A DARABOOKAH.
"'The next and last man of the party has adarabookah, a sort of drum, which he holds under his left arm while he plays on it with the fingers of his right hand. The body of the instrument is of earthen-ware or of wood, and a skin or membrane is stretched over the large end. It has changed its shape very little in three thousand years. You see pictures of the darabookah on the walls of the tombs, and on other ancient monuments of Egypt, and the manner of playing it is the same as of old.'
"So much, for the band of music, which I am sure will interest you. We sat down on little chairs, so low that itseemed like sitting on the floor, and then coffee was brought to us in little brass cups about as large as an egg shell, but a great deal thicker. Each cup had a holder of brass filigree work, with a knob or handle at the bottom, and we were expected to grasp the latter, and not to touch the cup with our hands. The coffee was in a pot, also of brass, and the whole service—pot, cups, and holders—was on a tray of the same material. The trays, with the brightly-polished utensils upon them, looked very pretty, and we resolved to buy some of these coffee services to send to our friends at home.
"We can't say much for the coffee, though possibly we may come to like it in time. It is made much thicker than with us, and if you let it stand for a minute before drinking, you will find a sediment at the bottom like fine dust. The servants stand ready to take away the cups as soon as you are done drinking, and they do it by holding out both hands, bringing one beneath and the other on top of the cup and holder. We watched them for some time, and did not once see them take hold of a cup as one would do in America. While waiting they stood with their hands crossed at the waist, and we were told that this is the proper attitude for a servant in Egypt."
COFFEE-POT AND CUPS.
From thecaféDoctor Bronson and his young friends continued their excursion in the direction of the bazaars, which both the boys were impatient to visit. They had heard and read of the bazaars of Cairo, and the strange things to be seen in them, and as they went along the Doctor supplemented what they already knew by an explanation of the differences between Oriental and Occidental shopping.
AN ORIENTAL SHOPKEEPER EXAMINING HIS BOOKS.
"In our own land," said Doctor Bronson, "as well as in most countries of Europe, you find shops and stores scattered about so as to catch as much custom as possible. As a general thing a tradesman endeavors to set up his business in a block or street where there is no one in the same line, and it is only in rare instances that you see two establishments of the same kind side by side. But in the East all the men in a certain line of trade gather together, and out of this tendency we have the bazaars of Cairo and Constantinople. Suppose you go out in New York or Chicago in search of a book, a coat, a pair of shoes, a piece of silk, some perfumes, and an article of jewellery. You might find them all in a single walk of a few hundred yards, as it isquite possible that a book-store, a clothing-store, a shoemaker's shop, and the other establishments might be found in a single block. But in Cairo you would need to visit several bazaars or collections of shops; the book-stores are all in one place, the clothing-stores in another, the shoemakers in another, and so on through the list. It would take hours to accomplish what you would do at home in a few minutes, and there is nothing better than this system of shopping to illustrate the Oriental disregard of time. The shops in any given bazaar are pretty much alike, and contain almost identically the same articles; the customers wander from one shop to another, and spend a great deal of time in bargaining and examining the goods. Time is of no consequence either to them or to the dealers, and you will often wonder how the latter can possibly make a living."
INTERIOR OF A CARAVANSARY.
As the Doctor finished his remarks the guide called their attention to a large gate-way, and at his suggestion they passed inside. They found themselves in a broad court, which was formed by a series of rooms running round a square, and opening toward the enclosed space. Goods were piled in many of these rooms; in the court-yard there were boxes and bales scattered about, and several camels with burdens on their backs were standing quietly, or being led by their owners according to the will of the latter. Near one side of the square there was a fountain like a pile of whitewashed bricks, and a horse was drinking from a trough in front of it.
GATE-WAY OF A CARAVANSARY.
