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.
[p.141]CHAPTER VIII.
FROM CAIRO TO SUEZ.
SHAYKH NASSAR, a Badawi of Tur (Mount Sinai,) being on his way
homewards, agreed to let me have two dromedaries for the sum of fifty
piastres, or about ten shillings, each.[FN#1] Being desirous to set out
with a certain display of respectability, I accepted these terms: a man
of humble pretensions would have travelled with a single animal, and a
camel-man running behind him. But, besides ostentation, I wanted my
attendant to be mounted, that we might make a forced march in order to
ascertain how much a four years' life of European effeminacy had
impaired my powers of endurance. The reader may believe the assertion
that there are few better tests than an eighty-four mile ride in
mid-summer, on a bad wooden saddle, borne by a worse dromedary, across
the Suez Desert. Even the Squire famed for being copper-sheeted might
not have disdained a trial of the kind.
I started my Indian boy and heavy luggage for Suez two days before the
end of the Id,-laden camels generally taking fifty-five or sixty hours
to do the journey, and I spent the intermediate time with Haji Wali. He
advised me to mount about 3 P.M., so that I might arrive at Suez on the
evening of the next day, and assisted me
[p.142]in making due preparations of water, tobacco, and provisions.
Early on the morning of departure the Afghan Shaykh came to the
Caravanserai, and breakfasted with us, "because Allah willed it." After
a copious meal he bestowed upon me a stately benediction, and would
have embraced me, but I humbly bent over his hand: sad to relate,
immediately that his back was turned, Haji Wali raised his forefinger
to a right angle with the palm (chaff), and burst into a shout of
irreverent laughter. At three o'clock Nassar, the Badawi, came to
announce that the dromedaries were saddled. I dressed myself, sticking
a pistol in my belt, and passing the crimson silk cord of the "Hamail"
or pocket Koran over my shoulder, in token of being a pilgrim. Then
distributing a few trifling presents to friends and servants, and
accompanied by the Shaykh Mohammed and Haji Wali, I descended the
stairs with an important gait. In the courtyard squatted the camels,
(dromedaries they could not be called,) and I found that a second
driver was going to accompany us. I objected to this, as the extra
Badawi would, of course, expect to be fed by me; but Nassar swore that
the man was his brother, and as you rarely gain by small disputes with
these people, he was allowed to have his own way.
Then came the preparatory leave-takings. Haji Wali embraced me
heartily, and so did my poor old Shaykh, who, despite his decrepitude
and my objections, insisted upon accompanying me to the city gate. I
mounted the camel, crossed my legs before the pommel-stirrups are not
used in Egypt[FN#2]-and, preceding my friend, descended
[p.143]the street leading towards the Desert. As we emerged from the
huge gateway of the Caravanserai all the bystanders, except only the
porter, who believed me to be a Persian, and had seen me with the
drunken captain, exclaimed, "Allah bless thee, Y'al-Hajj,[FN#3] and
restore thee to thy country and thy friends!" And passing through the
Bab al-Nasr, where I addressed the salutation of peace to the sentry,
and to the officer commanding the guard, both gave me God-speed with
great cordiality[FN#4]-the pilgrim's blessing in Asia, like the old
woman's in Europe, being supposed to possess peculiar efficacy.
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