Very different is the faith and the practice of the Europeans, or
rather, I mean of the Europeans settled in the East, and commonly
called Levantines.
When I came to the end of my journey over the
Desert I had been so long alone, that the prospect of speaking to
somebody at Cairo seemed almost a new excitement. I felt a sort of
consciousness that I had a little of the wild beast about me, but I
was quite in the humour to be charmingly tame, and to be quite
engaging in my manners, if I should have an opportunity of holding
communion with any of the human race whilst at Cairo. I knew no
one in the place, and had no letters of introduction, but I carried
letters of credit, and it often happens in places remote from
England that those "advices" operate as a sort of introduction, and
obtain for the bearer (if disposed to receive them) such ordinary
civilities as it may be in the power of the banker to offer.
Very soon after my arrival I went to the house of the Levantine to
whom my credentials were addressed. At his door several persons
(all Arabs) were hanging about and keeping guard. It was not till
after some delay, and the passing of some communications with those
in the interior of the citadel, that I was admitted. At length,
however, I was conducted through the court, and up a flight of
stairs, and finally into the apartment where business was
transacted. The room was divided by an excellent, substantial
fence of iron bars, and behind this grille the banker had his
station. The truth was, that from fear of the plague he had
adopted the course usually taken by European residents, and had
shut himself up "in strict quarantine" - that is to say, that he
had, as he hoped, cut himself off from all communication with
infecting substances. The Europeans long resident in the East,
without any, or with scarcely any, exception are firmly convinced
that the plague is propagated by contact, and by contact only; that
if they can but avoid the touch of an infecting substance they are
safe, and that if they cannot, they die. This belief induces them
to adopt the contrivance of putting themselves in that state of
siege which they call "quarantine." It is a part of their faith
that metals, and hempen rope, and also, I fancy, one or two other
substances, will not carry the infection; and they likewise believe
that the germ of pestilence, which lies in an infected substance,
may be destroyed by submersion in water, or by the action of smoke.
They therefore guard the doors of their houses with the utmost care
against intrusion, and condemn themselves, with all the members of
their family, including any European servants, to a strict
imprisonment within the walls of their dwelling. Their native
attendants are not allowed to enter at all, but they make the
necessary purchases of provisions, which are hauled up through one
of the windows by means of a rope, and are then soaked in water.
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