd like to know I was safe in Briggs' bank, and expecting Janet and +Ross to-night. + + + +April 9, 1863: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +CAIRO, +_April_ 9, 1863. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I write to you because I know Janet is sure to write to Alick. I have +had a very severe attack of bronchitis. As I seemed to be getting worse +after Janet and Ross left for Alexandria, Omar very wisely sent for +Hekekian Bey, who came at once bringing De Leo Bey, the surgeon-in-chief +of the Pasha's troops, and also the doctor to the hareem. He has been +most kind, coming two and three times a day at first. He won't take any +fee, _sous pretexte_ that he is _officier du Pasha_; I must send him a +present from England. As to Hekekian Bey, he is absolutely the Good +Samaritan, and these Orientals do their kindnesses with such an air of +enjoyment to themselves that it seems quite a favour to let them wait +upon one. Hekekian comes in every day with his handsome old face and a +budget of news, all the gossip of the Sultan and his doings. I shall +always fancy the Good Samaritan in a tarboosh with a white beard and very +long eyes. I am out of bed to-day for the second time, and waiting for a +warm day to go out. Sally saw the illuminations last night; the Turkish +bazaar she says was gorgeous. The Sultan and all his suite have not +eaten bread here, all their food comes from Constantinople. To-morrow +the Mahmaal goes--think of my missing that sight! _C'est desclant_. + +I have a black slave--a real one. I looked at her little ears wondering +they had not been bored for rings. She fancied I wished them bored (she +was sitting on the floor close at my side), and in a minute she stood up +and showed me her ear with a great pin through it: 'Is that well, lady?' +the creature is eight years old. The shock nearly made me faint. What +extremities of terror had reduced that little mind to such a state. She +is very good and gentle, and sews quite nicely already. When she first +came, she tells me, she thought I should eat her; now her one dread is +that I should leave her behind. She sings a wild song of joy to +Maurice's picture and about the little Sitt. She was sent from Khartoum +as a present to Mr. Thayer, who has no woman-servant at all. He fetched +me to look at her, and when I saw the terror-stricken creature being +coarsely pulled about by his cook and groom, I said I would take her for +the present. Sally teaches her, and she is very good; but now she has +set her whole little black soul upon me. De Leo can give no opinion as +to what I ought to do, as he knows little but Egypt, and thinks England +rather like Norway, I fancy. Only don't let me be put in a dreadful +mountain valley; I hear the drip, drip, drip of Eaux Bonnes in bad dreams +still, when I am chilly and oppressed in my sleep. I'll write again +soon, send this to Alick, please. + + + +April 13, 1863: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +CAIRO, +_April_ 13, 1863. + +Dearest Alick, + +You will have heard from my mother of my ill luck, falling sick again. +The fact is that the spring in Egypt is very trying, and I came down the +river a full month too soon. People do tell such lies about the heat. To- +day is the first warm day we have had; till now I have been shivering, +and Sally too. I have been out twice, and saw the holy Mahmaal rest for +its first station outside the town, it is a deeply affecting sight--all +those men prepared to endure such hardship. They halt among the tombs of +the Khalifah, such a spot. Omar's eyes were full of tears and his voice +shaking with emotion, as he talked about it and pointed out the Mahmaal +and the Sheykh al-Gemel, who leads the sacred camel, naked to the waist +with flowing hair. Muslim piety is so unlike what Europeans think it is, +so full of tender emotions, so much more sentimental than we imagine--and +it is wonderfully strong. I used to hear Omar praying outside my door +while I was so ill, 'O God, make her better. O my God, let her sleep,' +as naturally as we should say, 'I hope she'll have a good night.' + +The Sultan's coming is a kind of riddle. No one knows what he wants. The +Pasha has ordered all the women of the lower classes to keep indoors +while he is here. Arab women are outspoken, and might shout out their +grievances to the great Sultan. + +_April_ 15.--I continue to get better slowly, and in a few days will go +down to Alexandria. Omar is gone to Boulak to inquire the cost of a +boat, as I am not fond of the railroad, and have a good deal of heavy +baggage, cooking utensils, etc., which the railway charges enormously +for. The black slave girl, sent as a present to the American +Consul-General, is as happy as possible, and sings quaint, soft little +Kordofan songs all day. I hope you won't object to my bringing her home. +She wails so terribly when Omar tells her she is not my slave, for fear I +should leave her, and insists on being my slave. She wants to be a +present to Rainie, the little Sitt, and laughs out so heartily at the +thought of her. She is very quiet and gentle, poor little savage, and +the utter slavishness of the poor little soul quite upsets me; she has no +will of her own. Now she has taken to talking, and tells all her woes +and how _batal_ (bad) everyone was at Khartoum; and then she rubs her +little black nose on my hand, and laughs so merrily, and says all is +_quyis keteer_ (very good) here, and she hugs herself with delight. I +think Rainie will like her very much. + +I am going to visit an old Muslim French painter's family. He has an +Arab wife and grown-up daughters, and is a very agreeable old man with a +store of Arab legends; I am going to persuade him to write them and let +me translate them into English. The Sultan goes away to-day. Even water +to drink has been brought from Constantinople; I heard that from Hekekian +Bey, who formerly owned the eunuch who is now Kislar Aghasy to the Sultan +himself. Hekekian had the honour of kissing his old slave's hand. If +anyone tries to make you believe any bosh about civilization in Egypt, +laugh at it. The real life and the real people are exactly as described +in the most veracious of books, the 'Thousand and One Nights'; the +tyranny is the same, the people are not altered--and very charming people +they are. If I could but speak the language I could get into Arab +society here through two or three different people, and see more than +many Europeans who have lived here all their lives. The Arabs are keenly +alive to the least prejudice against them, but when they feel quite safe +on that point they rather like the amusement of a stranger. + +Omar devised a glorious scheme, if I were only well and strong, of +putting me in a takterrawan and taking me to Mecca in the character of +his mother, supposed to be a Turk. To a European man, of course, it +would be impossible, but an enterprising woman might do it easily with a +Muslim confederate. Fancy seeing the pilgrimage! In a few days I shall +go down to Alexandria, if it makes me ill again I must return to Europe +or go to Beyrout. I can't get a boat under 12 pounds; thus do the Arabs +understand competition; the owner of boats said so few were wanted, times +were bad on account of the railway, etc., he must have double what he +used to charge. In vain Omar argued that that was not the way to get +employment. 'Maleesh!' (Never mind!), and so I must go by rail. Is not +that Eastern? Up the river, where there is no railroad, I might have had +it at half that rate. All you have ever told me as most Spanish in Spain +is in full vigour here, and also I am reminded of Ireland at every turn; +the same causes produce the same effects. + +To-day the Khamseen is blowing and it is decidedly hot, quite unlike the +heat at the Cape; this is close and gloomy, no sunshine. Altogether the +climate is far less bright than I expected, very, very inferior to the +Cape. Nevertheless, I heartily agree to the Arab saying: 'He who has +drunk Nile water will ever long to drink it again'; and when a graceful +woman in a blue shirt and veil lifts a huge jar from her shoulder and +holds it to your lips with a hearty smile and welcome, it tastes doubly +sweet. _Alhamdulillah_! Sally says all other water is like bad small- +beer compared to sweet ale after the Nile water. When the Khamseen is +over, Omar insists on my going to see the tree and the well where Sittina +Mariam rested with Seyidna Issa {55} in her arms during the flight into +Egypt. It is venerated by Christian and Muslim alike, and is a great +place for feasting and holiday-making out of doors, which the Arabs so +dearly love. Do write and tell me what you wish me to do. If it were +not that I cannot endure not to see you and the children, I would stay +here and take a house at the Abbassieh in the desert; but I could not +endure it. Nor can I endure this wandering life much longer. I must +come home and die in peace if I don't get really better. Write to +Alexandria next. + + + +April 18, 1863: Mr. Tom Taylor + + +_To Mr. Tom Taylor_. +CAIRO, +_April_ 18, 1863. + +My dear Tom, + +Your letter and Laura's were a great pleasure to me in this distant land. +I could not answer before, as I have been very ill. But Samaritans came +with oil and wine and comforted me. It had an odd, dreary effect to hear +my friend Hekekian Bey, a learned old Armenian, and De Leo Bey, my +doctor, discoursing Turkish at my bedside, while my faithful Omar cried +and prayed _Yah Robbeena_! _Yah Saatir_! (O Lord! O Preserver!) 'don't +let her die.' + +Alick is quite right that I am in love with the Arabs' ways, and I have +contrived to see and know more of family life than many Europeans who +have lived here for years. When the Arabs feel that one really cares for +them, they heartily return it. If I could only speak the language I +could see anything. Cairo _is_ the Arabian Nights; there is a little +Frankish varnish here and there, but the government, the people--all is +unchanged since that most veracious book was written. No words can +describe the departure of the holy Mahmal and the pilgrims for Mecca. I +spent half the day loitering about in the Bedaween tents admiring the +glorious, free people. To see a Bedaween and his wife walk through the +streets of Cairo is superb. Her hand resting on his shoulder, and +scarcely deigning to cover her haughty face, she looks down on the +Egyptian veiled woman who carries the heavy burden and walks behind her +lord and master. + +By no deed of my own have I become a slave-owner. The American Consul- +General turned over to me a black girl of eight or nine, and in +consequence of her reports the poor little black boy who is the slave and +marmiton of the cook here has been entreating Omar to beg me to buy him +and take him with me. It is touching to see the two poor little black +things recounting their woes and comparing notes. I went yesterday to +deposit my cooking things and boat furniture at my washerwoman's house. +Seeing me arrive on my donkey, followed by a cargo of household goods, +about eight or ten Arab women thronged round delighted at the idea that I +was coming to live in their quarter, and offering me neighbourly +services. Of course all rushed upstairs, and my old washerwoman was put +to great expense in pipes and coffee. I think, as you, that I must have +the 'black drop,' and that the Arabs see it, for I am always told that I +am like them, with praises of my former good looks. 'You were beautiful +Hareem once.' Nothing is more striking to me than the way in which one +is constantly reminded of Herodotus. The Christianity and the Islam of +this country are full of the ancient worship, and the sacred animals have +all taken service with Muslim saints. At Minieh one reigns over +crocodiles; higher up I saw the hole of AEsculapius' serpent at Gebel +Sheykh Hereedee, and I fed the birds--as did Herodotus--who used to tear +the cordage of boats which refused to feed them, and who are now the +servants of Sheykh Naooneh, and still come on board by scores for the +bread which no Reis dares refuse them. Bubastis' cats are still fed in +the Cadi's court at public expense in Cairo, and behave with singular +decorum when 'the servant of the cats' serves them their dinner. Among +gods, Amun Ra, the sun-god and serpent-killer, calls himself Mar Girgis +(St. George), and is worshipped by Christians and Muslims in the same +churches, and Osiris holds his festivals as riotously as ever at Tanta in +the Delta, under the name of Seyd el Bedawee. The _fellah_ women offer +sacrifices to the Nile, and walk round ancient statues in order to have +children. The ceremonies at births and burials are not Muslim, but +ancient Egyptian. + +The Copts are far more close and reserved and backward than the Arabs, +and they have been so repudiated by Europeans that they are doubly shy of +us. The Europeans resent being called 'Nazranee' as a genteel Hebrew +gentleman may shrink from 'Jew.' But I said boldly, '_Ana Nazraneeh_. +_Alhamdulillah_!' (I am a Nazranee. Praise be to God), and found that it +was much approved by the Muslims as well as the Copts. Curious things +are to be seen here in religion--Muslims praying at the tomb of Mar +Girgis (St. George) and the resting-places of Sittina Mariam and Seyidna +Issa, and miracles, brand-new, of an equally mixed description. + +If you have any power over any artists, send them to paint here. No +words can describe either the picturesque beauty of Cairo or the splendid +forms of the people in Upper Egypt, and above all in Nubia. I was in +raptures at seeing how superb an animal man (and woman) really is. My +donkey-girl at Thebes, dressed like a Greek statue--Ward es-Sham (the +Rose of Syria)--was a feast to the eyes; and here, too, what grace and +sweetness, and how good is a drink of Nile water out of an amphora held +to your lips by a woman as graceful as she is kindly. 'May it benefit +thee,' she says, smiling with all her beautiful teeth and eyes. +'_Alhamdulillah_,' you reply; and it is worth thanking God for. The days +of the beauty of Cairo are numbered. The mosques are falling to decay, +the exquisite lattice windows rotting away and replaced by European glass +and jalousies. Only the people and the Government remain unchanged. Read +all the pretty paragraphs about civilisation here, and then say, Bosh! + +If you know anyone coming here and wanting a good servant and dragoman, +recommend my dear Omar Abou el-Halaweh of Alexandria. He has been my +friend and companion, as well as my cook and general servant, now for six +months, and we are very sad at our approaching separation. I am to spend +a day in his house with his young wife at Alexandria, and to eat his +bread. He sadly wants to go with me to Europe and to see my children. +Sally, I think, is almost as fond of the Arabs as I am, and very popular. +My poor ragged crew were for ever calling out 'Yah Sara' for some +assistance or other, hurt fingers or such calamities; and the quantity of +doctoring I did was fearful. Sally was constantly wishing for you to see +all manner of things and to sketch. What a yarn I have made! + + + +May 12, 1863: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +ALEXANDRIA, +_May_ 12, 1863. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I have been here a fortnight, but the climate disagrees so much with me +that I am going back to Cairo at once by the advice of the doctor of the +Suez Canal. I cannot shake off my cough here. Mr. Thayer kindly lends +me his nice little bachelor house, and I take Omar back again for the +job. It is very hot here, but with a sea-breeze which strikes me like +ice; strong people enjoy it, but it gives even Janet cold in the head. +She is very well, I think, and seems very happy. She is _Times_ +correspondent and does it very well. + +I am terribly disappointed at not being as materially better as I had +hoped I should be while in Upper Egypt. I cannot express the longing I +have for home and my children, and how much I feel the sort of suspense +it all causes to you and to Alick, and my desire to be with you. + +One must come to the East to understand absolute equality. As there is +no education and no reason why the donkey-boy who runs behind me may not +become a great man, and as all Muslims are _ipso facto_ equal; money and +rank are looked on as mere accidents, and my _savoir vivre_ was highly +thought of because I sat down with Fellaheen and treated everyone as they +treat each other. In Alexandria all that is changed. The European ideas +and customs have extinguished the Arab altogether, and those who remain +are not improved by the contact. Only the _Bedaween_ preserve their +haughty _nonchalance_. I found the Mograbee bazaar full of them when I +went to buy a white cloak, and was amused at the way in which one +splendid bronze figure, who lay on the shop-front, moved one leg to let +me sit down. They got interested in my purchase, and assisted in making +the bargain and wrapping the cloak round me Bedawee fashion, and they too +complimented me on having 'the face of the Arab,' which means Bedaween. I +wanted a little Arab dress for Rainie, but could not find one, as at her +age none are worn in the desert. + +I dined one day with Omar, or rather I ate at his house, for he would not +eat with me. His sister-in-law cooked a most admirable dinner, and +everyone was delighted. It was an interesting family circle. A very +respectable elder brother a confectioner, whose elder wife was a black +woman, a really remarkable person, who speaks Italian perfectly, and gave +me a great deal of information and asked such intelligent questions. She +ruled the house but had no children, so he had married a fair, gentle- +looking Arab woman who had six children, and all lived in perfect +harmony. Omar's wife is a tall, handsome girl of his own age, with very +good manners. She had been outside the door of the close little court +which constituted the house _once_ since her marriage. I now begin to +understand all about the _wesen_ with the women. There is a good deal of +chivalry in some respects, and in the respectable lower and middle +classes the result is not so bad. I suspect that among the rich few are +very happy. But I don't know them, or anything of the Turkish ways. I +will go and see the black woman again and hear more, her conversation was +really interesting. + + + +May 12, 1863: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +ALEXANDRIA, +_May_ 12, 1863. + +Dearest Alick, + +I only got your letter an hour ago, and the mail goes out at four. I +enclose to you the letter I had written to my mother, so I need not +repeat about my plans. Continue to write here, a letter comes as soon +and safer. My general health is so much stronger and better--especially +before I had this last severe attack--that I still hope, though it is a +severe trial of patience not to throw it up and come home for good. It +would be delightful to have you at Cairo now I have pots and pans and all +needful for a house, but a carpet and a few mattresses, if you could camp +with me _a l'Arabe_. + +How you would revel in old Masr el-Kahira, peep up at lattice windows, +gape like a _gasheem_ (green one) in the bazaar, go wild over the +mosques, laugh at portly Turks and dignified Sheykhs on their white +donkeys, drink sherbet in the streets, ride wildly about on a donkey, +peer under black veils at beautiful eyes and feel generally intoxicated! +I am quite a good cicerone now of the glorious old city. Omar is in +raptures at the idea that the Sidi el Kebir (the Great Master) might +come, and still more if he brought the 'little master.' He plans meeting +you on the steamboat and bringing you to me, that I may kiss your hand +first of all. Mashallah! How our hearts would be dilated! + + + +May 21, 1863: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +MASR EL-KAHIRA, CAIRO, +_May_ 21, 1863. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I came here on Saturday night. To-day is Wednesday, and I am already +much better. I have attached an excellent donkey and his master, a +delightful youth called Hassan, to my household for fifteen piastres +(under two shillings) a day. They live at the door, and Hassan cleans +the stairs and goes errands during the heat of the day, and I ride out +very early, at six or seven, and again at five. The air is delicious +now. It is very hot for a few hours, but not stifling, and the breeze +does not chill one as it does at Alexandria. I live all day and all +night with open windows, and plenty of fresh warm air is the best of +remedies. I can do no better than stay here till the heat becomes too +great. I left little Zeyneb at Alexandria with Janet's maid Ellen who +quite loves her, and begged to keep her 'for company,' and also to help +in their removal to the new house. She clung about me and made me +promise to come back to her, but was content to stop with Ellen, whose +affection she of course returns. It was pleasant to see her so happy, +and how she relished being 'put to bed' with a kiss by Ellen or Sally. +Her Turkish master, whom she pronounces to have been _batal_ (bad), +called her Salaam es-Sidi (the Peace of her Master); but she said that in +her own village she used to be Zeyneb, and so we call her. She has grown +fatter and, if possible, blacker. Mahbrooka (Good Fortune), the elder +wife of Hegab, the confectioner, was much interested in her, as her fate +had been the same. She was bought by an Italian who lived with her till +his death, when she married Hegab. She is a pious Muslimeh, and invoked +the intercession of Seyidna Mohammad for me when I told her I had no +intention of baptizing Zeyneb by force, as had been done to her. + +The fault of my lodging here is the noise. We are on the road from the +railway and there is no quiet except in the few hot hours, when nothing +is heard but the cool tinkle of the Sakka's brass cup as he sells water +in the street, or perchance _erksoos_ (liquorice-water), or caroub or +raisin sherbet. The _erksoos_ is rather bitter and very good. I drink +it a good deal, for drink one must; a gulleh of water is soon gone. A +gulleh is a wide-mouthed porous jar, and Nile water drunk out of it +without the intervention of a glass is delicious. Omar goes to market +every morning with a donkey--I went too, and was much amused--and cooks, +and in the evening goes out with me if I want him. I told him I had +recommended him highly, and hoped he would get good employment; but he +declares that he will go with no one else so long as I come to Egypt, +whatever the difference of wages may be. 'The bread I eat with you is +sweet'--a pretty little unconscious antithesis to Dante. I have been +advising his brother Hajjee Ali to start a hotel at Thebes for invalids, +and he has already set about getting a house there; there is _one_. Next +winter there will be steamers twice a week--to Assouan! Juvenal's +distant Syene, where he died in banishment. My old washerwoman sent me a +fervent entreaty through Omar that I would dine with her one day, since I +had made Cairo delightful with my presence. If one will only devour +these people's food, they are enchanted; they like that much better than +a present. So I will honour her house some day. Good old Hannah, she is +divorced for being too fat and old, and replaced by a young Turk whose +family sponge on Hajjee Ali and are condescending. If I could afford it, +I would have a sketch of a beloved old mosque of mine, falling to decay, +and with three palm-trees growing in the middle of it. Indeed, I would +have a book full, for all is exquisite, and alas, all is going. The old +Copt quarter is _entame_, and hideous, shabby French houses, like the one +I live in, are being run up; and in this weather how much better would be +the Arab courtyard, with its mastabah and fountain! + +There is a quarrel now in the street; how they talk and gesticulate, and +everybody puts in a word; a boy has upset a cake-seller's tray, '_Naal +Abu'k_!' (Curses on your father) he claims six piastres damages, and +everyone gives an opinion _pour ou contre_. We all look out of the +window; my opposite neighbour, the pretty Armenian woman, leans out, and +her diamond head-ornaments and earrings glitter as she laughs like a +child. The Christian dyer is also very active in the row, which, like +all Arab rows, ends in nothing; it evaporates in fine theatrical gestures +and lots of talk. Curious! In the street they are so noisy, but get the +same men in a coffee-shop or anywhere, and they are the quietest of +mankind. Only one man speaks at a time, the rest listen, and never +interrupt; twenty men don't make the noise of three Europeans. + +Hekekian Bey is my near neighbour, and he comes in and we _fronder_ the +Government. His heart is sore with disinterested grief for the +sufferings of the people. 'Don't they deserve to be decently governed, +to be allowed a little happiness and prosperity? They are so docile, so +contented; are they not a good people?' Those were his words as he was +recounting some new iniquity. Of course half these acts are done under +pretext of improving and civilizing, and the Europeans applaud and say, +'Oh, but nothing could be done without forced labour,' and the poor +Fellaheen are marched off in gangs like convicts, and their families +starve, and (who'd have thought it) the population keeps diminishing. No +wonder the cry is, 'Let the English Queen come and take us.' You see, I +don't see things quite as Ross does, but mine is another _standpunkt_, +and my heart is with the Arabs. I care less about opening up the trade +with the Soudan and all the new railways, and I should like to see person +and property safe, which no one's is here (Europeans, of course, +excepted). Ismail Pasha got the Sultan to allow him to take 90,000 +feddans of uncultivated land for himself as private property, very well, +but the late Viceroy Said granted eight years ago certain uncultivated +lands to a good many Turks, his _employes_, in hopes of founding a landed +aristocracy and inducing them to spend their capital in cultivation. They +did so, and now Ismail Pasha takes their improved land and gives them +feddan for feddan of his new land, which will take five years to bring +into cultivation, instead. He forces them to sign a _voluntary_ deed of +exchange, or they go off to Fazogloo, a hot Siberia whence none return. +The Sultan also left a large sum of money for religious institutions and +charities--Muslim, Jew, and Christian. None have received a foddah. It +is true the Sultan and his suite plundered the Pasha and the people here; +but from all I hear the Sultan really wishes to do good. What is wanted +here is hands to till the ground, and wages are very high; food, of +course, gets dearer, and the forced labour inflicts more suffering than +before, and the population will decrease yet faster. This appears to me +to be a state of things in which it is no use to say that public works +must be made at any cost. The wealth will perhaps be increased, if +meanwhile the people are not exterminated. Then, every new Pasha builds +a huge new palace while those of his predecessors fall to ruin. Mehemet +Ali's sons even cut down the trees of his beautiful botanical garden and +planted beans there; so money is constantly wasted more than if it were +thrown into the Nile, for then the Fellaheen would not have to spend +their time, so much wanted for agriculture, in building hideous barrack- +like so-called palaces. What chokes me is to hear English people talk of +the stick being 'the only way to manage Arabs' as if anyone could doubt +that it is the easiest way to manage any people where it can be used with +impunity. + +_Sunday_.--I went to a large unfinished new Coptic church this morning. +Omar went with me up to the women's gallery, and was discreetly going +back when he saw me in the right place, but the Coptic women began to +talk to him and asked questions about me all the time I was looking down +on the strange scene below. I believe they celebrate the ancient +mysteries still. The clashing of cymbals, the chanting, a humming unlike +any sound I ever heard, the strange yellow copes covered with stranger +devices--it was _wunderlich_. At the end everyone went away, and I went +down and took off my shoes to go and look at the church. While I was +doing so a side-door opened and a procession entered. A priest dressed +in the usual black robe and turban of all Copts carrying a trident-shaped +sort of candlestick, another with cymbals, a lot of little boys, and two +young ecclesiastics of some sort in the yellow satin copes (contrasting +queerly with the familiar tarboosh of common life on their heads), these +carried little babies and huge wax tapers, each a baby and a taper. They +marched round and round three times, the cymbals going furiously, and +chanting a jig tune. The dear little tiny boys marched just in front of +the priest with such a pretty little solemn, consequential air. Then +they all stopped in front of the sanctuary, and the priest untied a sort +of broad-coloured tape which was round each of the babies, reciting +something in Coptic all the time, and finally touched their foreheads and +hands with water. This is a ceremony subsequent to baptism after I don't +know how many days, but the priest ties and then unties the bands. Of +what is this symbolical? _Je m'y perds_. Then an old man gave a little +round cake of bread, with a cabalistic-looking pattern on it, both to +Omar and to me, which was certainly baked for Isis. A lot of closely- +veiled women stood on one side in the aisle, and among them the mothers +of the babies who received them from the men in yellow copes at the end +of the ceremony. One of these young men was very handsome, and as he +stood looking down and smiling on the baby he held, with the light of the +torch sharpening the lines of his features, would have made a lovely +picture. The expression was sweeter than St. Vincent de Paul, because +his smile told that he could have played with the baby as well as have +prayed for it. In this country one gets to see how much more beautiful a +perfectly natural expression is than any degree of the mystical +expression of the best painters, and it is so refreshing that no one +tries to look pious. The Muslim looks serious, and often warlike, as he +stands at prayer. The Christian just keeps his everyday face. When the +Muslim gets into a state of devotional frenzy he does not think of making +a face, and it is quite tremendous. I don't think the Copt has any such +ardours, but the scene this morning was all the more touching that no one +was 'behaving him or herself' at all. A little acolyte peeped into the +sacramental cup and swigged off the drops left in it with the most +innocent air, and no one rebuked him, and the quite little children ran +about in the sanctuary--up to seven they are privileged--and only they +and the priests enter it. It is a pretty commentary on the words 'Suffer +the little children,' etc. + +I am more and more annoyed at not being able to ask questions for myself, +as I don't like to ask through a Muslim and no Copts speak any foreign +language, or very very few. Omar and Hassan had been at five this +morning to the tomb of Sittina Zeyneb, one of the daughters of the +Prophet, to 'see her' (Sunday is her day of reception), and say the +Fathah at her tomb. Next Friday the great Bairam begins and every Muslim +eats a bit of meat at his richer neighbour's expense. It is the day on +which the pilgrims go up the sacred mount near Mecca, to hear the sermon +which terminates the Haj. Yesterday I went to call on pretty Mrs. +Wilkinson, she is an Armenian of the Greek faith, and was gone to pray at +the convent of Mar Girgis (St. George) to cure the pains a bad rheumatic +fever has left in her hands. Evidently Mar Girgis is simply Ammon Ra, +the God of the Sun and great serpent-slayer, who is still revered in +Egypt by all sects, and Seyd el-Bedawee is as certainly one form of +Osiris. His festivals, held twice a year at Tanta, still display the +symbol of the Creator of all things. All is thus here--the women wail +the dead, as on the old sculptures, all the ceremonies are pagan, and +would shock an Indian Mussulman as much as his objection to eat with a +Christian shocks an Arab. This country is a palimpsest, in which the +Bible is written over Herodotus, and the Koran over that. In the towns +the Koran is most visible, in the country Herodotus. I fancy it is most +marked and most curious among the Copts, whose churches are shaped like +the ancient temples, but they are so much less accessible than the Arabs +that I know less of their customs. + +Now I have filled such a long letter I hardly know if it is worth +sending, and whether you will be amused by my commonplaces of Eastern +life. I kill a sheep next Friday, and Omar will cook a stupendous dish +for the poor Fellaheen who are lying about the railway-station, waiting +to be taken to work somewhere. That is to be my Bairam, and Omar hopes +for great benefit for me from the process. + + + +May 25, 1863: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +CAIRO, +_May_ 25, 1863. + +Dearest Alick, + +I have spun such a yarn to my mother that I shall make it serve for both. +It may amuse you to see what impression Cairo makes. I ride along on my +valiant donkey led by the stalwart Hassan and attended by Omar, and +constantly say, 'Oh, if our master were here, how pleased he would +be'--husband is not a correct word. + +I went out to the tombs yesterday. Fancy that Omar witnessed the +destruction of some sixty-eight or so of the most exquisite buildings--the +tombs and mosques of the Arab Khaleefehs, which Said Pasha used to divert +himself with bombarding for practice for his artillery. Omar was then in +the boy corps of camel artillery, now disbanded. Thus the Pasha added +the piquancy of sacrilege to barbarity. + +The street and the neighbours would divert you. Opposite lives a +Christian dyer who must be a seventh brother of the admirable barber. The +same impertinence, loquacity, and love of meddling in everybody's +business. I long to see him thrashed, though he is a constant comedy. My +delightful servant, Omar Abou-el-Hallaweh (the father of sweets)--his +family are pastrycooks--is the type of all the amiable _jeune premiers_ +of the stories. I am privately of opinion that he is Bedr-ed-Deen +Hassan, the more that he can make cream tarts and there is no pepper in +them. Cream tarts are not very good, but lamb stuffed with pistachio +nuts fulfils all one's dreams of excellence. The Arabs next door and the +Levantines opposite are quiet enough, but how _do_ they eat all the +cucumbers they buy of the man who cries them every morning as 'fruit +gathered by sweet girls in the garden with the early dew.' + +The more I see of the back-slums of Cairo, the more in love I am with it. +The oldest European towns are tame and regular in comparison, and the +people are so pleasant. If you smile at anything that amuses you, you +get the kindest, brightest smiles in return; they give hospitality with +their faces, and if one brings out a few words, 'Mashallah! what Arabic +the Sitt Ingleez speaks.' The Arabs are clever enough to understand the +amusement of a stranger and to enter into it, and are amused in turn, and +they are wonderfully unprejudiced. When Omar explains to me their views +on various matters, he adds: 'The Arab people think so--I know not if +right;' and the way in which the Arab merchants worked the electric +telegraph, and the eagerness of the Fellaheen for steam-ploughs, are +quite extraordinary. They are extremely clever and nice children, easily +amused, easily roused into a fury which lasts five minutes and leaves no +malice, and half the lying and cheating of which they are accused comes +from misunderstanding and ignorance. When I first took Omar he was by +way of 'ten pounds, twenty pounds,' being nothing for my dignity. But as +soon as I told him that 'my master was a Bey who got 100 pounds a month +and no backsheesh,' he was as careful as if for himself. They see us +come here and do what only their greatest Pashas do, hire a boat to +ourselves, and, of course, think our wealth is boundless. The lying is +mostly from fright. They dare not suggest a difference of opinion to a +European, and lie to get out of scrapes which blind obedience has often +got them into. As to the charges of shopkeepers, that is the custom, and +the haggling a ceremony you must submit to. It is for the purchaser or +employer to offer a price and fix wages--the reverse of Europe--and if +you ask the price they ask something fabulous at random. + +I hope to go home next month, as soon as it gets too hot here and is +likely to be warm enough in England. I do so long to see the children +again. + + + +October 19, 1863: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +ALEXANDRIA, +_October_ 19, 1863. + +We had a wretched voyage, good weather, but such a _petaudiere_ of a +ship. I am competent to describe the horrors of the middle +passage--hunger, suffocation, dirt, and such _canaille_, high and low, on +board. The only gentleman was a poor Moor going to Mecca (who stowed his +wife and family in a spare boiler on deck). I saw him washing his +children in the morning! '_Que c'est degoutant_!' was the cry of the +French spectators. If an Arab washes he is a _sale cochon_--no wonder! A +delicious man who sat near me on deck, when the sun came round to our +side, growled between his clenched teeth: '_Voila un tas d'intrigants a +l'ombre tandis que le soleil me grille, moi_,' a good resume of French +politics, methinks. Well, on arriving at noon of Friday, I was consoled +for all by seeing Janet in a boat looking as fresh and bright and merry +as ever she could look. The heat has evidently not hurt her at all. +Omar's joy was intense. He has had an offer of a place as messenger with +the mails to Suez and back, 60 pounds a year; and also his brother wanted +him for Lady Herbert of Lea, who has engaged Hajjee Ali, and Ali promised +high pay, but Omar said that he could not leave me. 'I think my God give +her to me to take care of her, how then I leave her if she not well and +not very rich? I can't speak to my God if I do bad things like that.' I +am going to his house to-day to see the baby and Hajjee Hannah, who is +just come down from Cairo. Omar is gone to try to get a dahabieh to go +up the river, as I hear that the half-railway, half-steamer journey is +dreadfully inconvenient and fatiguing, and the sight of the overflowing +Nile is said to be magnificent, it is all over the land and eight miles +of the railway gone. Omar kisses your hand and is charmed with the +knife, but far more that my family should know his name and be satisfied +with my servant. + +I cannot live in Thayer's house because the march of civilization has led +a party of French and Wallachian women into the ground-floor thereof to +instruct the ignorant Arabs in drinking, card-playing, and other vices. +So I will consult Hajjee Hannah to-day; she may know of an empty house +and would make divan cushions for me. Zeyneb is much grown and very +active and intelligent, but a little louder and bolder than she was owing +to the maids here wanting to christianize her, and taking her out +unveiled, and letting her be among the men. However, she is as +affectionate as ever, and delighted at the prospect of going with me. I +have replaced the veil, and Sally has checked her tongue and scolded her +sister Ellen for want of decorum, to the amazement of the latter. Janet +has a darling Nubian boy. Oh dear! what an elegant person Omar seemed +after the French 'gentleman,' and how noble was old Hamees's (Janet's +doorkeeper) paternal but reverential blessing! It is a real comfort to +live in a nation of truly well-bred people and to encounter kindness +after the savage incivility of France. + +_Tuesday_, _October_ 20. + +Omar has got a boat for 13 pounds, which is not more than the railway +would cost now that half must be done by steamer and a bit on donkeys or +on foot. Poor Hajjee Hannah was quite knocked up by the journey down; I +shall take her up in my boat. Two and a half hours to sit grilling at +noonday on the banks, and two miles to walk carrying one's own baggage is +hard lines for a fat old woman. Everything is almost double in price +owing to the cattle murrain and the high Nile. Such an inundation as +this year was never known before. Does the blue God resent Speke's +intrusion on his privacy? It will be a glorious sight, but the damage to +crops, and even to the last year's stacks of grain and beans, is +frightful. One sails among the palm-trees and over the submerged cotton- +fields. Ismail Pasha has been very active, but, alas! his 'eye is bad,' +and there have been as many calamities as under Pharaoh in his short +reign. The cattle murrain is fearful, and is now beginning in Cairo and +Upper Egypt. Ross reckons the loss at twelve millions sterling in +cattle. The gazelles in the desert have it too, but not horses, asses or +goats. + + + +October 26, 1863: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +ALEXANDRIA, +_October_ 26, 1863. + +Dearest Alick, + +I went to two hareems the other day with a little boy of Mustapha Aga's, +and was much pleased. A very pleasant Turkish lady put out all her +splendid bedding and dresses for me, and was most amiable. At another a +superb Arab with most _grande dame_ manners, dressed in white cotton and +with unpainted face, received me statelily. Her house would drive you +wild, such antique enamelled tiles covering the panels of the walls, all +divided by carved woods, and such carved screens and galleries, all very +old and rather dilapidated, but superb, and the lady worthy of the house. +A bold-eyed slave girl with a baby put herself forward for admiration, +and was ordered to bring coffee with such cool though polite +imperiousness. One of our great ladies can't half crush a rival in +comparison, she does it too coarsely. The quiet scorn of the pale-faced, +black-haired Arab was beyond any English powers. Then it was fun to open +the lattice and make me look out on the square, and to wonder what the +neighbours would say at the sight of my face and European hat. She asked +about my children and blessed them repeatedly, and took my hand very +kindly in doing so, for fear I should think her envious and fear her +eye--she had none. + +_Tuesday_.--The post goes out to-morrow, and I have such a cold I must +stay in bed and cannot write much. I go on Thursday and shall go to +Briggs' house. Pray write to me at Cairo. Sally and I are both unwell +and anxious to get up the river. I can't write more. + + + +October 31, 1863: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +KAFR ZEYAT, +_October_ 31, 1863. + +Dearest Alick, + +We left Alexandria on Thursday about noon, and sailed with a fair wind +along the Mahmoudieh Canal. My little boat flies like a bird, and my men +are a capital set of fellows, bold and careful sailors. I have only +seven in all, but they work well, and at a pinch Omar leaves the pots and +pans and handles a rope or a pole manfully. We sailed all night and +passed the locks at Atleh at four o'clock yesterday, and were greeted by +old Nile tearing down like a torrent. The river is magnificent, 'seven +men's height,' my Reis says, above its usual pitch; it has gone down five +or six feet and left a sad scene of havoc on either side. However what +the Nile takes he repays with threefold interest, they say. The women +are at work rebuilding their mud huts, and the men repairing the dykes. A +Frenchman told me he was on board a Pasha's steamer under M. de Lesseps' +command, and they passed a flooded village where two hundred or so people +stood on their roofs crying for help. Would you, could you, believe it +that they passed on and left them to drown? None but an eyewitness could +have made me believe such villainy. + +All to-day we sailed in such heavenly weather--a sky like nothing but its +most beautiful self. At the bend of the river just now we had a grand +struggle to get round, and got entangled with a big timber boat. My crew +got so vehement that I had to come out with an imperious request to +everyone to bless the Prophet. Then the boat nearly pulled the men into +the stream, and they pulled and hauled and struggled up to their waists +in mud and water, and Omar brandished his pole and shouted 'Islam el +Islam!' which gave a fresh spirit to the poor fellows, and round we came +with a dash and caught the breeze again. Now we have put up for the +night, and shall pass the railway-bridge to-morrow. The railway is all +under water from here up to Tantah--eight miles--and in many places +higher up. + + + +November 14, 1863: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +CAIRO, +_November_ 14, 1863. + +Here I am at last in my old quarters at Thayer's house, after a tiresome +negotiation with the Vice-Consul, who had taken possession and invented +the story of women on the ground-floor. I was a week in Briggs' damp +house, and too ill to write. The morning I arrived at Cairo I was seized +with haemorrhage, and had two days of it; however, since then I am +better. I was very foolish to stay a fortnight in Alexandria. + +The passage under the railway-bridge at Tantah (which is only opened once +in two days) was most exciting and pretty. Such a scramble and dash of +boats--two or three hundred at least. Old Zedan, the steersman, slid +under the noses of the big boats with my little _Cangia_ and through the +gates before they were well open, and we saw the rush and confusion +behind us at our ease, and headed the whole fleet for a few miles. Then +we stuck, and Zedan raged; but we got off in an hour and again overtook +and passed all. And then we saw the spectacle of devastation--whole +villages gone, submerged and melted, mud to mud, and the people with +their animals encamped on spits of sand or on the dykes in long rows of +ragged makeshift tents, while we sailed over where they had lived. Cotton +rotting in all directions and the dry tops crackling under the bows of +the boat. When we stopped to buy milk, the poor woman exclaimed: 'Milk! +from where? Do you want it out of my breasts?' However, she took our +saucepan and went to get some from another family. No one refuses it if +they have a drop left, for they all believe the murrain to be a +punishment for churlishness to strangers--by whom committed no one can +say. Nor would they fix a price, or take more than the old rate. But +here everything has doubled in price. + +Never did a present give such pleasure as Mme. De Leo's bracelet. De Leo +came quite overflowing with gratitude at my having remembered such a +trifle as his attending me and coming three times a day! He thinks me +looking better, and advises me to stay on here till I feel it cold. Mr. +Thayer's underling has been doing Levantine rogueries, selling the +American protege's claims to the Egyptian Government, and I witnessed a +curious phase of Eastern life. Omar, when he found him in _my_ house, +went and ordered him out. I was ill in bed, and knew nothing till it was +done, and when I asked Omar how he came to do it, he told me to be civil +to him if I saw him as it was not for me to know what he was; that was +his (Omar's) business. At the same time Mr. Thayer's servant sent him a +telegram so insolent that it amounted to a kicking. Such is the Nemesis +for being a rogue here. The servants know you, and let you feel it. I +was quite 'flabbergasted' at Omar, who is so reverential to me and to the +Rosses, and who I fancied trembled before every European, taking such a +tone to a man in the position of a 'gentleman.' It is a fresh proof of +the feeling of actual equality among men that lies at the bottom of such +great inequality of position. Hekekian Bey has seen a Turkish Pasha's +shins kicked by his own servants, who were cognizant of his misdeeds. +Finally, on Thursday we got the keys of the house, and Omar came with two +_ferashes_ and shovelled out the Levantine dirt, and scoured and +scrubbed; and on Friday afternoon (yesterday) we came in. Zeyneb has +been very good ever since she has been with us, she will soon be a +complete 'dragowoman,' for she is learning Arabic from Omar and English +from us fast. In Janet's house she only heard a sort of 'lingua franca' +of Greek, Italian, Nubian and English. She asked me 'How piccolo bint?' +(How's the little girl?) a fine specimen of Alexandrian. Ross is here, +and will dine with me to-night before starting by an express train which +Ismail Pasha gives him. + +On Thursday evening I rode to the Abbassieh, and met all the schoolboys +going home for their Friday. Such a pretty sight! The little Turks on +grand horses with velvet trappings and two or three sais running before +them, and the Arab boys fetched--some by proud fathers on handsome +donkeys, some by trusty servants on foot, some by poor mothers astride on +shabby donkeys and taking up their darlings before them, some two and +three on one donkey, and crowds on foot. Such a number of lovely +faces--all dressed in white European-cut clothes and red tarbooshes. + +Last night we had a wedding opposite. A pretty boy, about Maurice's +size, or rather less, with a friend of his own size, dressed like him in +a scarlet robe and turban, on each side, and surrounded by men carrying +tapers and singing songs, and preceded by cressets flaring. He stepped +along like Agag, very slowly and mincingly, and looked very shy and +pretty. My poor Hassan (donkey-driver) is ill--I fear very ill. His +father came with the donkey for me, and kept drawing his sleeve over his +eyes and sighing so heavily. '_Yah Hassan meskeen_! _yah Hassan ibn_!' +(Oh poor Hassan! oh Hassan my son!); and then, in a resigned tone, +'_Allah kereem_' (God is merciful). I will go and see him this morning, +and have a doctor to him 'by force,' as Omar says, if he is very bad. +There is something heart-rending in the patient, helpless suffering of +these people. + +_Sunday_.--Abu Hassan reported his son so much better that I did not go +after him, having several things to do, and Omar being deep in cooking a +_festin de Balthazar_ because Ross was to dine with me. The weather is +delicious--much what we had at Bournemouth in summer--but there is a +great deal of sickness, and I fear there will be more, from people +burying dead cattle on their premises inside the town. It costs 100 +_gersh_ to bury one outside the town. All labour is rendered scarce, +too, as well as food dear, and the streets are not cleaned and water hard +to get. My _sakka_ comes very irregularly, and makes quite a favour of +supplying us with water. All this must tell heavily on the poor. +Hekekian's wife had seventy head of cattle on her farm--one wretched +bullock is left; and, of seven to water the house in Cairo, also one +left, and that expected to die. I wonder what ill-conditioned fellow of +a Moses is at the bottom of it. Hajjee Ali has just been here, and +offers me his tents if I like to go up to Thebes and not live in a boat, +so that I may not be dependent on getting a house there. He is engaged +by Lady Herbert of Lea, so will not go to Syria this year and has all his +tents to spare. I fancy I might be very comfortable among the tombs of +the Kings or in the valley of Assaseef with good tents. It is never cold +at all among the hills at Thebes--_au contraire_. On the sunny side of +the valley you are broiled and stunned with heat in January, and in the +shade it is heavenly. How I do wish you could come too, how you would +enjoy it! I shall rather like the change from a boat life to a Bedawee +one, with my own sheep and chickens and horse about the tent, and a small +following of ragged retainers; moreover, it will be considerably cheaper, +I think. + + + +November 21, 1863: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +CAIRO, +_November_ 21, 1863. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I shall stay on here till it gets colder, and then go up the Nile either +in a steamer or a boat. The old father of my donkey-boy, Hassan, gave me +a fine illustration of Arab feeling towards women to-day. I asked if Abd +el-Kader was coming here, as I had heard; he did not know, and asked me +if he were not _Achul en-Benat_, a brother of girls. I prosaically said +I did not know if he had sisters. 'The Arabs, O lady, call that man a +"brother of girls" to whom God has given a clean heart to love all women +as his sisters, and strength and courage to fight for their protection.' +Omar suggested a 'thorough gentleman' as the equivalent of Abou Hassan's +title. Our European _galimatias_ about the 'smiles of the fair,' etc., +look very mean beside 'Achul en Benat,' methinks. Moreover, they carry +it into common life. Omar was telling me of some little family +tribulations, showing that he is not a little henpecked. His wife wanted +all his money. I asked how much she had of her own, as I knew she had +property. 'Oh, ma'am! I can't speak of that, shame for me if I ask what +money she got.' A man married at Alexandria, and took home the daily +provisions for the first week; after that he neglected it for two days, +and came home with a lemon in his hand. He asked for some dinner, and +his wife placed the stool and the tray and the washing basin and napkin, +and in the tray the lemon cut in quarters. 'Well, and the dinner?' +'Dinner! you want dinner? Where from? What man are you to want women +when you don't keep them? I am going to the Cadi to be divorced from +you;' and she did. The man must provide all necessaries for his Hareem, +and if she has money or earns any she spends it in dress; if she makes +him a skullcap or a handkerchief he must pay her for her work. _Tout +n'est pas roses_ for these Eastern tyrants, not to speak of the unbridled +license of tongue allowed to women and children. Zeyneb hectors Omar and +I cannot persuade him to check her. 'How I say anything to it, that one +child?' Of course, the children are insupportable, and, I fancy, the +women little better. + +A poor neighbour of mine lost his little boy yesterday, and came out in +the streets, as usual, for sympathy. He stood under my window leaning +his head against the wall, and sobbing and crying till, literally, his +tears wetted the dust. He was too grieved to tear off his turban or to +lament in form, but clasped his hands and cried, 'Yah weled, yah weled, +yah weled' (O my boy, my boy). The bean-seller opposite shut his shop, +the dyer took no notice but smoked his pipe. Some people passed on, but +many stopped and stood round the poor man, saying nothing, but looking +concerned. Two were well-dressed Copts on handsome donkeys, who +dismounted, and all waited till he went home, when about twenty men +accompanied him with a respectful air. How strange it seems to us to go +out into the street and call on the passers-by to grieve with one! I was +at the house of Hekekian Bey the other day when he received a parcel from +his former slave, now the Sultan's chief eunuch. It contained a very +fine photograph of the eunuch--whose face, though negro, is very +intelligent and of charming expression--a present of illustrated English +books, and some printed music composed by the Sultan, Abd el Aziz, +himself. _O tempera_! _O mores_! one was a waltz. The very ugliest and +scrubbiest of street dogs has adopted me--like the Irishman who wrote to +Lord Lansdowne that he had selected him as his patron--and he guards the +house and follows me in the street. He is rewarded with scraps, and +Sally cost me a new tin mug by letting the dog drink out of the old one, +which was used to scoop the water from the jars, forgetting that Omar and +Zeyneb could not drink after the poor beast. + +_Monday_.--I went yesterday to the port of Cairo, Boulak, to see +Hassaneyn Effendi about boats. He was gone up the Nile, and I sat with +his wife--a very nice Turkish woman who speaks English to perfection--and +heard all sorts of curious things. I heard the whole story of an unhappy +marriage made by Leyla, my hostess's sister, and much Cairo gossip. Like +all Eastern ladies that I have seen she complains of indigestion, and +said she knew she ought to go out more and to walk, but custom _e contra +il nostro decoro_. + +Mr. Thayer will be back in Egypt on December 15, so I shall embark about +that time, as he may want his house here. It is now a little fresh in +the early morning, but like fine English summer weather. + +_Tuesday_.--Since I have been here my cough is nearly gone, and I am +better for having good food again. Omar manages to get good mutton, and +I have discovered that some of the Nile fish is excellent. The _abyad_, +six or eight feet long and very fat, is delicious, and I am told there +are still better; the eels are delicate and good too. Maurice might hook +an _abyad_, but how would he land him? The worst is that everything is +just double the price of last year, as, of course, no beef can be eaten +at all, and the draught oxen being dead makes labour dear as well. The +high Nile was a small misfortune compared to the murrain. There is a +legend about it, of course. A certain Sheykh el-Beled (burgomaster) of +some place--not mentioned--lost his cattle, and being rich defied God, +said he did not care, and bought as many more; they died too, and he +continued impenitent and defiant, and bought on till he was ruined, and +now he is sinking into the earth bodily, though his friends dig and dig +without ceasing night and day. It is curious how like the German legends +the Arab ones are. All those about wasting bread wantonly are almost +identical. If a bit is dirty, Omar carefully gives it to the dog; if +clean, he keeps it in a drawer for making breadcrumbs for cutlets; not a +bit must fall on the floor. In other things they are careless enough, +but _das liebe Brod_ is sacred--_vide_ Grimm's _Deutsche Sagen_. I am +constantly struck with resemblances to German customs. A Fellah wedding +is very like the German _Bauern hochzeit_ firing of guns and display of +household goods, only on a camel instead of a cart. I have been trying +to get a teacher of Arabic, but it is very hard to find one who knows any +European language, and the consular dragoman asks four dollars a lesson. +I must wait till I get to Thebes, where I think a certain young Said can +teach me. Meanwhile I am beginning to understand rather more and to +speak a very little. Please direct to me to Briggs and Co. at Cairo; if +I am gone, the letters will follow up the river. + + + +December 1, 1863: Mrs. Ross + + +_To Mrs. Ross_. +CAIRO, +_December_ 1, 1863. + +Dearest Janet, + +I should much like to go with Thayer if his times and seasons will suit +mine; but I cannot wait indefinitely, still less come down the river +before the end of April. But most likely the Pasha will give him a boat. +It is getting cold here and I feel my throat sore to-day. I went to see +Hassan yesterday, he is much better, but very weak and pale. It is such +a nice family--old father, mother, and sister, all well-bred and pleasing +like Hassan himself. He almost shrieked at hearing of your fall, and is +most anxious to see you when you come here. Zeyneb, after behaving very +well for three weeks, has turned quietly sullen and displays great +religious intolerance. It would seem that the Berberi men have put it +into her head that we are inferior beings, and she pretends not to be +able to eat because she thinks everything is pig. Omar's eating the food +does not convince her. As she evidently does not like us I will offer +her to Mrs. Hekekian Bey, and if she does not do there, in a household of +black Mussulman slaves, they must pass her on to a Turkish house. She is +very clever and I am sorry, but to keep a sullen face about me is more +than I can endure, as I have shown her every possible kindness. I think +she despises Omar for his affection towards me. How much easier it is to +instil the bad part of religion than the good; it is really a curious +phenomenon in so young a child. She waits capitally at table, and can do +most things, but she won't move if the fancy takes her except when +ordered, and spends her time on the terrace. One thing is that the life +is dull for a child, and I think she will be happier in a larger, more +bustling house. I don't know whether, after the fearful example of Mrs. +B., I can venture to travel up the Nile with such a _seducteur_ as our +dear Mr. Thayer. What do you think? Will gray hairs on my side and +_mutual_ bad lungs guarantee our international virtue; or will someone +ask the Pater when he means to divorce me? Would it be considered that +Yankeedoodle had 'stuck a feather in his cap' by leading a British matron +and grandmother astray? + + + +December 2, 1863: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +CAIRO, +_December_ 2, 1863. + +Dearest Alick, + +It is beginning to be cold here, and I only await the results of my +inquiries about possible houses at Thebes to hire a boat and depart. +Yesterday I saw a camel go through the eye of a needle--_i.e_., the low +arched door of an enclosure; he must kneel and bow his head to creep +through--and thus the rich man must humble himself. See how a false +translation spoils a good metaphor, and turns a familiar simile into a +ferociously communist sentiment. I expect Henry and Janet here in four +or five days when her ancle allows her to travel. If I get a house at +Thebes, I will only hire a boat up and dismiss it, and trust to Allah for +my return. There are rumours of troubles at Jeddah, and a sort of +expectation of fighting somewhere next spring; even here people are +buying arms to a great extent, I think the gunsmiths' bazaar looks +unusually lively. I do look forward to next November and your coming +here; I know you would donkey-ride all day in a state of ecstasy. I +never saw so good a servant as Omar and such a nice creature, so pleasant +and good. When I hear and see what other people spend here in travelling +and in living, and what bother they have, I say: 'May God favour Omar and +his descendants.' + +I stayed in bed yesterday for a cold, and my next-door neighbour, a +Coptic merchant, kept me awake all night by auditing his accounts with +his clerk. How would you like to chant your rows of figures? He had +just bought lots of cotton, and I had to get into my door on Monday over +a camel's back, the street being filled with bales. + +* * * * * + +[The house at Thebes of which my mother speaks in the following letter +was built about 1815, over the ancient temple of Khem, by Mr. Salt, +English Consul-General in Egypt. He was an archaeologist and a student +of hieroglyphics, and when Belzoni landed at Alexandria was struck by his +ability, and sent him up to Thebes to superintend the removal of the +great bust of Memnon, now in the British Museum. Belzoni, I believe, +lived for some time in Mr. Salt's house, which afterwards became the +property of the French Government, and was known as the _Maison de +France_; it was pulled down in 1884 when the great temple of Luxor was +excavated by M. Maspero. My late friend Miss A. B. Edwards wrote a +description of his work in the _Illustrated London News_, from which I +give a few extracts: + + 'Squatters settled upon the temple like a swarm of mason bees; and the + extent of the mischief they perpetrated in the course of centuries may + be gathered from the fact that they raised the level of the + surrounding soil to such a height that the obelisks, the colossi, and + the entrance pylon were buried to a depth of 40 feet, while inside the + building the level of the native village was 50 feet above the + original pavement. Seven months ago the first court contained not + only the local mosque, but a labyrinthine maze of mud structures, + numbering some thirty dwellings, and eighty strawsheds, besides yards, + stables, and pigeon-towers, the whole being intersected by innumerable + lanes and passages. Two large mansions--real mansions, spacious and, + in Arab fashion, luxurious,--blocked the great Colonnade of Horembebi; + while the second court, and all the open spaces and ruined parts of + the upper end of the Temple, were encumbered by sheepfolds, + goat-yards, poultry-yards, donkey-sheds, clusters of mud huts, refuse- + heaps, and piles of broken pottery. Upon the roof of the portico + there stood a large, rambling, ruinous old house, the property of the + French Government, and known as the "Maison de France" . . . Within + its walls the illustrious Champollion and his ally Rosellini lived and + worked together in 1829, during part of their long sojourn at Thebes. + Here the naval officers sent out by the French in 1831 to remove the + obelisk which now stands in the Place de la Concorde took up their + temporary quarters. And here, most interesting to English readers, + Lady Duff Gordon lingered through some of her last winters, and wrote + most of her delightful "Letters from Egypt." A little balcony with a + broken veranda and a bit of lattice-work parapet, juts out above some + mud walls at the end of the building. Upon that balcony she was wont + to sit in the cool of the evening, watching the boats upon the river + and the magical effect of the after-glow upon the Libyan mountains + opposite. All these buildings--"Maison de France," stores, yards, + etc. . . . are all swept away.'] + + + +December 17, 1863: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +CAIRO, +_December_ 17, 1863. + +Dearest Alick, + +At last I hope I shall get off in a few days. I have had one delay and +bother after another, chiefly caused by relying on the fine speeches of +Mr. D. On applying straight to the French Consulate at Alexandria, Janet +got me the loan of the _Maison de France_ at Thebes at once. M. Mounier, +the agent to Halim Pasha, is going up to Esneh, and will let me travel in +the steamer which is to tow his dahabieh. It will be dirty, but will +cost little and take me out of this dreadful cold weather in five or six +days. + +_December_ 22.--I wrote the above five days ago, since when I have had to +turn out of Thayer's house, as his new Vice-Consul wanted it, and am back +at Briggs'. M. Mounier is waiting in frantic impatience to set off, and +I ditto; but Ismail Pasha keeps him from day to day. The worry of +depending on anyone in the East is beyond belief. Tell your mother that +Lady Herbert is gone up the river; her son was much the better for Cairo. +I saw Pietro, her courier, who is stupendously grand, he offered Omar 8 +pounds a month to go with them; you may imagine how Pietro despised his +heathenish ignorance in preferring to stay with me for 3 pounds. It +quite confirmed him in his contempt for the Arabs. + +You would have laughed to hear me buying a carpet. I saw an old broker +with one on his shoulder in the bazaar, and asked the price, 'eight +napoleons'--then it was unfolded and spread in the street, to the great +inconvenience of passers-by, just in front of a coffee-shop. I look at +it superciliously, and say, 'Three hundred piastres, O uncle,' the poor +old broker cries out in despair to the men sitting outside the coffee- +shop: 'O Muslims, hear that and look at this excellent carpet. Three +hundred piastres! By the faith, it is worth two thousand!' But the men +take my part and one mildly says: 'I wonder that an old man as thou art +should tell us that this lady, who is a traveller and a person of +experience, values it at three hundred--thinkest thou we will give thee +more?' Then another suggests that if the lady will consent to give four +napoleons, he had better take them, and that settles it. Everybody gives +an opinion here, and the price is fixed by a sort of improvised jury. + +_Christmas Day_.--At last my departure is fixed. I embark to-morrow +afternoon at Boulak, and we sail--or steam, rather--on Sunday morning +early, and expect to reach Thebes in eight days. I heard a curious +illustration of Arab manners to-day. I met Hassan, the janissary of the +American Consulate, a very respectable, good man. He told me he had +married another wife since last year--I asked what for. It was the widow +of his brother who had always lived with him in the same house, and who +died leaving two boys. She is neither young nor handsome, but he +considered it his duty to provide for her and the children, and not to +let her marry a stranger. So you see that polygamy is not always sensual +indulgence, and a man may practise greater self-sacrifice so than by +talking sentiment about deceased wives' sisters. Hassan has 3 pounds a +month, and two wives come expensive. I said, laughing, to Omar as we +left him, that I did not think the two wives sounded very comfortable. +'Oh no! not comfortable at all for the man, but he take care of the +women, that's what is proper--that is the good Mussulman.' + +I shall have the company of a Turkish Effendi on my voyage--a +Commissioner of Inland Revenue, in fact, going to look after the +tax-gatherers in the Saeed. I wonder whether he will be civil. Sally is +gone with some English servants out to the Virgin's tree, the great +picnic frolic of Cairene Christians, and, indeed, of Muslimeen also at +some seasons. Omar is gone to a _Khatmeh_--a reading of the Koran--at +Hassan the donkey-boy's house. I was asked, but am afraid of the night +air. A good deal of religious celebration goes on now, the middle of the +month of Regeb, six weeks before Ramadan. I rather dread Ramadan as Omar +is sure to be faint and ill, and everybody else cross during the first +five days or so; then their stomachs get into training. The new +passenger-steamers have been promised ever since the 6th, and will not +now go till after the races--6th or 7th of next month. Fancy the Cairo +races! It is growing dreadfully Cockney here, I must go to Timbuctoo: +and we are to have a railway to Mecca, and take return tickets for the +_Haj_ from all parts of the world. + + + +December 27, 1863: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +BOULAK, ON BOARD A RIVER STEAM-BOAT, +_December_ 27, 1863. + +Dearest Mutter, + +After infinite delays and worries, we are at last on board, and shall +sail to-morrow morning. After all was comfortably settled, Ismail Pasha +sent for _all_ the steamers up to Rhoda, near Minieh, and at the same +time ordered a Turkish General to come up instantly somehow. So Latif +Pasha, the head of the steamers, had to turn me out of the best cabin, +and if I had not come myself, and taken rather forcible possession of the +forecastle cabin, the servants of the Turkish General would not have +allowed Omar to embark the baggage. He had been waiting all the morning +in despair on the bank; but at four I arrived, and ordered the _hammals_ +to carry the goods into the forecabin, and walked on board myself, where +the Arab captain pantomimically placed me in his right eye and on the top +of his head. Once installed, this has become a hareem, and I may defy +the Turkish Effendi with success. I have got a good-sized cabin with +good, clean divans round three sides for Sally and myself. Omar will +sleep on deck and cook where he can. A poor Turkish lady is to inhabit a +sort of dusthole by the side of my cabin; if she seems decent, I will +entertain her hospitably. There is no furniture of any sort but the +divan, and we cook our own food, bring our own candles, jugs, basins, +beds and everything. If Sally and I were not such complete Arabs we +should think it very miserable; but as things stand this year we say, +_Alhamdulillah_ it is no worse! Luckily it is a very warm night, so we +can make our arrangements unchilled. There is no door to the cabin, so +we nail up an old plaid, and, as no one ever looks into a hareem, it is +quite enough. All on board are Arabs--captain, engineer, and men. An +English Sitt is a novelty, and the captain is unhappy that things are not +_alla Franca_ for me. We are to tow three dahabiehs--M. Mounier's, one +belonging to the envoy from the Sultan of Darfour, and another. Three +steamers were to have done it, but the Pasha had a fancy for all the +boats, and so our poor little craft must do her best. Only fancy the +Queen ordering all the river steamers up to Windsor! + +At Minieh the Turkish General leaves us, and we shall have the boat to +ourselves, so the captain has just been down to tell me. I should like +to go with the gentlemen from Darfor, as you may suppose. See what +strange combinations of people float on old Nile. Two Englishwomen, one +French (Mme. Mounier), one Frenchman, Turks, Arabs, Negroes, Circassians, +and men from Darfor, all in one party; perhaps the third boat contains +some other strange element. The Turks are from Constantinople and can't +speak Arabic, and make faces at the muddy river water, which, indeed, I +would rather have filtered. + +I hope to have letters from home to-morrow morning. Hassan, my faithful +donkey-boy, will go to the post as soon as it is open and bring them down +to Boulak. Darling Rainie sent me a card with a cock robin for +Christmas; how terribly I miss her dear little face and talk! I am +pretty well now; I only feel rather weaker than before and more easily +tired. I send you a kind letter of Mme. Tastu's, who got her son to lend +me the house at Thebes. + + + +January 3, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +ON BOARD THE STEAMER, NEAR SIOUT, +_Sunday_, _January_ 3, 1864. + +Dearest Alick, + +We left Cairo last Sunday morning, and a wonderfully queer company we +were. I had been promised all the steamer to myself, but owing to Ismail +Pasha's caprices our little steamer had to do the work of three--_i.e_., +to carry passengers, to tow M. Mounier's dahabieh, and to tow the oldest, +dirtiest, queerest Nubian boat, in which the young son of the Sultan of +Darfoor and the Sultan's envoy, a handsome black of Dongola (not a +negro), had visited Ismail Pasha. The best cabin was taken by a sulky +old one-eyed Turkish Pasha, so I had the fore-cabin, luckily a large one, +where I slept with Sally on one divan and I on the other, and Omar at my +feet. He tried sleeping on deck, but the Pasha's Arnouts were too bad +company, and the captain begged me to 'cover my face' and let my servant +sleep at my feet. Besides, there was a poor old asthmatic Turkish +Effendi going to collect the taxes, and a lot of women in the +engine-room, and children also. It would have been insupportable but for +the hearty politeness of the Arab captain, a regular 'old salt,' and +owing to his attention and care it was only very amusing. + +At Benisouef, the first town above Cairo (seventy miles), we found no +coals: the Pasha had been up and taken them all. So we kicked our heels +on the bank all day, with the prospect of doing so for a week. The +captain brought H.R.H. of Darfoor to visit me, and to beg me to make him +hear reason about the delay, as I, being English, must know that a +steamer could not go without coals. H.R.H. was a pretty imperious little +nigger about eleven or twelve, dressed in a yellow silk kuftan and a +scarlet burnous, who cut the good old captain short by saying, 'Why, she +is a woman; she can't talk to me.' 'Wallah! wallah! what a way to talk +to English Hareem!' shrieked the captain, who was about to lose his +temper; but I had a happy idea and produced a box of French sweetmeats, +which altered the young Prince's views at once. I asked if he had +brothers. 'Who can count them? they are like mice.' He said that the +Pasha had given him only a few presents, and was evidently not pleased. +Some of his suite are the most formidable-looking wild beasts in human +shape I ever beheld--bulldogs and wild-boars black as ink, red-eyed, and, +ye gods! such jowls and throats and teeth!