The guide explained that the place they had entered was a caravansary or inn (usually called akhan), and that it might be taken as a fair sample of the Oriental hotel. "The rooms," said he, "are let out to travellers or merchants for a small sum, and the keeper will provide food for man and beast, just as a tavern-keeper would in America. The rooms have no furniture, nothing but the bare walls, and floors; the occupant spreads his carpet and bedding on the floor, and if he has any merchandise he piles it up, and can, if he chooses, convert the place into a shop. There are stables for camels and other beasts of burden on the side opposite the entrance; if you go into them you will find a small platform over the farther end of each compartment, and the trough or manger is directly beneath it. The drivers sleep on these platforms, so as to be near their animals, to prevent their being stolen, and to look after them generally."
Frank asked if the Eastern caravansary of the present day was like the same institution mentioned several times in the Bible.
"There can be little doubt that it is," the Doctor answered, "as thecustoms of the country have changed very little from Bible times to our own. It was just such a place as this where our Saviour was born, and the trough or manger where he was cradled was like any one of the feeding-troughs in this caravansary."
While they were looking at the rooms and other parts of the caravansary, thekhanjy, or keeper, came forward and asked what they wanted. The guide explained that they were strangers who wished to see the place, and he accompanied the explanation with a small backsheesh. The khanjy said they might remain as long as they liked; but they had seen all there was of interest about the place, and soon withdrew.
A STREET IN A BAZAAR AT CAIRO.
Soon after leaving the khan they entered the cloth bazaar, where the shops were principally filled with cloths of different kinds. The merchants endeavored to attract their attention, and the runners were at times so troublesome that the Doctor instructed the guide to say that they had not come there to buy, but simply to look around. He took the opportunity to tell the boys that the wordbazaaris Persian, andmeans "a collection of shops," while the Arabic word of the same meaning issook. "We thus have," said he, "the 'Sook el Hamzowee,' the 'Sook el Attarin' (drug bazaar), the 'Sook-es-Soudan' (bazaar for Soudan products), and many others whose character we shall learn by-and-by."
SHOPPING SCENE IN THE HAMZOWEE.
"We are now," said the guide, "in the 'Sook el Hamzowee,' or cloth market, though a more literal translation would make it 'the market of the Christians.' The merchants here are all Christians, either Syrians or Copts, and they close their places on Sunday. Many of the cloths here are of European manufacture, and the merchants are just as keen as their Moslem competitors in demanding exorbitant prices for their wares. The man you see running up and down with a roll of cloth on his head is adallal, or auctioneer; he is shouting out the last offer for the goods he is carrying, and is asking if anybody will give more. If he receives a new offer he instantly calls it out, and when nobody will give any more he shouts for the owner of the goods to come and close the transaction."
Our friends encountered several of these auctioneers in the course of their walk, and Frank remarked that there was a fine opportunity for fraud if anybody chose to practise it. He thought that while out of sight round a corner the piece of cloth might be exchanged for a cheaper one of the same general appearance, and the purchaser would be defrauded.
"Not much chance of that," responded the Doctor; "these fellows are altogether too sharp to be imposed on in that way; and if an auctioneer should play that trick once, and be detected, he would be forbidden to come into the bazaars to practise his profession."
The narrow street that formed the double row of shops in the bazaar was covered with an arched roof containing openings for admitting the light. The Doctor said that the dealers did not object to the sombre aspect of the place, as it made their goods appear finer than when submitted to the full glare of day. "You may sometimes notice," said he, "that the tailors of New York and other American cities take their customers to the rear of the shop when exhibiting materials, rather than to the front where the light is strongest. The reason is the same there as here; textile fabrics have a finer appearance under a subdued light than under a powerful one."
From the Hamzowee the promenade was continued through other bazaars, till the youths had seen a great deal more than they were likely to remember. They went through the bazaar of the jewellers, which consists of a series of narrow lanes, rather irregularly connected, and in many places not more than a yard in width; Frank thought the place was originallyintended for a labyrinth, and his opinion was confirmed when they came around in their wanderings to the point whence they started. Frank wanted to buy something for his sister and Miss Effie, but was restrained by the Doctor, who advised him to postpone his purchases till he was better acquainted with the ways of dealing with the jewellers.
