KAHIRA.
Topography — Government of Kahira and of Egypt — Pasha and Beys — Mamlûks — Birth, education, dress, arms, pay — Estimate of their military skill — Power and revenue of the Beys — The Chalige — The NILE — Mosques, Baths, and Okals — Houses — Manners and customs — Classes of people — Account of the Copts.
Aresidencein Kahira at distinct intervals, but extending in all to eleven months, may enable me to attempt some account of this celebrated city, with perhaps more advantages than have fallen to the lot of any recent traveller. A cursory glance of the manners and customs of a people is often fallacious, and a temporary exception is liable to be converted into a general rule.
The yet numerous population, the various nations with their several languages, dresses, and manners, conspire with the romantic fame ofGrand Cairo, the second capital of the East, the metropolis of Africa, the scene of surprising events in history, and of yet more surprising incidents in Arabian fable, to impress the spectator with curiosity and admiration.
The city Kahira (مصر القهره) is situated on the East of the Nile, which devolves its majestic flood at some little distance. The suburbs, however, Misr el attiké, and Bulak, or the port, form two points of contact with the river. To the South-East and East is a ridge of the extensive chain which runs along the course of the Nile to Upper Egypt, sometimes receding, and leaving a plain of about a league broad, at other places opposing its barrier to the stream. To the North a plain extends to the Delta, which it resembles in soil and productions. Immediately under the mountain is the castle, now incapable of defence, though esteemed of great strength, before the invention of artillery.
To an eye accustomed to the cities of Europe, their wide streets, and general uniformity, the view of the capital of Egypt might appear mean and disgusting. Yet it is termed by the natives “Misr without an equal, Misr the mother of the world.” Convenience is comparative, and ideas of it must vary with manners and customs. The narrowness of the streets appears even necessary to a native, to protect him from the fierce effulgence of the meridian sun: a slight canopy, extended from house to house, affords him more pleasure than any architectural prospect could convey.
For about the space of three hundred years Egypt had been governed by the military aristocracy of the Mamlûks, when it was subdued by Sultan Selim, in the year 1517. Sensible of the distance, defended situation, and refractory spirit of the province, he thought it politic to enter into a compromise with its formergovernment and antient prejudices. It was likewise well known, that the secure situation of the country, little exposed to any external attack, would have favoured the ambitious designs of a rival Pasha.
By an institution still observed in some instances, he ordained, that the Pasha should be contented to share the power of the Beys, and that the duration of his authority should depend on their collective will. The Beys must necessarily have separate personal interests, which sometimes lead them to intestine outrage and bloodshed; yet, with regard to any external power or influence, their interests are universally the same. As allies or as enemies they form one body and one soul. Selim was too confident in the power and splendour of the Ottoman arms, and in his own character of chief of their religion, to entertain any suspicion that the commands of the Porte would ever be treated except with distinguished respect.
The power of the Pasha was at first very extensive; but has, by the intrigues and ambition of the Beys, been gradually reduced almost to a cipher.
His jurisdiction was rather civil than military. He was always president of the Diwan, which was held in the castle where he resided. But that council now commonly meets in the palace of one of the chief Beys, except when a firmân or mandate is received from Constantinople, when the Beys are summoned to the castle to hear the commands of the Porte. The few who attend, as soon as the reading is finished, answer,as is usual,Esmâna wa taâna, “We have heard, and we obey.” On leaving the castle, their general voice isEsmâna wa awsîna, “We have heard, and shall disobey.”
In the year 1791, Salah Aga, a slave of Murad Bey, was deputed from the government of Egypt to negotiate their peace with the Porte.—He carried presents of horses, rich stuffs, &c. A spontaneous tribute, which the Porte was in no condition to enforce, implied obligation on the part of the latter.—He was well received, and afterwards was appointedWaquîl es Sultân, “Agent or Attorney to the Sultan in Kahira.” It is probable this office was given him to incline him to second the efforts of the Court in disuniting the Beys; but it was ineffectual. These had formerly experienced the evils of division, and now were united by common interest, grown rich, and well provided with slaves. So that, as I have understood, no tribute has since that time found its way to Constantinople.
As the Beys are chosen from among the Mamlûks, it may be proper to begin with some account of that extraordinary class of men. They remain, as they have ever been, military[9]slavesimported from Georgia, Circassia, and Mingrelia. A few have been prisoners, taken from the Austrians and Russians, who have exchanged their religion for an establishment. The Beys give general orders to their agents at Constantinople, to purchase a certain number every year, and many are brought to Egypt by private merchants on speculation. When the supply proves insufficient, or many have been expended, black slaves from the interior of Africa are substituted, and if found docile, are armed and accoutred like the rest.
Particular attention is paid to the education of these favoured slaves. They are instructed in every exercise of agility or strength, and are in general distinguished by the grace and beauty of their persons. The gratitude of the disciples is equal to the favour of their masters, whom they never quit in the hour of danger. If they have a disposition for learning they are taught the use of letters; and some of them are excellent scribes: but the greater part neither can read nor write, a striking example of which deficiency is observable in Murad Bey himself.
