The Khedive's Egypt; or, The old house of bondage under new masters

Front matter

Class. UTlOi Book i l?s 34 GopigM?.

COPYRIGHT DEPOSE d'

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Chapter I

EASTWARD HO ! FROM SOUTHAMPTON TO PORT SAID.

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Leave Southampton on P. and 0. steamer — The three chief routes to Egypt — " Biscay's sleepless hay " — Sudden step from winter to spring — The Rock and "Rock scorpions" — Remnants of Spanish and Moorish occupation — Fruit and flower markets in mid-winter — Malta and the Maltese — Marine theatricals — Port Sa'id — First glimpses — The peculiarities of place and people — Off by canal by moonlight for Ismailia ..... 1

Chapter II. Ismailia — The Desert — Cairo

Reach Ismailia at sunrise — First view — The Custom-house nuisance again — The faith in things unseen — The Hotel Paris — A truly Parisian cuisine — Stroll over the town — Its public and private gardens — Peculiar charms of this oasis in the desert — The railway route, via Zagazig, to Cairo — Along the Fresh- Water Canal — Should the Chinese coolie be imported ? — The Suez Canal and Euphrates Railway route — Some facts and figures about the Suez Canal — Mention of one of its founders . 23

Chapter III. Old And New Cairo

Approach to Cairo — Sights and scenes en route — Wayside vieAVs and voices — " Backsheesh, Howadji ! " the same old tune — Nature and man unchanged — Startling changes in the environs of Cairo — Disappearance of walls and appearance of new boulevards, a la Haussmann — Surprises in store for the returning pilgrim after ten years' , absence — What cannot now be seen from Shepheard's balcony — Cairo as it was and as it is — The old quarter and the new ........ 47

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Chapter IV. The Founders Of The Dynasty

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Mehemet Ali — Soldier of fortune — Satrap and Viceroy — Parallel between the Napoleons of the East and of the West — His strange career — Dreams of an Arab empire, like that of the Caliphs — Why he failed in establishing it — England's interposition — Page of the trapped lion — Cloudy close of a bright day — Personal traits and anecdotes of Mehemet Ali — His son Ibrahim, regent and successor — His short lease of power — Can his dream be now fulfilled ? — Reasons for the establishment of an Arab empire at the present moment 63

Chapter V. Abbas Pacha

Accession of Abbas Pacha — Personal description of him — His peculiar character and habits — A Turk of the Turks — Contrasted with Said Pacha — His treatment of his people — The new " House of Bondage " under him — His closing tragedy — A dead man's drive — His son El-Hami — A fated family line . 80

Chapter VI. The Beign Of Said Pacha

Said Pacha's accession — The new era introduced by him — Reversal of his predecessor's policy, and private conduct — Attempt to bind together the family faggot — His social habits — His great fetes — His princess, Ingee Khanum — His personal appearance and character — Resemblance physically and morally to " Bluff King Hal " — His military mania — Life under tents, and black knights in chain armour — His work in Egypt — A bright dawn and stormy sunset 91

Chapter VII. The Foreign Colony In Egypt In Olden Time

The foreign colony in Egypt, under the earlier Viceroys — Classification of them — The merchant princes — The European army officers — Suleyman Pacha, or Colonel Seves, commander-inchief — Some anecdotes of him — Other conforming and non-conforming officials — Some curious specimens — Talking only Arabic ! — Peculiar privileges of foreign consuls-general and their proteges — The new mixed tribunals superseding consular authority — A few words about them, and the old doctrine of "Exterritoriality" 103

CONTENTS. Vll

CHAPTEE VIII. the khedive's egypt.

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Divisions of Modern Egypt : Lower Egypt, Middle Egypt, and Upper Egypt — The Soudan — Chief Exports — Eacts and figures — Population and Mortality — Difficulties and drawbacks native rulers must contend against — Smelfungus at Cairo — His sources of information — An appeal for justice on behalf of the new masters of the " House of Bondage " — Said Pacha's sad experience with his model villages — The new foreign employes — The Government more generous than just in some respects . . 117

Chapter IX. Helouan

An Aix les Bains in the desert — What and where is Helouan? — On the road to it — The grand boulevard to the citadel — Glimpses of interiors en route — The Mokattam Hills — their quarries — Through the desert, in view of the Pyramids — Appearance of Helouan — Its sights and smells — The sulphur baths — The hotel — the view from its roof — An enthusiastic collector of antiques 134

Chapter X. The Khedive Ismail As A Public And A Pbivate Man

His lucky star — The accident that made him Khedive — Achmet Pacha's closing scene — His character — A fatal fete and lucky illness — Halim Pacha's peril and escape — What might have been but for an open drawbridge — My early impressions of Prince Ismail — His love for "Naboth's vineyard" — The man and the monarch, briefly epitomized — Things he has done and things he has left undone — His building mania . , . 153

Chapter XI. Four Native Ministers And Hekkekyan Bey

Some of the Khedive's native ministers — Nubar Pacha — His life and work — Personal traits — A family of diplomatists — Cherif Pacha — Description of him — Riaz Pacha — The strange story of Ismail Sadyk Pacha, the Mouffctich — An Egyptian Wolsey — A visit to his three palaces, and what we saw there — The moral of his rise and fall — Hekkekyan Bey — His theory of the Pyramids 17G viLL CONTENTS.