EASTERN NECKLACES.
We may as well record at this point that he returned another day, and bought some necklaces which he thought would be prized at home, and the result proved the correctness of his theory. For his sister he chose a necklace consisting of a string of gold coins about as large as silver five-cent pieces, with one in the centre much larger than the rest. For Miss Effie he selected one of curiously shaped links, with tiny globesbetween them, while from the lower point of each link there hung a heart-shaped plate of gold that was intended to sparkle whenever the wearer moved. There were many of these necklaces for sale in the bazaar, and Frank had no difficulty in finding one that suited his taste.
The boys found that they could not buy things in a hurry in the bazaars of Cairo. As before stated, time is of no consequence to an Oriental, and he expects to spend an hour at least over a bargain. Frank had been properly instructed, and so when he set out to buy the necklace for his sister he carelessly asked the price of one he was looking at.
The dealer named a figure, and Frank shook his head.
The dealer named another figure, five or ten per cent. lower. Frank again shook his head, and then the dealer asked what he would give.
Frank offered about a third of the price that had been demanded originally.
It was now the dealer's turn to refuse, and he did so. He emphasized his refusal by putting the necklace back into the show-case, which he carefully locked.
WEIGHING GOLD IN THE JEWELLERS' BAZAAR.
Frank offered a little advance on his first proposal, but the dealer again declined it, and our friends moved away. Just as they did so the dealer named a lower price than he had yet asked for the article, but to no purpose, however.
They went a few steps and stopped at another shop. While they were looking at something it contained they were called back by themerchant with whom they originally talked, and the bargaining was renewed.
The dealer slowly lowered his figures, and Frank as slowly advanced his offer. In fifteen or twenty minutes they met, and Frank secured the necklace at a little more than half what had been demanded originally. The Doctor told him he had done very well, and could be trusted to deal with the Orientals.
"Remember," said the Doctor, "that these people are never in a hurry, and consequently you must be like them if you are to deal with them. They think it absolutely necessary to pass a certain time over a transaction, and do not understand our Western habits of coming to terms at once. You have bought that necklace for a certain price, and it is safe to say that the merchant has made a good profit by the transaction. If you had offered him that figure at first he would have refused it, and continued to refuse, as he would thereby have missed the necessary chaffering and haggling.
"When I first visited Egypt I was sometimes impatient of delay, and used to tell the dealers I had only one price to give, and would not bargain with them. I thought I could bring them to terms, though my friends told me I could not. One day I went to the Hamzowee, and tried to buy acafieh, or silk handkerchief, in gaudy colors, and embroidered with gold, which was worth about fifteen francs. The merchant demanded thirty-five francs for it. I offered him sixteen, and he fell to thirty at once.
"I did not raise my bid, but repeated my offer two or three times. He fell to twenty-five francs, and would not go lower. I did not rise above sixteen, and he allowed me to go away. A friend of mine stood by, but pretended not to know me, and when I had finished my effort and gone he began to bargain for the cafieh, just as you bargained for the necklace. He offered five francs to begin with, and by spending half an hour over the matter he bought the article for fifteen francs, or one less than had been refused from me!
"There was a shrewd old Syrian who used to come around the hotels to peddle silk goods. Knowing the fondness of English and Americans for the one-price system, he would say, when exhibiting an article worth twenty francs,
"'If you want to bargain for it, it is fifty francs; but if you want the last price, without bargaining, it is thirty-five francs.'
"Strangers were occasionally tricked in this way, and gave him his price without question, if they wanted the article; but those who hadbeen a week or two in the country knew better, and began to bargain with thirty-five francs as the asking price. The result would be that they would bring him down to twenty francs after the usual amount of haggling. You must bargain for everything here when dealing with natives, and they are not to be believed if they say they have only one price. I have heard a man offer an article in about these words, after a bargain had been progressing for some time:
"'The very lowest I can sell this for—I give you my word of honor it cost me that—is fifty francs. I will take nothing less than fifty francs, and you need not offer me anything under it.'