The inferior Mamlûks constantly appear in the military dress, and are commonly armed with a pair of pistols, a sabre, and adagger. They wear a peculiar cap of a greenish hue, around which is wreathed a turban[10]. The rest of their dress resembles that of other Mohammedan citizens, and is restricted to no particular colour: but another singularity is their large drawers of thick Venetian cloth, of a crimson colour, to which are attached their slippers of red leather. On horseback they add to their arms a pair of large horse-pistols, and theDubbûsor battle-axe. In battle many of them wear an open helmet, and the antient ring armour of interwoven links of steel, worn under part of their dress, and thus concealed. These are dear, sometimes costing five hundred piastres, or about forty pounds. Some of them are made at Constantinople, others in Persia. Their horses are of the finest Arabian breeds, and are often purchased at three or four purses, 150l. to 200l. sterling.
They have no pay, as they eat at a table in the house of their master, the Bey, Cashef, or other officer. Any military officer may purchase a slave, who becomesipso factoa Mamlûk. The name, fromMalekto possess, implies merely a person who is the property of another. After a proper education, the candidate thus constituted a Mamlûk, receives a present of a horseand arms from his master, together with a suit of clothes, which is renewed ever year in the month Ramadân. The generosity of their masters, and rewards or extortions from others, afford them supplies of money either for avarice or debauchery. Some of them, admitted to peculiar favour by the Beys, as chasnadars or pursebearers, &c. acquire great wealth. They are rather gay and thoughtless, than insolent; fond of shew, and unprincipled in their means of acquiring it. They seldom marry till they acquire some office.
Though born of Christian parents, they seem highly satisfied with their condition; which they have been known to refuse to exchange for freedom. The majority are regarded by the Arabs as little strict in the principles or duties of Mohammedism.
It is worthy of remark, that though the Mamlûks in general be strong and personable men, yet the few who marry very seldom have children. As the son even of a Bey is not honoured with any particular consideration, the women perhaps procure abortions. However this be, of eighteen Beys, whose history I particularly knew, only two had any children living.
Hardy, capable of every fatigue, of undaunted courage, and eminent skill in horsemanship and the use of the sabre, the Mamlûks may be regarded as by far the best troops in the East. But in a regular battle, conducted by manœuvres, and large or rapid movements, they are equally inferior to European troops.
Being distinguished by favouritism or merit, the Mamlûk becomes a Cashef, and in time a Bey. The chief cause of preference arises from political adherence to some powerful leader.
The government of Kahira, and Egypt in general, is vested in twenty-four Beys, each of whom is nominally chosen by the remaining twenty-three, but in fact appointed by one of the most powerful. TheYenk-tchery aga, and several other officers, are enumerated among the twenty-four Beys.
Besides being governors of certain districts of Egypt, several of the Beys receive other dignities from the Porte. Such are theShech el Bellad, or governor of the city; theDefterdar, or accountant-general; theEmîr el Hadj, or leader of the sacred caravan; and theEmîr es Saïd, or governor of the upper Egypt[11]. These officers have also revenues allotted them by the Porte, ill-defined, and liable to much abuse.
Of the other Beys, each appoints all officers and governors within his district, putting into it some slave of his own, who is compelled to render an account of the receipts; of which a part passes to support the grandeur of his master. An opulent Bey may have from 600 to 1000 purses annually; the revenue of Murad Bey more than doubles that sum. The inferior Beys may have 300 purses or 15,000l.
The chief judicial authority in Kahira is delegated to aMulla, who is annually appointed from Constantinople; but hisjurisdiction is principally directed to cases of doubt and difficulty. There are besidesCadisin all the districts, orparishes, if so it may be expressed, which, in this great city, amount to more than two hundred. There are Imâms, or priests of the four sects, each having the direction of the adherents of that sect. TheShech-el-Bikkeriis an office of great respect, having special authority over the she-rîfs. There are other exclusive jurisdictions, which need not be specified.
The revenue of the Cadis arises solely from a tenth of the value of the thing litigated. Justice or injustice is speedily administered, but is often influenced by bribery.
Every Bey sits in judgment on cases of equity. These personages are very observant of their respective jurisdictions; and no Bey will imprison a man liberated by another. Though sometimes too impetuous, they nevertheless display great acuteness and knowlege of characters. This government at least possesses every advantage of publicity, as every Bey is a magistrate.
But the justice of the rulers is ever open to the omnipotent influence of gold. During my residence at Kahira an instance happened worthy of commemoration. Two Syrian Christians, of the Maronite persuasion, had been successively farmers of the customs, and had acquired great wealth: a quarrel arising between them, one made a reflection peculiarly grating on the other, who went to the Bey, and thus addressed him: “This city is not wide enough for me and such a one. Youmust put one of us to death. If you will put him to death, here are ten thousand sequins.” Said and done instantly.
