Coffee Was Brought In, Served In
Small China Cups; But All The Coffee Made In Egypt Was Too Like The
Nile Mud For Me To Taste, And Warm And Fatigued With A Walk Through
Places From Which The Fresh Air Was Excluded, I Felt Myself Unequal
To Make The Trial Now.
Our friend's collection of antiquities appeared to be very valuable;
but I had been at the opening of a mummy-case before, and though
interested by the different articles which his researches had brought
to light, was more so in the examination of his house.
It was very
oddly arranged, according to the ideas formed in Europe, many of the
rooms looking like lanthorns, in consequence of their having windows
on the stairs and passages, as well as to the street. This was
probably caused by a desire to secure a free circulation of air, but
it at the same time destroyed every idea of privacy, and therefore
looked exceedingly uncomfortable. There were glass-windows to several
of the apartments, but the house exhibited considerable quantities of
that wooden trellice-work, represented in Mr. Lane's book. Nothing,
indeed, can be more accurate than his descriptions; the English
inhabitants of Cairo say that, reading it upon the spot, they cannot
detect a single error; the designs are equally faithful, and those who
study the work carefully may acquire the most correct notion of the
city and its inhabitants.
The apartments at the top of the house opened, as usual, upon a rather
extensive terrace or court, but the surrounding wall was too high to
admit of any prospect; both here, and in a similar place at our hotel,
persons walking about could neither see their neighbours nor be seen
by them. We, therefore, gained nothing by climbing so high, and I was
disappointed at not obtaining any view of the city. I tried in each
place to make acquaintance with an Egyptian cat, but I found the
animal too shy. I noticed several, which seemed to be domestic pets;
they were fine-looking creatures of the kind, and I fancied larger
than the common English cat, but the difference, if existing at all,
was very slight. I returned home, so much fatigued with my walk, as
to be unable to go out again, especially as we were to start at four
o'clock for the desert.
Two of the ladies of the party, not having completed their purchases
at the bazaars, went out upon a shopping excursion, and passing near
the Nubian slave-market, were induced to enter. Christians are not
admitted to the place in which Circassian women are sold, and can
only obtain entrance by assuming the Turkish dress and character. My
friends were highly interested in one woman, who sat apart from the
rest, apparently plunged into the deepest melancholy; the others
manifested little sorrow at their condition, which was not, perhaps,
in reality, changed for the worse: all eagerly scrambled for some
pieces of money which the visitors threw amongst them, and the
sight was altogether too painful for Christian ladies to desire to
contemplate long.
They were much more amused by some gipsies, who were anxious to show
their skill in the occult science. Upon the morning after our arrival,
Miss E., who was always the first upon the alert, accepted the escort
of a gentleman, who conducted her to a neighbouring shop; while making
some purchases, a gipsy came and seated herself opposite, and by way
of showing her skill, remarked that the lady was a stranger to Cairo,
and had a companion, also of her own sex, who pretended to be a
friend, but who would prove treacherous.
As we had ridden through the fair together on the preceding evening,
it did not require any great effort of art to discover that two Frank
ladies had arrived at Cairo; but in speaking of treachery, the gipsy
evidently wished to pique the curiosity of my friend, and tempt her to
make further inquiry. Much to my regret, she did not take any notice
of the fortune-teller, whose words had been repeated by the gentleman
who had accompanied her, and who was well acquainted with the language
in which they were spoken. I should like to have had a specimen of the
talents of a modern scion of this race, in the country in which the
learned have decided that the tribe, now spread over the greater part
of the world, originated.
The arrival of the Berenice at Suez had been reported the evening
before, and the mails had been brought to Cairo in the coarse of
the night. All was, therefore, bustle and confusion in our hotel;
gentlemen hourly arriving from the Nile, where they had been delayed
by squalls and contrary winds, or snatching a hasty meal before they
posted off to the Pyramids. Our camels and donkeys had been laden
and despatched to the outskirts of the city, to which we were to be
conveyed in a carriage.
I had observed in the court-yard of the hotel an English-built
equipage, of the britschka fashion, with a dark-coloured hood, for,
whatever might have been its original tint, it had assumed the
common hue of Egypt; and I found that two spirited horses were to be
harnessed to the vehicle, which was dragged out into the street for
our accommodation. A gentleman volunteered his services as coachman,
promising that he would drive carefully, and we accordingly got in,
a party of four, taking the baby along with us. Although the horses
kicked and plunged a little, I did not fancy that we could be in any
danger, as it was impossible for them to run away with us through
streets so narrow as scarcely to be passable, neither could we have
very easily been upset. I, therefore, hoped to have enjoyed the drive
amazingly, as it promised to afford me a better opportunity than I
had hitherto possessed of seeing Cairo, seated at my ease, instead
of pushing and jostling through the crowd either on foot or upon
a donkey.
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