"You believe he is not speaking the truth, and offer him thirty. He declares that the thing cost him fifty, but he will take forty-five, and absolutely nothing less. You offer him thirty-five—he falls to forty, and the bargain is concluded."
Frank profited by the advice, but carried the lesson too far. When he went the next day to the post-office to send some letters to America, the clerk weighed the letters, and told him the postage amounted to two francs and a half. The youth offered one franc and a half, and on the clerk refusing to accept it he turned to walk away. Suddenly realizing the mistake he had made, he returned, bought the necessary stamps, affixed them to the letters, and dropped them in the letter-box.
The journal kept by the youths contained the following record of their adventures in the bazaars:
"In the bazaar of the jewellers, or rather of the gold and silver smiths, we saw the men at work with implements as primitive as those of the jewellers of India. The bellows of the silversmith was nothing more than a conical bag of goat-skin open at one end, where the air waspumped in by a skilful manipulation of a pair of handles. At the other end was an iron tube, which carried the air to a lump of clay supporting a charcoal fire. A few hammers and pincers constituted the entire 'kit' of the workman, but with them he managed to turn out articles of many different shapes. We were told that strangers are liable to be swindled, as the dealers often sell plated-ware and declare it is solid, and the government stamp to indicate its genuineness cannot be relied on. When a wealthy native desires an article of fine gold or silver he buys the metal, and then has the jeweller go to his house and work directly under his eye, so that there can be no cheating.
KITCHEN UTENSILS.
"From the jewellers' bazaar we went to the 'Sook-en-Nahhasin,' or bazaar of the coppersmiths, where we saw some trays of copper and brass, and a great many pots and utensils for the kitchen and domestic use generally. We bought a couple of ink-and-pen holders, such as the Arabs write with: there is a long handle for containing the little reeds which they use as pens, and a bottle at the end for holding ink. The apparatus is stuck into the waist-belt, and you see it worn by a great many people.
BASIN AND EWER.
"There were many shapes and sizes of the kitchen utensils, and all were made of brass or copper. There were tongs and shovels very much like our own stewpans, with and without handles, and a little pot with a long handle, in which they make coffee. One of the prettiest things we saw for household use was a basin and ewer, or pitcher, for washing the hands after dinner. The Doctor explained the manner of using it, and said it was carried round the table by a servant, who poured water onthe hands of each guest, and allowed it to run into the basin after the ablution was performed. There is a perforated cover in the centre of the basin, and it has a cup in the top for holding a ball of scented soap. The ewer has a long slender spout opposite the handle, and there is a perforated cover to keep out the flies and other undesirable things.
BOTTLE FOR ROSE-WATER.
"In the perfume bazaar we were welcomed by a variety of agreeable odors, and by the shop-keepers and their runners, who tried to sell us ottar of rose and oil of sandal-wood, which are the perfumes most sought by strangers. Every shop promised to give us the genuine article, and said there was no other place where it could be bought. The Doctor says it is simply impossible to get the real ottar of rose anywhere in the bazaar, no matter what price you pay, and consequently it is best to be moderate in your figures. The veritable perfume is worth, at the place of manufacture, about fifty dollars an ounce, and therefore, when you buy it for two or three or five dollars an ounce, you can hardly expect to get the best. It is very funny to hear the strangers at the hotel talk about their purchases of ottar of rose. Each one knows a place, which has been shown him in strict confidence, where the genuine perfume can be bought; but it can only be obtained on a promise not to reveal the locality, or some similar nonsense. If you ever come to Egypt this ottar ofrose business will afford you much amusement if you are careful to manage it properly.
ORIENTAL GUNS.