Each Bey appoints his Cashefs or lieutenants. These officers preside each over a town or village, collecting the revenues, and judging small causes; but an appeal lies to the Bey. The Beys and Cashefs are, from their ignorance, constrained to employ Copts as accomptants in adjusting and receiving the revenues, that duty being of an intricate nature, and requiring great local knowlege. The authority of a Cashef is as arbitrary as that of a Bey.
Themore considerable sources of revenue, as well of the Porte at this day, as of the Chalifé while the sovereignty remained with the Arabs, are nearly coëval in their institution with Mohammedism itself.
The innovations which have since had place derive their authority from the dispensing power of the sovereign, or are reconciled with the primitive institutes by the ingenuity of the legal professors.
The most antient tribute due from the subject to government was thezecchât, a tenth of all the permanent productions of the earth. According to its original establishment, this did not affect property under a certain value, and was exigible of an unbeliever in a twofold proportion. It was imposed by Mohammedhimself, and applied, as would appear, to the relief of the necessitous; the prophet expressly forbidding his own family to share in it, as unworthy of their rank, and, at the same time, allotting to them a fifth part of the plunder obtained in war. This impost continues to be levied, but is applied to needful expenses or unnecessary prodigality, rather than to soften the lot of the indigent, its original purpose. Ostentatious charities satisfy the scruples of the monarch, and blind the eyes of the people to this misapplication. The tax is not now applicable to land or houses, but to the merchandize imported into the country. The duties on these, when demanded of Mohammedans, are taken under the name ofzecchât.
The second impost is thecharâge, which signifies the product of lands. It is intended to denote, not only any tax on land, but also on the persons ofdhummies, i.e. Christians and Jews; though in the latter case it receives the appellation of Jizie (جزيه), the capitation tax, orsalvagefor their persons, which otherwise, according to the letter of the Korân, the true believer is not bound to spare.
In modern times, the public revenue of the Porte, which is derived from various sources, is known under the name of Miri; the private one of the emperor is supplied in a different way, and termedChasné.
The nature of the revenue of each province depended at first, in a great measure, on the manner in which that province was originally acquired; and, even now, the same distinctionin some cases operates. Irak was to be protected under one condition of tribute, Egypt under another. The immediate successors of Mohammed appear to have been guided in many instances by sound policy, and to have tempered the rage of fanaticism, by some attention at least to the well-being even of their heretical subjects. The imposts in Egypt, one of their earliest territorial acquisitions, and the inhabitants of which had many of them embraced Islamism, were not distinguished by any remarkable severity; and if that country have since been impoverished and depopulated, it appears not to result from the original institutions, so much as from the abuses which happened at an early period of the Egyptian Chalifat, and which may contaminate the mildest and most reasonable establishments. These abuses, which have long been gradually increasing, are now multiplied to a point, beyond which, consistently with the being of the peasantry, they cannot well be extended.
The principal local tribute is a tax on land of two patackes eachfoddân, all over the country; which, whether the effect of a compact between the Arabian victor and the natives, or an impost in force under the former government, was continued by Sultan Selim. Taking the cultivable lands in Egypt at two million one hundred thousand acres, this should give the sum of twelve thousand nine hundred purses, or at the present exchange of 630,000l. sterling; but at this time only two-thirds of these lands are actually cultivated, which reduces the sum to 420,000l. On the other hand, however, the Beys are not contented with this legitimate revenue, but insist on receiving in many instancesfive or six patackes per foddân[12], which again raises this single branch of revenue to a million and a quarter, or even more. There are however some districts in the Upper Egypt always several years in arrear.
The other articles are, the customs of Alexandria, Damiatt, Suez, Cossîr; and what is drawn from the commerce of Africa in its passage by Charjé, Assiût, and at Kahira itself. Of these it is difficult to form any correct idea. The caravan with which I returned to Assiût paid, in duties on the commodities it brought, a sum not less than 150 purses. I estimated the value of those commodities at nearly two thousand three hundred purses, or 115,000l. sterling.
TheJiziéis much less considerable than it might be supposed, from the following considerations. 1. That though there be many entire villages of Copts in the Upper Egypt, several of them are rebellious, and pay nothing. 2. The same people is very numerous in the towns; but a great proportion of them consists of ecclesiastics, or of persons in the service of the Beys, and both these descriptions are exempt. The Greeks and Armenians are but few, and many of them pay theJiziéin other places, being only travellers. On the whole, I doubt whether that tax in Egypt amounts to more than fifteen hundred purses. The remaining revenue is made up of casualties;as forfeitures, small imposts, and tolls, passing on the Nile, and other parts of the interior; and above all, the incalculable profit arising from continued plunder of all ranks and denominations. Five, ten, twenty to thirty thousand patackes are demanded, in one day, of the Christians engaged in commerce, at another of the Mohammedans, and at another of the Franks. Advantage was taken of the unprotected state in which the French merchants found themselves after the commencement of the war, and all, except three, were in consequence obliged to leave Kahira, and retire to Alexandria.
