Village Life in Egypt, with Sketches of the Saïd

Front matter

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TILLAGE LIFE IN EGYPT, VILLAGE LIFE IN EGYPT WITH SKETCHES OF THE SAID. BY BAYLE ST. JOHN, AUTHOR OP "Two Tears' Residence in a Levantine Family," " Adventures in the Libyan Desert," " Views in the Oasis of Siwah," &c. in two volumes. VOL. I. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193 PICCADILLY. MDCCCLTI. LONDON : GEORGE BARCLAY, CASTLE ST. LEICESTER SQ. DEDICATION. London, August 1852. My dear Lamport, It is a good old custom to place a book under the patronage of friendship. I, therefore, dedicate the following volumes to you, in whose company so many of my Egyptian excursions have been made. Perhaps, as you read, some of your pleasantest impressions may be revived ; so that, whilst I am once more en deavouring to catch the breeze of public favour, you may again seem to hear the flapping of the DEDICATION. great sail, and the rushing of the current, as temple and palm-grove float by on either hand in that wonderful valley. Yours, very faithfully, Bayle St. John. To Henry Lamport, Esq. of Alexandria. CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

Chapter I

Of English Residents in Alexandria and their Travels — Comforts of an Oriental Home — Departure for the Upper Country — Crew and Attendants — Out on the Canal — Reminiscences of a Khamsin Day — Extraordinary Scene — Beautiful Evening — Description of a Marshy Tract — Line of proposed Railroad — Considerations — Public Works in Egypt — English Mails — Birkeh and its Beauties — The Nile Page 1

Chapter II

Modes of Travelling on the Nile — the easy aud the go-ahead — River Scenery — Palms — Towns and Villages — Mohammed Ali a Leveller — Visit to Kafr Mustauat — Rural Dancing Academy — Dancing Girls — • Young Pupils — Sales of Children — Origin and History of the Ghawazee — Influence of Labour and Vice on Beauty — Gypsies — the two Daughters of the Barmekides — Wandering Propensities of the Ghawazees — Pilgrimages — Reason of their Banishment to Upper Egypt — Reformed Votaries of Vice — a One-eyed Beauty and an undignified Exit VI CONTENTS.

Chapter III

Pieasons for stopping at Mohallet — the Close of Day — Sid Ahmed — the Fellahs — Local Patriotism — Serfdom — Movement of the Population, how repressed — Fellahs not hitherto properly described — Meaning of the word — Origin of the Fellahs — Descendants of converted Copts — Climate of Egypt fatal to Strangers — Peculiar Pronunciations in Egypt — Personal Appearance of the Fellah — not Ugly — his Physiognomy — Children of the Arabs — -Bedawins disliked — People in a transition State — Costume of the Peasants Page 32

Chapter IV

Female Dress — Tattooing — Beauty — Dirt — Old Age and Childhood — Marriage in the Villages — Divorces — Marriage Ceremonies — A gay Lothario — Matrimonial Experiences of a Fellah, related by himself 48

Chapter V

Relations of the Fellah to the Government — Provinces of the Delta — Uncultivated Land — Irrigation Pieform in Egypt — the Barrage — Why Improvements are not received by the Fellahs — Motives to Action — Turkish and Native Governors — Nazirs — Curious Circular — Anecdote of a Tour of Inspection — An LTnpleasant Guest — Sheikh-el-Beled — Corporal Punishment — How- Taxes are collected with the Stick — Appointment of the Sheikhs .- CONTENTS. VII

Chapter VI

Relations of the Sheikh-el-Beled with his People — Village Party — Adventures of the Sheikh of Zag-a-Zig — Early Marriages Page 78

Chapter VII

Start for Sa-el-Haggar — The Mooring-Ground — System of Gisrs — The Village — Vast Walls — Influence of ancient Monuments on the Fellahs — Their legendary Lore — Tradition of Shebin — Gradual Diminution of the Human Species — Plucking Corn by the Wayside — A Model Village — A Collection of Hovels — Present aspect of Neghileh — Sunsets on the Nile — Wardan — Progress to the Barrage and to Cairo — Magnificent Prospect 94

