But To Realise The Prose Picture, Let The Home
Reader, Choosing Some Sultry August Day, Fasten A Large Fan To
A long
pole, and enjoy himself under it.
[FN#29] On a subsequent occasion, I met a party of Panjabis,
Who had
walked from Meccah to Cairo in search of "Abu Tabilah," (General
Avitabile), whom report had led to the banks of the Nile. Some were
young, others had white beards-all were weary and wayworn; but the
saddest sight was an old woman, so decrepit that she could scarcely
walk. The poor fellows were travelling on foot, carrying their wallets,
with a few pence in their pockets, utterly ignorant of route and road,
and actually determined in this plight to make Lahore by Baghdad,
Bushir, and Karachi. Such-so incredible-is Indian improvidence!
[FN#30] Upon this word Cacography has done her worst-"Haji Rood" may
serve for a specimen. My informants told me that Al-'Ajrudi is the name
of a Hijazi Shaykh whose mortal remains repose under a little dome near
the fort. This, if it be true, completely nullifies the efforts of
Etymology to discern in it a distinct allusion to "the overthrow of
Pharaoh's chariots, whose Hebrew appellation, ‘Ageloot,' bears some
resemblance to this modern name."
[FN#31] The only sweet water in Suez is brought on camel back from the
Nile, across the Desert. The "Bir Suez" is fit for beasts only; the
'Uyun Musa (Moses' Wells) on the Eastern side, and that below Abu
Daraj, on the Western shore of the Suez Gulf, are but little better.
The want of sweet water is the reason why no Hammam is found at Suez.
[FN#32] The "George": so called after its owner, a Copt, Consular Agent
for Belgium.
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