The Price Is
Enormous, And Doubtless Its Dearness Contributes With A People Like The
Chinese To Raise Its Celebrity So High.
The rich and the Mandarins
probably use it only because it is above the reach of other people, and
out of pure ostentation." It is the principal tonic used throughout
Central Asia, and was well known in Europe when Sarsaparilla arose to
dispute with it the palm of popularity.
In India, Persia, and
Afghanistan, it is called chob-chini,-the "Chinese wood." The
preparations are in two forms, 1. Sufuf, or powder; 2. Kahwah, or
decoction. The former is compound of Radix China Qrient, with gum
mastich and sugar-candy, equal parts; about a dram of this compound is
taken once a day, early in the morning. For the decoction one ounce of
fine parings is boiled for a quarter of an hour in a quart of water.
When the liquid assumes a red colour it is taken off the fire and left
to cool. Furthermore, there are two methods of adhibiting the
choh-chini: 1. Band; 2. Khola. The first is when the patient confines
himself to a garden, listening to music, enjoying the breeze, the song
of birds, and the bubbling of a flowing stream. He avoids everything
likely to trouble and annoy him; he will not even open a letter, and
the doctor forbids anyone to contradict him. Some grandees in central
Asia will go through a course of forty days in every second year; it
reminds one of Epicurus' style of treatment,-the downy bed, the
garlands of flowers, the good wine, and the beautiful singing girl, and
is doubtless at least as efficacious in curing as the sweet relaxation
of Gräfenberg or Malvern. So says Socrates, according to the Anatomist
of Melancholy,
"Oculum non curabis sine toto capite,
Nec caput sine toto corpore,
Nec totum corpus sine animo."
The "Khola" signifies that you take the tonic without other precautions
than the avoiding acids, salt, and pepper, and choosing summer time, as
cold is supposed to induce rheumatism.
[FN#16] Certain Lamas who, we learn from M. Huc, perform famous Sie-fa,
or supernaturalisms, such as cutting open the abdomen, licking red-hot
irons, making incisions in various parts of the body, which an instant
afterwards leave no trace behind, &c., &c. The devil may "have a great
deal to do with the matter" in Tartary, for all I know; but I can
assure M. Huc, that the Rufa'i Darwayshes in India and the Sa'adiyah at
Cairo perform exactly the same feats. Their jugglery, seen through the
smoke of incense, and amidst the enthusiasm of a crowd, is tolerably
dexterous, and no more.
[FN#17] A holy man. The word has a singular signification in a plural
form, "honoris causa."
[FN#18] A title literally meaning the "Master of Breath," one who can
cure ailments, physical as well as spiritual, by breathing upon them-a
practice well known to mesmerists. The reader will allow me to observe,
(in self-defence, otherwise he might look suspiciously upon so
credulous a narrator), that when speaking of animal magnetism, as a
thing established, I allude to the lower phenomena, rejecting the
discussion of all disputed points, as the existence of a magnetic Aura,
and of all its unintelligibilities-Prevision, Levitation, Introvision,
and other divisions of Clairvoyance.
[FN#19] In the generality, not in all. Nothing, for instance, can be
more disgraceful to human nature than the state of praedial slavery, or
serfs attached to the glebe, when Malabar was under the dominion of the
"mild Hindu." And as a rule in the East it is only the domestic slaves
who taste the sweets of slavery. Yet there is truth in Sonnini's
terrible remark: "The severe treatment under which the slaves languish
in the West Indies is the shameful prerogative of civilisation, and is
unknown to those nations among whom barbarism is reported to hold
sway." (Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt, vol. ii.)
[FN#20] The author has forgotten to mention one of the principal
advantages of slaves, namely, the prospect of arriving at the highest
rank of the empire. The Pasha of the Syrian caravan with which I
travelled to Damascus, had been the slave of a slave, and he is but a
solitary instance of cases perpetually occuring in all Moslem lands.
"C'est un homme de bonne famille," said a Turkish officer in Egypt, "il
a ete achete."
[FN#21] A "Barbarian" from Nubia and Upper Egypt. Some authorities, Mr.
Lane for instance, attribute the good reputation of these people to
their superior cunning. Sonnini says, "they are intelligent and handy
servants, but knaves." Others believe in them. As far as I could find
out, they were generally esteemed more honest than the Egyptians, and
they certainly possess a certain sense of honour unknown to their
northern brethren. "Berberi" is a term of respect; "Masri" (corrupted
from Misri) in the mouth of a Badawi or an Arab of Arabia is a
reproach. "He shall be called an Egyptian," means "he shall belong to a
degraded race."
[FN#22] Who becomes responsible, and must pay for any theft his protege
may commit. Berberis, being generally "les Suisses" of respectable
establishments, are expected to be honest. But I can assert from
experience that, as a native, you will never recover the value of a
stolen article without having recourse to the police. For his valuable
security, the Shaykh demands a small fee (7 or 8 piastres), which,
despite the urgent remonstrances of protector and protege, you deduct
from the latter's wages. The question of pay is a momentous one; too
much always spoils a good servant, too little leaves you without one.
An Egyptian of the middle class would pay his Berberi about 40 piastres
a month, besides board, lodging, some small perquisites, and presents
on certain occasions. This, however, will not induce a man to travel,
especially to cross the sea.
[FN#23] A man from the Sa'id or Upper Egypt.
[FN#24] A favourite way of annoying the Berberis is to repeat the
saying, "we have eaten the clean, we have eaten the unclean,"-meaning,
that they are by no means cunning in the difference between right and
wrong, pure and impure.
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