Chapter VIII

Tebbaneh — Description of Cairo — Eastern Architecture — Private Streets — Scenes in the By-lanes — Ventilation — Quarters — Public Porters — The Canal and its Banks — Crumbling Condition of the City — Fountains — Strolls in the Streets — Equivocal Adventures — Environs of the City — their Beauty — Gardens — Road to Heliopolis — Fertile Country 114

Chapter IX

Cairo by Day, and Cairo by Night —Lanterns — Sentinels — Watchmen — Patrols — A Round of the Head of the Police — Story of Kadugah CONTENTS. VIII

Chapter X

The Month of Ramadhan — Night Amusements — Sin *— cerity of the Muslims — Festival of the Prophet — European Philanthropists — The Esbekiyeh — Preparations — Stroll through the Camp of Derweeshes — Curious Performances — Gymnastic Praying — The Doseh, or Trampling— Pavement of Human Beings — Passage of the Sheikh — Story of a foolish Fellah '•■ Page 139

Chapter XI

Return of the Pilgrims from Mekka — Approach of the Kafila — Couriers — Temporary Post-office — House Painting — Use of the Pilgrimage — 'Entrance of the Pilgrims — Litters — Friend-seeking — Grief and Joy — Camping-ground — Mahmal — Escort of Irregular Cavalry — Procession of the Mahmal ,.. 156

Chapter XII

An Excursion to Sakkarah — Cold Morning — Hot Wind — Zobaahs — Ferry of Toura — Mending a Gisr — Forced Labour — Arrival at Mitraheny — Recumbent Statue — Petrified King — Reach Sakkarah — Disappointed of Lodgings — Interview with the Sheikh-el-Beled — A Difficulty — Taking the Census — A New Version of the Bed of Procrustes — A respectable House in the Village — Arrival of a Stranger — Gathering for Supper — Hob-and-nob with the Sheikh — Dessert — Antiquity- Venders CONTENTS. IX

Chapter XIII

Description of the Village of Sakkarah — Gradation of Classes — Destruction of Antiquities — Construction and Economy of an Arab Village — Houses and Alleys — Description of a respectable Dwelling — Residences of Nazirs — Grain-stores — Fellah Borough when complete — Names of Places — Internal Arrangements of a Hut — Fum — Household Utensils — Comparative Cleanliness — Influences on Character — Tenure of Land — Miserable Condition of the Mass — Food, of what it consists — Early Rising — Evening Amusements — Coffee-houses — A bad Customer — Professional Singers — Family Relations — Occupations of the Women — their Prayers- Birth and Care of Children — Ceremonies — Neglected Children — Ceremony on occasion of the first Shave — Treatment of Infants — Going to School — Early Commencement of the Life of Labour — Industry of the Fellahs Page 180

Chapter XIV

Morning Scene from the Sheikh's House — Start for the Pyramid District — the Throne of Pharaoh — Great Pyramid of Dashour — Interior — Hard Work — Climb to the Summit — Return to the Sakkarah Group — Further Explorations — Extraordinary Underground Chamber — Subterranean Travels — Ibis Mummy-pits — Curious Specimen — Exciting Adventure — Vast Extent of the Pits — Ancient and Modern Times . X CONTENTS.

Chapter XV

A Preparatory Trip — Under Sail— Scenery on the River — Bedreshein — Fires made by the Crew — Manners of the Lower Classes of Egypt — -Comparison — Arab and English Sailors — Mistakes of Tourists — A Violent Character — Practice of Beating — Roguish Dragoman — A Dialogue — Beating not necessary — Native Routine — -Best Plan to pursue — Orderly Character of the Arabs — Conversation of Boatmen — Religious Topics — Story-telling — Piide to Sakkarah — Abu-1-H6n — Pretty Winter Lake — Guardian of the Statue — Vast Palm-groves — Indigo Manufactory in the open air — Account of the Egyptian Dyers — -, Anecdotes — Curious Customs — The Night of the Drop — How to destroy Bugs — Foreseeing the Future — Prejudice of Levantines — Story of a Rashidi and a Jew Page 217

