He Is The Turkish "Punch," And His Pleasantries May Remind The Traveller Of What He Has Read Concerning The Mines And Fescennine Performances Of The Romans.

On more than one occasion, Kara Gyuz has been reported to the police for scandalously jibing and deriding consuls, Frank merchants, and even Turkish dignitaries. [FN#15] Mohammed Ali drained and planted the Azbakiyah, which, before his day, was covered with water and mud long after the inundation had ceased.

The Egyptians extract a perfume, an aphrodisiac, which they call "Fitnah," from this kind of Acacia. [FN#16] All "Agapemones" are at this time suppressed, by order of His Highness (Abbas Pasha), whose august mother occasionally insisted upon banishing whole colleges of Ambubaiae to Upper Egypt. As might be expected, this proceeding had a most injurious effect upon the morals of society. I was once at Cairo during the ruler's absence on a tour up to the Nile; his departure was the signal for the general celebration of Cotyttia. [FN#17] For La'an abuk, curse thy father. So in Europe pious men have sworn per diem, instead of per Deum, and "drat" acts for something stronger. [FN#18] A daughter, a girl. In Egypt, every woman expects to be addressed as "O lady!" "O female-pilgrim!" "O bride!" or, "O daughter!" even though she be on the wrong side of fifty. In Syria and in Arabia, you may say "y'al mara!" (O woman); but if you attempt it near the Nile, the answer of the offended fair one will be "may Allah cut out thy heart!" or, "the woman, please Allah, in thine eye!" And if you want a violent quarrel, "y'al aguz!" (O old woman!) pronounced drawlingly,-y'al ago-o-ooz,-is sure to satisfy you. On the plains of Sorrento, in my day, it was always customary, when speaking to a peasant girl, to call her "bella fe," (beautiful woman), whilst the worst of insults was "vecchiarella." So the Spanish Calesero, under the most trying circumstances, calls his mule "Vieja, rivieja." (old, very old). Age, it appears, is as unpopular in Southern Europe as in Egypt. [FN#19] "Fire" is called the "sweet" by euphuism, as to name it directly would be ill-omened. So in the Moslem law, flame and water being the instruments of Allah's wrath, are forbidden to be used by temporal rulers. The "full" means an empty coffee cup, as we say in India Mez barhao ("increase the table,") when ordering a servant to remove the dishes. [FN#20] Or "pleasurably and health": Hanien is a word taken from the Koran. The proper answer to this is "May Allah cause thee to have pleasure!" Hanna-kumu'llah, not "Allah yahannik!" which I have heard abominably perverted by Arnaut and other ruffians. [FN#21] This in these days must be said comparatively: Ibrahim Pasha's order, that every housekeeper should keep the space before his house properly swept and cleaned, has made Cairo the least filthy city in the East. [FN#22] Here lies the Swiss Burckhardt, who enjoyed a wonderful immunity from censure, until a certain pseudo-orientalist of the present day seized the opportunity of using the "unscrupulous traveller's" information, and of abusing his memory.

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