The Less Wealthy Inhabitants Cannot Purchase So Dear A
Commodity; But They Use A Fermented Liquor Made From Raisins, And
Imported From Tayf, While The Lower Classes Drink Bouza.
During my stay
at Tayf, a Turk belonging to the suite of Mohammed Aly Pasha distilled
brandy from grapes, and publicly sold it at forty piastres the bottle.
The Mekkawys are very expensive in their houses: the rooms are
embellished with fine carpets, and an abundance of cushions and sofas
covered with brocade: amidst the furniture is seen much beautiful china-
ware, and several nargiles adorned with silver. A petty shopkeeper would
be ashamed to receive his acquaintances in a house less splendidly
fitted up. Their tables also are better supplied than in any other
country of the East, where even respectable families live economically
in this respect. A Mekkawy, even of the lower class, must have daily on
his table meat which costs from one and a half to two piastres the
pound; his coffee-pot is never removed from the fire; and himself, his
women and children are almost constantly using the nargile, and the
tobacco which supplies it cannot be a very trifling expense.
The women have introduced the fashion, not uncommon in Turkey, of
visiting each other at least once a week with all their children; the
visit lasts the whole day, and an abundant entertainment is provided on
the occasion: the vanity of each mistress of a house makes her endeavour
to surpass her acquaintances in show and magnificence; thus a continual
expense is entailed on every family.
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