Chapter XVI

Foggy Morning — Cross to Helwan— A pretty Village — Observations on Egyptian Doves — Eveuing Stroll — A young Jack-in-office — Birds — Descend to Massara — Marshy Country — Sheikh Itman — Stroll through the Groves to Mohnau — Civility of Fellahs — Tranquil Groves — A Bevy of Children — Anecdote of the Man betrayed by the Wind — Murder will out — Crime in the Villages — Return to Old Cairo — An animated Scene The Pyramids of Ghizeh — Bedawin Guides CONTENTS. XI

Chapter XVII

Start for Upper Egypt — Massendi — Benisouef — General Aspect of the Country — Incidents of the Journey — Sheikhs' Tombs — Fellahs singing at the Plough — Evening Halts — Arrival at Feshn — Scenery on the Banks — Visit the Town — Fellahs returning from their Work — Country Salutations — Walks on Shore — Ruined Villages — Telegraphs — Mud Plain — The Place of the Ginn — Supernatural Inhabitants of the Country- — Local Geniuses — Demonology — Curing the Possessed with Devils — Golosaneh — Begging Coptic Monks — Minieh — Egyptian Country-towns — Internal Commerce — Probity of Fellahs — Rapid Progress — Manfaloot — Crocodiles of El-Akraat — Arrival at El-Hamra Page 254

Chapter XVIII

Start from Siout — Character of the Father of Light — Out in the Fields — Pigeon-houses — Medicine-seekers — Copt Village fortified — Slow Progress — Little Dancing Savages — Arrival at Minshieh — Beautiful Twilight — "The Pace ate the Goose" — Boatman's Family — Port of Farshoot — Dooms- — Brahminy Bulls — Calms — Birds of Egypt — Crocodiles — Pleasant Days — Aground— Keneh — A Village on the borders of the Desert — Polite Sheikh — Nadooras — Christian City of Negadeh — Catholic Convent — Interview with the Priests — Population of the City — Fresh Oppression of Christians — Gournou in sight — Vine-shaded Water-wheels — Christmas day at Thebes CONTENTS.

Chapter XIX

Monuments of the Theba'id — Doubts on recent Discoveries — Grounds — Depredations of Dr. Lepsius — Forgery of Hieroglyphics — Necessity of copying Hieroglyphics — Cleopatra's Needle — Present State of the Thebans — Population — Fabrication of Antiquities — Villages — Settled Bedawins — Warlike Character of the People of the Said — Arms — Banditti of Middle Egypt Page

Preface

. The following pages, though written under the immediate inspiration, as it were, of a ten months' journey, concluded in July 1851, are in part the fruit of previous experience. In bringing out a work dedicated chiefly to sketches of Christian manners in Egypt, I undertook to make a more careful study of the fellah, or country population, until now comparatively neglected. Perhaps the present volumes do not exactly fill up the hesitating outline that existed in my mind at that time ; but they will be found, let me hope, to contain a tolerably com plete supplement to the labours of some of my

PREFACE.

. XIV predecessors. The scene-painting which I have here and there attempted, seems to me not extraneous to my plan. There is a close con nexion between the physical conformation of all countries and the mental idiosyncracies of their inhabitants — at least in the inferior stages of society. Civilisation by degrees liberates man to a considerable extent from the tyranny of material influences, but those influences are ever ready to resume their sway ; so that what Cæsar said before our era of a people, that they were too saucy for servitude and too licentious for liberty, may with truth be applied to the unfortunate nation that has succeeded to the disadvantages of the same clime. In Egypt, despite the changes of dynasties, of language, of religions, and the attempted renewal of races, the mass of the people seem always to have been framed for the most abject servitude. Many causes, no doubt, have ope rated to this result • but the chief probably is,

PREFACE.

. XV the original configuration of the country, and its dependence for support on the annual inundation of the Nile. This inundation would, from the outset, have been merely disastrous, had it not been guided and subjugated by human ingenuity. The chiefs or kings, who, whilst the people were in too low a state to dream of combination, threw up dykes and dug canals, must easily have acquired the prestige and authority of demi-gods. The continual pre servation of these public works demanded a watchful vigilance and care which power, as it was then constituted, alone could devote. The system of forced labour had its origin then in absolute necessity; and it is not difficult to account for its subsequent extension and perpe tuation. In all ages and countries the yoke has first been placed on the necks of the people by men who pretend a tender solicitude for their welfare, and who " give a pea to get a bean." The limits of a preface do not permit me to

PREFACE.