"The shoe bazaar and the arms bazaar were not particularly interesting, as the former contained little else than a great lot of shoes, and the latter had a miserable collection of weapons that were hardly worth carrying away. Formerly the arms bazaar was a favorite spot for visitors, as there were many old and curious things to be found there, but nearly everything worth buying up was secured long ago. We saw some Oriental guns with funny shaped stocks. The Doctor says the barrels of these weapons are nearly all from Europe, while the stocks are of Egyptian or other Oriental manufacture. There is a strong prejudice against explosive caps, and if you give a gun with a percussion-lock to a native, he will have it changed as soon as possible to a flint-lock. They rarely use shot, and the best of the native sportsmen would hardly think of shooting a bird on the wing.
BAB-EL-NASR.
"From the bazaars we continued our walk to the Bab-el-Nasr, or 'Gateof Victory,' one of the most important gates of Cairo. It was built in the eleventh century, and is mostly of hewn stone, with winding stairways leading to the top, holes for cannon and small arms, and is so large and strong that it was selected by Napoleon as the central point of defence while he held the city. It is a little fort in itself, and we were very glad to have the opportunity of examining it.
"We gave a little backsheesh to the gate-keeper, and he allowed us to go to the top, where we had a view of the nearest part of the city, and of the heaps of rubbish lying outside the gates. There were several wolfish-looking dogs prowling among the dust-heaps, and they growled as they caught sight of us, and saw that we were not natives. The dogs of Cairo have a great hatred of foreigners, as we shall have occasion to say by-and-by."
STREET SCENE NEAR THE BAB-EL-NASR.
THE MOSQUE OF TOOLOON.
From the Bab-el-Nasr our friends returned, by the direction of the guide, through a street that led them past several of the famous mosques of Cairo. They entered the Mosque of Tooloon, which is the oldest in the city, and said to be modelled after the Kaaba at Mecca; according to the historians it was built abouta.d. 879, and there are several legends concerning it. One is that it stands on the spot where Abraham sacrificed a goat in place of his son, and another puts it on the site where Noah's ark ran aground, though the general belief of the Moslems locates the latter event near Moosool, in Syria.
The mosque has been neglected in the latter centuries of its existence, and at present is not specially inviting. It covers a very large area (about six hundred square feet), and consists of a series of arcades running around a court-yard, which has a fountain in the centre. On the east side there are five rows of these arcades, but on the other three sides there are onlytwo rows. The west, north, and south sides are used as lodgings for poor people, and their continual begging renders a visit the reverse of agreeable. The east side is the holiest part of the edifice, but at the time our friends went there it was not easy to discover that it was any more respected than the other sections.
The guide said there were not far from four hundred mosques in Cairo, and that a good many of them were in ruins, and not likely to be repaired. The government does not build any new ones, as it has more practical uses for its money, and the followers of Mohammed seem to be growing more and more indifferent to religious observances every year. The Moslem Sabbath is on Friday; the mosques are tolerably filled on that day, but during the rest of the week the attendance is very light. Formerly it was difficult or even dangerous to enter some of the mosques, but at present the whole matter can be arranged on payment of a backsheesh. Once in a while a fanatic insults a stranger, but he is generally suppressed immediately by his friends.
MIHRAB, PULPIT, AND CANDLESTICK IN A MOSQUE.
Frank and Fred found that the general plan of the mosques was the same, and the difference was mainly in the outer walls and the style of architecture. In every mosque there is amihrab, or alcove, usually opposite the entrance, and this mihrab points toward Mecca, so that the faithful may know how to direct their faces when saying their prayers. Near the alcove is a pulpit with a steep flight of steps ascending to it, and over the pulpit there is generally a column, like the spire of a church in miniature. On each side of the alcove is an enormous candlestick, and there is generally a frame with swinging lamps, not more than eight or ten feet fromthe floor. There are many of these lamps, and also a great many ostrich eggs, and altogether they present a curious effect.
