Similarly At Jeddah,
The Bars Are Covered During The South And Bare During The North Winds.
[FN#35] This Mixture, Called In India Kichhri, Has Become Common In
Al-Hijaz As Well As At Suez.
"Al-Kajari" is the corruption, which
denotes its foreign origin, and renders its name pronounceable to Arabs.
[FN#36] Beans, an abomination to the ancient Egyptians, who were
forbidden even to sow them, may now be called the common "kitchen" of
the country.
The Badawin, ho believe in nothing but flesh, milk, and
dates, deride the bean-eaters, but they do not consider the food so
disgusting as onions.
[FN#37] Here concludes Mr. Levick's letter. For the following
observations, I alone am answerable.
[FN#38] The government takes care to prevent bloodshed in the towns by
disarming the country people, and by positively forbidding the carrying
of weapons. Moreover, with a wise severity, it punishes all parties
concerned in a quarrel, where blood is drawn, with a heavy fine and the
bastinado de rigueur. Hence it is never safe, except as a European, to
strike a man, and the Egyptians generally confine themselves to
collaring and pushing each other against the walls. Even in the case of
receiving gross abuse, you cannot notice it as you would elsewhere. You
must take two witnesses,-respectable men,-and prove the offence before
the Zabit, who alone can punish the offender.
[FN#39] NOTE TO THIRD (1873) EDITION.-I revisited Suez in September,
1869, and found it altered for the better. The population had risen
from 6,000 to 20,000. The tumble-down gateway was still there, but of
the old houses-including the "George Inn," whose front had been
repaired-I recognised only four, and they looked mean by the side of
the fine new buildings. In a few years ancient Suez will be no more.
The bazars are not so full of filth and flies, now that pilgrims pass
straight through and hardly even encamp. The sweet water Canal renders
a Hammam possible; coffee is no longer hot saltish water, and presently
irrigation will cover with fields and gardens the desert plain
extending to the feet of Jabal Atakah. The noble works of the Canal
Maritime, which should in justice be called the "Lesseps Canal," shall
soon transform Clysma into a modern and civilised city. The railway
station, close to the hotel, the new British hospital, the noisy Greek
casino, the Frankish shops, the puffing steamers, and the ringing of
morning bells, gave me a novel impression. Even the climate has been
changed by filling up the Timsch Lakes. Briefly, the hat is now at home
in Suez.
NOTE TO FOURTH (1879) EDITION.-The forecast in the last paragraph has
not been fulfilled. I again visited Suez in 1877-78; and found that it
had been ruined by the Canal leaving it out of line. In fact, another
Suez is growing up about the "New Docks," while the old town is falling
to pieces.
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