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SECTION IV.

of the manners of the orientals in general, and particularly of the egyptians.

Chap. I.

Of the Inhabitants of Cairo and its Neighbourhood.

Arabs and Turks from all the provinces in the Ottoman empire, form the most numerous part of the inhabitants of Cairo. There are also Magrebbins, or Arabs from Barbary, other Africans, Persians, and Tartars. All these are Mahometans, and most of them attached to the sect of Schafei.

After the Mahometans, the Copts are the next in numbers. They occupy whole quarters of the city, and very large streets. They have a great many churches, both in the capital, and at Masr-el-atik in its vicinity. Their patriarch also resides at Cairo.

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The Jews are the most numerous class, next after the Mahometans and the Copts. Some Pharisees or Talmudists, reside here, as well as Karaites, who, though not numerous, have a synagogue of their own. The Talmudists are numerous and powerful. They have long fanned all the customs; an undertaking which brings them both wealth and credit. In the republican Government of Egypt, they find it easier to gain steady protectors, than in the other provinces of Turkey, where all depends upon the caprice of a Pacha who knows not how soon he may lose his place, or of the superintendant of the customs who resides in Constantinople. One proof of the consequence which the Jews enjoy under the aristocracy of Cairo, is, that the offices of the customs are shut upon their sabbath, and no goods can pass on that day, although belonging to Christians or Mussulmans.

The Greeks have only two churches in Cairo, in one of which the service is performed by the patriarch of Alexandria, and in the other by the bishop of Mount Sinai. The Armenians, who are not numerous, have only one church, but that a handsome one. From Europe here are several French and Italian merchants, but no Dutchmen; yet the Dutch have a Consul here, as well as France and Venice.

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If Cairo come ever to want European merchants, yet it is not probable, that it will be without ecclesiastics of the Roman Communion. Here are Jesuits, Capuchins, Cordeliers, and Fathers of the Society for the propagation of the Christian Faith. These monks are all eager to make proselytes, and sometimes succeed so far as to convert some schismatic Christian of the East. The Government readily tolerates these modern apostles, on account of the profits which they derive from the quarrels which the conversions produce between the apostate, and the members of the Communion which he forsakes. The Pacha is often not content with fining the contending parties, but examines the affair to the bottom, and exacts considerable sums from the monks besides.

The neighbourhood of Cairo is partly inhabited by Copts, but chiefly by Arabs, wandering or settled. These deserve to be more particularly considered.

Chap. II.

Of the Copts.

If an ancient origin, and illustrious ancestors could confer merit, the Copts would be an highly

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estimable people They are descended from the ancient Egyptians; and the Turks, upon this account, call them, in derision, the posterity of Pharaoh. But their uncouth figure, their stupidity, ignorance, and wretchness, do little credit to the sovereigns of ancient Egypt.

They have lived for 2000 years under the dominion of different foreign conquerors, and have experienced many vicissitudes of fortune. They have lost their manners, their language, their religion, and almost their existence. They are reduced to a small number, in comparison of the Arabs, who have poured like a food over this country. Of the diminution of the numbers of the Copts some idea may be formed from the reduction of the number of their bishops. They were seventy in number, at the period of the Arabian conquest. They are now only twelve, and most of these settled in Upper Egypt, to which the ancient inhabitants seem to have retired from the centre of the conquest.

The Egyptians have been always distinguished as a melancholy, conceited, and superstitious race. Their posterity maintain with the same obstinacy, the opinions which they were compelled by the Greeks to adopt. The Copts have an insurmountable aversion to the Romish Church. Their patriarch is at the same time

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head of the Abyssinian Church, whither he sends a bishop to govern the clergy.

It would be a matter of singular importance to recover the knowledge of the ancient Coptic, the Risan Pharaoun, or language of Pharaoh. In Egypt, we see, even on the mummies, alphabetical inscriptions, which are very different from the hieroglyphics, and, if decyphered, might throw light upon the ancient history of Egypt, and help to an explanation of the hieroglyphics. But this language of the ancient Egyptians seems to be entirely lost. The Ptolomies were at pains to substitute the Greek, instead of the ancient language of their new subjects. The Greek emperors of Constantinople forbade the use of the Coptic in conversation, under pain of death; and obliged the Egytians to adopt the Greek, instead of the Pharaonic alphabet. Hence the modern Coptic, in which thee people have their version of the Holy Scriptures, is a mixture of Greek and old Egyptian. The Sultans of Egypt effaced the remains of this language, thus corrupted, by forbidding it to be spoken, under the same penalty, and introducing, in its room, the Arabic, which is the present language of the Copts. The liturgy is still read in the modern Coptic; but the people understand it not, till explained from an old Arabic translation, that is written beside the text. Even the priests understand

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not the language of their Scriptures, and can scarce read the characters.

Mr Forskal became acquainted with a Copt, named Ibrahim Ennasch, a man of learning and polished manners, whose employment was in copying the books of the liturgy; by which he earned at the rate of half-a-crown in three days. My friend saw, in the hands of this Egyptian, a dictionary of a great many genuine old Coptic words, with their explanations in Arabic. He was also informed by Ibrahim Ennasch, that there still are, in several convents in Upper Egypt, a good number of Coptic books; but his informer knew nothing of their nature or contents. The clergy conceal these books with great care, for fear, as they say, left the Catholics carry them off, and, after falsifying their contents, print them in Europe. Thus they have hitherto remained unknown. If those ecclesiastics could be persuaded that we are not all of the same party as the Pope, and were at the same time gratified with something to alleviate their extreme poverty, copies of the books in this hidden literary treasure might surely be obtained.

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Chap. III.

Of the Arabians in Egypt.

The Arabians appear to have conquered and settled in Egypt, at several different periods, very distant from one another. Vestiges may still be traced which prove their ancient residence in this country. The shepherd-kings, whose memory was in abhorrence among the Egyptians, must have been leaders of troops of wandering Arabs.