--others like monkeys, with +arms down to their knees. + +The Illyrian Arnouts on board our boat are revoltingly white--like fish +or drowned people, no pink in the tallowy skin at all. There were Greeks +also who left us at Minieh (second large town), and the old Pasha left +this morning at Rodah. The captain at once ordered all my goods into the +cabin he had left and turned out the Turkish Effendi, who wanted to stay +and sleep with us. No impropriety! he said he was an old man and sick, +and my company would be agreeable to him; then he said he was ashamed +before the people to be turned out by an English woman. So I was civil +and begged him to pass the day and to dine with me, and that set all +right, and now after dinner he has gone off quite pleasantly to the fore- +cabin and left me here. I have a stern-cabin, a saloon and an anteroom +here, so we are comfortable enough--only the fleas! Never till now did I +know what fleas could be; even Omar groaned and tossed in his sleep, and +Sally and I woke every ten minutes. Perhaps this cabin may be better, +some fleas may have landed in the beds of the Turks. I send a dish from +my table every day henceforth to the captain; as I take the place of a +Pasha it is part of my dignity to do so; and as I occupy the kitchen and +burn the ship's coals, I may as well let the captain dine a little at my +expense. In the day I go up and sit in his cabin on deck, and we talk as +well as we can without an interpreter. The old fellow is sixty-seven, +but does not look more than forty-five. He has just the air and manner +of a seafaring-man with us, and has been wrecked four times--the last in +the Black Sea during the Crimean War, when he was taken prisoner by the +Russians and sent to Moscow for three years, until the peace. He has a +charming boy of eleven with him, and he tells me he has twelve children +in all, but only one wife, and is as strict a monogamist as Dr. Primrose, +for he told me he should not marry again if she died, nor he believed +would she. He is surprised at my gray hair. + +There are a good many Copts on board too, of a rather low class and not +pleasant. The Christian gentlemen are very pleasant, but the low are +_low_ indeed compared to the Muslimeen, and one gets a feeling of +dirtiness about them to see them eat all among the coals, and then squat +there and pull out their beads to pray without washing their hands even. +It does look nasty when compared to the Muslim coming up clean washed, +and standing erect and manly--looking to his prayers; besides they are +coarse in their manners and conversation and have not the Arab respect +for women. I only speak of the common people--not of educated Copts. The +best fun was to hear the Greeks (one of whom spoke English) abusing the +Copts--rogues, heretics, schismatics from the Greek Church, ignorant, +rapacious, cunning, impudent, etc., etc. In short, they narrated the +whole fable about their own sweet selves. I am quite surprised to see +how well these men manage their work. The boat is quite as clean as an +English boat as crowded could be kept, and the engine in beautiful order. +The head-engineer, Achmet Effendi, and indeed all the crew and captain +too, wear English clothes and use the universal 'All right, stop +her--fooreh (full) speed, half speed--turn her head,' etc. I was +delighted to hear 'All right--go ahead--_el-Fathah_' in one breath. Here +we always say the _Fathah_ (first chapter of the Koran, nearly identical +with the Lord's Prayer) when starting on a journey, concluding a bargain, +etc. The combination was very quaint. There are rats and fleas on +board, but neither bugs nor cockroaches. Already the climate has +changed, the air is sensibly drier and clearer and the weather much +warmer, and we are not yet at Siout. I remarked last year that the +climate changed most at Keneh, forty miles below Thebes. The banks are +terribly broken and washed away by the inundation, and the Nile far +higher even now than it was six weeks earlier last year. + +At Benisouef, which used to be the great cattle place, not a buffalo was +left, and we could not get a drop of milk. But since we left Minieh we +see them again, and I hear the disease is not spreading up the river. +Omar told me that the poor people at Benisouef were complaining of the +drought and prospect of scarcity, as they could no longer water the land +for want of oxen. I paid ten napoleons passage-money, and shall give +four or five more as backsheesh, as I have given a good deal of trouble +with all my luggage, beddings, furniture, provisions for four months, +etc., and the boat's people have been more than civil, really kind and +attentive to us; but a bad dahabieh would have cost forty, so I am +greatly the gainer. Nothing can exceed the muddle, uncertainty and +carelessness of the 'administration' at Cairo: no coals at the depots, +boats announced to sail and dawdling on three weeks, no order and no care +for anybody's convenience but the Pasha's own. But the subordinates on +board the boats do their work perfectly well. We go only half as quickly +as we ought because we have two very heavy dahabiehs in tow instead of +one; but no time is lost, as long as the light lasts we go, and start +again as soon as the moon rises. The people on board have promoted me in +rank--and call me 'el-Ameereh,' an obsolete Arab title which the engineer +thinks is the equivalent of 'Ladysheep,' as he calls it. 'Sitti,' he +said, was the same as 'Meessees.' I don't know how he acquired his ideas +on the subject of English precedence. + +Omar has just come in with coffee, and begs me to give his best salaam to +his big master and his little master and lady, and not to forget to tell +them he is their servant and my memlook (slave) 'from one hand to the +other' (the whole body). If we stay at all at Siout, I will ride a +donkey up to Wassef's house, and leave this letter for him to send down +with his next opportunity to Cairo. At Keneh we must try to find time to +buy two filters and some gullehs (water-coolers); they are made there. At +Thebes nothing can be got. + +How I do wish you were here to enjoy all the new and strange sights! I +am sure it would amuse you, and as the fleas don't bite you there would +be no drawback. Janet sent me a photo of dear little Rainie; it is ugly, +but very like the 'zuweyeh' (little one). Give her no end of kisses, and +thank her for the cock robin, which pleased me quite as much as she +thought it would. + + + +January 5, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +_Tuesday_, _January_ 5, 1864. + +We left Siout this afternoon. The captain had announced that we should +start at ten o'clock, so I did not go into the town, but sent Omar to buy +food and give my letter and best salaam to Wassef. But the men of +Darfoor all went off declaring that they would stop, promising to cut off +the captain's head if he went without them. Hassan Effendi, the Turk, +was furious, and threatened to telegraph his complaints to Cairo if we +did not go directly, and the poor captain was in a sad quandary. He +appealed to me, peaceably sitting on the trunk of a palm-tree with some +poor _fellaheen_ (of whom more anon). I uttered the longest sentence I +could compose in Arabic, to the effect that he was captain, and that +while on the boat we were all bound to obey him. '_Mashallah_! one +English Hareem is worth more than ten men for sense; these Ingeleez have +only one word both for themselves and for other people: +_doghree_--_doghree_ (right is right); this Ameereh is ready to obey like +a memlook, and when she has to command--whew!'--with a most expressive +toss back of the head. The bank was crowded with poor _fellaheen_ who +had been taken for soldiers and sent to await the Pasha's arrival at +Girgeh; three weeks they lay there, and were then sent down to Soohaj +(the Pasha wanted to see them himself and pick out the men he liked); +eight days more at Soohaj, then to Siout eight days more, and meanwhile +Ismail Pasha has gone back to Cairo and the poor souls may wait +indefinitely, for no one will venture to remind the Pasha of their +trifling existence. _Wallah_, _wallah_! + +While I was walking on the bank with M. and Mme. Mounier, a person came +up and saluted them whose appearance puzzled me. Don't call me a Persian +when I tell you it was an eccentric Bedawee young lady. She was eighteen +or twenty at most, dressed like a young man, but small and feminine and +rather pretty, except that one eye was blind. Her dress was handsome, +and she had women's jewels, diamonds, etc., and a European watch and +chain. Her manner was excellent, quite _ungenirt_, and not the least +impudent or swaggering, and I was told--indeed, I could hear--that her +language was beautiful, a thing much esteemed among Arabs. She is a +virgin and fond of travelling and of men's society, being very clever, so +she has her dromedary and goes about quite alone. No one seemed +surprised, no one stared, and when I asked if it was _proper_, our +captain was surprised. 'Why not? if she does not wish to marry, she can +go alone; if she does, she can marry--what harm? She is a virgin and +free.' She went to breakfast with the Mouniers on their boat (Mme. M. is +Egyptian born, and both speak Arabic perfectly), and the young lady had +many things to ask them, she said. She expressed her opinions pretty +freely as far as I could understand her. Mme. Mounier had heard of her +before, and said she was much respected and admired. M. Mounier had +heard that she was a spy of the Pasha's, but the people on board the boat +here say that the truth was that she went before Said Pasha herself to +complain of some tyrannical Moodir who ground and imprisoned the +_fellaheen_--a bold thing for a girl to do. To me she seems, anyhow, far +the most curious thing I have yet seen. + +The weather is already much warmer, it is nine in the evening, we are +steaming along and I sit with the cabin window open. My cough is, of +course, a great deal better. _Inshallah_! Above Keneh (about another +150 miles) it will go away. To-day, for the first time, I pulled my +cloak over my head in the sun, it was so stinging hot--quite delicious, +and it is the 5th of January. _Poveri voi_ in the cold! Our captain was +prisoner for three years at Moscow and at Bakshi Serai, and declares he +never saw the sun at all--hard lines for an Egyptian. Do you remember +the cigarettes you bought for me at Eaux Bonnes? Well, I gave them to +the old Turkish Effendi, who is dreadfully asthmatic, and he is +enchanted; of course five other people came to be cured directly. The +rhubarb pills are a real comfort to travellers, for they can't do much +harm, and inspire great confidence. + +Luckily we left all the fleas behind in the fore-cabin, for the benefit +of the poor old Turk, who, I hear, suffers severely. The divans were all +brand-new, and the fleas came in the cotton stuffing, for there are no +live things of any sort in the rest of the boat. + +GIRGEH, +_January_ 9, 1864. + +We have put in here for the night. To-day we took on board three +convicts in chains, two bound for Fazogloo, one for calumny and perjury, +and one for manslaughter. Hard labour for life in that climate will soon +dispose of them. The third is a petty thief from Keneh who has been a +year in chains in the Custom-house of Alexandria, and is now being taken +back to be shown in his own place in his chains. The _causes celebres_ +of this country would be curious reading; they do their crimes so +differently to us. If I can get hold of anyone who can relate a few +cases well, I'll write them down. Omar has told me a few, but he may not +know the details quite exactly. + +I made further inquiries about the Bedawee lady, who is older than she +looks, for she has travelled constantly for ten years. She is rich and +much respected, and received in all the best houses, where she sits with +the men all day and sleeps in the hareem. She has been in the interior +of Africa and to Mecca, speaks Turkish, and M. Mounier says he found her +extremely agreeable, full of interesting information about all the +countries she had visited. As soon as I can talk I must try and find her +out; she likes the company of Europeans. + +Here is a contribution to folk-lore, new even to Lane I think. When the +coffee-seller lights his stove in the morning, he makes two cups of +coffee of the best and nicely sugared, and pours them out all over the +stove, saying, 'God bless or favour Sheykh Shadhilee and his +descendants.' The blessing on the saint who invented coffee of course I +knew, and often utter, but the libation is new to me. You see the +ancient religion crops up even through the severe faith of Islam. If I +could describe all the details of an Arab, and still more of a Coptic, +wedding, you would think I was relating the mysteries of Isis. At one +house I saw the bride's father looking pale and anxious, and Omar said, +'I think he wants to hold his stomach with both hands till the women tell +him if his daughter makes his face white.' It was such a good phrase for +the sinking at heart of anxiety. It certainly seems more reasonable that +a woman's misconduct should blacken her father's face than her husband's. +There are a good many things about hareem here which I am barbarian +enough to think extremely good and rational. An old Turk of Cairo, who +had been in Europe, was talking to an Englishman a short time ago, who +politely chaffed him about Mussulman license. The venerable Muslim +replied, 'Pray, how many women have you, who are quite young, seen (that +is the Eastern phrase) in your whole life?' The Englishman could not +count--of course not. 'Well, young man, I am old, and was married at +twelve, and I have seen in all my life seven women; four are dead, and +three are happy and comfortable in my house. _Where are all yours_?' +Hassaneyn Effendi heard the conversation, which passed in French, and was +amused at the question. + +I find that the criminal convicted of calumny accused, together with +twenty-nine others not in custody, the Sheykh-el-Beled of his place of +murdering his servant, and produced a basket full of bones as proof, but +the Sheykh-el-Beled produced the living man, and his detractor gets hard +labour for life. The proceeding is characteristic of the childish +_ruses_ of this country. I inquired whether the thief who was dragged in +chains through the streets would be able to find work, and was told, 'Oh, +certainly; is he not a poor man? For the sake of God everyone will be +ready to help him.' An absolute uncertainty of justice naturally leads +to this result. Our captain was quite shocked to hear that in my country +we did not like to employ a returned convict. + +LUXOR, +_January_ 13, 1864. + +We spent all the afternoon of Saturday at Keneh, where I dined with the +English Consul, a worthy old Arab, who also invited our captain, and we +all sat round his copper tray on the floor and ate with our fingers, the +captain, who sat next me, picking out the best bits and feeding me and +Sally with them. After dinner the French Consul, a Copt, one Jesus +Buktor, sent to invite me to a fantasia at his house, where I found the +Mouniers, the Moudir, and some other Turks, and a disagreeable Italian, +who stared at me as if I had been young and pretty, and put Omar into a +great fury. I was glad to see the dancing-girls, but I liked old Seyyid +Achmet's patriarchal ways much better than the tone of the Frenchified +Copt. At first I thought the dancing queer and dull. One girl was very +handsome, but cold and uninteresting; one who sang was also very pretty +and engaging, and a dear little thing. But the dancing was contortions, +more or less graceful, _very_ wonderful as gymnastic feats, and no more. +But the captain called out to one Latifeh, an ugly, clumsy-looking wench, +to show the Sitt what she could do. And then it was revealed to me. The +ugly girl started on her feet and became the 'serpent of old Nile,'--the +head, shoulders and arms eagerly bent forward, waist in, and haunches +advanced on the bent knees--the posture of a cobra about to spring. I +could not call it _voluptuous_ any more than Racine's _Phedre_. It is +_Venus toute entiere a sa proie attachee_, and to me seemed tragic. It +is far more realistic than the 'fandango,' and far less coquettish, +because the thing represented is _au grande serieux_, not travestied, +_gaze_, or played with; and like all such things, the Arab men don't +think it the least improper. Of course the girls don't commit any +indecorums before European women, except the dance itself. Seyyid Achmet +would have given me a fantasia, but he feared I might have men with me, +and he had had a great annoyance with two Englishmen who wanted to make +the girls dance naked, which they objected to, and he had to turn them +out of his house after hospitably entertaining them. + +Our procession home to the boat was very droll. Mme. Mounier could not +ride an Arab saddle, so I lent her mine and _enfourche'd_ my donkey, and +away we went with men running with 'meshhaals' (fire-baskets on long +poles) and lanterns, and the captain shouting out' Full speed!' and such +English phrases all the way--like a regular old salt as he is. We got +here last night, and this morning Mustapha A'gha and the Nazir came down +to conduct me up to my palace. I have such a big rambling house all over +the top of the temple of Khem. How I wish I had you and the chicks to +fill it! We had about twenty _fellahs_ to clean the dust of _three +years_' accumulation, and my room looks quite handsome with carpets and a +divan. Mustapha's little girl found her way here when she heard I was +come, and it seemed quite pleasant to have her playing on the carpet with +a dolly and some sugar-plums, and making a feast for dolly on a saucer, +arranging the sugar-plums Arab fashion. She was monstrously pleased with +Rainie's picture and kissed it. Such a quiet, nice little brown tot, and +curiously like Rainie and walnut-juice. + +[Luxor, by Edward Lear, showing Lady Duff Gordon's house, now destroy: +ill101.jpg] + +The view all round my house is magnificent on every side, over the Nile +in front facing north-west, and over a splendid range of green and +distant orange buff hills to the south-east, where I have a spacious +covered terrace. It is rough and dusty to the extreme, but will be very +pleasant. Mustapha came in just now to offer me the loan of a horse, and +to ask me to go to the mosque in a few nights to see the illumination in +honour of a great Sheykh, a son of Sidi Hosseyn or Hassan. I asked +whether my presence might not offend any Muslimeen, and he would not hear +of such a thing. The sun set while he was here, and he asked if I +objected to his praying in my presence, and went through his four +_rekahs_ very comfortably on my carpet. My next-door neighbour (across +the courtyard all filled with antiquities) is a nice little Copt who +looks like an antique statue himself. I shall _voisiner_ with his +family. He sent me coffee as soon as I arrived, and came to help. I am +invited to El-Moutaneh, a few hours up the river, to visit the Mouniers, +and to Keneh to visit Seyyid Achmet, and also the head of the merchants +there who settled the price of a carpet for me in the bazaar, and seemed +to like me. He was just one of those handsome, high-bred, elderly +merchants with whom a story always begins in the Arabian Nights. When I +can talk I will go and see a real Arab hareem. A very nice English +couple, a man and his wife, gave me breakfast in their boat, and turned +out to be business connections of Ross's, of the name of Arrowsmith; they +were going to Assouan, and I shall see them on their way back. I asked +Mustapha about the Arab young lady, and he spoke very highly of her, and +is to let me know if she comes here and to offer hospitality from me: he +did not know her name--she is called 'el _Haggeh_' (the Pilgrimess). + +_Thursday_.--Now I am settled in my Theban palace, it seems more and more +beautiful, and I am quite melancholy that you cannot be here to enjoy it. +The house is very large and has good thick walls, the comfort of which we +feel to-day for it blows a hurricane; but indoors it is not at all cold. +I have glass windows and doors to some of the rooms. It is a lovely +dwelling. Two funny little owls as big as my fist live in the wall under +my window, and come up and peep in, walking on tip-toe, and looking +inquisitive like the owls in the hieroglyphics; and a splendid horus (the +sacred hawk) frequents my lofty balcony. Another of my contemplar gods I +sacrilegiously killed last night, a whip snake. Omar is rather in +consternation for fear it should be 'the snake of the house,' for Islam +has not dethroned the _Dii lares et tutelares_. + +I have been 'sapping' at the _Alif Bey_ (A B C) to-day, under the +direction of Sheykh Yussuf, a graceful, sweet-looking young man, with a +dark brown face and such fine manners, in his _fellah_ dress--a coarse +brown woollen shirt, a _libdeh_, or felt skull-cap, and a common red +shawl round his head and shoulders; writing the wrong way is very hard +work. Some men came to mend the staircase, which had fallen in and which +consists of huge solid blocks of stone. One crushed his thumb and I had +to operate on it. It is extraordinary how these people bear pain; he +never winced in the least, and went off thanking God and the lady quite +cheerfully. Till to-day the weather has been quite heavenly; last night +I sat with my window open, it was so warm. If only I had you all here! +How Rainie would play in the temple, Maurice fish in the Nile, and you go +about with your spectacles on your nose. I think you would discard +Frangi dress and take to a brown shirt and a _libdeh_, and soon be as +brown as any _fellah_. It was so curious to see Sheykh Yussuf blush from +shyness when he came in first; it shows quite as much in the coffee-brown +Arab skin as in the fairest European--quite unlike the much +lighter-coloured mulatto or Malay, who never change colour at all. A +photographer who is living here showed me photographs done high up the +White Nile. One negro girl is so splendid that I must get him to do me a +copy to send you. She is not perfect like the Nubians, but so superbly +strong and majestic. If I can get hold of a handsome _fellahah_ here, +I'll get her photographed to show you in Europe what a woman's breast can +be, for I never knew it before I came here--it is the most beautiful +thing in the world. The dancing-girl I saw moved her breasts by some +extraordinary muscular effort, first one and then the other; they were +just like pomegranates and gloriously independent of stays or any +support. + + + +January 20, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +_Wednesday_, _January_ 20, 1864. + +I received your welcome letters of December 15 and 25 on Monday, to my +great joy, but was much grieved to hear of Thomas's death, and still more +so to hear from Janet that Thackeray and Mrs. Alison were dead. She died +the morning I left Cairo, so her last act almost was to send sweetmeats +to the boat after me on the evening before. Poor dear soul her sweetness +and patience were very touching. We have had a week of piercing winds, +and yesterday I stayed in bed, to the great surprise of Mustapha's little +girl who came to see me. To-day was beautiful again, and I mounted old +Mustapha's cob pony and jogged over his farm with him, and lunched on +delicious sour cream and _fateereh_ at a neighbouring village, to the +great delight of the _fellaheen_. It was more Biblical than ever; the +people were all relations of Mustapha's, and to see Sidi Omar, the head +of the household, and the 'young men coming in from the field,' and the +'flocks and herds and camels and asses,' was like a beautiful dream. All +these people are of high blood, and a sort of 'roll of Battle' is kept +here for the genealogies of the noble Arabs who came in with Amr--the +first Arab conqueror and lieutenant of Omar. Not one of these brown men, +who do not own a second shirt, would give his brown daughter to the +greatest Turkish Pasha. This country _noblesse_ is more interesting to +me by far than the town people, though Omar, who is quite a Cockney, and +piques himself on being 'delicate,' turns up his nose at their beggarly +pride, as Londoners used to do at bare-legged Highlanders. The air of +perfect equality--except as to the respect due to the head of the +clan--with which the villagers treated Mustapha, and which he fully +returned, made it all seem so very gentlemanly. They are not so dazzled +by a little show, and far more manly than the Cairenes. I am on visiting +terms with all the 'county families' resident in Luxor already. The +Nazir (magistrate) is a very nice person, and my Sheykh Yussuf, who is of +the highest blood (being descended from Abu-l-Hajjaj himself), is quite +charming. There is an intelligent little German here as Austrian Consul, +who draws nicely. I went into his house, and was startled by hearing a +pretty Arab boy, his servant, inquire, '_Soll ich den Kaffee bringen_?' +What next? They are all mad to learn languages, and Mustapha begs me and +Sally to teach his little girl Zeyneb English. + +_Friday_, 22_nd_.--Yesterday I rode over to Karnac, with Mustapha's +_sais_ running by my side. Glorious hot sun and delicious air. To hear +the _sais_ chatter away, his tongue running as fast as his feet, made me +deeply envious of his lungs. Mustapha joined me, and pressed me to go to +visit the Sheykh's tomb for the benefit of my health, as he and Sheykh +Yussuf wished to say a _Fathah_ for me; but I must not drink wine at +dinner. I made a little difficulty on the score of difference of +religion, but Sheykh Yussuf, who came up, said that he presumed I +worshipped God, and not stones, and that sincere prayers were good +anywhere. Clearly the bigotry would have been on my side if I had +refused any longer. So in the evening I went with Mustapha. It was a +very curious sight, the little dome illuminated with as much oil as the +mosque could afford, and the tombs of Abu-l-Hajjaj and his three sons. A +magnificent old man, like Father Abraham himself, dressed in white, sat +on a carpet at the foot of the tomb; he was the head of the family of Abu- +l-Hajjaj. He made me sit by, and was extremely polite. Then came the +Nazir, the Kadee, a Turk travelling on Government business, and a few +other gentlemen, who all sat down round us after kissing the hand of the +old Sheykh. Everyone talked; in fact it was a _soiree_ for the +entertainment of the dead Sheykh. A party of men sat at the further end +of the place, with their faces to the Kibleh, and played on a +_taraboukeh_ (sort of small drum stretched on earthenware which gives a +peculiar sound), a tambourine without bells, and little tinkling cymbals +fitting on thumb and fingers (crotales), and chanted songs in honour of +Mohammed and verses from the Psalms of David. Every now and then one of +our party left off talking, and prayed a little or counted his beads. The +old Sheykh sent for coffee, and gave me the first cup--a wonderful +concession. At last the Nazir proposed a _Fathah_ for me, which the +whole group round me repeated aloud, and then each said to me, 'Our Lord +God bless and give thee health and peace, to thee and thy family, and +take thee back safe to thy master and thy children,' one adding _Ameen_ +and giving the salaam with the hand. I returned it, and said, 'Our Lord +reward thee and all the people of kindness to strangers,' which was +considered a very proper answer. After that we went away, and the worthy +Nazir walked home with me to take a pipe and a glass of sherbet, and +enjoy a talk about his wife and eight children, who are all in Foum-el- +Bachr', except two boys at school in Cairo. Government appointments are +so precarious that it is not worth while to move them up here, as the +expense would be too heavy on a salary of 15 pounds a month, with the +chance of recall any day. In Cairo or Lower Egypt it would be quite +impossible for a Christian to enter a Sheykh's tomb at all--above all on +his birthday festival and on the night of Friday. + +_Friday_, _January_ 29.--I have been too unwell to write all this week, +but will finish this to-day to send off by Lady Herbert's boat. The last +week has been very cold here, the thermometer at 59 and 60 degrees, with +a nipping wind and bright sun. I was obliged to keep my bed for three or +four days, as of course a _palazzo_ without doors or windows to speak of +was very trying, though far better than a boat. Yesterday and to-day are +much better, not really much warmer, but a different air. + +The _moolid_ (festival) of the Sheykh terminated last Saturday with a +procession, in which the new cover of his tomb, and the ancient sacred +boat, were carried on men's shoulders. It all seemed to have walked out +of the royal tombs, only dusty and shabby instead of gorgeous. These +festivals of the dead are such as Herodotus alludes to as held in honour +of 'Him whose name he dares not mention--Him who sleeps in Philae,' only +the name is changed and the mummy is absent. + +For a fortnight everyone who had a horse and could ride came and 'made +fantasia' every afternoon for two hours before sunset; and very pretty it +was. The people here show their good blood in their riding. On the last +three days all strangers were entertained with bread and cooked meat at +the expense of the Luxor people; every house killed a sheep and baked +bread. As I could not do that for want of servants enough, I sent 100 +piastres (12s) to the servants of Abu-l-Hajjaj at the mosque to pay for +the oil burnt at the tomb, etc. I was not well and in bed, but I hear +that my gift gave immense satisfaction, and that I was again well prayed +for. The Coptic Bishop came to see me, but he is a tipsy old monk and an +impudent beggar. He sent for tea as he was ill, so I went to see him, +and perceived that his disorder was arrakee. He has a very nice black +slave, a Christian (Abyssinian, I think), who is a friend of Omar's, and +who sent Omar a handsome dinner all ready cooked; among other things a +chicken stuffed with green wheat was excellent. Omar constantly gets +dinners sent him, a lot of bread, some dates and cooked fowls or pigeons, +and _fateereh_ with honey, all tied up hot in a cloth. I gave an old +fellow a pill and dose some days ago, but his _dura ilia_ took no notice, +and he came for more, and got castor-oil. I have not seen him since, but +his employer, _fellah_ Omar, sent me a lot of delicious butter in return. +I think it shows great intelligence in these people, how none of them +will any longer consult an Arab _hakeem_ if they can get a European to +physic them. They now ask directly whether the Government doctors have +been to Europe to learn _Hekmeh_, and if not they don't trust them--for +poor 'savages' and 'heathens' _ce n'est pas si bete_. I had to interrupt +my lessons from illness, but Sheykh Yussuf came again last night. I have +mastered _Abba shedda o mus beteen_--_ibbi shedda o heftedeen_, etc. Oh +dear, what must poor Arab children suffer in learning ABC! It is a +terrible alphabet, and the _shekel_ (points) are _desesperants_; but now +I stick for want of a dictionary. + +Mr. Arrowsmith kindly gave me Miss Martineau's book, which I have begun. +It is true as far as it goes, but there is the usual defect--the people +are not real people, only part of the scenery to her, as to most +Europeans. You may conceive how much we are naturalized when I tell you +that I have received a serious offer of marriage for Sally. Mustapha +A'gha has requested me to 'give her to him' for his eldest son Seyyid, a +nice lad of nineteen or twenty at most. As Mustapha is the richest and +most considerable person here, it shows that the Arabs draw no +unfavourable conclusions as to our morals from the freedom of our +manners. He said of course she would keep her own religion and her own +customs. Seyyid is still in Alexandria, so it will be time to refuse +when he returns. I said she was too old, but they think that no +objection at all. She will have to say that her father would not allow +it, for of course a handsome offer deserves a civil refusal. Sally's +proposals would be quite an ethnological study; Mustapha asked what I +should require as dowry for her. Fancy Sally as Hareem of the Sheykh-el- +Beled of Luxor! + +I am so charmed with my house that I begin seriously to contemplate +staying here all the time. Cairo is so dear now, and so many dead cattle +are buried there, that I think I should do better in this place. There +is a huge hall, so large and cold now as to be uninhabitable, which in +summer would be glorious. My dear old captain of steamer XII. would +bring me up coffee and candles, and if I 'sap' and learn to talk to +people, I shall have plenty of company. + +The cattle disease has not extended above Minieh to any degree, and here +there has not been a case. _Alhamdulillah_! Food is very good here, +rather less than half Cairo prices even now; in summer it will be half +that. Mustapha urges me to stay, and proposes a picnic of a few days +over in the tombs with his Hareem as a diversion. I have got a photo, +for a stereoscope, which I send you, of my two beloved, lovely palm-trees +on the river-bank just above and looking over Philae. + +Hitherto my right side has been the bad one, but now one side is uneasy +and the other impossible to lie on. It does not make one sleep +pleasantly, and the loss of my good, sound sleep tries me, and so I don't +seem well. We shall see what hot weather will do; if that fails I will +give up the contest, and come home to see as much as I shall have time +for of you and my chicks. + + + +February 7, 1864: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +_Sunday_, _February_ 7, 1864 + +Dearest Mutter, + +We have had our winter pretty sharp for three weeks, and everybody has +had violent colds and coughs--the Arabs, I mean. + +I have been a good deal ailing, but have escaped any violent cold +altogether, and now the thermometer is up to 64 degrees, and it feels +very pleasant. In the sun it is always very hot, but that does not +prevent the air from being keen, and chapping lips and noses, and even +hands; it is curious how a temperature, which would be summer in England, +makes one shiver at Thebes--_Alhamdulillah_! it is over now. + +My poor Sheykh Yussuf is in great distress about his brother, also a +young Sheykh (_i.e_., one learned in theology and competent to preach in +the mosque). Sheykh Mohammed is come home from studying in 'El-Azhar' at +Cairo--I fear to die. I went with Sheykh Yussuf, at his desire, to see +if I could help him, and found him gasping for breath and very, very ill. +I gave him a little soothing medicine, and put mustard plasters on him, +and as it relieved him, I went again and repeated them. All the family +and a lot of neighbours crowded in to look on. There he lay in a dark +little den with bare mud walls, worse off, to our ideas, than any pauper; +but these people do not feel the want of comforts, and one learns to +think it quite natural to sit with perfect gentlemen in places inferior +to our cattle-sheds. I pulled some blankets up against the wall, and put +my arm behind Sheykh Mohammed's back to make him rest while the poultices +were on him, whereupon he laid his green turban on my shoulder, and +presently held up his delicate brown face for a kiss like an affectionate +child. As I kissed him, a very pious old moollah said _Bismillah_ (In +the name of God) with an approving nod, and Sheykh Mohammed's old father, +a splendid old man in a green turban, thanked me with effusion, and +prayed that my children might always find help and kindness. I suppose +if I confessed to kissing a 'dirty Arab' in a 'hovel' the English +travellers would execrate me; but it shows how much there is in +'Mussulman bigotry, unconquerable hatred, etc.,' for this family are +Seyyids (descendents of the Prophet) and very pious. Sheykh Yussuf does +not even smoke, and he preaches on Fridays. You would love these +Saeedees, they are such thorough gentlemen. I rode over to the village a +few days ago to see a farmer named Omar. Of course I had to eat, and the +people were enchanted at my going alone, as they are used to see the +English armed and guarded. Sidi Omar, however, insisted on accompanying +me home, which is the civil thing here. He piled a whole stack of green +fodder on his little nimble donkey, and hoisted himself atop of it +without saddle or bridle (the fodder was for Mustapha A'gha), and we +trotted home across the beautiful green barley-fields, to the amazement +of some European young men out shooting. We did look a curious pair, +certainly, with my English saddle and bridle, habit, hat and feather, on +horseback, and Sidi Omar's brown shirt, brown legs and white turban, +guiding his donkey with his chibouque. We were laughing very merrily, +too, over my blundering Arabic. + +Young Heathcote and Strutt called here, but were hurrying on up the +river. I shall see more of them when they come down. Young Strutt is so +like his mother I knew him in the street. I would like to give him a +fantasia, but it is not proper for a woman to send for the dancing-girls, +and as I am the friend of the Maohn (police magistrate), the Kadee, and +the respectable people here, I cannot do what is indecent in their eyes. +It is quite enough that they approve my unveiled face, and my associating +with men; that is 'my custom,' and they think no harm of it. + +To-morrow or next day Ramadan begins at the first sight of the new moon. +It is a great nuisance, because everybody is cross. Omar did not keep it +last year, but this year he will, and if he spoils my dinners, who can +blame him? There was a wedding close by here last night, and about ten +o'clock all the women passed under my windows with crys of joy +'ez-zaghareet' down to the river. I find, on inquiry, that in Upper +Egypt, as soon as the bridegroom has 'taken the face' of his bride, the +women take her down to 'see the Nile.' They have not yet forgotten that +the old god is the giver of increase, it seems. + +I have been reading Miss Martineau's book; the descriptions are +excellent, but she evidently knew and cared nothing about the people, and +had the feeling of most English people here, that the difference of +manners is a sort of impassable gulf, the truth being that their feelings +and passions are just like our own. It is curious that all the old books +of travels that I have read mention the natives of strange countries in a +far more natural tone, and with far more attempt to discriminate +character, than modern ones, _e.g_., Niebuhr's Travels here and in +Arabia, Cook's Voyages, and many others. _Have_ we grown so _very_ +civilized since a hundred years that outlandish people seem like mere +puppets, and not like real human beings? Miss M.'s bigotry against Copts +and Greeks is droll enough, compared to her very proper reverence for +'Him who sleeps in Philae,' and her attack upon hareems outrageous; she +implies that they are brothels. I must admit that I have not seen a +Turkish hareem, and she apparently saw no other, and yet she fancies the +morals of Turkey to be superior to those of Egypt. It is not possible +for a woman to explain all the limitations to which ordinary people do +subject themselves. Great men I know nothing of; but women can and do, +without blame, sue their husbands-in-law for the full 'payment of debt,' +and demand a divorce if they please in default. Very often a man marries +a second wife out of duty to provide for a brother's widow and children, +or the like. Of course licentious men act loosely as elsewhere. +_Kulloolum Beni Adam_ (we are all sons of Adam), as Sheykh Yussuf says +constantly, 'bad-bad and good-good'; and modern travellers show strange +ignorance in talking of foreign natives _in the lump_, as they nearly all +do. + +_Monday_.--I have just heard that poor Sheykh Mohammed died yesterday, +and was, as usual, buried at once. I had not been well for a few days, +and Sheykh Yussuf took care that I should not know of his brother's +death. He went to Mustapha A'gha, and told him not to tell anyone in my +house till I was better, because he knew 'what was in my stomach towards +his family,' and feared I should be made worse by the news. And how +often I have been advised not to meddle with sick Arabs, because they are +sure to suspect a Christian of poisoning those who die! I do grieve for +the graceful, handsome young creature and his old father. Omar was vexed +at not knowing of his death, because he would have liked to help to carry +him to the grave. + +I have at last learned the alphabet in Arabic, and can write it quite +tidily, but now I am in a fix for want of a dictionary, and have written +to Hekekian Bey to buy me one in Cairo. Sheykh Yussuf knows not a word +of English, and Omar can't read or write, and has no notion of grammar or +of _word for word_ interpretation, and it is very slow work. When I walk +through the court of the mosque I give the customary coppers to the +little boys who are spelling away loudly under the arcade, _Abba sheddeh +o nusbeyteen_, _Ibbi sheddeh o heftedeen_, etc., with a keen sympathy +with their difficulties and well-smudged tin slates. An additional evil +is that the Arabic books printed in England, and at English presses here, +require a 40-horse power microscope to distinguish a letter. The +ciphering is like ours, but with other figures, and I felt very stupid +when I discovered how I had reckoned Arab fashion from right to left all +my life and never observed the fact. However, they 'cast down' a column +of figures from top to bottom. + +I am just called away by some poor men who want me to speak to the +English travellers about shooting their pigeons. It is very thoughtless, +but it is in great measure the fault of the servants and dragomans who +think they must not venture to tell their masters that pigeons are +private property. I have a great mind to put a notice on the wall of my +house about it. Here, where there are never less than eight or ten boats +lying for full three months, the loss to the _fellaheen_ is serious, and +our Consul Mustapha A'gha is afraid to say anything. I have given my +neighbours permission to call the pigeons mine, as they roost in flocks +on my roof, and to go out and say that the Sitt objects to her poultry +being shot, especially as I have had them shot off my balcony as they sat +there. + +I got a note from M. Mounier yesterday, inviting me to go and stay at El- +Moutaneh, Halim Pasha's great estate, near Edfoo, and offering to send +his dahabieh for me. I certainly will go as soon as the weather is +decidedly hot. It is now very warm and pleasant. If I find Thebes too +hot as summer advances I must drop down and return to Cairo, or try Suez, +which I hear is excellent in summer--bracing desert air. But it is very +tempting to stay here--a splendid cool house, food extremely cheap; about +1 pound a week for three of us for fish, bread, butter, meat, milk, eggs +and vegetables; all grocery, of course, I brought with me; no trouble, +rest and civil neighbours. I feel very disinclined to move unless I am +baked out, and it takes a good deal to bake me. The only fear is the +Khamaseen wind. I do not feel very well. I don't ail anything in +particular; blood-spitting frequent, but very slight; much less cough; +but I am so weak and good for nothing. I seldom feel able to go out or +do more than sit in the balcony on one side or other of the house. I +have no donkey here, the hired ones are so very bad and so dear; but I +have written Mounier to try and get me one at El-Moutaneh and send it +down in one of Halim Pasha's corn-boats. There is no comfort like a +donkey always ready. If I have to send for Mustapha's horse, I feel lazy +and fancy it is too much trouble unless I can go just when I want. + +I have received a letter from Alexandria of January 8. What dreadful +weather! We felt the ghost of it here in our three weeks of cold. +Sometimes I feel as if I must go back to you all _coute qui coute_, but I +know it would be no use to try it in the summer. I long for more news of +you and my chicks. + + + +February 8, 1864: February 8, 1864 + + +_To Mrs. Ross_. +LUXOR, +_Tuesday_, _February_ 8, 1864. + +Dearest Child, + +I got your letter No. 3 about a week ago, and two others before it. I +have been very lazy in writing, for it has been very cold (for Thebes), +and I have been very seedy--no severe attack, but no strength at all. The +last three or four days the weather has been warm, and I am beginning to +feel better. I send this to Cairo by a clever, pleasant Mme. de +Beaulaincourt, a daughter of Marechal Castellane, who is here in one of +the Pasha's steamers. She will call on you when she goes to Alexandria. +I have been learning to write Arabic, and know my letters--no trifle, I +assure you. My Sheykh is a perfect darling--the most graceful, high-bred +young creature, and a Seyyid. These Saeedees are much nicer than the +Lower Egypt people. They have good Arab blood in their veins, keep +pedigrees, and are more manly and independent, and more liberal in +religion. + +Sheykh Yussuf took me into the tomb of his ancestor, Sheykh Abul Hajjaj, +the great saint here, and all the company said a Fathah for my health. It +was on the night of Friday, and during the moolid of the Sheykh. Omar +was surprised at the proceeding, and a little afraid the dead Sheykh +might be offended. My great friend is the Maohn (police magistrate) +here--a very kind, good man, much liked, I hear, by all except the Kadee, +who was displeased at his giving the stick to a Mussulman for some wrong +to a Copt. I am beginning to stammer out a little Arabic, but find it +horribly difficult. The plurals are bewildering and the verbs quite +heart-breaking. I have no books, which makes learning very slow work. I +have written to Hekekian Bey to buy me a dictionary. + +The house here is delightful--rather cold now, but will be perfect in hot +weather--so airy and cheerful. I think I shall stay on here all the time +the expense is nil, and it is very comfortable. I have a friend in a +farm in a neighbouring village, and am much amused at seeing country +life. It cannot be rougher, as regards material comforts, in New Zealand +or Central Africa, but there is no barbarism or lack of refinement in the +manners of the people. M. Mounier has invited me to go and stay with +them at El-Moutaneh, and offers to send his dahabieh for me. When it +gets really hot I shall like the trip very much. + +Pray, when you see Mme. Tastu, say civil things for me, and tell her how +much I like the house. I think it wonderful that Omar cooked the dinner +without being cross. I am sure I should swear if I had to cook for a +heretic in Ramadan. + + + +February 12, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_February_ 12, 1864. + +Dearest Alick, + +We are in Ramadan now, and Omar really enjoys a good opportunity of +'making his soul.' He fasts and washes vigorously, prays his five times +a day, goes to mosque on Fridays, and is quite merry over it, and ready +to cook infidels' dinners with exemplary good-humour. It is a great +merit in Muslims that they are not at all grumpy over their piety. The +weather has set in since five or six days quite like paradise. I sit on +my lofty balcony and drink the sweet northerly breeze, and look at the +glorious mountain opposite, and think if only you and the chicks were +here it would be 'the best o' life.' The beauty of Egypt grows on one, +and I think it far more lovely this year than I did last. My great +friend the Maohn (he is _not_ the Nazir, who is a fat little pig-eyed, +jolly Turk) lives in a house which also has a superb view in another +direction, and I often go and sit 'on the bench'--_i.e_., the _mastabah_ +in front of his house--and do what little talk I can and see the people +come with their grievances. I don't understand much of what goes on, as +the _patois_ is broad and doubles the difficulty, or I would send you a +Theban police report; but the Maohn is very pleasant in his manner to +them, and they don't seem frightened. We have appointed a very small boy +our _bowab_, or porter--or, rather, he has appointed himself--and his +assumption of dignity is quite delicious. He has provided himself with a +huge staff, and he behaves like the most tremendous janissary. He is +about Rainie's size, as sharp as a needle, and possesses the remains of a +brown shirt and a ragged kitchen duster as turban. I am very fond of +little Achmet, and like to see him doing _tableaux vivants_ from Murillo +with a plate of broken victuals. The children of this place have become +so insufferable about _backsheesh_ that I have complained to the Maohn, +and he will assemble a committee of parents and enforce better manners. +It is only here and just where the English go. When I ride into the +little villages I never hear the word, but am always offered milk to +drink. I have taken it two or three times and not offered to pay, and +the people always seem quite pleased. + +Yesterday Sheykh Yussuf came again, the first time since his brother's +death; he was evidently deeply affected, but spoke in the usual way, 'It +is the will of God, we must all die,' etc. I wish you could see Sheykh +Yussuf. I think he is the sweetest creature in look and manner I ever +beheld--so refined and so simple, and with the animal grace of a gazelle. +A high-bred Arab is as graceful as an Indian, but quite without the +feline _Geschmeidigkeit_ or the look of dissimulation; the eye is as +clear and frank as a child's. Mr. Ruchl, the Austrian Consul here, who +knows Egypt and Arabia well, tells me that he thinks many of them quite +as good as they look, and said of Sheykh Yussuf, _Er ist so gemuthlich_. +There is a German here deciphering hieroglyphics, Herr Dummichen, a very +agreeable man, but he has gone across the river to live at el-Kurneh. He +has been through Ethiopia in search of temples and inscriptions. I am to +go over and visit him, and see some of the tombs again in his company, +which I shall enjoy, as a good interpreter is sadly wanted in those +mysterious regions. + +My chest is wonderfully better these last six or seven days. It is quite +clear that downright heat is what does me good. Moreover, I have just +heard from M. Mounier that a good donkey is _en route_ in a boat from El- +Moutaneh--he will cost me between 4 and 5 pounds and will enable me to be +about far more than I can by merely borrowing Mustapha's horse, about +which I have scruples as he lends it to other lady travellers. Little +Achmet will be my sais as well as my door-keeper, I suppose. I wish you +would speak to Layard in behalf of Mustapha A'gha. He has acted as +English Consul here for something like thirty years, and he really is the +slave of the travellers. He gives them dinners, mounts them, and does +all the disagreeable business of wrangling with the reis and dragomans +for them, makes himself a postmaster, takes care of their letters and +sends them out to the boats, and does all manner of services for them, +and lends his house for the infidels to pray in on Sundays when a +clergyman is here. For this he has no remuneration at all, except such +presents as the English see fit to make him, and I have seen enough to +know that they are neither large nor always gracefully given. The old +fellow at Keneh who has nothing to do gets regular pay, and I think +Mustapha ought to have something; he is now old and rather infirm, and +has to keep a clerk to help him; and at least, his expenses should be +covered. Please say this to Layard from me as my message to him. Don't +forget it, please, for Mustapha is a really kind friend to me at all +times and in all ways. + +_February_ 14th.--Yesterday we had a dust-storm off the desert. It made +my head heavy and made me feel languid, but did not affect my chest at +all. To-day is a soft gray day; there was a little thunder this morning +and a few, very few, drops of rain--hardly enough for even Herodotus to +consider portentous. My donkey came down last night, and I tried him to- +day, and he is very satisfactory though alarmingly small, as the real +Egyptian donkey always is; the big ones are from the Hejaz. But it is +wonderful how the little creatures run along under one as easy as +possible, and they have no will of their own. I rode mine out to Karnac +and back, and he did not seem to think me at all heavy. When they are +overworked and overgalloped they become bad on the legs and easily fall, +and all those for hire are quite stumped up, poor beasts--they are so +willing and docile that everyone overdrives them. + + + +February 19, 1864: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_February_ 19, 1864. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I have only time for a few lines to go down by Mr. Strutt and Heathcote's +boat to Cairo. They are very good specimens and quite recognised as +'belonging to the higher people,' because they 'do not make themselves +big.' I received your letter of January 21 with little darling Rainie's +three days ago. + +I am better now that the weather is fine again. We had a whole day's +rain (which Herodotus says is a portent here) and a hurricane from the +south worthy of the Cape. I thought we should have been buried under the +drifting sand. To-day is again heavenly. I saw Abd-el-Azeez, the +chemist in Cairo; he seemed a very good fellow, and was a pupil of my old +friend M. Chrevreul, and highly recommended by him. Here I am out of all +European ideas. The Sheykh-el-Arab (of the Ababdeh tribe), who has a +sort of town house here, has invited me out into the desert to the black +tents, and I intend to pay a visit with old Mustapha A'gha. There is a +Roman well in his yard with a ghoul in it. I can't get the story from +Mustapha, who is ashamed of such superstitions, but I'll find it out. We +had a fantasia at Mustapha's for young Strutt and Co., and a very good +dancing-girl. Some dear old prosy English people made me laugh so. The +lady wondered how the women here could wear clothes 'so different from +English females--poor things!' but they were not _malveillants_, only +pitying and wonderstruck--nothing astonished them so much as my +salutations with Seleem Effendi, the Maohn. + +I begin to feel the time before me to be away from you all very long +indeed, but I do think my best chance is a long spell of real heat. I +have got through this winter without once catching cold at all to +signify, and now the fine weather is come. I am writing in Arabic from +Sheykh Yussuf's dictation the dear old story of the barber's brother with +the basket of glass. The Arabs are so diverted at hearing that we all +know the _Alf Leyleh o Leyleh_, the 'Thousand Nights and a Night.' The +want of a dictionary with a teacher knowing no word of English is +terrible. I don't know how I learn at all. The post is pretty quick up +to here. I got your letter within three weeks, you see, but I get no +newspapers; the post is all on foot and can't carry anything so heavy. +One of my men of last year, Asgalani the steersman, has just been to see +me; he says his journey was happier last year. + +I hear that Phillips is coming to Cairo, and have written to him there to +invite him up here to paint these handsome Saeedees. He could get up in +a steamer as I did through Hassaneyn Effendi for a trifle. I wish you +_could_ come, but the heat here which gives me life would be quite +_impossible_ to you. The thermometer in the cold antechamber now is 67 +degrees where no sun ever comes, and the blaze of the sun is prodigious. + + + +February 26, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_February_ 26, 1864. + +Dearest Alick, + +I have just received your letter of the 3rd inst., and am glad to get +such good tidings. You would be amused to see Omar bring me a letter and +sit down on the floor till I tell him the family news, and then +_Alhamdulillah_, we are so pleased, and he goes off to his pots and pans +again. Lord and Lady Spencer are here, and his sister, in two boats. The +English 'Milord,' extinct on the Continent, has revived in Egypt, and is +greatly reverenced and usually much liked. 'These high English have +mercy in their stomachs,' said one of my last year's sailors who came to +kiss my hand--a pleasing fact in natural history! _Fee wahed Lord_, was +little ragged Achmet's announcement of Lord Spencer--'Here's a Lord.' +They are very pleasant people. I heard from Janet to-day of _ice_ at +Cairo and at Shoubra, and famine prices. I cannot attempt Cairo with +meat at 1s. 3d. a pound, and will e'en stay here and grill at Thebes. +Marry-come-up with your Thebes and savagery! What if we _do_ wear ragged +brown shirts? ''Tis manners makyth man,' and we defy you to show better +breeding. + +We are now in the full enjoyment of summer weather; there has been no +cold for fully a fortnight, and I am getting better every day now. My +cough has quite subsided, and the pain in the chest much diminished; if +the heat does not overpower me I feel sure it will be very healing to my +lungs. I sit out on my glorious balcony and drink the air from early +morning till noon, when the sun comes upon it and drives me under cover. +The thermometer has stood at 64 degrees for a fortnight or three weeks, +rising sometimes to 67 degrees, but people in the boats tell me it is +still cold at night on the river. Up here, only a stone's-throw from it, +it is warm all night. I fear the loss of cattle has suspended irrigation +to a fearful extent, and that the harvests of Lower Egypt of all kinds +will be sadly scanty. The disease has not spread above Minieh, or very +slightly; but, of course, cattle will rise in price here also. Already +food is getting dearer here; meat is 4.5 piastres--7d.--the _rotl_ (a +fraction less than a pound), and bread has risen considerably--I should +say corn, for no bakers exist here. I pay a woman to grind and bake my +wheat which I buy, and delicious bread it is. It is impossible to say +how exactly like the early parts of the Bible every act of life is here, +and how totally new it seems when one reads it here. Old Jacob's speech +to Pharaoh really made me laugh (don't be shocked), because it is so +exactly what a fellah says to a Pasha: 'Few and evil have been the days,' +etc. (Jacob being a most prosperous man); but it is manners to say all +that, and I feel quite kindly to Jacob, whom I used to think ungrateful +and discontented; and when I go to Sidi Omar's farm, does he not say, +'Take now fine meal and bake cakes quickly,' and wants to kill a kid? +_Fateereh_ with plenty of butter is what the 'three men' who came to +Abraham ate; and the way that Abraham's chief memlook, acting as Vakeel, +manages Isaac's marriage with Rebekah! All the vulgarized associations +with Puritanism and abominable little 'Scripture tales and pictures' peel +off here, and the inimitably truthful representation of life and +character--not a flattering one certainly--comes out, and it feels like +Homer. Joseph's tears and his love for the brother born of the _same +mother_ is so perfect. Only one sees what a bad inferior race the Beni +Israel were compared to the Beni Ishmael or to the Egyptians. Leviticus +and Deuteronomy are so very heathenish compared to the law of the Koran, +or to the early days of Abraham. Verily the ancient Jews were a foul +nation, judging by the police regulations needful for them. Please don't +make these remarks public, or I shall be burnt with Stanley and Colenso +(unless I suffer Sheykh Yussuf to propose me El-Islam). He and M. de +Rouge were here last evening, and we had an Arabic _soiree_. M. de Rouge +speaks admirably, quite like an Alim, and it was charming to see Sheykh +Yussuf's pretty look of grateful pleasure at finding himself treated like +a gentleman and a scholar by two such eminent Europeans; for I (as a +woman) am quite as surprising as even M. de Rouge's knowledge of +hieroglyphics and Arabic _Fosseeha_. It is very interesting to see +something of Arabs who have read and have the 'gentleman' ideas. His +brother, the Imam, has lost his wife; he was married twenty-two years, +and won't hear of taking another. I was struck with the sympathy he +expressed with the English Sultana, as all the uneducated people say, +'Why doesn't she marry again?' It is curious how refinement brings out +the same feelings under all 'dispensations.' I apologized to Yussuf for +inadvertently returning the _Salaam aleykoum_ (Peace be with thee), which +he said to Omar, and which I, as an unbeliever, could not accept. He +coloured crimson, touched my hand and kissed his own, quite distressed +lest the distinction might wound me. When I think of a young parsonic +prig at home I shudder at the difference. But Yussuf is superstitious; +he told me how someone down the river cured his cattle with water poured +over a _Mushaf_ (a copy of the Koran), and has hinted at writing out a +chapter for me to wear as a _hegab_ (an amulet for my health). He is +interested in the antiquities and in M. de Rouge's work, and is quite up +to the connection between Ancient Egypt and the books of Moses, +exaggerating the importance of _Seyidna Moussa_, of course. + +If I go down to Cairo again I will get letters to some of the Alim there +from Abd-el-Waris, the Imam here, and I shall see what no European but +Lane has seen. I think things have altered since his day, and that men +of that class would be less inaccessible than they were then; and then a +woman who is old (Yussuf guessed me at sixty) and educated does not +shock, and does interest them. All the Europeans here are traders, and +only speak the vulgarest language, and don't care to know Arab gentlemen; +if they see anything above their servants it is only Turks, or Arab +merchants at times. Don't fancy that I can speak at all decently yet, +but I understand a good deal, and stammer out a little. + + + +March 1, 1864: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_March_ 1, 1864. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I think I shall have an opportunity of sending letters in a few days by a +fast steamer, so I will begin one on the chance and send it by post if +the steamer is delayed long. The glory of the climate now is beyond +description, and I feel better every day. I go out early--at seven or +eight o'clock--on my tiny black donkey, and come in to breakfast about +ten, and go out again at four. + +I want to photograph Yussuf for you. The feelings and prejudices and +ideas of a cultivated Arab, as I get at them little by little, are +curious beyond compare. It won't do to generalize from one man, of +course, but even one gives some very new ideas. The most striking thing +is the sweetness and delicacy of feeling--the horror of hurting anyone +(this must be individual, of course: it is too good to be general). I +apologized to him two days ago for inadvertently answering the _Salaam +aleykoum_, which he, of course, said to Omar on coming in. Yesterday +evening he walked in and startled me by a _Salaam aleykee_ addressed to +me; he had evidently been thinking it over whether he ought to say it to +me, and come to the conclusion that it was not wrong. 'Surely it is well +for all the creatures of God to speak peace (_Salaam_) to each other,' +said he. Now, no uneducated Muslim would have arrived at such a +conclusion. Omar would pray, work, lie, do anything for me--sacrifice +money even; but I doubt whether he _could_ utter _Salaam aleykoum_ to any +but a Muslim. I answered as I felt: 'Peace, oh my brother, and God bless +thee!' It was almost as if a Catholic priest had felt impelled by +charity to offer the communion to a heretic. I observed that the story +of the barber was new to him, and asked if he did not know the 'Thousand +and One Nights.' No; he studied only things of religion, no light +amusements were proper for an Alim (elder of religion); _we_ Europeans +did not know that, of course, as _our_ religion was to enjoy ourselves; +but _he_ must not make merry with diversions, or music, or droll stories. +(See the mutual ignorance of all ascetics!) He has a little girl of six +or seven, and teaches her to write and read; no one else, he believes, +thinks of such a thing out of Cairo; there many of the daughters of the +Alim learn--those who desire it. His wife died two years ago, and six +months ago he married again a wife of twelve years old! (Sheykh Yussuf +is thirty he tells me; he looks twenty-two or twenty-three.) What a +stepmother and what a wife! He can repeat the whole Koran without a +book, it takes twelve hours to do it. Has read the Towrat (old +Testament) and the el-Aangeel (Gospels), of course, every Alim reads +them. 'The words of Seyyidna Eesa are the true faith, but Christians +have altered and corrupted their meaning. So we Muslims believe. We are +all the children of God.' I ask if Muslims call themselves so, or only +the slaves of God. ''Tis all one, children or slaves. Does not a good +man care for both tenderly alike?' (Pray observe the Oriental feeling +here. _Slave_ is a term of affection, not contempt; and remember the +Centurion's '_servant_ (slave) whom he loved.') He had heard from Fodl +Pasha how a cow was cured of the prevailing disease in Lower Egypt by +water weighed against a _Mushaf_ (copy of the Koran), and had no doubt it +was true, Fodl Pasha had tried it. Yet he thinks the Arab doctors no use +at all who use verses of the Koran. + +M. de Rouge, the great _Egyptologue_, came here one evening; he speaks +Arabic perfectly, and delighted Sheykh Yussuf, who was much interested in +the translations of the hieroglyphics and anxious to know if he had found +anything about _Moussa_ (Moses) or _Yussuf_ (Joseph). He looked pleased +and grateful to be treated like a 'gentleman and scholar' by such an Alim +as M. de Rouge and such a Sheykhah as myself. As he acts as clerk to +Mustapha, our consular agent, and wears a shabby old brown shirt, or +gown, and speaks no English, I dare say he not seldom encounters great +slights (from sheer ignorance). He produced a bit of old Cufic MS. and +consulted M. de R. as to its meaning--a pretty little bit of flattery in +an Arab Alim to a Frenchman, to which the latter was not insensible, I +saw. In answer to the invariable questions about all my family I once +told him my father had been a great Alim of the Law, and that my mother +had got ready his written books and put some lectures in order to be +printed. He was amazed--first that I had a mother, as he told me he +thought I was fifty or sixty, and immensely delighted at the idea. 'God +has favoured your family with understanding and knowledge; I wish I could +kiss the _Sheykhah_ your mother's hand. May God favour her!' Maurice's +portrait (as usual) he admired fervently, and said one saw his good +qualities in his face--a compliment I could have fully returned, as he +sat looking at the picture with affectionate eyes and praying, _sotto +voce_, for _el gedda_, _el gemeel_ (the youth, the beautiful), in the +words of the _Fathah_, 'O give him guidance and let him not stray into +the paths of the rejected!' Altogether, something in Sheykh Yussuf +reminds me of Worsley: there is the same look of _Seelen reinheit_, with +far less thought and intelligence; indeed little thought, of course, and +an additional childlike innocence. I suppose some medieval monks may +have had the same look, but no Catholic I have ever seen looks so +peaceful or so unpretending. I see in him, like in all people who don't +know what doubt means, that easy familiarity with religion. I hear him +joke with Omar about Ramadan, and even about Omar's assiduous prayers, +and he is a frequent and hearty laugher. I wonder whether this gives you +any idea of a character new to you. It is so impossible to describe +_manner_, which gives so much of the impression of novelty. My +conclusion is the heretical one: that to dream of converting here is +absurd, and, I will add, wrong. All that is wanted is general knowledge +and education, and the religion will clear and develop itself. The +elements are identical with those of Christianity, encumbered, as that +has been, with asceticism and intolerance. On the other hand, the creed +is simple and there are no priests, a decided advantage. I think the +faith has remained wonderfully rational considering the extreme ignorance +of those who hold it. I will add Sally's practical remark, that 'The +prayers are a fine thing for lazy people; they must wash first, and the +prayer is a capital drill.' + +You would be amused to hear Sally when Omar does not wake in time to +wash, pray, and eat before daybreak now in Ramadan. She knocks at his +door and acts as Muezzin. 'Come, Omar, get up and pray and have your +dinner' (the evening meal is 'breakfast,' the early morning one +'dinner'). Being a light sleeper she hears the Muezzin, which Omar often +does not, and passes on the 'Prayers is better than sleep' in a prose +version. Ramadan is a dreadful business; everybody is cross and lazy--no +wonder! The camel-men quarrelled all day under my window yesterday, and +I asked what it was all about. 'All about nothing; it is Ramadan with +them,' said Omar laughing. 'I want to quarrel with someone myself; it is +hot to-day, and thirsty weather.' Moreover, I think it injures the +health of numbers permanently, but of course it is the thing of most +importance in the eyes of the people; there are many who never pray at +ordinary times, but few fail to keep Ramadan. It answers to the Scotch +Sabbath, a comparison also borrowed from Sally. + +_Friday_.--My friend Seleem Effendi has just been here talking about his +own affairs and a good deal of theology. He is an immense talker, and I +just put _eywas_ (yes) and _la_ (no) and _sahe_ (very true), and learn +manners and customs. He tells me he has just bought two black slave +women, mother and daughter, from a Copt for about 35 pounds the two. The +mother is a good cook, and the daughter is 'for his bed,' as his wife +does not like to leave Cairo and her boys at school there. It does give +one a sort of start to hear a most respectable magistrate tell one such a +domestic arrangement. He added that it would not interfere with the +_Sittel Kebeer_ (the great lady), the black girl being only a slave, and +these people never think they have children enough. Moreover, he said he +could not get on with his small pay without women to keep house, which is +quite true here, and women are not respectable in a man's house on other +terms. Seleem has a high reputation, and is said not to 'eat the +people.' He is a hot Mussulman, and held forth very much as a very +superficial Unitarian might do, evidently feeling considerable contempt +for the absurdities, as he thinks them, of the Copts (he was too civil to +say Christians), but no hatred (and he is known to show no partiality), +only he 'can't understand how people can believe such nonsense.' He is a +good specimen of the good, honest, steady-going man-of-the-world Muslim, +a strong contrast to the tender piety of dear Sheykh Yussuf, who has all +the feelings which we call Christian charity in the highest degree, and +whose face is like that of 'the beloved disciple,' but who has no +inclination for doctrinal harangues like worthy Seleem. There is a very +general idea among the Arabs that Christians hate the Muslims; they +attribute to us the old Crusading spirit. It is only lately that Omar +has let us see him at prayer, for fear of being ridiculed, but now he is +sure that is not so, I often find him praying in the room where Sally +sits at work, which is a clean, quiet place. Yussuf went and joined him +there yesterday evening, and prayed with him, and gave him some religious +instruction quite undisturbed by Sally and her needlework, and I am +continually complimented on _not hating_ the Muslims. Yussuf promises me +letters to some Alim in Cairo when I go there again, that I may be shown +the Azhar (the great college). Omar had told him that I refused to go +with a janissary from the Consul for fear of giving offence to any very +strict Muslims, which astonished him much. He says his friends shall +dress me in their women's clothes and take me in. I asked whether as a +concealment of my religion, and he said no, only there were 'thousands' +of young men, and it would be 'more delicate' that they should not stare +and talk about my face. + +Seleem told me a very pretty grammatical quibble about 'son' and +'prophet' (apropos of Christ) on a verse in the Gospel, depending on the +reduplicative sign [Arabic sign for sheddeh] (_sheddeh_) over one letter; +he was just as put out when I reminded him that it was written in Greek, +as our amateur theologians are if you say the Bible was not originally +composed in English. However, I told him that many Christians in +England, Germany, and America did not believe that Seyyidna Eesa was God, +but only the greatest of prophets and teachers, and that I was myself of +that opinion. He at once declared that that was sufficient, that all +such had 'received guidance,' and were not 'among the rejected'; how +could they be, since such Christians only believed the teaching of Eesa, +which was true, and not the falsifications of the priests and bishops +(the bishops always 'catch it,' as schoolboys say). I was curious to +hear whether on the strength of this he would let out any further +intolerance against the Copts, but he said far less and far less bitterly +than I have heard from Unitarians, and debited the usual most +commonplace, common-sense kind of arguments on the subject. I fancy it +would not be very palatable to many Unitarians, to be claimed _mir nichts +dir nichts_ as followers of _el-Islam_; but if people really wish to +convert in the sense of improving, that door is open, and no other. + +_Monday_, 7_th_.--The steamer is come down already and will, I suppose, +go on to-morrow, so I must finish this letter to go by it. I have not +received any letter for some time, and am anxiously expecting the post. +We have now settled into quite warm weather ways, no more going out at +mid-day. It is now broiling, and I have been watching eight tall fine +blacks swimming and capering about, their skins shining like otters' fur +when wet. They belong to a _gellaab_--a slave-dealer's boat. The +beautiful thing is to see the men and boys at work among the green corn, +the men half naked and the boys wholly so; in the sun their brown skins +look just like dark clouded amber--semi-transparent, so fine are they. + +I rejoice to say that on Wednesday is Bairam, and to-morrow Ramadan +'dies.' Omar is very thin and yellow and headachy, and everyone is +cross. How I wish I were going, instead of my letter, to see you all, +but it is evident that this heat is the thing that does me good, if +anything will. + + + +March 7, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_March_ 7, 1864. + +Dearest Alick, + +The real hot weather (speaking after the manner of the English) has +begun, and the fine sun and clear air are delicious and reviving. My +cough fades away, and my strength increases slowly. One can no longer go +out in the middle of the day, and I mount my donkey early and late, with +little Achmet trotting beside me. In the evenings comes my dear Sheykh +Yussuf, and I blunder through an hour's dictation, and reading of the +story of the Barber's fifth brother (he with the basket of glass). I +presume that Yussuf likes me too, for I am constantly greeted with +immense cordiality by graceful men in green turbans, belonging, like him, +to the holy family of Sheykh Abu-'l-Hajjaj. They inquire tenderly after +my health, and pray for me, and hope I am going to stay among them. + +You would be much struck here with the resemblance to Spain, I think. +'Cosas de Espana' is exactly the '_Shogl-el-Arab_,' and Don Fulano is the +Arabic word _foolan_ (such a one), as _Ojala_ is _Inshallah_ (please +God). The music and dancing here, too, are Spanish, only 'more so' and +much more. + +_March_ 10, 1864.--Yesterday was Bairam, and on Tuesday evening everybody +who possessed a gun or a pistol banged away, every drum and taraboukeh +was thumped, and all the children holloaed, _Ramadan Mat_, _Ramadan Mat_ +(Ramadan's dead) about the streets. At daybreak Omar went to the early +prayer, a special ceremony of the day. There were crowds of people, so, +as it was useless to pray and preach in the mosque, Sheykh Yussuf went +out upon a hillock in the burying-ground, where they all prayed and he +preached. Omar reported the sermon to me, as follows (it is all +extempore): First Yussuf pointed to the graves, 'Where are all those +people?' and to the ancient temples, 'Where are those who built them? Do +not strangers from a far country take away their very corpses to wonder +at? What did their splendour avail them? etc., etc. What then, O +Muslims, _will_ avail that you may be happy when that comes which will +come for all? Truly God is just and will defraud no man, and He will +reward you if you do what is right; and that is, to wrong no man, neither +in person, nor in his family, nor in his possessions. _Cease then to +cheat one another, O men_, and to be greedy, and do not think that you +can make amends by afterwards giving alms, or praying, or fasting, or +giving gifts to the servants of the mosque. _Benefits come from God; it +is enough for you if you do no injury to any man, and above all to any +woman or little one_.' Of course it was much longer, but this was the +substance, Omar tells me, and pretty sound morality too, methinks, and +might be preached with advantage to a meeting of philanthropists in +Exeter Hall. There is no predestination in _Islam_, and every man will +be judged upon his actions. 