I Have, However, Nothing New
To Report Concerning The Present State Of Bondsmen In Egypt.
England
has already learned that slaves are not necessarily the most wretched
and degraded of men.
Some have been bold enough to tell the British
public that, in the generality of Oriental countries,[FN#19] the serf
fares far
[p.61]better than the servant, or indeed than the poorer orders of
freemen. "The laws of Mahomet enjoin his followers to treat slaves with
the greatest mildness, and the Moslems are in general scrupulous
observers of the Apostle's recommendation. Slaves are considered
members of the family, and in houses where free servants are also kept,
they seldom do any other work than filling the pipes, presenting the
coffee, accompanying their master when going out, rubbing his feet when
he takes his nap in the afternoon, and driving away the flies from him.
When a slave is not satisfied, he can legally compel his master to sell
him. He has no care for food, lodging, clothes and washing, and has no
taxes to pay; he is exempt from military service and soccage, and in
spite of his bondage is freer than the freest Fellah in Egypt.[FN#20]"
This is, I believe, a true statement, but of course it in no wise
affects the question of slavery in the abstract. A certain amount of
reputation was the consequence of curing the Abyssinian girls: my
friend Haji Wali carefully told the news to all the town, and before
fifteen days were over, I found myself obliged to decline extending a
practice which threatened me with fame.
Servants are most troublesome things to all Englishmen in Egypt, but
especially to one travelling as a respectable native, and therefore
expected to have slaves. After much deliberation, I resolved to take a
Berberi,[FN#21]
[p.62]and accordingly summoned a Shaykh-there is a Shaykh for
everything down to thieves in "the East," (in Egypt since the days of
Diodorus Siculus), and made known my want. The list of sine qua nons
was necessarily rather an extensive one,-good health and a readiness to
travel anywhere, a little skill in cooking, sewing and washing,
willingness to fight, and a habit of regular prayers. After a day's
delay the Shaykh brought me a specimen of his choosing, a
broad-shouldered, bandy-legged fellow, with the usual bull-dog
expression of the Berberis, in his case rendered doubly expressive by
the drooping of an eyelid-an accident brought about with acrid juice in
order to avoid conscription. He responded sturdily to all my questions.
Some Egyptian donkey boys and men were making a noise in the room at
the time, and the calm ferocity with which he ejected them commanded my
approval. When a needle, thread, and an unhemmed napkin were handed to
him, he sat down, held the edge of the cloth between his big toe and
its neighbour, and finished the work in quite a superior style. Walking
out, he armed himself with a Kurbaj, which he used, now lightly, then
heavily, upon all laden animals, biped and quadruped, that came in the
way.
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