But, whatever may have passed in those remote ages, since Egypt was conquered by the Saracens, the greater part of its inhabitants have been Arabs. Of these, some are settled in the cities; others live in the villages, and cultivate the ground; and the rest wander through the country with their cattle, and encamp in tents.

When I come to speak of the Arabian nation in general, I shall then have occasion to speak of its different branches, their manners and customs: Here I than only mention some particulars relative to the Egyptian branch.

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The Arabian inhabitants of the cities of this province have nothing peculiar to distinguish them from those in the other cities of the East or in Arabia, in particular. And the Arabian peasant of Egypt equally resembles the other peasants of the East. Yet, the posterity of strangers settling in Egypt are thought to degenerate. Arabian horses, too, lose their strength and mettle here. Egyptian peasant is a denomination of contempt through Arabia.

The Bedouins, or wandering Arabs, being free, almost independent, and rather tributary allies, than subjects of the Egyptian Government, are the most remarkable branch of the nation. They are divided into tribes, governed by hereditary chiefs, called Schiechs, and these subordinate to a great Schiech, who has authority over several tribes. Upon paying a certain tribute to Government, the Bedouins are permitted to feed their flocks through the rich pasturage-grounds of Egypt. Bat they frequently abuse this permission, and pillage, without distinction, as well the husbandmen in the districts in which they encamp, as those travellers who have the misfortune to fall into their hands. They are ready, too, to take part in the dissensions which frequently arise in this military republic. When Government attempts to punish them, or to constrain them to their duty,

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they either defend themselves by force, or retire into the desarts till their misdemeanours be forgotten.

They are almost always on horseback, and armed with a lance,—at least the more considerable among them,—and ranging from place to place: The care of their cattle, and excursions for robbery or amusement, are all their employment.

Independence renders them haughty and insolent; and their idle, unsettled way of life, with the poverty which naturally attends it, probably inspire that spirit of theft and robbery by which they are so much distiguished. I have already had occasion to mention some instances of their propensity to infest the country and insult passengers. Mr Forskal and I had a new proof of it in an excursion which we made to the Pyramids. Setting out from Geesh, we met two Bedouins on horseback, whom we hired to guide and escort us. Just as we reached the foot of the Pyramids, we observed an Arab riding up to us at full gallop. He was a young Schiech, and behaved at first to us with great civility; But he soon changed his tone, threatened us with his lance, and ordered us to give him money, before we quitted the spot. Upon Mr Forskal’s refusing to comply with so insolent a demand, the Schiech seized his turban, and

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held his pistol to my breast, when I offered to defend my friend. The two Bedouins, our guides, made no attempt to interpose, either out of respect to the Schiech; or from natural perfidy. We were at last obliged to gratify the robber. We returned another time better attended. But this did not hinder the Arabs from gathering about us, and stealing whatever they could lay their hands on, unobserved.

The Arabic language has, from the circumstances here enumerated, become the language of Egypt: But, in the mouths of the Egyptians, and those vagabond Bedouins, it displays little of its genuine purity. Mr Forskal left a long list of words used at Cairo, which differ entirely from the words expressive of the same ideas in the dialect of Yemen. The last, being the dialect of a province shut up in a manner from strangers, and therefore not liable to be debased by any infusion of foreign idioms, is to be regarded as the test of the other dialects. That of Egypt is contaminated with forms of expression from all the diversity of languages which the vicissitudes of its fortune and the diversity of its inhabitants have occasionally introduced into that country.

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Chap. IV.

Of the Dress of the Men in the East.

There is little diversity in the manners and customs of many of the Mahometan nations in the East. Wherefore, to avoid repeating afterwards what I am to mention here, I shall explain at same length whatever is common to all those nations, and which will therefore refer to the Egyptians among others.

We have several good descriptions of the dress of the people of the East, with suitable engravings accompanying them. Those in Russell’s description of Aleppo, are the best and the latest. Yet, upon a comparison of the plates in Russell’s work, with the dress at present worn through the Ottoman empire and in Egypt, a great difference may be perceived. What happens in Europe, happens likewise in Turkey; fashions change; and the dress of the great, and of the capital are imitated through the provinces.

The dress of the Eastern nations, some peculiar cities among which we observed with particular attention, is adapted to their climate and manners. As they are accustomed to sit cross-legged,

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they wear their clothes very wide. And being obliged to express their respect for holy places, and for the apartments of the great, by leaving their shoes at the gate, they find it necessary to dress so as that they may suffer no inconvenience from the want of them. In many countries of the East, the climate is very unequal, with sudden variations from heat to cold. The inhabitants of such countries are obliged to clothe themselves warmer, than we should think necessary, and to wear several pieces of dress, one over another, which they may lay aside and resume, as the temperature of the air varies.

The Turks, who set the fashion to a great part of the East, wear a shirt with very wide sleeves, and, under it, linen drawers joining stockings of the same stuff, over which they put upon their feet teiliks, which are a sort of very thin slippers. Above these stockings, drawers, and shirt, they put on a schakschir, or large red breeches, to which are sewed other slippers, or mests, as thin as the first. Above the schakschir, they wear an enteri, or vest, which falls under the knees; and over the whole, a caftan or robe, reaching down to the feet. That it may not incommode them in walking, they take up a part of the caftan by means of a broad girdle; in which is fixed the Canjar, or poignard, which the Turks constantly wear. Over the caftan,

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they put on a great coat with very short sleeves, which for winter is lined with furs, but is without them when intended to be worn in the other seasons of the year. They often cover all these pieces of dress with another pellice or benisch, or surtout of thick cloth.

