The Gentleman, However, Bent Upon Showing Off, Would Not
Listen To Our Entreaties That The Grooms Should Lead The Horses, But
Dashed Along, Regardless Of The Danger To The Foot-Passengers, Or The
Damage That The Donkeys Might Sustain.
So long as we proceeded slowly, the drive was very agreeable, since
it enabled me to observe the effect produced by our party upon the
spectators.
Many sat with the utmost gravity in their shops, scarcely
deigning to cast their eyes upon what must certainly have been a
novel sight; others manifested much more curiosity, and seemed to be
infinitely amused, while heads put out of the upper windows showed
that we attracted some attention. My enjoyment was destined to be very
brief, for in a short time our coachman, heedless of the mischief that
might ensue, drove rapidly forward, upsetting and damaging every thing
that came in his way. In vain did we scream and implore; he declared
that it was the fault of the people, who would not remove themselves
out of danger; but as we had no avant-courrier to clear the road
before us, and our carriage came very suddenly upon many persons, I
do not see how they could have managed to escape. At length, we drove
over an unfortunate donkey, which was pulled down by a piece of iron
sticking from the carriage, and thus becoming entangled in the load he
bore. I fear that the animal was injured, for the poor boy who drove
him cried bitterly, and though we (that is, the ladies of the party)
would gladly have remunerated him for the damage he might have
sustained, neither time nor opportunity was permitted for this act of
justice. On we drove, every moment expecting to be flung out against
the walls, as the carriage turned round the corners of streets placed
at right angles to each other. At length, we succeeded in our wish to
have the grooms at the horses' heads, and without further accident,
though rendered as nervous as possible, passed through the gate of
the city. We drove forward now without any obstacle through the
Necropolis, or City of Tombs, before-mentioned, and I regretted
much that we had not left Cairo at an earlier hour, which would have
permitted us to examine the interiors.
The desert comes up to the very walls of Cairo, and these tombs rise
from a plain of bare sand. I observed some gardens and cultivated
places stretching out into the wilderness, no intermediate state
occurring between the garden and the arid waste in which vegetation
suddenly ceased. We might have performed the whole journey across the
desert in the carriage which had brought us thus far, but as one of
the ladies was a little nervous, and moreover thought the road too
rough, I readily agreed to choose another mode of conveyance; in fact,
I wished particularly to proceed leisurely to Suez, and in the manner
in which travellers had hitherto been conveyed.
The mighty changes which are now effecting in Egypt, should nothing
occur to check their progress, will soon render the track to India so
completely beaten, and so deeply worn by wheels, that I felt anxious
to take advantage of the opportunity now offered to traverse the
desert in a more primitive way. I disliked the idea of hurrying
through a scene replete with so many interesting recollections. I had
commenced reading the Arabian Nights' Entertainment at the age of
five years; since which period, I had read them over and over again
at every opportunity, finishing with the last published number of the
translation by Mr. Lane. This study had given me a strong taste for
every thing relating to the East, and Arabia especially. I trust that
I am not less familiar with the writings of the Old and New Testament,
and consequently it may easily be imagined that I should not find
three days in the desert tedious, and that I felt anxious to enjoy to
the uttermost the reveries which it could not fail to suggest.
In parting with our friend and the carriage, he declared that he
would indemnify himself for the constraint we had placed upon him, by
driving over two or three people at least. Fortunately, his desire
of showing off was displayed too soon; we heard, and rejoiced at
the tidings, that he upset the carriage before he got to the gate of
Cairo. Two or three lives are lost, it is said, whenever the Pasha,
who drives furiously, traverses the city in a European equipage. That
he should not trouble himself about so mean a thing as the life or
limb of a subject, may not be wonderful; but that he should permit
Frank strangers to endanger both, seems unaccountable.
No Anglo-Indian resident in either of the three presidencies thinks
of driving a wheel-carriage through streets never intended for
such conveyances. In visiting Benares, Patna, or any other of the
celebrated native cities of India, elephants, horses, palanquins,
or some other vehicle adapted for the occasion, are chosen. It,
therefore, appears to be the more extraordinary that English people,
who are certainly living upon sufferance in Egypt, should thus
recklessly expose the inhabitants to danger, to which they are not
subjected by any of their own people under the rank of princes.
Nothing can be more agreeable or safe than a drive across the desert,
and probably the time is speedily approaching in which the rich
inhabitants of Cairo will indulge, as they do at Alexandria, in the
luxury of English carriages, and for this purpose, the streets and
open spaces best adapted for driving will be improved and widened.
I cannot take leave of Cairo without paying the tribute due to the
manner in which the streets are kept. In passing along the narrow
lanes and avenues before-mentioned, not one of the senses was shocked;
dust, of course, there is every where, but nothing worse to be seen at
least; and the sight and smell were not offended, as at Paris or even
in London, when passing through the by-ways of either.
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