Generically The
Word Means Any Spirit; Specifically, It Is Applied To That Extracted
From Dates, Or Dried Grapes.
The latter is more expensive than the
former, and costs from 5 to 7 piastres the bottle.
It whitens the water
like Eau de Cologne, and being considered a stomachic, is patronised by
Europeans as much as by Asiatics. In the Azbakiyah gardens at Cairo,
the traveller is astonished by perpetual "shouts" for "Sciroppo di
gomma," as if all the Western population was afflicted with sore
throat. The reason is that spirituous liquors in a Moslem land must not
be sold in places of public resort; so the infidel asks for a "syrup of
gum," and obtains a "dram" of 'Araki. The favourite way of drinking it,
is to swallow it neat, and to wash it down with a mouthful of cold
water. Taken in this way it acts like the "petit verre d'absinthe."
Egyptian women delight in it, and Eastern topers of all classes and
sexes prefer it to brandy and cognac, the smell of which, being
strange, is offensive to them.
[FN#26] When Egyptians of the middle classes call upon one another, the
visitor always carries with him his tobacco-pouch, which he hands to
the servant, who fills his pipe.
[FN#27] The "Salatah" is made as follows. Take a cucumber, pare, slice
and place it in a plate, sprinkling it over with salt. After a few
minutes, season it abundantly with pepper, and put it in a bowl
containing some peppercorns, and about a pint of curds. When the dish
is properly mixed, a live coal is placed upon the top of the compound
to make it bind, as the Arabs say. It is considered a cooling dish, and
is esteemed by the abstemious, as well as by the toper.
[FN#28] These Albanians are at most half Asiatic as regards manner. In
the East generally, the host drinks of the cup, and dips his hand into
the dish before his guest, for the same reason that the master of the
house precedes his visitor over the threshold. Both actions denote that
no treachery is intended, and to reverse them, as amongst us, would be
a gross breach of custom, likely to excite the liveliest suspicions.
[FN#29] Formerly these places, like the coffee-houses, were crowded
with bad characters. Of late years the latter have been refused
admittance, but it would be as easy to bar the door to gnats and flies.
They appear as "foot-pages," as washerwomen, as beggars; in fact, they
evade the law with ingenuity and impunity.
[FN#30] Isma'il Pasha was murdered by Malik Nimr, chief of Shendy, for
striking him with a chibuk across the face. Travellers would do well to
remember, that in these lands the pipe-stick and the slipper disgrace a
man, whereas a whip or a rod would not do so. The probable reason of
this is, that the two articles of domestic use are applied slightingly,
not seriously, to the purposes of punishment.
[FN#31] Anglice, Alexandria, Cairo, and Suez,-an extensive field of
operations.
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