Such a quantity of clothes would be too expensive for the common people, and inconvenient for them to wear at their work. They are content with the breeches, the enteri, and the benisch. The peasant wears only the shirt and drawers. A dress consisting of so many different pieces is not convenient for travelling. Upon a journey, therefore, the Turks carry a large blue bag in which they put up their long clothes. They wrap their feet in pieces of cloth, and put on wide boots; and although this mode of dressing the legs and feet be not the most convenient for walking, yet it is warmer than our stockings.

The dress of the Christians in the East is nearly the same as that of the Turks. Only they are prohibited the use of bright-coloured stuffs. They may not wear boots of yellow leather. And they must use dark colours in painting their houses. European Christians are allowed to wear yellow leather, and clothes of any colour, except green, which, rather by custom than by

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law, is reserved for the peculiar use of Mussulmans.

All the inhabitants of the East, except some Mahometan clergy, of the orders of the Dervises and Snatons, shave their heads, reserving only a small tuft of their hair. This custom has been blamed by some persons in Europe, as rendering apoplexies more frequent among us than they were among our forefathers; but it appears not to produce any such effects among the Turks, for they are not subject to apoplexy. They perhaps guard against it, by covering their heads better than we. Their shaved heads seem to require a warmer covering, at least, and indeed they wrap it up to a degree that seems to us very unsuitable to the warmth of the climate. Neither do they uncover it in expression of respect; our mode of salutation seems to them very absurd and ridiculous.

Through the East there prevails a great variety of modes in covering the head; which, at first, seems inconsistent with the constancy in such matters for which these people are distinguished. This diversity, however, depends not on fashion. Differences in the head-dress serve as distinctive marks of the nation, the condition, and the employment of the persons who wear them. They even serve as livery to servants; each class wear a particular form of bonnet, corresponding

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corresponding to the nature of their business. It is very convenient to find among persons with whom one is unacquainted, such external marks indicating their respective conditions.

These various head-dresses, which the Europeans confound under the general name of Turban, may be all reduced to three sorts. The first is a very high cloth bonnet lined with cotton, and wrapped round upon the under part with a piece of white muffin. This head-dress, which is called the Kaouk, is nothing but the Turcoman bonnet, with some ornaments, and is therefore to be considered as a Turkish piece of chess. The second is a cloth bonnet, smaller, and much lower than the former; it is also wrapped upon the under part with a piece of linen, and then receives the name of sasch or turban; this is the national head-dress of the Arabians, and by them the fashion has been communicated through the rest of Asia. The third is also a bonnet of cloth, lined with cotton, of various heights in the crown; but instead of being wrapped with linen, bordered with a piece of lambskin. It is called Kalpak, and is of Tartar origin, although now worn by many of the Christians in the East.

All the great men in Turkey, wear the Kaouk of yellow cloth, with a piece of fine white muslin wrapped round it. The Scheriffs, or descendents

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of Mahomet, although in little estimation, and scarcely ever admitted to any public employments, distinguish themselves by a piece of green linen, rolled round their turbans, or Kaouks. The Copts, and such Christians as use not the Kalpak, wear a piece of linen striped blue and white round their Kaouk, which is commonly made of red cloth. They are imitated in this fashion by such Europeans as assume the dress of the country. Even the clergy wear it, as well as others; except the cordeliers and capuchins. These last wear, through the whole East, the dirty tattered dress of their orders, which is very disgusting to the Mahometans, who consider neatness and cleanliness as parts of religious duty.

Chap. V

Of the Dress of the Women.

It is more difficult for a traveller to become acquainted with the dress of the women than with that of the men in the East. So far from being permitted to enter the harem, a stranger must not even see a Mahometan lady in her own house. It is impossible to observe their dress, when one meets them in the street; for the Mussulmans

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think it extreme indiscretion, or even an insult, to look with an eye of curiosity upon a woman in the street. Besides, they wrap themselves so closely up, when they go abroad, that it would be vain to attempt to distinguish the different parts of their dress. At Constantinople, when they appear in the street, they have so much white linen about them, that nothing but the eyes of the walking mummies can be seen. At Cairo, they conceal the head, and a part of the body, with a large black veil; and their rich habits are covered with a sort of large wrapper of plain linen, which they put off, when they enter the apartments of their friends.

As I never had any opportunity of seeing a lady of distinction, I must confess my ignorance upon this head, and refer the reader to Lady Mary Wortley Montague’s admirable Letters. She was admitted into many harems, and had opportunities of seeing women of rank in full dress. She has been suspected of exaggerating the beauty, magnificence and politeness of the ladies of the East. But I know, from what I have seen and heard, that her descriptions are true. She has indeed confined herself chiefly to what merited praise about those ladies, while other travellers have spoken only of their defects. But, whatever may be said of the truth of her relation, I can only speak of

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of the dress of the lower classes of women, and make some general remarks.

All the women in the East wear drawers, even where the men do not wear breeches. The poorer sort wear nothing but those drawers, and a long blue shirt. But, although in this manner half naked, they all, without exception, wear veils.

The veil seems to be the most important piece of their dress: their chief care is always to hide their face. There have been many instances of women, who, upon being surprised naked, eagerly covered their faces, without shewing any concern about their other charms. The Egyptian peasants never give their daughters shirts till they are eight years of age. We often saw little girls running about quite naked, and gazing at us as we passed: None, however, had her face uncovered but all wore vails. The veil, so indispensible a piece of dress with the female sex, is, a long, triangular piece of linen cloth, fixed to the head, and falling down before, so as to cover the whole face, except the eyes.

In some provinces, especially in Syria, the women wear a sort of silver or lackered hat, shaped like a cone, a platter, or some other fantastic form. The Arabian women, in Egypt and in the desert, wear a number of singular oraments; large metal rings in their ears or noses;

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others, of the same kind, upon their legs, immediately above the ancle, and upon their arms, as bracelets; on their fingers, small rings of little value; pieces coral hung about their faces and necklaces of all sorts. They sometimes hang small bells to the tresses of their hair; and the young girls fix them to their feet. Some fancy themselves highly adorned by the impression of indelible blue marks, by punctures upon the cheeks, the chin, and the other parts of the body. Some paint their hands yellow, and their nails red, fancying these whimsical colourings irresistible charms.