'Even unbelievers God will not defraud,' +says the Koran. Of course, a belief in meritorious works leads to the +same sort of superstition as among Catholics, the endeavour to 'make +one's soul' by alms, fastings, endowments, etc.; therefore Yussuf's +stress upon doing no evil seems to me very remarkable, and really +profound. After the sermon, all the company assembled rushed on him to +kiss his head, and his hands and his feet, and mobbed him so fearfully +that he had to lay about him with the wooden sword which is carried by +the officiating Alim. He came to wish me the customary good wishes soon +after, and looked very hot and tumbled, and laughed heartily about the +awful kissing he had undergone. All the men embrace on meeting on the +festival of Bairam. + +The kitchen is full of cakes (ring-shaped) which my friends have sent me, +just such as we see offered to the gods in the temples and tombs. I went +to call on the Maohn in the evening, and found a lot of people all +dressed in their best. Half were Copts, among them a very pleasing young +priest who carried on a religious discussion with Seleem Effendi, strange +to say, with perfect good-humour on both sides. A Copt came up with his +farm labourer, who had been beaten and the field robbed. The Copt stated +the case in ten words, and the Maohn sent off his cavass with him to +apprehend the accused persons, who were to be tried at sunrise and +beaten, if found guilty, and forced to make good the damage. General Hay +called yesterday--a fine old, blue-eyed soldier. He found a lot of +Fellaheen sitting with me, enjoying coffee and pipes hugely, and they +were much gratified at our pressing them not to move or disturb +themselves, when they all started up in dismay at the entrance of such a +grand-looking Englishman and got off the carpet. So we told them that in +our country the business of a farmer was looked upon as very respectable, +and that the General would ask his farmers to sit and drink wine with +him. '_Mashallah, taib kateer_' (It is the will of God, and most +excellent), said old Omar, my fellah friend, and kissed his hand to +General Hay quite affectionately. We English are certainly liked here. +Seleem said yesterday evening that he had often had to do business with +them, and found them always _doghri_ (straight), men of one word and of +no circumlocutions, 'and so unlike all the other Europeans, and +especially the French!' The fact is that few but decent English come +here, I fancy our scamps go to the colonies, whereas Egypt is the sink +for all the iniquity of the South of Europe. + +A worthy Copt here, one Todorus, took 'a piece of paper' for 20 pounds +for antiquities sold to an Englishman, and after the Englishman was gone, +brought it to me to ask what sort of paper it was, and how he could get +it changed, or was he, perhaps, to keep it till the gentleman sent him +the money? It was a circular note, which I had difficulty in explaining, +but I offered to send it to Cairo to Brigg's and get it cashed; as to +when he would get the money I could not say, as they must wait for a safe +hand to send gold by. I told him to put his name on the back of the +note, and Todorus thought I wanted it _as a receipt_ for the money which +was yet to come, and was going cheerfully to write me a receipt for the +20 pounds he was entrusting to me. Now a Copt is not at all green where +his pocket is concerned, but they will take anything from the English. I +do hope no swindler will find it out. Mr. Close told me that when his +boat sank in the Cataract, and he remained half dressed on the rock, +without a farthing, four men came and offered to lend him anything. While +I was in England last year an Englishman to whom Omar acted as _laquais +de place_ went away owing him 7 pounds for things bought. Omar had money +enough to pay all the tradespeople, and kept it secret for fear any of +the other Europeans should say, 'Shame for the English' and did not even +tell his family. Luckily, the man sent the money by the next mail from +Malta, and the Sheykh of the dragomans proclaimed it, and so Omar got it; +but he would never have mentioned it else. This 'concealing of evil' is +considered very meritorious, and where women are concerned positively a +religious duty. _Le scandale est ce qui fait l'offense_ is very much the +notion in Egypt, and I believe that very forgiving husbands are commoner +here than elsewhere. The whole idea is founded on the verse of the +Koran, incessantly quoted, 'The woman is made for the man, but the man is +made for the woman'; _ergo_, the obligations to chastity are equal; +_ergo_, as the men find it difficult, they argue that the women do the +same. I have never heard a woman's misconduct spoken of without a +hundred excuses; perhaps her husband had slave girls, perhaps he was old +or sick, or she didn't like him, or she couldn't help it. Violent love +comes 'by the visitation of God,' as our juries say; the man or woman +must satisfy it or die. A poor young fellow is now in the muristan (the +madhouse) of Cairo owing to the beauty and sweet tongue of an English +lady whose servant he was. How could he help it? God sent the calamity. + +I often hear of Lady Ellenborough, who is married to the Sheykh-el-Arab +of Palmyra, and lives at Damascus. The Arabs think it inhuman of English +ladies to avoid her. Perhaps she has repented; at all events, she is +married and lives with her husband. I asked Omar if he would tell his +brother if he saw his wife do anything wrong. (N.B.--He can't endure +her.) 'Certainly not, I must cover her with my cloak.' I am told, also, +that among the Arabs of the desert (the _real_ Arabs), when a traveller, +tired and wayworn, seeks their tents, it is the duty of his host, +generally the Sheykh, to send him into the hareem, and leave him there +three days, with full permission to do as he will after the women have +bathed, and rubbed, and refreshed him. But then he must never speak of +that Hareem; they are to him as his own, to be reverenced. If he spoke, +the husband would kill him; but the Arab would never do it for a +European, 'because all Europeans are so hard upon women,' and do not fear +God and conceal their offences. If a dancing-girl repents, the most +respectable man may and does marry her, and no one blames or laughs at +him. I believe all this leads to a good deal of irregularity, but +certainly the feeling is amiable. It is impossible to conceive how +startling it is to a Christian to hear the rules of morality applied with +perfect impartiality to both sexes, and to hear Arabs who know our +manners talk of the English being 'jealous' and 'hard upon their women.' +Any unchastity is wrong and _haram_ (unlawful), but equally so in men and +women. Seleem Effendi talked in this strain, and seemed to incline to +greater indulgence to women on the score of their ignorance and weakness. +Remember, I only speak of Arabs. I believe the Turkish ideas are +different, as is their whole hareem system, and Egypt is not the rule for +all Muslims. + +_Saturday_, 12_th_.--I dined last night with Mustapha, who again had the +dancing-girls for some Englishmen to see. Seleem Effendi got the doctor, +who was of the party, to prescribe for him, and asked me to translate to +him all about his old stomach as coolly as possible. He, as usual, sat +by me on the divan, and during the pause in the dancing called 'el +Maghribeeyeh,' the best dancer, to come and talk. She kissed my hand, +sat on her heels before us, and at once laid aside the professional +_galliardise_ of manner, and talked very nicely in very good Arabic and +with perfect propriety, more like a man than a woman; she seemed very +intelligent. What a thing we should think it for a worshipful magistrate +to call up a girl of that character to talk to a lady! + +Yesterday we had a strange and unpleasant day's business. The evening +before I had my pocket picked in Karnac by two men who hung about me, one +to sell a bird, the other one of the regular 'loafers' who hang about the +ruins to beg, and sell water or curiosities, and who are all a lazy, bad +lot, of course. I went to Seleem, who wrote at once to the Sheykh-el- +Beled of Karnac to say that we should go over next morning at eight +o'clock to investigate the affair, and to desire him to apprehend the +men. Next morning Seleem fetched me, and Mustapha came to represent +English interests, and as we rode out of Luxor the Sheykh-el-Ababdeh +joined us, with four of his tribe with their long guns, and a lot more +with lances. He was a volunteer, and furious at the idea of a lady and a +stranger being robbed. It is the first time it has happened here, and +the desire to beat was so strong that I went to act as counsel for the +prisoner. Everyone was peculiarly savage that it should have happened to +me, a person well known to be so friendly to _el Muslimeen_. When we +arrived we went into a square enclosure, with a sort of cloister on one +side, spread with carpets where we sat, and the wretched fellows were +brought in chains. To my horror, I found they had been beaten already. I +remonstrated, 'What if you had beaten the wrong men?' '_Maleysh_! (Never +mind!) we will beat the whole village until your purse is found.' I said +to Mustapha, 'This won't do; you must stop this.' So Mustapha ordained, +with the concurrence of the Maohn, that the Sheykh-el-Beled and the +_gefiyeh_ (the keeper of the ruins) should pay me the value of the purse. +As the people of Karnac are very troublesome in begging and worrying, I +thought this would be a good lesson to the said Sheykh to keep better +order, and I consented to receive the money, promising to return it and +to give a napoleon over if the purse comes back with its contents (3.5 +napoleons). The Sheykh-el-Ababdeh harangued the people on their +ill-behaviour to Hareemat, called them _haramee_ (rascals), and was very +high and mighty to the Sheykh-el-Beled. Hereupon I went away to visit a +Turkish lady in the village, leaving Mustapha to settle. After I was +gone they beat eight or ten of the boys who had mobbed me, and begged +with the two men. Mustapha, who does not like the stick, stayed to see +that they were not hurt, and so far it will be a good lesson to them. He +also had the two men sent over to the prison here, for fear the Sheykh-el- +Beled should beat them again, and will keep them here for a time. So far +so good, but my fear now is that innocent people will be squeezed to make +up the money, if the men do not give up the purse. I have told Sheykh +Yussuf to keep watch how things go, and if the men persist in the theft +and don't return the purse, I shall give the money to those whom the +Sheykh-el-Beled will assuredly squeeze, or else to the mosque of Karnac. +I cannot pocket it, though I thought it quite right to exact the fine as +a warning to the Karnac _mauvais sujets_. As we went home the Sheykh-el- +Ababdeh (such a fine fellow he looks) came up and rode beside me, and +said, 'I know you are a person of kindness; do not tell this story in +this country. If Effendina (Ismail Pasha) comes to hear, he may "take a +broom and sweep away the village."' I exclaimed in horror, and Mustapha +joined at once in the request, and said, 'Do not tell anyone in Egypt. +The Sheykh-el-Ababdeh is quite true; it might cost many lives.' The +whole thing distressed me horribly. If I had not been there they would +have beaten right and left, and if I had shown any desire to have anyone +punished, evidently they would have half killed the two men. Mustapha +behaved extremely well. He showed sense, decision, and more feelings of +humanity than I at all expected of him. Pray do as I begged you, try to +get him paid. Some of the Consuls in Cairo are barely civil, and old +Mustapha has all the bother and work of the whole of the Nile boats +(eighty-five this winter), and he is boundlessly kind and useful to the +English, and a real protection against cheating, etc. + + + +March 16, 1864: Mr. Tom Taylor + + +_To Mr. Tom Taylor_. +_March_ 16, 1864. + +Dear Tom, + +I cannot tell you how delighted I was to hear that all had gone well with +Laura and your little daughter. _Mashallah_! God bless her! When I +told Omar that a friend 'like my brother,' as Arabs say, had got a baby, +he proposed to illuminate our house and fire off all the pistols in the +premises. Pray give my kind love and best wishes to Laura. + +I am living here a very quiet, dreamy sort of life in hot Thebes, +visiting a little among my neighbours and learning a little Arabic from a +most sweet, gentle young Sheykh who preaches on Fridays in the mosque of +Luxor. I wish I could draw his soft brown face and graceful, +brown-draped figure; but if I could, he is too devout I believe, to +permit it. The police magistrate--el-Maohn--Seleem Effendi, is also a +great friend of mine, and the Kadee is civil, but a little scornful to +heretical Hareem, I think. It is already very hot, and the few remaining +traveller's dahabiehs are now here on their way down the river; after +that I shall not see a white face for many months, except Sally's. + +Sheykh Yussuf laughed so heartily over a print in an illustrated paper, +from a picture of Hilton's, of Rebekah at the well, with the old _Vakeel_ +of Sidi Ibraheem (Abraham's chief servant) _kneeling_ before the girl he +was sent to fetch like an old fool without his turban, and Rebekah and +the other girls in queer fancy dresses, and the camels with snouts like +pigs. 'If the painter could not go to Es-Sham (Syria) to see how the +Arab (Bedaween) really look,' said Sheykh Yussuf, 'why did he not paint a +well in England with girls like English peasants? At least it would have +looked natural to English people, and the _Vakeel_ would not seem so like +a _majnoon_ (a madman) if he had taken off a hat.' I cordially agreed +with Yussuf's art criticism. Fancy pictures of Eastern things are +hopelessly absurd, and fancy poems too. I have got hold of a stray copy +of Victor Hugo's '_Orientales_,' and I think I never laughed more in my +life. + +The corn is now full-sized here, but still green; in twenty days will be +harvest, and I am to go to the harvest-home to a fellah friend of mine in +a village a mile or two off. The crop is said to be unusually fine. Old +Nile always pays back the damage he does when he rises so very high. The +real disaster is the cattle disease, which still goes on, I hear, lower +down. It has not at present spread above Minieh, but the destruction has +been fearful. + +I more and more feel the difficulty of quite understanding a people so +unlike ourselves--the more I know them, I mean. One thing strikes me, +that like children, they are not conscious of the great gulf which +divides educated Europeans from themselves; at least, I believe it is so. +We do not attempt to explain our ideas to them, but I cannot discover any +such reticence in them. I wonder whether this has struck people who can +talk fluently and know them better than I do? I find they appeal to my +sympathy in trouble quite comfortably, and talk of religious and other +feelings apparently as freely as to each other. In many respects they +are more unprejudiced than we are, and very intelligent, and very good in +many ways; and yet they seem so strangely childish, and I fancy I detect +that impression even in Lane's book, though he does not say so. + +If you write to me, dear Tom, please address me care of Briggs and Co., +Cairo. I shall be so glad to hear of you and yours. Janet is going to +England. I wish I were going too, but it is useless to keep trying a +hopeless experiment. At present I am very comfortable in health as long +as I do nothing and the weather is warm. I suffer little pain, only I +feel weak and weary. + +I have extensive practice in the doctoring line; bad eyes, of course, +abound. My love to Watts, and give greetings to any other of my friends. +I grieve over Thackeray much, and more over his girls' lonely sort of +position. + +I think you would enjoy, as I do, the peculiar sort of social equality +which prevails here; it is the exact contrary of French _egalite_. There +are the great and powerful people, much honoured (outwardly, at all +events), but nobody has _inferiors_. A man comes in and kisses my hand, +and sits down _off_ the carpet out of respect; but he smokes his pipe, +drinks his coffee, laughs, talks and asks questions as freely as if he +were an Effendi or I were a fellahah; he is not my inferior, he is my +poor brother. The servants in my friends' houses receive me with +profound demonstrations of respect, and wait at dinner reverently, but +they mix freely in the conversation, and take part in all amusements, +music, dancing-girls, or reading of the Koran. Even the dancing-girl is +not an outcast; she is free to talk to me, and it is highly irreligious +to show any contempt or aversion. The rules of politeness are the same +for all. The passer-by greets the one sitting still, or the one who +comes into a room those who are already there, without distinction of +rank. When I have greeted the men they always rise, but if I pass +without, they take no notice of me. All this is very pleasant and +graceful, though it is connected with much that is evil. The fact that +any man may be a Bey or a Pasha to-morrow is not a good fact, for the +promotion is more likely to fall on a bad slave than on a good or +intelligent free man. Thus, the only honourable class are those who have +nothing to hope from the great--I won't say anything to fear, for all +have cause for that. Hence the high respectability and _gentility_ of +the merchants, who are the most independent of the Government. The +English would be a little surprised at Arab judgments of them; they +admire our veracity and honesty, and like us on the whole, but they blame +the men for their conduct to women. They are shocked at the way +Englishmen talk about Hareem among themselves, and think the English hard +and unkind to their wives, and to women in general. English Hareemat is +generally highly approved, and an Arab thinks himself a happy man if he +can marry an English girl. I have had an offer for Sally from the chief +man here for his son, proposing to allow her a free exercise of her +religion and customs as a matter of course. I think the influence of +foreigners is much more real and much more useful on the Arabs than on +the Turks, though the latter show it more in dress, etc. But all the +engineers and physicians are Arabs, and very good ones, too. Not a Turk +has learnt anything practical, and the dragomans and servants employed by +the English have learnt a strong appreciation of the value of a character +for honesty, deserved or no; but many do deserve it. Compared to the +couriers and _laquais de place_ of Europe, these men stand very high. +Omar has just run in to say a boat is going, so good-bye, and God bless +you. + + + +March 22, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_March_ 22, 1864. + +Dearest Alick, + +I am glad my letters amuse you. Sometimes I think they must breathe the +unutterable dulness of Eastern life: not that it is dull to me, a curious +spectator, but how the men with nothing to do can endure it is a wonder. +I went yesterday to call on a Turk at Karnac; he is a gentlemanly man, +the son of a former Moudir, who was murdered, I believe, for his cruelty +and extortion. He has 1,000 feddans (acres, or a little more) of land, +and lives in a mud house, larger but no better than any fellahs, with two +wives and the brother of one of them. He leaves the farm to his +fellaheen altogether, I fancy. There was one book, a Turkish one; I +could not read the title-page, and he did not tell me what it was. In +short, there was no means of killing time but the narghile, no horse, no +gun, nothing, and yet they did not seem bored. The two women are always +clamorous for my visits, and very noisy and school-girlish, but +apparently excellent friends and very good-natured. The gentleman gave +me a _kufyeh_ (thick head kerchief for the sun), so I took the ladies a +bit of silk I happened to have. You never heard anything like his +raptures over Maurice's portrait, '_Mashallah_, _Mashallah_, _Wallahy zay +el ward_' (It is the will of God, and by God he is like a rose). But I +can't 'cotton to' the Turks. I always feel that they secretly dislike us +European women, though they profess huge admiration and pay _personal_ +compliments, which an Arab very seldom attempts. I heard Seleem Effendi +and Omar discussing English ladies one day lately while I was inside the +curtain with Seleem's slave girl, and they did not know I heard them. +Omar described Janet, and was of the opinion that a man who was married +to her could want nothing more. 'By my soul, she rides like a Bedawee, +she shoots with the gun and pistol, and rows the boat; she speaks many +languages, works with the needle like an Efreet, and to see her hands run +over the teeth of the music-box (keys of piano) amazes the mind, while +her singing gladdens the soul. How then should her husband ever desire +the coffee-shop? _Wallahy_! she can always amuse him at home. And as to +my lady, the thing is not that she does not know. When I feel my stomach +tightened, I go to the divan and say to her, 'Do you want anything, a +pipe, or sherbet, or so and so?' and I talk till she lays down her book +and talks to me, and I question her and amuse my mind, and, by God! if I +were a rich man and could marry one English Hareem like that I would +stand before her and serve her like her memlook. You see I am only this +lady's servant, and I have not once sat in the coffee-shop because of the +sweetness of her tongue. Is it not therefore true that the man who can +marry such Hareem is rich more than with money?' Seleem seemed disposed +to think a little more of looks, though he quite agreed with all Omar's +enthusiasm, and asked if Janet were beautiful. Omar answered with +decorous vagueness that she was a 'moon,' but declined mentioning her +hair, eyes, etc. (it is a liberty to describe a woman minutely). I +nearly laughed out at hearing Omar relate his manoeuvres to make me +'amuse his mind'; it seems I am in no danger of being discharged for +being dull. + +The weather has set in so hot that I have shifted my quarters out of my +fine room to the south-west into one with only three sides looking over a +lovely green view to the north-east, with a huge sort of solid veranda, +as large as the room itself, on the open side; thus I live in the open +air altogether. The bats and the swallows are quite sociable; I hope the +serpents and scorpions will be more reserved. '_El Khamaseen_' (the +fifty) has begun, and the wind is enough to mix up heaven and earth, but +it is not distressing like the Cape south-easter, and, though hot, not +choking like the Khamseen in Cairo and Alexandria. Mohammed brought me a +handful of the new wheat just now. Think of harvest in March and April! +These winds are as good for the crops here as a 'nice steady rain' is in +England. It is not necessary to water so much when the wind blows +strong. As I rode through the green fields along the dyke, a little boy +sang as he turned round on the musically-creaking Sakiah (the water-wheel +turned by an ox) the one eternal Sakiah tune--the words are _ad libitum_, +and my little friend chanted 'Turn oh Sakiah to the right and turn to the +left--who will take care of me if my father dies? Turn oh Sakiah, etc., +pour water for the figs and the grass and for the watermelons. Turn oh +Sakiah!' Nothing is so pathetic as that Sakiah song. + +I passed the house of the Sheykh-el-Ababdeh, who called out to me to take +coffee. The moon was splendid and the scene was lovely. The handsome +black-brown Sheykh in dark robes and white turban, Omar in a graceful +white gown and red turban, and the wild Ababdeh in all manner of dingy +white rags, and with every kind of uncouth weapon, spears, matchlocks, +etc., in every kind of wild and graceful attitude, with their long black +ringlets and bare heads, a few little black-brown children quite naked +and shaped like Cupids. And there we sat and looked so romantic and +talked quite like ladies and gentlemen about the merits of Sakna and +Almas, the two great rival women-singers of Cairo. I think the Sheykh +wished to display his experiences of fashionable life. + +The Copts are now fasting and cross. They fast fifty-five days for Lent; +no meat, fish, eggs, or milk, no exception for Sundays, no food till +after twelve at noon, and no intercourse with the hareem. The only +comfort is lots of arrak, and what a Copt can carry decently is an +unknown quantity; one seldom sees them drunk, but they imbibe awful +quantities. They offer me wine and arrak always, and can't think why I +don't drink it. I believe they suspect my Christianity in consequence of +my preference for Nile water. As to that, though, they scorn all +heretics, _i.e_., all Christians but themselves and the Abyssinians, more +than they do the Muslims, and dislike them more; the procession of the +Holy Ghost question divides us with the Gulf of Jehannum. The gardener +of this house is a Copt, such a nice fellow, and he and Omar chaff one +another about religion with the utmost good humour; indeed they are +seldom touchy with the Moslems. There is a pretty little man called +Michail, a Copt, vakeel to M. Mounier. I wish I could draw him to show a +perfect specimen of the ancient Egyptian race; his blood must be quite +unmixed. He came here yesterday to speak to Ali Bey, the Moudir of +Keneh, who was visiting me (a splendid handsome Turk he is); so little +Michail crept in to mention his business under my protection, and a few +more followed, till Ali Bey got tired of holding a durbar in my divan and +went away to his boat. You see the people think the _courbash_ is not +quite so handy with an English spectator. The other day Mustapha A'gha +got Ali Bey to do a little job for him--to let the people in the Gezeereh +(the island), which is Mustapha's property, work at a canal there instead +of at the canal higher up for the Pasha. Very well, but down comes the +Nazir (the Moudir's _sub_.), and courbashes the whole Gezeereh, not +Mustapha, of course, but the poor _fellaheen_ who were doing his corvee +instead of the Pasha's by the Moudir's order. I went to the Gezeereh and +thought that Moses was at work again and had killed a firstborn in every +house by the crying and wailing, when up came two fellows and showed me +their bloody feet, which their wives were crying over like for a death, +_Shorghl el Mizr_--things of Egypt--like _Cosas de Espana_. + +_Wednesday_.--Last night I bored Sheykh Yussuf with Antara and Abou-Zeyd, +maintaining the greater valour of Antara who slew 10,000 for the love of +Ibla; you know Antara. Yussuf looks down on such profanities, and +replied, 'What are Antara and Abou-Zeyd compared to the combats of our +Lord Moses with Og and other infidels of might, and what is the love of +Antara for Ibla compared to that of our Lord Solomon for Balkees (Queen +of Sheba), or their beauty and attractiveness to that of our Lord +Joseph?' And then he related the combat of _Seyyidna Mousa_ with Og; and +I thought, 'hear O ye Puritans, and give ear O ye Methodists, and learn +how religion and romance are one to those whose manners and ideas are the +manners and ideas of the Bible, and how Moses was not at all a crop-eared +Puritan, but a gallant warrior!' There is the Homeric element in the +religion here, the Prophet is a hero like Achilles, and like him directed +by God--Allah instead of Athene. He fights, prays, teaches, makes love, +and is truly a _man_, not an abstraction; and as to wonderful events, +instead of telling one to 'gulp them down without looking' (as children +are told with a nasty dose, and as we are told about Genesis, etc.) they +believe them and delight in them, and tell them to amuse people. Such a +piece of deep-disguised scepticism as _Credo quia impossibile_ would find +no favour here; 'What is impossible to God?' settles everything. In +short, Mohammed has somehow left the stamp of romance on the religion, or +else it is in the blood of the people, though the Koran is prosy and +'common-sensical' compared to the Old Testament. I used to think Arabs +intensely prosaic till I could understand a little of their language, but +now I can trace the genealogy of Don Quixote straight up to some Sheykh- +el-Arab. + +A fine, handsome woman with a lovely baby came to me the other day. I +played with the baby, and gave it a cotton handkerchief for its head. The +woman came again yesterday to bring me a little milk and some salad as a +present, and to tell my fortune with date stones. I laughed, and so she +contented herself with telling Omar about his family, which he believed +implicitly. She is a clever woman evidently, and a great sibyl here. No +doubt she has faith in her own predictions. She told Mme. Mounier (who +is a Levantine) that she would never have a child, and was forbidden the +house accordingly, and the prophecy has 'come true.' Superstition is +wonderfully infectious here. The fact is that the Arabs are so intensely +impressionable, and so cowardly about inspiring any ill-will, that if a +man looks askance at them it is enough to make them ill, and as +calamities are not infrequent, there is always some mishap ready to be +laid to the charge of somebody's 'eye.' Omar would fain have had me say +nothing about the theft of my purse, for fear the Karnac people should +hate me and give me the eye. A part of the boasting about property, +etc., is politeness, so that one may not be supposed to be envious of +one's neighbours' nice things. My Sakka (water carrier) admired my +bracelet yesterday, as he was watering the verandah floor, and instantly +told me of all the gold necklaces and earrings he had bought for his wife +and daughters, that I might not be uneasy and fear his envious eye. He +is such a good fellow. For two shillings a month he brings up eight or +ten huge skins of water from the river a day, and never begs or +complains, always merry and civil. I shall enlarge his backsheesh. There +are a lot of camels who sleep in the yard under my verandah; they are +pretty and smell nice, but they growl and swear at night abominably. I +wish I could draw you an Egyptian farm-yard, men, women and cattle; but +what no one can draw is the amber light, so brilliant and so soft, not +like the Cape diamond sunshine at all, but equally beautiful, hotter and +less dazzling. There is no glare in Egypt like in the South of France, +and, I suppose, in Italy. + +_Thursday_.--I went yesterday afternoon to the island again to see the +crops, and show Sally my friend farmer Omar's house and Mustapha's +village. Of course we had to eat, and did not come home till the moon +had long risen. Mustapha's brother Abdurachman walked about with us, +such a noble-looking man, tall, spare, dignified and active, grey-bearded +and hard-featured, but as lithe and bright-eyed as a boy, scorning any +conveyance but his own feet, and quite dry while we 'ran down.' He was +like Boaz, the wealthy gentleman peasant--nothing except the Biblical +characters gave any idea of the rich _fellah_. We sat and drank new milk +in a 'lodge in a garden of cucumbers' (the 'lodge' is a neat hut of palm +branches), and saw the moon rise over the mountains and light up +everything like a softer sun. Here you see all colours as well by +moonlight as by day; hence it does not look as brilliant as the Cape +moon, or even as I have seen in Paris, where it throws sharp black +shadows and white light. The night here is a tender, subdued, dreamy +sort of enchanted-looking day. My Turkish acquaintance from Karnac has +just been here; he boasted of his house in Damascus, and invited me to go +with him after the harvest here, also of his beautiful wife in Syria, and +then begged me not to mention her to his wives here. + +It is very hot now; what will it be in June? It is now 86 degrees in my +shady room at noon; it will be hotter at two or three. But the mornings +and evenings are delicious. I am shedding my clothes by degrees; +stockings are unbearable. Meanwhile my cough is almost gone, and the +pain is quite gone. I feel much stronger, too; the horrible feeling of +exhaustion has left me; I suppose I must have salamander blood in my body +to be made lively by such heat. Sally is quite well; she does not seem +at all the worse at present. + +_Saturday_.--This will go to-morrow by some travellers, the last winter +swallows. We went together yesterday to the Tombs of the Kings on the +opposite bank. The mountains were red-hot, and the sun went down into +Amenti all on fire. We met Mr. Dummichen, the German, who is living in +the temple of Dayr el-Bahree, translating inscriptions, and went down +Belzoni's tomb. Mr. Dummichen translated a great many things for us +which were very curious, and I think I was more struck with the beauty of +the drawing of the figures than last year. The face of the Goddess of +the Western shore, Amenti, Athor, or Hecate, is ravishing as she welcomes +the King to her regions; death was never painted so lovely. The road is +a long and most wild one--truly through the valley of the shadow of +death--not an insect nor a bird. Our moonlight ride home was beyond +belief beautiful. The Arabs who followed us were immensely amused at +hearing me interpret between German and English, and at my speaking +Arabic; they asked if I was dragoman of all the languages in the world. +One of them had droll theories about 'Amellica' (America), as they +pronounce it always. Was the King very powerful that the country was +called '_Al Melekeh_' (the Kings)? I said, 'No: all are Kings there: you +would be a King like the rest.' My friend disapproved utterly: 'If all +are Kings they must all be taking away every man the other's money'--a +delightful idea of the kingly vocation. + +When we landed on the opposite shore, I told little Achmet to go back in +the ferry-boat, in which he had brought me over my donkey; a quarter of +an hour after I saw him by my side. The guide asked why he had not gone +as I told him. 'Who would take care of the lady?' the monkey is Rainie's +size. Of course he got tired, and on the way home I told him to jump up +behind me _en croupe_ after the Fellah fashion. I thought the Arabs +would never have done laughing and saying _Wallah_ and _Mashallah_. +Sheykh Yussuf talked about the excavations, and is shocked at the way the +mummies are kicked about. One boy told him they were not Muslims as an +excuse, and he rebuked him severely, and told him it was _haraam_ +(accursed) to do so to the children of Adam. He says they have learned +it very much of Mariette Bey, but I suspect it was always so with the +fellaheen. To-day a tremendous wind is blowing; excellent for the corn. +At Mustapha's farm they are preparing for the harvest, baking bread and +selecting a young bull to be killed for the reapers. It is not hot to- +day; only 84 degrees in a cool room. The dust is horrid with this high +wind; everything is gritty, and it obscures the sun. I am desired to eat +a raw onion every day during the Khamseen for health and prosperity. This +too must be a remnant of ancient Egypt. How I do long to see you and the +children. Sometimes I feel rather down-hearted, but it is no good to say +all that. And I am much better and stronger. I stood a long ride and +some scrambling quite well last evening. + + + +April 6, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_April_ 6, 1864. + +Dearest Alick, + +I received yours of March 10 two days ago; also one from Hekekian Bey, +much advising me to stay here the summer and get my disease 'evaporated.' +Since I last wrote the great heat abated, and we now have 76 to 80 +degrees, with strong north breezes up the river--glorious weather--neither +too hot nor chilly at any time. Last evening I went out to the threshing- +floor to see the stately oxen treading out the corn, and supped there +with Abdurachman on roasted corn, sour cream, and eggs, and saw the +reapers take their wages, each a bundle of wheat according to the work he +had done--the most lovely sight. The graceful, half-naked, brown figures +loaded with sheaves; some had earned so much that their mothers or wives +had to help to carry it, and little fawn-like, stark-naked boys trudged +off, so proud of their little bundles of wheat or of _hummuz_ (a sort of +vetch much eaten both green and roasted). The _sakka_ (water-carrier), +who has brought water for the men, gets a handful from each, and drives +home his donkey with empty waterskins and a heavy load of wheat, and the +barber who has shaved all these brown heads on credit this year past gets +his pay, and everyone is cheerful and happy in their gentle, quiet way; +here is no beer to make men sweaty and noisy and vulgar; the harvest is +the most exquisite pastoral you can conceive. The men work seven hours +in the day (_i.e_., eight, with half-hours to rest and eat), and seven +more during the night; they go home at sunset to dinner, and sleep a bit, +and then to work again--these 'lazy Arabs'! The man who drives the oxen +on the threshing-floor gets a measure and a half for his day and night's +work, of threshed corn, I mean. As soon as the wheat, barley, _addas_ +(lentils) and _hummuz_ are cut, we shall sow _dourrah_ of two kinds, +common maize and Egyptian, and plant sugar-cane, and later cotton. The +people work very hard, but here they eat well, and being paid in corn +they get the advantage of the high price of corn this year. + +I told you how my purse had been stolen and the proceedings thereanent. +Well, Mustapha asked me several times what I wished to be done with the +thief, who spent twenty-one days here in irons. With my absurd English +ideas of justice I refused to interfere at all, and Omar and I had quite +a tiff because he wished me to say, 'Oh, poor man, let him go; I leave +the affair to God.' I thought Omar absurd, but it was I who was wrong. +The authorities concluded that it would oblige me very much if the poor +devil were punished with a 'rigour beyond the law,' and had not Sheykh +Yussuf come and explained the nature of the proceedings, the man would +have been sent up to the mines in Fazogloo _for life_, out of civility to +me, by the Moudir of Keneh, Ali Bey. There was no alternative between my +'forgiving him for the love of God' or sending him to a certain death by +a climate insupportable to these people. Mustapha and Co. tried hard to +prevent Sheykh Yussuf from speaking to me, for fear I should be angry and +complain at Cairo, if my vengeance were not wreaked on the thief, but he +said he knew me better, and brought the _proces verbal_ to show me. Fancy +my dismay! I went to Seleem Effendi and to the Kadee with Sheykh Yussuf, +and begged the man might be let go, and not sent to Keneh at all. Having +settled this, I said that I had thought it right that the people of +Karnac should pay the money I had lost, as a fine for their bad conduct +to strangers, but that I did not require it for the sake of the money, +which I would accordingly give to the poor of Luxor in the mosque and in +the church (great applause from the crowd). I asked how many were +Muslimeen and how many Nazranee, in order to divide the three napoleons +and a half, according to the numbers. Sheykh Yussuf awarded one napoleon +to the church, two to the mosque, and the half to the water-drinking +place--the _Sebeel_--which was also applauded. I then said, 'Shall we +send the money to the bishop?' but a respectable elderly Copt said, +'_Malcysh_! (never mind) better give it all to Sheykh Yussuf; he will +send the bread to the church.' Then the Cadi made me a fine speech, and +said I had behaved like a great _Emeereh_, and one that feared God; and +Sheykh Yussuf said he knew the English had mercy in their stomachs, and +that I especially had Mussulman feelings (as we say, Christian charity). +Did you ever hear of such a state of administration of justice. Of +course, sympathy here, as in Ireland, is mostly with the 'poor man' in +prison--'in trouble,' as we say. I find that accordingly a vast number +of disputes are settled by private arbitration, and Yussuf is constantly +sent for to decide between contending parties, who abide by his decision +rather than go to law; or else five or six respectable men are called +upon to form a sort of amateur jury, and to settle the matter. In +criminal cases, if the prosecutor is powerful, he has it all his own way; +if the prisoner can bribe high, he is apt to get off. All the appealing +to my compassion was quite _en regle_. Another trait of Egypt. + +The other day we found all our water-jars empty and our house +unsprinkled. On enquiry it turned out that the _sakkas_ had all run +away, carrying with them their families and goods, and were gone no one +knew whither, in consequence of some 'persons having authority,' one, a +Turkish _cawass_ (policeman), having forced them to fetch water for +building purposes at so low a price that they could not bear it. My poor +_sakka_ is gone without a whole month's pay--two shillings!--the highest +pay by far given in Luxor. I am interested in another story. I hear +that a plucky woman here has been to Keneh, and threatened the Moudir +that she will go to Cairo and complain to Effendina himself of the unfair +drafting for soldiers--her only son taken, while others have bribed off. +She'll walk in this heat all the way, unless she succeeds in frightening +the Moudir, which, as she is of the more spirited sex in this country, +she may possibly do. You see these Saeedes are a bit less patient than +Lower Egyptians. The _sakkas_ can strike, and a woman can face a Moudir. + +You would be amused at the bazaar here. There is a barber, and on +Tuesdays some beads, calico, and tobacco are sold. The only artizan is--a +jeweller! We spin and weave our own brown woollen garments, and have no +other wants, but gold necklaces and nose and earrings are indispensable. +It is the safest way of hoarding, and happily combines saving with +ostentation. Can you imagine a house without beds, chairs, tables, cups, +glasses, knives--in short, with nothing but an oven, a few pipkins and +water-jars, and a couple of wooden spoons, and some mats to sleep on? And +yet people are happy and quite civilized who live so. An Arab cook, with +his fingers and one cooking-pot, will serve you an excellent dinner quite +miraculously. The simplification of life possible in such a climate is +not conceivable unless one has seen it. The Turkish ladies whom I visit +at Karnac have very little more. They are very fond of me, and always +want me to stay and sleep, but how could I sleep in my clothes on a mat- +divan, poor spoiled European that I am? But they pity and wonder far +more at the absence of my 'master.' I made a bad slip of the tongue and +said 'my husband' before Abdul Rafiah, the master of the house. The +ladies laughed and blushed tremendously, and I felt very awkward, but +they turned the tables on me in a few minutes by some questions they +asked quite coolly. + +I hardly know what I shall have to do. If the heat does not turn out +overpowering, I shall stay here; if I cannot bear it, I must go down the +river. I asked Omar if he could bear a summer here, so dull for a young +man fond of a little coffee-shop and gossip, for that, if he could not, +he might go down for a time and join me again, as I could manage with +some man here. He absolutely cried, kissed my hands, and declared he was +never so happy as with me, and he could not rest if he thought I had not +all I wanted. 'I am your _memlook_, not your servant--your _memlook_.' I +really believe that these people sometimes love their English masters +better than their own people. Omar certainly has shown the greatest +fondness for me on all occasions. + + + +April 7, 1864: Mrs. Ross + + +_To Mrs. Ross_. +LUXOR, +_April_ 7, 1864. + +Dearest Janet, + +I have continued very fairly well. We had great heat ten days ago; now +it is quite cool. Harvesting is going on, and never did I see in any +dream so lovely a sight as the whole process. An acquaintance of mine, +one Abdurachman, is Boaz, and as I sat with him on the threshing-floor +and ate roasted corn, I felt quite puzzled as to whether I were really +alive or only existing in imagination in the Book of Ruth. It is such a +_kief_ that one enjoys under the palm-trees, with such a scene. The +harvest is magnificent here; I never saw such crops. There is no cattle +disease, but a good deal of sickness among the people; I have to practise +very extensively, and often feel very anxious, as I cannot refuse to go +to the poor souls and give them medicine, with sore misgivings all the +while. Fancy that Hekekian Bey can't get me an Arabic dictionary in +Cairo. I must send to London, I suppose, which seems hardly worth while. +I wish you could see my teacher, Sheykh Yussuf. I never before saw a +pious person amiable and good like him. He is intensely devout, and not +at all bigoted--a difficult combination; and, moreover, he is lovely to +behold, and has the prettiest and merriest laugh possible. It is quite +curious to see the mixture of a sort of learning with utter ignorance and +great superstition, and such perfect high-breeding and beauty of +character. It is exactly like associating with St. John. + +I want dreadfully to be able to draw, or to photograph. The group at the +Sheykh-el-Ababdeh's last night was ravishing, all but my ugly hat and +self. The black ringlets and dirty white drapery and obsolete +weapons--the graceful splendid Sheykh 'black but beautiful' like the +Shulamite--I thought of Antar and Abou Zeyd. + +Give my salaam to Mme. Tastu and ask her whether I may stay on here, or +if I go down stream during the heat whether I may return next winter, in +which case I might leave some of my goods. Hekekian strongly advises me +to remain here, and thinks the heat will be good. I will try; 88 degrees +seemed to agree with me wonderfully, my cough is much better. + + + +April 14, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_April_ 14, 1864. + +Dearest Alick, + +I have but this moment received your letter of the 18th March, which went +after Janet, who was hunting at Tel-el-Kebir. We have had a tremendous +Khamseen wind, and now a strong north wind quite fresh and cool. The +thermometer was 92 degrees during the Khamseen, but it did me no harm. +Luckily I am very well for I am worked hard, as a strange epidemic has +broken out, and I am the _Hakeemeh_ (doctress) of Luxor. The _Hakeem_ +Pasha from Cairo came up and frightened the people, telling them it was +catching, and Yussuf forgot his religion so far as to beg me not to be +all day in the people's huts; but Omar and I despised the danger, I +feeling sure it was not infectious, and Omar saying _Min Allah_. The +people get stoppage of the bowels and die in eight days unless they are +physicked; all who have sent for me in time have recovered. +_Alhamdulillah_, that I can help the poor souls. It is harvest, and the +hard work, and the spell of intense heat, and the green corn, beans, +etc., which they eat, brings on the sickness. Then the Copts are fasting +from all animal food, and full of green beans and salad, and green corn. +Mustapha tried to persuade me not to give physick, for fear those who +died should pass for being poisoned, but both Omar and I are sure it is +only to excuse his own selfishness. Omar is an excellent assistant. The +bishop tried to make money by hinting that if I forbade my patients to +fast, I might pay for their indulgence. One poor, peevish little man +refused the chicken-broth, and told me that we Europeans had _our_ heaven +in _this_ world; Omar let out _kelb_ (dog), but I stopped him, and said, +'Oh, my brother, God has made the Christians of England unlike those of +Egypt, and surely will condemn neither of us on that account; mayest thou +find a better heaven hereafter than I now enjoy here.' Omar threw his +arms round me and said, 'Oh, thou good one, surely our Lord will reward +thee for acting thus with the meekness of a Muslimeh, and kissing the +hand of him who strikes thy face.' (See how each religion claims +humility.) Suleyman was not pleased at his fellow-christian's display of +charity. It does seem strange that the Copts of the lower class will not +give us the blessing, or thank God for our health like the Muslimeen. +Most of my patients are Christians, and some are very nice people indeed. +The people here have named me Sittee (Lady) _Noor-ala-Noor_. A poor +woman whose only child, a young man, I was happy enough to cure when +dreadfully ill, kissed my feet and asked by what name to pray for me. I +told her my name meant _Noor_ (light--_lux_), but as that was one of the +names of God I could not use it. 'Thy name is _Noor-ala-Noor_,' said a +man who was in the room. That means something like 'God is upon thy +mind,' or 'light from the light,' and _Noor-ala-Noor_ it remains; a +combination of one of the names of God is quite proper, like Abdallah, +Abdurachman, etc. I begged some medicines from a Countess Braniscki, who +went down the other day; when all is gone I don't know what I shall do. I +am going to try to make castor oil; I don't know how, but I shall try, +and Omar fancies he can manage it. The cattle disease has also broken +out desperately up in Esneh, and we see the dead beasts float down all +day. Of course we shall soon have it here. + +_Sunday_, _April_ 17.--The epidemic seems to be over, but there is still +a great deal of gastric fever, etc., about. The _hakeem_ from Keneh has +just been here--such a pleasing, clever young man, speaking Italian +perfectly, and French extremely well. He is the son of some fellah of +Lower Egypt, sent to study at Pisa, and has not lost the Arab gentility +and elegance by a _Frenghi_ education. We fraternized greatly, and the +young _hakeem_ was delighted at my love for his people, and my high +opinion of their intelligence. He is now gone to inspect the sick, and +is to see me again and give me directions. He was very unhappy that he +could not supply me with medicines; none are to be bought above Cairo, +except from the hospital doctors, who sell the medicines of the +Government, as the Italian at Siout did. But Ali Effendi is too honest +for that. The old bishop paid me a visit of three and a half hours +yesterday, and _pour me tirer une carotte_ he sent me a loaf of sugar, so +I must send a present 'for the church' to be consumed in raki. The old +party was not very sober, and asked for wine. I coolly told him it was +_haraam_ (forbidden) to us to drink during the day--only with our dinner. +I never will give the Christians drink here, and now they have left off +pressing me to drink spirits at their houses. The bishop offered to +alter the hour of prayer for me, and to let me into the _Heykel_ (where +women must not go) on Good Friday, which will be eighteen days hence. All +of which I refused, and said I would go on the roof of the church and +look down through the window with the other _Hareemat_. Omar kissed the +bishop's hand, and I said: 'What! do _you_ kiss his hand like a Copt?' +'Oh yes, he is an old man, and a servant of my God, but dreadful dirty,' +added Omar; and it was too true. His presence diffused a fearful +monastic odour of sanctity. A Bishop must be a monk, as priests are +married. + +_Monday_.--To-day Ali Effendi-_el-Hakeem_ came to tell me how he had been +to try to see my patients and failed; all the families declared they were +well and would not let him in. Such is the deep distrust of everything +to do with the Government. They all waited till he was gone away, and +then came again to me with their ailments. I scolded, and they all said, +'_Wallah, ya Sitt, ya Emeereh_; that is the _Hakeem_ Pasha, and he would +send us off to hospital at Keneh, and then they would poison us; by thy +eyes do not be angry with us, or leave off from having compassion on us +on this account.' I said, 'Ali Effendi is an Arab and a Muslim and an +_Emeer_ (gentleman), and he gave me good advice, and would have given +more,' etc. No use at all. He is the Government doctor, and they had +rather die, and will swallow anything from _el-Sittee Noor-ala-Noor_. +Here is a pretty state of things. + +I gave Sheykh Yussuf 4 pounds for three months' daily lessons last night, +and had quite a contest to force it upon him. 'It is not for money, oh +Lady;' and he coloured crimson. He had been about with Ali Effendi, but +could not get the people to see him. The Copts, I find, _have_ a +religious prejudice against him, and, indeed, against all heretics. They +consider themselves and the Abyssinians as the only true believers. If +they acknowledge _us_ as brethren, it is for money. I speak only of the +low class, and of the priests; of course the educated merchants are very +different. I had two priests and two deacons, and the mother of one, +here to-day for physic for the woman. She was very pretty and pleasing; +miserably reduced and weak from the long fast. I told her she must eat +meat and drink a little wine, and take cold baths, and gave her quinine. +She will take the wine and the quinine, but neither eat nor wash. The +Bishop tells them they will die if they break the fast, and half the +Christians are ill from it. One of the priests spoke a little English; +he fabricates false antiques very cleverly, and is tolerably sharp; but, +Oh _mon Dieu_, it is enough to make one turn Muslim to compare these +greasy rogues with such high-minded charitable _shurafa_ (noblemen) as +Abd-el-Waris and Sheykh Yussuf. A sweet little Copt boy who is very ill +will be killed by the stupid bigotry about the fast. My friend Suleyman +is much put out, and backs my exhortations to the sick to break it. He +is a capital fellow, and very intelligent, and he and Omar are like +brothers; it is the priests who do all they can to keep alive religious +prejudice. _Alhamdulillah_, they are only partially successful. Mohammed +has just heard that seventy-five head of cattle are dead at El-Moutaneh. +Here only a few have died as yet, and Ali Effendi thinks the disease less +virulent than in Lower Egypt. I hope he is right; but dead beasts float +down the river all day long. + +To turn to something more amusing--but please don't tell it--such a joke +against my gray hairs. I have had a proposal, or at least an attempt at +one. A very handsome Sheykh-el-Arab (_Bedawee_) was here for a bit, and +asked Omar whether I were a widow or divorced, as in either case he would +send a _dellaleh_ (marriage brokeress) to me. Omar told him that would +never do. I had a husband in England; besides, I was not young, had a +married daughter, my hair was gray, etc. The Sheykh swore he didn't +care; I could dye my hair and get a divorce; that I was not like stupid +modern women, but like an ancient Arab _Emeereh_, and worthy of Antar or +Abou Zeyd--a woman for whom men killed each other or themselves--and he +would pay all he could afford as my dowry. Omar came in in fits of +laughter at the idea, and the difficulty he had had in stopping the +_dellaleh's_ visit. He told the Sheykh I should certainly beat her I +should be so offended. The disregard of differences of age here on +marriage is very strange. My adorer was not more than thirty, I am sure. +Don't tell people, my dear Alick; it is so very absurd; I should be +'ashamed before the people.' + +_Saturday_, _April_ 23.--_Alhamdulillah_! the sickness is going off. I +have just heard Suleyman's report as follows: Hassan Abou-Achmet kisses +the Emeereh's feet, and the bullets have cleaned his stomach six times, +and he has said the _Fathah_ for the Lady. The two little girls who had +diarrhoea are well. The Christian dyer has vomited his powder and wants +another. The mother of the Christian cook who married the priest's +sister has got dysentery. The hareem of Mustapha Abou-Abeyd has two +children with bad eyes. The Bishop had a quarrel, and scolded and fell +down, and cannot speak or move; I must go to him. The young-deacon's +jaundice is better. The slave girl of Kursheed A'gha is sick, and +Kursheed is sitting at her head in tears; the women say I must go to her, +too. Kursheed is a fine young Turk, and very good to his _Hareemat_. +That is all; Suleyman has nothing on earth to do, and brings me a daily +report; he likes the gossip and the importance. + +The reis of a cargo-boat brought me up your Lafontaine, and some papers +and books from Hekekian Bey. Sheykh Yussuf is going down to Cairo, to +try to get back some of the lands which Mahommed Ali took away from the +mosques and the Ulema without compensation. He asked me whether Ross +would speak for him to Effendina! What are the Muslimeen coming to? As +soon as I can read enough he offers to read in the Koran with me--a most +unusual proceeding, as the 'noble Koran' is not generally put into the +hands of heretics; but my 'charity to the people in sickness' is looked +upon by Abd-el-Waris the Imam, and by Yussuf, as a proof that I have +'received direction,' and am of those Christians of whom _Seyyidna_ +Mohammed (upon whose name be peace) has said 'that they have no pride, +that they rival each other in good works, and that God will increase +their reward.' There is no _arriere pensee_ of conversion that they +think hopeless, but charity covers all sins with Muslimeen. Next Friday +is the _Djuma el-Kebeer_ (Good Friday) with the Copts, and the prayers +are in the daytime, so I shall go to the church. Next moon is the great +Bairam, _el-Eed el-Kebeer_ (the great festival), with the Muslimeen--the +commemoration of the sacrifice of Isaac or Ishmael (commentators are +uncertain which)--and Omar will kill a sheep for the poor for the benefit +of his baby, according to custom. I have at length compassed the +destruction of mine enemy, though he has not written a book. A fanatical +Christian dog (quadruped), belonging to the Coptic family who live on the +opposite side of the yard, hated me with such virulent intensity that, +not content with barking at me all day, he howled at me all night, even +after I had put out the lantern and he could not see me in bed. Sentence +of death has been recorded against him, as he could not be beaten into +toleration. Michail, his master's son, has just come down from +El-Moutaneh, where he is _vakeel_ to M. Mounier. He gives a fearful +account of the sickness there among men and cattle--eight and ten deaths +a day; here we have had only four a day, at the worst, in a population of +(I guess) some 2,000. The Mouniers have put themselves in quarantine, +and allow no one to approach their house, as Mustapha wanted me to do. +One hundred and fifty head of cattle have died at El-Moutaneh; here only +a few calves are dead, but as yet no full-grown beasts, and the people +are healthy again. I really think I did some service by not showing any +fear, and Omar behaved manfully. By-the-by, will you find out whether a +_passaporto_, as they call it, a paper granting British protection, can +be granted in England. It is the object of Omar's highest ambition to +belong as much as possible to the English, and feel safe from being +forced to serve a Turk. If it can be done by any coaxing and jobbing, +pray do it, for Omar deserves any service I can render him in return for +all his devotion and fidelity. Someone tried to put it into his head +that it was _haraam_ to be too fond of us heretics and be faithful, but +he consulted Sheykh Yussuf, who promised him a reward hereafter for good +conduct to me, and who told me of it as a good joke, adding that he was +_raghil ameen_, the highest praise for fidelity, the sobriquet of the +Prophet. Do not be surprised at my lack of conscience in desiring to +benefit my own follower _in qualunque modo_; justice is not of Eastern +growth, and _Europeo_ is 'your only wear,' and here it is only base not +to stick by one's friends. Omar kisses the hands of the _Sidi-el-Kebeer_ +(the great master), and desires his best salaam to the little master and +the little lady, whose servant he is. He asks if I, too, do not kiss +Iskender Bey's hand in my letter, as I ought to do as his Hareem, or +whether 'I make myself big before my master,' like some French ladies he +has seen? I tell him I will do so if Iskender Bey will get him his +_warak_ (paper), whereupon he picks up the hem of my gown and kisses +that, and I civilly expostulate on such condescension to a woman. Yussuf +is quite puzzled about European women, and a little shocked at the want +of respect to their husbands they display. I told him that the outward +respect shown to us by our men was _our veil_, and explained how +superficial the difference was. He fancied that the law gave us the +upper hand. Omar reports yesterday's sermon 'on toleration,' it appears. +Yussuf took the text of 'Thou shalt love thy brother as thyself, and +never act towards him but as thou wouldest he should act towards thee.' I +forget chapter and verse; but it seems he took the bull by the horns and +declared _all men_ to be brothers, not Muslimeen only, and desired his +congregation to look at the good deeds of others and not at their +erroneous faith, for God is all-knowing (_i.e_., He only knows the +heart), and if they saw aught amiss to remember that the best man need +say _Astafer Allah_ (I beg pardon of God) seven times a day. + +I wish the English could know how unpleasant and mischievous their manner +of talking to their servants about religion is. Omar confided to me how +bad it felt to be questioned, and then to see the Englishman laugh or put +up his lip and say nothing. 'I don't want to talk about his religion at +all, but if he talks about mine he ought to speak of his own, too. You, +my Lady, say, when I tell you things, that is the same with us, or that +is different, or good, or not good in your mind, and that is the proper +way, not to look like thinking "all nonsense."' + +ESNEH, +_Saturday_, _April_ 30. + +On Thursday evening as I was dreamily sitting on my divan, who should +walk in but Arthur Taylor, on his way, all alone in a big dahabieh, to +Edfou. So I offered to go too, whereupon he said he would go on to +Assouan and see Philae as he had company, and we went off to Mustapha to +make a bargain with his Reis for it; thus then here we are at Esneh. I +embarked on Wednesday evening, and we have been two days _en route_. +Yesterday we had the thermometer at 110; I was the only person awake all +day in the boat. Omar, after cooking, lay panting at my feet on the +deck. Arthur went fairly to bed in the cabin; ditto Sally. All the crew +slept on the deck. Omar cooked amphibiously, bathing between every meal. +The silence of noon with the _white heat_ glowing on the river which +flowed like liquid tin, and the silent Nubian rough boats floating down +without a ripple, was magnificent and really awful. Not a breath of wind +as we lay under the lofty bank. The Nile is not quite so low, and I see +a very different scene from last year. People think us crazy to go up to +Assouan in May, but I do enjoy it, and I really wanted to forget all the +sickness and sorrow in which I have taken part. When I went to +Mustapha's he said Sheykh Yussuf was ill, and I said 'Then I won't go.' +But Yussuf came in with a sick headache only. Mustapha repeated my words +to him, and never did I see such a lovely expression in a human face as +that with which Yussuf said _Eh, ya Sitt_! Mustapha laughed, and told +him to thank me, and Yussuf turned to me and said, in a low voice, 'my +sister does not need thanks, save from God.' Fancy a Shereef, one of the +Ulema, calling a _Frengeeyeh_ 'sister'! His pretty little girl came in +and played with me, and he offered her to me for Maurice. I cured +Kursheed's Abyssinian slave-girl. You would have laughed to see him +obeying my directions, and wiping his eyes on his gold-embroidered +sleeve. And then the Coptic priest came for me for his wife who was ill. +He was in a great quandary, because, if she died, he, as a priest, could +never marry again, as he loudly lamented before her; but he was truly +grieved, and I was very happy to leave her convalescent. + +Verily we are sorely visited. The dead cattle float down by thousands. +M. Mounier buried a thousand at El-Moutaneh alone, and lost forty men. I +would not have left Luxor, but there were no new cases for four days +before, and the worst had been over for full ten days. Two or three poor +people brought me new bread and vegetables to the boat when they saw me +going, and Yussuf came down and sat with us all the evening, and looked +quite sad. Omar asked him why, and he said it made him think how it +would seem when '_Inshallah_ should be well and should leave my place +empty at Luxor and go back with the blessing of God to my own place and +to my own people.' Whereupon Omar grew quite sentimental too, and nearly +cried. I don't know how Arthur would have managed without us, for he had +come with two Frenchmen who had proper servants and who left the boat at +Girgeh, and he has a wretched little dirty idiotic Coptic tailor as a +servant, who can't even sew on a button. It is becoming quite a calamity +about servants here. Arthur tells me that men, not fit to light Omar's +pipe, asked him 10 pounds a month in Cairo and would not take less, and +he gives his Copt 4 pounds. I really feel as if I were cheating Omar to +let him stay on for 3 pounds; but if I say anything he kisses my hand and +tells me 'not to be cross.' + +I have letters from Yussuf to people at Assouan. If I want anything I am +to call on the Kadee. We have a very excellent boat and a good crew, and +are very comfortable. When the Luxor folk heard the 'son of my uncle' +was come, they thought it must be my husband. I was diverted at Omar's +propriety. He pointed out to Mustapha and Yussuf how _he_ was to sleep +in the cabin between Arthur's and mine, which was considered quite +satisfactory apparently, and it was looked upon as very proper of Omar to +have arranged it so, as he had been sent to put the boat in order. Arthur +has been all along the Suez Canal, and seen a great many curious things. +The Delta must be very unlike Upper Egypt from all he tells me. The +little troop of pilgrims for Mecca left Luxor about ten days ago. It was +a pretty and touching sight. Three camels, five donkeys, and about +thirty men and women, several with babies on their shoulders, all +uttering the _zaghareet_ (cry of joy). They were to walk to Koseir +(eight days' journey with good camels), babies and all. It is the +happiest day of their lives, they say, when they have scraped together +money enough to make the _hajj_. + +This minute a poor man is weeping beside our boat over a pretty heifer +decked with many _hegabs_ (amulets), which have not availed against the +sickness. It is heart-rending to see the poor beasts and their +unfortunate owners. Some dancing girls came to the boat just now for +cigars which Arthur had promised them, and to ask after their friend el +Maghribeeyeh, the good dancer at Luxor, whom they said was very ill. Omar +did not know at all about her, and the girls seemed much distressed. They +were both very pretty, one an Abyssinian. I must leave off to send this +to the post; it will cost a fortune, but you won't grudge it. + + + +May 15, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_May_ 15, 1864, +_Day before Eed-el-Kebir_ +(_Bairam_). + +Dearest Alick, + +We returned to Luxor the evening before last just after dark. The salute +which Omar fired with your old horse-pistols brought down a lot of +people, and there was a chorus of _Alhamdulilah Salaameh ya Sitt_, and +such a kissing of hands, and 'Welcome home to your place' and 'We have +tasted your absence and found it bitter,' etc., etc. Mustapha came with +letters for me, and Yussuf beaming with smiles, and Mahommed with new +bread made of new wheat, and Suleyman with flowers, and little Achmet +rushing in wildly to kiss hands. When the welcome had subsided, Yussuf, +who stayed to tea, told me all the cattle were dead. Mustapha lost +thirty-four, and has three left; and poor farmer Omar lost all--forty +head. The distress in Upper Egypt will now be fearful. Within six weeks +_all_ our cattle are dead. They are threshing the corn with donkeys, and +men are turning the sakiahs (water-wheels) and drawing the ploughs, and +dying by scores of overwork and want of food in many places. The whole +agriculture depended on the oxen, and they are all dead. At El-Moutaneh +and the nine villages round Halim Pasha's estate 24,000 head have died; +four beasts were left when we were there three days ago. + +We spent two days and nights at Philae and _Wallahy_! it was hot. The +basalt rocks which enclose the river all round the island were burning. +Sally and I slept in the Osiris chamber, on the roof of the temple, on +our air-beds. Omar lay across the doorway to guard us, and Arthur and +his Copt, with the well-bred sailor Ramadan, were sent to bivouac on the +Pylon. Ramadan took the hareem under his special and most respectful +charge, and waited on us devotedly, but never raised his eyes to our +faces, or spoke till spoken to. Philae is six or seven miles from +Assouan, and we went on donkeys through the beautiful Shellaleeh (the +village of the cataract), and the noble place of tombs of Assouan. Great +was the amazement of everyone at seeing Europeans so out of season; we +were like swallows in January to them. I could not sleep for the heat in +the room, and threw on an _abbayeh_ (cloak) and went and lay on the +parapet of the temple. What a night! What a lovely view! The stars +gave as much light as the moon in Europe, and all but the cataract was +still as death and glowing hot, and the palm-trees were more graceful and +dreamy than ever. Then Omar woke, and came and sat at my feet, and +rubbed them, and sang a song of a Turkish slave. I said, 'Do not rub my +feet, oh brother--that is not fit for thee' (because it is below the +dignity of a free Muslim altogether to touch shoes or feet), but he sang +in his song, 'The slave of the Turk may be set free by money, but how +shall one be ransomed who has been paid for by kind actions and sweet +words?' Then the day broke deep crimson, and I went down and bathed in +the Nile, and saw the girls on the island opposite in their summer +fashions, consisting of a leathern fringe round their slender +hips--divinely graceful--bearing huge saucer-shaped baskets of corn on +their stately young heads; and I went up and sat at the end of the +colonnade looking up into Ethiopia, and dreamed dreams of 'Him who sleeps +in Philae,' until the great Amun Ra kissed my northern face too hotly, +and drove me into the temple to breakfast, and coffee, and pipes, and +_kief_. And in the evening three little naked Nubians rowed us about for +two or three hours on the glorious river in a boat made of thousands of +bits of wood, each a foot long; and between whiles they jumped overboard +and disappeared, and came up on the other side of the boat. Assouan was +full of Turkish soldiers, who came and took away our donkeys, and stared +at our faces most irreligiously. I did not go on shore at Kom Ombos or +El Kab, only at Edfou, where we spent the day in the temple; and at +Esneh, where we tried to buy sugar, tobacco, etc., and found nothing at +all, though Esneh is a _chef-lieu_, with a Moudir. It is only in winter +that anything is to be got for the travellers. We had to ask the Nazir +in Edfou to _order_ a man to sell us charcoal. People do without sugar, +and smoke green tobacco, and eat beans, etc., etc. Soon we must do +likewise, for our stores are nearly exhausted. + +We stopped at El-Moutaneh, and had a good dinner in the Mouniers' +handsome house, and they gave me a loaf of sugar. Mme. Mounier described +Rachel's stay with them for three months at Luxor, in my house, where +they then lived. She hated it so, that on embarking to leave she turned +back and spat on the ground, and cursed the place inhabited by savages, +where she had been _ennuyee a mort_. Mme. Mounier fully sympathized with +her, and thought no _femme aimable_ could live with Arabs, who are not at +all _galants_. She is Levantine, and, I believe, half Arab herself, but +hates the life here, and hates the Muslims. As I write this I laugh to +think of _galanterie_ and _Arab_ in one sentence, and glance at 'my +brother' Yussuf, who is sleeping on a mat, quite overcome with the Simoom +(which is blowing) and the fast which he is keeping to-day, as the eve of +the _Eed-el-Kebir_ (great festival). This is the coolest place in the +village. The glass is only 95.5 degrees now (eleven a.m.) in the +darkened divan. The Kadee, and the Maohn, and Yussuf came together to +visit me, and when the others left he lay down to sleep. Omar is +sleeping in the passage, and Sally in her room. I alone don't sleep--but +the Simoom is terrible. Arthur runs about all day, sight-seeing and +drawing, and does not suffer at all from the heat. I can't walk now, as +the sand blisters my feet. + +_Tuesday_, _May_ 17.--Yesterday the Simoom was awful, and last night I +slept on the terrace, and was very hot. To-day the north wind sprang up +at noon and revived us, though it is still 102 degrees in my divan. My +old 'great-grandfather' has come in for a pipe and coffee; he was +Belzoni's guide, and his eldest child was born seven days before the +French under Bonaparte marched into Luxor. He is superbly handsome and +erect, and very talkative, but only remembers old times, and takes me for +Mme. Belzoni. He is grandfather to Mahommed, the guard of this house, +and great-grandfather to my little Achmet. His grandsons have married +him to a tidy old woman to take care of him; he calls me 'My lady grand- +daughter,' and Omar he calls 'Mustapha,' and we salute him as +'grandfather.' I wish I could paint him; he is so grand to look at. Old +Mustapha had a son born yesterday--his tenth child. I must go and wish +him joy, after which I will go to Arthur's boat and have a bathe; the +sailors rig me out a capital awning. We had a good boat, and a capital +crew; one man Mahommed, called Alatee (the singer), sang beautifully, to +my great delight, and all were excellent fellows, quiet and obliging; +only his servant was a lazy beast, dirty and conceited--a Copt, spoiled +by an Italian education and Greek associates, thinking himself very grand +because he was a Christian. I wondered at the patience and good-nature +with which Omar did all his work and endured all his insolence. There +was one stupendous row at Assouan, however. The men had rigged out a +sort of tent for me to bathe in over the side of the boat, and Ramadan +caught the Copt trying to peep in, and half strangled him. Omar called +him 'dog,' and asked him if he was an infidel, and Macarius told him I +was a Christian woman, and not _his Hareem_. Omar lost his temper, and +appealed to the old reis and all the sailors, 'O Muslims, ought not I to +cut his throat if he had defiled the noble person of the lady with his +pig's eyes? God forgive me for mentioning her in such a manner.' Then +they all cursed him for a pig and an infidel, and threatened to put him +ashore and leave him for his vile conduct towards noble _Hareem_. Omar +sobbed with passion, saying that I was to him like the 'back of his +mother,' and how 'dare Macarius take my name in his dirty mouth,' etc. +The Copt tried to complain of being beaten afterwards, but I signified to +him that he had better hold his tongue, for that I understood Arabic, +upon which he sneaked off. + + + +May 23, 1864: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_Monday_, _May_ 23, 1864. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I meant to have written to you by Arthur Taylor, who left for Cairo +yesterday morning, but the Simoom made me so stupid that I could hardly +finish a letter to Alick. So I begin one to-day to recount the wonders +of the season here. I went over to Mustapha's island to spend the day in +the tent, or rather the hut, of dourrah-stalks and palm-branches, which +he has erected there for the threshing and winnowing. He had invited me +and 'his worship' the Maohn to a picnic. Only imagine that it _rained_! +all day, a gentle slight rain, but enough to wet all the desert. I +laughed and said I had brought English weather, but the Maohn shook his +head and opined that we were suffering the anger of God. Rain in summer- +time was quite a terror. However, we consoled ourselves, and Mustapha +called a nice little boy to recite the 'noble Koran' for our amusement, +and out of compliment to me he selected the chapter of the family of +Amran (the history of Jesus), and recited it with marvellous readiness +and accuracy. A very pleasant-mannered man of the Shourafa of Gurneh +came and joined us, and was delighted because I sent away a pipe which +Abdurachman brought me (it is highly improper to smoke while the Koran is +being read or recited). He thanked me for the respect, and I told him I +knew he would not smoke in a church, or while I prayed; why should I? It +rather annoys me to find that they always expect from us irreverence to +their religion which they would on no account be guilty of to ours. The +little boy was a _fellah_, the child of my friend Omar, who has lost all +his cattle, but who came as pleasant and smiling as ever to kiss my hand +and wait upon me. After that the Maohn read the second chapter, 'the +Cow,' in a rather nasal, quavering chant. I perceived that no one +present understood any of it, except just a few words here and there--not +much more than I could follow myself from having read the translation. I +think it is not any nearer spoken Arabic than Latin is to Italian. After +this, Mustapha, the Maohn, Omar, Sally and I, sat down round the dinner- +tray, and had a very good dinner of lamb, fowls and vegetables, such as +bahmias and melucheeah, both of the mallow order, and both excellent +cooked with meat; rice, stewed apricots (mish-mish), with nuts and +raisins in it, and cucumbers and water-melons strewed the ground. One +eats all _durcheinander_ with bread and fingers, and a spoon for the +rice, and green limes to squeeze over one's own bits for sauce. We were +very merry, if not very witty, and the Maohn declared, '_Wallahi_! the +English are fortunate in their customs, and in the enjoyment of the +society of learned and excellent _Hareemat_;' and Omar, lying on the +rushes, said: 'This is the happiness of the Arab. Green trees, sweet +water, and a kind face, make the "garden"' (paradise), an Arab saying. +The Maohn joked him as to how a 'child of Cairo' could endure _fellah_ +life. I was looking at the heaps of wheat and thinking of Ruth, when I +started to hear the soft Egyptian lips utter the very words which the +Egyptian girl spake more than a thousand years ago: 'Behold my mother! +where she stays I stay, and where she goes I will go; her family is my +family, and if it pleaseth God, nothing but the Separator of friends +(death) shall divide me from her.' I really could not speak, so I kissed +the top of Omar's turban, Arab fashion, and the Maohn blessed him quite +solemnly, and said: 'God reward thee, my son; thou hast honoured thy lady +greatly before thy people, and she has honoured thee, and ye are an +example of masters and servants, and of kindness and fidelity;' and the +brown labourers who were lounging about said: 'Verily, it is true, and +God be praised for people of excellent conduct.' I never expected to +feel like Naomi, and possibly many English people might only think Omar's +unconscious repetition of Ruth's words rather absurd, but to me they +sounded in perfect harmony with the life and ways of this country and +these people, who are so full of tender and affectionate feelings, when +they have not been crushed out of them. It is not humbug; I have seen +their actions. Because they use grand compliments, Europeans think they +are never sincere, but the compliments are not meant to deceive, they +only profess to be forms. Why do the English talk of the beautiful +sentiment of the Bible and pretend to feel it so much, and when they come +and see the same life before them they ridicule it. + +[Omar, 1864, from a photograph: ill174.jpg] + +_Tuesday_.