. trace the history of Egyptian serfdom. I wish to point out, simply, that at the present day the agricultural labouring classes remain precisely in the same relation to the Government as under the Pharaohs. There have been intervals of comparative well-being ; but during the current century the fellahs have been absolutely nailed down to the soil. The Pasha, the great Turkish landholders — any petty proprietor, indeed — can dispose, without appeal, of the services, and, by means of the naboot, even of the lives of those who cultivate the Nile-given land. The inhabitants of cities, when they can efface the track by which they have come from the villages, are, practically, better off, although now and then the same terrible right of pro perty is claimed over them. The whole male adult population of Alexandria was once turned out to work at the fortifications • and the Sheikhs of the various trade corporations are from time to time called upon to furnish a certain number

PREFACE.

. XVII of workmen. Thus, for example, were the cotton-factories of Boulac supplied with hands ■ and boys who had from their infancy done nothing but cry "sookh" and "arga" at the tails of galled donkeys in the streets of Cairo, were soon drilled, of course by the stick, into very passable operatives. There is a tendency, even under the system of competition, to reduce the retribution of labour towards the lowest possible limit. It can excite no surprise, therefore, that in a country where the employer himself fixes the rate of wages, the lowest possible limit is at tained, even overpassed. In many cases the fellahs do not receive sufficient to support life • and are compelled to die or steal, if this word, as a term of depreciation, can be applied to a resumption of the product of their labour un justly withheld. *£ The natural result of the system of forced labour is depopulation ; and we find accordingly vol. I. b >S FREFACE.

XVIII that whenever it has been rigorously applied, as it has been since the usurpation of the Cavalla family, the ranks of the fellahs have been rapidly thinned. It would be rash to bring forward positive statements of figures relative to a country whose official statistics are quite romantic ; but those who maintain that the population of Egypt has dwindled in fifty years from three millions five hundred thousand to barely two millions, are probably correct. Famine, War, Pestilence, Emigration, have vied with each other in activity. Under the head Famine I rank all the modes in which, by means of taxa tion, arbitrary interference with trade and com merce, destruction of native industries, attempted introduction of exotic ones, imprisonment of the people in their several districts, exaction of un paid labour, monopolies, seizure of heads of families and adults, and all the vexatious ingenuity of Gallico-Turkish administration, the* Govern ment has contrived to check or more than coun-

PREFACE.

. XIX terbalance the generous productiveness of Egyp tian maternity. The Valley of the Nile would now be a desert, and the Nile would swell in vain, if there had not been from time to time, and here and there, a kind of passive resistance favoured by circumstances or by individual wisdom. I have no doubt that a prudent emancipa tion of the fellahs would double the population of the country in twenty years. Their powers of increase are enormous *. and the tenacity with which they tread the path of gain sets aside all fear of their becoming a people of paupers. Perhaps the contemplation of the unhappy condition of the fellahs has softened me into a too favourable estimate of their character. There appears to me nothing repulsive about them ■ nor is there anything very fascinating. Like all agricultural races, their intellects are slow and somewhat obtuse. The smell of the earth has in no country a favourable effect on the develope ment of mind ■ and though Virtue may follow

PREFACE.

. XX the plough, Genius abides in the fields only as an amateur. I have admitted, therefore, throughout, that the clownish fellahs are far inferior in capacity to their brethren of the cities. In certain points of morality they are superior • but whether this arises from want of sophistication, or want of opportunity, may be left undecided. The Egyp tian shopkeepers — mot the Christians, but the Muslims — are as a body considered honest ; but the citizens generally are sadly corrupt. I have pointed out, as far as I could venture, in what respects. Incidentally, in these volumes, topics are touched upon, which do not exactly correspond to the title. Here and there, not without mis givings of danger, I have spoken, it will be thought, disrespectfully of the School of Hiero glyphists, simply because I am dissatisfied with the petty results of prodigious studies, and not with any desire to undervalue the labour, learn-

PREFACE.