The dress of the Greek women is not materially different from that of the Turkish. As Europeans occasionally marry wives out of Greek families, we have frequent opportunities of seeing in what manner they dress; and, by this means, we are enabled to form same idea of the Mahometan women of rank.

All the Greek ladies wear drawers reaching to their feet the lower part of their dress is indeed nearly the same as that of the men; and they walk, like them, in large slippers. Over the drawers, they wear a shirt of fine linen, and, over it, a vest, bound with a girdle of considerable breadth. Over the veil is a habit, or pellice with short sleeves, not stretching more than a span under the shoulder. The head-dress

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varies with the caprice of fashion; and they are, if possible, more attentive to it than even our European ladies. Nay, some of these head-dresses appeared to me more elegant than those worn in Europe; their dress has at least something more rich and splendid in its appearance. But, to view those Eastern beauties with admiration, we must see them on their sophas; when they move, their graces disappear. Being accustomed to sit cross-legged, and to wear a sort of thin leather boots, in wide slippers, they walk very aukwardly. European ladies, living in Turkey, use shoes, even though dressed, in other respects, like the women of the East. But it is easy to distinguish, by their walking, whether they are accustomed to sit cross-legged, or continue to use chairs. At Constantinople, the ladies have carriages, but seldom use them. The Turkish carriages resemble ours eternally, only they are without doors, and have wooden blinds instead of sashes of glass; you enter by a ladder placed to the back of the carriage. Within, instead of seats, are carpets, on which the Turks squat themselves.

As carriages of all kinds are unknown at Cairo, women of the highest rank, as well as those of the lower classes, are obliged to ride upon asses. Out of respect to the sex, the wives of

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Jews and Christians are suffered to ride on, without alighting, as they pass the Egyptian nobles.

Chap. VI.

Of the Diversions of the Orientals.

It may appear trifling to descend to a detail of the arts by which a people have contrived to while away the leisure hours that hang heavy on their hands: Yet are these arts expressive of the character and manners of a nation. The nature of the amusements followed in any country can never be a matter of indifference to an observer, who wishes to study the character of its inhabitants. Besides, what renders the amusements of the East peculiarly interesting, these are all of ancient origin, and an acquaintance with them clears up some difficulties concerning old customs.

The climate, customs, and government, conspire to give the manners of the Orientals a melancholy cast. Their seriousness is encreased by the want of social intercourse, from which they are secluded by means of that jealousy which hinders them from admitting one another into their houses. They are silent, because, when shut up with their women, where they have few topics for conversation,

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they unavoidably acquire habits of taciturnity. As power is confined to a few hands, and industry oppressed by Government, the subjects of the Eastern despots naturally become gloomy and languid for want of employment; and the more so, for their being unacquainted with letters, or with the fine arts, which afford the best relief from the tedium of such a life. The exactions of Government render fortune so precarious, as to bewilder the people in endless speculations about their interests, and to render them more attached to business than to pleasure.

The amusements of nations in such circumstances must be very different from those of a people among whom the idle and opulent form a numerous class; where the women lead the fashion, and give the tone to manners and conversation, while all the world are obliged to bend to their whimsies and humours. In Europe, all the pleasures of society are marked with the softness and domestic, sedentary life of the sex; and the men are daily adopting more entirely the amusements of the women. But, in the East, amusements take their cast more from the transactions of public life, and have something more masculine and austere in them. The ignorance of the Orientals, indeed, leaves them a relish for very insipid diversions.

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In the evening, the great generally shut themselves up in their harem. We know not what passes in these solitary retreats: But, as the women of the East are excessively ignorant, and merely great children, it is very probable that the amusements of the harem are extremely childish. Some hints which have occasionally escaped from husbands of my acquaintance confirm me in this opinion.

The Osmanli, or Turks of distinction, who are still attached to the ancient military institutions of the nation, amuse themselves chiefly with equestrian exercises. The principal inhabitants of Cairo meet twice a-week in a large square, called Mastabe, with a number of attendants on horseback. In this square they play at Gerid; which consists in running, by two and two, with the stirrups loose, pursuing one another, and tossing staves four feet long: these they throw with such force, that if any one be not upon his guard, he is in danger of having a leg or an arm broken. Others, while riding at full gallop, throw balls into a pot placed upon a heap of sand. Others, again, shoot the bow; an exercise in such repute, that pillars are erected in honour of those who exhibit extraordinary proofs of strength or dexterity in launching the arrows.

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When the Nile is at its greatest height, the great about Cairo divert themselves in little boats splendidly decked out, upon the Birkets in the middle of the city. Upon this occasion, they regale the inhabitants with music, and often with fire-works.

A man originally from Tripoli in Barbary informed me, that the Pacha of that city used sometimes to erect two scaffolds, with cords running between them, and upon these miniature models of ships of war, armed with cannons of a size in proportion to that of the vessel. Those vessels, thus suspended in the air, and commanded by naval officers, who directed the evolutions and the fire of the small artillery, presented no unentertaining representation of a sea fight. The captain whose vessel first suffered considerable damage was considered as conquered. But this diversion often ended in serious quarrels among the commanders, and was therefore abolished.

The servants of the Egyptian nobles exercise themselves on foot, in throwing, one against another, staves five or six feet long; and thus learn to throw the Gerid, when on horseback. The common people and peasants divert themselves with cudgel-playing. Gladiators by profession there are, too, who exhibit in public. But slaves are their only weapons; and a small

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cushion fastened under the left arm, serves them as a buckler.