--We have a family quarrel going on. Mohammed's wife, a girl +of eighteen or so, wanted to go home on Bairam day for her mother to wash +her head and unplait her hair. Mohammed told her not to leave him on +that day, and to send for a woman to do it for her; whereupon she cut off +her hair, and Mohammed, in a passion, told her to 'cover her face' (that +is equivalent to a divorce) and take her baby and go home to her father's +house. Ever since he has been mooning about the yard and in and out of +the kitchen very glum and silent. This morning I went into the kitchen +and found Omar cooking with a little baby in his arms, and giving it +sugar. 'Why what is that?' say I. 'Oh don't say anything. I sent +Achmet to fetch Mohammed's baby, and when he comes here he will see it, +and then in talking I can say so and so, and how the man must be good to +the _Hareem_, and what this poor, small girl do when she big enough to +ask for her father.' In short, Omar wants to exercise his diplomacy in +making up the quarrel. After writing this I heard Mohammed's low, quiet +voice, and Omar's boyish laugh, and then silence, and went to see the +baby and its father. My kitchen was a pretty scene. Mohammed, in his +ample brown robes and white turban, lay asleep on the floor with the +baby's tiny pale face and little eyelids stained with kohl against his +coffee-brown cheek, both fast asleep, baby in her father's arms. Omar +leant against the _fournaise_ in his house-dress, a white shirt open at +the throat and white drawers reaching to the knees, with the red tarboosh +and red and yellow _kufyeh_ (silk handkerchief) round it turban-wise, +contemplating them with his great, soft eyes. The two young men made an +excellent contrast between Upper and Lower Egypt. Mohammed is the true +Arab type--coffee-brown, thin, spare, sharp-featured, elegant hands and +feet, bright glittering small eyes and angular jaw--not a handsome Arab, +but _bien characterise_. Omar, the colour of new boxwood or old ivory, +pale, with eyes like a cow, full lips, full chin and short nose, not the +least negro, but perfectly Egyptian, the eyes wide apart--unlike the +Arab--moustache like a woman's eyebrow, curly brown hair, bad hands and +feet and not well made, but graceful in movement and still more in +countenance, very inferior in beauty to the pure Arab blood which +prevails here, but most sweet in expression. He is a true _Akh-ul-Benat_ +(brother of girls), and truly chivalrous to _Hareem_. How astonished +Europeans would be to hear Omar's real opinion of their conduct to women. +He mentioned some Englishman who had divorced his wife and made her +frailty public. You should have seen him spit on the floor in +abhorrence. Here it is quite blackguard not to forfeit the money and +take all the blame in a divorce. + +_Friday_.--We have had better weather again, easterly wind and pretty +cool, and I am losing the cough and languor which the damp of the Simoom +brought me. Sheykh Yussuf has just come back from Keneh, whither he and +the Kadee went on their donkeys for some law business. He took our +saddle bags at Omar's request, and brought us back a few pounds of sugar +and some rice and tobacco (isn't it like Fielding's novels?). It is two +days' journey, so they slept in the mosque at Koos half way. I told +Yussuf how Suleyman's child has the smallpox and how Mohammed only said +it was _Min Allah_ (from God) when I suggested that his baby should be +vaccinated at once. Yussuf called him in and said: 'Oh man, when thou +wouldst build a house dost thou throw the bricks in a heap on the ground +and say the building thereof is from God, or dost thou use the brains and +hands which God has given thee, and then pray to Him to bless thy work? +In all things do the best of thy understanding and means, and then say +_Min Allah_, for the end is with Him!' There is not a pin to choose in +fatalism here between Muslim and Christian, the lazy, like Mohammed and +Suleyman (one Arab the other Copt), say _Min Allah_ or any form of dawdle +you please; but the true Muslim doctrine is just what Yussuf laid +down--'do all you can and be resigned to whatever be the result.' _Fais +ce que dois advienne qui pourra_ is good doctrine. In fact, I am very +much puzzled to discover the slightest difference between Christian and +Muslim morality or belief--if you exclude certain dogmas--and in fact, +very little is felt here. No one attempts to apply different standards +of morals or of piety to a Muslim and a Copt. East and West is the +difference, not Muslim and Christian. As to that difference I could tell +volumes. Are they worse? Are they better? Both and neither. I am, +perhaps, not quite impartial, because I am _sympathique_ to the Arabs and +they to me, and I am inclined to be 'kind' to their virtues if not +'blind' to their faults, which are visible to the most inexperienced +traveller. You see all our own familiar 'bunkum' (excuse the vulgarity) +falls so flat on their ears, bravado about 'honour,' 'veracity,' etc., +etc., they look blank and bored at. The schoolboy morality as set forth +by Maurice is current here among grown men. Of course we tell lies to +Pashas and Beys, why shouldn't we? But shall I call in that ragged +sailor and give him an order to bring me up 500 pounds in cash from Cairo +when he happens to come? It would not be an unusual proceeding. I sleep +every night in a _makaab_ (sort of verandah) open to all Luxor, and +haven't a door that has a lock. They bother me for backsheesh; but oh +how poor they are, and how rich must be a woman whose very servants drink +sugar to their coffee! and who lives in the _Kasr_ (palace) and is +respectfully visited by Ali Bey--and, come to that, Ali Bey would like a +present even better than the poorest fellah, who also loves to give one. +When I know, as I now do thoroughly, all Omar's complete +integrity--without any sort of mention of it--his self-denial in going +ragged and shabby to save his money for his wife and child (a very great +trial to a good-looking young Arab), and the equally unostentatious love +he has shown to me, and the delicacy and real nobleness of feeling which +come out so oddly in the midst of sayings which, to our ideas, seem very +shabby and time-serving, very often I wonder if there be anything as good +in the civilized West. And as Sally most justly says, 'All their +goodness is quite their own. God knows there is no one to teach anything +but harm!' + +_Tuesday_.--Two poor fellows have just come home from the Suez Canal work +with gastric fever, I think. I hope it won't spread. The wife of one +said to me yesterday, 'Are there more _Sittat_ (ladies) like you in your +village?' 'Wallah,' said I, 'there are many better, and good doctors, +Alhamdullillah!' 'Alhamdullillah,' said she, 'then the poor people don't +want you so much, and by God you must stay here for _we_ can't do without +you, so write to your family to say so, and don't go away and leave us.' + +_Thursday_, _June_ 2,--A steamer has just arrived which will take this +letter, so I can only say good-bye, my dearest Mutter, and God bless you. +I continue very fairly well. The epidemic here is all but over; but my +medical fame has spread so, that the poor souls come twenty miles (from +Koos) for physic. The constant phrase of 'Oh our sister, God hath sent +thee to look to us!' is so sad. _Such_ a little help is a wonder to my +poor fellaheen. It is not so hot as it was I think, except at night, and +I now sleep half the night outside the house. The cattle are all dead; +perhaps five are left in all Luxor. _Allah kereem_! (God is merciful) +said fellah Omar, 'I have one left from fifty-four.' The grain is +unthreshed, and butter three shillings a pound! We get nothing here but +by post; no papers, no nothing. I suppose the high Nile will bring up +boats. Now the river is down at its lowest, and now I really know how +Egyptians live. + + + +June 12, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_Sunday_, _June_ 12, 1864. + +Dearest Alick, + +Three letters have I received from you within a few days, for the post of +the Saeed is not that of the Medes and Persians. I have had an +abominable toothache, which quite floored me, and was aggravated by the +Oriental custom, namely, that all the _beau monde_ of Thebes _would_ come +and sit with me, and suggest remedies, and look into my mouth, and make +quite a business of my tooth. Sheykh Yussuf laid two fingers on my cheek +and recited verses from the Koran, I regret to say with no effect, except +that while his fingers touched me the pain ceased. I find he _is_ +celebrated for soothing headaches and other nervous pains, and I daresay +is an unconscious mesmeriser. The other day our poor Maohn was terrified +by a communication from Ali Bey (Moudir of Keneh) to the effect that he +had heard from Alexandria that someone had reported that the dead cattle +had lain about the streets of Luxor and that the place was pestilential. +The British mind at once suggested a counter-statement, to be signed by +the most respectable inhabitants. So the Cadi drew it up, and came and +read it to me, and took my deposition and witnessed my signature, and the +Maohn went his way rejoicing, in that 'the words of the Englishwoman' +would utterly defeat Ali Bey. The truth was that the worthy Maohn worked +really hard, and superintended the horrible dead cattle business in +person, which is some risk and very unpleasant. To dispose of three or +four hundred dead oxen every day with a limited number of labourers is no +trifle, and if a travelling Englishman smells one a mile off he calls us +'lazy Arabs.' The beasts could not be buried deep enough, but all were +carried a mile off from the village. I wish some of the dilettanti who +stop their noses at us in our trouble had to see or to do what I have +seen and done. + +_June_ 17.--We have had four or five days of such fearful heat with a +Simoom that I have been quite knocked up, and literally could not write. +Besides, I sit in the dark all day, and am now writing so--and at night +go out and sit in the verandah, and can't have candles because of the +insects. I sleep outside till about six a.m., and then go indoors till +dark again. This fortnight is the hottest time. To-day the drop falls +into the Nile at its source, and it will now rise fast and cool the +country. It has risen one cubit, and the water is green; next month it +will be blood colour. My cough has been a little troublesome again, I +suppose from the Simoom. The tooth does not ache now. _Alhamdulillah_! +for I rather dreaded the _muzeyinn_ (barber) with his _tongs_, who is the +sole dentist here. I was amused the other day by the entrance of my +friend the Maohn, attended by Osman Effendi and his cawass and +pipe-bearer, and bearing a saucer in his hand, wearing the look, half +sheepish, half cocky, with which elderly gentlemen in all countries +announce what he did, _i.e_., that his black slave-girl was three months +with child and longed for olives, so the respectable magistrate had +trotted all over the bazaar and to the Greek corn-dealers to buy some, +but for no money were they to be had, so he hoped I might have some and +forgive the request, as I, of course, knew that a man must beg or even +steal for a woman under these circumstances. I called Omar and said, 'I +trust there are olives for the honourable Hareem of Seleem Effendi--they +are needed there.' Omar instantly understood the case, and 'Praise be to +God a few are left; I was about to stuff the pigeons for dinner with +them; how lucky I had not done it.' And then we belaboured Seleem with +compliments. 'Please God the child will be fortunate to thee,' say I. +Omar says, 'Sweeten my mouth, oh Effendim, for did I not tell thee God +would give thee good out of this affair when thou boughtest her?' While +we were thus rejoicing over the possible little mulatto, I thought how +shocked a white Christian gentleman of our Colonies would be at our +conduct to make all this fuss about a black girl--'_he_ give her +sixpence' (under the same circumstances I mean) 'he'd see her d---d +first,' and my heart warmed to the kind old Muslim sinner (?) as he took +his saucer of olives and walked with them openly in his hand along the +street. Now the black girl is free, and can only leave Seleem's house by +her own good will and probably after a time she will marry and he will +pay the expenses. A man can't sell his slave after he has made known +that she is with child by him, and it would be considered unmanly to +detain her if she should wish to go. The child will be added to the +other eight who fill the Maohn's quiver in Cairo and will be exactly as +well looked on and have equal rights if he is as black as a coal. + +A most quaint little half-black boy a year and a half old has taken a +fancy to me and comes and sits for hours gazing at me and then dances to +amuse me. He is Mahommed our guard's son by a jet-black slave of his and +is brown-black and very pretty. He wears a bit of iron wire in one ear +and iron rings round his ankles, and that is all--and when he comes up +little Achmet, who is his uncle, 'makes him fit to be seen' by emptying a +pitcher of water over his head to rinse off the dust in which of course +he has been rolling--that is equivalent to a clean pinafore. You would +want to buy little Said I know, he is so pretty and so jolly. He dances +and sings and jabbers baby Arabic and then sits like a quaint little idol +cross-legged quite still for hours. + +I am now writing in the kitchen, which is the coolest place where there +is any light at all. Omar is diligently spelling words of six letters, +with the wooden spoon in his hand and a cigarette in his mouth, and Sally +is lying on her back on the floor. I won't describe our costume. It is +now two months since I have worn stockings, and I think you would wonder +at the fellaha who 'owns you,' so deep a brown are my face, hands and +feet. One of the sailors in Arthur's boat said: 'See how the sun of the +Arabs loves her; he has kissed her so hotly that she can't go home among +English people.' + +_June_ 18.--I went last night to look at Karnac by moonlight. The giant +columns were overpowering. I never saw anything so solemn. On our way +back we met the Sheykh-el-Beled, who ordered me an escort of ten men +home. Fancy me on my humble donkey, guarded most superfluously by ten +tall fellows, with oh! such spears and venerable matchlocks. At +Mustapha's house we found a party seated before the door, and joined it. +There was a tremendous Sheykh-el-Islam from Tunis, a Maghribee, seated on +a carpet in state receiving homage. I don't think he liked the heretical +woman at all. Even the Maohn did not dare to be as 'politeful' as usual +to me, but took the seat above me, which I had respectfully left vacant +next to the holy man. Mustapha was in a stew, afraid not to do the +respectful to me, and fussing after the Sheykh. Then Yussuf came fresh +from the river, where he had bathed and prayed, and then you saw the real +gentleman. He salaamed the great Sheykh, who motioned to him to sit +before him, but Yussuf quietly came round and sat _below_ me on the mat, +leaned his elbow on my cushion, and made more demonstration of regard for +me than ever, and when I went came and helped me on my donkey. The holy +Sheykh went away to pray, and Mustapha hinted to Yussuf to go with him, +but he only smiled, and did not stir; he had prayed an hour before down +at the Nile. It was as if a poor curate had devoted himself to a rank +papist under the eye of a scowling Shaftesbury Bishop. Then came Osman +Effendi, a young Turk, with a poor devil accused in a distant village of +stealing a letter with money in it addressed to a Greek money-lender. The +discussion was quite general, the man, of course, denying all. But the +Nazir had sent word to beat him. Then Omar burst out, 'What a shame to +beat a poor man on the mere word of a Greek money-lender who eats the +people; the Nazir shouldn't help him.' There was a Greek present who +scowled at Omar, and the Turk gaped at him in horror. Yussuf said, with +his quiet smile, 'My brother, thou art talking English,' with a glance at +me; and we all laughed, and I said, 'Many thanks for the compliment.' All +the village is in good spirits; the Nile is rising fast, and a star of +most fortunate character has made its appearance, so Yussuf tells me, and +portends a good year and an end to our afflictions. I am much better to- +day, and I think I too feel the rising Nile; it puts new life into all +things. The last fortnight or three weeks have been very trying with the +Simoom and intense heat. I suppose I look better for the people here are +for ever praising God about my amended looks. I am too hot, and it is +too dark to write more. + + + +June 26, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_June_ 26, 1864. + +Dearest Alick, + +I have just paid a singular visit to a political _detenu_ or exile +rather. Last night Mustapha came in with a man in great grief who said +his boy was very ill on board a cangia just come from Cairo and going to +Assouan. The watchman on the river-bank had told him that there was an +English Sitt 'who would not turn her face from anyone in trouble' and +advised him to come to me for medicine, so he went to Mustapha and begged +him to bring him to me, and to beg the cawass (policeman) in charge of El- +Bedrawee (who was being sent to Fazoghlou in banishment) to wait a few +hours. The cawass (may he not suffer for his humanity) consented. He +described his boy's symptoms and I gave him a dose of castor oil and said +I would go to the boat in the morning. The poor fellow was a Cairo +merchant but living at Khartoum, he poured out his sorrow in true Eastern +style. 'Oh my boy, and I have none but he, and how shall I come before +his mother, a Habbesheeyeh, oh Lady, and tell her "thy son is dead"?' So +I said, '_Allah kereem ya Seedee_, and _Inshallah tayib_,' etc., etc., +and went this morning early to the boat. It was a regular old Arab +cangia lumbered up with corn, sacks of matting, a live sheep, etc., and +there I found a sweet graceful boy of fifteen or so in a high fever. His +father said he had visited a certain Pasha on the way and evidently meant +that he had been poisoned or had the evil eye. I assured him it was only +the epidemic and asked why he had not sent for the doctor at Keneh. The +old story! He was afraid, 'God knows what a government doctor might do +to the boy.' Then Omar came in and stood before El-Bedrawee and said, +'Oh my master, why do we see thee thus? Mashallah, I once ate of thy +bread when I was of the soldiers of Said Pasha, and I saw thy riches and +thy greatness, and what has God decreed against thee?' So El-Bedrawee +who is (or was) one of the wealthiest men of Lower Egypt and lived at +Tantah, related how Effendina (Ismail Pasha) sent for him to go to Cairo +to the Citadel to transact some business, and how he rode his horse up to +the Citadel and went in, and there the Pasha at once ordered a cawass to +take him down to the Nile and on board a common cargo boat and to go with +him and take him to Fazoghlou. Letters were given to the cawass to +deliver to every Moudir on the way, and another despatched by hand to the +Governor of Fazoghlou with orders concerning El-Bedrawee. He begged +leave to see his son once more before starting, or any of his family. +'No, he must go at once and see no one.' But luckily a fellah, one of +his relations had come after him to Cairo and had 700 pounds in his +girdle; he followed El-Bedrawee to the Citadel and saw him being walked +off by the cawass and followed him to the river and on board the boat and +gave him the 700 pounds which he had in his girdle. The various Moudirs +had been civil to him, and friends in various places had given him +clothes and food. He had not got a chain round his neck or fetters, and +was allowed to go ashore with the cawass, for he had just been to the +tomb of Abou-l-Hajjaj and had told that dead Sheykh all his affliction +and promised, if he came back safe, to come every year to his _moolid_ +(festival) and pay the whole expenses (_i.e_. feed all comers). Mustapha +wanted him to dine with him and me, but the cawass could not allow it, so +Mustapha sent him a fine sheep and some bread, fruit, etc. I made him a +present of some quinine, rhubarb pills, and sulphate of zinc for eye +lotion. Here you know we all go upon a more than English presumption and +believe every prisoner to be innocent and a victim--as he gets no trial +he _never_ can be proved guilty--besides poor old El-Bedrawee declared he +had not the faintest idea what he was accused of or how he had offended +Effendina. + +I listened to all this in extreme amazement, and he said, 'Ah! I know +you English manage things very differently; I have heard all about your +excellent justice.' + +He was a stout, dignified-looking fair man, like a Turk, but talking +broad Lower Egypt fellah talk, so that I could not understand him, and +had to get Mustapha and Omar to repeat his words. His father was an +Arab, and his mother a Circassian slave, which gave the fair skin and +reddish beard. He must be over fifty, fat and not healthy; of course he +is _meant_ to die up in Fazoghlou, especially going at this season. He +owns (or owned, for God knows who has it now) 12,000 feddans of fine land +between Tantah and Samanhoud, and was enormously rich. He consulted me a +great deal about his health, and I gave him certainly very good advice. I +cannot write in a letter which I know you will show what drugs a Turkish +doctor had furnished him with to 'strengthen' him in the trying climate +of Fazoghlou. I wonder was it intended to kill him or only given in +ignorance of the laws of health equal to his own? + +After a while the pretty boy became better and recovered consciousness, +and his poor father, who had been helping me with trembling hands and +swimming eyes, cried for joy, and said, 'By God the most high, if ever I +find any of the English, poor or sick or afflicted up in Fazoghlou, I +will make them know that I Abu Mahommed never saw a face like the pale +face of the English lady bent over my sick boy.' And then El-Bedrawee +and his fellah kinsman, and all the crew blessed me and the Captain, and +the cawass said it was time to sail. So I gave directions and medicine +to Abu Mahommed, and kissed the pretty boy and went out. El-Bedrawee +followed me up the bank, and said he had a request to make--would I pray +for him in his distress. I said, 'I am not of the Muslimeen,' but both +he and Mustapha said, _Maleysh_ (never mind), for that it was quite +certain I was not of the _Mushkireen_, as they hate the Muslimeen and +their deeds are evil--but blessed be God, many of the English begin to +repent of their evil, and to love the Muslims and abound in kind actions. +So we parted in much kindness. It was a strange feeling to me to stand +on the bank and see the queer savage-looking boat glide away up the +stream, bound to such far more savage lands, and to be exchanging kind +farewells quite in a homely manner with such utter 'aliens in blood and +faith.' 'God keep thee Lady, God keep thee Mustapha.' Mustapha and I +walked home very sad about poor El-Bedrawee. + +_Friday_, _July_ 7.--It has been so 'awfully' hot that I have not had +pluck to go on with my letter, or indeed to do anything but lie on a mat +in the passage with a minimum of clothes quite indescribable in English. +_Alhamdulilah_! laughs Omar, 'that I see the clever English people do +just like the lazy Arabs.' The worst is not the positive heat, which has +not been above 104 degrees and as low as 96 degrees at night, but the +horrible storms of hot wind and dust which are apt to come on at night +and prevent one's even lying down till twelve or one o'clock. Thebes is +bad in the height of summer on account of its expanse of desert, and sand +and dust. The Nile is pouring down now gloriously, and _really_ red as +blood--more crimson than a Herefordshire lane--and in the distance the +reflection of the pure blue sky makes it deep violet. It had risen five +cubits a week ago; we shall soon have it all over the land here. It is a +beautiful and inspiriting sight to see the noble old stream as young and +vigorous as ever. No wonder the Egyptians worshipped the Nile: there is +nothing like it. We have had all the plagues of Egypt this year, only +the lice are commuted for bugs, and the frogs for mice; the former have +eaten me and the latter have eaten my clothes. We are so ragged! Omar +has one shirt left, and has to sleep without and wash it every night. The +dust, the drenching perspiration, and the hard-fisted washing of +Mahommed's slave-women destroys everything. + +Mustapha intends to give you a grand _fantasia_ if you come, and to have +the best dancing girls down from Esneh for you; but I am consternated to +hear that you can't come till December. I hoped you would have arrived +in Cairo early in November, and spent a month there with me, and come up +the river in the middle of December when Cairo gets very cold. + +I remain very well in general health, but my cough has been troublesome +again. I do not feel at all like breathing cold damp air again. This +depresses me very much as you may suppose. You will have to divorce me, +and I must marry some respectable Kadee. I have been too 'lazy Arab,' as +Omar calls it, to go on with my Arabic lessons, and Yussuf has been very +busy with law business connected with the land and the crops. Every +harvest brings a fresh settling of the land. Wheat is selling at 1 pound +the ardeb {188} here _on the threshing-floor_, and barley at one hundred +and sixteen piastres; I saw some Nubians pay Mustapha that. He is in +comic perplexity about saying _Alhamdulillah_ about such enormous +gains--you see it is rather awkward for a Muslim to thank God for dear +bread--so he compounds by very lavish almsgiving. He gave all his +fellaheen clothes the other day--forty calico shirts and drawers. Do you +remember my describing an Arab _emancipirtes Fraulein_ at Siout? Well, +the other day I saw as I thought a nice-looking lad of sixteen selling +corn to my opposite neighbour, a Copt. It was a girl. Her father had no +son and is infirm, so she works in the field for him, and dresses and +does like a man. She looked very modest and was quieter in her manner +than the veiled women often are. + +I am so glad to hear such good accounts of my Rainie and Maurice. I can +hardly bear to think of another year without seeing them. However it is +fortunate for me that 'my lines have fallen in pleasant places,' so long +a time at the Cape or any Colony would have become intolerable. Best +love to Janet, I really can't write, it's too hot and dusty. Omar +desires his salaam to his great master and to that gazelle Sittee Ross. + + + +August 13, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_August_ 13, 1864. + +Dearest Alick, + +For the last month we have had a purgatory of hot wind and dust, such as +I never saw--impossible to stir out of the house. So in despair I have +just engaged a return boat--a _Gelegenheit_--and am off to Cairo in a day +or two, where I shall stop till _Inshallah_! you come to me. Can't you +get leave to come at the beginning of November? Do try, that is the +pleasant time in Cairo. + +I am a 'stupid, lazy Arab' now, as Omar says, having lain on a mat in a +dark stone passage for six weeks or so, but my chest is no worse--better +I think, and my health has not suffered at all--only I am stupid and +lazy. I had a pleasant visit lately from a great doctor from Mecca--a +man so learned that he can read the Koran in seven different ways, he is +also a physician of European _Hekmeh_ (learning). Fancy my wonder when a +great Alim in gorgeous Hegazee dress walked in and said: '_Madame, tout +ce qu'on m'a dit de vous fait tellement l'eloge de votre coeur et de +votre esprit que je me suis arrete pour tacher de me procurer le plaisir +de votre connaissance_!' A lot of Luxor people came in to pay their +respects to the great man, and he said to me that he hoped I had not been +molested on account of religion, and if I had I must forgive it, as the +people here were so very ignorant, and _barbarians were bigots +everywhere_. I said, '_Wallahy_, the people of Luxor are my brothers!' +and the Maohn said, 'True, the fellaheen are like oxen, but not such +swine as to insult the religion of a lady who has served God among them +like this one. She risked her life every day.' 'And if she _had_ died,' +said the great theologian, 'her place was made ready among the martyrs of +God, because she showed more love to her brothers than to herself!' + +Now if this was humbug it was said in Arabic before eight or ten people, +by a man of great religious authority. + +Omar was _aux anges_ to hear his Sitt spoken of 'in such a grand way for +the religion.' I believe that a great change is taking place among the +Ulema, that Islam is ceasing to be a mere party flag, just as occurred +with Christianity, and that all the moral part is being more and more +dwelt on. My great Alim also said I had practised the precepts of the +Koran, and then laughed and added, 'I suppose I ought to say the Gospel, +but what matters it, _el Hakh_ (the truth) is one, whether spoken by Our +Lord Jesus or by Our Lord Mahommed!' He asked me to go with him to Mecca +next winter for my health, as it was so hot and dry there. I found he +had fallen in with El-Bedrawee and the Khartoum merchant at Assouan. The +little boy was well again, and I had been outrageously extolled by them. +We are now sending off all the corn. I sat the other evening on +Mustapha's doorstep and saw the Greeks piously and zealously attending to +the divine command to spoil the Egyptians. Eight months ago a Greek +bought up corn at 60 piastres the ardeb (he follows the Coptic +tax-gatherer like a vulture after a crow), now wheat is at 170 piastres +the ardeb here, and the fellah has paid 3.5 _per cent. a month_ besides. +Reckon the profit! Two men I know are quite ruined, and have sold all +they had. The cattle disease forced them to borrow at these ruinous +rates, and now alas, the Nile is sadly lingering in its rise, and people +are very anxious. Poor Egypt! or rather, poor Egyptians! Of course, I +need not say that there is great improvidence in those who can be fleeced +as they are fleeced. Mustapha's household is a pattern of muddling +hospitality, and Mustapha is generous and mean by turns; but what chance +have people like these, so utterly uncivilized and so isolated, against +Europeans of unscrupulous characters. + +I can't write more in the wind and dust. You shall hear again from +Cairo. + + + +October 9, 1864: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +CAIRO, +_October_ 9, 1864. + +Dearest Alick, + +I have not written for a long time because I have had a fever. Now I am +all right again, only weak. If you can come please bring the books in +enclosed list for an American Egyptologist at Luxor--a friend of mine. My +best love to Janet and my other chicks. I wish I could see my Maurice. +Tell Janet that Hassan donkey boy, has married a girl of eleven, and +Phillips that Hassan remembers him quite tenderly and is very proud of +having had his 'face' drawn by him, 'certainly he was of the friends if +not a brother of the Sitt, he so loved the things of the Arabs.' I went +to the Hareem _soiree_ at Hassan's before the wedding--at that event I +was ill. My good doctor was up the river, and Hekekian Bey is in Italy, +so I am very lonely here. The weather is bad, so very damp; I stream +with perspiration more than in June at Luxor, and I don't like +civilization so very much. It keeps me awake at night in the grog shops +and rings horrid bells and fights and quarrels in the street, and +disturbs my Muslim nerves till I utter such epithets as _kelb_ (dog) and +_khanseer_ (pig) against the Frangi, and wish I were in a 'beastly Arab' +quarter. + + + +October 21, 1864: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +CAIRO, +_October_ 21, 1864. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I got your letter yesterday. I hope Alick got mine of two weeks ago +before leaving, and told you I was better. I am still rather weak, +however I ride my donkey and the weather has suddenly become gloriously +dry and cool. I rather shiver with the thermometer at 79 degrees--absurd +is it not, but I got so used to real heat. + +I never wrote about my leaving Luxor or my journey, for our voyage was +quite tempestuous after the three first days and I fell ill as soon as I +was in my house here. I hired the boat for six purses (18 pounds) which +had taken Greeks up to Assouan selling groceries and strong drinks, but +the reis would not bring back their cargo of black slaves to dirty the +boat and picked us up at Luxor. We sailed at daybreak having waited all +one day because it was an unlucky day. + +As I sat in the boat people kept coming to ask whether I was coming back +very anxiously and bringing fresh bread, eggs and things as presents, and +all the quality came to take leave and hope, _Inshallah_, I should soon +'come home to my village safe and bring the Master, please God, to see +them,' and then to say the _Fattah_ for a safe journey and my health. In +the morning the balconies of my house were filled with such a group to +see us sail--a party of wild Abab'deh with their long Arab guns and +flowing hair, a Turk elegantly dressed, Mohammed in his decorous brown +robes and snow-white turban, and several fellaheen. As the boat moved +off the Abab'deh blazed away with their guns and Osman Effendi with a +sort of blunderbuss, and as we dropped down the river there was a general +firing; even Todoros (Theodore), the Coptic Mallim, popped off his +American revolver. Omar keeping up a return with Alick's old horse +pistols which are much admired here on account of the excessive noise +they make. + +Poor old Ismain, who always thought I was Mme. Belzoni and wanted to take +me up to Abou Simbel to meet my husband, was in dire distress that he +could not go with me to Cairo. He declared he was still _shedeed_ +(strong enough to take care of me and to fight). He is ninety-seven and +only remembers fifty or sixty years ago and old wild times--a splendid +old man, handsome and erect. I used to give him coffee and listen to his +old stories which had won his heart. His grandson, the quiet, rather +stately, Mohammed who is guard of the house I lived in, forgot all his +Muslim dignity, broke down in the middle of his set speech and flung +himself down and kissed and hugged my knees and cried. He had got some +notion of impending ill-luck, I found, and was unhappy at our +departure--and the backsheesh failed to console him. Sheykh Yussuf was +to come with me, but a brother of his just wrote word that he was coming +back from the Hejaz where he had been with the troops in which he is +serving his time; I was very sorry to lose his company. Fancy how +dreadfully irregular for one of the Ulema and a heretical woman to travel +together. What would our bishops say to a parson who did such a thing? +We had a lovely time on the river for three days, such moonlight nights, +so soft and lovely; and we had a sailor who was as good as a professional +singer, and who sang religious songs, which I observe excite people here +far more than love songs. One which began 'Remove my sins from before +thy sight Oh God' was really beautiful and touching, and I did not wonder +at the tears which ran down Omar's face. A very pretty profane song was +'Keep the wind from me Oh Lord, I fear it will hurt me' (_wind_ means +_love_, which is like the Simoom) 'Alas! it has struck me and I am sick. +Why do ye bring the physician? Oh physician put back thy medicine in the +canister, for only he who has hurt can cure me.' The masculine pronoun +is always used instead of _she_ in poetry out of decorum--sometimes even +in conversation. + +_October_ 23.--Yesterday I met a Saedee--a friend of the brother of the +Sheykh of the wild Abab'deh, and as we stood handshaking and kissing our +fingers in the road, some of the Anglo-Indian travellers passed and gazed +with fierce disgust; the handsome Hassan, being black, was such a +flagrant case of a 'native.' Mutter dear, it is heart-breaking to see +what we are sending to India now. The mail days are dreaded, we never +know when some outrage may not excite 'Mussulman fanaticism.' The +English tradesmen here complain as much as anyone, and I, who as the +Kadee of Luxor said am 'not outside the family' (of Ishmael, I presume), +hear what the Arabs really think. There are also crowds 'like lice' as +one Mohammed said, of low Italians, French, etc., and I find my stalwart +Hassan's broad shoulders no superfluous _porte-respect_ in the Frangee +quarter. Three times I have been followed and insolently stared at (_a +mon age_)!! and once Hassan had to speak. Fancy how dreadful to Muslims! +I hate the sight of a hat here now. + +I can't write more now my eyes are weak still. Omar begs me to give you +his best salaam and say, _Inshallah_, he will take great care of your +daughter, which he most zealously and tenderly does. + + + +December 23, 1864: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +ON THE NILE, +_Friday_, _December_ 23, 1864. + +Dearest Mutter, + +Here I am again between Benisouef and Minieh, and already better for the +clear air of the river and the tranquil boat life; I will send you my +Christmas Salaam from Siout. While Alick was with me I had as much to do +as I was able and could not write for there was much to see and talk +about. I think he was amused but I fear he felt the Eastern life to be +very poor and comfortless. I have got so used to having nothing that I +had quite forgotten how it would seem to a stranger. + +I am quite sorry to find how many of my letters must have been lost from +Luxor; in future I shall trust the Arab post which certainly is safer +than English travellers. I send you my long plaits by Alick, for I had +my hair cut short as it took to falling out by handfuls after my fever, +and moreover it is more convenient Turkish hareem fashion. + +Please tell Dean Stanley how his old dragoman Mahommed Gazawee cried with +pleasure when he told me he had seen Sheykh Stanley's sister on her way +to India, and the 'little ladies' _knew his name_ and shook hands with +him, which evidently was worth far more than the backsheesh. I wondered +who 'Sheykh' Stanley could be, and Mahommed (who is a darweesh and very +pious) told me he was the _Gassis_ (priest) who was _Imam_ (spiritual +guide) to the son of our Queen, 'and in truth,' said he, 'he is _really_ +a Sheykh and one who teaches the excellent things of religion, why he was +kind even to his horse! and it is of the mercies of God to the English +that such a one is the Imam of your Queen and Prince.' I said laughing, +'How dost thou, a darweesh among Muslims, talk thus of a Nazarene +priest?' 'Truly oh Lady,' he answered, 'one who loveth all the creatures +of God, him God loveth also, there is no doubt of that.' Is any one +bigot enough to deny that Stanley has done more for real religion in the +mind of that Muslim darweesh than if he had baptised a hundred savages +out of one fanatical faith into another? + +There is no hope of a good understanding with Orientals until Western +Christians can bring themselves to recognise the common faith contained +in the two religions, the _real_ difference consists in all the class of +notions and feelings (very important ones, no doubt) which we derive--not +from the Gospels at all--but from Greece and Rome, and which of course +are altogether wanting here. + +Alick will tell you how curiously Omar illustrated the patriarchal +feelings of the East by entirely dethroning me in favour of the 'Master.' +'That _our Master_, we all eat bread from his hand, and he work for +_us_.' Omar and I were equal before _our Seedee_. He can sit at his +ease at my feet, but when the Master comes in he must stand reverently, +and gave me to understand that I too must be respectful. + +I have got the boat of the American Mission at an outrageous price, 60 +pounds, but I could get nothing under; the consolation is that the +sailors profit, poor fellows, and get treble wages. My crew are all +Nubians. Such a handsome reis and steersman--brothers--and there is a +black boy, of fourteen or so, with legs and feet so sweetly beautiful as +to be quite touching--at least I always feel those lovely round young +innocent forms to be somehow affecting. Our old boat of last summer +(Arthur Taylor's) is sailing in company with us, and stately old reis +Mubharak hails me every morning with the Blessing of God and the Peace of +the Prophet. Alee Kuptan, my steamboat captain will announce our advent +at Thebes; he passed us to-day. This boat is a fine sailer, but iron +built and therefore noisy, and not convenient. The crew encourage her +with 'Get along, father of three,' because she has three sails, whereas +two is the usual number. They are active good-humoured fellows--my +men--but lack the Arab courtesy and _simpatico_ ways, and then I don't +understand their language which is pretty and sounds a little like +Caffre, rather bird-like and sing-song, instead of the clattering +guttural Arabic. I now speak pretty tolerably for a stranger, _i.e_. I +can keep up a conversation, and understand all that is said to me much +better than I can speak, and follow about half what people say to each +other. When I see you, _Inshallah_, next summer I shall be a good +scholar, I hope. + + + +January 2, 1865: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_January_ 2, 1865. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I posted a letter for you at Girgeh, as we passed Siout with a good wind, +I hope you will get it. My crew worked as I never saw men work, they +were paid to get to Luxor, and for eighteen days they never rested or +slept day or night, and all the time were merry and pleasant. It shows +what power of endurance these 'lazy Arabs' have when there is good money +at the end of a job, instead of the favourite panacea of 'stick.' + +We arrived at midnight and next morning my boat had the air of being +pillaged. A crowd of laughing, chattering fellows ran off to the house +laden with loose articles snatched up at random, loaves of sugar, pots +and pans, books, cushions, all helter-skelter. I feared breakages, but +all was housed safe and sound. The small boys of an age licensed to +penetrate into the cabin, went off with the oddest cargoes of dressing +things and the like--of backsheesh not one word. _Alhamdulillah +salaameh_! 'Thank God thou art in peace,' and _Ya Sitt, Ya Emeereh_, +till my head went round. Old Ismaeen fairly hugged me and little Achmet +hung close to my side. I went up to Mustapha's house while the unpacking +took place and breakfasted there, and found letters from all of you, from +you to darling Rainie, Sheykh Yussuf was charmed with her big writing and +said he thought the news in that was the best of all. + +The weather was intensely hot the first two days. Now it is heavenly, a +fresh breeze and gorgeous sunshine. I brought two common Arab lanterns +for the tomb of Abu-l-Hajjaj and his _moolid_ is now going on. Omar took +them and lighted them up and told me he found several people who called +on the rest to say the _Fathah_ for me. I was sitting out yesterday with +the people on the sand looking at the men doing _fantasia_ on horseback +for the Sheykh, and a clever dragoman of the party was relating about the +death of a young English girl whom he had served, and so _de fil en +aiguille_ we talked about the strangers buried here and how the bishop +had extorted 100 pounds. I said, '_Maleysh_ (never mind) the people have +been hospitable to me alive and they will not cease if I die, but give me +a tomb among the Arabs.' One old man said, 'May I not see thy day, oh +Lady, and indeed thou shouldest be buried as a daughter of the Arabs, but +we should fear the anger of thy Consul and thy family, but thou knowest +that wherever thou art buried thou wilt assuredly lie in a Muslim grave.' +'How so?' said I. 'Why, when a bad Muslim dies the angels take him out +of his tomb and put in one of the good from among the Christians in his +place.' This is the popular expression of the doctrine that the good are +sure of salvation. Omar chimed in at once, 'Certainly there is no doubt +of it, and I know a story that happened in the days of Mahommed Ali Pasha +which proves it.' We demanded the story and Omar began. 'There was once +a very rich man of the Muslims so stingy that he grudged everybody even +so much as a "bit of the paper inside the date" (Koran). When he was +dying he said to his wife, "Go out and buy me a lump of pressed dates," +and when she had brought it he bade her leave him alone. Thereupon he +took all his gold out of his sash and spread it before him, and rolled it +up two or three pieces at a time in the dates, and swallowed it piece +after piece until only three were left, when his wife came in and saw +what he was doing and snatched them from his hand. Presently after he +fell back and died and was carried out to the burial place and laid in +his tomb. When the Kadee's men came to put the seal on his property and +found no money they said, "Oh woman, how is this? we know thy husband was +a rich man and behold we find no money for his children and slaves or for +thee." So the woman told what had happened, and the Kadee sent for three +other of the Ulema, and they decided that after three days she should go +herself to her husband's tomb and open it, and take the money from his +stomach; meanwhile a guard was put over the tomb to keep away robbers. +After three days therefore the woman went, and the men opened the tomb +and said, "Go in O woman and take thy money." So the woman went down +into the tomb alone. When there, instead of her husband's body she saw a +box (coffin) of the boxes of the Christians, and when she opened it she +saw the body of a young girl, adorned with many ornaments of gold +necklaces, and bracelets, and a diamond _Kurs_ on her head, and over all +a veil of black muslin embroidered with gold. So the woman said within +herself, "Behold I came for money and here it is, I will take it and +conceal this business for fear of the Kadee." So she wrapped the whole +in her _melayeh_ (a blue checked cotton sheet worn as a cloak) and came +out, and the men said "Hast thou done thy business?"' and she answered +"Yes" and returned home. + +'In a few days she gave the veil she had taken from the dead girl to a +broker to sell for her in the bazaar, and the broker went and showed it +to the people and was offered one hundred piastres. Now there sat in one +of the shops of the merchants a great Ma-allim (Coptic clerk) belonging +to the Pasha, and he saw the veil and said, "How much asketh thou?" and +the broker said "Oh thine honour the clerk whatever thou wilt." "Take +from me then five hundred piastres and bring the person that gave thee +the veil to receive the money." So the broker fetched the woman and the +Copt, who was a great man, called the police and said, "Take this woman +and fetch my ass and we will go before the Pasha," and he rode in haste +to the palace weeping and beating his breast, and went before the Pasha +and said, "Behold this veil was buried a few days ago with my daughter +who died unmarried, and I had none but her and I loved her like my eyes +and would not take from her her ornaments, and this veil she worked +herself and was very fond of it, and she was young and beautiful and just +of the age to be married; and behold the Muslims go and rob the tombs of +the Christians and if thou wilt suffer this we Christians will leave +Egypt and go and live in some other country, O Effendina, for we cannot +endure this abomination." + +'Then the Pasha turned to the woman and said, "Woe to thee O woman, art +thou a Muslimeh and doest such wickedness?" And the woman spoke and told +all that had happened and how she sought money and finding gold had kept +it. So the Pasha said, "Wait oh Ma-allim, and we will discover the truth +of this matter," and he sent for the three Ulema who had desired that the +tomb should be opened at the end of three days and told them the case; +and they said, "Open now the tomb of the Christian damsel." And the +Pasha sent his men to do so, and when they opened it behold it was full +of fire, and within it lay the body of the wicked and avaricious +Mussulman.' Thus it was manifest to all that on the night of terror the +angels of God had done this thing, and had laid the innocent girl of the +Christians among those who have received direction, and the evil Muslim +among the rejected. Admire how rapidly legends arise here. This story +which everybody declared was quite true is placed no longer ago than in +Mahommed Ali Pasha's time. + +There are hardly any travellers this year, instead of a hundred and fifty +or more boats, perhaps twenty. A son of one of the Rothschilds, a boy of +fourteen, has just gone up like a royal prince in one of the Pasha's +steamers--all his expenses paid and crowds of attendants. 'All that +honour to the money of the Jew,' said an old fellah to me with a tone of +scorn which I could not but echo in my heart. He has turned out his +dragoman--a respectable elderly man, very sick, and paid him his bare +wages and the munificent sum of 5 pounds to take him back to Cairo. On +board there was a doctor and plenty of servants, and yet he abandons the +man here on Mustapha's hands. I have brought Er-Rasheedee here (the sick +man) as poor Mustapha is already overloaded with strangers. I am sorry +the name of _Yahoodee_ (Jew) should be made to stink yet more in the +nostrils of the Arabs. I am very well, indeed my cough is almost gone +and I can walk quite briskly and enjoy it. I think, dear Mutter, I am +really better. I never felt the cold so little as this winter since my +illness, the chilly mornings and nights don't seem to signify at all now, +and the climate feels more delicious than ever. + +Mr. Herbert, the painter, went back to Cairo from Farshoot below Keneh; +so I have no 'Frangee' society at all. But Sheykh Yussuf and the Kadee +drop in to tea very often and as they are agreeable men I am quite +content with my company. + +Bye the bye I will tell you about the tenure of land in Egypt which +people are always disputing about, as the Kadee laid it down for me. The +_whole_ land belongs to the Sultan of Turkey, the Pasha being his vakeel +(representative), nominally of course as we know. Thus there are no +owners, only tenants paying from one hundred piastres tariff (1 pound) +down to thirty piastres yearly per feddan (about an acre) according to +the quality of the land, or the favour of the Pasha when granting it. +This tenancy is hereditary to children only--not to collaterals or +ascendants--and it may be sold, but in that case application must be made +to the Government. If the owner or tenant dies childless the land +reverts to the Sultan, _i.e_. to the Pasha, and _if the Pasha chooses to +have any man's land he can take it from him on payment--or without_. +Don't let any one tell you that I exaggerate; I have known it happen: I +mean the _without_, and the man received feddan for feddan of desert, in +return for his good land which he had tilled and watered. + +To-morrow night is the great night of Sheykh Abu-l-Hajjaj's _moolid_ and +I am desired to go to the mosque for the benefit of my health, and that +my friends may say a prayer for my children. The kind hearty welcome I +found here has been a real pleasure, and every one was pleased because I +was glad to come home to my _beled_ (town), and they all thought it so +nice of 'my master' to have come so far to see me because I was sick--all +but one Turk, who clearly looked with pitying contempt on so much trouble +taken about a sick old woman. + +I have left my letter for a long while. You will not wonder--for after +some ten days' fever, my poor guest Mohammed Er-Rasheedee died to-day. +Two Prussian doctors gave me help for the last four days, but left last +night. He sank to sleep quietly at noon with his hand in mine, a good +old Muslim sat at his head on one side and I on the other. Omar stood at +his head and his black boy Khayr at his feet. We had laid his face to +the Kibleh and I spoke to him to see if he knew anything and when he +nodded the three Muslims chanted the _Islamee La Illaha_, etc., etc., +while I closed his eyes. The 'respectable men' came in by degrees, took +an inventory of his property which they delivered to me, and washed the +body, and within an hour and a half we all went out to the burial place; +I following among a troop of women who joined us to wail for 'the brother +who had died far from his place.' The scene as we turned in between the +broken colossi and the pylons of the temple to go to the mosque was over- +powering. After the prayer in the mosque we went out to the graveyard, +Muslims and Copts helping to carry the dead, and my Frankish hat in the +midst of the veiled and wailing women; all so familiar and yet so +strange. After the burial the Imam, Sheykh Abd-el-Waris, came and kissed +me on the shoulders and the Shereef, a man of eighty, laid his hands on +my shoulders and said, 'Fear not my daughter, neither all the days of thy +life nor at the hour of thy death, for God is with thee.' I kissed the +old man's hand and turned to go, but numberless men came and said 'A +thousand thanks, O our sister, for what thou hast done for one among us,' +and a great deal more. Now the solemn chanting of the _Fikees_, and the +clear voice of the boy reciting the Koran in the room where the man died +are ringing through the house. They will pass the night in prayer, and +to-morrow there will be the prayer of deliverance in the mosque. Poor +Khayr has just crept in to have a quiet cry--poor boy. He is in the +inventory and to-morrow I must deliver him up to _les autorites_ to be +forwarded to Cairo with the rest of the property. He is very ugly with +his black face wet and swollen, but he kisses my hand and calls me his +mother quite 'natural like'--you see colour is no barrier here. + +The weather is glorious this year, and in spite of some fatigue I am +extremely well and strong, and have hardly any cough at all. I am so +sorry that the young Rothschild was so hard to Er-Rasheedee and that his +French doctor refused to come and see him. It makes bad blood naturally. +However, the German doctors were most kind and helpful. + +The festival of Abu-l-Hajjaj was quite a fine sight, not splendid at +all--_au contraire_--but spirit-stirring; the flags of the Sheykh borne +by his family chanting, and the men tearing about in mimic fight on +horseback with their spears. My acquaintance of last year, +Abd-el-Moutovil, the fanatical Sheykh from Tunis was there. At first he +scowled at me. Then someone told him how Rothschild had left +Er-Rasheedee, and he held forth about the hatred of all the unbelievers +to the Muslims, and ended by asking where the sick man was. A quaint +little smile twinkled in Sheykh Yussuf's soft eyes and he curled his +silky moustache as he said demurely, 'Your Honour must go and visit him +at the house of the English Lady.' I am bound to say that the Pharisee +'executed himself handsomely, for in a few minutes he came up to me and +took my hand and even hoped I would visit the tomb of Abu-l-Hajjaj with +him!! + +Since I wrote last I have been rather poorly--more cough, and most +wearing sleeplessness. A poor young Englishman died here at the house of +the Austrian Consular agent. I was too ill to go to him, but a kind, +dear young Englishwoman, a Mrs. Walker, who was here with her family in a +boat, sat up with him three nights and nursed him like a sister. A young +American lay sick at the same time in the house, he is now gone down to +Cairo, but I doubt whether he will reach it alive. The Englishman was +buried on the first day of Ramadan where they bury strangers, on the site +of a former Coptic church. Archdeacon Moore read the service; Omar and I +spread my old flag over the bier, and Copts and Muslims helped to carry +the poor stranger. It was a most impressive sight. The party of +Europeans, all strangers to the dead but all deeply moved; the group of +black-robed and turbaned Copts; the sailors from the boats; the gaily +dressed dragomans; several brown-shirted fellaheen and the thick crowd of +children--all the little Abab'deh stark naked and all behaving so well, +the expression on their little faces touched me most of all. As Muslims, +Omar and the boatmen laid him down in the grave, and while the English +prayer was read the sun went down in a glorious flood of light over the +distant bend of the Nile. 'Had he a mother, he was young?' said an +Abab'deh woman to me with tears in her eyes and pressing my hand in +sympathy for that far-off mother of such a different race. + +Passenger steamboats come now every fortnight, but I have had no letter +for a month. I have no almanack and have lost count of European time--to- +day is the 3 of Ramadan, that is all I know. The poor black slave was +sent back from Keneh, God knows why--because he had no money and the +Moudir could not 'eat off him' as he could off the money and property--he +believes. He is a capital fellow, and in order to compensate me for what +he eats he proposed to wash for me, and you would be amused to see Khayr +with his coal-black face and filed teeth doing laundry-maid out in the +yard. He fears the family will sell him and hopes he may fetch a good +price for 'his boy'--only on the other hand he would so like me to buy +him--and so his mind is disturbed. Meanwhile the having all my clothes +washed clean is a great luxury. + +The steamer is come and I must finish in haste. I have corrected the +proofs. There is not much to alter, and though I regret several lost +letters I can't replace them. I tried, but it felt like a forgery. Do +you cut out and correct, dearest Mutter, you will do it much better than +I. + + + +January 8, 1865: Dowager Lady Duff Gordon + + +_To the Dowager Lady Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_January_ 8, 1865. + +Dear Old Lady, + +I received your kind letter in the midst of the drumming and piping and +chanting and firing of guns and pistols and scampering of horses which +constitute a religious festival in Egypt. The last day of the _moolid_ +of Abu-l-Hajjaj fell on the 1st January so you came to wish me 'May all +the year be good to thee' as the people here were civil enough to do when +I told them it was the first day of the _Frankish_ year. (The +_Christian_ year here begins in September.) + +I was very sorry to hear of poor Lady Theresa's (Lady Theresa Lewis) +death. I feel as if I had no right to survive people whom I left well +and strong when I came away so ill. As usual the air of Upper Egypt has +revived me again, but I am still weak and thin, and hear many +lamentations at my altered looks. However, '_Inshallah_, thou wilt soon +be better.' + +Why don't you make Alexander edit your letters from Spain? I am sure +they would be far more amusing than mine can possibly be--for you _can_ +write letters and I never could. I wish I had Miss Berry's though I +never did think her such a genius as most people, but her letters must be +amusing from the time when they were written. Alexander will tell you +how heavy the hand of Pharaoh is upon this poor people. 'My father +scourged you with whips but I will scourge you with scorpions,' did not +Rehoboam say so? or I forget which King of Judah. The distress here is +frightful in all classes, and no man's life is safe. + +Ali Bey Rheda told me the other day that Prince Arthur is coming here and +that he was coming up with him after taking a Prince of Hohenzollern back +to Cairo. There will be all the _fantasia_ possible for him here. Every +man that has a horse will gallop him to pieces in honour of the son of +the Queen of the English, and not a charge of powder will be spared. If +you see Layard tell him that Mustapha A'gha had the whole Koran read for +his benefit at the tomb of Abu-l-Hajjaj besides innumerable _fathahs_ +which he said for him himself. He consulted me as to the propriety of +sending Layard a backsheesh, but I declared that Layard was an Emeer of +the Arabs and a giver, not a taker of backsheesh. + + + +January 9, 1865: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_January_ 9, 1865. + +I gave Sheykh Yussuf your knife to cut his _kalem_ (reed pen) with, and +to his little girl the coral waistband clasp you gave me _as from you_. +He was much pleased. I also brought the Shereef the psalms in Arabic to +his great delight. The old man called on all 'our family' to say a +_fathah_ for their sister, after making us all laugh by shouting out +'_Alhamdulillah_! here is our darling safe back again.' + +I wish you could have seen me in the crowd at Keneh holding on to the +Kadee's _farageeyeh_ (a loose robe worn by the Ulema). He is the real +original Kadee of the Thousand and One Nights. Did ever Kadee tow an +Englishwoman round a Sheykh's tomb before? but I thought his +determination to show the people that he considered a Christian not out +of place in a Muslim holy place very edifying. + +I find an exceedingly pleasant man here, an Abab'deh, a very great Sheykh +from beyond Khartoum, a man of fifty I suppose, with manners like an +English nobleman, simple and polite and very intelligent. He wants to +take me to Khartoum for two months up and back, having a tent and a +_takhterawan_ (camel-litter) and to show me the Bishareen in the desert. +We traced the route on my map which to my surprise he understood, and I +found he had travelled into Zanzibar and knew of the existence of the +Cape of Good Hope and the English colony there. He had also travelled in +the Dinka and Shurook country where the men are seven feet and over high +(Alexander saw a Dinka girl at Cairo three inches taller than himself!). +He knows Madlle. Tine and says she is 'on everyone's head and in their +eyes' where she has been. You may fancy that I find Sheykh Alee very +good company. + +To-day the sand in front of the house is thronged with all the poor +people with their camels, of which the Government has made a new levy of +eight camels to every thousand feddans. The poor beasts are sent off to +transport troops in the Soudan, and not being used to the desert, they +all die--at all events their owners never see one of them again. The +discontent is growing stronger every day. Last week the people were +cursing the Pasha in the streets of Assouan, and every one talks aloud of +what they think. + +_January_ 11.--The whole place is in desolation, the men are being +beaten, one because his camel is not good enough, another because its +saddle is old and shabby, and the rest because they have not money enough +to pay two months' food and the wages of one man, to every four camels, +to be paid for the use of the Government beforehand. The _courbash_ has +been going on my neighbours' backs and feet all the morning. It is a new +sensation too when a friend turns up his sleeve and shows the marks of +the wooden handcuffs and the gall of the chain on his throat. The system +of wholesale extortion and spoliation has reached a point beyond which it +would be difficult to go. The story of Naboth's vineyard is repeated +daily on the largest scale. I grieve for Abdallah-el-Habbashee and men +of high position like him, sent to die by disease (or murder), in +Fazoghou, but I grieve still more over the daily anguish of the poor +fellaheen, who are forced to take the bread from the mouths of their +starving families and to eat it while toiling for the private profit of +one man. Egypt is one vast 'plantation' where the master works his +slaves without even feeding them. From my window now I see the men +limping about among the poor camels that are waiting for the Pasha's +boats to take them, and the great heaps of maize which they are forced to +bring for their food. I can tell you the tears such a sight brings to +one's eyes are hot and bitter. These are no sentimental grievances; +hunger, and pain, and labour without hope and without reward, and the +constant bitterness of impotent resentment. To you all this must sound +remote and almost fabulous. But try to imagine Farmer Smith's team +driven off by the police and himself beaten till he delivered his hay, +his oats and his farm-servant for the use of the Lord Lieutenant, and his +two sons dragged in chains to work at railway embankments--and you will +have some idea of my state of mind to-day. I fancy from the number of +troops going up to Assouan that there is another rising among the blacks. +Some of the black regiments revolted up in the Soudan last summer, and +now I hear Shaheen Pasha is to be here in a day or two on his way up, and +the camels are being sent off by hundreds from all the villages every +day. But I am weary of telling, and you will sicken of hearing my +constant lamentations. + +Sheykh Hassan dropped in and dined with me yesterday and described his +mother and her high-handed rule over him. It seems he had a 'jeunesse +orageuse' and she defended him against his father's displeasure, but when +the old Sheykh died she informed her son that if he ever again behaved in +a manner unworthy of a Sheykh-el-Arab she would not live to see it. 'Now +if my mother told me to jump into the river and drown I should say +_hader_ (ready), for I fear her exceedingly and love her above all people +in the world, and have left everything in her hand.' He was good enough +to tell me that I was the only woman he knew like his mother and that was +why he loved me so much. I am to visit this Arab Deborah at the Abab'deh +village two days ride from the first Cataract. She will come and meet me +at the boat. Hassan was splendid when he said how he feared his mother +exceedingly. + +To my amazement to-day in walked the tremendous Alim from Tunis, Sheykh +Abd-el-Moutovil, who used to look so black at me. He was very civil and +pleasant and asked no end of questions about steam engines, and +telegraphs and chemistry; especially whether it was true that the +Europeans still fancied they could make gold. I said that no one had +believed that for nearly two hundred years, and he said that the Arabs +also knew it was 'a lie,' and he wondered to hear that Europeans, who +were so clever, believed it. He had just been across the Nile to see the +tombs of the Kings and of course 'improved the occasion' and uttered a +number of the usual fine sayings about the vanity of human things. He +told me I was the only Frank he had ever spoken to. I observed he did +not say a word about religion, or use the usual pious phrases. By the +bye, Sheykh Yussuf filled up my inkstand for me the other evening and in +pouring the ink said 'Bismillah el-Rachman el-Racheem' (In the name of +God, the merciful, the compassionate). I said 'I like that custom, it is +good to remind us that ink may be a cruel poison or a good medicine.' + +I am better, and have hardly any cough. The people here think it is +owing to the intercession of Abu-l-Hajjaj who specially protects me. I +was obliged to be wrapped in the green silk cover of his tomb when it was +taken off to be carried in procession, partly for my health and general +welfare, and as a sort of adoption into the family. I made a feeble +resistance on the score of being a Nazraneeyeh but was told 'Never fear, +does not God know thee and the Sheykh also? no evil will come to thee on +that account but good.' And I rather think that general goodwill and +kindness is wholesome. + + + +February 7, 1865: Miss Austin + + +_To Miss Austin_. +LUXOR, +_February_ 7, 1865. + +My Dearest Charley, + +I am tolerably well, but I am growing very homesick--or rather children- +sick. As the time slips on I get more and more the feeling of all I am +losing of my children. We have delicious weather here and have had all +the time; there has been no cold at all this winter here. + +M. Prevost Paradol is here for a few days--a very pleasant man indeed, +and a little good European talk is a very agreeable interlude to the Arab +prosiness, or rather _enfantillage_, on the part of the women. I have +sought about for shells and a few have been brought me from the Cataract, +but of snails I can learn no tidings nor have I ever seen one, neither +can I discover that there are any shells in the Nile mud. At the first +Cataract they are found sticking to the rocks. The people here are very +stupid about natural objects that are of no use to them. Like with the +French small birds are all sparrows, and wild flowers there are none, and +only about five varieties of trees in all Egypt. + +This is a sad year--all the cattle are dead, the Nile is now as low as it +was last July, and the song of the men watering with the _shadoofs_ +sounds sadly true as they chant _Ana ga-ahn_, etc. 'I am hungry, I am +hungry for a piece of dourrah bread,' sings one, and the other chimes in, +_Meskeen_, _meskeen_ 'Poor man, poor man,' or else they sing a song about +Seyyidna Iyoob 'Our master Job' and his patience. It is sadly +appropriate now and rings on all sides as the _shadoofs_ are greatly +multiplied for lack of oxen to turn the _sakiahs_ (waterwheels). All is +terribly dear, and many are sick from sheer weakness owing to poor food; +and then I hear fifty thousand are to be taken to work at the canal from +Geezeh to Siout through the Fayoum. The only comfort is the enormous +rise of wages, which however falls heavy on the rich. The sailors who +got forty to fifty piastres five years ago now get three to five hundred +piastres a month. So I fear I must give up my project of a dahabieh. If +the new French Consul-General 'knows not Joseph' and turns me out, I am +to live in a new house which Sheykh Yussuf is now building and of which +he would give me the terrace and build three rooms on it for me. I wish +I got better or worse, and could go home. I do get better, but _so_ +slowly, I cough a good deal at times, and I am very thin, but not so weak +as I was or so breathless. + + + +February 7, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_February_ 7, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +I am enjoying a 'great indulgence of talk' with M. Prevost Paradol as +heartily as any nigger. He is a delightful person. This evening he is +coming with Arakel Bey, his Armenian companion, and I will invite a few +Arabs to show him. I sent off the proofs yesterday per passenger +steamer. I trust they will arrive safe. It is too disheartening about +letters, so many are lost. I am dreadfully disappointed in my letters, I +_really_ don't think them good--you know I don't _blaguer_ about my own +performances. I am very glad people like my Cape letters which I +forget--but honestly I don't think the Egyptian good. You know I don't +'pretend' if I think I have done something well and I was generally +content with my translations, but I feel these all to be poor and what +Maurice calls 'dry' when I know how curious and interesting and poetical +the country really is. + +I paid Fadil Pasha a visit on his boat, and it was just like the middle +ages. In order to amuse me he called up a horrid little black boy of +about four to do tricks like a dancing dog, which ended in a performance +of the Mussulman prayer. The little beast was dressed in a Stamboulee +dress of scarlet cloth. + +All the Arab doctors come to see me now as they go up and down the river +to give me help if I want it. Some are very pleasant men. Mourad +Effendi speaks German exactly like a German. The old Sheykh-el-Beled of +Erment who visits me whenever he comes here, and has the sweetest voice I +ever heard, complained of the climate of Cairo. 'There is no sun there +at all, it is no brighter or warmer than the moon.' What do you think +our sun must be now you know Cairo. We have had a glorious winter, like +the finest summer weather at home only so much finer. + +Janet wishes to go with me if I go to Soden, I must make enquiries about +the climate. Ross fears it is too cold for an Egyptian like me. I +should enjoy to have all the family _au grand complet_. I will leave +Luxor in May and get to you towards the latter part of June, if that +pleases you, _Inshallah_! + + + +February 7, 1865: Mrs. Ross + + +_To Mrs. Ross_. +LUXOR, +_February_ 7, 1865. + +Dearest Janet, + +It is quite heartrending about my letters. I have 'got the eye' +evidently. The black slave of the poor dragoman who died in my house is +here still, and like a dog that has lost his master has devoted himself +to me. It seems nobody's business to take him away--as the Kadee did the +money and the goods--and so it looks as if I should quietly inherit poor +ugly Khayr. He is of a degree of ugliness quite transcendent, with teeth +filed sharp 'in order to eat people' as he says, but the most +good-humoured creature and a very fair laundry-maid. It is evidently no +concern of mine to send him to be sold in Cairo, so I wait the event. If +nobody ever claims him I shall keep him at whatever wages may seem fit, +and he will subside into liberty. _Du reste_, the Maohn here says he is +legally entitled to his freedom. If the new French Consul-General will +let me stay on here I will leave my furniture and come down straight to +your hospitable roof in Alexandria _en route_ for Europe. I fear my plan +of a dahabieh of my own would be too expensive, the wages of common +boatmen now are three napoleons a month. M. Prevost Paradol, whose +company has been a real _bonne fortune_ to me, will speak to the Consul- +General. I know all Thebes would sign a round-robin in my favour if they +only knew how, for I am very popular here, and the only _Hakeen_. I have +effected some brilliant cures, and get lots of presents. Eggs, turkeys, +etc., etc., it is quite a pleasure to see how the poor people instead of +trying to sponge on one are anxious to make a return for kindness. I +give nothing whatever but my physick. These country people are very +good. A nice young Circassian Cawass sat up with a stranger, a dying +Englishman, all night because I had doctored his wife. I have also a +pupil, Mustapha's youngest boy, a sweet intelligent lad who is pining for +an education. I wish he could go to England. He speaks English very +well and reads and writes indifferently, but I never saw a boy so wild to +learn. Is it difficult to get a boy into the Abbassieh college? as it is +gratuitous I suppose it is. I quite grieve over little Ach met forced to +dawdle away his time and his faculties here. + + + +March 13, 1865: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_March_ 13, 1865. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I hope your mind has not been disturbed by any rumours of 'battle, murder +and sudden death' up in our part of the world. A week ago we heard that +a Prussian boat had been attacked, all on board murdered, and the boat +burned; then that ten villages were in open revolt, and that Effendina +(the Viceroy) himself had come up and 'taken a broom and swept them +clean' _i.e_.