I never could learn that the wandering Arabs, or Bedouins, paid any regular tribute. They were often plundered and repulsed when they came in bodies too near the city; but in general the Beys appeared to be inclined to keep them in good humour, for their personal security, in case of being expelled from the government. The article of salt, for there aresalinesclose to the sea, which supply all Egypt with culinary salt, pay a low impost in entering Kahira, and another at Assiût. All the prostitutes, the public baths, the places where brandy is sold, (Chummari,) &c. &c. are under a particular jurisdiction, and pay something to government.
In Kahira every trade or profession has its shech or leader, who has great authority over the rest of his order; and this circumstance tends much to the good order of the city. The gates no less, which are at the end of every street, and which, though not capable of resisting violence, impede the progress, and render difficult the escape of ill-intentioned persons. Thearticles above enumerated form collectively theMirior public revenue; 1200 purses of which should be annually forwarded to Constantinople, but it is retained by the Beys, under pretence of repairing mosques and other public works.
The Pasha receives, for his whole expenses, one thousand mahbûbs, or three thousand piastres per day. His establishment however is large, so that this is not esteemed a rich pashalik.
Murad Bey is accustomed to have from the mint daily, for his pocket expenses, five hundred half mahbûbs, and his wife the same. This amounts to fifteen hundred piastres, and is only a small part of his disbursements.
The value of land in Egypt is far from being inconsiderable, as is evident from the large amount of the annual impost which is paid for it. Yet not having been present at the formalities of bargain and sale, I feel myself unprepared to give an exact estimate of it.
The same may be said of the value of labour; for as the agricultural labourer is paid in the produce, a number of circumstances combine to diminish the value of what is thus received. Comparing the wages of the husbandman with the price of other labour, I should be inclined to state them at about six medines, or one-seventh of a piastre per day, which, as his toil is often remitted, cannot exceed forty-five piastres annually. Exclusively of the value of the peasant’s clothing, which lastslong, it is scarcely possible that the maize, lentils, milk, butter, &c. on which he feeds, can amount to less than three paras or medines daily, for each individual.
Anexplicit declaration of Mohammed himself, “That property, after the death of the proprietor, cannot be detained from division among his heirs,” shews in how great respect inheritance was held by him, and how little he was inclined to consider as annexed to the sovereign power, the property of the lands of the countries it governed.
But the same moderation and good policy has not been found among his successors. His code has been perverted to sanction abuses, or trampled on by the insolence of power.
In many of the countries over which the Othman emperor exercises or claims the sovereign authority, the property of the land is claimed by the Government in right of conquest; and though material exceptions must have had place in Egypt, with respect to the great number who embraced Mohammedism, or consented to pay theJizié, and who consequently did not forfeit their lands, all these distinctions are now confounded, and, alienations, forfeitures, and, more than all, violence, have reduced the whole to one undistinguished mass.
The greater part of the lands in Egypt, is to be considered as divided between the Government, and the religious bodies who perform the service of the mosques, who have obtained possession of what they now hold by the munificence of princes and rich men, or by the measures taken by individuals for the benefit of their posterity. The property of the mosques is calledwakf, a term signifying, in its technical acceptation, the appropriation of a thing in such a way, that the proprietor’s right in it shall continue, but the profit belong to some charitable establishment.
From the right which the Government claims to inheritances, and the ruinous fines paid on readmission, those who have landed property frequently make this appropriation to the mosque, and their lands become part of thewakfof that establishment. The Government then has no farther claim on them. But the appropriator takes care, at the same time, that his next heir, or if a minor, trustees on his behalf, under the name ofMutwâlli, shall receive the rents, and so on, as long as any heirs remain in the family. The individual continues in the secure receipt of his income, paying however annually a small proportion of it to the administrators of the mosque.
It will hence be observed, that in Egypt, a large proportion of the tenants and cultivators hold either of the Government, or the procurators of the mosques. To the personal ease of the cultivator, and the general good of the whole, it is of little consequence which. For there is one circumstance common tothem both, viz. that their lands, becoming unoccupied, are never let but on terms ruinous to the tenant. For as there is a number of bidders, and the managers of them are exorbitant in their demands, the tenant becomes accessory to his own misery, by engaging to pay the owner so large a portion of the product, that his profits are absolutely insignificant.
These contracts are of various forms, but commonly made for a given number of years, or for life, in the nature of leases. The occupier, assisted by his family, is the cultivator; and in the operations of husbandry scarcely requires any other aid. When the Nile rises, those who are employed to water the fields are commonly hired labourers. Volney[13]has said generally, that the peasants of Egypt arehired labourers. It will hence be seen to how small a portion of them those terms can be properly applied.
The hired servants of the great are paid chiefly by having their food provided for them, and receiving occasionally presents of clothes; excepting what they obtain by extortion, opportunities of which are given even to the lowest menial, by the system of terror established in the country.