Through the villages, the young people amuse themselves at diversions much the same as several of those which are practised in Europe. They run, leap, play at the ball, sometimes at odds and evens, and at tossing a number of small stones into the air, and receiving them again into the hand.

It is natural for a people who live in seclusion from society, and in subjection to arbitrary authority, to be fond of public festivals. These are celebrated in Egypt with much pomp and ceremony, particularly the festival upon the departure of the pilgrims for Mecca, of which several authors have given a description. The other feasts, beside this, are numerous: Each mosque celebrates a feast in honour of its founder; upon occasion of which there is a procession of persons of all ranks; and the people are permitted to divert themselves in an adjoining square. The Copts have their feasts, as well as the Mahometans, and contribute, by their ceremonies, to the general amusement.

These festivals are sometimes celebrated by night. The streets are then illuminated by the blaze of resinous wood in a chaffing dish, held up on a long pole. They use also another more luminous flambeau, which is a machine consisting

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of divers pieces of light wood, to which are hung a number of small lamps, and the whole carried on a pole, as the former. When these festivals are celebrated by day, the people divert themselves upon swings, and with other similar amusements.

In Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, the favourite amusement of persons in any degree above the very lowest classes, is, to spend the evening in a public coffee-house, where they hear musicians, fingers, and tale-tellers, who frequent those houses in order to earn a trifle by the exercise of their respective arts. In those places of public amusement, the Orientals maintain a profound silence, and often sit whole evenings without uttering a word. They prefer conversing with their pipe; and its narcotic fumes seem very fit to allay the ferment of their boiling blood. Without recurring to a physical reason, it would be hard to account for the general relish which these people have for tobacco; by smoking, they divert the spleen and languor which hang about them, and bring themselves, in a slight degree, into the same state of spirits which the opium-eaters obtain from that drug. Tobacco serves them instead of strong liquors, which they are forbidden to use.

This fondness for tobacco has rendered them very nice, with respect to the form and materials

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of their pipes. Those used by the common people, have the bole of burnt clay, with a reed for a stalk. Persons of condition have their pipes made of some more precious matter, and more ornamented. They cover the stalk with a piece of cloth which they wet, when the heat is excessive, in order to cool the smoke, as they inhale it. Over great part of Asia, the Persian pipe is used, which, by passing the smoke through water, renders it milder, and more agreeable to those who swallow it. In Egypt, this Persian pipe is nothing but a cocoa nutshell, half filled with water, with two stalks, one communicating with the bole, the other entering the mouth of the person who smokes. Kerim-Kan, the present Schah in the south of Persia, seems to distinguish himself at this amusement; for the pipe that is most in fashion, is called, after him, a Kerim-Kan.

Smoking with the Persian pipe serves to warm a person upon occasion, as well as to amuse. The smoke inhaled from it enters the lungs, and thus communicates through the whole body a gentle heat. In a voyage upon the Euphrates, which I performed in winter, the boatmen were often obliged to go into the water, to set the boat a-float. As they durst not drink brandy to save themselves from suffering by the cold, I could not do them a greater pleasure, than by giving them a pipe of tobacco in this way.

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Chap. VII.

Games in the East

The Koran prohibits playing for money; and for this reason the Orientals seldom play at any game of chance. The Mahometans have therefore the happiness of never being forced, as we are in Europe, to engage, out of politeness, in an insipid amusement, which wastes the body, by agitating the unsocial and malignant passions; blunts the powers of the mind, by fixing its attention upon a few unmeaning combinations; and chills the social ardour of the heart, by the contest of vanity and interest among the players.

However, as there are in all countries giddy and thoughtless persons, I have seen Mahometans, who might possibly be seduced by the example of the Europeans, play, although at a piddling game, when they were not with their women. They know nothing of our cards; but at Bombay, I met with four Arabian merchants, who played with Chinese cards, so large and thick, that not one of the four but had enough to do with both hands. Some young Mahometan merchants, whom I surprised playing at Bombay, concealed their game with an appearance

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of anxiety, till they learned that I was an European. The Greeks are too polished, not to imitate our manners; they shew themselves good Christians, by playing with our cards, and a deep game too.

The inhabitants of the East have, however, some games, more suitable to their sedentary life, and splenetic humour; at which they play without keenness, and merely to fill up the vacant hours. Such are chess, draughts, trictrac. The Arabic names of these games, and their antiquity prove them to have been originally introduced from the East into Europe. If the Mahometans shew any degree of passion for any one game, it is for chess, at which they spend, sometimes, whole days without interruption. But those who enter into the game with this keenness and seriousness, are reckoned dull by their companions. Instead of wooden chess-boards, they use a white linen cloth, with pieces of a different colour sewed upon it. When the game is ended, the cloth is wrapped up, with the victors and the vanquished, amicably mixed within it.

They have another game, which is played upon boards, marked with two squares, one within another, and these divided diagonally,—with stones or shells of different colours. This game has found its way into Europe, where we see

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people play at it with black and white beans. There are many others, which, being as diversified or ingenious, have not yet reached us. Such are the Mankale, which bears some resemblance to chefs; and Tabuk Duk, in which being a mixture of hazard, it bears some resemblance to back-gammon. The hazard depends upon the play of four broad sticks, half white half black; and the sides, thus differently coloured, determine, by their combinations, the movement of the pieces upon the board.

A more ancient game is still in use among the inhabitants of the East. The Arabs call it Lal el Kab; it is played with small bones of sheep or goats; and the value of the several strokes in the progress of game is determined by the appearance of one or another of the sides of the bone above. The elder Greek and Latin authors speak of this game, which must have given rise to the use of the dice.

Chap. VIII.

Of the Music of the East.