--exterminated the inhabitants. The truth now appears to be +that a crazy darweesh has made a disturbance--but I will tell it as I +heard it. He did as his father likewise did thirty years ago, made +himself _Ism_ (name) by repeating one of the appellations of God, like +_Ya Latif_ three thousand times every night for three years which +rendered him invulnerable. He then made friends with a Jinn who taught +him many more tricks--among others, that practised in England by the +Davenports of slipping out of any bonds. He then deluded the people of +the desert by giving himself out as _El-Mahdi_ (he who is to come with +the Lord Jesus and to slay Antichrist at the end of the world), and +proclaimed a revolt against the Turks. Three villages below Keneh--Gau, +Rayanaeh and Bedeh took part in the disturbance, and Fodl Pasha came up +with steamboats, burnt the villages, shot about one hundred men and +devastated the fields. At first we heard one thousand were shot, now it +is one hundred. The women and children will be distributed among other +villages. The darweesh some say is killed, others that he is gone off +into the desert with a body of bedaween and a few of the fellaheen from +the three ravaged villages. Gau is a large place--as large, I think as +Luxor. The darweesh is a native of Salamieh, a village close by here, +and yesterday his brother, a very quiet man, and his father's father-in- +law old Hajjee Sultan were carried off prisoners to Cairo, or Keneh, we +don't know which. It seems that the boat robbed belonged to Greek +traders, but no one was hurt, I believe, and no European boat has been +molested. + +Baron Kevenbrinck was here yesterday with his wife, and they saw all the +sacking of the villages and said no resistance was offered by the people +whom the soldiers shot down as they ran, and they saw the sheep etc. +being driven off by the soldiers. You need be in no alarm about me. The +darweesh and his followers could not pounce on us as we are eight good +miles from the desert, _i.e_. the mountain, so we must have timely +notice, and we have arranged that if they appear in the neighbourhood the +women and children of the outlying huts should come into my house which +is a regular fortress, and also any travellers in boats, and we muster +little short of seven hundred men able to fight including Karnac, +moreover Fodl Pasha and the troops are at Keneh only forty miles off. + +Three English boats went down river to-day and one came up. The +Kevenbrincks went up last night. I dined with them, she is very lively +and pleasant. I nearly died of laughing to-day when little Achmet came +for his lesson. He pronounced that he was sick of love for her. He +played at cards with her yesterday afternoon and it seems lost his heart +(he is twelve and quite a boyish boy, though a very clever one) and he +said he was wishing to play a game for a kiss as the stake. He had put +on a turban to-day, on the strength of his passion, to look like a man, +and had neglected his dress otherwise because 'when young men are sick of +love they always do so.' The fact is the Baroness was kind and amiable +and tried to amuse him as she would have done to a white boy, hence +Achmet's susceptible heart was 'on fire for her.' He also asked me if I +had any medicine to make him white, I suppose to look lovely in her eyes. +He little knows how very pretty he is with his brown face--as he sits +cross-legged on the carpet at my feet in his white turban and blue shirt +reading aloud--he was quite a picture. I have grown very fond of the +little fellow, he is so eager to learn and to improve and so remarkably +clever. + +My little Achmet, who is donkey-boy and general little slave, the +smallest slenderest quietest little creature, has implored me to take him +with me to England. I wish Rainie could see him, she would be so +'arprized' at his dark brown little face, so _fein_, and with eyes like a +dormouse. He is a true little Arab--can run all day in the heat, sleeps +on the stones and eats anything--quick, gentle and noiseless and fiercely +jealous. If I speak to any other boy he rushes at him and drives him +away, and while black Khayr was in the house, he suffered martyrdom and +the kitchen was a scene of incessant wrangle about the coffee. Khayr +would bring me my coffee and Achmet resented the usurpation of his +functions--of course quite hopelessly, as Khayr was a great stout black +of eighteen and poor little Achmet not bigger than Rainie. I am really +tempted to adopt the vigilant active little creature. + +_March_ 15.--Sheykh Yussuf returned from a visit to Salamieh last night. +He tells me the darweesh Achmet et-Tayib is not dead, he believes that he +is a mad fanatic and a communist. He wants to divide all property +equally and to kill all the Ulema and destroy all theological teaching by +learned men and to preach a sort of revelation or interpretation of the +Koran of his own. 'He would break up your pretty clock,' said Yussuf, +'and give every man a broken wheel out of it, and so with all things.' + +One of the dragomans here had been urging me to go down but Yussuf +laughed at any idea of danger, he says the people here have fought the +bedaween before and will not be attacked by such a handful as are out in +the mountain now; _du reste_ the Abu-l-Hajjajieh (family of Abu-l-Hajjaj) +will 'put their seal' to it that I am their sister and answer for me with +a man's life. It would be foolish to go down into whatever disturbance +there may be alone in a small country boat and where I am not known. The +Pasha himself we hear is at Girgeh with steamboats and soldiers, and if +the slightest fear should arise steamers will be sent up to fetch all the +Europeans. What I grieve over is the poor villagers whose little +property is all confiscated, guilty and innocent alike, and many shot as +they ran away. Hajjee Ali tells me privately that he believes the +discontent against the Government is very deep and universal and that +there will be an outbreak--but not yet. The Pasha's attempt to regulate +the price of food by edicts has been very disastrous, and of course the +present famine prices are laid to his charge--if a man will be omnipotent +he must take the consequences when he fails. I don't believe in an +outbreak--I think the people are too thoroughly accustomed to suffer and +to obey, besides they have no means of communication, and the steamboats +can run up and down and destroy them _en detail_ in a country which is +eight hundred miles long by from one to eight wide, and thinly peopled. +Only Cairo could do anything, and everything is done to please the +Cairenes at the expense of the fellaheen. + +The great heat has begun these last three days. My cough is better and I +am grown fatter again. The Nile is so low that I fancy that six weeks or +two months hence I shall have to go down in two little boats--even now +the dahabiehs keep sticking fast continually. I have promised some +neighbours to bring back a little seed corn for them, some of the best +English wheat without beard. All the wheat here is bearded and they have +an ambition for some of ours. I long to bring them wheelbarrows and +spades and pickaxes. The great folks get steamploughs, but the labourers +work with their bare hands and a rush basket _pour tout potage_, and it +takes six to do the work of one who has got good tools. + + + +March 25, 1865: Mrs. Ross + + +_To Mrs. Ross_. +LUXOR, +_March_ 25, 1865. + +Dearest Janet, + +I hope you have not had visions of me plundered and massacred by the +crazy darweesh who has caused the destruction of Gau and three other +villages. I assure you we are quite quiet here and moreover have +arranged matters for our defence if Achmet et Tayib should honour us with +a visit. The heat has just set in, thermometer 89 degrees to-day, of +course I am much better, fatter and cough less. + +Many thanks to Henry about Achmet Ibn-Mustapha, but his father is going +to send him to England into Mr. Fowler's workshop, which will be a much +better training I think. Mr. Fowler takes him without a premium most +kindly. Lord Dudley will tell you what a splendid entertainment I gave +him; I think he was quite frightened at the sight of the tray and the +black fingers in the dishes. + +The Abab'deh Sheykh and his handsome brother propose to take me to the +moolid of Sheykh-el-Shadhilee (the coffee saint) in the desert to see all +the wild Abab'deh and Bishareeyeh. It is very tempting, if I feel pretty +well I must go I think and perhaps the change might do me good. They +believe no European ever went to that festival. There are camel-races +and a great show of pretty girls says the handsome Hassan. A fine young +Circassian cawass here has volunteered to be my servant anywhere and to +fight anybody for me because I have cured his pretty wife. You would +love Kursheed with his clear blue eyes, fair face and brisk neat +soldierly air. He has a Crimean medal and such a lot of daggers and +pistols and is such a tremendous Muslim, but never-the-less he loves me +and tells me all his affairs and how tiresome his wife's mother is. I +tell him all wives' mothers always are, but he swears _Wallahi_, +_Howagah_ (Mr.) Ross don't say so, _Wallahi_, _Inshallah_! + + + +March 30, 1865: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_March_ 30, 1865. + +Dearest Alick, + +I have just received your letter of March 3 with one from Janet, which +shows of how little moment the extermination of four villages is in this +country, for she does not allude to our revolt and evidently has not +heard of it. + +In my last letter to Mutter I told how one Achmet et Tayib, a mad +darweesh had raised a riot at Gau below Keneh and how a boat had been +robbed and how we were all rather looking out for a _razzia_ and +determined to fight Achmet et Tayib and his followers. Then we called +them _haramee_ (wicked ones) and were rather blood-thirstily disposed +towards them and resolved to keep order and protect our property. But +now we say _nas messakeen_ (poor people) and whisper to each other that +God will not forget what the Pasha has done. The truth of course we +shall never know. But I do know that one Pasha said he had hanged five +hundred, and another that he had sent three hundred to Fazoghlou (_comme +qui dirait Cayenne_) and all for the robbery of one Greek boat in which +only the steersman was killed. I cannot make out that anything was done +by the 'insurgents' beyond going out into the desert to listen to the +darweesh's nonsense, and 'see a reed shaken by the wind;' the party that +robbed the boat was, I am told, about forty strong. But the most horrid +stories are current among the people of the atrocities committed on the +wretched villagers by the soldiers. Not many were shot, they say, and +they attempted no resistance, but the women and girls were outraged and +murdered and the men hanged and the steamers loaded with plunder. The +worst is that every one believes that the Europeans aid and abet, and all +declare that the Copts were spared to please the _Frangees_. Mind I am +not telling you _facts_ only what the people are saying--in order to show +you their feelings. One most respectable young man sat before me on the +floor the other day and told me what he had heard from those who had come +up the river. Horrible tales of the stench of the bodies which are left +unburied by the Pasha's order--of women big with child ripped open, etc., +etc. 'Thou knowest oh! our Lady, that we are people of peace in this +place, and behold now if one madman should come and a few idle fellows go +out to the mountain (desert) with him, Effendina will send his soldiers +to destroy the place and spoil our poor little girls and hang us--is that +right, oh Lady and Achmet el-Berberi saw Europeans with hats in the +steamer with Effendina and the soldiers. Truly in all the world none are +miserable like us Arabs. The Turks beat us, and the Europeans hate us +and say _quite right_. By God, we had better lay down our heads in the +dust (die) and let the strangers take our land and grow cotton for +themselves. As for me I am tired of this miserable life and of fearing +for my poor little girls.' + +Mahommed was really eloquent, and when he threw his _melayeh_ over his +face and sobbed, I am not ashamed to say that I cried too. I know very +well that Mahommed was not quite wrong in what he says of the Europeans. +I know the cruel old platitudes about governing Orientals by fear which +the English pick up like mocking birds from the Turks. I know all about +'the stick' and 'vigour' and all that--but--'I sit among the people' and +I know too that Mohammed feels just as John Smith or Tom Brown would feel +in his place, and that men who were very savage against the rioters in +the beginning, are now almost in a humour to rise against the Turks +themselves just exactly as free-born Britons might be. There are even +men of the class who have something to lose who express their disgust +very freely. + +I saw the steamer pass up to Fazoghlou but the prisoners were all below. +The Sheykh of the Abab'deh here has had to send a party of his men to +guard them through the desert. Altogether this year is miserable in +Egypt. I have not once heard the _zaghareet_. Every one is anxious and +depressed, and I fear hungry, the land is parched from the low Nile, the +heat has set in six weeks earlier than usual, the animals are scarecrows +for want of food, and now these horrid stories of bloodshed and cruelty +and robbery (for the Pasha takes the lands of these villages for his own) +have saddened every face. I think Hajjee Ali is right and that there +will be more disturbances. If there are they will be caused by the +cruelty and oppression at Gau and the three neighbouring villages. From +Salamieh, two miles above Luxor, every man woman and child in any degree +kin to Achmet et-Tayib has been taken in chains to Keneh and no one here +expects to see one of them return alive. Some are remarkably good men, I +hear, and I have heard men say 'if Hajjee Sultan is killed and all his +family we will never do a good action any more, for we see it is of no +use.' + +There was a talk among the three or four Europeans here at the beginning +of the rumours of a revolt of organizing a defence among Christians only. +Conceive what a silly and gratuitous provocation! There was no religion +in the business at all and of course the proper person to organize +defence was the Maohn, and he and Mustapha and others had planned using +my house as a castle and defending that in case of a visit from the +rioters. I have no doubt the true cause of the row is the usual +one--hunger--the high price of food. It was like our Swing, or bread +riots, nothing more and a very feeble affair too. It is curious to see +the travellers' gay dahabiehs just as usual and the Europeans as far +removed from all care or knowledge of the distresses as if they were at +home. When I go and sit with the English I feel almost as if they were +foreigners to me too, so completely am I now _Dint el-Beled_ (daughter of +the country) here. + +I dined three days running with the Kevenbrincks and one day after dinner +we sent for a lot of Arab Sheykhs to come for coffee--the two Abab'deh +and a relation of theirs from Khartoum, the Sheykh of Karnac, one +Mohammed a rich fellah, and we were joined by the A'gha of Halim Pasha's +Hareem, and an ugly beast he is. The little Baroness won all hearts. She +is a regular _vif argent_ or as we say _Efreeteh_ and to see the dark +faces glittering with merry smiles as they watched her was very droll. I +never saw a human being so thoroughly amused as the black Sheykh from the +Soudan. Next day we dined at the Austrian agent's and the Baroness at +last made the Maohn dance a polka with her while the agent played the +guitar. There were a lot of Copts about who nearly died of laughing and +indeed so did I. Next day we had a capital dinner at Mustapha's, and the +two Abab'deh Sheykhs, the Sheykh of Karnac, the Maohn and Sheykh Yussuf +dined with us. The Sheykh of Karnac gave a grand performance of eating +like a Bedawee. I have heard you talk of _tripas elasticas_ in Spain but +_Wallahi_! anything like the performance of Sheykh Abdallah none but an +eyewitness could believe. How he plucked off the lamb's head and handed +it to me in token of the highest respect, and how the bones cracked +beneath his fingers--how huge handfuls of everything were chucked right +down his throat all scorching hot. I encouraged him of course, quoting +the popular song about 'doing deeds that Antar did not' and we all grew +quite uproarious. When Sheykh Abdallah asked for drink, I cried 'bring +the _ballaree_ (the big jar the women fetch water in) for the Sheykh,' +and Sheykh Yussuf compared him to Samson and to Og, while I more +profanely told how Antar broke the bones and threw them about. The +little Baroness was delighted and only expressed herself hurt that no one +had crammed anything into her mouth. I told the Maohn her disappointment +which caused more laughter as such a custom is unknown here, but he of +course made no end of sweet speeches to her. After dinner she showed the +Arabs how ladies curtsey to the Queen in England, and the Abab'deh acted +the ceremonial of presentation at the court of Darfour, where you have to +rub your nose in the dust at the King's feet. Then we went out with +lanterns and torches and the Abab'deh did the sword dance for us. Two +men with round shields and great straight swords do it. One dances a +_pas seul_ of challenge and defiance with prodigious leaps and pirouettes +and Hah! Hahs! Then the other comes and a grand fight ensues. When the +handsome Sheykh Hassan (whom you saw in Cairo) bounded out it really was +heroic. All his attitudes were alike grand and graceful. They all +wanted Sheykh Yussuf to play _el-Neboot_ (single stick) and said he was +the best man here at it, but his sister was not long dead and he could +not. Hassan looks forward to Maurice's coming here to teach him 'the +fighting of the English.' How Maurice would pound him! + +On the fourth night I went to tea in Lord Hopetoun's boat and their +sailors gave a grand _fantasia_ excessively like a Christmas pantomime. +One danced like a woman, and there was a regular pantaloon only 'more +so,' and a sort of clown in sheepskin and a pink mask who was duly +tumbled about, and who distributed _claques_ freely with a huge wooden +spoon. It was very good fun indeed, though it was quite as well that the +ladies did not understand the dialogue, or that part of the dance which +made the Maohn roar with laughter. The Hopetouns had two handsome boats +and were living like in May Fair. I am so used now to our poor shabby +life that it makes quite a strange impression on me to see all that +splendour--splendour which a year or two ago I should not even have +remarked--and thus out of 'my inward consciousness' (as Germans say), +many of the peculiarities and faults of the people of Egypt are explained +to me and accounted for. + +_April_ 2.--It is so dreadfully hot and dusty that I shall rather hasten +my departure if I can. The winds seem to have begun, and as all the land +which last year was green is now desert and dry the dust is four times as +bad. If I hear that Ross has bought and sent up a dahabieh I will wait +for that, if not I will go in three weeks if I can. + + + +April 3, 1865: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_April_ 3, 1865. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I have just finished a letter to Alick to go by a steamer to-day. You +will see it, so I will go on with the stories about the riots. Here is a +thing happening within a few weeks and within sixty miles, and already +the events assume a legendary character. Achmet et-Tayib is not dead and +where the bullets hit him he shows little marks like burns. The affair +began thus: A certain Copt had a Muslim slave-girl who could read the +Koran and who served him. He wanted her to be his Hareem and she refused +and went to Achmet et-Tayib who offered money for her to her master. He +refused it and insisted on his rights, backed by the Government, and +thereupon Achmet proclaimed a revolt and the people, tired of taxes and +oppressions, said 'we will go with thee.' This is the only bit of +religious legend connected with the business. But Achmet et-Tayib still +sits in the Island, invisible to the Turkish soldiers who are still +there. + +Now for a little fact. The man who told me fourteen hundred had been +beheaded was Hassan Sheykh of the Abab'deh who went to Gau to bring up +the prisoners. The boat stopped a mile above Luxor, and my Mohammed, a +most quiet respectable man and not at all a romancer went up in her to El- +Moutaneh. I rode with him along the Island. When we came near the boat +she went on as far as the point of the Island, and I turned back after +only looking at her from the bank and smelling the smell of a slave-ship. +It never occurred to me, I own, that the Bey on board had fled before a +solitary woman on a donkey, but so it was. He told the Abab'deh Sheykh +on board not to speak to me or to let me on board, and told the Captain +to go a mile or two further. Mohammed heard all this. He found on board +'one hundred prisoners less two' (ninety-eight). Among them the Moudir +of Souhaj, a Turk, in chains and wooden handcuffs like the rest. Mohammed +took him some coffee and was civil to him. He says the poor creatures +are dreadfully ill-used by the Abab'deh and the Nubians (Berberi) who +guard them. + +It is more curious than you can conceive to hear all the people say. It +is just like going back four or five centuries at least, but with the +heterogeneous element of steamers, electric telegraphs and the Bey's +dread of the English lady's pen--at least Mohammed attributed his flight +to fear of that weapon. It was quite clear that European eyes were +dreaded, as the boat stopped three miles above Luxor and its dahabiehs, +and had all its things carried that distance. + +Yussuf and his uncle want to take me next year to Mecca, the good folks +in Mecca would hardly look for a heretical face under the green veil of a +_Shereefateh_ of Abu-l-Hajjaj. The Hajjees (pilgrims) have just started +from here to Cosseir with camels and donkeys, but most are on foot. They +are in great numbers this year. The women chanted and drummed all night +on the river bank, and it was fine to see fifty or sixty men in a line +praying after their Imam with the red glow of the sunset behind them. The +prayer in common is quite a drill and very stately to see. There are +always quite as many women as men; one wonders how they stand the march +and the hardships. + +My little Achmet grows more pressing with me to take him. I will take +him to Alexandria, I think, and leave him in Janet's house to learn more +house service. He is a dear little boy and very useful. I don't suppose +his brother will object and he has no parents. Achmet ibn-Mustapha also +coaxes me to take him with me to Alexandria, and to try again to persuade +his father to send him to England to Mr. Fowler. I wish most heartily I +could. He is an uncommon child in every way, full of ardour to learn and +do something, and yet childish and winning and full of fun. His pretty +brown face is quite a pleasure to me. His remarks on the New Testament +teach me as many things as I can teach him. The boy is pious and not at +all ill taught, he is much pleased to find so little difference between +the teaching of the Koran and the _Aangeel_. He wanted me, in case Omar +did not go with me, to take him to serve me. Here there is no idea of +its being derogatory for a gentleman's son to wait on one who teaches +him, it is positively incumbent. He does all 'menial offices' for his +mother, hands coffee, waits at table or helps Omar in anything if I have +company, nor will he eat or smoke before me, or sit till I tell him--it +is like service in the middle ages. + + + +April 3, 1865: Mrs. Ross + + +_To Mrs. Ross_. +LUXOR, +_April_ 3, 1865. + +Dearest Janet, + +The weather has set in so horrid, as to dust, that I shall be glad to get +away as soon as I can. If you have bought a dahabieh for me of course I +will await its arrival. If not I will have two small boats from Keneh, +whereby I shall avoid sticking in this very low water. Sheykh Hassan +goes down in his boat in twenty days and urges me to travel under his +escort, as of course the poor devils who are 'out on their keeping' after +the Gau business have no means of living left but robbery, and Sheykh +Hassan's party is good for seven or eight guns. You will laugh at my +listening to such a cowardly proposition (on my part) but my friends here +are rather bent upon it, and Hassan is a capital fellow. If therefore +the dahabieh is _in rerum naturae_ and can start at once, well and good. + +_April_ 14.--The dahabieh sounds an excellent bargain to me and good for +you also to get your people to Assouan first. Many thanks for the +arrangement. + +Your version of our massacre is quite curious to us here. I know very +intimately the Sheykh-el-Arab who helped to catch the poor people and +also a young Turk who stood by while Fadil Pasha had the men laid down by +ten at a time and chopped with pioneers' axes. My Turkish friend (a very +good-humoured young fellow) quite admired the affair and expressed a +desire to do likewise to all the fellaheen in Egypt. I have seen with my +own eyes a second boatload of prisoners. I wish to God the Pasha knew +the deep exasperation which his subordinates are causing. I do not like +to say all I hear. As to the Ulema, Kadees, Muftis, etc., I know many +from towns and villages, and all say 'We are Muslims, but we should thank +God to send Europeans to govern us,' the feeling is against the +Government and the Turks up here--not against Christians. A Coptic +friend of mine has lost all his uncle's family at Gau, all were shot +down--Copt and Christian alike. As to Hajjee Sultan, who lies in chains +at Keneh and his family up at Esneh, a better man never lived, nor one +more liberal to Christians. Copts ate of his bread as freely as Muslims. +He lies there because he is distantly related by marriage to Achmet et- +Tayib, the real reason is because he is wealthy and some enemy covets his +goods. + +Ask M. Mounier what he knows. Perhaps I know even more of the feeling as +I am almost adopted by the Abu-l-Hajjajeeah, and sit every evening with +some party or another of decent men. I assure you I am in despair at all +I see--and if the soldiers do come it will be worse than the cattle +disease. Are not the cawasses bad enough? Do they not buy in the market +at their own prices and beat the sakkas in sole payment for the skins of +water? Who denies it here? Cairo is like Paris, things are kept sweet +there, but up here--! Of course Effendina hears the 'smooth prophecies' +of the tyrants whom he sends up river. When I wrote before I knew +nothing certain but now I have eye-witnesses' testimony, and I say that +the Pasha deceives or is deceived--I hope the latter. An order from him +did stop the slaughter of women and children which Fadil Pasha was about +to effect. + +To turn to less wretched matters. I will come right down Alexandria with +the boat, I shall rejoice to see you again. + +Possibly the Abab'deh may come with me and I hope Sheykh Yussuf, 'my +chaplain' as Arthur Taylor called him. We shall be quite a little fleet. + + + +April, 1865: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +_April_, 1865. + +Dearest Alexander, + +Yesterday was the Bairam I rejoice to say and I have lots of physic to +make up, for all the stomachs damaged by Ramadan. + +I have persuaded Mr. Fowler the engineer who was with Lord Dudley to take +my dear little pupil Achmet son of Ibn Mustapha to learn the business at +Leeds instead of idling in his father's house here. I will give the +child a letter to you in case he should go to London. He has been +reading the gospels with me at his own desire. I refused till I had +asked his father's consent, and Sheykh Yussuf who heard me begged me by +all means to make him read it carefully so as to guard him against the +heretical inventions he might be beset with among the English 'of the +vulgar sort.' What a poser for a missionary! + +I sent down the poor black lad with Arakel Bey. He took leave of me with +his ugly face all blubbered like a sentimental hippopotamus. He said +'for himself, he wished to stay with me, but then what would his boy, his +little master do--there was only a stepmother who would take all the +money, and who else would work for the boy?' Little Achmet was charmed +to see Khayr go, of whom he chose to be horribly jealous, and to be wroth +at all he did for me. Now the Sheykh-el-Beled of Baidyeh has carried off +my watchman, and the Christian Sheykh-el-Hara of our quarter of Luxor has +taken the boy Yussuf for the Canal. The former I successfully resisted +and got back Mansoor, not indeed _incolumes_ for _he_ had been handcuffed +and bastinadoed to make _me_ pay 200 piastres, but he bore it like a man +rather than ask me for the money and was thereupon surrendered. But the +Copt will be a tougher business--he will want more money and be more +resolved to get it. _Veremus_. I must I suppose go to the Nazir at the +Canal--a Turk--and beg off my donkey boy. + +[Sir Alexander Duff Gordon, from sketch by G. F. Watts, R.A.: ill231.jpg] + +I saw Hassan Sheykh-el-Abab'deh yesterday, who was loud in praise of your +good looks and gracious manners. 'Mashallah, thy master is a sweet man, +O Lady!' + +Yesterday was Bairam, and lots of Hareem came in their best clothes to +wish me a happy year and enjoyed themselves much with sweet cakes, +coffee, and pipes. Kursheed's wife (whom I cured completely) looked very +handsome. Kursheed is a Circassian, a fine young fellow much shot and +hacked about and with a Crimean medal. He is cawass here and a great +friend of mine. He says if I ever want a servant he will go with me +anywhere and fight anybody--which I don't doubt in the least. He was a +Turkish memlook and his condescension in wishing to serve a Christian +woman is astounding. His fair face and clear blue eyes, and brisk, neat, +soldier-like air contrast curiously with the brown fellaheen. He is like +an Englishman only fairer and like them too fond of the courbash. What +would you say if I appeared in Germany attended by a memlook with +pistols, sword, dagger, carbine and courbash, and with a decided and +imperious manner the very reverse of the Arab softness--and such a Muslim +too--prays five times a day and extra fasts besides Ramadan. 'I beat my +wife' said Kursheed, 'oh! I beat her well! she talked so, and I am like +the English, I don't like too many words.' He was quite surprised that I +said I was glad _my_ master didn't dislike talking so much. + +I was talking the other day with Yussuf about people trying to make +converts and I said that eternal betise, 'Oh they mean well.' 'True, oh +Lady! perhaps they do mean well, but God says in the Noble Koran that he +who injures or torments those Christians whose conduct is not evil, +merely on account of religion, shall never smell the fragrance of the +Garden (paradise). Now when men begin to want to make others change +their faith it is extremely hard for them _not_ to injure or torment them +and therefore I think it better to abstain altogether and to wish rather +to see a Christian a good Christian and a Muslim a good Muslim.' + +No wonder a most pious old Scotchman told me that the truth which +undeniably existed in the Mussulman faith was the work of Satan and the +Ulema his _meenesters_. My dear saint of a Yussuf a _meenester_ of +Satan! I really think I _have_ learnt some 'Muslim humility' in that I +endured the harangue, and accepted a two-penny tract quite mildly and +politely and didn't argue at all. As his friend 'Satan' would have it, +the Fikees were reading the Koran in the hall at Omar's expense who gave +a Khatmeh that day, and Omar came in and politely offered him some sweet +prepared for the occasion. I have been really amazed at several +instances of English fanaticism this year. Why do people come to a +Mussulman country with such bitter hatred 'in their stomachs' as I have +seen three or four times. I feel quite hurt often at the way the people +here thank me for what the poor at home would turn up their noses at. I +think hardly a dragoman has been up the river since Rashedee died but has +come to thank me as warmly as if I had done himself some great +service--and many to give some little present. While the man was ill +numbers of the fellaheen brought eggs, pigeons, etc. etc. even a turkey, +and food is worth money now, not as it used to be. I am quite weary too +of hearing 'Of all the Frangee I never saw one like thee.' Was no one +ever at all humane before? For remember I give no money--only a little +physic and civility. How the British cottagers would 'thank ye for +nothing'--and how I wish my neighbours here could afford to do the same. + +After much wrangling Mustapha has got back my boy Yussuf but the +Christian Sheykh-el-Hara has made his brother pay 2 pounds whereat +Mohammed looks very rueful. Two hundred men are gone out of our village +to the works and of course the poor Hareem have not bread to eat as the +men had to take all they had with them. I send you a very pretty story +like Tannhauser. + +There was once a man who loved a woman that lived in the same quarter. +But she was true to her husband, and his love was hopeless, and he +suffered greatly. One day as he lay on his carpet sick with love, one +came to him and said, O, such-a-one, thy beloved has died even now, and +they are carrying her out to the tomb. So the lover arose and followed +the funeral, and hid himself near the tomb, and when all were gone he +broke it open, and uncovered the face of his beloved, and looked upon +her, and passion overcame him, and he took from the dead that which when +living she had ever denied him. + +But he went back to the city and to his house in great grief and anguish +of mind, and his sin troubled him. So he went to a Kadee, very pious and +learned in the noble Koran, and told him his case, and said, 'Oh my +master the Kadee, can such a one as I obtain salvation and the +forgiveness of God? I fear not.' And the Kadee gave him a staff of +polished wood which he held in his hand, and said 'Who knoweth the mercy +of God and his justice, but God alone--take then this staff and stick it +in the sand beside the tomb where thou didst sin and leave it the night, +and go next morning and come and tell me what thou shalt find, and may +the Lord pardon thee, for thy sin is great.' + +And the man went and did as the Kadee had desired, and went again at +sunrise, and behold the staff had sprouted and was covered with leaves +and fruit. And he returned and told the Kadee what had happened, and the +Kadee replied, 'Praise be to God, the merciful, the compassionate.' + + + +April 29, 1865: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_April_ 29, 1865. + +Dearest Mutter, + +Since I wrote last I have received the box with the cheese quite fresh +(and very good it tastes), and the various things. Nothing called forth +such a shout of joy from me as your photo of the village pothouse. How +green and fresh and tidy! Many Mashallah's have been uttered over the +_beyt-el-fellaheen_ (peasant's house) of England. The railings, +especially, are a great marvel. I have also heard from Janet that Ross +has bought me a boat for 200 pounds which is to take four of his agents +to Assouan and then come back for me. So all my business is settled, +and, _Inshallah_! I shall depart in another three or four weeks. + +The weather is quite cool and fresh again but the winds very violent and +the dust pours over us like water from the dried up land, as well as from +the Goomeh mountain. It is miserably uncomfortable, but my health is +much better again--spite of all. + +The Hakeem business goes on at a great rate. I think on an average I +have four sick a day. Sometimes a dozen. A whole gipsy camp are great +customers--the poor souls will bring all manner of gifts it goes to my +heart to eat, but they can't bear to be refused. They are astounded to +hear that people of their blood live in England and that I knew many of +their customs--which are the same here. + +Kursheed Agha came to take final leave being appointed to Keneh. He had +been at Gau and had seen Fadil Pasha sit and make the soldiers lay sixty +men down on their backs by ten at a time and _chop_ them to death with +the pioneers' axes. He estimated the people killed--men, women, and +children at 1,600--but Mounier tells me it was over 2,000. Sheykh Hassan +agreed exactly with Kursheed, only the Arab was full of horror and the +Circassian full of exultation. His talk was exactly what we all once +heard about 'Pandies,' and he looked and talked and laughed so like a +fine young English soldier, that I was ashamed to call him the kelb (dog) +which rose to my tongue, and I bestowed it on Fadil Pasha instead. I +must also say in behalf of my own countrymen that they _had_ provocation +while here there was none. Poor Haggee Sultan lies in chains at Keneh. +One of the best and kindest of men! I am to go and take secret messages +to him, and money from certain men of religion to bribe the Moudir with. +The Shurafa who have asked me to do this are from another place, as well +as a few of the Abu-l-Hajjajieh. A very great Shereef indeed from lower +Egypt, said to me the other day, 'Thou knowest if I am a Muslim or no. +Well, I pray to the most Merciful to send us Europeans to govern us, and +to deliver us from these wicked men.' We were all sitting after the +funeral of one of the Shurafa and I was sitting between the Shereef of +Luxor and the Imam--and this was said before thirty or forty men, all +Shurafa. No one said 'No,' and many assented aloud. + +The Shereef asked me to lend him the New Testament, it was a pretty copy +and when he admired it I said, 'From me to thee, oh my master the +Shereef, write in it as we do in remembrance of a friend--the gift of a +Nazraneeyeh who loves the Muslimeen.' The old man kissed the book and +said 'I will write moreover--to a Muslim who loves all such +Christians'--and after this the old Sheykh of Abou Ali took me aside and +asked me to go as messenger to Haggee Sultan for if one of them took the +money it would be taken from them and the man get no good by it. + +Soldiers are now to be quartered in the Saeed--a new plague worse than +all the rest. Do not the cawasses already rob the poor enough? They fix +their own price in the market and beat the sakkas as sole payment. What +will the soldiers do? The taxes are being illegally levied on lands +which are _sheragi_, _i.e_. totally unwatered by the last Nile and +therefore exempt _by law_--and the people are driven to desperation. I +feel sure there will be more troubles as soon as there arises any other +demagogue like Achmet et-Tayib to incite the people and now every Arab +sympathises with him. Janet has written me the Cairo version of the +affair cooked for the European taste--and monstrous it is. The Pasha +accuses some Sheykh of the Arabs of having gone from Upper Egypt to India +to stir up the Mutiny against us! _Pourquoi pas_ to conspire in Paris or +London? It is too childish to talk of a poor Saeedee Arab going to a +country of whose language and whereabouts he is totally ignorant, in +order to conspire against people who never hurt him. You may suppose how +Yussuf and I talk by ourselves of all these things. He urged me to try +hard to get my husband here as Consul-General--assuming that he would +feel as I do. I said, my master is not young, and to a just man the +wrong of such a place would be a martyrdom. 'Truly thou hast said it, +but it is a martyr we Arabs want; shall not the reward of him who suffers +daily vexation for his brethren's sake be equal to that of him who dies +in battle for the faith? If thou wert a man, I would say to thee, take +the labour and sorrow upon thee, and thine own heart will repay thee.' He +too said like the old Sheykh, 'I only pray for Europeans to rule us--now +the fellaheen are really worse off than any slaves.' I am sick of +telling of the daily oppressions and robberies. If a man has a sheep, +the Moodir comes and eats it, if a tree, it goes to the Nazir's kitchen. +My poor sakka is beaten by the cawasses in sole payment of his skins of +water--and then people wonder my poor friends tell lies and bury their +money. + +I now know everybody in my village and the 'cunning women' have set up +the theory that my eye is lucky; so I am asked to go and look at young +brides, visit houses that are building, inspect cattle, etc. as a bringer +of good luck--which gives me many a curious sight. + +I went a few days ago to the wedding of handsome Sheykh Hassan the +Abab'deh, who married the butcher's pretty little daughter. The group of +women and girls lighted by the lantern which little Achmet carried up for +me was the most striking thing I have seen. The bride--a lovely girl of +ten or eleven all in scarlet, a tall dark slave of Hassan's blazing with +gold and silver necklaces and bracelets, with long twisted locks of coal +black hair and such glittering eyes and teeth, the wonderful wrinkled old +women, and the pretty, wondering, yet fearless children were beyond +description. The mother brought the bride up to me and unveiled her and +asked me to let her kiss my hand, and to look at her, I said all the +usual _Bismillah Mashallah's_, and after a time went to the men who were +eating, all but Hassan who sat apart and who begged me to sit by him, and +whispered anxious enquiries about his _aroosah's_ looks. After a time he +went to visit her and returned in half an hour very shy and covering his +face and hand and kissed the hands of the chief guests. Then we all +departed and the girl was taken to look at the Nile, and then to her +husband's house. Last night he gave me a dinner--a very good dinner +indeed, in his house which is equal to a very poor cattle shed at home. +We were only five. Sheykh Yussuf, Omar, an elderly merchant and I. +Hassan wanted to serve us but I made him sit. + +The merchant, a well-bred man of the world who has enjoyed life and +married wives everywhere--had arrived that day and found a daughter of +his dead here. He said he felt very miserable--and everyone told him not +to mind and consoled him oddly enough to English ideas. Then people told +stories. Omar's was a good version of the man and wife who would not +shut the door and agreed that the first to speak should do it--very funny +indeed. Yussuf told a pretty tale of a Sultan who married a Bint el-Arab +(daughter of the Bedawee) and how she would not live in his palace, and +said she was no fellaha to dwell in houses, and scorned his silk clothes +and sheep killed for her daily, and made him live in the desert with her. +A black slave told a prosy tale about thieves--and the rest were more +long than pointed. + +Hassan's Arab feelings were hurt at the small quantity of meat set before +me. (They can't kill a sheep now for an honoured guest.) But I told him +no greater honour could be paid to us English than to let us eat lentils +and onions like one of the family, so that we might not feel as strangers +among them--which delighted all the party. After a time the merchant +told us his heart was somewhat dilated--as a man might say his toothache +had abated--and we said 'Praise be to God' all round. + +A short time ago my poor friend the Maohn had a terrible 'tile' fall on +his head. His wife, two married daughters and nine miscellaneous +children arrived on a sudden, and the poor man is now tasting the +pleasures which Abraham once endured between Sarah and Hagar. I visited +the ladies and found a very ancient Sarah and a daughter of wonderful +beauty. A young man here--a Shereef--has asked me to open negotiations +for a marriage for him with the Maohn's grand daughter a little girl of +eight--so you see how completely I am 'one of the family.' + +My boat has not yet made its appearance. I am very well indeed now, in +spite, or perhaps because of, the great heat. But there is a great deal +of sickness--chiefly dysentery. I never get less than four new patients +a day and my 'practice' has become quite a serious business. I spent all +day on Friday in the Abab'deh quarters where Sheykh Hassan and his slave +Rahmeh were both uncommonly ill. Both are 'all right' now. Rahmeh is +the nicest negro I ever knew, and a very great friend of mine. He is a +most excellent, honest, sincere man, and an Effendi (_i.e_. writes and +reads) which is more than his master can do. He has seen all the queer +people in the interior of Africa. + +The Sheykh of the Bishareen--eight days' journey from Assouan has invited +me and promises me all the meat and milk I can eat, they have nothing +else. They live on a high mountain and are very fine handsome people. If +only I were strong I could go to very odd places where Frangees are not. +Read a very stupid novel (as a story) called '_le Secret du Bonheur_'--it +gives the truest impression of the manners of Arabs that I have read--by +Ernest Feydeau. According to his book _achouat_ (we are brothers). The +'caressant' ways of Arabs are so well described. + +It is the same here. The people come and pat and stroke me with their +hands, and one corner of my brown abbaieh is faded with much kissing. I +am hailed as _Sitt Betaana_ 'Our own Lady,' and now the people are really +enthusiastic because I refused the offer of some cawasses as a guard +which a Bimbashee made me. As if I would have such fellows to help to +bully my friends. The said Bimbashee (next in rank to a Bey) a coarse +man like an Arnoout, stopped here a day and night and played his little +Turkish game, telling me to beware--for the Ulema hated all Franks and +set the people against us--and telling the Arabs that Christian Hakeems +were all given to poison Muslims. So at night I dropped in at the +Maohn's with Sheykh Yussuf carrying my lantern--and was loudly hailed +with a _Salaam Aleykee_ from the old Shereef himself--who began praising +the Gospel I had given him, and me at the same time. Yussuf had a little +reed in his hand--the _kalem_ for writing, about two feet long and of the +size of a quill. I took it and showed it to the Bimbashee and +said--'Behold the _neboot_ wherewith we are all to be murdered by this +Sheykh of the Religion.' The Bimbashee's bristly moustache bristled +savagely, for he felt that the 'Arab dogs' and the Christian _khanzeereh_ +(feminine pig) were laughing at it together. + +Another steam boat load of prisoners from Gau has just gone up. A little +comfort is derived here from the news that, 'Praise be to God, Moussa +Pasha (Governor of the Soudan) is dead and gone to Hell.' It must take +no trifle to send him there judging by the quiet way in which Fadil Pasha +is mentioned. + +You will think me a complete rebel--but I may say to you what most people +would think 'like my nonsense'--that one's pity becomes a perfect +passion, when one _sits among the people_--as I do, and sees it all; +least of all can I forgive those among Europeans and Christians who can +help to 'break these bruised reeds.' However, in Cairo and more still in +Alexandria, all is quite different. There, the same system which has +been so successfully copied in France prevails. The capital is petted at +the expense of the fellaheen. Prices are regulated in Cairo for meat and +bread as they are or were in Paris, and the 'dangerous classes' enjoy all +sorts of exemptions. Just like France! The Cairenes eat the bread and +the fellaheen eat the stick. + +The people here used to dislike Mounier who arrived poor and grew rich +and powerful, but they all bless him now and say at El-Moutaneh a man +eats his own meat and not the courbash of the Moudir--and Mounier has +refused soldiers (as I refused them on my small account) and 'Please +God,' he will never repent it. Yussuf says 'What the Turkish Government +fears is not for _your_ safety, but lest we should learn to love you too +well,' and it is true. Here there is but one voice. 'Let the Franks +come, let us have the laws of the Christians.' + +In Cairo the Franks have dispelled this _douce illusion_ and done the +Turk's work as if they were paid for it. But here come only travellers +who pay with money and not with stick--a degree of generosity not enough +to be adored. + +I perceive that I am a bore--but you will forgive my indignant sympathy +with the kind people who treat me so well. Yussuf asked me to let the +English papers know about the Gau business. An Alim ed Deen ul-Islam +would fain call for help to the Times! Strange changes and signs of the +times--these--are they not so? + +I went to Church on Good Friday with the Copts. The scene was very +striking--the priest dressed like a beautiful Crusader in white robes +with crimson crosses. One thing has my hearty admiration. The few +children who are taken to Church are allowed to play! Oh my poor little +Protestant fellow Christians, can you conceive a religion so delightful +as that which permits Peep-bo behind the curtain of the sanctuary! I saw +little Butrus and Scendariah at it all church time--and the priest only +patted their little heads as he carried the sacrament out to the Hareem. +Fancy the parson kindly patting a noisy boy's head, instead of the beadle +whacking him! I am entirely reconciled to the Coptic rules. + + + +May, 1865: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +NILE BOAT, _URANIA_, +_May_, 1865. + +Happy as I was in the prospect of seeing you all and miserable as poor +Upper Egypt has become, I could not leave without a pang. Our Bairam was +not gay. There was horse riding for Sheykh Gibreel (the cousin of Abu'l +Haggag) and the scene was prettier than ever I saw. My old friend Yunis +the Shereef insisted on showing me that at eighty-five he could still +handle a horse and throw a Gereed 'for Sheykh Gibreel and the Lady' as he +said. Then arrived the Mufettish of Zenia with his gay attendants and +filled the little square in front of the Cadi's castellated house where +we were sitting. The young Sheykh of Salamieh rode beautifully and there +was some excellent Neboot play (sort of very severe quarterstaff peculiar +to the Fellaheen). + +Next day was the great dinner given by Mohammed and Mustapha outside +Mohammed's house opposite Sheykh Gibreel's tomb--200 men ate at his gate. +I went to see it and was of course asked to eat. 'Can one like thee eat +the Melocheea of the Fellaheen?' So I joined a party of five round a +little wooden tray, tucked up my sleeve and ate--dipping the bread into +the Melocheea which is like very sloppy spinach but much nicer. Then +came the master and his servants to deal the pieces of meat out of a +great basket--sodden meat--and like Benjamin my piece was the largest, so +I tore off a bit and handed it to each of my companions, who said 'God +take thee safe and happy to thy place and thy children and bring thee +back to us in safety to eat the meat of the festival together once more.' + +The moon rose clear and bright behind the one tall palm tree that +overhangs the tomb of Sheykh Gibreel. He is a saint of homely tastes and +will not have a dome over him or a cover for his tomb, which is only +surrounded by a wall breast-high, enclosing a small square bit of ground +with the rough tomb on one side. At each corner was set up a flag, and a +few dim lanterns hung overhead. The 200 men eating were quite +noiseless--and as they rose, one by one washed their hands and went, the +crowd melted away like a vision. But before all were gone, came the +Bulook, or sub-magistrate--a Turkish Jack in office with the manners of a +Zouave turned parish beadle. He began to sneer at the _melocheea_ of the +fellaheen and swore he could not eat it if he sat before it 1,000 years. +Hereupon, Omar began to 'chaff' him. 'Eat, oh Bulook Pasha and if it +swells thy belly the Lady will give thee of the physick of the English to +clean thy stomach upwards and downwards of all thou hast eaten of the +food of the fellaheen.' The Bulook is notorious for his exactions--his +'eating the people'--so there was a great laugh. Poor Omar was very ill +next day--and every one thought the Bulook had given him the eye. + +Then came the Mufettish in state to pay his _devoirs_ to the Sheykh in +the tomb. He came and talked to Mustapha and Yussuf and enumerated the +people taken for the works, 200 from Luxor, 400 from Carnac, 310 from +Zenia, 320 from Byadyeh, and 380 from Salamieh--a good deal more than +half the adult men to go for sixty days leaving their fields uncultivated +and their Hareem and children hungry--for they have to take all the food +for themselves. + +I rose sick at heart from the Mufettish's harsh voice, and went down to +listen to the Moonsheeds chanting at the tomb and the Zikheers' strange +sobbing, Allah, Allah. + +I leaned on the mud wall watching the slender figures swaying in the +moonlight, when a tall, handsome fellah came up in his brown shirt, felt +_libdeh_ (scull cap), with his blue cotton _melaya_ tied up and full of +dried bread on his back. The type of the Egyptian. He stood close +beside me and prayed for his wife and children. 'Ask our God to pity +them, O Sheykh, and to feed them while I am away. Thou knowest how my +wife worked all night to bake all the wheat for me and that there is none +left for her and the children.' He then turned to me and took my hand +and went on, 'Thou knowest this lady, oh Sheykh Gibreel, take her happy +and well to her place and bring her back to us--_el Fathah, yah +Beshoosheh_!' and we said it together. I could have laid my head on +Sheykh Gibreel's wall and howled. I thanked him as well as I could for +caring about one like me while his own troubles were so heavy. I shall +never forget that tall athletic figure and the gentle brown face, with +the eleven days' moon of Zulheggeh, and the shadow of the palm tree. That +was my farewell. 'The voice of the miserable is with thee, shall God not +hear it?' + +Next day Omar had a sharp attack of fever and was delirious--it lasted +only two days but left him very weak and the anxiety and trouble was +great--for my helping hands were as awkward as they were willing. + +In a few days arrived the boat Urania. She is very nice indeed. A small +saloon, two good berths--bath and cabinet, and very large _kasneh_ (stern +cabin). She is dirty, but will be extremely comfortable when cleaned and +painted. On the 15th we sailed. Sheykh Yussuf went with me to Keneh, +Mustapha and Seyd going by land--and one of Hajjee Sultan's disciples and +several Luxor men were deck passengers. The Shereef gave me the bread +and jars of butter for his grandsons in Gama'l Azhar, and came to see me +off. We sat on the deck outside as there was a crowd to say good-bye and +had a lot of Hareem in the cabin. The old Shereef made me sit down on +the carpet close to him and then said 'we sit here like two lovers'--at +eighty-five _even_ an Arab and a Shereef may be "_gaillard_"--so I cried, +'Oh Shereef, what if Omar tells my master the secret thou hast let out--it +is not well of thee.' There was a great laugh which ended in the Shereef +saying 'no doubt thy master is of the best of the people, let us say the +_Fathah_ for him,' and he called on all the people '_El Fathah_ for the +master of the lady!' I hope it has benefited you to be prayed for at +Luxor. + +I had written so far and passed Minieh when I fell ill with pleurisy--I've +lots more to tell of my journey but am too weak after two weeks in bed +(and unable to lie down from suffocation)--but I am _much_ better now. A +man from the Azhar is reading the Koran for me outside--while another is +gone with candles to Seyeedele Zeynet 'the fanatics!' + + + +June 16, 1865: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +CAIRO, +_June_ 16, 1865. + +Dearest Alick, + +I will go down to Alexandria in the boat and Omar will work at her. She +wants a great deal of repairing I find, and his superintendence will save +much money--besides he will do one man's work as he is a much better +carpenter than most here having learnt of the English workmen on the +railroad--but the Reis says the boat must come out of the water as her +bottom is unsound. She is a splendid sailer I hear and remarkably +comfortable. The beds in the _kasneh_ would do for Jacob Omnium. So +when you 'honour our house' you will be happy. The saloon is small, and +the berths as usual. Also she is a very handsome shape--but she wants no +end of repairs. So Omar is consoled at being left because he will 'save +our money' a great deal by piecing sails, and cutting and contriving, and +scraping and painting himself. Only he is afraid for me. However, +_Allah Kereem_. + +I have a very good Reis I think. The usual tight little black fellow +from near Assouan--very neat and active and good tempered--the same cross +steersman that we had up to Bedreshayn--but he knows his work well. We +had contrary gales the whole way. My men worked all they possibly could, +and pulled the rope all day and rowed all night, day after day--but we +were twenty-eight days getting down. + +I can't write any more. + + + +October 28, 1865: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +ALEXANDRIA, +_October_ 28, 1865. + +I am truly grieved to hear of your wrist and to see your writing look +cramped. I arrived here on Thursday after a splendid passage and was +very comfortable on board. I found M. Olagnier waiting for me, and Omar, +of course, and am _installe_ at Ross's till my boat gets done which I am +told will be in six days. She will be remarkably comfortable. Omar had +caused a sort of divan with a roof and back to be constructed just +outside the cabin-door where I always sat every evening, which will be +the most delightful little nest one can conceive. I shall sit like a +Pasha there. + +My cough is still very harassing, but my chest less tight and painful, +and I feel less utterly knocked down. The weather is beautiful here just +now--warm and not nearly so damp as usual. + +Lord Edward St. Maur was on board, he has much of his aunt's +pleasantness. Also a very young Bombay Merchant--a Muslim who uttered +not one syllable to any one but to me. His talk was just like that of a +well-bred and intelligent young Englishman. I am glad to say that his +views of the state of India were very encouraging--he seemed convinced +that the natives were gradually working their way up to more influence, +and said 'We shall have to thank you for a better form of government by +far than any native one ever would have been'--he added, 'We Muslims have +this advantage over the Hindus--that our religion is no barrier at all, +socially or politically--between us and you--as theirs is. I mean it +ought not to be when both faiths are cleared of superstition and +fanaticism.' He spoke very highly of Sir Bartle Frere but said 'I wish +it were possible for more English _gentlemen_ to come out to India.' He +had been two years in England on mercantile business and was going back +to his brother Ala-ed-deen much pleased with the English in England. It +is one of the most comforting _Erscheinungen_ I have seen coming from +India--if that sort of good sense is pretty common among the very young +men they certainly will work their way up. + +I should like to see Bayley's article though I am quite sick of my +book--it is very ungracious of me, but I can't help it. + + + +November 2, 1865: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +ALEXANDRIA, +_November_ 2, 1865. + +Dearest Mutter, + +The boat like all other things goes but slowly--however the weather here +is unusually dry and fine. + +I have just been to see my poor friend Sittee Zubeydeh, widow of +Hassaneyn Effendi who died in England--and I am filled with admiration at +her good sense and courage. She has determined to carry on her husband's +business of letting boats herself, and to educate her children to the +best of her power in habits of independence. I hope she will be +successful, and receive the respect such rare conduct in a Turkish woman +deserves from the English. I was much gratified to hear from her how +kindly she had been treated in Glasgow. She said that nothing that could +be done for her was left undone. She arrived this morning and I went to +see her directly and was really astonished at all she said about her +plans for herself and her children. Poor thing! it is a sad blow--for +she and Hassaneyn were as thoroughly united as any Europeans could be. + +I went afterwards to my boat, which I hope will be done in five or six +days. I am extremely impatient to be off. She will be a most charming +boat--both comfortable and pretty. The boom for the big sail is new--and +I exclaimed, 'why you have broken the new boom and mended it with +leather!' Omar had put on a _sham splice_ to avert the evil eye from +such a fine new piece of wood! Of course I dare not have the blemish +renewed or _gare_ the first puff of wind--besides it is too +characteristic. + +There is some cholera about again, I hear--ten deaths yesterday--so +Olagnier tells me. I fancy the rush of Europeans back again, each +bringing 'seven other devils worse than himself' is the cause of it. + +I think I am beginning to improve a little; my cough has been terribly +harassing especially at night--but the weather is very good, cool, and +not damp. + + + +November 27, 1865: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +CAIRO, +_Monday_, _November_ 27, 1865. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I arrived here last night and found a whole heap of letters--and yours I +will answer first. I had no heart to write any more from Alexandria +where I was worried out of all courage and strength. At last after +endless delays and vexations the dahabieh was _tant bien que mal_ ready. + +Talk of Arab dawdle! after what I went through--and now I have to wait +here for fresh repairs, as we came up baling all the way and I fear +cursing the Christian workmen who had bungled so shamefully. + +However that is over, and I am much better as to my cough--indeed it is +all but gone. Omar was very ill having had dysentery for two months, but +he too is well again. He is very grateful for your kind mention of him +and says, 'Send the Great Mother my best Salaam, and tell her her +daughter's people are my people, and where she goes I will go too, and +please God I will serve her rich or poor till "He who separates us" shall +take me from her.' The words of Ruth came after all these centuries +quite fresh from the soft Egyptian lips. + +The 'He who separated us' I must explain to you. It is one of the +attributes of God, _The Separator of Religions_ implies toleration and +friendship by attributing the two religions alike to God--and is never +used towards one whose religion is not to be respected. + +I have got a levee of former reis's, sailors, etc. some sick--but most +come to talk. + +The climate changes quite suddenly as one leaves the Delta, and here I +sit at eight in the evening with open doors and windows. + +I am so glad to hear of the great success of my dear Father's book, and +to think of your courage in working at it still. + +I suppose I shall be here a week longer as I have several jobs to do to +my boat, and I shall try to get towed up so as to send back the boat as +soon as possible in order to let her. Ali will give 80 pounds a month +for her if he gets a party of four to take up. I pay my Reis five +napoleons a month while travelling and three while lying still. He is a +good, active little fellow. + +We were nearly smashed under the railway bridge by an iron barge--and +_Wallah_! how the Reis of the bridge did whack the Reis of the barge. I +thought it a sad loss of time, but Reis Ali and my Reis Mohammed seemed +to look on the stick as the most effective way of extricating my anchor +from the Pasha's rudder. My crew can't say 'Urania' so they sing 'go +along, oh darling bride' _Arooset er-ralee_, as the little Sitt's best +description, and 'Arooset er-ralee' will be the dahabieh's exoteric +name--as '_El Beshoosheeh_, is my popular name. + + + +December 5, 1865: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +CAIRO, +_December_ 5, 1865. + +Dearest Mutter, + +_Alhamdulillah_--now I am at rest. I have got all the boat in order. My +captain, Reis Mohammed, is very satisfactory, and to-day we sail as soon +as Omar comes back with the meat, etc. from market. + +I received Meadow's review; I wish he had not said so much about me in +it. + +Mohammed Gazowee begs to give his best Salaam to Sheykh Stanley whom he +longs to see again. He says that all the people said he was not a +Christian, for he was not proud ever towards them as Christians are, but +a real Sheykh, and that the Bedaween still talk of Sheykh Stanley and of +his piety. The old half-witted jester of Luxor has found me out--he has +wandered down here to see his eldest son who is serving in the army. He +had brought a little boy with him, but is 'afraid for him' here, I don't +know why, and has begged me to take the child up to his mother. These +licensed _possenreisser_ are like our fools in old times--but less witty +than we fancy them to have been--thanks to Shakespeare, I suppose. Each +district has one who attends all _moolids_ and other gatherings of the +people, and picks up a living. He tells me that the Turkish Nazir of +Zeneea has begun some business against our Kadee, Sheykh Ibraheem, and +Sheykh Yussuf, accused them of something--he does not know what--_perhaps +of being friends of Hajjee Sultan, or of stealing wood_!! If all the +friends of Hajjee Sultan are to be prosecuted that will include the whole +Saeed. + +Of course I am anxious about my friends. All Haleem Pasha Oghdee's +villages have been confiscated (those tributary to him for work) _sous +pretexte_ that he ill-used the people, _n.b_. he alone paid them--a bad +example. Pharoah is indeed laying intolerable burthens--not on the +Israelites--but on the fellaheen. + +Omar said of the great dinner to-day, 'I think all the food will taste of +blood, it is the blood of the poor, and more _haram_ than any pork or +wine or blood of beasts.' Of course such sentiments are not to be +repeated--but they are general. The _meneggets_ who picked and made ten +mattrasses and fourteen cushions for me in half a day, were laughing and +saying, 'for the Pasha's boat we work also, at so much a day and we +should have done it in four days.' 'And for me if I paid by the day +instead of by the piece, how long?' 'One day instead of half, O Lady, +for fear thou shouldest say to us, you have finished in half a day and +half the wages is enough for you.' That is the way in which all the work +is done for _Effendeena_--no wonder his steamers don't pay. + +I saw Ross yesterday--he tells me the Shereef of Mecca has sent him a +horse. + + + +December 25, 1865: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +THEBES, +_From December_ 25, 1865, _to January_ 3, 1866. + +Dearest Alick, + +I wish you all, 'may the year be good to thee' as we say here--and now +for my history. We left Cairo on the 5th Decr. I was not well. No wind +as usual, and we were a week getting to Benisonef where the Stamboolee +Greek lady who was so kind to me last summer in my illness came on board +with a very well-bred Arab lady. I was in bed, and only stayed a few +hours. On to Minieh another five or six days--walked about and saw the +preparations for the Pasha's arrival. Nothing so flat as these affairs +here. Not a creature went near the landing-place but his own servants, +soldiers, and officials. I thought of the arrival of the smallest of +German princes, which makes ten times the noise. Next on to Siout. Ill +again, and did not land or see anyone. On to Girgeh, where we only +stayed long enough to deliver money and presents which I had been begged +to take for some old sailors of mine to their mothers and wives there. + +Between Siout and Girgeh an Abyssinian slave lad came and wanted me to +steal him; he said his master was a Copt and ill-used him, and the lady +beat him. But Omar sagely observed to the sailors, who were very anxious +to take him, that a bad master did not give his slave such good clothes +and even a pair of shoes--_quel luxe_!--and that he made too much of his +master being a Copt; no doubt he was a lazy fellow, and perhaps had run +away with other property besides himself. Soon after I was sitting on +the pointed prow of the boat with the Reis, who was sounding with his +painted pole (_vide_ antique sculptures and paintings), and the men +towing, when suddenly something rose to the surface close to us: the men +cried out _Beni Adam_! and the Reis prayed for the dead. It was a woman: +the silver bracelets glittered on the arms raised and stiffened in the +agony of death, the knees up and the beautiful Egyptian breasts floated +above the water. I shall never forget the horrid sight. 'God have mercy +on her,' prayed my men, and the Reis added to me, 'let us also pray for +her father, poor man: you see, no robber has done this (on account of the +bracelets). We are in the Saeed now, and most likely she has blackened +her father's face, and he has been forced to strangle her, poor man.' I +said 'Alas!' and the Reis continued, 'ah, yes, it is a heavy thing, but a +man must whiten his face, poor man, poor man. God have mercy on him.' +Such is Saeedee _point d'honneur_. However, it turned out she was +drowned bathing. + +Above Girgeh we stopped awhile at Dishne, a large village. I strolled up +alone, _les mains dans les poches_, '_sicut meus est mos_:' and was soon +accosted with an invitation to coffee and pipes in the strangers' place, +a sort of room open on one side with a column in the middle, like two +arches of a cloister, and which in all the villages is close to the +mosque: two or three cloaks were pulled off and spread on the ground for +me to sit on, and the milk which I asked for, instead of the village +coffee, brought. In a minute a dozen men came and sat round, and asked +as usual, 'Whence comest thou, and whither goest thou?' and my gloves, +watch, rings, etc. were handed round and examined; the gloves always call +forth many _Mashallah's_. I said, 'I come from the Frank country, and am +going to my place near Abu'l Hajjaj.' Hereupon everyone touched my hand +and said, 'Praise be to God that we have seen thee. Don't go on: stay +here and take 100 feddans of land and remain here.' I laughed and asked, +'Should I wear the _zaboot_ (brown shirt) and the _libdeh_, and work in +the field, seeing there is no man with me?' There was much laughing, and +then several stories of women who had farmed large properties well and +successfully. Such undertakings on the part of women seem quite as +common here as in Europe, and more common than in England. + +I took leave of my new friends who had given me the first welcome home to +the Saeed, and we went on to Keneh, which we reached early in the +morning, and I found my well-known donkey-boys putting my saddle on. The +father of one, and the two brothers of the other, were gone to work on +the railway for sixty days' forced labour, taking their own bread, and +the poor little fellows were left alone to take care of the Hareem. As +soon as we reached the town, a couple of tall young soldiers in the Nizam +uniform rushed after me, and greeted me in English; they were Luxor lads +serving their time. Of course they attached themselves to us for the +rest of the day. We then bought water jars (the _specialite_ of Keneh); +_gullehs_ and _zees_--and I went on to the Kadee's house to leave a +little string of beads, just to show that I had not forgotten the worthy +Kadee's courtesy in bringing his little daughter to sit beside me at +dinner when I went down the river last summer. I saw the Kadee giving +audience to several people, so I sent in the beads an my salaam; but the +jolly Kadee sallied forth into the street and 'fell upon my neck' with +such ardour that my Frankish hat was sent rolling by contact with the +turban of Islam. The Kadee of Keneh is the real original Kadee of our +early days; sleek, rubicund, polite--a puisne judge and a dean rolled +into one, combining the amenities of the law and the church--with an +orthodox stomach and an orthodox turban, both round and stately. I was +taken into the hareem, welcomed and regaled, and invited to the festival +of Seyd Abd er-Racheem, the great saint of Keneh. I hesitated, and said +there were great crowds, and some might be offended at my presence; but +the Kadee declared 'by Him who separated us' that if any such ignorant +persons were present it was high time they learnt better, and said that +it was by no means unlawful for virtuous Christians, and such as neither +hated nor scorned the Muslimeen, to profit by, or share in their prayers, +and that I should sit before the Sheykh's tomb with him and the Mufti; +and that _du reste_, they wished to give thanks for my safe arrival. Such +a demonstration of tolerance was not to be resisted. So after going back +to rest, and dine in the boat, I returned at nightfall into the town and +went to the burial-place. The whole way was lighted up and thronged with +the most motley crowd, and the usual mixture of holy and profane, which +we know at the Catholic _fetes_ also; but more _prononce_ here. Dancing +girls, glittering with gold brocade and coins, swaggered about among the +brown-shirted fellaheen, and the profane singing of the _Alateeyeh_ +mingled with the songs in honour of the Arab prophet chanted by the +Moonsheeds and the deep tones of the 'Allah, Allah' of the Zikeers. +Rockets whizzed about and made the women screech, and a merry-go-round +was in full swing. And now fancy me clinging to the skirts of the Cadi +ul Islam (who did not wear a spencer, as the Methodist parson threatened +his congregation he would do at the Day of Judgement) and pushing into +the tomb of the Seyd Abd er-Racheem, through such a throng. No one +seemed offended or even surprised. I suppose my face is so well known at +Keneh. When my party had said a _Fattah_ for me and another for my +family, we retired to another _kubbeh_, where there was no tomb, and +where we found the Mufti, and sat there all the evening over coffee and +pipes and talk. I was questioned about English administration of +justice, and made to describe the process of trial by jury. The Mufti is +a very dignified gentlemanly man, and extremely kind and civil. The +Kadee pressed me to stay next day and dine with him and the Mufti, but I +said I had a lantern for Luxor, and I wanted to arrive before the +_moolid_ was over, and only three days remained. So the Kadee +accompanied me back to the boat, looked at my maps, which pleased him +very much, traced out the line of the railway as he had heard it, and had +tea. + +Next morning we had the first good wind, and bowled up to Luxor in one +day, arriving just after sunset. Instantly the boat was filled. Of +course Omar and the Reis at once organized a procession to take me and my +lantern to the tomb of Abu-l-Hajjaj--it was the last night but one of his +moolid. The lantern was borne on a pole between two of my sailors, and +the rest, reinforced by men from a steamer which was there with a +Prussian prince, sung and thumped the tarabookeh, and we all marched up +after I had undergone every variety of salutation, from Sheykh Yussuf's +embrace to the little boys' kissing of hands. The first thing I heard +was the hearty voice of the old Shereef, who praised God that 'our +darling' was safe back again, and then we all sat down for a talk; then +more _Fattahs_ were said for me, and for you, and for the children; and I +went back to bed in my own boat. I found the guard of the French house +had been taken off to Keneh to the works, after lying eight days in +chains and wooden handcuffs for resisting, and claiming his rights as a +French _protege_. So we waited for his return, and for the keys which he +had taken with him, in hopes that the Keneh authorities would not care to +keep me out of the house. I wrote to the French Consular agent at Keneh, +and to the Consul at Alexandria, and got him back the third day. What +would you think in Europe to see me welcome with enthusiasm a servant +just out of chains and handcuffs? At the very moment, too, that Mohammed +and I were talking, a boat passed up the river with musick and singing on +board. It was a Sheykh-el-Beled, of a place above Esneb, who had lain in +prison three years in Cairo, and whose friends were making all the +fantasia they could to celebrate the end of his misfortune, of disgrace, +_il n'en est pas question_; and why should it? So many honest men go to +prison that it is no presumption at all against a man. + +The day after my arrival was the great and last day. The crowd was but +little and not lively--times are too hard. But the riding was beautiful. +Two young men from Hegaz performed wonderful feats. + +I dined with the Maohn, whose wife cooked me the best dinner I ever ate +in this country, or almost anywhere. Marie, who was invited, rejoiced +the kind old lady's heart by her Belgian appreciation of the excellent +cookery. 