The tenant of land commonly holds no more than he and his family can cultivate, and gather the produce of. Yet he is far from being a villain, attached to the soil, having always the power of quitting his farm to obtain another in a differentquarter. It however often happens, that families are connected with a particular spot for a great length of time. I have met with persons of that description atBen-Alinear Assiût, whose ancestors of the fifth remove had resided in the same spot. “I used to smoke tobacco,” (said one of them, a very old man,) “but it cost me almost a para a-day, and times are always growing worse, so now I am satisfied with a dry reed, till the master (ربنا) free me from these embarrassments.”
I shall now return to the topography and population of this great city. It has been originally walled, but at present only fragments remain. The dimensions of the city from North to South[14]greatly exceed those from East to West. There are several open spaces, but the houses, generally speaking, are close to each other. TheChalige, which pierces the city from North to South, commencing near Misr-el-Attiké, assumes various aspects, according to the season of the year. Its most permanent character is that of a dunghill, a public receptacle for all kinds of offal. Before the rise of the Nile, it is cleaned, and becomes a street; it is then filled by the increase of the river, and exhibits the appearance of a canal covered with boats.
Here it may be remarked in general concerning that noble river, that its rise seems to remain the same as in the most antient times, namely, sixteen cubits, or twenty-four feet in perpendicular height. The medium increase is nearly fourinches a-day; and takes place, as is well known, from the end of June to the beginning of September, from which period to the following solstice it is gradually falling, again to rise. Those versed in antient astronomy know, that the rise of the river was indicated by the heliacal rising of Sirius, or the Dogstar, a few mornings before; whence that star was denominated, as resembling the fidelity of a dog, in warning his master to remove his effects from the ravages of the stream. It is asserted that Sihor, or Sihir, is an antient name of the Nile, as well as the Indus, whenceSiris, corruptlySirius, another appellation of the most brilliant of all the fixed stars.
Mr. Gray’s well-known description of Egypt, as immersed under the influx of the Nile, is exquisitely poetical, but far from just. In Upper Egypt the river is confined by high banks, which prevent any inundation into the adjacent country. This is also the case in Lower Egypt, except at the extremities of the Delta, where the Nile is never more than a few feet below the surface of the ground, and where inundation of course takes place. But the country, as may be expected, is without habitations. The fertility of Egypt arises from human art. The lands near the river are watered by machines; and if they extend to any width, canals have been cut. The soil in general is so rich as to require no manure. It is a pure black mould, free from stones, and of a very tenacious and unctuous nature. When left uncultivated, I have observed fissures, arising from the extreme heat, of which a spear of six feet could not reach the bottom.
The greatest breadth of this majestic river may be computed at two thousand feet, or about a third of a mile. Its motion is even slower than that of the Thames, and does not exceed three miles an hour. The water is always muddy: in April and May, when it is clearest, it has still a cloudy hue. When it overflows, the colour is a dirty red. It is replete with a variety of fish; those I have chiefly observed are,Bûlti, Labrus Niloticus;Kelb-el-bahr;Farhôn;Charmût, a round fish about eight inches long, and said to be poisonous;Tabân-el-bahr, the eel, Muræna Anguilla;Nefâsh, apparently a species of salmon, and found of very large size. It seems not now determinable of what species, or whether of any now known, was the fish calledOxyrynchus, so famous in the antiquities of Egypt. D’Anville says it is the one now calledKesher. The best is theBûlti, somewhat like the white trout, but sometimes attaining such a size as to weigh fifty pounds. Except good and large eels, none of the fish have a strict similitude of the European.
From Kâhira to Assûan, a distance of about three hundred and sixty miles, the banks, except where rocky, present no natural plant; they somewhat resemble the steps of stairs, and are sown with all sorts of esculent vegetables, chiefly that useful plant theBamea. It grows to a little more than three feet in height, with leaves like those of the currant-bush; and produces oblong aculeated pods, which lend a pleasant flavour to the repast.
Among several kinds of water-fowl which frequent the Nile, may be mentioned what is here called the Turkey goose,Anas Nilotica,Lin.a large fowl, the flesh of which is palatable and salubrious food.
Other striking and antient features of this distinguished stream, are the rafts ofBelasses, or large white jars, used for carrying water; little rafts of gourds, on which a single person conducts himself with great philosophical dignity across the stream; and the divers, who, concealing their heads in pumpkins, approach the water-fowl unperceived, and seize them by the legs. Concerning the crocodile and hippopotamus so much has been said, that I despair of adding any thing new. The latter I never saw or heard of in Egypt; in Nubia they are said to abound. The crocodile itself seems reduced in number, and is confined to the district above Assiût, where he is dangerous to bathers. A young man bathing at Dendera, a day or two before I arrived, had his leg bitten off by one of those unwieldy animals.