Among the Turks and Arabs, a man of rank would think it a disgrace to learn music. A certain austerity in their manners, too, renders this

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people insensible to the charms of harmony. The contempt in which the art is held, extends to its professors; and musicians are accordingly little esteemed and ill paid. An art thus despised by the great, cherished or admired by no connoisseurs, and not fitted to conduct either to fame or fortune, cannot make rapid advances.

The music of the East, which is thus neglected, is not of the same character as ours. It is grave and simple, without any complexity of modulation. The singers, to gratify the national taste, are obliged to sing slow, that the sense of the words may be understood. I have heard several Schiechs sing some passages from the Alcoran, in an easy, natural key. There was something pleasingly affecting and solemn in those pieces of music, joined with the words that accompanied them. In my voyage up the Nile, I joined with the sailors in singing amorous songs, by alternate couplets, in which they compared their mistresses to the cucumbers of Damascus, and the eyes of the gazelle; and praised their beautiful yellow hands, and red nails. This chorus of singers afforded us no small entertainment.

Airs of that simplicity are easily learned by heart. The Orientals, accordingly, use no notes, but sing by the ear. I was told, in some provinces of Turkey, that there were in Constantinople

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great musicians, who employed secret signs in recollecting tunes. But, having made enquiry concerning this, upon my return to that capital, I could find nobody that had the slightest idea of musical notes; not even the dervises of the order of Merlavi, who are, however, esteemed the best musicians among the Turks.

At Bagdad, and at Constantinople, I assisted in some concerts, which, though not to be compared to those of Europe, were not ill formed to please an ear unaccustomed to the intricacies of the musical art. What is most disagreeable, at first, is to hear all the instruments play in unison; unless it happen, that one or another take the fancy to play a continued bass, by making an incessant repetition.

If the music of the East be not to the taste of the Europeans, ours is not less disagreable to them. Mr Baurenfiend and I often played upon the violin before Arabs of distinction, who came to see us. Although they did not openly or directly express their disapprobation of our music, yet they said enough to let us understand that it was not agreeable to them, and that they preferred their own country music, as more masculine, and consequently more excellent. As we were returning home in the dark one evening, during our stay at Cairo, from assisting at a concert with some European merchants, we overheard an

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voice ringing, and accompanied with a flute. One of our servants, enchanted with the sound, exclaimed, “My God! how fine! God bless you!” We were surprised, and asked him what he thought of our concert? “Your music,” replied he, “is wild and disagreeable; and no man of sense or gravity can take pleasure in it.”

It should seem, from the simple construction of their musical instruments, as well as from various other circumstances, that those are of a very ancient origin, and have been transmitted down, without undergoing any remarkable alteration. Several of them are likewise common among the inhabitants of the isles in the Archipelago; as are also three different sorts, with three or four wires, called by the Greeks, Icitali, Semari, and Baglama; and by the Arabians, distinguished by the Generic name of Tambura, which is common to all musical instruments with wires. The Greeks have a bow instrument with three catgut strings, upon which they play with an wooden bow, fitted with horse’s hair, to which they give the necessary tension in playing, by pressing it with the little finger; it is called the Lyra. These instruments are always accompanied with the voice.

Some bow-instruments belong in a peculiar manner, to the Arabs; such as the Semenge, a

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sort of bad violin, joined with a drum. Its body is commonly a cocoa nut-shell, with a piece of skin extended upon it; three strings of catgut, and sometimes of horse hair, are fitted to it; and it is played with a bow, not less aukward in its form than the Greek Lyra. The Semenge is the instrument of those wandering musicians who accompany the dancing women. The Arabs give the name of marabba, to another violin, with a string of horse’s hair, and a skin stretched upon the body of the instrument. This violin makes a very suitable accompaniment to the shrill voices of the common fingers in the coffee-houses. I saw, at Basra, another violin, not unlike the Marabba with one string, too, and covered with skin, like the drum, and used in the same way. At Bagdad I heard the drum beat in the European fashion; a lady at Alexandria put on silver nails, and beat it with her fingers.

The Egyptians are fond of noisy musical instruments; but the inhabitants towards the south of Africa, seem to prefer a softer species of musk. In the hands of a Barbari, or native of the kingdom of Dongola, I saw a sort of harp that afforded a very pleasing sound. The body of the instrument was a piece of wood of an oval form, hollowed, with a piece of skin stretched upon it, and mounted with five catgut strings,

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with a turning handle, to which these were fixed, and by which the instrument was tuned. It is played either by pinching the chords with the fingers, or by touching them with a piece of raw leather, in the shape of a bow. My Barbari acquaintance danced while he played. This instrument seemed not unlike to David’s harp. The Barbari call it Kussir; the Arabs, Tambura.

Among the wind instruments is the true Turkish flute, called Salamanie, and in use among the Turcoman shepherds. It is entirely open, and without any reed, so that to wind it is no easy matter. This is the favourite instrument of the Merlavi dervises, who, as they use music in their acts of religious worship, are the best musicians in the East, and excel especially in playing on the flute. It is made either of a reed, or of a piece of fine wood. I saw a peasant at Cairo having Pan’s flute, made of several different pieces of reed.

The Sumara is a sort of flute with two pipes, one of which, the shorter, is used for playing airs, and the longer, in a continued bass; just like the long pipe in the Bulgarian bagpipe. They have a bagpipe in Egypt, called Sumara el Kurbe; but this is not equal to the Bulgarian bagpipe, which affords the finest music I heard in Turkey. It is true, also, that the Bulgarian

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shepherds have already some talk for the music of Europe.

The Asiatics are fond of accompanying their dancing and singing with the sound of tambourines, in order the better to mark the measure. These are of different sorts; either circular pieces of wood, or earthen pots made for the purpose, covered with skin, and sounded with the fingers. The most elegant tambourine is the Doss; to which the women dance in the harams. The castanet is to be reckoned among these musical instruments it is carried by the public dancing girls; beggars, too, and some orders of mendicant Mahometan priests, carry different horns and drums, which they sound when they ask alms.