'Eat, my daughter, eat,' and even I managed to give +satisfaction. Such Bakloweh I never tasted. We removed to the house +yesterday, and I have had company ever since. + +One Sheykh Alee--a very agreeable man from beyond Khartoom, offers to +take me up to Khartoom and back with a Takhterawan (camel litter) in +company with Mustapha A'gha, Sheykh Yussuf and a troop of his own +Abab'deh. It is a terrible temptation--but it would cost 50 pounds--so I +refused. Sheykh Alee is so clever and well-bred that I should enjoy it +much, and the climate at this season is delightful. He has been in the +Denka country where the men are a cubit taller than Sheykh Hassan whom +you know, and who enquires tenderly after you. + +Now let me describe the state of things. From the Moudeeriat of Keneh +only, 25,000 men are taken to work for sixty days without food or pay; +each man must take his own basket, and each third man a hoe, not a +basket. If you want to pay a substitute for a beloved or delicate son, +it costs 1,000 piastres--600 at the lowest; and about 300 to 400 for his +food. From Luxor only, 220 men are gone; of whom a third will very +likely die of exposure to the cold and misery (the weather is unusually +cold). That is to say that this little village, of at most 2,000 souls +male and female (we don't usually count women, from decorum), will pay in +labour at least 1,320 pounds in sixty days. We have also already had +eleven camels seized to go up to the Soudan; a camel is worth from 18 to +40 pounds. + +Last year Mariette Bey made excavations at Gourneh forcing the people to +work but promising payment at the rate of--Well, when he was gone the +four Sheykhs of the village at Gourneh came to Mustapha and begged him to +advance the money due from Government, for the people were starving. +Mustapha agrees and gives above 300 purses--about 1,000 pounds in +_current_ piastres on the understanding that he is to get the money from +Government in _tariff_--and to keep the difference as his profit. If he +cannot get it at all the fellaheen are to pay him back without interest. +Of course at the rate at which money is here, his profit would be but +small interest on the money unless he could get the money directly, and +he has now waited six months in vain. + +Abdallah the son of el-Habbeshee of Damankoor went up the river in chains +to Fazoghlou a fortnight ago and Osman Bey ditto last week--El-Bedrawee +is dead there, of course. + +Shall I tell you what became of the hundred prisoners who were sent away +after the Gau business? As they marched through the desert the Greek +memlook looked at his list each morning, and said, 'Hoseyn, Achmet, +Foolan (like the Spanish Don Fulano, Mr. so and so), you are free; take +off his chains.' Well, the three or four men drop behind, where some +arnouts strangle them out of sight. This is banishment to Fazoghlou. Do +you remember _le citoyen est elargi_ of the September massacres of Paris? +Curious coincidence, is it not? Everyone is exasperated--the very Hareem +talk of the government. It is in the air. I had not been five minutes +in Keneh before I knew all this and much more. Of the end of Hajjee +Sultan I will not speak till I have absolute certainty, but, I believe +the proceeding was as I have described--set free in the desert and +murdered by the way. I wish you to publish these facts, it is no secret +to any but to those Europeans whose interests keep their eyes tightly +shut, and they will soon have them opened. The blind rapacity of the +present ruler will make him astonish the Franks some day, I think. + +Wheat is now 400 piastres the ardeb up here; the little loaf, not quite +so big as our penny roll, costs a piastre--about three-half-pence--and +all in proportion. I need not say what the misery is. Remember that +this is the second levy of 220 men within six months, each for sixty +days, as well as the second seizure of camels; besides the conscription, +which serves the same purpose, as the soldiers work on the Pasha's works. +But in Cairo they are paid--and well paid. + +It is curious how news travels here. The Luxor people knew the day I +left Alexandria, and the day I left Cairo, long before I came. They say +here that Abu-l-Hajjaj gave me his hand from Keneh, because he would not +finish his moolid without me. I am supposed to be specially protected by +him, as is proved by my health being so far better here than anywhere +else. + +By the bye, Sheykh Alee Abab'deh told me that all the villages _close_ on +the Nile escaped the cholera almost completely, whilst those who were +half or a quarter of a mile inland were ravaged. At Keneh 250 a day +died; at Luxor one child was supposed to have died of it, but I know he +had diseased liver for a year or more. In the desert the Bishareen and +Abab'deh suffered more than the people at Cairo, and you know the desert +is usually the place of perfect health; but fresh Nile water seems to be +_the_ antidote. Sheykh Yussuf laid the mortality at Keneh to the canal +water, which the poor people drink there. I believe the fact is as +Sheykh Alee told me. + +Now I will say good-bye, for I am tired, and will write anon to the rest. +Let Mutter have this. I was very poorly till I got above Siout, and then +gradually mended--constant blood spitting and great weakness and I am +very thin, but, by the protection of Abu-l-Hajjaj I suppose I am already +much better, and begin to eat again. I have not been out yet since the +first day, having much to do in the house to get to rights. I felt very +dreary on Christmas-day away from you all, and Omar's plum-pudding did +not cheer me at all, as he hoped it would. He begs me to kiss your hand +for him, and every one sends you salaam, and all lament that you are not +the new Consul at Cairo. + +Kiss my chicks, and love to you all. Janet, I hope is in Egypt ere this. + + + +January 3, 1866: Maurice Duff Gordon + + +_To Maurice Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR. +_January_ 3, 1866. + +My Darling Maurice, + +I was delighted to get your note, which arrived on New Year's day in the +midst of the hubbub of the great festival in honour of the Saint of +Luxor. I wish you could have seen two young Arabs (real Arabs from the +Hedjaz, in Arabia) ride and play with spears and lances. I never saw +anything like it--a man who played the tom-fool stood in the middle, and +they galloped round and round him, with their spears crossed and the +points resting on the ground, in so small a circle that his clothes +whisked round with the wind of the horses' legs. Then they threw jereeds +and caught them as they galloped: the beautiful thing was the perfect +mastery of the horses: they were 'like water in their hands,' as Sheykh +Hassan remarked. I perceived that I had never seen _real_ horsemanship +in my life before. + +I am now in the 'palace' at Luxor with my dahabieh, 'Arooset er-Ralee' +(the Darling Bride), under my windows; quite like a Pasha. + +In coming up we had an alarm of robbers. Under the mountain called Gebel +Foodah, we were entangled in shoals, owing to a change in the bed of the +river, and forced to stay all night; and at three in the morning, the +Reis sent in the boy to say he had seen a man creeping on all fours--would +I fire my pistol? As my revolver had been stolen in Janet's house, I was +obliged to beg him to receive any possible troop of armed robbers very +civilly, and to let them take what they pleased. However, Omar blazed +away with your father's old cavalry pistols (which had no bullets) and +whether the robbers were frightened, or the man was only a wolf, we heard +no more of the affair. My crew were horribly frightened, and kept awake +till daybreak. + +The last night before reaching Keneh, the town forty miles north of +Luxor, my men held a grand fantasia on the bank. There was no wind, and +we found a lot of old maize stalks; so there was a bonfire, and no end of +drumming, singing and dancing. Even Omar relaxed his dignity so far as +to dance the dance of the Alexandria young men; and very funny it all +was. I laughed consumedly; especially at the modest airs and graces of a +great lubberly fellow--one Hezayin, who acted the bride--in a +representation of a Nubian wedding festivity. The new song of this year +is very pretty--a declaration of love to a young Mohammed, sung to a very +pretty tune. There is another, rather like the air of 'Di Provenza al +mar' in the 'Traviata,' with extremely pretty words. As in England, +every year has its new song, which all the boys sing about the streets. + +I hope, darling, you are sapping this year, and intend to make up a bit +for lost time. I hear you have lost no time in growing tall at all +events--'ill weeds, etc.'--you know Omar desires all sorts of messages to +you. + + + +January 15, 1866: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +_Monday_, _January_ 15, 1866. + +Dearest Alick, + +I hear that Mr. and Miss North are to be here in a day or two. I hope +you may have sent my saddle by them, for I want it sadly--mine is just +possible for a donkey, but quite too broken for a horse. + +Two great Sheykhs of Bishareen and Abab'deh came here and picked me up +out walking alone. We went and sat in a field, and they begged me to +communicate to the Queen of England that they would join her troops if +she would invade Egypt. One laid my hand on his hand and said 'Thou hast +3,000 men in thy hand.' The other rules 10,000. They say there are +30,000 Arabs (bedaween) ready to join the English, for they fear that the +Viceroy will try to work and rob them like the fellaheen, and if so they +will fight to the last, or else go off into Syria. I was rather +frightened--for them, I mean, and told them that our Queen could do +nothing till 600 Sheykhs and 400 Ameers had talked in public--all whose +talk was printed and read at Stambool and Cairo, and that they must not +think of such a thing from our Queen, but if things became bad, it would +be better for them to go off into Syria. I urged great caution upon +them, and I need not repeat that to you, as the lives of thousands may be +endangered. It might be interesting to be known in high places and in +profound secret, as one of the indications of what is coming here. + +If the saddle comes, as I hope, I may very likely go up to Assouan, and +leave the boat and servants, and go into the desert for a few days to see +the place of the Bishareen. They won't take anyone else: but you may be +quite easy about me 'in the face' of a Sheykh-el-Arab. Handsome Sheykh +Hassan, whom you saw at Cairo, will go with me. But if my saddle does +not appear, I fear I should be too tired with riding a camel. + +The little district of Koos, including Luxor, has been mulcted of camels, +food for them and drivers, to the amount of 6,000 purses--last +week--18,000 pounds, _fact_. I cast up the account, and it tallied with +what I got from a sub _employe_, nor is the discontent any longer +whispered. Everyone talks aloud--and well they may. + + + +February 7, 1886: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +_Tuesday_, 7 _Ramadan_. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I have just received your letter of Christmas-day, and am glad to answer +it with a really amended report of myself. I had a very slight return a +week ago, but for the last five or six days the daily flushing and fever +has also ceased. I sent for one of the Arab doctors of the Azizeeyeh +steamer to see Omar, and myself also, and he was very attentive, and took +a note of medicines to send me from Cairo by a _confrere_: and when I +offered a fee he said, 'God forbid--it is only our duty to do anything in +the world for you.' Likewise a very nice Dr. Ingram saw some of my worst +cases for me, and gave me good advice and help; but I want better +books--Kesteven is very useful, as far as it goes, but I want something +more _ausfuhrlich_ and scientific. Ramadan is a great trouble to me, +though Sheykh Yussuf tells the people not to fast, if I forbid it: but +many are ill from having begun it, and one fine old man of about fifty- +five died of apoplexy on the fourth night. My Christian patient is +obstinate, and fasts, in spite of me, and will, I think, seal his fate; +he was so much better after the blistering and Dr. Ingram's mixture. I +wish you could have seen a lad of eighteen or so, who came here to-day +for medicine. I think I never saw such sweet frank, engaging manners, or +ever heard any one express himself better: quite _une nature distinguee_, +not the least handsome, but the most charming countenance and way of +speaking. + +My good friend the Maohn spent the evening with me, and told me all the +story of his marriage, though quite 'unfit to meet the virtuous eyes of +British propriety--' as I read the other day in some paper apropos of I +forget what--it will give you an idea of the feelings of a Muslim +_honnete homme_, which Seleem is through and through. He knew his wife +before he married her, she being twenty-five or twenty-six, and he a boy; +she fell in love with him, and at seventeen he married her, and they have +had ten children, all alive but two, and a splendid race they are. He +told me how she courted him with glasses of sherbet and trays of +sweatmeats, and how her mother proposed the marriage, and how she +hesitated on account of the difference of age, but, of course, at last +consented: all with the naivest vanity in his own youthful attractions, +and great extolling of her personal charms, and of her many virtues. When +he was sent up here she would not, or could not, leave her children. On +the Sitt's arrival his slave girl was arrogant, and refused to kiss her +hand, and spoke saucily of her age, whereupon Seleem gave her in marriage +to a black man and pays for her support, as long as she likes to suckle +the child he (Seleem) had by her, which child will in due time return to +his house. _Kurz_, the fundamental idea in it all, in the mind of an +upright man, is, that if a man 'takes up' with a woman at all, he must +make himself responsible for her before the world; and above all for the +fate of any child he may have by her (you see the Prophet of the Arabs +did not contemplate ladies _qui savent nager_ so well in the troubled +waters of life as we are now blessed with. I don't mean to say that many +men are as scrupulous as my excellent friend Seleem, either here or even +in our own moral society). All this was told with expressions quite +incompatible with our manners, though not at all _leste_--and he +expatiated on his wife's personal charms in a very quaint way; the good +lady is now hard upon sixty and looks it fully; but he evidently is as +fond of her as ever. As a curious trait of primitive manners, he told me +of her piety and boundless hospitality; how when some friends came late +one evening, unexpectedly, and there was only a bit of meat, she killed a +sheep and cooked it for them with her own hands. And this is a Cairene +lady, and quite a lady too, in manners and appearance. The day I dined +there she was dressed in very ragged, old cotton clothes, but spotlessly +clean; and she waited on me with a kind, motherly pleasure, that quite +took away the awkwardness I felt at sitting down while she stood. In a +few days she and her husband are to dine with me, a thing which no Arab +couple ever did before (I mean dine out together), and the old lady was +immensely amused at the idea. Omar will cook and all male visitors will +be sent to the kitchen. Now that I understand all that is said to me, +and a great deal of the general conversation, it is much more amusing. +Seleem Effendi jokes me a great deal about my blunders, especially my +lack of _politikeh_, the Greek word for what we should call flummery; and +my saying _lazim_ (you must, or rather _il faut_), instead of humble +entreaties. I told him to teach me better, but he laughed heartily, and +said, 'No, no, when you say _lazim_, it is _lazim_, and nobody wants the +stick to force him to say _Hadr_ (ready) O Sheykh-el-Arab, O Emeereh.' + +Fancy my surprise the other day just when I was dictating letters to +Sheykh Yussuf (letters of introduction for Ross's inspecting agent) with +three or four other people here, in walked Miss North (Pop) whom I have +not seen since she was a child. She and her father were going up the +second cataract. She has done some sketches which, though rather +unskilful, were absolutely true in colour and effect, and are the very +first that I have seen that are so. I shall see something of them on +their return. She seemed very pleasant. Mr. North looked rather +horrified at the turbaned society in which he found himself. I suppose +it did look odd to English eyes. + +We have had three days of the south wind, which the 'Saturday Review' +says I am not to call Samoom; and I was poorly, and kept in bed two days +with a cold. Apropos, I will give you the Luxor contribution towards the +further confusion of the Samoom (or Simoom) controversy. I told Sheykh +Yussuf that an English newspaper, written by particularly clever people, +said that I was wrong to call the bad wind here 'Samoom,' (it was in an +article on Palgrave's book, I think). Sheykh Yussuf said, 'True, oh +lady, no doubt those learned gentlemen' (politely saluting them with his +hand) 'thought one such as thou shouldest have written classical Arabic +(_Arabi fossieh_), and have called it "_al Daboor_;" nevertheless, it is +proper to write it "Samoom," not, as some do "Simoom," which is the +plural of _sim_ (poison).' I shook my head, and said, I did not +recollect _al Daboor_. Then my Reis, sitting at the door, offered his +suggestion. 'Probably the English, who it is well known are a nation of +sailors, use the name given to the land wind by _el-baharieh_ (the +boatmen), and call it _el-mereeseh_.' 'But,' said I, 'the clever +gentlemen say that I am wrong altogether, and never can have seen a +_real_ Samoom, for that would have killed me in ten minutes.' Hereupon +Sheykh Mohammed el-Abab'deh, who is not nearly so polished as his brother +Hassan, burst into a regular bedawee roar of laughter, and said, 'Yah! do +the _Ganassil_ (Europeans) take thee for a rat, oh lady? Whoever heard +of _el Beni Adam_ (the children of Adam) dying of the wind? Men die of +thirst quicker when the Samoom blows and they have no water. But no one +ever died of the wind alone, except the rats--they do.' I give you the +opinion of three 'representative men--' scholar, sailor, and bedawee; if +that helps you to a solution of the controversy. + +We have just had a scene, rather startling to notions about fatalism, +etc. Owing to the importation of a good deal of cattle from the Soudan, +there is an expectation of the prevalence of small-pox, and the village +barbers are busy vaccinating in all directions to prevent the infection +brought, either by the cattle or, more likely, by their drivers. Now, my +maid had told me she had never been vaccinated, and I sent for Hajjee +Mahmood to cut my hair and vaccinate her. To my utter amazement the +girl, who had never shown any religious bigotry, and does not fast, or +make any demonstrations, refused peremptorily. It appears that the +priests and sisters appointed by the enlightened administration of +Prussia instil into their pupils and penitents that vaccination is a +'tempting of God.' _Oh oui_, she said, _je sais bien que chez nous mes +parents pouvaient recevoir un proces verbal, mais il vaut mieux cela que +d'aller contre la volonte de Dieu. Si Dieu le veut, j'aurai la petite- +verole, et s'il ne veut pas, je ne l'aurai pas_. I scolded her pretty +sharply, and said it was not only stupid, but selfish. 'But what can one +do?' as Hajjee Mahmood said, with a pitying shake of his head; 'these +Christians are so ignorant!' He blushed, and apologized to me, and said, +'It is not their fault; all this want of sense is from the priests who +talk folly to them for money, and to keep them afraid before themselves. +Poor things, _they_ don't know the Word of God.--"Help thyself, oh my +servant, and I will help thee."' This is the second contest I have had +on this subject. Last year it was with a Copt, who was all _Allah +kereem_ and so on about his baby, with his child of four dying of small- +pox. 'Oh, man,' said Sheykh Yussuf, 'if the wall against which I am now +sitting were to shake above my head, should I fold my feet under me and +say _Allah kereem_, or should I use the legs God has given me to escape +from it?' + +I had a visit the other day from a lady who, as I was informed, had been +a harlot in Siout. She has repented, and married a converted Copt. They +are a droll pair of penitents, so very smart in their dress and manner. +But no one _se scandalise_ at their antecedents--neither is it proper to +repent in sackcloth and ashes, or to confess sins, except to God alone. +You are not to _indulge_ in telling them to others; it is an offence. +Repent inwardly, and be ashamed to show it before the people--ask pardon +of God only. A little of this would do no harm in Europe, methinks. + +Here is a pretty story for you from the _Hadeth en-Nebbee_ (sayings of +the Prophet). 'Two prophets were sitting together, and discoursing of +prayer and the difficulty of fixing the attention entirely on the act. +One said to the other, "Not even for the duration of two _rekahs_ +(prayers ending with the prostration and _Allah akbar_) can a man fix his +mind on God alone." The other said, "Nay, but I can do it!" "Say then +two _rekahs_," replied the elder of the two; "I will give thee my cloak." +Now he wore two cloaks--a new handsome red one and an old shabby blue +one. The younger prophet rose, raised his hands to his head, said _Allah +akbar_, and bent to the ground for his first _rekah_; as he rose again he +thought "Will he give me the red cloak or the blue, I wonder?"' It is +very stupid of me not to write down all the pretty stories I hear, but +this one is a capital specimen of Arab wit. Some day I must bring over +Omar with me, Inshallah, to England, and he will tell you stories like +Scheherazade herself. A jolly Nubian Alim told me the other night how in +his village no man ever eats meat, except on Bairam day: but one night a +woman had a piece of meat given her by a traveller; she put it in the +oven and went out. During her absence her husband came in and smelt it, +and as it was just the time of the _eshe_ (first prayers one hour after +sunset), he ran up to the hill outside the village, and began to chaunt +forth the _tekbeer_ with all his might--_Allah akbar_, _Allah akbar_, +etc. etc., till the people ran to see what was the matter. 'Why, to-day +is Bairam,' says he. 'Where is thy witness, O man?' 'The meat in the +oven--the meat in the oven.' + + + +February 15, 1866: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_February_ 15, 1866. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I have only time for a short letter to say that the cold weather is over +and that I continue to improve, not very fast, but still very sensibly. + +My young Frenchman turns out to be a M. Brune _grand prix de Rome_, an +architect, and is a very nice fellow indeed, and a thorough gentleman. +His odd awkward manner proved to be mere vexation at finding himself +quartered _nolens volens_ on a stranger, and a woman; but we have made +great friends, and I have made him quite happy by telling him that he +shall pay his share of the food. He was going to hurry off from shyness +though he had begun a work here by which I fancy he hopes to get _Kudos_. +I see he is poor and very properly proud. He goes out to the temple at +sunrise, and returns to dinner at dark, and works well, and his drawings +are very clever. In short, I am as much obliged to the French Consul for +sending me such an intelligent man as I was vexed at first. An _homme +serieux_ with an absorbing pursuit is always good company in the long +run. Moreover M. Brune behaves like a perfect gentleman in every way. So +_tout est pour le mieux_. + +I am sorry to say that Marie has become so excessively bored, +dissatisfied, and, she says, ill, that I am going to send her back rather +than be worried so--and _damit hats eine ende_ of European maids. Of +course an ignorant girl _must_ be bored to death here--a land of no +amusements and no flirtation _is_ unbearable. I shall borrow a slave of +a friend here, an old black woman who is quite able and more than willing +to serve me, and when I go down to Cairo I will get either a ci-devant +slave or an elderly Arab woman. Dr. Patterson strongly advised me to do +so last year. He had one who has been thirteen years his housekeeper, an +old bedaweeyeh, I believe, and as I now am no longer looked upon as a +foreigner, I shall be able to get a respectable Arab woman, a widow or a +divorced woman of a certain age who will be too happy to have 'a good +home,' as our maids say. I think I know one, a certain Fatoomeh, a widow +with no children who does washing and needlework in Cairo. You need not +be at all uneasy. I shall be taken good care of if I fall ill, much +better than I should get from a European in a sulky frame of mind. Hajjee +Ali has very kindly offered to take Marie down to Cairo and start her off +to Alexandria, whence Ross's people can send her home. If she wants to +stay in Alexandria and get placed by the nuns who piously exhorted her to +extort ninety francs a month from me, so much the better for me. Ali +refuses to take a penny from me for her journey--besides bringing me +potatoes and all sorts of things: and if I remonstrate he says he and all +his family and all they have is mine, in consequence of my treatment of +his brother. + +You will be amused and pleased to hear how Sheykh Yussuf was utterly +puzzled and bewildered by the civilities he received from the travellers +this year, till an American told Mustapha I had written a book which had +made him (the American) wish well to the poor people of this country, and +desire to behave more kindly to them than would have been the case +before. + +To-morrow is the smaller Bairam, and I shall have all the Hareem here to +visit me. + +Two such nice Englishmen called the other day and told me they lived in +Hertford Street opposite Lady D. G.'s and saw Alexander go in and out, +and met Maurice in the gardens. It gave me a terrible twinge of +_Heimweh_, but I thought it so kind and pretty and _herzlich_ of them to +come and tell me how Alexander and Maurice looked as they went along the +street. + + + +February 22, 1866: Mrs. Ross + + +_To Mrs. Ross_. +_February_ 22, 1866. + +Dearest Janet, + +I received your letter of the 4th inst. yesterday. I am much distressed +not to hear a better account of you. Why don't you go to Cairo for a +time? Your experience of your German confirms me (if I needed it) in my +resolution to have no more Europeans unless I should find one 'seasoned.' +The nuisance is too great. I shall borrow a neighbour's slave for my +stay here and take some one in Cairo. My dress will do very well in +native hands. + +I am at last getting really better again, I hope. We have had a cold +winter, but not trying. There has not been much wind, and the weather +has been very steady and clear. I wish I had Palgrave's book. Hajjee +Ali was to bring up my box, but it had not arrived when he sailed. I +will send down the old saddle whenever I can find a safe opportunity and +have received the other. + +Many thanks for all the various detachments of newspapers, which were a +great solace. I wish you would give me your photo--large size--to hang +up with Rainie and Maurice here and in the boat. Like the small one you +gave me at Soden, you said you had some copies big. + +My doctoring business has become quite formidable. I should like to sell +my practice to any 'rising young surgeon.' It brings in a very fair +income of vegetables, eggs, turkeys pigeons, etc. + +How is the Shereef of Mecca's horse? I ambition to ride that holy +animal. + + + +February 22, 1866: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_February_ 22, 1866. + +Dearest Alick, + +The weather here is just beginning to get warm, and I of course to get +better. There has been a good deal of nervous headache here this +Ramadan. I had to attend the Kadee, and several more. My Turkish +neighbour at Karnac has got a _shaitan_ (devil), _i.e_. epileptic fits, +and I was sent for to exorcise him, which I am endeavouring to do with +nitrate of silver, etc.; but I fear imagination will kill him, so I +advise him to go to Cairo, and leave the devil-haunted house. I have +this minute killed the first snake of this year--a sign of summer. + +I was so pleased to see two Mr. Watsons--your opposite neighbours--who +said they saw you every morning go down the street--_ojala_! that I did +so too! I liked Mr. and Mrs. Webb of Newstead Abbey very much; nice, +hearty, pleasant, truly English people. + +There have not been above twenty or thirty boats up this year--mostly +Americans. There are some here now, very nice people, with four little +children, who create quite an excitement in the place, and are +'mashallahed' no end. Their little fair faces do look very pretty here, +and excite immense admiration. + +Seyd has just come in to take my letter to the steamer which is now going +down. So _addio_, dearest Alick. I am much better but still weakish, +and very _triste_ at my long separation. + + + +March 6, 1866: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +_Tuesday_, _March_ 6, 1866. + +Dearest Alick, + +I write to be ready for the last _down_ steamer which will be here in a +few days. Mr. and Miss North are here working hard at sketching, and M. +Brune will take a place in their Dahabieh (my old Zint el Bahreyn), and +leave me in six or seven days. I shall quite grieve to lose his company. +If ever you or yours fall in with him, pray cultivate his acquaintance, +he is very clever, very hard working, and a 'thorough-bred gentleman' as +Omar declares. We are quite low-spirited at parting after a month spent +together at Thebes. + +I hear that Olagnier has a big house in Old Cairo and will lodge me. The +Norths go to-day (Thursday) and M. Brune does not go with them as he +intended, but will stay on and finish a good stroke of work and take his +chance of a conveyance. + +I spent yesterday out in Mustapha's tent among the bean gatherers, and +will go again. I think it does me good and is not too long a ride. The +weather has set in suddenly very hot, which rather tries everybody, but +gloriously fine clear air. I hope you will get this, as old fat Hassan +will take it to the office in Cairo himself--for the post is very +insecure indeed. I have written very often, if you don't get my letters +I suppose they interest the court of Pharaoh. + + + +March 17, 1866: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +THEBES, +_March_ 17, 1866. + +Dearest Alick, + +The high winds have begun with a vengeance and a great bore they are. + +I went a few days ago out to Medarnoot, and lunched in Mustapha's tent, +among his bean harvest. I was immensely amused by the man who went with +me on to Medarnoot, one Sheriff, formerly an illustrious robber, now a +watchman and very honest man. He rode a donkey, about the size of +Stirling's wee pony, and I laughed, and said, 'The man should carry the +ass.' No sooner said than done, Sheriff dismounted, or rather let his +beast down from between his legs, shouldered the donkey, and ran on. His +way of keeping awake is original; the nights are still cold, so he takes +off all his clothes, rolls them up and lays them under his head, and the +cold keeps him quite lively. I never saw so powerful, active and healthy +an animal. He was full of stories how he had had 1,000 stripes of the +courbash on his feet and 500 on his loins at one go. 'Why?' I asked. +'Why, I stuck a knife into a cawass who ordered me to carry water-melons; +I said I was not his donkey; he called me worse: my blood got up, and +so!--and the Pasha to whom the cawass belonged beat me. Oh, it was all +right, and I did not say "ach" once, did I?' (addressing another). He +clearly bore no malice, as he felt no shame. He has a grand romance +about a city two days' journey from here, in the desert, which no one +finds but by chance, after losing his way; and where the ground is +strewed with valuable _anteekehs_ (antiquities). I laughed, and said, +'Your father would have seen gold and jewels.' 'True,' said he, 'when I +was young, men spit on a statue or the like, when they turned it up in +digging, and now it is a fortune to find one.' + + + +March 31, 1866: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +_March_ 31, 1866. + +Dearest Alick, + +As for me I am much better again; the cough has subsided, I really think +the Arab specific, camel's milk, has done me great good. I have mended +ever since I took it. It has the merit of being quite delicious. +Yesterday I was much amused when I went for my afternoon's drink, to find +Sheriff in a great taking at having been robbed by a woman, under his +very nose. He saw her gathering hummuz from a field under his charge, +and went to order her off, whereupon she coolly dropped the end of her +_boordeh_ which covered the head and shoulders, effectually preventing +him from going near her; made up her bundle and walked off. His respect +for the Hareem did not, however, induce him to refrain from strong +language. + +M. Brune has made very pretty drawings of the mosque here, both outside +and in; it is a very good specimen of modern Arab architecture; and he +won't believe it could be built without ground plan, elevations, etc., +which amuses the people here, who build without any such inventions. + +The harvest here is splendid this year, such beans and wheat, and prices +have fallen considerably in both: but meat, butter, etc., remain very +dear. My fame as a Hakeemeh has become far too great, and on market-days +I have to shut up shop. Yesterday a very handsome woman came for +medicine to make her beautiful, as her husband had married another who +teazed her, and he rather neglected her. And a man offered me a camel +load of wheat if I would read something over him and his wife to make +them have children. I don't try to explain to them how very irrational +they are but use the more intelligible argument that all such practices +savour of the _Ebu er Rukkeh_ (equivalent to black art), and are _haram_ +to the greatest extent; besides, I add, being 'all lies' into the +bargain. The applicants for child-making and charm-reading are Copts or +Muslims, quite in equal numbers, and appear alike indifferent as to what +'Book': but all but one have been women; the men are generally perfectly +rational about medicine and diet. + +I find there is a good deal of discontent among the Copts with regard to +their priests and many of their old customs. Several young men have let +out to me at a great rate about the folly of their fasts, and the badness +and ignorance of their priests. I believe many turn Muslim from a real +conviction that it is a better religion than their own, and not as I at +first thought merely from interest; indeed, they seldom gain much by it, +and often suffer tremendous persecution from their families; even they do +not escape the rationalizing tendencies now abroad in Christendom. Then +their early and indissoluble marriages are felt to be a hardship: a boy +is married at eight years old, perhaps to his cousin aged seventeen (I +know one here in that case), and when he grows up he wishes it had been +let alone. A clever lad of seventeen propounded to me his +dissatisfaction, and seemed to lean to Islam. I gave him an Arabic New +Testament, and told him to read that first, and judge for himself whether +he could not still conform to the Church of his own people, and inwardly +believe and try to follow the Gospels. I told him it was what most +Christians had to do, as every man could not make a sect for himself, +while few could believe everything in any Church. I suppose I ought to +have offered him the Thirty-nine Articles, and thus have made a Muslim of +him out of hand. He pushed me a little hard about several matters, which +he says he does not find in 'the Book': but on the whole he is well +satisfied with my advice. + +_Coptic Palm Sunday_, _April_ 1. + +We hear that Fadil Pasha received orders at Assouan to go up to Khartoum +in Giaffar Pasha's place: it is a civil way of killing a fat old Turk, if +it is true. He was here a week or two ago. My informant is one of my +old crew who was in Fadil Pasha's boat. + +I shall wait to get a woman-servant till I go to Cairo, the women here +cannot iron or sew; so, meanwhile, the wife of Abd el-Kader, does my +washing, and Omar irons; and we get on capitally. Little Achmet waits, +etc., and I think I am more comfortable so than if I had a maid,--it +would be no use to buy a slave, as the trouble of teaching her would be +greater than the work she would do for me. + +My medical reputation has become far too great, and all my common +drugs--Epsom salts, senna, aloes, rhubarb, quassia--run short. Especially +do all the poor, tiresome, ugly old women adore me, and bore me with +their aches and pains. They are always the doctor's greatest plague. The +mark of confidence is that they now bring the sick children, which was +never known before, I believe, in these parts. I am sure it would pay a +European doctor to set up here; the people would pay him a little, and +there would be good profit from the boats in the winter. I got turkeys +when they were worth six or eight shillings apiece in the market, and +they were forced upon me by the fellaheen. I must seal up this for fear +the boat should come; it will only pick up M. Brune and go on. + + + +April, 1866: Mrs. Ross + + +_To Mrs. Ross_. +EED EL KEBEER, +_Wednesday_, _April_, 1866. + +Dearest Janet, + +I had not heard a word of Henry's illness till Mr. Palgrave arrived and +told me, and also that he was better. Alhamdulillah! I only hope that +you are not knocked up, my darling. I am not ill, but still feel +unaccountably weak and listless. I don't cough much, and have got fatter +on my _regime_ of camel's milk,--so I hope I may get over the languor. +The box has not made its appearance. What a clever fellow Mr. Palgrave +is! I never knew such a hand at languages. The folks here are in +admiration at his Arabic. I hope you will see M. Brune. I am sure you +would like him. He is a very accomplished and gentlemanly man. + +You have never told me your plans for this year or whether I shall find +you when I go down. The last three days the great heat has begun and I +am accordingly feeling better. I have just come home from the Bairam +early prayer out in the burial-place, at which Palgrave also assisted. He +is unwell, and tells me he leaves Luxor to-morrow morning. I shall stay +on till I am too hot here, as evidently the summer suits me. + +Many thanks for Miss Berry and for the wine, which makes a very pleasant +change from the rather bad claret I have got. Palgrave's book I have +read through hard, as he wished to take it back for you. It is very +amusing. + +If you come here next winter Mustapha hopes you will bring a saddle, and +ride 'all his horses.' I think I could get you a very good horse from a +certain Sheykh Abdallah here. + +Well, I must say good-bye. _Kulloo sana intee tayib_, love to Henry. + + + +April, 1866: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +BAIRAM, +_April_, 1866. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I write this to go down by Mr. Palgrave who leaves to-morrow. He has +been with Mustapha Bey conducting an enquiry into Mustapha A'gha's +business. Mariette Bey struck Mustapha, and I and some Americans took it +ill and wrote a very strong complaint to our respective Consuls. Mariette +denied the blow and the words 'liar, and son of a dog'--so the American +and English Consuls sent up Palgrave as commissioner to enquire into the +affair, and the Pasha sent Mustapha Bey with him. Palgrave is very +amusing of course, and his knowledge of languages is wonderful, Sheykh +Yussuf says few _Ulema_ know as much of the literature and niceties of +grammar and composition. Mustapha Bey is a darling; he knew several +friends of mine, Hassan Effendi, Mustapha Bey Soubky, and others, so we +were friends directly. + +I have not yet got a woman-servant, but I don't miss it at all; little +Achmet is very handy, Mahommed's slave girl washes, and Omar irons and +cleans the house and does housemaid, and I have kept on the meek cook, +Abd el-Kader, whom I took while the Frenchman was here. I had not the +heart to send him away; he is such a _meskeen_. He was a smart +travelling waiter, but his brother died, leaving a termagant widow with +four children, and poor Abd el-Kader felt it his duty to bend his neck to +the yoke, married her, and has two more children. He is a most worthy, +sickly, terrified creature. + +I have heard that a decent Copt here wants to sell a black woman owing to +reverses of fortune, and that she might suit me. Sheykh Yussuf is to +negotiate the affair and to see if the woman herself likes me for a +mistress, and I am to have her on trial for a time, and if I like her and +she me, Sheykh Yussuf will buy her with my money in his name. I own I +have very little scruple about the matter, as I should consider her price +as an advance of two or three years' wages and tear the paper of sale as +soon as she had worked her price out, which I think would be a fair +bargain. But I must see first whether Feltass (the Copt) really wants to +sell her or only to get a larger price than is fair, in which case I will +wait till I go to Cairo. Anything is better than importing a European +who at once thinks one is at her mercy on account of the expense of the +journey back. + +I went out this morning to the early prayer of Bairam day, held in the +burial-place. Mahmoud ibn-Mustapha preached, but the boys and the Hareem +made such a noise behind us that I could not hear the sermon. The +weather has set in hot these last days, and I am much the better. It +seems strange that what makes others languid seems to strengthen me. I +have been very weak and languid all the time, but the camel's milk has +fattened me prodigiously, to Sherayeff's great delight; and the last hot +days have begun to take away the miserable feeling of fatigue and +languor. + +Palgrave is not well at all, and his little black boy he fears will die, +and several people in the steamer are ill, but in Luxor there is no +sickness to speak of, only chronic old women, so old and ugly and _achy_, +that I don't know what to do with them, except listen to their +complaints, which begin, '_Ya ragleh_.' _Ragel_ is man, so _ragleh_ is +the old German _Mannin_, and is the civil way of addressing a Saeedee +woman. To one old body I gave a powder wrapped up in a fragment of a +_Saturday Review_. She came again and declared Mashallah! the _hegab_ +(charm) was a powerful one, for though she had not been able to wash off +all the fine writing from the paper, even that little had done her a deal +of good. I regret that I am unable to inform you what the subject of the +article in the _Saturday_ which had so drastic an effect. + +Good-bye, dearest Mutter, I must go and take a sleep before the time of +receiving the visits of to-day (the great festival). I was up before +sunrise to see the prayer, so must have a siesta in a cool place. +To-morrow morning early this will go. I hope you got a letter I sent ten +days or so ago. + + + +May 10, 1866: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_May_ 10, 1866. + +Dearest Alick, + +The real summer heat--the _Skems el-Kebeer_ (big sun) has fairly set in, +and of course I am all the better. You would give my camel a good +backsheesh if you saw how prodigiously fat I have grown on her milk; it +beats codliver-oil hollow. You can drink a gallon without feeling it, it +is so easy of digestion. + +I have lent the dahabieh to Mustapha and to one or two more, to go to +Keneh on business, and when she returns (which will be to-day) I shall +make ready to depart too, and drop down stream. Omar wants me to go down +to Damietta, to 'amuse my mind and dilate my stomach' a little; and I +think of doing so. + +Palgrave was here about a fortnight ago, on Mustapha's and Mariette's +business. 'By God! this English way is wonderful,' said a witness, 'that +English Bey questioned me till my stomach came out.' I loved Mustapha +Bey, who was with him; such a nice, kind, gentle creature, and very +intelligent and full of good sense. I rejoice to hear that he returns my +liking, and has declared himself 'one of my darweeshes.' Talking of +darweeshes reminds me of the Festival of Sheykh Gibrieel this year. I +had forgotten the day, but in the evening some people came for me to go +and eat some of the meat of the Sheykh, who is also a good patron of +mine, they say; being a poor man's saint, and of a humble spirit, it is +said he favours me. There was plenty of meat and _melocheea_ and bread; +and then _zikrs_ of different kinds, and a _Gama el Fokara_ (assembly of +the poor). _Gama_ is the true word for Mosque--_i.e_., Meeting, which +consists in a great circle of men seated thick on the ground, with two +poets facing each other, who improvise religious verses. On this +occasion the rule of the game was to end each stanza with a word having +the sound of _wahed_ (one), or _el Had_ (the first). Thus one sung: 'Let +a man take heed how he walks,' etc., etc.; and 'pray to God not to let +him fall,' which sound like _Had_. And so they went on, each chanting a +verse alternately. One gesticulated almost as much as an Italian and +pronounced beautifully; the other was quiet, but had a nice voice, and +altogether it was very pretty. At the end of each verse the people made +a sort of chorus, which was sadly like the braying of asses. The _zikr_ +of the Edfoo men was very curious. Our people did it quietly, and the +_moonsheed_ sang very sweetly--indeed 'the song of the moonsheed is the +sugar in the sherbet to the Zikkeer,' said a man who came up when it was +over, streaming with perspiration and radiant with smiles. Some day I +will write to you the whole '_grund Idee_' of a _zikr_, which is, in +fact, an attempt to make present 'the communion of saints,' dead or +living. As I write arrives the Arooset er-rallee, and my crew furl her +big sail quite 'Bristol fashion.' My men have come together again, some +from Nubia and some from the Delta; and I shall go down with my old lot. + +Omar and Achmet have implored me not to take another maid at all; they +say they live like Pashas now they have only the lady to please; that it +will be a pleasure to 'lick my shoes clean,' whereas the boots of the +_Cameriera_ were intolerable. The feeling of the Arab servants towards +European colleagues is a little like that of 'niggers' about 'mean +whites'--mixed hatred, fear, and scorn. The two have done so well to +make me comfortable that I have no possible reason for insisting on +encumbering myself with 'an old man of the sea,' in the shape of a maid; +and the difference in cost is immense. The one dish of my dinner is +ample relish to their bread and beans, while the cooking for a maid, and +her beer and wine, cost a great deal. Omar irons my clothes very tidily, +and little Achmet cleans the house as nicely as possible. I own I am +quite as much relieved by the absence of the 'civilized element' as my +retainers are. + +Did I describe the Coptic Good Friday? Imagine 450 _Rekahs_ in church! I +have seen many queer things, but nothing half so queer as the bobbing of +the Copts. + +I went the other day to the old church six or eight miles off, where they +buried the poor old Bishop who died a week ago. Abu Khom, a Christian +_shaheed_ (martyr), is buried there. He appeared to Mustapha's father +when lost in the desert, and took him safe home. On that occasion he was +well mounted, and robed all in white, with a _litham_ in over his face. +No one dares to steal anything near his tomb, not one ear of corn. He +revealed himself long ago to one of the descendants of Abu-l-Hajjaj, and +to this day every Copt who marries in Luxor gives a pair of fowls to the +family of that Muslim in remembrance of Abu Khom. + +I shall leave Luxor in five or six days--and write now to stop all +letters in Cairo. + +I don't know what to do with my sick; they come from forty miles off, and +sometimes twenty or thirty people sleep outside the house. I dined with +the Maohn last night--'pot luck'--and was much pleased. The dear old +lady was so vexed not to have a better dinner for me that she sent me a +splendid tray of _baklaweh_ this morning to make up for it. + + + +June 22, 1866: Maurice Duff Gordon + + +_To Maurice Duff Gordon_. +CAIRO, +_June_ 22, 1866. + +Maurice my Darling, + +I send you a Roman coin which a man gave me as a fee for medical +attendance. I hope you will like it for your watch-chain. I made our +Coptic goldsmith bore a hole in it. Why don't you write to me, you young +rascal? I am now living in my boat, and I often wish for you here to +donkey ride about with me. I can't write you a proper letter now as Omar +is waiting to take this up to Mr. Palgrave with the drawings for your +father. Omar desires his best salaam to you and to Rainie, and is very +much disappointed that you are not coming out in the winter to go up to +Luxor. We had a hurricane coming down the Nile, and a boat behind us +sank. We only lost an anchor, and had to wait and have it fished up by +the fishermen of a neighbouring village. In places the water was so +shallow that the men had to push the boat over by main force, and all +went into the river. The captain and I shouted out, _Islam el Islam_, +equivalent to, 'Heave away, boys.' There are splendid illuminations +about to take place here, because the Pasha has got leave to make his +youngest boy his successor, and people are ordered to rejoice, which they +do with much grumbling--it will cost something enormous. + + + +July 10, 1866: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +OFF BOULAK, CAIRO, +_July_ 10, 1866. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I am much better again. My cold went off without a violent illness and I +was only weak and nervous. I am very comfortable here, anchored off +Boulak, with my Reis and one sailor who cleans and washes my clothes +which Omar irons, as at Luxor, as he found the washerwomen here charged +five francs a dozen for all small things and more for dresses. A bad +_hashash_ boy turned Achmet's head, who ran away for two days and spent a +dollar in riotous living; he returned penitent, and got no fatted calf, +but dry bread and a confiscation of his new clothes. + +The heat, when I left Luxor, was prodigious. I was detained three days +by the death of Sheykh Yussuf's poor little wife and baby (in childbirth) +so I was forced to stay and eat the funeral feast, and be present at the +_Khatmeh_ (reading of the Koran on the third night), or it would not have +seemed kind. The Kadee gave me a very curious prayer-book, the Guide of +the Faithful, written in Darfour! in beautiful characters, and with very +singular decorations, and in splendid binding. It contains the names of +all the prophets and of the hundred appellations of Mohammed, and is +therefore a powerful _hegab_ or talisman. He requested me never to give +it away and always to keep it with me. Such books cannot be bought with +money at all. I also bought a most beautiful _hegab_ of cornelian set in +enamel, the verse of the throne splendidly engraved, and dated 250 years +ago. I sent over by Palgrave to Alick M. Brune's lovely drawings of +Luxor and Karnac, and to Maurice a gold coin which I received as a fee +from an old Bedawee. + +It was so hot that I could not face the ride up to Keneh, when all my +friends there came to fetch me, nor could I go to Siout. I never felt +such heat. At Benisouef I went to see our Maohn's daughter married to +another Maohn there; it was a pleasant visit. The master of the house +was out, and his mother and wife received me like one of the family; such +a pretty woman and such darling children!--a pale, little slight girl of +five, a sturdy boy of four, and a baby of one year old. The eager +hospitality of the little creatures was quite touching. The little girl +asked to have on her best frock, and then she stood before me and fanned +me seriously and diligently, and asked every now and then, 'Shall I make +thee a sherbet?' 'Shall I bring thee a coffee?' and then questions about +grandpapa and grand mamma, and Abd el-Hameed and Abd el-Fattah; while the +boy sat on his heels before me and asked questions about my family in his +baby talk, and assured me it was a good day to him, and wanted me to stay +three days, and to sleep with them. Their father came in and gave each +an ashara (10 foddahs, 0.5 piastre) which, after consulting together, +they tied in the corner of my handkerchief; 'to spend on my journey.' The +little girl took such care of my hat and gloves and shoes, all very +strange garments to her, but politeness was stronger than curiosity with +the little things. I breakfasted with them all next day, and found much +cookery going on for me. I took a doll for my little friend Ayoosheh, +and some sugar-plums for Mohammed, but they laid them aside in order to +devote themselves to the stranger, and all quietly, and with no sort of +show-off or obtrusiveness. Even the baby seemed to have the instinct of +hospitality, and was full of smiles. It was all of a piece with the good +old lady, their grandmother at Luxor, who wanted to wash my clothes for +me herself, because I said the black slave of Mohammed washed badly. +Remember that to do 'menial offices' for a guest is an honour and +pleasure, and not derogatory at all here. The ladies cook for you, and +say, 'I will cook my best for thee.' The worst is that they stuff one +so. Little Ayoosheh asked after my children, and said, 'May God preserve +them for thee! Tell thy little girl that Mohammed and I love her from +afar off.' Whereupon Mohammed declared that in a few years, please God, +when he should be _balal_ (marriageable) he would marry her and live with +me. When I went back to the boat the Effendi was ill with asthma, and I +would not let him go with me in the heat (a polite man accompanies an +honoured guest back to his house or boat, or tent). So the little boy +volunteered, and we rode off on the Effendi's donkey, which I had to +bestride, with Mohammed on the hump of the saddle before me. He was +delighted with the boat, of course, and romped and played about till we +sailed, when his slave took him home. Those children gave me a happy day +with their earnest, gracious hospitality. + +_July_ 14_th_.--Since I wrote this, I have had the boat topsy-turvy, with +a carpenter and a _menegget_ (cushion-stuffer), and had not a corner even +to write in. I am better, but still cough every morning. I am, however, +much better, and have quite got over the nervous depression which made me +feel unable and ashamed to write. My young carpenter--a Christian--half +Syrian, half Copt, of the Greek rite, and altogether a Cairene--would +have pleased you. He would not work on Sunday, but instead, came mounted +on a splendid tall black donkey, and handsomely dressed, to pay me a +visit, and go out with me for a ride. So he, I, and Omar went up to the +Sittee (Lady) Zeyneb's mosque, to inquire for Mustapha Bey Soubky, the +Hakeem Pasha, whom I had known at Luxor. I was told by the porter of the +mosque to seek him at the shop of a certain grocer, his particular +friend, where he sits every evening. On going there we found the shop +with its lid shut down (a shop is like a box laid on its side with the +lid pulled up when open and dropped when shut; as big as a cobbler's +stall in Europe). The young grocer was being married, and Mustapha Bey +was ill. So I went to his house in the quarter--such narrow streets!--and +was shown up by a young eunuch into the hareem, and found my old friend +very poorly, but spent a pleasant evening with him, his young wife--a +Georgian slave whom he had married,--his daughter by a former wife--whom +he had married when he was fourteen, and the female dwarf buffoon of the +Valideh Pasha (Ismail's mother) whose heart I won by rising to her, +because she was so old and deformed. The other women laughed, but the +little old dwarf liked it. She was a Circassian, and seemed clever. You +see how the 'Thousand and One Nights' are quite true and real; how great +Beys sit with grocers, and carpenters have no hesitation in offering +civility to _naas omra_ (noble people). This is what makes Arab society +quite unintelligible and impossible to most Europeans. + +My carpenter's boy was the son of a _moonsheed_ (singer in the Mosque), +and at night he used to sit and warble to us, with his little baby-voice, +and little round, innocent face, the most violent love-songs. He was +about eight years old, and sang with wonderful finish and precision, but +no expression, until I asked him for a sacred song, which begins, 'I +cannot sleep for longing for thee, O Full Moon' (the Prophet), and then +the little chap warmed to his work, and the feeling came out. + +Palgrave has left in my charge a little black boy of his, now at Luxor, +where he left him very ill, with Mustapha A'gha. The child told me he +was a _nyan-nyan_ (cannibal), but he did not look ogreish. I have +written to Mustapha to send him me by the first opportunity. Achmet has +quite recovered his temper, and I do so much better without a maid that I +shall remain so. The difference in expense is enormous, and the peace +and quiet a still greater gain; no more grumbling and 'exigencies' and +worry; Omar irons very fairly, and the sailor washes well enough, and I +don't want toilette--anyhow, I would rather wear a sack than try the +experiment again. An uneducated, coarse-minded European is too +disturbing an element in the family life of Easterns; the sort of filial +relation, at once familiar and reverential of servants to a master they +like, is odious to English and still more to French servants. If I fall +in with an Arab or Abyssinian woman to suit me I will take her; but of +course it is rare; a raw slave can do nothing, nor can a fellaha, and a +Cairo woman is bored to death up in the Saeed. As to care and attention, +I want for nothing. Omar does everything well and with pride and +pleasure, and is delighted at the saving of expense in wine, beer, meat, +etc. etc. One feeds six or eight Arabs well with the money for one +European. + +While the carpenter, his boy, and two _meneggets_ were here, a very +moderate dish of vegetables, stewed with a pound of meat, was put before +me, followed by a chicken or a pigeon for me alone. The stew was then +set on the ground to all the men, and two loaves of a piastre each, to +every one, a jar of water, and, _Alhamdulillah_, four men and two boys +had dined handsomely. At breakfast a water-melon and another +loaf-a-piece, and a cup of coffee all round; and I pass for a true Arab +in hospitality. Of course no European can live so, and they despise the +Arabs for doing it, while the Arab servant is not flattered at seeing the +European get all sorts of costly luxuries which he thinks unnecessary; +besides he has to stand on the defensive, in order not to be made a +drudge by his European fellow-servant, and despised for being one; and so +he leaves undone all sorts of things which he does with alacrity when it +is for 'the master' only. What Omar does now seems wonderful, but he +says he feels like the Sultan now he has only me to please. + +_July_ 15_th_.--Last night came the two _meneggets_ to pay a friendly +visit, and sat and told stories; so I ordered coffee, and one took his +sugar out of his pocket to put in his cup, which made me laugh inwardly. +He told a fisherman, who stopped his boat alongside for a little +conversation, the story of two fishermen, the one a Jew, the other a +Muslim, who were partners in the time of the Arab Prophet (upon whom be +blessing and peace!). The Jew, when he flung his nets called on the +Prophet of the Jews, and hauled it up full of fish every time; then the +Muslim called on our Master Mohammed etc., etc., and hauled up each time +only stones, until the Jew said, 'Depart, O man, thou bringest us +misfortune; shall I continue to take half thy stones, and give thee half +my fish? Not so.' So the Muslim went to our Master Mohammed and said, +'Behold, I mention thy name when I cast my net, and I catch only stones +and calamity. How is this?' But the blessed Prophet said to him, +'Because thy stomach is black inwardly, and thou thoughtest to sell thy +fish at an unfair price, and to defraud thy partner and the people, while +the Jew's heart was clean towards thee and the people, and therefore God +listened to him rather than to thee.' I hope our fisherman was edified +by this fine moral. I also had good stories from the chief diver of +Cairo, who came to examine the bottom of my boat, and told me, in a +whisper, a long tale of his grandfather's descent below the waters of the +Nile, into the land of the people who lived there, and keep tame +crocodiles to hunt fish for them. They gave him a sleeve-full of fishes' +scales, and told him never to return, and not to tell about them: and +when he got home the scales had turned to money. But most wonderful of +all was Haggi Hannah's story of her own life, and the journey of Omar's +mother carrying her old mother in a basket on her head from Damietta to +Alexandria, and dragging Omar then a very little boy, by the hand. The +energy of many women here is amazing. + +The Nile is rising fast, and the _Bisheer_ is come (the messenger who +precedes the Hajj, and brings letters). _Bisheer_ is 'good tidings,' to +coin a word. Many hearts are lightened and many half-broken to-day. I +shall go up to the Abassia to meet the Mahmal and see the Hajjees arrive. + +Next Friday I must take my boat out of the water, or at least heel her +over, to repair the bad places made at Alexandria. It seems I once cured +a Reis of the Pasha's of dysentery at Minieh, and he has not forgotten +it, though I had; so Reis Awad will give me a good place on the Pasha's +bank, and lend ropes and levers which will save a deal of expense and +trouble. I shall move out all the things and myself into a boat of +Zubeydeh's for four or five days, and stay alongside to superintend my +caulkers. + +Miss Berry _is_ dull no doubt, but few books seem dull to me now, I can +tell you, and I was much delighted with such a _piece de resistance_. +Miss Eden I don't wish for--that sort of theatre burlesque view of the +customs of a strange country is inexpressibly tedious to one who is +familiar with one akin to it. There is plenty of _real_ fun to be had +here, but that sort is only funny to cockneys. I want to read Baker's +book very much. I am much pleased with Abd el-Kader's book which Dozon +sent me, and want the original dreadfully for Sheykh Yussuf, to show him +that he and I are supported by such an authority as the great Ameer in +our notions about the real unity of the Faith. The book is a curious +mixture of good sense and credulity--quite 'Arab of the Arabs.' I will +write a paper on the popular beliefs of Egypt; it will be curious, I +think. By the way, I see in the papers and reviews speculations as to +some imaginary Mohammedan conspiracy, because of the very great number of +pilgrims last year from all parts to Mecca. _C'est chercher midi a +quatorze heures_. Last year the day of Abraham's sacrifice,--and +therefore _the_ day of the pilgrimage--(the sermon on Mount Arafat) fell +on a Friday, and when that happens there is always a rush, owing to the +popular notion that the _Hajj el-Gumma_ (pilgrimage of the Friday) is +seven times blessed, or even equivalent to making it seven times in +ordinary years. As any beggar in the street could tell a man this, it +may give you some notion of how absurdly people make theories out of +nothing for want of a little commonsense. + +The _Moolid en-Nebbee_ (Festival of the Prophet) has just begun. I am to +have a place in the great Derweesh's tent to see the Doseh. + +The Nile is rising fast; we shall kill the poor little Luxor black lamb +on the day of the opening of the canal, and have a _fantasia_ at night; +only I grieve for my little white pussy, who sleeps every night on +Ablook's (the lamb's) woolly neck, and loves him dearly. Pussy ('Bish' +is Arabic for puss) was the gift of a Coptic boy at Luxor, and is +wondrous funny, and as much more active and lissom than a European cat as +an Arab is than an Englishman. She and Achmet and Ablook have fine games +of romps. Omar has set his heart on an English signet ring with an oval +stone to engrave his name on, here you know they sign papers with a +signet, not with a pen. It must be _solid_ to stand hard work. + +Well, I must finish this endless letter. Here comes _such_ a bouquet +from the Pasha's garden (somebody's sister's son is servant to the chief +eunuch and brings it to me), a great round of scarlet, surrounded with +white and green and with tall reeds, on which are threaded single tube- +rose flowers, rising out of it so as to figure a huge flower with white +pistils. Arab gardeners beat French flower-girls in bouquets. + + + +July 17, 1866: Alick + + +CAIRO, +_July_ 17, 1866. + +Dearest Alick, + +I am perfectly comfortable now with my aquatic _menage_. The Reis is +very well behaved and steady and careful, and the sort of Caliban of a +sailor is a very worthy savage. Omar of course is hardworked--what with +going to market, cooking, cleaning, ironing, and generally keeping +everything in nice order but he won't hear of a maid of any sort. No +wonder! + +A clever old Reis has just come and over-hauled the bottom of the boat, +and says he can mend her without taking her out of the water. We shall +see; it will be great luck if he can. As I am the river doctor, all the +sailoring men are glad to do me a civility. + +We have had the hottest of summers; it is now 98 in the cabin. I have +felt very unwell, but my blue devils are quite gone, and I am altogether +better. What a miserable war it is in Europe! I am most anxious for the +next papers. Here it is money misery; the Pasha is something like +bankrupt, and no one has had a day's pay these three months, even +pensions of sixty piastres a month (seven shillings) to poor old female +slaves of Mahommed Ali's are stopped. + +_August_ 4.--The heat is and has been something fearful: we are all +panting and puffing. I can't think what Palgrave meant about my being +tired of poor old Egypt; I am very happy and comfortable, only I felt +rather weak and poorly this year, and sometimes, I suppose, rather +_wacham_, as the Arabs say, after you and the children. The heat, too, +has made me lazy--it is 110 in the cabin, and 96 at night. + +I saw the _Moolid en-Nebbee_ (Festival of the Prophet), and the wonderful +_Doseh_ (treading); it is an awful sight; so many men drunk with +religious ardour. {293} I also went to a Turkish Hareem, where my +darweesh friends sent me; it is just like a tea-party at Hampton Court, +only handsomer, not as to the ladies, but the clothes, furniture and +jewels, and not a bit like the description in Mrs. Lott's most +extraordinary book. Nothing is so clean as a Turkish hareem, the +furniture is Dutch as to cleanliness, and their persons only like +themselves--but oh! how dull and _triste_ it all seemed. One nice lady +said to me, 'If I had a husband and children like thee, I would die a +hundred times rather than leave them for an hour,' another envied me the +power of going into the street and seeing the _Doseh_. She had never +seen it, and never would. + +To-morrow Olagnier will dine and spend the night here, to see the cutting +of the canal, and the 'Bride of the Nile' on Monday morning. We shall +sail up to old Cairo in the evening with the Bride's boat; also Hajjee +Hannah is coming for the fantasia; after the high Nile we shall take the +boat out and caulk her and then, if the excessive heat continues, I +rather think of a month's jaunt to Beyrout just to freshen me up. Hajjee +Ali is there, with all his travelling materials and tents, so I need only +take Omar and a bath and carpet-bag. If the weather gets cool I shall +stay in my boat. The heat is far more oppressive here than it was at +Luxor two years ago; it is not so dry. The Viceroy is afraid of cholera, +and worried the poor Hajjees this year with most useless quarantine. The +_Mahmal_ was smuggled into Cairo before sunrise, without the usual +honours, and all sightseers and holiday makers disappointed, and all good +Muslims deeply offended. The idea that the Pasha has turned Christian or +even Jew is spreading fast; I hear it on all sides. The new firman +illegitimatising so many of his children is of course just as agreeable +to a sincere Moslem as a law sanctioning polygamy for our royal family +would be with us. + + + +August 20, 1866: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +OFF BOULAK, +_August_ 20, 1866. + +Dearest Alick, + +Since I wrote I have had a bad bilious attack, which has of course +aggravated my cough. Everyone has had the same, and most far worse than +I, but I was very wretched and most shamefully cross. Omar said, 'That +is not you but the sickness,' when I found fault with everything, and it +was very true. I am still seedy. Also I am beyond measure exasperated +about my boat. I went up to the _Ata el-Khalig_ (cutting of the canal) +to see the great sight of the 'Bride of the Nile,' a lovely spectacle; +and on returning we all but sank. I got out into a boat of Zubeydeh's +with all my goods, and we hauled up my boat, and found her bottom rotten +from stem to stern. So here I am in the midst of wood merchants, +sawyers, etc., etc., rebuilding her bottom. My Reis said he had 'carried +her on his head all this time' but 'what could such a one as he say +against the word of a Howagah, like Ross's storekeeper?' When the +English cheat each other there remains nothing but to seek refuge with +God. Omar buys the wood and superintends, together with the Reis, and +the builders seem good workmen and fair-dealing. I pay day by day, and +have a scribe to keep the accounts. If I get out of it for 150 pounds I +shall think Omar has done wonders, for every atom has to be new. I never +saw anything so rotten afloat. If I had gone up the Cataract I should +never have come down alive. It is a marvel we did not sink long ago. + +Mahbrook, Palgrave's boy, has arrived, and turns out well. He is a stout +lubberly boy, with infinite good humour, and not at all stupid, and +laughs a good real nigger yahyah, which brings the fresh breezes and +lilac mountains of the Cape before me when I hear it. When I tell him to +do anything he does it with strenuous care, and then asks, _tayib_? (is +it well) and if I say 'Yes' he goes off, as Omar says, 'like a cannon in +Ladyship's face,' in a guffaw of satisfaction. Achmet, who is half his +size, orders him about and teaches him, with an air of extreme dignity +and says pityingly to me, 'You see, oh Lady, he is quite new, quite +green.' Achmet, who had never seen a garment or any article of European +life two years ago, is now a smart valet, with very distinct ideas of +waiting at table, arranging my things etc. and cooks quite cleverly. Arab +boys are amazing. I have promoted him to wages--one napoleon a month--so +now he will keep his family. He is about a head taller than Rainie. + +I intend to write a paper on the various festivals and customs of Copts +and Muslims; but I must wait to see Abu Seyfeyn, near Luxor, the great +Christian Saint, where all go to be cured of possession--all mad people. +The Viceroy wages steady war against all festivals and customs. The +_Mahmal_ was burked this year, and the fair at Tantah forbidden. Then +the Europeans spoil all; the Arabs no longer go to the _Ata el-Khalig_, +and at the _Doseh_, the Frangee carriages were like the Derby day. It is +only up country that the real thing remains. + +To-morrow my poor black sheep will be killed over the new prow of the +boat; his blood 'straked' upon her, and his flesh sodden and eaten by all +the workmen, to keep off the evil eye; and on the day she goes into the +water, some _Fikees_ will read the Koran in the cabin, and again there +will be boiled mutton and bread. The Christian _Ma-allimeen_ (skilled +workmen) hold to the ceremony of the sheep quite as much as the others, +and always do it over a new house, boat, mill, waterwheel etc. + +Did I tell you Omar has another girl--about two months ago? His wife and +babies are to come up from Alexandria to see him, for he will not leave +me for a day, on account of my constantly being so ailing and weak. I +hope if I die away from you all, you will do something for Omar for my +sake, I cannot conceive what I should do without his faithful and loving +care. I don't know why he is so devotedly fond of me, but he certainly +does love me as he says 'like his mother,' and moreover as a very +affectionate son loves his other. How pleasant it would be if you could +come--but please don't run any risks of fatigue or exposure to cold on +your return. If you cannot come I shall go to Luxor early in October and +send back the boat to let. I hear from Luxor that the people are all +running away from the land, unable to pay triple taxes and eat bread: the +ruin is universal. The poor Sheykhs el-Beled, who had the honour of +dining with the Viceroy at Minieh have each had a squeeze politely +administered. One poor devil I know had to 'make a present' of 50 +purses. + +How is my darling Rainie? I do so long for her earnest eyes at times, +and wonder if I shall ever be able to get back to you all again. I fear +that break down at Soden sent me down a great terrace. I have never lost +the pain and the cough for a day since. I have not been out for an age, +or seen anyone. Would you know the wife of your bosom in a pair of pink +trousers and a Turkish _tob_? Such is my costume as I write. The woman +who came to sew could not make a gown, so she made me a pair of trousers +instead. Farewell, dearest, I dare hardly say how your hint of possibly +coming has made me wish it, and yet I dread to persuade you. The great +heat is quite over with the high Nile, and the air on the river fresh and +cool--cold at night even. + + + +August 27, 1866: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +OFF BOULAK +_August_ 27, 1866. + +Dearest Alick, + +Your letter of the 18th has this moment arrived. I am very glad to hear +you are so much better. I am still seedy-ish, but no worse. Everybody +is liver-sick this year, I give calomel and jalep all round--except to +myself. + +The last two or three days we have been in great tribulation about the +boat. On Saturday all her ribs were finished, and the planking and +caulking ready to be put on, when in the night up came the old Nile with +a rush, and threatened to carry her off; but by the favour of +Abu-l-Hajjaj and Sheykh el-Bostawee she was saved in this wise. You +remember the tall old steersman who went with us to Bedreeshayn, and whom +we thought so ill-conditioned; well, he was in charge of a dahabieh close +by, and he called up all the Reises and steermen to help. 'Oh men of el- +Bostawee, this is _our_ boat (_i.e_. we are the servants of her owner) +and she is in our faces;' and then he set the example, stripped and +carried dust and hammered in piles all night, and by the morning she was +surrounded by a dyke breast-high. The 'long-shore' men of Boulak were +not a little surprised to see dignified Reises working for nothing like +fellaheen. Meanwhile my three _Ma-allimeen_, the chief builder, caulker +and foreman, had also stayed all night with Omar and my Reis, who worked +like the rest, and the Sheykh of all the boat-builders went to visit one +of my _Ma-allimeen_, who is his nephew, and hearing the case came down +too at one in the morning and stayed till dawn. Then as the workmen +passed, going to their respective jobs, he called them, and said, 'Come +and finish this boat; it must be done by to-morrow night.' Some men who +objected and said they were going to the Pasha's dockyard, got a beating +_pro forma_ and the end of it was that I found forty-six men under my +boat working 'like Afreets and Shaitans,' when I went to see how all was +going in the morning. The old Sheykh marked out a piece to each four +men, and then said, 'If that is not done to-night, Oh dogs! to-morrow +I'll put on the hat'--_i.e_. 'To-day I have beaten moderately, like an +Arab, but to-morrow, please God, I'll beat like a Frank, and be mad with +the stick.' _Kurz und gut_, the boat which yesterday morning was a +skeleton, is now, at four p.m. to-day, finished, caulked, pitched and all +capitally done; if the Nile carries off the dyke, she will float safe. +The shore is covered with debris of other people's half-finished boats I +believe. I owe the ardour of the _Ma-allims_ and of the Sheykh of the +builders to one of my absurd pieces of Arab civility. On the day when +Omar killed poor Ablook, my black sheep, over the bows and 'straked' his +blood upon them, the three _Ma-allimeen_ came on board this boat to eat +their dish, and I followed the old Arab fashion and ate out of the wooden +dish with them and the Reis 'for luck,' or rather 'for a blessing' as we +say here; and it seems that this gave immense satisfaction. + +My Reis wept at the death of the black sheep, which used to follow him to +the coffee-shop and the market, and 'was to him as a son,' he said, but +he ate of him nevertheless. Omar surreptitiously picked out the best +pieces for my dinner for three days, with his usual eye to economy; then +lighted a fire of old wood, borrowed a cauldron of some darweeshes, cut +up the sheep, added water and salt, onions and herbs, and boiled the +sheep. Then the big washing copper (a large round flat tray, like a +sponging bath) was filled with bread broken in pieces, over which the +broth was slowly poured till the bread was soaked. Next came a layer of +boiled rice, on the top of that the pieces of boiled meat, and over all +was poured butter, vinegar and garlic boiled together. This is called a +_Fettah_, and is the orthodox dish of darweeshes and given at all +_Khatmehs_ and other semi-religious, semi-festive, semi-charitable +festivities. It is excellent and not expensive. I asked how many had +eaten and was told one hundred and thirty men had 'blessed my hand.' I +expended 160 piastres on bread, butter and vinegar, etc. and the sheep +was worth two napoleons; three napoleons in all, or less--for I ate for +two days of the mutton. + +The three _Ma-allims_ came on board this boat, as I said and ate; and it +was fine to hear us--how polite we were. 