. XXI ing, and ingenuity that have been displayed. Schoolboys always, from ignorance, feel contempt for the intellects of grammarians and lexico graphers, who construct the instruments of tor ture on which their young minds are racked ; and I may be somewhat similarly situated : but at least they arrive by degrees at the conviction that they are acquiring a new instrument of knowledge ; whilst, as yet, the study of hiero glyphics has promised me nothing but disappointment and confusion. A young writer of talent, who has lately published an ingenious book, boldly says in substance : — " Since all who pre cede me differ in their results, it is no presump tion to bring forward yet another theory." Indeed it is not, if it be not presumption to attempt a theory at all. Your theory will not be the last.

To-morrow will yield fresh schemes of Chronology — fresh views of History; and if ever a Key be really discovered to the Hiero glyphics, it may be made manifest that an

PREFACE.

. XXII amount of genius or patience sufficient to con struct a Code of Laws has been expended in the production of a mass of ingenious errors, spangled by a few lucky guesses. I should not think it necessary to apologise for my expression of scepticism, had I not ob served in certain quarters a disposition to remove this class of studies out of the province of pro fane comment. The " new discoveries " have been erected almost into a creed ; and if we are not quite bound to believe in Isis and Osiris, we are expected to have implicit faith in the ex pounders of their fanciful history. I am almost afraid of being indicted for heresy. However, the die is cast ; the last sheet is struck off; and I can only express repentance for my rashness, and beg that the reader, whose predilections may be engaged on the other side, will bear me no ill-will. This book has been written with the intention of enabling him to travel pleasantly by his fireside, or to while away

PREFACE.

. XXIII the evening horns, when custom, darkness, and evil spirits confine him to his cabin, should he ever have the good fortune to spend a month or two in the swift-shooting Zeyn-en-Neel. By the way, I am quite serious in endeavouring to dissuade those who would really enjoy and appreciate the Nile, from abandoning the dahabieh for the steamer, unless, indeed, for imperative reasons Egypt must be " done " in a fortnight. Our boat, which, being owned by an Englishman, is kept perfectly clean and free from vermin of all kinds, enabled us to proceed, when we desired it, with great speed. It has the advantage of being three-masted ; so that we could sail close to the wind, and double points under canvass, whilst others were obliged to track. In rough weather, hkewise, we were not com pelled to lie-to, as with the trinket or foresail there was no danger of a capsize. In this, or any other boat possessing similar qualifications, the whole of Egypt may be visited and examined

PREFACE.

. leisurely in less than two months — which is certainly not too much to devote to the most interesting country on the face of the earth. I may take this opportunity of mentioning that my father, from whom I have derived an affection for the land of Egypt, which experience has increased, is preparing for the press a work, entitled " Isis and Osiris," in which that coun try is made the frame-work of most brilliant imaginations. B. St. J. Paris, July 1852. d~C. dc.

Chapter I

Of English Residents iu Alexandria aud their Travels — Comforts of an Oriental Home — Departure for the Upper Country — Crew and Attendants — Out on the Canal — Reminiscences of a Khamsin Day — Extraordinary Scene — Beautiful Evening — Description of a Marshy Tract — Line of proposed Railroad — Considerations — Public Works in Egypt — English Mails — Birkeh and its Beauties — The Nile. The great holiday of English residents in Alexandria is a trip up the Nile — to Cairo, to Siout, or to the Cataracts. They look forward to such a trip as to the best reward of years of monotonous life ; for, once under the influence of the inexplicable fascination of the climate, they feel but a mediocre longing for London, and think Liverpool can well do without them. VOL. I. b Ten, twenty years, sometimes march slowly by, and no nostalgia interferes with digestion ; news papers, yet unfragrant from the press, bring an English atmosphere to them, quite racy enough for their degenerate lungs ; correspondence re gisters the domestic catastrophes of friends whose faces are forgotten, telling who has taken home a pale-faced bride, what strange incompre hensible man has rocked a baby of his own, who has been buried in that frost-bound earth ; and if these voluntary exiles, wicked bachelors for the most part, talk of going to the old country, it is as the Muslims talk of their an ticipated paradise — with a very marked convic tion that they are better where they are.