The military music of the Turks is beginning to be known in Europe. That which is to be heard through the East, however, affords nothing but an unpleasant, jarring noise, and would be entirely unworthy of notice, did it not serve to mark the distinctions of rank. A Pacha of three tails is preceded by a greater variety of musical instruments, playing martial music, than a a nobleman of inferior rank dares use, so that a person’s employment may be known by the music which goes before him. The principal instruments used in those martial concerts, are a sort of trumpet exceedingly noisy, which is called

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in Egypt Surma: the Tabbel, or great Turkish tabour, which is held horizontally, and struck upon both sides; a hautboy of an acute sound, and another that sounds not unlike our bassoon. Lastly, they have plates of sonorous metal, which they strike one against another, to mark the cadence (R).

Chap. IX.

Of Dancing, as it is practised in the East.

A respectable Mahometan, who should indulge in dancing, would disgrace himself in the estimation of his countrymen. The women, however, value themselves upon excellence in this exercise, and practise it without scruple, reckoning it their duty to contribute to the pleasures of their husbands, by every little art in their power. When by themselves, too, in an assembly consisting only of women, on occasion of a marriage, or any other solemnity, they vie no less than before their husbands, in dancing.

A person from Tripoli related to me in what manner the women of that city amuse themselves upon festive occasions, and I have good reason to believe, that the same customs prevail also in

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Turkey and Arabia; however, I do not pretend to be absolutely certain; for it is impossible to meet with an eye-witness of those amusements. My Tripoli acquaintance had his information from his wife, who ingenuously told him whatever he asked.

No woman would presume to appear in an assembly, if she were not handsome and magnificently dressed. If the entertainment happens to be in the house of a family of rank, fifty of the greatest beauties in the city assemble, all dressed out in great splendour. In their train, they bring their handsomest slaves, who attend in a separate room, to take care of the coffers containing their mistresses clothes. After the ladies have been seated for some time, and have been served with refreshments, young girls are called in, to divert the company with vocal and instrumental music. The most distinguished lady in the company then rises, dances for a few minutes, and passes into the next apartment, where her slaves are in waiting to change her dress. She lays all aside, even her slippers embroidered with gold and silver, and retains only her headdress and bracelets, which are richly ornamented with jewels. In the mean time, the rest dance, and in their turns leave the room to change their dress; and this is successively repeated, so long, that a lady will sometimes change her dress

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ten times in one night; and put on so many different suits, every one richer than another. They strive all to command admiration; and their endeavours end, as among us, in jealousies and grudges.

The Greek women have so fully adopted this piece of Eastern luxury, that they change their dress on the slightest occasions. An European settled at Constantinople, told me, that he had seen a Greek lady, the wife of one of his friends, whom he visited, put on five different dresses, in the space of two hours. These instances prove the power of instinct, and the uniformity of the character of the sex, all over the world.

The men disdain to practise this exercise, but amuse themselves sometimes with seeing dancing girls exhibit, who go about, and dance for hire, either in places of public resort, or in private houses upon festive occasions. Those dancers are called, at Constantinople, Tschingane or gypsies, and at Cairo, Ghasie. They are young married, or unmarried women, belonging to a separate and despised class of the lower people, who intermarry only among themselves. Their parents are commonly farriers by trade. They are attended only by one man, who plays on the semenge, and sometimes by an old woman, who plays on the tambourine, and appears to watch over their conduct; they are said, however, not

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to be of the most demure and rigid virtue. Yet no married Mahometan incurs any obloquy by carrying them to dance in his house; and they go wherever they are well paid. But an unmarried Mahometan dares not invite them to his house; and we never met with any of them in the houses of any of the French merchants, who, by a regulation of their sovereign, are all restricted to celibacy.

At first, we never saw them but by accident, and in a public house without the city; but, towards the conclusion of our stay in Egypt, we had better opportunities of gratifying our curiosity. A great part of the houses in which the Europeans live, stand along the great canal which passes through Cairo: and those Ghasi accordingly derive their best profits from dancing opposite to these houses in the canal, when it is dry, before the opening of the dyke. At that period, we made sometimes one troop, sometimes another dance before us. We needed such amusements to divert the gloomy ideas which the prospect of our departure raised in our minds. Yet, however much disposed to receive entertainment, they did not please us at first; their vocal and instrumental music we thought horrible, and their persons appeared disgustingly ugly, with their yellow hands, spotted faces, absurd ornaments, and hair larded with stinking pomatum.

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But, by degrees, we learned to endure them, and for want of better, began to fancy some of them pretty, to imagine their voices agreeable, their movements graceful, though indecent, and their music not absolutely intolerable.

There is nothing peculiar in the dress of these women; when dancing, they throw up their veils, and leave them to float on their shoulders They wear a petticoat reaching scarcely under the knee, open behind, and fixed by a broad girdle with two large buttons. As they were described to me, the Tschingane dance at Constantinople, just like Ghasie at Cairo. Mr Bawrenfiend made a drawing of a party of the latter, with the man who plays to them upon the semenge, and the old woman who beats the tambourine.

The Christians in the East have different species of dancing and music, according as they belong to one or another nation. At Mosul, I saw Jacobites and Nestorians dance at one of their festivals. None of them all are either so fond of dancing, or dance so well as the Greeks. They dance round in a ring, with some pretty woman leading the dance. The Wallachians and Bulgarians have likewise their national dances; but theirs are not equal to those of the Greeks.