'A bit more, oh _Ma-allim_?' +'Praise be to God, we have eaten well--we will return to our work'; 'By +the Prophet, coffee and a pipe.' 'Truly thou art of the most noble +people.' 'Oh _Ma-allim_, ye have honoured us and rejoiced us,' 'Verily +this is a day white among days,' etc. A very clever Egyptian engineer, a +pupil of Whitworth's, who is living in a boat alongside mine, was much +amused, and said, 'Ah you know how to manage 'em.' + +I have learnt the story of the two dead bodies that hitched in my anchor- +chain some time ago. They were not Europeans as I thought, but +Circassians--a young man and his mother. The mother used to take him to +visit an officer's wife who had been brought up in the hareem of the +Pasha's mother. The husband caught them, killed them, tied them together +and flung them into the Nile near Rhoda, and gave himself into the hands +of the police. All was of course hushed up. He goes to Fazoghlou; and I +don't know what becomes of the slave-girl, his wife. These sort of +things happen every day (as the bodies testify) among the Turks, but the +Europeans never hear it. I heard it by a curious chance. + +_September_ 4.--My boat will soon be finished, and now will be as good as +new. Omar has worked like a good one from daybreak till night, +overlooking, buying all the materials, selling all the old wood and iron, +etc., and has done capitally. I shall take a paper from my _Ma-allims_ +who are all first class men, to certify what they have done and that the +boat is as good as new. Goodah Effendi has kindly looked at her several +times for me and highly approves the work done I never saw men do a +better day's work than those at the boat. It is pretty to see the +carpenter holding the wood with one hand and one foot while he saws it, +sitting on the ground--just like the old frescoes. Do you remember the +picture of boat-building in the tomb at Sakkara? Well, it is just the +same; all done with the adze; but it is stout work they put into it, I +can tell you. + +If you do not come (and I do not like to press you, I fear the fatigue +for you and the return to the cold winter) I shall go to Luxor in a month +or so and send back the boat to let. I have a neighbour now, Goodah +Effendi, an engineer, who studied and married in England. His wife is +gone there with the children, and he is living in a boat close by; so he +comes over of an evening very often, and I am glad of his company: he is +a right good fellow and very intelligent. + +My best love to all at home. I've got a log from the cedars of Lebanon, +my Moslem carpenter who smoothed the broken end, swallowed the sawdust, +because he believed 'Our Lady Mary' had sat under the tree with 'Our Lord +Jesus.' + + + +September 21, 1886: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +OFF BOULAK, +_September_ 21, 1886. + +I am better again now and go on very comfortably with my two little boys. +Omar is from dawn till night at work at my boat, so I have only Mahbrook +and Achmet, and you would wonder to see how well I am served. Achmet +cooks a very good dinner, serves it and orders Mahbrook about. Sometimes +I whistle and hear _hader_ (ready) from the water and in tumbles Achmet, +with the water running 'down his innocent nose' and looking just like a +little bronze triton of a Renaissance fountain, with a blue shirt and +white skull-cap added. Mahbrook is a big lubberly lad of the laugh-and- +grow-fat breed, clumsy, but not stupid, and very good and docile. You +would delight in his guffaws, and the merry games and hearty laughter of +my _menage_ is very pleasant to me. Another boy swims over from Goodah's +boat (his Achmet), and then there are games at piracy, and much stealing +of red pots from the potter's boats. The joke is to snatch one under the +owner's very nose, and swim off brandishing it, whereupon the boatman +uses eloquent language, and the boys out-hector him, and everybody is +much amused. I only hope Palgrave won't come back from Sookum Kaleh to +fetch Mahbrook just as he has got clever--not at stealing jars, but in +his work. He already washes my clothes very nicely indeed; his stout +black arms are made for a washer-boy. Achmet looked forward with great +eagerness to your coming. He is mad to go to England, and in his heart +planned to ingratiate himself with you, and go as a 'general servant.' He +is very little, if at all, bigger than a child of seven, but an Arab boy +'_ne doute de rien_' and does serve admirably. What would an English +respectable cook say to seeing 'two dishes and a sweet' cooked over a +little old wood on a few bricks, by a baby in a blue shirt? and very well +cooked too, and followed by incomparable coffee. + +You will be pleased to hear that your capital story of the London cabman +has its exact counterpart here. 'Oh gracious God, what aileth thee, oh +Achmet my brother, and why is thy bosom contracted that thou hast not +once said to me d------n thy father, or son of a dog or pig, as thou art +used to do.' + +Can't you save up your holidays and come for four months next winter with +my Maurice? However perhaps you would be bored on the Nile. I don't +know. People either enjoy it rapturously or are bored, I believe. I am +glad to hear from Janet that you are well. I am much better. The +carpenter will finish in the boat to-day, then the painter begins and in +a week, Inshallah, I shall get back into her. + + + +September 21, 1886: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +OFF BOULAK, +_September_ 21, 1886. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I am a good deal better again; the weather is delightful, and the Nile in +full flood, which makes the river scenery from the boat very beautiful. +Alick made my mouth water with his descriptions of his rides with Janet +about the dear old Surrey country, having her with him seems to have +quite set him up. I have seen nothing and nobody but my 'next boat' +neighbour, Goodah Effendi, as Omar has been at work all day in the boat, +and I felt lazy and disinclined to go out alone. Big Hassan of the +donkeys has grown too lazy to go about and I don't care to go alone with +a small boy here. However I am out in the best of air all day and am +very well off. My two little boys are very diverting and serve me very +well. The news from Europe is to my ignorant ideas _desolant_, a +_degringolade back_ into military despotism, which would have excited +indignation with us in our fathers' days, I think. I get lots of +newspapers from Ross, which afterwards go to an Arab grocer, who reads +the _Times_ and the _Saturday Review_ in his shop in the bazaar! what +next? The cargo of books which Alick and you sent will be most +acceptable for winter consumption. If I were a painter I would take up +the Moslem traditions of Joseph and Mary. He was not a white-bearded old +gentleman at all you must know, but young, lovely and pure as Our Lady +herself. They were cousins, brought up together; and she avoided the +light conversation of other girls, and used to go to the well with her +jar, hand in hand with Joseph carrying his. After the angel Gabriel had +announced to her the will of God, and blown into her sleeve, whereby she +conceived 'the Spirit of God,' Joseph saw her state with dismay, and +resolved to kill her, as was his duty as her nearest male relation. He +followed her, knife in hand, meaning always to kill her at the next tree, +and each time his heart failed him, until they reached the well and the +tree under which the Divine messenger stood once more and said, 'Fear not +oh Joseph, the daughter of thy uncle bears within her Eesa, the Messiah, +the Spirit of God.' Joseph married his cousin without fear. Is it not +pretty? the two types of youthful purity and piety, standing hand in hand +before the angel. I think a painter might make something out of the soft- +eyed Syrian boy with his jar on his shoulder (hers on the head), and the +grave, modest maiden who shrank from all profane company. + +I now know all about Sheykh Seleem, and why he sits naked on the river +bank; from very high authority--a great Sheykh to whom it has been +revealed. He was entrusted with the care of some of the holy she camels, +like that on which the Prophet rode to Jerusalem in one night, and which +are invisible to all but the elect, and he lost one, and now he is God's +prisoner till she is found. + +A letter from aunt Charley all about her own and Rainie's country life, +school feasts etc., made me quite cry, and brought before me--oh, how +vividly--the difference between East and West, not quite _all_ to the +advantage of home however, though mostly. What is pleasant here is the +primitive ways. Three times since I have been here lads of most +respectable families of Luxor have come to ask hospitality, which +consists in a place on the deck of the boat, and liberty to dip their +bread in the common dish with my slave boy and Achmet. The bread they +brought with them, 'bread and shelter' were not asked, as they slept _sub +dio_. In England I must have refused the hospitality, on account of +_gene_ and expense. The chief object to the lads was the respectability +of being under my eye while away from their fathers, as a satisfaction to +their families; and while they ate and slept like beggars, as we should +say, they read their books and chatted with me, when I was out on the +deck, on perfectly equal terms, only paying the respect proper to my age. +I thought of the 'orphanages and institutions' and all the countless +difficulties of that sort, and wondered whether something was not to be +said for this absence of civilization in knives, forks, beds, beer, and +first and second tables above all. Of course climate has a good deal to +do with the facility with which widows and orphans are absorbed here. + +Goodbye dearest Mutter: to-day is post day, and Reis Mohammed is about to +trudge into town in such a dazzling white turban and such a grand black +robe. His first wife, whom he was going to divorce for want of children, +has brought him a son, and we jeer him a little about what he may find in +Luxor from the second, and wish him a couple of dozen. + + + +October 15, 1866: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +CAIRO, +_October_ 15, 1866. + +Dearest Alick, + +I have been back in my own boat four days, and most comfortable she is. I +enlarged the saloon, and made a good writing table, and low easy divans +instead of benches, and added a sort of pantry and sleeping cabin in +front; so that Omar has not to come through the saloon to sleep; and I +have all the hareem part to myself. Inside there is a good large stern +cabin, and wash-closet and two small cabins with beds long enough even +for you. Inshallah, you and Maurice will come next winter and go up the +Nile and enjoy it with me. I intend to sail in ten days and to send back +the 'Urania' to seek work for the winter. We had a very narrow escape of +being flooded this year. I fear a deal of damage has been done to the +dourrah and cotton crops. It was sad to see the villagers close by here +trying to pull up a little green dourrah as the Nile slowly swallowed up +the fields. + +I was forced to flog Mabrook yesterday for smoking on the sly, a grave +offence here on the part of a boy; it is considered disrespectful; so he +was ordered, with much parade, to lie down, and Omar gave him two cuts +with a rope's end, an apology for a flogging which would have made an +Eton boy stare. The stick here is quite nominal, except in official +hands. I can't say Mabrook seemed at all impressed, for he was laughing +heartily with Omar in less than ten minutes; but the affair was conducted +with as much solemnity as an execution. + +'Sheykh' Stanley's friend, Gezawee, has married his negro slave to his +own sister, on the plea that he was the best young man he knew. What +would a Christian family say to such an arrangement? + +My boat is beautifully buoyant now, and has come up by the bows in fine +style. I have not sailed her yet, but have doubt she will 'walk well' as +the Arabs say. Omar got 10 pounds by the sale of old wood and nails, and +also gave me 2000 piastres, nearly 12 pounds, which the workmen had given +him as a sort of backsheesh. They all pay one, two or three piastres +daily to any _wakeel_ (agent) who superintends; that is his profit, and +it is enormous at that rate. I said, 'Why did you not refuse it?' But +Omar replied they had pay enough after that reduction, which is always +made from them, and that in his opinion therefore, it came out of the +master's pocket, and was 'cheatery.' How people have been talking +nonsense about Jamaica _chez vous_. I have little doubt Eyre did quite +right, and still less doubt that the niggers have had enough of the sort +of provocation which I well know, to account for the outbreak. Baker's +effusion is a very poor business. There may be blacks like tigers (and +whites too in London for that matter). I myself have seen at least five +sorts of blacks (negroes, not Arabs), more unlike each other than Swedes +are unlike Spaniards; and many are just like ourselves. Of course they +want governing with a strong hand, like all ignorant, childish creatures. +But I am fully convinced that custom and education are the only real +differences between one set of men and another, their inner nature is the +same all the world over. + +My Reis spoke such a pretty parable the other day that I must needs write +it. A Coptic Reis stole some of my wood, which we got back by force and +there was some reviling of the Nazarenes in consequence from Hoseyn and +Ali; but Reis Mohammed said: 'Not so; Girgis is a thief, it is true, but +many Christians are honest; and behold, all the people in the world are +like soldiers, some wear red and some blue; some serve on foot, others on +horseback, and some in ships; but all serve one Sultan, and each fights +in the regiment in which the Sultan has placed him, and he who does his +duty best is the best man, be his coat red or blue or black.' I said, +'Excellent words, oh Reis, and fit to be spoken from the best of +pulpits.' It is surprising what happy sayings the people here hit upon; +they cultivate talk for want of reading, and the consequence is great +facility of narration and illustration. Everybody enforces his ideas +like Christ, in parables. Hajjee Hannah told me two excellent fairy +tales, which I will write for Rainie with some Bowdlerizing, and several +laughable stories, which I will leave unrecorded, as savouring too much +of Boccaccio's manner, or that of the Queen of Navarre. I told Achmet to +sweep the floor after dinner just now. He hesitated, and I called again: +'What manner is this, not to sweep when I bid thee?' 'By the most high +God,' said the boy, 'my hand shall not sweep in thy boat after sunset, oh +Lady; I would rather have it cut off than sweep thee out of thy +property.' I found that you must not sweep at night, nor for three days +after the departure of a guest whose return you desire, or of the master +of the house. 'Thinkest thou that my brother would sweep away the dust +of thy feet from the floors at Luxor,' continued Achmet, 'he would fear +never to see thy fortunate face again.' If you don't want to see your +visitor again you break a _gulleh_ (water-jar) behind him as he leaves +the house, and sweep away his footsteps. + +What a canard your papers have in Europe about a constitution here. I +won't write any politics, it is all too dreary; and Cairo gossip is +odious, as you may judge by the productions of Mesdames Odouard and Lott. +Only remember this, there is no law nor justice but the will, or rather +the caprice, of one man. It is nearly impossible for any European to +conceive such a state of things as really exists. Nothing but perfect +familiarity with the governed, _i.e_. oppressed, class will teach it; +however intimate a man may be with the rulers he will never fully take it +in. I am _a l'index_ here, and none of the people I know dare come to +see me; Arab I mean. It was whispered in my ear in the street by a +friend I met. Ismael Pasha's chief pleasure is gossip, and a certain +number of persons, chiefly Europeans, furnish him with it daily, true or +false. If the farce of the constitution ever should be acted here it +will be superb. Something like the Consul going in state to ask the +fellaheen what wages they got. I could tell you a little of the value of +consular information; but what is the use? Europe is enchanted with the +enlightened Pasha who has ruined this fine country. + +I long so to see you and Rainie! I don't like to hope too much, but +Inshallah, next year I shall see you all. + + + +October 19, 1866: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +OFF BOULAK, +_October_ 19, 1866. + +I shall soon sail up the river. Yesterday Seyd Mustapha arrived, who +says that the Greeks are all gone, and the poor Austrian at Thebes is +dead, so I shall represent Europe in my single person from Siout to, I +suppose, Khartoum. + +You would delight in Mabrook; a man asked him the other day after his +flogging, if he would not run away, to see what he would say as he +alleged, I suspect he meant to steal and sell him. 'I run away, to eat +lentils like you? when _my_ Effendi gives me meat and bread every day, +and _I eat such a lot_.' Is not that a delicious practical view of +liberty? The creature's enjoyment of life is quite a pleasure to +witness, and he really works very well and with great alacrity. If +Palgrave claims him I think I must buy him. + +I hear sad accounts from the Saeed: the new taxes and the new levies of +soldiers are driving the people to despair and many are running away from +the land, which will no longer feed them after paying all exactions, to +join the Bedaween in the desert, which is just as if our peasantry turned +gipsies. A man from Dishne visited me: the people there want me to +settle in their village and offer me a voluntary _corvee_ if I will buy +land, so many men to work for me two days a month each, I haven't a +conception why. It is a place about fifty miles below Luxor, a large +agricultural village. + +Omar's wife Mabrookah came here yesterday, a nice young woman, and the +babies are fine children and very sweet-tempered. She told me that the +lion's head, which I sent down to Alexandria to go to you, was in her +room when a neighbour of hers, who had never had a child, saw it, and at +once conceived. The old image worship survives in the belief, which is +all over Egypt, that the 'Anteeks' (antiques) can cure barrenness. +Mabrookah was of course very smartly dressed, and the reckless way in +which Eastern women treat their fine clothes gives them a grand air, +which no Parisian Duchess could hope to imitate--not that I think it a +virtue mind you, but some vices are genteel. + +Last night was a great Sheykh's fete, such drumming and singing, and +ferrying across the river. The Nile is running down unusually fast, and +I think I had better go soon, as the mud of Cairo is not so sweet as the +mud of the upper land. + + + +October 25, 1866: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +OFF BOULAK, +_October_ 25, 1866. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I have got all ready, and shall sail on Saturday. My men have baked the +bread, and received their wages to go to Luxor and bring the boat back to +let. It is turning cold, but I feel none the worse for it, though I +shall be glad to go. I've had a dreary, worrying time here, and am tired +of hearing of all the meannesses and wickedness which constitute the _on +dits_ here. Not that I hear much, but there is nothing else. I shall be +best at Luxor now the winter has set in so early. You would laugh at +such winter when one sits out all day under an awning in English summer +clothes, and wants only two blankets at night; but all is comparative +_ici bas_, and I call it cold, and Mabrook ceases to consider his clothes +such a grievance as they were to him at first, and takes kindly to a +rough _capote_ for the night. I have just been interrupted by my Reis +and one of my men, who came in to display the gorgeous printed calico +they have bought; one for his Luxor wife and the other for his betrothed +up near Assouan. (The latter is about eight years old, and Hosein has +dressed her and paid her expenses these five years, as is the custom up +in that district.) The Reis has bought a silk head-kerchief for nine +shillings, but that was in the marriage contract. So I must see, admire +and wish good luck to the finery, and to the girls who are to wear it. +Then we had a little talk about the prospects of letting the boat, and, +Inshallah, making some money for _el gamma_, _i.e_., 'all our company,' +or 'all of us together.' The Reis hopes that the _Howagat_ will not be +too outrageous in their ways or given to use the stick, as the solution +of every difficulty. + +The young Shurafa of Abu-l-Hajjaj came from Gama'l Azhar to-day to bid me +goodbye and bring their letters for Luxor. I asked them about the +rumours that the Ulema are preaching against the Franks (which is always +being said), but they had heard nothing of the sort, and said they had +not heard of anything the Franks had done lately which would signify to +the Muslims at all. It is not the Franks who press so many soldiers, or +levy such heavy taxes three months in advance! I will soon write again. +I feel rather like the wandering Jew and long for home and rest, without +being dissatisfied with what I have and enjoy, God knows. If I _could_ +get better and come home next summer. + + + +November 21, 1866: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_November_ 21, 1866 + +Dearest Alick, + +I arrived here on the morning of the 11th. I am a beast not to have +written, but I caught cold after four days and have really not been well, +so forgive me, and I will narrate and not apologize. We came up best +pace, as the boat is a flyer now, only fourteen days to Thebes, and to +Keneh only eleven. Then we had bad winds, and my men pulled away at the +rope, and sang about the _Reis el-Arousa_ (bridegroom) going to his +bride, and even Omar went and pulled the rope. We were all very merry, +and played practical jokes on a rascal who wanted a pound to guide me to +the tombs: we made him run miles, fetch innumerable donkeys, and then +laughed at his beard. Such is boatmen fun. On arriving at Luxor I heard +a _charivari_ of voices, and knew I was 'at home,' by the shrill pipe of +the little children, _el Sitt_, _el Sitt_. Visitors all day of course, +at night comes up another dahabieh, great commotion, as it had been +telegraphed from Cairo (which I knew before I left, and was to be +stopped). So I coolly said, 'Oh Mustapha, the Indian saint (Walee) is in +thine eye, seeing that an Indian is all as one with an Englishman.' 'How +did I know there was an Indian and a Walee?' etc. Meanwhile the Walee +had a bad thumb, and some one told his slave that there was a wonderful +English doctress, so in the morning he sent for me, and I went inside the +hareem. He was very friendly, and made me sit close beside him, told me +he was fourth in descent from Abd el-Kader Gylamee of Bagdad, but his +father settled at Hyderabad, where he has great estates. He said he was +a Walee or saint, and would have it that I was in the path of the +darweeshes; gave me medicine for my cough; asked me many questions, and +finally gave me five dollars and asked if I wanted more? I thanked him +heartily, kissed the money politely, and told him I was not poor enough +to want it and would give it in his name to the poor of Luxor, but that I +would never forget that the Indian Sheykh had behaved like a brother to +an English woman in a strange land. He then spoke in great praise of the +'laws of the English,' and said many more kind things to me, adding +again, 'I tell thee thou art a Darweesh, and do not thou forget me.' +Another Indian from Lahore, I believe the Sheykh's tailor, came to see +me--an intelligent man, and a Syrian doctor; a manifest scamp. The +people here said he was a _bahlawar_ (rope-dancer). Well, the +authorities detained the boat with fair words till orders came from Keneh +to let them go up further. Meanwhile the Sheykh came out and performed +some miracles, which I was not there to see, perfuming people's hands by +touching them with his, and taking English sovereigns out of a pocketless +jacket, and the doctor told wonders of him. Anyhow he spent 10 pounds in +one day here, and he is a regular darweesh. He and all the Hareem were +poorly dressed and wore no ornaments whatever. I hope Seyd Abdurachman +will come down safe again, but no one knows what the Government wants of +him or why he is so watched. It is the first time I ever saw an Oriental +travelling for pleasure. He had about ten or twelve in the hareem, among +them his three little girls, and perhaps twenty men outside, Indians, and +Arabs from Syria, I fancy. + +Next day I moved into the old house, and found one end in ruins, owing to +the high Nile and want of repair. However there is plenty more safe and +comfortable. I settled all accounts with my men, and made an inventory +in Arabic, which Sheykh Yussuf wrote for me, which we laughed over +hugely. How to express a sauce-boat, a pie-dish, etc. in Arabic, was a +poser. A genteel Effendi, who sat by, at last burst out in +uncontrollable amazement; 'There is no God but God: is it possible that +four or five Franks can use all these things to eat, drink and sleep on a +journey?' (N.B. I fear the Franks will think the stock very scanty.) +Whereupon master Achmet, with the swagger of one who has seen cities and +men, held forth. 'Oh Effendim, that is nothing; Our Lady is almost like +the children of the Arabs. One dish or two, a piece of bread, a few +dates, and Peace, (as we say, there is an end of it). But thou shouldst +see the merchants of Escandarieh, (Alexandria), three tablecloths, forty +dishes, to each soul seven plates of all sorts, seven knives and seven +forks and seven spoons, large and small, and seven different glasses for +wine and beer and water.' 'It is the will of God,' replied the Effendi, +rather put down: 'but,' he added, 'it must be a dreadful fatigue to them +to eat their dinner.' Then came an impudent merchant who wanted to go +down with his bales and five souls in my boat for nothing. But I said, +'Oh man, she is my property, and I will eat from her of thy money as of +the money of the Franks.' Whereupon he offered 1 pound, but was bundled +out amid general reproaches for his avarice and want of shame. So all +the company said a _Fattah_ for the success of the voyage, and Reis +Mohammed was exhorted to 'open his eyes,' and he should have a tarboosh +if he did well. + +Then I went to visit my kind friend the Maohn's wife, and tell her all +about her charming daughter and grandchildren. I was, of course, an hour +in the streets salaaming, etc. '_Sheerafteenee Beledna_, thou hast +honoured our country on all sides.' 'Blessings come with thee,' etc. + +Everything is cheaper than last year, but there is no money to buy with, +and the taxes have grown beyond bearing, as a fellah said, 'a man can't +(we will express it "blow his nose," if you please; the real phrase was +less parliamentary, and expressive of something at once _ventose_ and +valueless) without a cawass behind him to levy a tax on it.' The +ha'porth of onions we buy in the market is taxed on the spot, and the +fish which the man catches under my window. I paid a tax on buying +charcoal, and another on having it weighed. People are terribly beaten +to get next year's taxes out of them, which they have not the money to +pay. + +The Nubian M.P.'s passed the other day in three boats, towed by a +steamer, very frightened and sullen. I fell in with some Egyptians on my +way, and tried the European style of talk. 'Now you will help to govern +the country, what a fine thing for you,' etc. I got such a look of +rueful reproach. 'Laugh not thou at our beards O Effendim! God's mercy, +what words are these? and who is there on the banks of the Nile who can +say anything but _hader_ (ready), with both hands on the head, and a +salaam to the ground even to a Moudir; and thou talkest of speaking +before Effendina! Art thou mad, Effendim?' Of all the vexations none +are more trying than the distinctions which have been inflicted on the +unlucky Sheykhs el-Beled. In fear and trembling they ate their +Effendina's banquet and sadly paid the bill: and those who have had the +_Nishan_ (the order of the Mejeedee) have had to disburse fees whereat +the Lord Chamberlain's staff's mouths might water, and now the wretched +delegates to the Egyptian Chambers (God save the mark) are going down +with their hearts in their shoes. The Nubians say that the Divan is to +be held in the Citadel and that the road by which the Memlook Beys left +it is not stopped up, though perhaps it goes underground nowadays. {315} + +_November_ 27.--The first steamer full of travellers has just arrived, +and with it the bother of the ladies all wanting my saddle. I forbade +Mustapha to send for it, but they intimidate the poor old fellow, and he +comes and kisses my hand not to get him into trouble with one old woman +who says she is the relation of a Consul and a great lady in her own +country. I am what Mrs. Grote called 'cake' enough to concede to +Mustapha's fears what I had sworn to refuse henceforth. Last year five +women on one steamer all sent for my saddle, besides other +things--campstools, umbrellas, beer, etc., etc. This year I'll bolt the +doors when I see a steamer coming. I hear the big people are so angry +with the Indian saint because he treated them like dirt everywhere. One +great man went with a Moudir to see him, and asked him to sell him a +memlook (a young slave boy). The Indian, who had not spoken or saluted, +burst forth, 'Be silent, thou wicked one! dost thou dare to ask me to +sell thee a soul to take it with thee to hell?' Fancy the surprise of +the 'distinguished' Turk. Never had he heard such language. The story +has travelled all up the river and is of course much enjoyed. + +Last night Sheykh Yussuf gave an entertainment, killed a sheep, and had a +reading of the _Sirat er-Russoul_ (Chapter on the Prophet). It was the +night of the Prophet's great vision, and is a great night in Islam. I +was sorry not to be well enough to go. Now that there is no Kadee here, +Sheykh Yussuf has lots of business to settle; and he came to me and said, +'Expound to me the laws of marriage and inheritance of the Christians, +that I may do no wrong in the affairs of the Copts, for they won't go and +be settled by the priest out of the Gospels, and I can't find any laws, +except about marriage in the Gospels.' I set him up with the text of the +tribute money, and told him to judge according to his own laws, for that +Christians had no laws other than those of the country they lived in. +Poor Yussuf was sore perplexed about a divorce case. I refused to +'expound,' and told him all the learned in the law in England had not yet +settled which text to follow. + +Do you remember the German story of the lad who travelled _um das Gruseln +zu lernen_? Well, I, who never _gruselte_ before, had a touch of it a +few evenings ago. I was sitting here quietly drinking tea, and four or +five men were present, when a cat came to the door. I called 'biss, +biss,' and offered milk, but pussy, after looking at us, ran away. 'Well +dost thou, oh Lady,' said a quiet, sensible man, a merchant here, 'to be +kind to the cat, for I dare say he gets little enough at home; _his_ +father, poor man, cannot cook for his children every day.' And then in +an explanatory tone to the company, 'That is Alee Nasseeree's boy +Yussuf--it must be Yussuf, because his fellow twin Ismaeen is with his +mule at Negadeh.' _Mir gruselte_, I confess, not but what I have heard +things almost as absurd from gentlemen and ladies in Europe; but an +'extravagance' in a _kuftan_ has quite a different effect from one in a +tail coat. 'What my butcher's boy who brings the meat--a cat?' I gasped. +'To be sure, and he knows well where to look for a bit of good cookery, +you see. All twins go out as cats at night if they go to sleep hungry; +and their own bodies lie at home like dead meanwhile, but no one must +touch them, or they would die. When they grow up to ten or twelve they +leave it off. Why your boy Achmet does it. Oh Achmet! do you go out as +a cat at night?' 'No,' said Achmet tranquilly, 'I am not a twin--my +sister's sons do.' I inquired if people were not afraid of such cats. +'No, there is no fear, they only eat a little of the cookery, but if you +beat them they will tell their parents next day, "So-and-so beat me in +his house last night," and show their bruises. No, they are not Afreets, +they are _beni Adam_ (sons of Adam), only twins do it, and if you give +them a sort of onion broth and camel's milk the first thing when they are +born, they don't do it at all.' Omar professed never to have heard of +it, but I am sure he had, only he dreads being laughed at. One of the +American missionaries told me something like it as belonging to the +Copts, but it is entirely Egyptian, and common to both religions. I +asked several Copts who assured me it was true, and told it just the +same. Is it a remnant of the doctrine of transmigration? However the +notion fully accounts for the horror the people feel at the idea of +killing a cat. + +A poor pilgrim from the black country was taken ill yesterday at a +village six miles from here, he could speak only a few words of Arabic +and begged to be carried to the Abab'deh. So the Sheykh el-Beled put him +on a donkey and sent him and his little boy, and laid him in Sheykh +Hassan's house. He called for Hassan and begged him to take care of the +child, and to send him to an uncle somewhere in Cairo. Hassan said, 'Oh +you will get well Inshallah, etc., and take the boy with you.' 'I cannot +take him into the grave with me,' said the black pilgrim. Well in the +night he died and the boy went to Hassan's mat and said, 'Oh Hassan, my +father is dead.' So the two Sheykhs and several men got up and went and +sat with the boy till dawn, because he refused to lie down or to leave +his father's corpse. At daybreak he said, 'Take me now and sell me, and +buy new cloth to dress my father for the tomb.' All the Abab'deh cried +when they heard it, and Hassan went and bought the cloth, and some sweet +stuff for the boy who remains with him. Such is death on the road in +Egypt. I tell it as Hassan's slave told it to me, and somehow we all +cried again at the poor little boy rising from his dead father's side to +say, 'Come now sell me to dress my father for the tomb.' These strange +black pilgrims always interest me. Many take four years to Mecca and +home, and have children born to them on the road, and learn a few words +of Arabic. + + + +December 5, 1866: Mrs. Ross + + +_To Mrs. Ross_. +LUXOR, +_December_ 5, 1866. + +Dearest Janet, + +I write in answer to yours by the steamer, to go down by the same. I +fancy I should be quite of your mind about Italy. I hate the return of +Europe to + + 'The good old rule and ancient plan, + That he should take who has the power, + And he should keep who can.' + +Nor can I be bullied into looking on 'might' as 'right.' Many thanks for +the papers, I am anxious to hear about the Candia business. All my +neighbours are sick at heart. The black boy Palgrave left with me is a +very good lad, only he can't keep his clothes clean, never having been +subject to that annoyance before. He has begun to be affectionate ever +since I did not beat him for breaking my only looking-glass. I wish an +absurd respect for public opinion did not compel him to wear a blue shirt +and a tarboosh (his suit), I see it is misery to him. He is a very +gentle cannibal. + +I have been very unwell indeed and still am extremely weak, but I hope I +am on the mend. A eunuch here who is a holy man tells me he saw my boat +coming up heavily laden in his sleep, which indicates a 'good let.' I +hope my reverend friend is right. If you sell any of your things when +you leave Egypt let me have some blankets for the boat; if she is let to +a friendly dragoman he will supply all deficiencies out of his own +canteen, but if to one 'who knows not Joseph' I fear many things will be +demanded by rightminded British travellers, which must be left to the +Reis's discretion to buy for them. I hope all the _fattahs_ said for the +success of the 'Urania's' voyage will produce a due effect. Here we rely +a good deal on the favour of Abu-l-Hajjaj in such matters. The _naivete_ +with which people pray here for money is very amusing--though really I +don't know why one shouldn't ask for one's daily sixpence as well as +one's daily bread. + +An idiot of a woman has written to me to get her a place as governess in +an 'European or Arabian family in the neighbourhood of Thebes!' +Considering she has been six years in Egypt as she says, she must be well +fitted to teach. She had better learn to make _gilleh_ and spin wool. +The young Americans whom Mr. Hale sent were very nice. The Yankees are +always the best bred and best educated travellers that I see here. + + + +December 31, 1886: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_December_ 31, 1886. + +Dearest Alick, + +I meant to have sent you a long yarn by a steamer which went the other +day, but I have been in my bed. The weather set in colder than I ever +felt it here, and I have been very unwell for some time. Dr. Osman +Ibraheem (a friend of mine, an elderly man who studied in Paris in +Mohammed Ali's time) wants me to spend the summer up here and take sand +baths, _i.e_. bury myself up to the chin in the hot sand, and to get a +Dongola slave to rub me. A most fascinating derweesh from Esneh gave me +the same advice; he wanted me to go and live near him at Esneh, and let +him treat me. I wish you could see Sheykh Seleem, he is a sort of +remnant of the Memlook Beys--a Circassian--who has inherited his master's +property up at Esneh, and married his master's daughter. The master was +one of the Beys, also a slave inheriting from his master. Well after +being a terrible _Shaitan_ (devil) after drink, women, etc. Seleem has +repented and become a man of pilgrimage and prayer and perpetual fasting; +but he has retained the exquisite grace and charm of manner which must +have made him irresistible in his _shaitan_ days, and also the +beautifully delicate style of dress--a dove-coloured cloth _sibbeh_ over +a pale blue silk _kuftan_, a turban like a snow-drift, under which flowed +the silky fair hair and beard, and the dainty white hands under the long +muslin shirt sleeve made a picture; and such a smile, and such ready +graceful talk. Sheykh Yussuf brought him to me as a sort of doctor, and +also to try and convert me on one point. Some Christians had made Yussuf +quite miserable, by telling him of the doctrine that all unbaptized +infants went to eternal fire; and as he knew that I had lost a child very +young, it weighed on his mind that perhaps I fretted about this, and so +he said he could not refrain from trying to convince me that God was not +so cruel and unjust as the Nazarene priests represented Him, and that all +infants whatsoever, as well as all ignorant persons, were to be saved. +'Would that I could take the cruel error out of the minds of all the +hundreds and thousands of poor Christian mothers who must be tortured by +it,' said he, 'and let them understand that their dead babies are with +Him who sent and who took them.' I own I did not resent this +interference with my orthodoxy, especially as it is the only one I ever +knew Yussuf attempt. + +Dr. Osman is a lecturer in the Cairo school of medicine, a Shereef, and +eminently a gentleman. He came up in the passenger steamer and called on +me and spent all his spare time with me. I liked him better than the +bewitching derweesh Seleem; he is so like my old love Don Quixote. He +was amazed and delighted at what he heard here about me. '_Ah Madame, on +vous aime comme une soeur, et on vous respecte comme une reine; cela +rejouit le coeur des honnetes gens de voir tous les prejuges oublies et +detruits a ce point_.' We had no end of talk. Osman is the only Arab I +know who has read a good deal of European literature and history and is +able to draw comparisons. He said, '_Vous seule dans toute l'Egypte +connaissez le peuple et comprenez ce qui se passe, tous les autres +Europeens ne savent absolument rien que les dehors; il n'y a que vous qui +ayez inspire la confiance qu'il faut pour connaitre la vente_.' Of +course this is between ourselves, I tell you, but I don't want to boast +of the kind thoughts people have of me, simply because I am decently +civil to them. + +In Egypt we are eaten up with taxes; there is not a penny left to anyone. +The taxes for the whole year _eight months in advance_ have been levied, +as far as they can be beaten out of the miserable people. I saw one of +the poor dancing girls the other day, (there are three in Luxor) and she +told me how cruel the new tax on them is. It is left to the discretion +of the official who farms it to make each woman pay according to her +presumed gains, _i.e_. her good looks, and thus the poor women are +exposed to all the caprices and extortions of the police. This last new +tax has excited more disgust than any. 'We now know the name of our +ruler,' said a fellah who had just heard of it, 'he is _Mawas_ Pasha.' I +won't translate--but it is a terrible epithet when uttered in a tone +which gives it the true meaning, though in a general way the commonest +word of abuse to a donkey, or a boy, or any other cattle. The wages of +prostitution are unclean, and this tax renders all Government salaries +unlawful according to strict law. The capitation tax too, which was +remitted for three years on the pasha's accession to the people of Cairo, +Alexandria, Damietta and Rascheed, is now called for. Omar will have to +pay about 8 pounds back tax, which he had fondly imagined himself excused +from. You may conceive the distress this must cause among artisans, +etc., who have spent their money and forgotten it, and feel cheated out +of the blessings they then bestowed on the Pasha--as to that they will +take out the change in curses. + +There was a meeting here the other day of the Kadee, Sheykh el-Beled, and +other notables to fix the amount of tax each man was to pay towards the +increased police tax; and the old Shereef at the end spoke up, and said +he had heard that one man had asked me to lend him money, and that he +hoped such a thing would not happen again. Everyone knew I had had heavy +expenses this year, and most likely had not much money; that my heart was +soft, and that as everyone was in distress it would be 'breaking my +head,' and in short that he should think it unmanly if anyone tried to +trouble a lone woman with his troubles. I did offer one man 2 pounds +that he might not be forced to run away to the desert, but he refused it +and said, 'I had better go at once and rob out there, and not turn rogue +towards thee--never could I repay it.' The people are running away in +all directions. + +When the Moolid of the Sheykh came the whole family Abu-l-Hajjaj could +only raise six hundred and twenty piastres among them to buy the buffalo +cow, which by custom--strong as the laws of the Medes and Persians--must +be killed for the strangers who come; and a buffalo cow is worth one +thousand piastres. So the stout old Shereef (aged 87) took his staff and +the six hundred and twenty piastres, and sallied forth to walk to Erment +and see what God would send them; and a charitable woman in Erment did +give a buffalo cow for the six hundred and twenty piastres, and he drove +her home the twenty miles rejoicing. + +There has been a burglary over at Gourneh, an unheard-of event. Some men +broke into the house of the Coptic _gabit_ (tax-gatherer) and stole the +money-box containing about sixty purses--over 150 pounds. The _gabit_ +came to me sick with the fright which gave him jaundice, and about eight +men are gone in chains to Keneh on suspicion. Hajjee Baba too, a Turkish +cawass, is awfully bilious; he says he is 'sick from beating men, and +it's no use, you can't coin money on their backs and feet when they +haven't a para in the world.' Altogether everyone is gloomy, and many +desperate. I never saw the aspect of a population so changed. + +January 1, 1867. God bless you, dearest Alick, and grant you many good +years more. I must finish this to go to-morrow by the steamer. I would +give a great deal to see you again, but when will that be? + + + +January 12, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_January_ 12, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +Only two days ago I received letters from you of the 17 September and the +19 November. I wonder how many get lost and where? Janet gives me hopes +of a visit of a few days in March and promises me a little terrier dog, +whereat Omar is in raptures. I have made no plans at all, never having +felt well enough to hope to be able to travel. The weather has changed +for the better, and it is not at all old now; we shall see what the +warmth does for me. You make my bowels yearn with your account of +Rainie. If only we had Prince Achmet's carpet, and you could all come +here for a few months. + +We were greatly excited here last week; a boy was shot out in the sugar- +cane field: he was with four Copts, and at first it looked ugly for the +Copts. But the Maohn tells me he is convinced they are innocent, and +that they only prevaricated from fear--it was robbers shot the poor +child. What struck and surprised me in the affair was the excessive +horror and consternation it produced; the Maohn had not had a murder in +his district at all in eight years. The market-place was thronged with +wailing women, Omar was sick all day, and the Maohn pale and wretched. +The horror of killing seems greater here than ever I saw it. Palgrave +says the same of the Arabian Arabs in his book: it is not one's notion of +Oriental feeling, but a murder in England is taken quite as a joke +compared with the scene here. I fear there will be robberies, owing to +the distress, and the numbers who are running away from the land unable +to pay their taxes. Don't fear for me, for I have two watchmen in the +house every night--the regular guard and an amateur, a man whose boy I +took down to Cairo to study in Gama'l Azhar. + +Palgrave has written to Ross wanting Mabrook back. I am very sorry, the +more so as Mabrook is recalcitrant. 'I want to stay with thee, I don't +want to go back to the Nazarene.' A boy who heard him said, 'but the +Lady is a Nazarene too;' whereupon Mabrook slapped his face with great +vigour. He will be troublesome if he does turn restive, and he is one +who can only be managed by kindness. He is as good and quiet as possible +with us, but the stubborn will is there and he is too ignorant to be +reasoned with. + +_January_ 14.--To-day the four Copts have again changed their story, and +after swearing that the robbers were strangers, have accused a man who +has shot birds for me all this winter: and the poor devil is gone to +Keneh in chains. The weather seems to have set in steadily for fine. I +hope soon to get out, but my donkey has grown old and shaky and I am too +weak to walk, so I sit in the balcony. + + + +January 14, 1867: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_January_ 14, 1867. + +Dearest Mutter, + +We have had a very cold winter and I have been constantly ailing, luckily +the cough has transferred itself from the night to the day, and I get +some good sleep. The last two days have been much warmer and I hope +matters will mend. I am beginning to take cod-liver oil, as we can't +find a milch camel anywhere. + +My boat has been well let in Cairo and is expected here every day. The +gentlemen shoot, and tell the crew not to row, and in short take it easy, +and give them 2 pounds in every place. Imagine what luxury for my crew. +I shall have to dismiss the lot, they will be so spoilt. The English +Consul-General came up in a steamer with Dr. Patterson and Mr. Francis. I +dined with them one day; I wish you could have seen me carried in my +armchair high up on the shoulders of four men, like a successful +candidate, or more like one of the Pharaohs in an ancient bas-relief, +preceded by torch bearers and other attendants and followers, my +procession was quite regal. I wish I could show you a new friend of +mine, Osman Ibraheem, who studied medicine five years in Paris. My heart +warmed to him directly, because like most high-bred Arabs, he is so like +Don Quixote--only Don Quixote quite in his senses. The sort of innocent +sententiousness, and perfectly natural love of fine language and fine +sentiments is unattainable to any European, except, I suppose, a +Spaniard. It is quite unlike Italian fustian or French _sentiment_. I +suppose to most Europeans it is ridiculous, but I used to cry when the +carriers beat the most noble of all knights, when I was a little girl and +read Don Quixote; and now I felt as it were like Sancho, when I listened +to Osman reciting bits of heroic poetry, or uttering 'wise saws' and +'modern instances,' with the peculiar mixture of strong sense of +'exultation' which stamps the great Don. I may not repeat all I heard +from him of the state of things here, and the insults he had to endure--a +Shereef and an educated man--from coarse Turkish Pashas; it was the +carriers over again. He told me he had often cried like a woman, at +night in his own room, at the miseries he was forced to witness and could +do nothing to relieve; all the men I have particularly liked I find are +more or less pupils of the Sheykh el-Bagooree now dead, who seems to have +had a gift of inspiring honourable feeling. Our good Maohn is one; he is +no conjuror, but the honesty and goodness are heroic which lead a man to +starve on 15 pounds a month, when he is expected to grow rich on plunder. + +The war in Crete saddens many a household here. Sheykh Yussuf's brother, +Sheykh Yooris, is serving there, and many more. People are actually +beginning to say 'We hope the English and French won't fight for the +Sultan if the Moscovites want to eat him--there will be no good for us +till the Turks are driven out.' All the old religious devotion to the +Sultan seems quite gone. + +Poor Mustapha has been very unwell and I stopped his Ramadan, gave him +some physic and ordered him not to fast, for which I think he is rather +grateful. The Imaam and Mufti always endorse my prohibitions of fasting +to my patients. Old Ismaeen is dead, aged over a hundred; he served +Belzoni, and when he grew doting was always wanting me to go with him to +join Belzoni at Abu Simbel. He was not at all ill--he only went out like +a candle. His grandson brought me a bit of the meat cooked at his +funeral, and begged me to eat it, that I might live to be very old, +according to the superstition here. When they killed the buffalo for the +Sheykh Abu-l-Hajjaj, the man who had a right to the feet kindly gave them +to Omar, who wanted to make calves' foot jelly for me. I had a sort of +profane feeling, as if I were eating a descendant of the bull Apis. + +I am reading Mme. du Deffand's letters. What a repulsive picture of a +woman. I don't know which I dislike most, Horace Walpole or herself: the +conflict of selfishness, vanity and _ennui_ disguised as sentiment is +quite hateful: to her Turgot was _un sot animal_,--so much for her great +gifts. + +Remember me kindly to William and tell him how much I wish I could see +his 'improvements,' Omar also desires his salaam to him, having a sort of +fellow feeling for your faithful henchman. I need not say he kisses your +hand most dutifully. + + + +January 22, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_January_ 22, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +The weather has been lovely, for the last week, and I am therefore +somewhat better. My boat arrived to-day, with all the men in high good- +humour, and Omar tells me all is in good order, only the people in Cairo +gave her the evil eye, and broke the iron part of the rudder which had to +be repaired at Benisouef. Mr. Lear has been here the last few days, and +is just going up to the second cataract; he has done a little drawing of +my house for you--a new view of it. He is a pleasant man and I was glad +to see him. + +[Lady Duff Gordon, from oil portrait by Henry W. Phillips, about 1851: +ill328.jpg] + +Such a queer fellow came here the other day--a tall stalwart Holsteiner, +I should think a man of fifty, who has been four years up in the Soudan +and Sennaar, and being penniless, had walked all through Nubia begging +his way. He was not the least 'down upon his luck' and spoke with +enthusiasm of the hospitality and kindness of Sir Samuel Baker's +'tigers.' _Ja, das sind die rechten Kerls, dass ist das gluckliche +Leben_. His account is that if you go with an armed party, the blacks +naturally show fight, as men with guns, in their eyes, are always slave +hunters; but if you go alone and poor, they kill an ox for you, unless +you prefer a sheep, give you a hut, and generally anything they have to +offer, _merissey_ (beer) to make you as drunk as a lord, and young ladies +to pour it out for you--and--you need not wear any clothes. If you had +heard him you would have started for the interior at once. I gave him a +dinner and a bottle of common wine, which he emptied, and a few +shillings, and away he trudged merrily towards Cairo. I wonder what the +Nubians thought of a _howagah_ begging. He said they were all kind, and +that he was sure he often ate what they pinched themselves to +give--dourrah bread and dates. + +In the evening we were talking about this man's stories, and of +'anthropophagi and men whose heads do grow' to a prodigious height, by +means of an edifice woven of their own hair, and other queer things, when +Hassan told me a story which pleased me particularly. 'My father,' said +he, 'Sheykh Mohammed (who was a taller and handsomer man than I am), was +once travelling very far up in the black country, and he and the men he +was with had very little to eat, and had killed nothing for many days; +presently they heard a sort of wailing from a hole in the rock, and some +of the men went in and dragged out a creature--I know not, and my father +knew not, whether a child of Adam or a beast. But it was like a very +foul and ill-shaped woman, and had six toes on its feet. The men wished +to slay it, according to the law declaring it to be a beast and lawful +food, but when it saw the knife, it cried sadly and covered its face with +its hands in terror, and my father said, 'By the Most High God, ye shall +not slay the poor woman-beast which thus begs its life; I tell you it is +unlawful to eat one so like the children of Adam.' And the beast or +woman clung to him and hid under his cloak; and my father carried her for +some time behind him on his horse, until they saw some creatures like +her, and then he sent her to them, but he had to drive her from him by +force, for she clung to him. Thinkest thou oh Lady, it was really a +beast, or some sort of the children of Adam?' + +'God knows, and He only,' said I piously, 'but by His indulgent name, thy +father, oh Sheykh, was a true nobleman.' Sheykh Yussuf chimed in and +gave a decided opinion that a creature able to understand the sight of +the knife and to act so, was not lawful to kill for food. You see what a +real Arab Don Quixote was. It is a picture worthy of him,--the tall, +noble-looking Abab'deh sheltering the poor 'woman-beast,' most likely a +gorilla or chimpanzee, and carrying her _en croupe_. + + + +January 26, 1867: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_January_ 26, 1867. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I must betray dear Sheykh Yussuf's confidence, and tell you his love +story. + +A young fellow ran away with a girl he loved a short time ago, she having +told him that her parents wanted to marry her to another, and that she +would go to such a spot for water, and he must come on a horse, beat her +and carry her off (the beating saves the maiden's blushes). Well, the +lad did it, and carried her to Salamieh where they were married, and then +they went to Sheykh Yussuf to get him to conciliate the family, which he +did. He told me the affair, and I saw he sympathized much with the +runaways. 'Ah,' he said 'Lady, it is love, and that is terrible, I can +tell thee love is dreadful indeed to bear.' Then he hesitated and +blushed, and went on, 'I felt it once, Lady, it was the will of God that +I should love her who is now my wife. Thirteen years ago I loved her and +wished to marry her, but my father, and her grandfather my uncle the +Shereef, had quarrelled, and they took her and married her to another +man. I never told anyone of it, but my liver was burning and my heart +ready to burst for three years; but when I met her I fixed my eyes on the +ground for fear she should see my love, and I said to myself, Oh Yussuf, +God has afflicted thee, praise be unto Him, do thou remember thy blood +(Shereef) and let thy conduct be that of the Beni Azra who when they are +thus afflicted die rather than sin, for they have the strongest passion +of love and the greatest honour. And I did not die but went to Cairo to +the Gama el-Azhar and studied, and afterwards I married twice, as thou +knowest, but I never loved any but that one, and when my last wife died +the husband of this one had just divorced her to take a younger and +prettier one and my father desired me then to take her, but I was half +afraid not knowing whether she would love me; but, Praise be to God I +consented, and behold, poor thing, she also had loved me in like manner.' +I thought when I went to see her that she was unusually radiant with new- +married happiness, and she talked of 'el-Sheykh' with singular pride and +delight, and embraced me and called me 'mother' most affectionately. Is +it not a pretty piece of regular Arab romance like Ghamem? + +My boat has gone up to-day with two very nice Englishmen in her. Their +young Maltese dragoman, aged twenty-four, told me his father often talked +of 'the Commissioners' and all they had done, and how things were changed +in the island for the better. (1) Everything spiritual and temporal has +been done for the boat's safety in the Cataract--urgent letters to the +Maohn el Baudar, and him of Assouan to see to the men, and plenty of +prayers and vows to Abu-l-Hajjaj on behalf of the 'property of the Lady,' +or _kurzweg_ 'our boat' as she is commonly called in Luxor. + +Here we have the other side of the misery of the Candian business; in +Europe, of course, the obvious thing is the sufferings of the Cretans, +but really I am more sorry for the poor fellah lads who are dragged away +to fight in a quarrel they had no hand in raising, and with which they +have no sympathy. The _Times_ suggests that the Sultan should relinquish +the island, and that has been said in many an Egyptian hut long before. +The Sultan is worn out, and the Muslims here know it, and say it would be +the best day for the Arabs if he were driven out; that after all a Turk +never was the true _Ameer el-Moomeneen_ (Commander of the Faithful). Only +in Europe people talk and write as if it were all Muslim _versus_ +Christian, and the Christians were all oppressed, and the Muslims all +oppressors. I wish they could see the domineering of the Greeks and +Maltese as Christians. The Englishman domineers as a free man and a +Briton, which is different, and that is the reason why the Arabs wish for +English rule, and would dread that of Eastern Christians. Well they may; +for if ever the Greeks do reign in Stamboul the sufferings of the Muslims +will satisfy the most eager fanatic that ever cursed Mahound. I know +nothing of Turkey, but I have seen and heard enough to know that there +are plenty of other divisions besides that of Christian and Muslim. Here +in Egypt it is clear enough: it is Arab _versus_ Turk and the Copt siding +with the stronger for his interest, while he rather sympathizes with his +brother fellah. At all events the Copt don't want other Christians to +get power; he would far rather have a Muslim than a heretic ruler, above +all the hated Greek. The Englishman he looks on as a variety of Muslim--a +man who washes, has no pictures in his church, who has married bishops, +and above all, who does not fast from all that has life for half the +year, and this heresy is so extreme as not to give offence, unless he +tries to convert. + +The Pasha's sons have just been up the river: they ordered a reading of +the Koran at the tomb of Abu-l-Hajjaj and gave every Alim sixpence. We +have not left off chaffing (as Maurice would say) Sheykh Allah-ud-deen, +the Muezzin, and sundry others on this superb backsheesh, and one old +Fikee never knows whether to laugh, to cry, or to scold, when I ask to +see the shawl and tarboosh he has bought with the presents of Pashas. +Yussuf and the Kadee too had been called on to contribute baskets of +bread to the steamer so that their sixpences were particularly absurd. + +The little boy whose father died is still with the Abab'deh, who will not +let him travel to Cairo till the weather is warmer and they find a safe +person to be kind to him. Rachmeh says 'Please God, he will go with the +Sitt, perhaps.' Hassan has consoled him with sugar-cane and indulgence, +and if I lose Mabrook, and the little boy takes to me, he may fall into +my hands as Achmet has done. I hear he is a good boy but a perfect +savage; that however, I find makes no difference--in fact, I think they +learn faster than those who have ways of their own. So I see Terence was +a nigger! I would tell Rachmeh so if I could make him understand who +Terence was, and that he, Rachmeh, stood in need of any encouragement, +but the worthy fellow never imagines that his skin is in any way inferior +to mine. + + + +February 3, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_February_ 3, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +The boat goes down to-morrow and I have little to add to Mutter's letter, +only that I am better. + +There is a man here from Girgeh, who says he is married to a Ginneeyeh +(fairy) princess. I have asked to be presented to her, but I suspect +there will be some hitch about it. It will be like Alexis's _Allez, +Madame, vous etes trop incredule_. {334} The unintelligible thing is the +motive which prompts wonders and miracles here, seeing that the wonder +workers do not get any money by it; and indeed, very often give, like the +Indian saint I told you of who gave me four dollars. His miracles were +all gratis, which was the most miraculous thing of all in a saint. I am +promised that the Ginneeyeh shall come through the wall. If she should +do so I shall be compelled to believe in her, as there are no mechanical +contrivances in Luxor. All the Hareem here believe it, and the man's +human wife swears she waits on her like a slave, and backs her husband's +lie or delusion fully. I have not seen the man, but I should not wonder +if it were a delusion--real _bona fide_ visions and revelations are so +common, and I think there is but little downright imposture. Meanwhile +familiarity breeds contempt. Jinns, Afreets and Shaitans inspire far +less respect than the stupidest ghost at home, and the devil (Iblees) is +reduced to deplorable insignificance. He is never mentioned in the +pulpit, or in religious conversation, with the respect he enjoys in +Christian countries. I suppose we may console ourselves with the hope +that he will pay off the Muslims for their neglect of him hereafter. + +I cannot describe to you the misery here now, indeed it is wearisome even +to think of: every day some new tax. Now every beast; camel, cow, sheep, +donkey, horse, is made to pay. The fellaheen can no longer eat bread, +they are living on barley meal, mixed with water and new green stuff, +vetches etc., which to people used to good food is terrible, and I see +all my acquaintances growing seedy and ragged and anxious. Yussuf is +clear of debt, his religion having kept him from borrowing, but he wants +to sell his little slave girl, and has sold his donkey, and he is the +best off. The taxation makes life almost impossible--100 piastres per +feddan, a tax on every crop, on every annual fruit, and again when it is +sold in the market; on every man, on charcoal, on butter, on salt, on the +dancing girls. I wonder I am not tormented for money--not above three +people have tried to beg or borrow. + +Thanks for the Westminster epilogue; it always amuses me much. So +Terence was a nigger. There is no trace of the negro 'boy' in his Davus. +My nigger has grown huge, and has developed a voice of thunder. He is of +the elephantine rather than the tiger species, a very mild young savage. +I shall be sorry when Palgrave takes him. I am tempted to buy Yussuf's +nice little Dinka girl to replace him, only a girl is such an +impossibility where there is no regular hareem. In the boat Achmet is +enough under Omar; but in this large dusty house, and with errands to +run, and comers and goers to look after, pipes and coffee and the like, +it takes two boys to be comfortable. Mabrook too washes very well. It +is surprising how fast the boys learn, and how well they do their work. +Achmet, who is quite little, would be a perfectly sufficient servant for +a man alone; he can cook, wash, clean the rooms, make the beds, do all +the table service, knife and plate cleaning, all fairly well, and I +believe now he would get along even without Omar's orders. Mabrook is +slower, but he has the same merit our poor Hassan had, {336} he never +forgets what he has been once told to do, and he is clean in his work, +though hopelessly dirty as to his clothes. He cannot get used to them, +and takes a roll in the dust, or leans against a dirty wall, oblivious of +his clean-washed blue shirt. Achmet is quicker and more careless, but +they both are good boys and very fond of Omar. 'Uncle Omar' is the form +of address, though he scolds them pretty severely if they misbehave; and +I observe that the high jinks take place chiefly when only I am in the +way, and Omar gone to market or to the mosque. The little rogues have +found out that their laughing does not 'affect my nerves,' and I am often +treated to a share in the joke. How I wish Rainie could see the +children: they would amuse her. Yussuf's girl, 'Meer en Nezzil,' is a +charming child, and very clever; her emphatic way of explaining +everything to me, and her gestures, would delight you. Her cousin and +future husband, age five (she is six), broke the doll which I had given +her, and her description of it was most dramatic, ending with a wheedling +glance at the cupboard and 'of course there are no more dolls there; oh +no, no more.' She is a fine little creature, far more Arab than fellaha; +quite a _Shaitan_, her father says. She came in full of making cakes for +Bairam, and offered her services; 'Oh my aunt, if thou wantest anything I +can work,' said she, tucking up her sleeves. + + + +March 6, 1867: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_March_ 6, 1867. + +Dearest Mutter, + +The warm weather has set in, and I am already as much the better for it +as usual. I had a slight attack, not nearly so bad as that at Soden, but +it lingered and I kept my bed as a measure of precaution. Dear Yussuf +was with me the evening I was attacked, and sat up all night to give me +my medicine every hour. At the prayer of dawn, an hour and a half before +sunrise, I heard his supplications for my life and health, and for you +and all my family; and I thought of what I had lately read, how the +Greeks massacred their own patriots because the Turks had shown them +mercy--a display of temper which I hope will enlighten Western +Christendom as to what the Muslims have to expect, if they (the Western +Christians) help the Eastern Christians to get the upper hand. Yussuf +was asking about a lady the other day who has turned Catholic. 'Poor +thing,' said he, 'the priests have drawn out her brains through her ears, +no doubt: but never fear, her heart is good and her charity is great, and +God will not deal hardly with those who serve Him with their hearts, +though it is sad she should bow down before images. But look at thy +slave Mabrook, can he understand one hundredth part of the thoughts of +thy mind? Never-the-less he loves thee, and obeys thee with pleasure and +alacrity; and wilt thou punish him because he knows not all thy ways? And +shall God, who is so much higher above us as thou art above thy slave, be +less just than thou?' I pinned him at once, and insisted on knowing the +orthodox belief; but he quoted the Koran and the decisions of the Ulema +to show that he stretched no point as far as Jews and Christians are +concerned, and even that idolaters are not to be condemned by man. Yussuf +wants me to write a short account of the faith from his dictation. Would +anyone publish it? It annoys him terribly to hear the Muslims constantly +accused of intolerance, and he is right--it is not true. They show their +conviction that their faith is the best in the world with the same sort +of naivete that I have seen in very innocent and ignorant English women; +in fact, display a sort of religious conceit; but it is not often bitter +or _haineux_, however much they are in earnest. + +I am going to write to Palgrave and ask him to let me send another boy or +the money for Mabrook, who can't endure the notion of leaving me. Achmet, +who was always hankering after the fleshpots of Alexandria, got some +people belonging to the boats to promise to take him, and came home and +picked a quarrel and departed. Poor little chap; the Sheykh el-Beled +'put a spoke in his wheel' by informing him he would be wanted for the +Pasha's works and must stay in his own place. Since he went Mabrook has +come out wonderfully and does his own work and Achmet's with the greatest +satisfaction. He tells me he likes it best so; he likes to be quiet. He +just suits me and I him, it is humiliating to find how much more I am to +the taste of savages than of the 'polite circles.' + +The old lady of the Maohn proposed to come to me, but I would not let her +leave her home, which would be quite an adventure to her. I knew she +would be exclamatory, and lament over me, and say every minute, 'Oh my +liver. Oh my eyes! The name of God be upon thee, and never mind! to- +morrow please God, thou wilt be quite well,' and so forth. People send +me such odd dishes, some very good. Yussuf's wife packed two calves' +feet tight in a little black earthern pan, with a seasoning of herbs, and +baked it in the bread oven, and the result was excellent. Also she made +me a sort of small macaroni, extremely good. Now too we can get milk +again, and Omar makes _kishta_, alias clotted cream. + +Do send me a good edition of the 'Arabian Nights' in Arabic, and I should +much like to give Yussuf Lane's Arabic dictionary. He is very anxious to +have it. I can't read the 'Arabian Nights,' but it is a favourite +amusement to make one of the party read aloud; a stray copy of 'Kamar ez- +Zeman and Sitt Boodoora' went all round Luxor, and was much coveted for +the village _soirees_. But its owner departed, and left us to mourn over +the loss of his MSS. + +I must tell you a black standard of respectability (it is quite equal to +the English one of the gig, or the ham for breakfast). I was taking +counsel with my friend Rachmeh, a negro, about Mabrook, and he urged me +to buy him of Palgrave, because he saw that the lad really loved me. +'Moreover,' he said, 'the boy is of a respectable family, for he told me +his mother wore a cow's tail down to her heels (that and a girdle to +which the tail is fastened, and a tiny leathern apron in front, +constituted her whole wardrobe), and that she beat him well when he told +lies or stole his neighbours eggs.' Poor woman; I wish this abominable +slave trade had spared her and her boy. What folly it is to stop the +Circassian slave trade, if it is stopped, and to leave this. The +Circassians take their own children to market, as a way of providing for +them handsomely, and both boys and girls like being sold to the rich +Turks; but the blacks and Abyssinians fight hard for their own liberty +and that of their cubs. Mabrook swears that there were two Europeans in +the party which attacked his village and killed he knew not how many, and +carried him and others off. He was not stolen by Arabs, or by Barrabias, +like Hassan, but taken in war from his home by the seaside, a place +called Bookee, and carried in a ship to Jedda, and thence back to Koseir +and Keneh, where Palgrave bought him. I must say that once here the +slaves are happy and well off, but the waste of life and the misery +caused by the trade must be immense. The slaves are coming down the +river by hundreds every week, and are very cheap--twelve to twenty pounds +for a fine boy, and nine pounds and upwards for a girl. I heard that the +last _gellab_ offered a woman and baby for anything anyone would give for +them, on account of the trouble of the baby. By-the-bye, Mabrook +displays the negro talent for babies. Now that Achmet is gone, who +scolded them and drove them out, Mohammed's children, quite babies, are +for ever trotting after 'Maboo,' as they pronounce his name, and he talks +incessantly to them. It reminds me so of Janet and poor Hassan, but +Mabrook is not like Hassan, he is one of the sons of Anak, and already as +big and strong as a man, with the most prodigious chest and limbs. + +Don't be at all uneasy about me as to care. Omar knows exactly what to +do as he showed the other day when I was taken ill. I had shown him the +medicines and given him instructions so I had not even to speak, and if I +were to be ill enough to want more help, Yussuf would always sit up +alternate nights; but it is not necessary. Arabs make no grievance about +broken rest; they don't 'go to bed properly,' but lie down half dressed, +and have a happy faculty of sleeping at odd times and anyhow, which +enables them to wait on one day and night, without distressing themselves +as it distresses us. + +_Thursday_.--A telegram has just come announcing that Janet will leave +Cairo to-morrow in a steamer, and therefore be here, Inshallah, this day +week. I enclose a note from a Copt boy, which will amuse you. He is +'sapping' at English, and I teach him whenever I am able. I am a special +favourite with all the young lads; they must not talk much before grown +men, so they come and sit on the floor round my feet, and ask questions +and advice, and enjoy themselves amazingly. Hobble-de-hoy-hood is very +different here from what it is with us; they care earlier for the affairs +of the grown-up world, and are more curious and more polished, but lack +the fine animal gaiety of our boys. The girls are much more _gamin_ than +the boys, and more romping and joyous. + +It is very warm now. I fear Janet will sigh terribly over the heat. They +have left their voyage too late for such as do not love the Shems +el-Kebeer (the big sun), which has just begun. I who worship Ammun Ra, +love to feel him in his glory. It is long since I had any letters, I +want so to hear how you all are. + + + +March 7, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +_March_ 7, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +I have written a long yarn to Mutter and am rather tired, so I only write +to say I am much better. The heat has set in, and, of course with it my +health has mended, but I am a little shaky and afraid to tire myself. +Moreover I want to nurse up and be stronger by next Thursday when Janet +and Ross are expected. + +What a queer old fish your Dublin antiquary is, who wants to whitewash +Miss Rhampsinitus, and to identify her with the beloved of Solomon (or +Saleem); my brain spun round as I read it. Must I answer him, or will +you? A dragoman gave me an old broken travelling arm-chair, and Yussuf +sat in an arm-chair for the first time in his life. 