Parallel to theChalige[15]runs the principal street. It should be observed that the houses of the Europeans are all on theChalige, the stench of which has been supposed to operate in producing the pestilence, to which that order of men is however the least subject. The mosques in Kahira are computed at more than three hundred; four or five of them far exceeding the rest in splendor. TheJama el Az-heris a very considerable eleemosynary establishment, supplying chiefly poor ecclesiastics, to the amount of some thousands, with broth and other articles. Most of the mendicants in Kahira are ecclesiastics, who urge their studies as an excuse for idleness. Blindness, I know not from what cause, affecting one or both eyes, isextremely common among the Egyptian beggars. The mosque calledJama el Az-heris one of the most magnificent of Kahira, ornamented with pillars of marble, and Persian carpets. The property attached to this mosque is immense. A shech, being an ecclesiastic of the highest order, presides over the establishment; which also supports a number of persons distinguished for their profound skill in theology, and accurate knowlege of literal Arabic. It is furnished with an extensive collection of MSS. and lectures are read on all subjects which are here calledscientific, being commonly removed farthest from science.
The other mosques most frequented are, that ofSultan el Ghouri,el Hassanein, and, of later date, that erected by Mohammed Bey Abudhahab. For the construction of the latter the most costly materials were provided, and it is esteemed achêf-d’œuvreof oriental magnificence.
The Saracenic structure on the islandRouda, which contains theMokkias, or Nilometer, has been represented in various designs, and repeatedly described. The graduation of it is confused, imperfect, and not to be depended on: so that they who would inform themselves correctly as to the Nile’s increase, should make their observation on some smooth surface, washed by the river, and perpendicular to its plane; never depending on the public report, which the cryers are suborned to make agreeable to the will of government; and which at the beginning of the increase generally exceeds the truth, and afterwards falls short of it.
Large and sumptuous reservoirs are found in various parts of the city, where water is given to passengers. Baths, adorned with marble, and provided with every possible convenience, and plenty of water, also abound. The attendants are extremely dextrous, and the charge very reasonable.
The Okals, or warehouses, are spacious, strongly built, commodious and clean. These are for wholesale goods. For retail, are the bazârs, asKhân Chalîl,Hamsâwi, &c. extensive buildings, with convenient shops, each trade in its allotted quarter, and copiously supplied with every commodity.
Through the greater part of the city the houses are built with stone, two, or sometimes three stories high, with flat roofs. The windows of the upper stories are latticed, the ground floor being either a shop or having no windows to the street. Sometimes the lattices suffice; a few have paper windows, some of the rich have glass.
The houses of the great chiefly surroundBirket-el-fîl, a pool which receives the Nile water from theChalige. The palace of a Bey contains a square court, one or two sides occupied by his Mamlûks. Apart is the Harem. The room in which the Bey generally sits in summer has a contrivance in the roof to admit a copious supply of fresh air. In Kahira fire is only employed in cookery, the effects of cold being sufficiently obviated by warmer clothing.
The apartments of the women are furnished with the finest and most expensive articles; but those of the men are only remarkable for a plain style of neatness. The houses in general are irregular, but substantial and commodious.
The Mamlûks breakfast before sun-rise, make their second meal at ten, and the third about five in the afternoon. Animal food abounds. A large dish of pilau appears in the middle of the table, surrounded with small dishes of meat, fish, and fowls. The meat is cut into minute pieces before it be dressed. Drink only water, and immediately after the meal, coffee is served. At the tables of the greatsherbetis introduced. Egypt produces no wine; the Greeks and Franks procure that commodity from other quarters.
The Egyptians still make a fermented liquor of maize, millet, barley or rice, but it bears little resemblance to our ale. It is of a light colour, and in the hot season will not keep above a day; but it is sufficiently pleasant to the taste. It is drank in considerable quantities in Kahira and in Saïd. The native Christians mostly distil for themselves, from dates, a liquor called by the general nameAraki; it is also made from currants, or the small grapes imported from Cerigo.
When brought into the houses, the water of the Nile is put into jars, calledhammam, previously rubbed, in the inside, with a kind of paste, made of bitter almonds. Thus preserved, it becomes quite clear and limpid in two hours. But it is often drank in its most muddy state, without any ill effects.
The eyes and fingers are the only parts of a woman that are visible in public. In general, the women of Kahira are not tall, but well formed. The upper ranks tolerably fair, in which and in fatness, consist the chief praises of beauty in the Egyptian climate. They marry at fourteen or fifteen, and at twenty are passed their prime. For what reason the natives of hot climates ordinarily prefer women of large persons, I have not been able to discover. Nevertheless, the Coptic women have interesting features, large black eyes, and a genteel form.