It is always prudent to accommodate one’s self to the manners and opinions of the country

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in which one lives. The Europeans at Constantinople observe not this rule. They divert themselves in the capital of the Ottoman empire, as they would at Paris or London. They have neither play nor opera, but they often give masked balls at Pera and Galata. The Mahometans have an aversion for these amusements; and, as none but the very lowest among them dance, they extend their contempt to dancers in general, whom they look upon as persons of no morals or education. The promiscuous dancing of the two sexes, which they mentioned to me with horror, renders our balls absolutely detestable in their eyes. The Europeans, who live among Mahometans, would be more beloved and respected, if they did not vilify themselves in the eyes of the Orientals, by amusements which they might easily spare.

An anecdote was told me of a Turk, who, upon his return from Italy, where he had seen the Carnival, imagined that the Christians became mad at a certain season of the year; and recovered their wits by putting ashes on their heads. This story, whether true or fiction, is to be found in Montesquieu’s Persian Tales.

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Chap. X.

Public Shews of the East.

We did not expect to see a play in Egypt: But there was in Cairo a numerous company of players, Mahometans, Christians, and Jews, at the time of our arrival in that city. Their appearance bespoke their poverty. They played their pieces, wherever they were invited, for a moderate hire. They exhibited in the open air. The court of the house was their theatre; and a screen concealed them from the audience, when they changed their dresses. Several European merchants had lived long at Cairo without seeing an Egyptian play; and we therefore invited the company to the house of a married Italian: But we were not much gratified either by the music or the players.

The piece was in Arabic. I was not then sufficiently master of this language to understand the dialogue; but the fable was explained to me. The principal character was a female; but was acted by a man in woman’s dress, who had much to do to hide his beard. This heroine enticed all travellers into her tent; and, after robbing them of their purses, caused them to be

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beaten off. She had already plundered a good many, when a young merchant, weary of the insipid repetition of the same tricks, expressed aloud his disapprobation of the piece. The other spectators, to shew that their delicacy was not inferior to his, joined his expression of disapprobation, and obliged the players to stop, although the piece was not more than half done.

If few plays are represented in Cairo, puppet-shews are, however, very common, and are to be met with through all the streets. This exhibition is represented upon a very narrow stage, a sort of box which a single person can easily carry about, and into which the performer goes. He sends forward his figures through holes in the coffer, and makes them perform the necessary movements by means of wires passing through the grooves in the lid of the box. With an instrument in his mouth, he gives his voice a shrillness answerable to the size of the figures. The whole together might merit attention, were not the pieces, which the taste of the spectators in Cairo requires to be performed, absolutely execrable. The puppets begin by paying compliments, quarrel by degrees, and end with beating one another.

The magic lanthorn is a favourite amusement in the East. I was not, however, fond of such entertainments; as their scope was always to

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turn the dress and manners of the Europeans into ridicule.

Jugglers are to be seen in all the more public streets; who amuse the people by tricks that are thought wonderful in Egypt, but would not be reckoned so in Europe. One of those fellows drew great admiration by means of an intermitting fountain, the secret of which is not understood in those countries, and which appeared therefore to stop and flow at his pleasure. Those jugglers are paid by a voluntary contribution of the spectators, but that so moderate, that they can scarce live by their profession.

Monkies, dressed up like human beings, contribute likewise to the amusement of the populace. They are of that species which abound in the forth of Yemen, and discover extraordinary intelligence and docility. This animal seems naturally fond of dancing. A captain, in the service of the East India Company, informed me, that he had often made his drums enter ruinous pagodas, where monkies were the sole inhabitants; and that, at the sound of the martial music, even the mothers, with the young in their arms, left their holes, and some hundreds of these animals would join at once in a dance. The long robes worn in the East would be an incommodious dress for monkies: they are therefore clothed like Europeans; a custom which

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encreases the contempt with which the Orientals are otherwise sufficiently disposed to regard our manners: A monkey, with his tail, appears to them no unfit representation of an European with his head uncovered, wearing a sword in a horizontal position, the end of which appears behind, issuing from beneath his clothes, and in all other respects in full dress.

Those who lead about beasts for exhibition, have often likewise asses and sheep, whom they have taught to perform certain little diverting tricks. Another thing, at which we were at first not a little surprised, was to see serpents dance. But, upon becoming better acquainted with the instincts of this animal, our astonishment ceased. The serpent seems to have a natural taste for sounds; at the beat of the drum, it raises its head, and erects its body, making, at the same time, a certain movement which is called its dancing.

I saw a man of a singular character, who exhibited himself for a shew in the streets of Cairo. He was a beggar, who, to move compassion, displayed a huge chain, which he pretended to have borne in captivity at Malta. He enumerated, in a piteous tone of voice, what miseries he had suffered in slavery among the barbarous Europeans. What he complained most of, and what seemed to excite the greatest horror in his

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his hearers, was, that he had been obliged to keep swine, and to sleep at night in the same sty with those impure animals. People of sense, indeed, heard him with indignation; but his narrative failed not to inspire the populace with abhorrence for the Christians.

Chap. XI.

Marriages of the Egyptians.

The secrecy which is observed with respect to every thing that passes in the harems, or regards the women, rendered it impossible for me to obtain particular information concerning the ceremonies of marriage among the Egyptians. I can only describe what I saw in a public procession at Cairo, on the occasion of a marriage, Mr Baurenfeind made a drawing of the procession.

The bride, closely covered from head to foot, walked under a canopy borne by four men, between two women, who conducted her. Several slaves walked before, some playing on the tambourine, others bearing fly-flaps, and others sprinkling scented waters. She was followed by a number of women, and by some musicians,

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riding upon asses. A number of servants attended; and, as they pasted on, performed feats of strength and agility. All the women in the procession cried incessantly, Lu, Lu, Lu; an exclamation expressive of joy, among the Mahometans. If the procession take place at night, slaves attend with flambeaus.

We met, one day, an Arab bride near Alexandria. She rode upon a camel, and behind her followed her dowry in cattle and furniture. The procession marched on slowly, and stopped sometimes, to display itself. As it proceeded, music played, guns were fired, and the women raised continued shouts of joy.