'May the soul of the +man who made it find a seat in Paradise,' was his exclamation, which +strikes me as singularly appropriate on sitting in a very comfortable +armchair. Yussuf was thankful for small mercies in this case. + +I am afraid Janet may be bored by all the people's civility; they will +insist on making great dinners and fantasias for her I am sure. I hope +they will go on to Assouan and take me with them; the change will do me +good, and I should like to see as much of her as I can before she leaves +Egypt for good. + +The state of business here is curious. The last regulations have stopped +all money lending, and the prisons are full of Sheykh el-Beled whose +villages can't pay the taxes. Most respectable men have offered me to go +partners with them now in their wheat, which will be cut in six weeks, if +only I would pay their present taxes, I to take half the crop and half +the taxes, with interest out of their half--some such trifle as 30 per +cent, per month. Our prison is full of men, and we send them their +dinner _a tour de role_. The other day a woman went with a big wooden +bowl on her head, full of what she had cooked for them, accompanied by +her husband. One Khaleel Effendi, a new vakeel here, was there, and +said, 'What dost thou ask here thou harlot?' Her husband answered, 'That +is no harlot, oh Effendim, but my wife.' Whereupon he was beaten till he +fainted, and then there was a lamentation; they carried him down past my +house, with a crowd of women all shrieking like mad creatures, especially +his wife, who yelled and beat her head and threw dust over it, _more +majorum_, as you see in the tombs. The humours of tax-gathering in this +country are quite _impayable_ you perceive--and ought to be set forth on +the escutcheon of the new Knight of the Bath whom the Queen hath +delighted to honour. Cawass battant, Fellah rampant, and Fellaha +pleurant would be the proper blazon. Distress in England is terrible, +but, at least, it is not the result of extortion, as it is here, where +everything from nature is so abundant and glorious, and yet mankind so +miserable. It is not a little hunger, it is the cruel oppression which +maddens the people now. They never complained before, but now whole +villages are deserted. The boat goes to-morrow morning so I must say +goodbye. + + + +April 12, 1867: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_April_ 12, 1867. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I have just received your letters, including the one for Omar which I +read to him, and which he kissed and said he should keep as a _hegab_ +(talisman). I have given him an order on Coutts' correspondents for the +money, in case I die. Omar proposes to wait till we get to Cairo and +then to buy a little house, or a floor in one. I am to keep all the +money till the house is found, so he will in no way be tempted to do +anything foolish with it. I hope you approve? + +Janet's visit was quite an _Eed_ (festival), as the people said. When I +got up on the morning she was expected, I found the house decked with +palm branches and lemon blossoms, and the holy flags of Abu-l-Hajjaj +waving over my balcony. The mosque people had brought them, saying all +the people were happy to-day, because it was a fortunate day for me. I +suppose if I had had a mind to _testify_, I ought to have indignantly +torn down the banners which bore the declaration, 'There is no God but +God, and Mohammed is His Prophet.' But it appeared to me that if Imaams +and Muezzins could send their banners to decorate a Christian house, the +Christian might manage to endure the kindness. Then there was fantasia +on horseback, and all the notables to meet the boat, and general welcome +and jubilation. Next day I went on with Henry and Janet in the steamer, +and had a very pleasant time to Assouan and back, and they stayed another +day here, and I hired a little dahabieh which they towed down to Keneh +where they stayed a day; after which Sheykh Yussuf and I sailed back +again to Luxor. As bad luck would have it we had hot weather just the +week they were up here: since then it has been quite cool. + +Janet has left me her little black and tan terrier, a very nice little +dog, but I can't hope to rival Omar in his affections. He sleeps in +Omar's bosom, and Omar spoils and pets him all day, and boasts to the +people how the dog drinks tea and coffee and eats dainty food, and the +people say Mashallah! whereas I should have expected them to curse the +dog's father. The other day a scrupulous person drew back with an air of +alarm from Bob's approach, whereupon the dog stared at him, and forthwith +plunged into Sheykh Yussuf's lap, from which stronghold he 'yapped' +defiance at whoever should object to him. I never laughed more heartily, +and Yussuf went into _fou rire_. The mouth of the dog only is unclean, +and Yussuf declares he is a very well-educated dog, and does not attempt +to lick; he pets him accordingly, and gives him tea in his own saucer, +only _not_ in the cup. + +I am to inherit another little blackie from Ross's agency at Keneh: the +funniest little chap. I cannot think why I go on expecting so-called +savages to be different from other people. Mabrook's simple talk about +his village, and the animals and the victuals; and how the men of a +neighbouring village stole him in order to sell him for a gun (the price +of a gun is a boy), but were prevented by a razzia of Turks, etc. who +killed the first aggressors and took all the children--all this he tells +just as an English boy might tell of bird-nesting--delights me. He has +the same general notion of right and wrong; and yet his tribe know +neither bread nor any sort of clothes, nor cheese nor butter, nor even +drink milk, nor the African beer; and it always rains there, and is +always deadly cold at night, so that without a fire they would die. They +have two products of civilization--guns and tobacco, for which they pay +in boys and girls, whom they steal. I wonder where the country is, it is +called Sowaghli, and the next people are Mueseh, on the sea-coast, and it +is not so hot as Egypt. It must be in the southern hemisphere. The new +_negrillon_ is from Darfoor. Won't Maurice be amused by his attendants, +the Darfoor boy will trot after him, as he can shoot and clean guns, tiny +as he is Maurice seems to wish to come and I hope Alexander will let him +spend the winter here, and I will take him up to the second Cataract; I +really think he would enjoy it. + +My boat will not return I think for another six weeks. Mr. Eaton and Mr. +Baird were such nice people! their dragoman, a Maltese, appeared to hate +the Italians with ferocity. He said all decent people in Malta would ten +times rather belong to the Mahommedans than to the Italians--after all +blood tells. He was a very respectable young man, and being a dragoman +and the son of a dragoman, he has seen the world, and particularly the +Muslims. I suppose it is the Pope that makes the Italians so hateful to +them. + +The post here is dreadful, I would not mind their reading one's letters +if they would only send them on. Omar begs we to say that he and his +children will pray for you all his life, please God, not for the money +only but still more for the good words and the trusting him. But he +says, 'I can't say much _politikeh_, Please God she shall see, only I +kiss her hand now.' You will hear from Janet about her excursion. What +I liked best was shooting the Cataract in a small boat; it was fine +fantasia. + + + +April 19, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_April_ 19, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +I have been much amused lately by a new acquaintance, who, in romances of +the last century, would be called an 'Arabian sage.' Sheykh Abdurrachman +lives in a village half a day's journey off, and came over to visit me +and to doctor me according to the science of Galen and Avicenna. Fancy a +tall, thin, graceful man, with a grey beard and liquid eyes, absorbed in +studies of the obsolete kind, a doctor of theology, law, medicine and +astronomy. We spent three days in arguing and questioning; I consented +to swallow a potion or two which he made up before me, of very innocent +materials. My friend is neither a quack nor superstitious, and two +hundred years ago would have been a better physician than most in Europe. +Indeed I would rather swallow his physic now than that of many a M.D. I +found him like all the learned theologians I have known, extremely +liberal and tolerant. You can conceive nothing more interesting and +curious than the conversation of a man learned and intelligent, and +utterly ignorant of all our modern Western science. If I was pleased +with him, he was enchanted with me, and swore by God that I was a Mufti +indeed, and that a man could nowhere spend time so delightfully as in +conversation with me. He said he had been acquainted with two or three +Englishmen who had pleased him much, but that if all Englishwomen were +like me the power must necessarily be in our hands, for that my _akl_ +(brain, intellect) was far above that of the men he had known. He +objected to our medicine that it seemed to consist in palliatives, which +he rather scorned, and aimed always at a radical cure. I told him that +if he had studied anatomy he would know that radical cures were difficult +of performance, and he ended by lamenting his ignorance of English or +some European language, and that he had not learned our _Ilm_ (science) +also. Then we plunged into sympathies, mystic numbers, and the occult +virtues of stones, etc., and I swallowed my mixture (consisting of +liquorice, cummin and soda) just as the sun entered a particular house, +and the moon was in some favourable aspect. He praised to me his friend, +a learned Jew of Cairo. I could have fancied myself listening to Abu +Suleyman of Cordova, in the days when we were the barbarians and the +Arabs were the learned race. There is something very winning in the +gentle, dignified manners of all the men of learning I have seen here, +and their homely dress and habits make it still more striking. I longed +to photograph my Sheykh as he sat on the divan pulling MSS. out of his +bosom to read me the words of _El-Hakeem Lokman_, or to overwhelm me with +the authority of some physician whose very name I had never heard. + +The hand of the Government is awfully heavy upon us. All this week the +people have been working night and day cutting their unripe corn, because +three hundred and ten men are to go to-morrow to work on the railroad +below Siout. This green corn is, of course, valueless to sell and +unwholesome to eat; so the magnificent harvest of this year is turned to +bitterness at the last moment. From a neighbouring village all the men +are gone, and seven more are wanted to make up the _corvee_. The +population of Luxor is 1,000 males of all ages, so you can guess how many +strong men are left after three hundred and ten are taken. + +I don't like to think too much about seeing you and Maurice next winter +for fear I should be disappointed. If I am too sick and wretched I can +hardly wish you to come because I know what a nuisance it is to be with +one always coughing and panting, and unable to do like other people. But +if I pick up tolerably this summer I shall indeed be glad to see you and +him once more. + +This house is falling sadly to decay, which produces snakes and +scorpions. I sent for the _hawee_ (snake-catcher) who caught a snake, +but who can't conjure the scorpions out of their holes. One of my fat +turkeys has just fallen a victim, and I am in constant fear for little +Bob, only he is always in Omar's arms. I think I described to you the +festival of Sheykh Gibrieel: the dinner, and the poets who improvised; +this year I had a fine piece of declamation in my honour. A real +calamity is the loss of our good Maohn, Seleem Effendi. The Mudir hailed +him from his steamer to go to Keneh directly, with no further notice. We +hoped some good luck for him, and so it would have been to a Turk. He is +made overseer over the poor people at the railway work, and only gets two +pounds five shillings per month additional, he has to keep a horse and a +donkey, and to buy them and to hire a sais, and he does _not_ know how to +squeeze the fellaheen. It is true 'however close you skin an onion, a +clever man can always peel it again,' which means that even the poorest +devils at the works can be beaten into giving a little more; but our dear +Seleem, God bless him, will be ruined and made miserable by his +promotion. I had a very woeful letter from him yesterday. + + + +May 15, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_May_ 15, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +All the Christendom of Upper Egypt is in a state of excitement, owing to +the arrival of the Patriarch of Cairo, who is now in Luxor. My +neighbour, Mikaeel, entertains him, and Omar has been busily decorating +his house and arranging the illumination of his garden, and to-day is +gone to cook the confectionery, he being looked upon as the person best +acquainted with the customs of the great. Last night the Patriarch sent +for me, and I went to kiss his hand, but I won't go again. It was a very +droll caricature of the thunders of the Vatican. Poor Mikaeel had +planned that I was to dine with the Patriarch, and had borrowed my silver +spoons, etc., etc., in that belief. But the representative of St. Mark +is furious against the American missionaries who have converted some +twenty Copts at Koos, and he could not bring himself to be decently civil +to a Protestant. I found a coarse-looking man seated on a raised divan +smoking his chibouk, on his right were some priests on a low divan; I +went up and kissed his hand and was about to sit by the priests, but he +roughly ordered a cawass to put a wooden chair _off the carpet_ to his +left, at a distance from him, and told me to sit there. I looked round +to see whether any of my neighbours were present, and I saw the +consternation in their faces so, not wishing to annoy them, I did as if I +did not perceive the affront, and sat down and talked for half an hour to +the priests, and then took leave. I was informed that the Catholics were +_naas mesakeen_ (poor inoffensive people), and that the Muslims at least +were of an old religion, but that the Protestants ate meat all the year +round, 'like dogs'--'or Muslims,' put in Omar, who stood behind my chair +and did not relish the mention of dogs and the 'English religion' in one +sentence. As I went the Patriarch called for dinner, it seems he had +told Mikaeel he would not eat with me. It is evidently 'a judgment' of a +most signal nature that I should be snubbed for the offences of +missionaries, but it has caused some ill blood; the Kadee and Sheykh +Yussuf and the rest, who all intended to do the civil to the Patriarch, +now won't go near him on account of his rudeness to me. He has come up +in a steamer, at the Pasha's expense, with a guard of cawasses, and, of +course, is loud in praise of the Government, though he failed in getting +the Moudir to send all the Protestants of Koos to the public works, or +the army. + +From what he said before me about the Abyssinians, and still more, from +what he said to others about the English prisoners up there, I am +convinced that the place to put the screw on is the _Batrarchane_ +(Patriarch's palace) at Cairo, and that the priests are at the bottom of +that affair. {350} He boasted immensely of the obedience and piety of +_El Habbesh_ (the Abyssinians). + +_Saturday_.--Yesterday I heard a little whispered grumbling about the +money demanded by the 'Father.' One of my Copt neighbours was forced to +sell me his whole provision of cooking butter to pay his quota. This a +little damps the exultation caused by seeing him so honoured by the +Effendina. One man who had heard that he had called the American +missionaries 'beggars,' grumbled to me, 'Ah yes, beggars, beggars, they +didn't beg of me for money.' I really do think that there must be +something in this dread of the Protestant movement. Evidently the Pasha +is backing up the Patriarch who keeps his church well apart from all +other Christians, and well under the thumb of the Turks. It was pretty +to hear the priests talk so politely of Islam, and curse the Protestants +so bitterly. We were very nearly having a row about a woman, who +formerly turned Moslimeh to get rid of an old blind Copt husband who had +been forced upon her, and was permitted to recant, I suppose in order to +get rid of the Muslim husband in his turn. However he said, 'I don't +care, she is the mother of my two children, and whether she is Muslim or +Christian she is my wife, and I won't divorce her, but I'll send her to +church as much as she likes.' Thereupon the priests of course dropped +the wrangle, much to the relief of Sheykh Yussuf, in whose house she had +taken up her quarters after leaving the church, and who was afraid of +being drawn into a dispute. + +My new little Darfour boy is very funny and very intelligent. I hope he +will turn out well, he seems well disposed, though rather lazy. Mabrook +quarrelled with a boy belonging to the quarter close to us about a bird, +and both boys ran away. The Arab boy is missing still I suppose, but +Mabrook was brought back by force, swelling with passion, and with his +clothes most scripturally 'rent.' He had regularly 'run amuck.' Sheykh +Yussuf lectured him on his insolence to the people of the quarter, and I +wound up by saying, 'Oh my son! whither dost thou wish to go? I cannot +let thee wander about like a beggar, with torn clothes and no money, that +the police may take thee and put thee in the army; but say where thou +desirest to go, and we will talk about it with discretion.' It was at +once borne in upon him that he did not want to go anywhere, and he said, +'I repent; I am but an ox, bring the courbash, beat me, and let me go to +finish cooking the Sitt's dinner.' I remitted the beating, with a threat +that if he bullied the neighbours again he would get it at the police, +and not from Omar's very inefficient arm. In half an hour he was as +merry as ever. It was a curious display of negro temper, and all about +nothing at all. As he stood before me, he looked quite grandly tragic; +and swore he only wanted to run outside and die; that was all. + +I wish you could have heard (and understood) my _soirees, au clair de la +lune_, with Sheykh Yussuf and Sheykh Abdurrachman. How Abdurrachman and +I wrangled, and how Yussuf laughed, and egged us on. Abdurrachman was +wroth at my want of faith in physic generally, as well as in particular, +and said I talked like an infidel, for had not God said, 'I have made a +medicine for every disease?' I said, 'Yes, but He does not say that He +has told the doctors which it is; and meanwhile I say, _hekmet Allah_, +(God will cure) which can't be called an infidel sentiment.' Then we got +into alchemy, astrology, magic and the rest; and Yussuf vexed his friend +by telling gravely stories palpably absurd. Abdurrachman intimated that +he was laughing at _El-Ilm el-Muslimeen_ (the science of the Muslims), +but Yussuf said, 'What is the _Ilm el-Muslimeen_? God has revealed +religion through His prophets, and we can learn nothing new on that +point; but all other learning He has left to the intelligence of men, and +the Prophet Mohammed said, "All learning is from God, even the learning +of idolaters." Why then should we Muslims shut out the light, and want +to remain ever like children? The learning of the Franks is as lawful as +any other.' Abdurrachman was too sensible a man to be able to dispute +this, but it vexed him. + +I am tired of telling all the _plackereien_ of our poor people, how three +hundred and ten men were dragged off on Easter Monday with their bread +and tools, how in four days they were all sent back from Keneh, because +there were no orders about them, and made to _pay their boat hire_. Then +in five days they were sent for again. Meanwhile the harvest was cut +green, and the wheat is lying out unthreshed to be devoured by birds and +rats, and the men's bread was wasted and spoiled with the hauling in and +out of boats. I am obliged to send camels twenty miles for charcoal, +because the Abab'deh won't bring it to market any more, the tax is too +heavy. Butter too we have to buy secretly, none comes into the market. +When I remember the lovely smiling landscape which I first beheld from my +windows, swarming with beasts and men, and look at the dreary waste now, +I feel the 'foot of the Turk' heavy indeed. Where there were fifty +donkeys there is but one; camels, horses, all are gone; not only the +horned cattle, even the dogs are more than decimated, and the hawks and +vultures seem to me fewer; mankind has no food to spare for hangers-on. +The donkeys are sold, the camels confiscated, and the dogs dead (the one +sole advantage). Meat is cheap, as everyone must sell to pay taxes and +no one has money to buy. I am implored to take sheep and poultry for +what I will give. + + + +May 23, 1867: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +LUXOR, +_May_ 23, 1867. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I have only time for a few words by Giafar Pasha, who goes early +to-morrow morning. My boat arrived all right and brought your tin box. +The books and toys are very welcome. The latter threw little Darfour +into ecstasies, and he got into disgrace for 'playing with the Sitt' +instead of minding some business on hand. I fear I shall spoil him, he +is so extremely engaging and such a baby. He is still changing his +teeth, so cannot be more than eight; at first I did not like him, and +feared he was sullen, but it was the usual _khoss_ (fear), the word that +is always in one's ears, and now that is gone, he is always coming +hopping in to play with me. He is extremely intelligent and has a pretty +baby nigger face. The Darfour people are, as you know, an independent +and brave people, and by no means 'savages.' I can't help thinking how +pleased Rainie would be with the child. He asked me to give him the +picture of the English Sultaneh out of the _Illustrated London News_, and +has pasted it inside the lid of his box. + +I am better as usual, since the hot weather has begun, the last six days. +I shall leave this in a week, I think, and Mustapha and Yussuf will go +with me to Cairo. Yussuf was quite enchanted with your note to him; his +eyes glistened, and he took an envelope to keep it carefully. Omar said +such a letter is like a _hegab_ (amulet) and Yussuf said, 'Truly it is, +and I could never have one with more _baraka_ (blessing) or more like the +virtue which went out of Jesus, if ever I wore one at all; I will never +part with it.' + +We had a very pretty festival for the Sheykh, whose tomb you have a +photograph of, and I spent a very pleasant evening with Sheykh Abd el- +Mootooal, who used to scowl at me, but now we are 'like brothers.' I +found him very clever, and better informed than any Arab I have met, who +is quite apart from all Franks. I was astonished to find that he +_abondait dans man sens_ in my dispute with Sheykh Abdurrachman, and said +that it was the duty of Muslims to learn what they could from us, and not +to stick to the old routine. + +On Sunday the Patriarch snubbed me, and would not eat with me, and on +Monday a _Walee_ (saint) picked out tit-bits for me with his own fingers, +and went with me inside the tomb. The Patriarch has made a blunder with +his progress. He has come ostentatiously as the _protege_ and _pronem_ +of the Pasha, and he has 'eaten' and beaten the fellaheen. The Copts of +Luxor have had to pay fifty pounds for the honour of his presence, +besides no end of sheep, poultry, butter, etc. If I were of a +proselytising mind I could make converts of several whose pockets and +backs are smarting, and the American missionaries will do it. Of course +the Muslims sympathize with the converts to a religion which has no +'idols,' and no monks, and whose priests marry like other folk, so they +are the less afraid. I hear there are now fifty Protestants at Koos, and +the Patriarch was furious because he could not beat them. Omar cooked a +grand dinner for him last night for our neighbour Mikaeel, and the eating +was not over till two in the morning. Our Government should manage to +put the screw on him about our Abyssinian prisoners. I dare not say who +told me all he said, but he was a truthful man and a Christian. The +Patriarch answered me sharply when I asked about the state of religion in +Abyssinia that, 'they were lovers of the faith, and his obedient +children.' Whenever there is mischief among the Copts, the priests are +at the bottom of it. If the Patriarch chose those people would be let +go; and so it would be but he hates all Europeans bitterly. + +I should like to have the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ of all things, but I +don't know how it is to come here, or what the postage would cost. They +send nothing but letters above Cairo by post, as all goes on men's backs. +'Inshallah! I am the bearer of good news,' cries the postman, as he +flings the letter over the wall. I am so glad of the chance of getting +news to you quick by Giafar Pasha, who came here like a gentleman, alone, +without a retinue; he is on his way from two years in the Soudan, where +he was absolute Pasha. He is very much liked and respected, and seems a +very sensible and agreeable man, quite unlike any Turkish big-wig I have +seen. Great potentate as he is, he made Yussuf Mustapha and Abdallah sit +down, and was extremely civil and simple in his manners. + + + +June 30, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +BENISOUEF, +_June_ 30, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +I write on the chance that this may go safe by post so that you may not +think me lost. I left Luxor on May 31, got to Siout (half-way) in a +week, and have ever since been battling with an unceasing furious north +and north-east wind. I feel like the much travelled Odysseus, and have +seen 'villages and men,' unlike him, however 'my companions' have neither +grumbled nor deserted, though it is a bad business for them, having +received their money at the rate of about twenty days' pay, for which +they must take me to Cairo. They have eaten all, and are now obliged to +stop and make bread here, but they are as good-humoured as if all were +well. My fleet consisted of my dahabieh, flag ship; tender, a _kyasseh_ +(cargo boat) for my horse and sais, wherein were packed two extremely +poor shrivelled old widows, going to Cairo to see their sons, now in +garrison there; lots of hard bread, wheat, flour, jars of butter, onions +and lentils for all the lads of 'my family' studying at Gama'l Azhar, +besides in my box queer little stores of long hoarded money for those +_megowareen_ (students of Gama'l Azhar). Don't you wish you could +provide for Maurice with a sack of bread, a basket of onions and one +pound sixteen shillings? + +The handsome brown Sheykh el-Arab, Hassan, wanted me to take him, but I +knew him to be a 'fast' man, and asked Yussuf how I could avoid it +without breaking the laws of hospitality, so my 'father,' the old +Shereef, told Hassan that he did not choose his daughter to travel with a +wine-bibber and a frequenter of loose company. Under my convoy sailed +two or three little boats with family parties. One of these was very +pretty, whose steersman was a charming little fat girl of five years old. +All these hoped to escape being caught and worried by the way, by +belonging to me, and they dropped off at their several villages. I am +tolerably well, better than when I started, in spite of the wind. + +Poor Reis Mohammed had a very bad attack of ophthalmia, and sat all of a +heap, groaning all day and night, and protesting 'I am a Muslim,' +equivalent to 'God's will be done.' At one place I was known, and had a +lot of sick to see, and a civil man killed a sheep and regaled us all +with meat and _fateereh_. The part of the river in which we were kept by +the high wind is made cheerful by the custom of the Hareem being just as +free to mix with men as Europeans, and I quite enjoyed the pretty girls' +faces, and the gossip with the women who came to fill their water-jars +and peep in at the cabin windows, which, by the way, they always ask +leave to do. The Sheykh el-Hawara gave me two sheep which are in the +cargo-boat with four others--all presents--which Omar intends you to eat +at Cairo. The Sheykh is very anxious to give you an entertainment at his +palace, if you come up the river, with horse-riding, feasting and dancing +girls. In fact I am charged with many messages to _el-Kebir_ (the great +master). + + + +July 8, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +CAIRO, +_July_ 8, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +I arrived to-day, after thirty-eight days' voyage, one month of ceaseless +furious wind. My poor men had a hard pull down against it. However I am +feeling better than when I left Luxor. + +Omar has just brought a whole cargo of your letters, the last of the 26 +June. Let me know your plans. If you can go up the river I might send +the boat beforehand to Minieh, so far there is a railway now, which would +break the neck of the tedious part of the voyage for you if you are +pressed for time. I must send this off at once to catch early post to- +morrow. Excuse haste, I write in all the bustle of arrival. + + + +July 28, 1867: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +BOULAK, +_July_ 28, 1867. + +Dearest Mutter, + +I know I can write nothing more sure to please you than that I am a good +deal better. It has been intensely hot, and the wind very worrying, but +my cough has greatly abated and I do not feel so weak as I did. I am +anchored here in the river at my old quarters, and have not yet been +ashore owing to the hot wind and the dust, which of course are far less +troublesome here on the river. I have seen but very few people and have +but one neighbour, in a boat anchored near mine, a very bewitching +Circassian, the former slave of a rich Pasha, now married to a +respectable dragoman, and staying in his boat for a week or two. She is +young and pretty, and very amiable, and we visit each other often and get +on very well indeed. She is a very religious little lady, and was much +relieved when I assured her it was not part of my daily devotions to +curse the Prophet, and revile the noble Koran. + +I am extremely glad that the English have given a hearty welcome to the +Ameer el-Moornemeen (Commander of the Faithful); it will have an +excellent effect in all Mussulman countries. A queer little Indian from +Delhi who had been converted to Islam, and spent four years at Mecca +acting as dragoman to his own countrymen, is now settled at Karnac. I +sent for him, and he carne shaking in his shoes. I asked why he was +afraid? 'Oh, perhaps I was angry about something, and he was my _rayah_, +and I might have him beaten.' I cried out at him, 'Ask pardon of God, O +man. How could I beat thee any more than thou couldst beat me? Have we +not laws? and art thou not my brother, and the _rayah_ of our Queen, as I +am and no more?' 'Mashallah!' exclaimed the six or eight fellaheen who +were waiting for physic, in prodigious admiration and wonder; 'and did we +not tell thee that the face of the Sitt brings good fortune and not +calamity and stick?' I found the little Indian had been a hospital +servant in Calcutta, and was practising a little physic on his own +account. So I gave him a few drugs especially for bad eyes, which he +knew a good deal about, and we became very good friends; he was miserable +when I left and would have liked me to have taken him as a volunteer +servant. + +I have come to a curious honour. _Ich bin beim lebendigem Leibe +besungen_. Several parties of real Arabs came with their sick on camels +from the desert above Edfou. I asked at last what brought them, and they +told me that a _Shaer_ (bard or poet) had gone about singing my praises, +as how the daughter of the English was a flower on the heads of the +Arabs, and those who were sick should go and smell the perfume of the +flower and rejoice in the brightness of the light (_nooreen_)--my name. +Rather a highflown way of mentioning the 'exhibition' of a black dose. +But we don't feel that a man makes a fool of himself here when he is +romantic in his talk even about an old woman. + +It is no use to talk of the state of things here; all classes are +suffering terribly under the fearful taxation, the total ruin of the +fellaheen, and the destruction of trade brought about by this much +extolled Pasha. My grocer is half ruined by the 'improvements' made a +_l'instar de Paris_--long military straight roads cut through the heart +of Cairo. The owners are expropriated, and there is an end of it. Only +those who have half a house left are to be pitied, because they are +forced to build a new front to the street on a Frankish model which +renders it uninhabitable to them and unsaleable. + +The river men are excited about the crews gone to Paris, for fear they +should be forcibly detained by the _Sultaneh Franzaweeh_, I assured them +that they will all come home safe and happy, with a good backsheesh. Many +of them think it a sort of degradation to be taken for the Parisians to +stare at like an anteeka, a word which here means what our people call a +'curiosity.' + +I go on very well with my two boys. Mabrook washes very well and acts as +_marmiton_. Darfour is housemaid and waiter in his very tiny way. He is +only troublesome as being given to dirty his clothes in an incredibly +short time. His account of the school system of Darfour is curious. How +when the little boy has achieved excellence he is carried home in triumph +to his father's house, who makes a festival for the master and boys. I +suppose you will be surprised to hear that the Darfour 'niggers' can +nearly all read and write. Poor little Darfour apologised to me for his +ignorance, he was stolen he said, when he had only just begun to go to +school. I wish an English or French servant could hear the instructions +given by an Alim here to serving men. How he would resent them! 'When +thou hast tired out thy back do not put thy hand behind it (do not shirk +the burden). Remember that thou art not only to obey, but to please thy +master, whose bread thou eatest;' and much more of the like. In short, a +standard of religious obedience and fidelity fit for the highest Catholic +idea of the 'religious life.' Upon the few who seek instruction it does +have an effect (I am sure that Omar looks on his service as a religious +duty), but of course they are few; and those who don't seek it themselves +get none. It is curious how all children here are left utterly without +any religious instruction. I don't know whether it is in consequence of +this that they grow up so very devout. + + + +July 29, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +BOULAK, +_July_ 29, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +Your letter has arrived to my great relief--only I fear you are not at +all well. About Maurice. If he wishes to see the Nile let him come, but +if he is only to be sent because of me, let it alone. I know I am +oppressive company now, and am apt, like Mr. Wodehouse in 'Emma,' to say, +'Let us all have some gruel.' + +We know nothing here of a prohibition of gunpowder, at this moment some +Europeans are popping away incessantly at Embabeh just opposite. +Evidently the Pasha wants to establish a right of search on the Nile. +That absurd speech about slaves he made in Paris shows that. With 3,000 +in his hareem, several slave regiments, and lots of gangs on all his +sugar plantations, his impudence is wonderful. He is himself the +greatest living slave trader as well as owner. My lads are afraid to go +out alone for fear of being snapped up by cawasses and taken to the army +or the sugar works. You will be sorry to hear that your stalwart friend +Hassan has had fifty blows on each foot-sole, and had to pay six pounds. +He was taking two donkeys to Shepheard's hotel before sunrise for a +French lady and gentleman to go to the Pyramids, when a cawass met him, +seized the donkeys, and on Hassan's refusal to give them up, spat on the +side-saddle and reviled Hassan's own Hareem and began to beat him with +his courbash. Hassan got impatient, took the cawass up in his arms and +threw him on the ground, and went on. Presently four cawasses came after +him, seized him and took him to the Zaptieh (police office), where they +all swore he had beaten them, torn their clothes, and robbed one of an +imaginary gold watch--all valued at twenty-four pounds. After the +beating he was carried to prison in chains, and there sentenced to be a +soldier. A friend however interfered and settled the matter for six +pounds. Hassan sends you his best salaam. + +Last night was very pretty--all the boats starting for the _moolid_ of +Seyd el-Bedawee at Tanta. Every boat had a sort of pyramid of lanterns, +and the derweeshes chanted, and the worldly folks had profane music and +singing, and I sat and looked and listened, and thought how many thousand +years ago just the same thing was going on in honour of Bubastis. + + + +August 7, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +BOULAK, +_August_ 7, 1867. + +My Dearest Alick, + +Two sailors of mine of last year went to Paris in the dahabieh for the +Empress, and are just come back. When I see them I expect I shall have +some fun out of their account of their journey. Poor Adam's father died +of grief at his son's going, nothing would persuade him that Adam would +come back safe, and having a heart complaint, he died. And now the lad +is back, well and with fine clothes, but is much cut up, I hear, by his +father's death. Please send me a tremendous whistle; mine is not loud +enough to wake Omar at the other end of the cabin; a boatswain's whistle +or something in the line of the 'last trump' is needed to wake sleeping +Arabs. + +My pretty neighbour has gone back into the town. She was a nice little +woman, and amused me a good deal. I see that a good respectable Turkish +hareem is an excellent school of useful accomplishments--needlework, +cookery, etc. But I observed that she did not care a bit for the Pasha, +by whom she had a child, but was extremely fond of 'her lady,' as she +politely called her, also that like every Circassian I ever knew, she +regarded being sold as quite a desirable fate, and did not seem sorry for +her parents, as the negroes always are. + +The heat has been prodigious, but I am a good deal better. Yesterday the +Nile had risen above ten cubits, and the cutting of the Kalig took place. +The river is pretty full now, but they say it will go down fast this +year. I don't know why. It looks very beautiful, blood-red and tossed +into waves by the north wind fighting the rapid stream. + +Good-bye dear Alick, I hope to hear a better account of your health soon. + + + +August 8, 1867: Mrs. Austin + + +_To Mrs. Austin_. +BOULAK, +_August_ 8, 1867. + +Dearest Mutter, + +Two of my sailors were in Paris and have just come home. I hear they are +dreadfully shocked by the dancing, and by the French women of the lower +class generally. They sit in the coffee-shops like _shaers_ (poets), and +tell of the wonders of Paris to admiring crowds. They are enthusiastic +about the courtesy of the French police, who actually did not beat them +when they got into a quarrel, but scolded the Frankish man instead, and +accompanied them back to the boat quite politely. The novelty and +triumph of not being beaten was quite intoxicating. There is such a +curious sight of a crowd of men carrying huge blocks of stone up out of a +boat. One sees exactly how the stones were carried in ancient times; +they sway their bodies all together like one great lithe animal with many +legs, and hum a low chant to keep time. It is quite unlike any carrying +heavy weights in Europe. + +It is getting dusk and too windy for candles, so I must say goodnight and +eat the dinner which Darfour has pressed upon me two or three times, he +is a pleasant little creature, so lively and so gentle. It is washing +day. I wish you could see Mabrook squatting out there, lathering away at +the clothes with his superb black arms. He is a capital washer and a +fair cook, but an utter savage. + +[The foregoing letter reached England the day after the death of my +grandmother, Mrs. Austin, which was a great shock to my mother and made +her ill and unhappy; so it was settled that my brother Maurice should go +out and spend the winter with her on the Nile.] + + + +September 7, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +BOULAK, +_September_ 7, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +Many thanks for your letter and for all the trouble you have taken. I +wish you were better. + +There is such a group all stitching away at the big new sail; Omar, the +Reis, two or three volunteers, some old sailors of mine, and little +Darfour. If I die I think you must have that tiny nigger over; he is +such a merry little soul, I am sure you would love him, he is quite a +civilized being and has a charming temper, and he seems very small to be +left alone in the world. + +I hope Maurice is not of the faction of the _ennuyes_ of this generation. +I am more and more of Omar's opinion, who said, with a pleased sigh, as +we sat on the deck under some lovely palm-trees in the bright moon-light, +moored far from all human dwellings, 'how sweet are the quiet places of +the world.' + +I wonder when Europe will drop the absurd delusion about Christians being +persecuted by Muslims. It is absolutely the other way,--here at all +events. The Christians know that they will always get backed by some +Consul or other, and it is the Muslims who go to the wall invariably. The +brute of a Patriarch is resolved to continue his persecution of the +converts, and I was urged the other day by a Sheykh to go to the Sheykh +ul-Islam himself and ask him to demand equal rights for all religions, +which is the law, on behalf of these Coptic Protestants. Everywhere the +Ulema have done what they could to protect them, even at Siout, where the +American missionaries had caused them (the Ulemas) a good deal of +annoyance on a former occasion. No one in Europe can conceive how much +the Copts have the upper hand in the villages. They are backed by the +Government, and they know that the Europeans will always side with them. + +_September_ 13.--Omar is crazy with delight at the idea of Maurice's +arrival, and Reis Mohammed is planning what men to take who can make +fantasia, and not ask too much wages. Let me know what boat Maurice +comes by that I may send Omar to Alexandria to meet him. Omar begs me to +give you and Sitti Rainie his best salaam, and his assurance that he will +take great care of the young master and 'keep him very tight.' I think +Maurice will be diverted with small Darfour. Mabrook now really cooks +very fairly under Omar's orders, but he is beyond belief uncouth, and +utters the wildest howls now that his voice is grown big and strong like +himself. Moreover he 'won't be spoken to,' as our servants say; but he +is honest, clean, and careful. I should not have thought any human +creature could remain so completely a savage in a civilized community. I +rather respect his savage _hauteur_, especially as it is combined with +truth and honesty. + + + +October 17, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +BOULAK, +BOAT _MARIE LOUISE_, +_October_ 17, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +You must not be wroth with me because I have not written for a long +time--I have been ill, but am much better. Omar will go down to +Alexandria to meet Maurice on Monday. + +My boat is being painted, but is nearly finished; as soon as it is done I +shall move back into her. I got out into a little cangia but it swarmed +with bugs and wasps, and was too dirty, so I moved yesterday into a good +boat belonging to a dragoman, and hope to be back in my own by Sunday. +But oh Lord! I got hold of the Barber himself turned painter; and as the +little cangia was moored alongside the _Urania_ in order to hold all the +mattresses, carpets, etc. I was his victim. First, it was a request for +'three pounds to buy paint.' 'None but the best of paint is fitting for +a noble person like thee, and that thou knowest is costly, and I am thy +servant and would do thee honour.' 'Very well,' say I, 'take the money, +and see, oh man, that the paint is of the best, or thy backsheesh will be +bad also.' Well, he begins and then rushes in to say: 'Come oh Bey, oh +Pasha! and behold the brilliancy of the white paint, like milk, like +glass, like the full moon.' I go and say, 'Mashallah! but now be so good +as to work fast, for my son will be here in a few days, and nothing is +ready.' Fatal remark. 'Mashallah! Bismillah! may the Lord spare him, +may God prolong thy days, let me advise thee how to keep the eye from +him, for doubtless thy son is beautiful as a memlook of 1,000 purses. +Remember to spit in his face when he comes on board, and revile him aloud +that all the people may hear thee, and compel him to wear torn and dirty +clothes when he goes out:--and how many children hast thou, and our +master, thy master, and is he well?' etc. etc. '_Shukr Allah_! all is +well with us,' say I; 'but, by the Prophet, paint, oh _Ma-alim_ (exactly +the German _Meister_) and do not break my head any more.' But I was +forced to take refuge at a distance from Hajj' Alee's tongue. Read the +story of the Barber, and you will know exactly what Ma-alim Hajj' Alee +is. Also just as I got out of my boat and he had begun, the painter whom +I had last year and with whom I was dissatisfied, went to the Sheykh of +the painters and persuaded him to put my man in prison for working too +cheap--that was at daybreak. So I sent up my Reis to the Sheykh to +inform him that if my man did not return by next day at daybreak, I would +send for an European painter and force the Sheykh to pay the bill. Of +course my man came. + +My steersman Hassan, and a good man, Hoseyn, who can wash and is +generally nice and pleasant, arrived from el-Bastowee a few days ago, and +are waiting here till I want them. Poor little ugly black Hassan has had +his house burnt down in his village, and lost all the clothes which he +had bought with his wages; they were very good clothes, some of them, and +a heavy loss. He is my Reis's brother, and a good man, clean and careful +and quiet, better than my Reis even--they are a respectable family. Big +stout Hazazin owes me 200 piastres which he is to work out, so I have +still five men and a boy to get. I hope a nice boy, called Hederbee (the +lizard), will come. They don't take pay till the day before we sail, +except the Reis and Abdul Sadig, who are permanent. But Hassan and +Hoseyn are working away as merrily as if they were paid. People growl at +the backsheesh, but they should also remember what a quantity of service +one gets for nothing here, and for which, oddly enough, no one dreams of +asking backsheesh. Once a week we shift the anchors, for fear of their +silting over, and six or eight men work for an hour; then the mast is +lowered--twelve or fourteen men work at this--and nobody gets a farthing. + +The other day Omar met in the market an 'agreeable merchant,' an +Abyssinian fresh from his own country, which he had left because of the +tyranny of Kassa, alias Todoros, the Sultan. The merchant had brought +his wife and concubines to live here. His account is that the mass of +the people are delighted to hear that the English are coming to conquer +them, as they hope, and that everyone hates the King except two or three +hundred scamps who form his bodyguard. He had seen the English +prisoners, who, he says, are not ill-treated, but certainly in danger, as +the King is with difficulty restrained from killing them by the said +scamps, who fear the revenge of the English; also that there is one woman +imprisoned with the native female prisoners. Hassan the donkeyboy, when +he was a _marmiton_ in Cairo, knew the Sultan Todoros, he was the only +man who could be found to interpret between the then King of Abyssinia +and Mohammed Ali Pasha, whom Todoros had come to visit. The merchant +also expressed a great contempt for the Patriarch, and for their +_Matraam_ or Metropolitan, whom the English papers call the _Abuna_. +_Abuna_ is Arabic for 'our father.' The man is a Cairene Copt and was a +hanger-on of two English missionaries (they were really Germans) here, +and he is more than commonly a rascal and a hypocrite. I know a +respectable Jew whom he had robbed of all his merchandise, only Ras Alee +forced the _Matraam_ to disgorge. Pray what was all that nonsense about +the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem writing to Todoros? what could he +have to do with it? The Coptic Patriarch, whose place is Cairo, could do +it if he were forced. + +At last my boat is finished, so to-morrow Omar will clean the windows, +and on Saturday move in the cushions, etc. and me, and on Sunday go to +Alexandria. I hear the dreadful voice of Hajj' Alee, the painter, +outside, and will retire before he gets to the cabin door, for fear he +should want to bore me again. I do hope Maurice will enjoy his journey; +everyone is anxious to please him. The Sheykh of the Hawara sent his +brother to remind me to stop at his 'palace' near Girgeh, that he might +make a fantasia for my son. So Maurice will see real Arab riding, and +jereed, and sheep roasted whole and all the rest of it. The Sheykh is +the last of the great Arab chieftains of Egypt, and has thousands of +fellaheen and a large income. He did it for Lord Spencer and for the +Duke of Rutland and I shall get as good a fantasia, I have no doubt. +Perhaps at Keneh Maurice had better not see the dancing, for Zeyneb and +Latefeeh are terribly fascinating, they are such pleasant jolly girls as +well as pretty and graceful, but old Oum ez-Zeyn (mother of beauty), so- +called on account of his hideousness, will want us to eat his good +dinner. + + + +October 21, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +_URANIA_, BOULAK, +_October_ 21, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +So many thanks for the boxes and their contents. My slaves are enchanted +with all that the 'great master' has sent. Darfour hugged the horsecloth +in ecstasy that he should never again be cold at night. The waistcoats +of printed stuff, and the red flannel shirts are gone to be made up, so +my boys will be like Pashas this winter, as they told the Reis. He is +awfully perturbed about the evil eye. 'Thy boat, _Mashallah_, is such as +to cause envy from all beholders; and now when they see a son with thee, +_Bismillah_! _Mashallah_! like a flower, verily. I fear, I fear greatly +from the eye of the people.' We have bought a tambourine and a +tarabouka, and are on the look-out for a man who can sing well, so as to +have fantasia on board. + +_October_ 22.--I hear to-day that the Pasha sent a telegram _hochst +eigenhandig_ to Koos, in consequence whereof one Stefanos, an old Copt of +high character, many years in Government employ, was put in chains and +hurried off within twenty minutes to Fazoghlou with two of his friends, +for no other crime than having turned Presbyterian. This is quite a new +idea in Egypt, and we all wonder why the Pasha is so anxious to 'brush +the coat' of the Copt Patriarch. We also hear that the people up in the +Saaed are running away by wholesale, utterly unable to pay the new taxes +and to do the work exacted. Even here the beating is fearful. My Reis +has had to send all his month's wages to save his aunt and his sister-in- +law, both widows, from the courbash. He did not think so much of the +blows, but of the 'shame'; 'those are women, lone women, from whence can +they get the money?' + + + +November 3, 1867: Mrs. Ross + + +_To Mrs. Ross_. +BOULAK, +_November_ 3, 1867. + +Dearest Janet, + +Maurice arrived on Friday week, and is as happy as can be, he says he +never felt so well and never had such good snipe shooting. Little +Darfour's amusement at Maurice is boundless; he grins at him all the time +he waits at table, he marvels at his dirty boots, at his bathing, at his +much walking out shooting, at his knowing no Arabic. The dyke burst the +other day up at Bahr Yussuf, and we were nearly all swept away by the +furious rush of water. My little boat was upset while three men in her +were securing the anchor, and two of them were nearly drowned, though +they swim like fish; all the dahabiehs were rattled and pounded awfully; +and in the middle of the _fracas_, at noonday, a steamer ran into us +quite deliberately. I was rather frightened when the steamer bumped us, +and carried away the iron supports of the awning; and they cursed our +fathers into the bargain, which I thought needless. The English have +fallen into such contempt here that one no longer gets decent civility +from anything in the _Miri_ (Government). + +Olagnier has lent us a lovely little skiff, and I have had her repaired +and painted, so Maurice is set up for shooting and boating. Darfour +calls him the 'son of a crocodile' because he loves the water, and +generally delights in him hugely, and all my men are enchanted with him. + + + +December 20, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_December_ 20, 1867. + +Dearest Alick, + +We arrived here all safe three days ago. I think of starting for Nubia +directly after Christmas Day, which we must keep here. We have lovely +weather. Maurice is going with a friend of my friends, a Bedawee, to +shoot, I hope among the Abab'deh he will get some gazelle shooting. I +shall stop at Syaleh to visit the Sheykh's mother, and with them Maurice +could go for some days into the desert. As to crocodiles, Inshallah, we +will eat their hearts, and not they ours. You may rely on it that +Maurice is 'on the head and in the eye' of all my crew, and will not be +allowed to bathe in 'unclean places.' Reis Mohammed stopped him at Gebel +Abu'l Foda. You would be delighted to see how different he looks; all +his clothes are too tight now. He says he is thoroughly happy, and that +he was never more amused than when with me, which I think very +flattering. + +Half of the old house at Luxor fell down into the temple beneath six days +before I arrived; so there is an end of the _Maison de France_, I +suppose. It might be made very nice again at a small expense, but I +suppose the Consul will not do it, and certainly I shall not unless I +want it again. Nothing now remains solid but the three small front rooms +and the big hall with two rooms off it. All the part I lived in is gone, +and the steps, so one cannot get in. Luckily Yussuf had told Mohammed to +move my little furniture to the part which is solid, having a misgiving +of the rest. He has the most exquisite baby, an exact minature of +himself. He is in a manner my godson, being named Noor ed-Deen Hishan +Abu-l-Hajjaj, to be called _Noor_ like me. + + + +January, 1868: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +ON BOARD THE _URANIA_, +_January_, 1868. + +Dearest Alick, + +Your letter of the 10 December most luckily came on to Edfoo by the +American Consul-General, who overtook us there in his steamer and gave me +a lunch. Maurice was as usual up to his knees in a distant swamp trying +to shoot wild geese. Now we are up close to Assouan, and there are no +more marshes; but _en revanche_ there are quails and _kata_, the +beautiful little sand grouse. I eat all that Maurice shoots, which I +find very good for me; and as for Maurice he has got back his old round +boyish face; he eats like an ogre, walks all day, sleeps like a top, +bathes in the morning and has laid on flesh so that his clothes won't +button. At Esneh we fell in with handsome Hassan, who is now Sheykh of +the Abab'deh, as his elder brother died. He gave us a letter to his +brother at Syaleh, up in Nubia; ordering him to get up a gazelle hunt for +Maurice, and I am to visit his wife. I think it will be pleasant, as the +Bedaween women don't veil or shut up, and to judge by the men ought to be +very handsome. Both Hassan and Abu Goord, who was with him, preached the +same sermon as my learned friend Abdurrachman had done at Luxor. 'Why, +in God's name, I left my son without a wife?' They are sincerely shocked +at such indifference to a son's happiness. + +ASSOUAN, +10 _Ramadan_. + +I have no almanach, but you will be able to know the date by your own red +pocketbook, which determined the beginning of Ramadan at Luxor this year. +They received a telegram fixing it for Thursday, but Sheykh Yussuf said +that he was sure the astronomers in London knew best, and made it Friday. +To-morrow we shall make our bargain, and next day go up the +Cataract--Inshallah, in safety. The water is very good, as Jesus the +black pilot tells me. He goes to the second Cataract and back, as I +intend to stay nearly two months in Nubia. The weather here is perfect +now, we have been lucky in having a lovely mild winter hitherto. We are +very comfortable with a capital crew, who are all devoted to Maurice. The +Sheykh of the Abab'deh has promised to join us if he can, when he has +convoyed some 400 Bashibazouks up to Wady Halfa, who are being sent up +because the English are in Abyssinia. + + + +April, 1868: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +LUXOR, +_April_, 1868. + +Dearest Alick, + +I have been too weak to write, but the heat set in three days ago and +took away my cough, and I feel much better. Maurice also flourishes in +the broil, and protests against moving yet. He speaks a good deal of +Arabic and is friends with everyone. It is _Salaam aleykoum ya maris_ on +all sides. A Belgian has died here, and his two slaves, a very nice +black boy and an Abyssinian girl, got my little varlet, Darfour, to coax +me to take them under my protection, which I have done, as there appeared +a strong probability that they would be 'annexed' by a rascally Copt who +is a Consular agent at Keneh. I believe the Belgian has left money for +them, which of course they would never get without someone to look after +it, and so I have Ramadan, the boy, with me, and shall take the girl when +I go, and carry them both to Cairo, settle their little business, and let +them present a sealed-up book which they have to their Consul there, +according to their master's desire, and then marry the girl to some +decent man. I have left her in Mustapha's hareem till I go. + +I enjoyed Nubia immensely, and long to go and live with the descendants +of a great _Ras_ (head, chief,) who entertained me at Ibreem, and who +said, like Ravenswood, 'Thou art come to a fallen house, and there is +none to serve thee left save me.' It was a paradise of a place, and the +Nubian had the grand manners of a very old, proud nobleman. I had a +letter to him from Sheykh Yussuf. + +Since I wrote the above it has turned quite chilly again, so we agreed to +stay till the heat really begins. Maurice is so charmed with Luxor that +he does not want to go, and we mean to let the boat and live here next +winter. I think another week will see us start down stream. Janet talks +of coming up the Nile with me next year, which would be pleasant. I am a +little better than I have been the last two months. I was best in Nubia +but I got a cold at Esneh, second hand from Maurice, which made me very +seedy. I cannot go about at all for want of breath. Could you send me a +chair such as people are carried in by two men? A common chair is +awkward for the men when the banks are steep, and I am nervous, so I +never go out. I wish you could see your son bare-legged and footed, in a +shirt and a pair of white Arab drawers, rushing about with the fellaheen. +He is everybody's 'brother' or 'son.' + + + +May, 1868: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +MINIEH, +_May_, 1868. + +Dearest Alick, + +We are just arriving at Minieh whence the railway will take letters +quickly. We dined at Keneh and at Siout with some friends, and had +fantasia at Keneh. Omar desires his dutiful salaams to you and hopes you +will be satisfied with the care he has taken of 'the child.' How you +would have been amused to hear the girl who came to dance for us at Esneh +lecture Maurice about evil ways, but she was an old friend of mine, and +gave good and sound advice. + +Everyone is delighted about Abyssinia. 'Thank God our Pasha will fear +the English more than before, and the Sultan also,' and when I lamented +the expense, they all exclaimed, 'Never mind the expense, it is worth +more than ten millions to you; your faces are whitened and your power +enlarged before all the world; but why don't you take us on your way +back.' + +I saw a very interesting man at Keneh, one Faam, a Copt, who has turned +Presbyterian, and has induced a hundred others at Koos to do likewise: an +American missionary is their minister. Faam was sent off to the Soudan +by the Patriarch, but brought back. He is a splendid old fellow, and I +felt I looked on the face of a Christian martyr, a curious sight in the +nineteenth century: the calm, fearless, rapt expression was like what you +see in noble old Italian pictures, and he had the perfect absence of +'doing pious' which shows the undoubting faith. He and the Mufti, also a +noble fellow, sparred about religion in a jocose and friendly tone which +would be quite unintelligible in Exeter Hall. When he was gone the Mufti +said, 'Ah! we thank them, for though they know not the truth of Islam, +they are good men, and walk straight, and would die for their religion: +their example is excellent; praise be to God for them.' + + + +June 14, 1868: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +BOULAK, +_June_ 14, 1868. + +Dearest Alick, + +The climate has been odious for Egypt--to shiver in cold winds of June on +the Nile seems hard. Maurice inherits my faculty for getting on with +'d------d niggers'; all the crew kissed him on both cheeks and swore to +come back again in the winter; and up the country he was hand and glove +with all the fellaheen, eating a good deal of what he called 'muck' with +great enjoyment, walking arm in arm with a crazy derweesh, fetching home +a bride at night and swearing lustily by the Prophet. The good manners +of the Arab _canaille_, have rubbed off the very disagreeable varnish +which he got at Brussels. + +Dr. Patterson wants me to go to Beyrout or one of the Greek isles for a +change. I am very feeble and short of breath--but I will try the +experiment. Would you be shocked if a nigger taught Maurice? One Hajjee +Daboos I know to be a capital Arabic scholar and he speaks French like a +Parisian, and Italian also, only he is a real nigger and so is the best +music-master in Cairo. _Que faire_? it's not catching, as Lady Morley +said, and I won't present you with a young mulatto any more than with a +young _brave Belge_. I may however find someone at Beyrout. Cairo is in +such a state of beggary that all educated young men have fled. Maurice +has no sort of idea why a nigger should not be as good as anyone else, +but thinks perhaps you might not approve. + +You would have stared to see old Achmet Agha Abd el-Sadig, a very good +friend of ours at Assouan, coaxing and patting the _weled_ (boy) when he +dined here the other day, and laughing immoderately at Maurice's +nonsense. He is one of the M.P.'s for Assouan, and a wealthy and much +respected man in the Saeed. The Abyssinian affair is an awful +disappointment to the Pasha; he had laid his calculations for something +altogether different, and is furious. The Coptic clergy are ready to +murder us. The Arabs are all in raptures. 'God bless the English +general, he has frightened our Pasha.' + +Giafar Pasha backsheeshed me an _abbayeh_ of crimson silk and gold, also +a basket of coffee. I was obliged to accept them as he sent his son with +them, and to refuse would have been an insult, and as he is the one Turk +I do think highly of I did not wish to affront him. It was at Luxor on +his way to Khartoum. He also invited Maurice to Khartoum, and proposed +to send a party to fetch him from Korosko, on the Nile. Giafar is +Viceroy of the Soudan, and a very quiet man, who does not 'eat the +people.' + +My best love to Janet, I'll write soon to her, but I am _lazy_ and +Maurice is worse. Omar nearly cried when Maurice went to Alexandria for +a week. 'I seem to feel how dull we shall be without him when he goes +away for good,' said he, and Darfour expresses his intention of going +with Maurice. 'Thou must give me to the young man backsheesh,' as he +puts it, 'because I have plenty of sense and shall tell him what to do.' +That is the little rascal's sauce. Terence's slaves are true to the life +here. + + + +October 22, 1868: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +BOULAK, +_October_ 22, 1868. + +Dearest Alick, + +The unlucky journey to Syria almost cost me my life. The climate is +absolute poison to consumptive people. In ten days after I arrived the +doctor told me to settle my affairs, for I had probably only a few days +to live, and certainly should never recover. However I got better, and +was carried on board the steamer, but am too weak for anything. We were +nearly shipwrecked coming back owing to the Russian captain having his +bride on board and not minding his ship. We bumped and scraped and +rolled very unpleasantly. At Beyrout the Sisters of Charity wouldn't +nurse a Protestant, nor the Prussians a non-Lutheran. But Omar and +Darfour nursed me better than Europeans ever do. Little Blackie was as +sharp about the physic as a born doctor's boy when Omar was taking his +turn of sleep. I did not like the few Syrians I saw at all. + + + +November 6, 1868: Alick + + +BOULAK, +_November_ 6, 1868. + +Dearest Alick, + +I am sure you will rejoice to hear that I am really better. I now feel +so much like living on a bit longer that I will ask you to send me a +cargo of medicines. I didn't think it worth while before to ask for +anything to be sent to me that could not be forwarded to Hades, but my +old body seems very tough and I fancy I have still one or two of my nine +lives left. + +I hope to sail in a very few days, Maurice is going up to Cairo so I send +this by him. Yesterday was little Rainie's birthday, and I thought very +longingly of her. The photo, of Leighton's sketch of Janet I like very +much. + + + +January 25, 1869: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +ASSOUAN, +_January_ 25, 1869. + +Dearest Alick, + +We have been here ten days, and I find the air quite the best for me. I +cough much less, only I am weak and short of breath. I have got a most +excellent young Reis for my boat, and a sailor who sings like a +nightingale, indeed he is not a sailor at all, but a professional Cairo +singer who came up with me for fun. He draws crowds to hear him, and at +Esneh the congregation prayed for me in the mosque that God might reward +me for the pleasure I had provided for them. Fancy desiring the prayers +of this congregation for the welfare of the lady who gave me her opera- +box last Saturday. If prayers could avail to cure I ought to get well +rapidly. At Luxor Omar killed the sheep he had vowed, and Mustapha and +Mohammed each killed two, as thank-offerings for my life, and all the +derweeshes held two great _Zikrs_ in a tent pitched behind the boat, and +drummed and chanted and called on the Lord for two whole nights; and +every man in my boat fasted Ramadan severely, from Omar and the crew to +the little boys. I think Darfour was the most meritorious of all, +because he has such a Gargantuan appetite, but he fasted his thirty days +bravely and rubbed his little nose in the dust energetically in prayer. + +On Christmas day I was at Esneh, it was warm and fine, and I made +fantasia and had the girls to dance. Zeyneb and Hillaleah claim to be my +own special _Ghazawee_, so to speak my _Ballerine da camera_, and they +did their best. How I did long to transport the whole scene before your +eyes--Ramadan warbling intense lovesongs, and beating on a tiny +tambourine, while Zeyneb danced before him and gave the pantomime to his +song; and the sailors, and girls, and respectable merchants sat _pele- +mele_ all round on the deck, and the player on the rabab drew from it a +wail like that of Isis for dead Osiris. I never quite know whether it is +now or four thousand years ago, or even ten thousand, when I am in the +dreamy intoxication of a real Egyptian fantasia; nothing is so antique as +the Ghazawee--the _real_ dancing girls. They are still subject to +religious ecstasies of a very curious kind, no doubt inherited from the +remotest antiquity. Ask any learned pundit to explain to you the +_Zar_--it is really curious. + +Now that I am too ill to write I feel sorry that I did not persist and +write on the beliefs of Egypt in spite of your fear that the learned +would cut me up, for I honestly believe that knowledge will die with me +which few others possess. You must recollect that the learned know +books, and I know men, and what is still more difficult, women. + +The Cataract is very bad this year, owing to want of water in the Nile, +and to the shameful conduct of the Maohn here. The cataract men came to +me, and prayed me to 'give them my voice' before the Mudir, which I will +do. Allah ed-deen Bey seems a decent man and will perhaps remove the +rascal, whose robberies on travellers are notorious, and his oppression +of the poor savages who pull the boats up odious. Two boats have been +severely damaged, and my friend the Reis of the Cataract (the one I +threatened to shoot last year, and who has believed in me ever since) +does not advise me to go up, though he would take me for nothing, he +swears, if I wished. So as the air is good here and Maurice is happy +with his companions, I will stay here. + +I meant to have discharged my men, but I have grown so fond of them +(having so good a set), that I can't bring myself to save 20 pounds by +turning them adrift when we are all so happy and comfortable, and the +poor fellows are just marrying new wives with their wages. Good-bye +dearest Alick, forgive a scrawl, for I am very weak all over, fingers and +all. Best love to my darling Rainie. Three boats have little girls of +five to eight on board, and I do envy them so. I think Maurice had +better go home to you, when we get to Cairo. He ought to be doing +something. + + + +June 15, 1869: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +BOULAK, +_June_ 15, 1869. + +Dearest Alick, + +Do not think of coming here. Indeed it would be almost too painful to me +to part from you again; and as it is, I can patiently wait for the end +among people who are kind and loving enough to be comfortable, without +too much feeling of the pain of parting. The leaving Luxor was rather a +distressing scene, as they did not think to see me again. + +The kindness of all the people was really touching, from the Kadee who +made ready my tomb among his own family, to the poorest fellaheen. Omar +sends you his most heartfelt thanks, and begs that the boat may remain +registered at the Consulate in your name for his use and benefit. The +Prince has appointed him his own dragoman. But he is sad enough, poor +fellow, all his prosperity does not console him for the loss of 'the +mother he found in the world.' Mohammed at Luxor wept bitterly and said, +'poor I, my poor children, poor all the people,' and kissed my hand +passionately, and the people at Esneh, asked leave to touch me 'for a +blessing,' and everyone sent delicate bread, and their best butter, and +vegetables and lambs. They are kinder than ever now that I can no longer +be of any use to them. + +If I live till September I will go up to Esneh, where the air is softest +and I cough less. I would rather die among my own people in the Saeed +than here. + +You must forgive this scrawl, dearest. Don't think please of sending +Maurice out again, he must begin to work now or he will never be good for +anything. + +Can you thank the Prince of Wales for Omar, or shall I write? He was +most pleasant and kind, and the Princess too. She is the most perfectly +simple-mannered girl I ever saw. She does not even try to be civil like +other great people, but asks blunt questions, and looks at one so +heartily with her clear, honest eyes, that she must win all hearts. They +were more considerate than any people I have seen, and the Prince, +instead of being gracious, was, if I may say so, quite respectful in his +manner: he is very well bred and pleasant, and has the honest eyes that +makes one sure he has a kind heart. + +My sailors were so proud at having the honour of rowing him _in our own +boat_, and of singing to him. I had a very good singer in the boat. +Please send some little present for my Reis: he is such a good man; he +will be pleased at some little thing from you. He is half Turk, and +seems like whole one. Maurice will have told you all about us. Good-bye +for the present, dearest Alick. + + + +July 9, 1869: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon + + +_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_. +HELWAN, +OPPOSITE BEDRESHAYN, +_July_ 9, 1869. + +Dearest Alick, + +Don't make yourself unhappy, and don't send out a nurse. And above all +don't think of coming. I am nursed as well as possible. My two Reises, +Ramadan and Yussuf, are strong and tender and Omar is admirable as ever. +The worst is I am so strong. + +I repeat I could not be better cared for anywhere than by my good and +loving crew. Tell Maurice how they all cried and how Abd el-Haleem +forswore drink and hasheesh. He is very good too. But my Reises are +incomparable. God bless you. I wish I had seen your dear face once +more--but not now. I would not have you here now on any account. + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{1} See my 'Three Generations of English Women.' + +{4} See 'Three Generations of English Women.' + +{48} A smoker or eater of _hasheeshs_ (hemp). + +{55} Lady Mary and Lord Jesus. + +{188} About 7.5 bushels. + +{293} Now, I believe, abolished. The Sheykh of the Saadeeyeh +darweeshes, passing part of the night in solitude, reciting prayers and +passages of the Koran, went to the mosque, preached and said the noonday +prayer; then, mounting his horse, proceeded to the Ezbekeeyeh. Many +darweeshes with flags accompanied him to the house of the Sheykh of all +the darweeshes where he stayed for some time, whilst his followers were +engaged in packing the bodies of those who wished to be trampled under +the hoofs of the Sheykh's horse as closely together as they could in the +middle of the road. Some eighty or a hundred, or more men lay side by +side flat on the ground on their stomachs muttering, Allah Allah! and to +try if they were packed close enough about twenty darweeshes ran over +their backs, beating little drums and shouting Allah! and now and then +stopping to arrange an arm or leg. Then appeared the Sheykh, his horse +led by two grooms, while two more rested their hands on his croup. By +much pulling and pushing they at last induced the snorting, frightened +beast to amble quickly over the row of prostrate men. The moment the +horse had passed the men sprang up, and followed the Sheykh over the +bodies of the others. It was said that on the day before the Doseh they, +and the Sheykh, repeated certain prayers which prevented the horse's +hoofs from hurting them, and that sometimes a man, overcome by religious +enthusiasm, had thrown himself down with the rest and been seriously +hurt, or even killed. + +{315} Mohammed Ali Pasha, who was an illiterate coffee-house keeper in +Salonica, first came to Egypt at the head of a body of Albanians and co- +operated with the English against the French. By his extraordinary +vigour and intelligence he became the ruler of Lower Egypt, and succeeded +in attaching the Mameluke Beys to his person. But finding that they were +beginning to chafe under his firm rule, he invited them, in 1811, to a +grand dinner in the Citadel of Cairo. The gates were closed, and +suddenly fire was opened upon them from every side. Only one man, Elfy +Bey, spurred his horse and jumped over the battlements into the square +below (some 80 or 90 feet). His horse was killed and he broke his leg, +but managed to crawl to a friend's house and was saved. This same Elfy +Bey, on the death of Abbas Pasha, held the Citadel for his son, El Hamy, +against his uncle, Said Pasha, and it was only by the intervention of the +English Consul-General, who rode up to the Citadel, that Elfy was induced +to acknowledge Said as Viceroy of Egypt. + +{334} Alexis was a clair-voyant who created some sensation in London +about fifty years ago. One evening at Lansdowne House he was reading +people's thoughts and describing their houses from the lines in their +hands, and a few leading questions. The old Marquess asked my mother to +let Alexis read her thoughts, and, I suppose, impressed by her _grand +air_ and statuesque beauty, imagining that she would think about some +great hero of ancient days, he said, after careful inspection of her +hand, 'Madame vous pensez a Jules Cesar.' She shook her head and told +him to try again. His next guess was Alexander the Great. She smiled +and said, 'Non, Monsieur, je pensais a mon fidele domestique negre, +Hassan.' He then described her house as something akin to Lansdowne +House--vast rooms, splendid pictures, etc. She laughed and told him she +lived in 'une maison fort modeste et tant soi peu bourgeois,' which +elicited his angry exclamation that she had not faith enough, _i.e_. that +she did not help him. + +{336} See Introduction, p. 6. + +{350} According to tradition, the first Christian church in Egypt was +built by St. Mark the Evangelist at Baucalis near Alexandria, and +Christianity was introduced into Abyssinia under Athanasius Patriarch of +Alexandria from 236 to 273. The authority of the Egyptian Coptic +Patriarch is still paramount in Abyssinia, where he counts his adherents +by the million. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM EGYPT*** + + +******* This file should be named 17816.txt or 17816.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/8/1/17816 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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