We Must Regret, That He Is As Much
Inferior In Intellect To His Father And His Brother Ibrahim, As He Is
Superior To Them In Moral Character.
His mother had appeared here with
all the pomp of an eastern queen:
From her donations to the temple, and
to
[p.388] the poor, she was regarded by the people as an angel sent from
heaven. She brought to her son presents to the value of about twenty-
five thousand pounds sterling, among which were remarked twelve complete
suits, including every article of dress, from the finest Cashmere shawl
down to the slippers; a diamond ring worth five thousand pounds; and two
beautiful Georgian slaves. In her retinue there was also a Georgian
slave of great beauty and rare accomplishments, whom Mohammed Aly had
lately married at Mekka; but as she had not yet borne any children, she
was considered much inferior in rank to Tousoun's mother, who counted
three Pashas as her own sons. [Ismayl Pasha is the younger brother of the
two mentioned above. It is reported that Ibrahim Pasha is not the son of
Mohammed Aly, but was adopted by him when he married his mother, then
the widow of an Aga of Karala, on the Hellespont, the native town of the
present Pasha of Egypt.] This slave had belonged to the Kadhy of Mekka,
who brought her from Constantinople. Mohammed Aly, who had heard his own
women praise her beauty and accomplishments, obliged the Kadhy, much
against his will, to part with her for the sum of fifty thousand
piastres, and soon after presented her with the marriage contract.
I can say little of any customs peculiar to the Medinans, having had so
few opportunities of mixing with them. I may, however, mention, that in
the honours they pay to the dead, they do not comply with the general
rules observed in the Fast. I believe this to be the only town where
women do not howl and cry on the death of a member of the family. The
contrary practice is too generally known to need repetition here; or
that, in other parts of the Levant, a particular class of women is
called in, on that occasion, whose sole profession is that of howling,
in the most heart-rending accents, for a small sum paid to them by the
hour. There is no such practice here, (though it is known in other parts
of the Hedjaz) and it is even considered disgraceful. The father of a
family died in a house next to that where I lived, and which
communicated with it. His death happened at midnight, and his only boy,
moved by natural feelings, burst into loud lamentations. I then heard
his mother exclaiming, "For God's sake,
[p.389] do not cry: what a shame to cry! You will expose us before the
whole neighbourhood;" and after some time she contrived to quiet her
child. There is also a national custom observed at funerals: the bier,
on issuing from the house of the deceased, is carried upon the shoulders
of some of his relations or friends, the rest of whom follow behind; but
when the procession advances into the street, every by-stander, or
passenger, hastens to relieve the bearers for a moment; some giving way
to others, who press forward to take in their turn the charge, which is
done without stopping.
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