The population of Kahira consists, 1. of the Arabs, or lower class of Mohammedans, who form the body of the people, and who pride themselves in the name ofibn Arab, son of an Arabian. 2. Of the Coptic Christians, who form a considerable number, here and in Upper Egypt; in the Delta they are rare. 3. Mamlûks. I was assured that, during the last eleven years, not fewer than sixteen thousand white slaves, of both sexes, have been imported into Egypt. A plague had carried off a thousand Mamlûks, and other causes had reduced their number to about eight thousand, so that there was a great demand for the article. Still I cannot venture to estimate the number of Mamlûks at more than ten or twelve thousand. 4. Greeks, Syrians, and Armenians; Muggrebîns, from Tripoli, Tunis, and Morocco, who have a quarter to themselves, are remarkable for industry and frugality, and are attracted hither by the great profits of trade. Other Mohammedans from Arabia Proper, and yet farther East. There are very few Turks established in Egypt, butmany come hither on business, and return to Constantinople. Jews were once numerous, but are now on the decrease. Exclusively of negro slaves in every house, there are blacks from Nubia, who act as porters at the gates of the rich, and sometimes sellbouzaand eatables.
In general, the total population of Kahira cannot certainly be estimated at less than three hundred thousand souls. Egypt may contain, in all, two millions and a half.
In speaking of the population of Egypt, and other countries under the same circumstances, it may be remarked, that among ourselves, to obtain a tolerably correct knowlege of the number of people in a town or city, it is sufficient to know the number of houses, and the average number of inhabitants in each house. In Egypt the case is widely different. A large proportion of the people has no visible dwelling. The slightest shelter suffices to protect them from the inconsiderable variations of a regular climate, and obscurity, under the falcon eye of power always a blessing, is here sought with peculiar avidity.
Of all those descriptions of men, the Copts, or original inhabitants, most interest curiosity. There are some peculiarities of feature common to all of them. I was not struck with any resemblance of the negro features or form. Their hair and eyes are indeed of a dark hue, and the former is often curled; but not in a greater degree than is occasionally seen among Europeans. The nose is often aquiline, and though the lips besometimes thick, by no means generally so; and on the whole, a strong resemblance may be traced between the form of visage in the modern Copts, and that presented in the antient mummies, paintings, and statues.
Their complexion, like that of the Arabs, is of a dusky brown; it is represented of the same colour in the paintings which I have seen in the tombs of Thebes.
The Coptic language may be considered as extinct. Numerous and minute researches have enabled me to ascertain this fact. In Upper Egypt, however, they unknowingly retain some Coptic words, such asBoyúni, the name of a month.
Nevertheless, in the Coptic monasteries, the prayers are read in Arabic, and the epistle and gospel in Coptic; but the priest is a mere parrot, repeating a dead letter. Coptic manuscripts are found in some of the convents, and leave to copy them might be obtained from the Patriarch.
Their creed is the Monothelite, or Eutychian heresy. The solely divine nature of Christ, the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father alone. The Copts embrace transubstantiation; in which, and other points, the Catholics of Kahira think they approach their faith nearer than the Greeks. Yet the Copts have adopted from the Mohammedans the custom of frequent prostrations during divine service, and of public individual prayer; of ablution after the conjugal rites, &c.
The Copts are an acute and ingenious people. They are generally writers and accomptants. In business they accumulate money steadily, without shew; long experience having taught them, what the other Christians have yet to learn, that, under an arbitrary government, obscurity is safety. Melancholic in their temperament, but when called into action, industrious and laborious. Otherwise, fond of their distilled liquor, and rather licentious in their amours. The Copts are zealous in their faith, and their ecclesiastics are numerous.
It is remarkable, that in Egypt the children of Europeans seldom survive their second or third year. This proceeds, it is likely, from the improper warmth of place and clothing, in which they are kept by the injudicious fondness of their parents, while the children of the natives run about almost naked, and enjoy a constitution firm and vigorous.
KAHIRA.
Commerce — Manufactures — Mint — Castle and well — Misr attiké — Antient mosque — Antient Babylon — Fostat — Bulak — Jizé — Tomb of Shafei — Pleasure-boats — Charmers of Serpents — Magic — Dancing girls — Coffee-houses — Price of provisions — Recent history of Egypt — Account of the present Beys.
Beforethe revolution in commerce, occasioned by the discovery of the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope, that of Kahira was very extensive. It has since gradually declined, and is now restricted to the following articles.
From Yemen are imported coffee, odours, gems, and several useful drugs. From Surat, and other neighbouring parts of India, muslins and various articles of cotton manufacture, a portion of the spices of Ceylon; shawls from Cashmîr.
Kahira may still be regarded as the metropolis of the trade of eastern Africa, as Tripoli chiefly possesses that of the west. A few slaves are brought from Habbesh (Abyssinia) by the way of Jidda and Mecca. Caravans pass to and from Sennaar, Dar-Fûr, and Fezzan, bringing slaves, gold-dust, ivory, horns of Rhinoceros, Ostrich feathers, gum, drugs.
There is another uncertain caravan from Morocco, which employs five thousand camels for merchandise; part passes to Mecca, and part remains to transact business, and await the return of the pilgrims. The other caravans are merely for the carriage of goods; and the camels are supplied by the Arabs, who rove through the deserts which form the boundaries of Egypt.