There is very little interior decoration in the mosque, as the religion of Mohammed forbids its believers to make a representation of anything that has life. It was formerly very difficult to induce a Moslem to allow his portrait to be made. The writer of this book once sought in vain to induce a wild native of Central Asia to sit for his photograph, the reason being that the man feared the portrait might get to Paradise ahead of him, and prevent his own admission within the gates. The more intelligent of the Moslems pay no heed to this superstition, but the decorators of the mosques adhere to it most carefully, consequently all the ornamentation of the walls consists of scroll-work or of sentences from the Koran.[3]
From the Mosque of Tooloon our friends went to the Mosque of Sultan Hassan, which is considered the finest in the city. It was built of stone taken from the pyramids of Gizeh, and was begun in the year 1356. According to the traditions it occupied three years in building, and was considered so fine that the Sultan ordered the hands of the architect to be cut off, in order that he should not be able to construct another equal to it. The story is of doubtful authenticity, and has been told in various ways, and concerning other buildings in many parts of the world. Whether it be true or not, the building is certainly a fine one, and has been greatly admired during all the centuries that it has been in existence. One of its minarets is the tallest in Cairo, and probably in all the lands where the Moslem religion prevails. It is two hundred and eighty feet high, and from its top there is a fine view of Cairo, but, unfortunately, it is considered unsafe, and no one is allowed to ascend it.
By the time they had finished with the Mosque of Sultan Hassan our friends were weary, and glad to return to the hotel. The next day was Friday, the Moslem Sunday, and at the suggestion of the Doctor they went to see the whirling dervishes, who perform only on that day. We will let the boys tell the story of their visit to these singular people.
"The dervishes are religious devotees corresponding to the monks of the Catholic Church, whom they resemble in some of their practices. They are supposed to be wholly occupied with religious matters, and there are several branches or orders of them, who are distinguishedby their dress. They have property set apart for their use, and some of the societies are very wealthy; the most numerous, and at the same time the richest, are the Mevlevies, who can be recognized by their tall caps of gray felt, with jackets and robes of the same color. The lower part of the robe is like a lady's skirt, as it is made in folds, and will spread out into a large circle when the wearer whirls rapidly. They are the most respectable of all the orders of dervishes, and some of them are men of education and former high position.
A BEGGING DERVISH.
"There are many independent dervishes who are simply religious beggars, belonging to no sect or order: they go around soliciting charity, or sit at the street corners or in public places, dressed in a way to attract attention. We passed one yesterday who had the saw of a saw-fish in one hand and an instrument resembling a child's rattle in the other; a cocoa-nut shell hung on his breast, to hold the donations of the charitable, and he sat on a box that resembled a rude bird-cage. He was extremely dirty in appearance, his legs were bare, and his hair was long and uncombed; he stared at us, and shouted something we did not understand, and when we passed by without giving him anything, he shook his rattle in an angry way. The guide says these men often go into the houses of rich people, and the latter are afraid to turn them out because of their so-called holy character. They are the most impudent beggars you can find anywhere, and many of them are said to be thieves and murderers, who disguise their true character under the cloak of religion.
"We went to see the Mevlevies, and on the way to their temple the Doctor told us that the whirling was a part of their religious observance, like the dancing of the Shakers in America, and the practices of other sects, whose fervor is often followed by insensibility. The dizziness that results from whirling is considered a state of religious devotion, and themost suited to the contemplation of heavenly things, and hence their efforts to throw themselves into this ecstatic condition.
A WHIRLING DERVISH.
"When we entered their mosque we removed our shoes, or rather exchanged them for the slippers we had brought along, as we knew beforehand that we would need them. The building was circular, with a railed space in the centre; outside of the rail the floor was covered with matting, but inside it was polished like the floor of a dancing-hall.