Chapter XII. The Land Of Egypt And Its Productions

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Egypt nothing, if not agricultural — Contrasted with India and China — Feeds her own population — " The life of Egypt " — Five million acres under cultivation — How cultivated — Cotton culture — Flax culture — Sugar culture — Extracts from recent report on

p Khedive's sugar estates — Curious facts and figures relating to it — The grain crops — The date and fruit culture — Land taxation — A painful picture of a year's work in the fields . . 200

Chapter XIII. The Fellaheen

Who is the fellah, and what is he ? — His earlier history as written on the tombs and temples, in the Scriptures, on stone and papyrus — A letter three thousand years old concerning him, in the British Museum — How Joseph treated him under Pharaoh — Origin of land tenure in Egypt — Under the Mamelukes and the house of Mehemet Ali, the new masters of his " House of Bondage " — His treatment under successive viceroys — His present condition 222

Chapter XIV. Scions Of The Koyal House Of Mehemet All

The sons of Ismai'1, and other scions of the royal house, yet surviving — The sons of Abbas and of Said Pachas blasted in the bud — The sons of the Khedive — Mohammed Tewfik, heir presumptive — His brothers Hussein and Hassan — Characteristics of each — The younger sons — How the Khedive is educating his children — Their uncle Halim Pacha, formerly heir apparent under the old rule — His character — Description of how he hunted the gazelle with hawk and hound — Revival in Egypt of a mediaeval sport — Halim's prospects 244

Chapter XV. Irrigation And The Barrage

" The life of Egypt "• — The barrage — Proposition to pull down the Pyramids to construct it — A French engineer's perilous predicament — How he extricated himself — Said Pacha's new city on a medal! — Egyptian irrigation — How it is managed — Proposed substitute for the irrigation of the Delta — Something about the barrage . 262

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Chapter XVI. Education Ik Egypt

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What the Khedive has done in educating his people — The public schools — Their chief inspector, Dor Bey — Information derived from him — Slight sketch of the character and purposes of new schools, civil and military — The Polytechnic School at Ahbassieh — The Missionary schools — Miss Whately's school, and the German — Education for women — A queen worthy of her place — The coming race of Egyptian women. . . .271

Chapter XVII. Sketches Of Two Famous Anglo-african Explorers

Captain Richard Burton and Gordon Pacha at Cairo — Description of the men — Their latest work in Africa — The land of Midian — The Soudan — Burton's first appearance in Egypt — Some curious recollections — His last visit — What he was then and now — Burton's discovery — Gordon Pacha's personal characteristics — His proposed work in Central Africa . , „ . 282

Chapter XVIII. Mixed Judicial Tribunals In Egypt

Efforts of Sublime Porte, for twenty-five years, to break down the doctrine of Exterritoriality in the Turkish dominions — ■ What Exterritoriality means — Mixed tribunals attempted to be introduced, under " Hatti Houmaion " of Sultan in 1856, and again tried by Egyptian Government in 1860 — Why prevented by Consuls-general on those occasions — Nubar Pasha's persistent efforts and final partial success — His plan as opposed to the plan recently adopted — My own action in the matter — The present tribunals entitled to a fair trial 297

Chapter XIX. Egyptian Finance And Resources

Absorbing interest felt therein — The doctors disagreeing — State of the patient in the eyes of a non-professional — A plain statement as to the amounts actually received from foreign loans by Khedive — What did he do with it ? — Testimony of the Times partly exculpatory of the Khedive — Curious and instructive letter from a native Egyptian official, translated from the French — His statements of resources, and suggestions for their

increase — A few facts and figures 315

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X CONTENTS.

Chapter XX. Egyptian Nights' Entertainments

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The social life of Egypt — Native society unchanged — The ladies of the hareem, and their adoption of French millinery — The root of the evil — A royal wedding party in a Khedivial hareem described — The Khedive's entertainments — His breakfasts, dinners, and soirees dansantes at Ab-din 328

Chapter XXI. The Soudan

What and where is the v Soudan? — Its first annexation to Egypt — Conquest and occupation by Mehemet Ah — His visit there — Establishes Khartoum as its capital- — Abbas Pacha's treatment of it — Sai'd Pacha's visit — His proclamations — Attempts to connect it with Cairo, by rail and river — Reasons of failure — Mr. Fowler's plan, adopted by the Khedive — Some interesting extracts from his reports — Present position and prospects of Gordon Pacha 342

Chapter XXII. Improvements And Public Works In Egypt

Public improvements — Where some of the money has gone — General statement of public works and improvements during the present reign — Thirty or forty millions of pounds' worth accounted for — What and where are these improvements? — Harbour and lighthouse improvements — Gas and water works — Merchant marine — Thirteen hundred miles of railway completed in last twelve years 362

Chapter XXIII. The Army Of Egypt

An indeterminate quantity — Curious exemption of Cairenes and Alexandrians from conscription — How the conscription is made — What successive viceroys have done for the army — The army and the military chest — Excellent drill and organization of the forces — The American and other foreign officers — The Khedive's true, and Egypt's wisest policy 369

Chapter XXIV. The Shadow Of The Stranger

Egypt's experience — Her three periods : Pagan, Christian, and Mussulman — International jealousies — Shall the Mediterranean bo a French or English "lake"? — Curious history of this

CONTENTS. XI

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rivalry in regard to the overland transit — Cost of conciliating the rival nationalities to Egypt — Mariette Bey's characterization of the Egyptians — The irony of their destiny — The shadow of the stranger eclipsing native government — Laissez nous /aire! 381