All aspire, however, " to do the Nile." It is mortifying enough to fail in the achieve ment of so moderate an ambition. Many of them live on in hope to the end of their days, speaking, it is true, from time to time, in a very disrespectful manner of fate, but in secret counting ever on the fulfilment of their wishes and enjoying the sweets of their trip by antici pation. They would, perhaps, find it difficult to explain this perpetual state of expectancy. The claims of business are not so inexorable as they pretend. An acquired indolence, a habit of procrastination, the blandishments of that syren — an Oriental home, the comfortable slippers, the dreamy divan, the shisheh softly bubbling in a half-darkened room, the small cozy circle of friends, who still smile gravely at the joke first perpetrated before Mohammed Ali became a con queror, and who join in sympathetic grumblings at the stern necessity that binds them clown to that horrid delightful place — which I shall always quit without regret and see again with joy — such are some of the explanations of the mystery.

During my first residence in Egypt, circumstances likewise prevented me from going much beyond Cairo ; and as I had felt the same longing as the rest, I resolved last year to repair the omission, and went out with the firm deter mination not to yield to the enervating influence of the dusty Capua of Egypt. Having seen all my old Levantine friends, the respected Sitt Madoula among the rest, and been gently scolded for putting them, as they had heard, in print, I started with two friends, towards the middle of November, from the neighbourhood of Pompey's Pillar, in a magnificent dahabiah, justly entitled Zeyn-en-Neel, the Ornament of the Nile. Good Reis Suleiman, who had accompanied me on more juvenile excursions several years before ; Derweesh, who has survived the fears and perils of the Libyan Desert ; Sid Ahmed, who has all the qualities of an excellent inter preter except a knowledge of languages ; an other Ahmed, surnamed the Savage, — .all well known faces — had mustered in due time, as likewise had a choice crew, containing several Mohammeds, one Goomma or Friday, one Ra madhan, an Abdallah, a Bedawi, an Abd-el-Hai', and other experienced mariners.

Our voyage began under good auspices ; and, despite the fashionable calumnies against Arabs in general, and Arab boatmen in particular, I must say at once that all these people behaved so well from beginning to end, that, even had I no other experience to rely upon, I should ever be ready to break a lance in favour of their much mis represented race. An occasional breath of wind, and the more steady assistance of a rope, soon disengaged us from the long street of villas and gardens that borders the canal. It was a fine, hot, shiny day, as nearly all days are in Egypt ; but when we came to open ground, a fresh breeze from the sea, over the palm-groves and sand hillocks of Ramleh, filled our sails, and pleasantly broke the force of the sun's beams. The water of the canal, copiously supplied by the recent inunda tion, rose nearly to the brink of the two mighty dykes that zig-zag across the low plain ; and as we enjoyed our keys under the portico in front of the cabin we could see the forts, and minarets, and white palaces of Alexandria, fading in the sunny distance, and the broad lake Mareotis stretching its burnished surface to the horizon, where phantom islands and* fragments of desert shore hang in a kind of mirage between it and the sky.

When the canal is full, a wide pro spect is almost always to be obtained on either hand ; and as we advanced, we could from the cabin-roof even distinguish the martello-towers that line the shores of Aboukir Bay. The land between is level as a water-surface, and at the autumn-season, indeed, becomes a shallow lake, supplied by filtration from the sea. It gradually dries through the winter, and by summer time becomes a hard gravelly plain, where the mirage loves to abide. As you ride across it towards Aboukir or Rosetta, all kinds of fan tastic illusions puzzle the eye ; and a stranger may well be surprised to find that that seeming hillock dwindles, as he draws nigh, into a rusted cannon-ball fired in the days when Abercrombie fell. Other relics of warfare are dug up in greater numbers amid the hillocks towards the sea ; and the supply of buttons belonging to English and French soldiers is almost fabulous.

The Arabs have always some of them to offer to .collecting travellers. They have learned the fact of our weakness without comprehending it ; and in their opinion every new-comer is bound to lay out a few fuddahs in the purchase of such mementoes. Possibly they imagine we are ac complishing some religious duty. At any rate they look with undisguised contempt and aversion on the wag who offers to sell them as many buttons and pieces of old iron as they please for half the price they demand. It is singular, by the way, that no nation relishes the wit of another. British jokes have often been the foundation of French facts ; and " the same to you" will our neighbours reply. An Arab on being called " the son of a gun," will gravely observe that he is not a soldier. Devising somewhat in this way the daha biah gently bending to the wind, we left Alex andria behind, and soared, as it were, over the vast plain that still separated us from the real Egypt.