"Some of the dervishes were already seated in the ring when we entered, and others came in soon after. When all was ready the sheik or chief of the party rose and stood in the centre of the floor; the others bowed to him one after another, and then stood near the railing, with their arms folded and their heads bent slightly forward. All were barefoot, having left their shoes at the door.
"Half a dozen dervishes were in a little balcony overlooking the floor, and when the chief gave the signal that all was ready three of them began to play upon flutes, such as we have already described, and three upon tambourines. Then the dervishes on the floor began to whirl; the music, at first slow, soon quickened, and the dancers or whirlers quickened their movements with it.
"Before getting into motion each man extended his arms, holding the palm of the right hand upward while he turned down that of the left. We asked the reason of this peculiar position of the hands, but the guide could not tell us. He simply said that they always did so, and he did not know why.
PERFORMANCE OF THE WHIRLING DERVISHES.
"As they whirled, their skirts spread out so that they resembled wheels, or rather cones four or five feet in diameter. They kept their hands always in the same position, and as they whirled they moved slowly around the floor; it was a wonder that they didn't run against each other, but they didn't. The music went on, and so did the dancers, and they kept up their whirl for half an hour or more. We looked for some of them to fall down; but they were accustomed to this kind ofwork, and wouldn't oblige us. Nobody fell; and finally, at a signal from their sheik, one after another stopped, made a low bow to him, and retired to the edge of the circle. We had seen enough, and so came away.
A WHIRLER IN FULL ACTION.
"Another day we went to see a sect called the howling dervishes; they are much like the Mevlevies, except that they howl instead of whirl. They sat on the floor in a circle, and began to pronounce the names of Deity ninety times each, and as there are ninety-nine different names for God in the Arabic language, you can readily see that there were a great many words altogether. They bow each time they pronounce a word, and very soon after commencing they rose to their feet, joined hands together, and became greatly excited. They bent their bodies nearly double at every utterance, their turbans fell off, their hair flew wildly about, they stripped off their upper garments, perspired freely, and some of them, after a time, actually frothed at the mouth like mad dogs. We did not stay to see the end of the performance, but were told that it continued till the fanatics were exhausted, and one after another fell insensible to the floor.
"Let us turn to something more agreeable.
"Frequently while going around the city we have passed near school-rooms, where boys were studying their lessons under direction of their teachers, and once we went inside and saw a school in operation. It reminded us of the one we saw at Allahabad, in India,[4]as the boys were seated on the floor in front of their teacher, and were studying their lessons aloud. Each boy had a wooden tablet like a large slate, with some sentences on it in Arabic, which he was to commit to memory. They rock back and forward as they study, as the motion is thought to assist the memory. When a dozen boys are repeating their lessons all at once you can imagine what a din they keep up. The sentences they learn are from the Koran, and as soon as they can repeat the first chapter of the sacred book they learn the last but one, and then the one preceding; the second chapter of the book is the one learned last of all, and when theycan repeat the whole of the Koran their education is considered complete, unless they are intended for occupations where they must know how to write. For instruction in writing they go to another school, or have special teachers at home. The teacher receives a small sum of money from the parents of each boy at the end of every week, and the room where he keeps his school is generally the property of a mosque, and costs nothing for rent.
"Mr. Lane tells of a teacher who could not read or write, but managed to keep a school for some years without being found out. He could repeat the Koran from memory, and under pretence that his eyes were weak he used to have the lessons written by the head boy or monitor. When people brought letters for him to read he made the same excuse, or gave some other reason for avoiding an exposure of his ignorance.
ARABIC WRITING, WITH IMPRESSION OF A SEAL.
"Doctor Bronson says girls are rarely taught to read, except among the wealthy inhabitants, and not always even them. One of us asked him if there were no schools at all for girls.
"'Yes,' he answered, 'but there are not many, and it is only within a few years that they have been established. One of the wives of Ismail Pacha took hold of the matter, and opened a school in an unoccupied palace of the Khedive. Invitations were given for parents to send their daughters to be educated, but for three weeks not a pupil came. Gradually the prejudice was overcome, and in a few months there were three hundred pupils hard at work, while a great many who wished to come were unable to obtain admission for want of room. There are now several schools for girls in Cairo, and there is hardly a large town in Egypt without one or more.'
"We next asked what was taught in the schools for girls.
"'More than half the time,' said the Doctor, 'is devoted to instruction in household duties, embroidery, and plain sewing, so that the girls can become intelligent servants or wives. Then they are taught to read and sometimes to write, and if they show any marked aptitude for music, there are music-teachers for their special benefit. It was the idea of Ismail Pacha that the best way to improve the condition of his people was to make them intelligent, and to begin the work with the girls who are to be the mothers of the next generation of Egyptians.
"'It was also his idea that the abolition of slavery would be hastened by training a class of household servants to take the places of the slaves. The indications thus far are that his idea was an excellent one, and the education of the girls of the working-classes of the people will go far in the right direction.
SCENE IN A PRIMARY SCHOOL.
"'The Khedive also did much toward giving Egypt a system of public schools like those of Europe and America. He appointed two Europeans to superintend the matter, and gave large sums of money for establishing schools that could be free to all, in addition to the primary schools already described. Foreign teachers were employed, together with the most intelligent native ones that could be found, and the system has already made great progress. The course in the lower schools covers four years of study, and after that the pupils may enter one of the higher schools and study medicine, engineering, surveying, law, mechanical construction,and the like. Those who can pay for their instruction may do so, but any pupil can enter whether he has money or not. Those who do not pay are liable to be called into the government service, and many of them are assigned to teach in the lower schools.
"'The American and English missionaries have schools in various parts of Egypt, and have done a great deal toward the cause of education. For a long time they labored under many disadvantages; but of late years the government has recognized the importance of their services, and made large donations in lands and money for their schools. Miss Whately, the daughter of Archbishop Whately, has a school here in Cairo, which she has established by her own exertions, for the purpose of educating the girls of the lower classes; she devotes her entire time to this work of charity, and I am happy to say that she is fully appreciated by the native as well as the foreign population. It is quite possible that the example of this self-sacrificing woman led the wife of the Khedive to establish the schools already mentioned.
INSTRUCTION AT HOME.
"'Probably the largest school in Egypt,' the Doctor continued, 'is the religious one attached to the Mosque El-Azhar. The building is of no great consequence as a work of architecture, as it consists of a series of porticos of different periods of construction; but it has long been celebrated as a university for Moslem instruction, and has had an uninterrupted career of more than eight hundred years.
"'It is not only the largest school in Egypt, but probably the largest in the world, as it has more than ten thousand students.'
ENTRANCE TO THE EL-AZHAR.
"Ten thousand students in one school?
"Yes, ten thousand students; the last year for which I have seen the figures there were ten thousand seven hundred and eighty students, and three hundred and twenty-one professors. The students are from all parts of the world where the religion of Mohammed prevails; but naturally the great majority of them are from Egypt. They remain from three to six years at the university, and pay no fees for instruction. The professors have no salaries, but depend upon presents from the pupils who can afford to make them, and upon what they can earn by private teaching, writing letters, and similar work. The poor pupils support themselves in the same way. Many of them sleep in the mosque, and the building has an apartment set aside for students from each country or province of Egypt. There is a library for the use of students in each of these apartments, and the university formerly had a large revenue, but it was taken away by Mohammed Ali, and has never been restored.
"'The instruction in the university is mostly religious. When his religious course is ended the student is instructed in law, which is alwaysbased on the Koran; after that he devotes some attention to poetry, and, if any time remains, he may learn something of geometry, arithmetic, and other miscellaneous knowledge. Many of the students stay in Cairo, to become professors in the El-Azhar or other schools; but those from foreign lands generally return home when their course of study is over, in order to give their own people the advantages of the superior wisdom they have acquired.'"