The navigation of the Red Sea cannot be conducted upon worse principles than it is by the Egyptians and Arabs. The ships are constructed on a wrong plan, being sharp, while the shallows and rocks require vessels that draw little water; and they are overcharged with passengers and goods. Hence the passage would be dangerous, even if managed by able navigators; but the mariners here are extremely unskilful, and only pique themselves on avoiding the sunk rocks near the shore, in which it must be confessed they are very dextrous. The ships employed by persons residing in Egypt are thirty-seven in number, so far as I could learn from an agent at Suez, and so many are lost, that the continual building barely supplies the usual number.
European imports in general have been specified under the head Alexandria. From Tunis and Tripoli are brought oil, red caps, of a particular manufacture, for which Tunis is famous, and fine flannel, used for garments by the Bedouins and others. From Syria arrive cotton, silk, crude and manufactured, soap, tobacco, beads of glass. From Constantinople,besides white slaves, male and female, all kinds of brass, copper, and iron manufactures.
Proceeding to exports, those to Europe have been mentioned in treating of Alexandria, and those to Dar-Fûr shall be enumerated when we come to visit that kingdom. To Sennaar and Fezzan, the same with Dar-Fûr. Hedjas, in Arabia, is wholly supplied with grain from Egypt, but the trade to India and Jidda is carried on chiefly by money. To Constantinople, black slaves, chiefly eunuchs, great quantities of coffee, and some Indian goods, though these be for the most part conveyed thither by caravans.
Egypt was formerly the granary of Rome and of Constantinople. The exports of rice remain very great, with considerable quantities of wheat from Upper Egypt, in favourable years. No oats are seen in Egypt; and the barley is consumed by the horses.
To Syria are exported rice, crude leather, flax, and sometimes wheat.
The manufactures at Kahira are not numerous. The sugar cane being cultivated with ease in Egypt, it was manufactured in great quantities at Kahira, so as to supply Constantinople. But a capital being requisite, Government made demands on it which crushed the trade. The sugar, though of less strength than that of the West Indies, was nevertheless well refined, ofa close texture, pure and of a light white. It is now extremely bad, and so scarce as to sell for fourteen pence the pound, retail.
The sal ammoniac made at Kahira is of a very good quality. Glass lamps, saltpetre, and gun-powder, red and yellow leather, for home-consumption. There is a great manufacture of linen cloth made of the fine Egyptian flax.
The mode almost peculiar to Kahira, of hatching eggs without incubation, has been very minutely described by former travellers.—The practice is said by the Egyptians to proceed from the experience that, at a certain season, the eggs fostered only by the hens are commonly unprolific. Of those hatched in the ovens, on the contrary, not quite one third is lost.—The ovens where these eggs are placed are of the most simple construction, consisting only of a low arched apartment of clay. Two rows of shelves are formed, and the eggs placed on each in such a manner as not to touch each other. They are slightly moved five or six times in twenty-four hours, and the whole time they are in the oven does not exceed twenty-two days, when the chickens free themselves from the shell. All possible care is taken to diffuse the heat equally throughout, and there is but one small aperture, large enough to admit a man stooping. During the first eight days the heat is rendered great, and, during the last eight is gradually diminished; till at length, when the young brood is ready to come forth, it is reduced almost to the state of the natural atmosphere. At the end of the first eight days, it is known which eggs will not be productive.Those who have eggs to be hatched, bring them to the master of the oven, and contract to pay so much a hundred; and when the chickens appear, he receives his money on delivering them. Those which have not succeeded, are required to be produced. The oven is public property.
Kahira is the only mint for Egypt, where they strike in gold mahbûbs and half mahbûbs; the first about five shillings in value. In copper washed with silver the small coins worth about a halfpenny, and called in Turkishparas, in Arabicdiwani,fuddha, ormaidi: by European writers,aspers, andmedines. On one side is the name of the reigning Sultan, on the reverse,Misr, and the date.
The mint is fixed in the castle, built by the celebratedYussuf abu Moddafar ibn Aiûb, whose title of honour was Salah-eddîn, in the sixth century of Mohammedism. The people of the country, who are in the habit of confounding all history and chronology, attribute it to Joseph the son of Isaac, whose palace they say it was; but it is unnecessary to confute an opinion wholly unsupported by facts. Including the quarters of the Janizaries and Assabs (the latter of whom no longer exist), the building occupies a large space. But it is irregular, and the Pasha’s apartments are mean and incommodious. The well is of great depth, and has been hewn with much labour through the solid rock, but as that rock is of a soft nature, the magnitude of the work is not comparable to that of some excavations which have been executed in several other places. The broken remains of the palace of Salah-eddîn, are indeed worthy ofremark. An apartment of great length overlooks the city, the river, and the adjacent country; and several beautiful columns raise their heads out of the general wreck. In a chamber of this building is fabricated the embroidered cloth, which the munificence of the Porte annually devotes to the use of theKaba.
Misr-el-Attiké, to the South of the present city, is pleasantly situated, and well inhabited. It can now only be esteemed a faux-bourg of the former. A mosque there, said, probably without reason, to have been built by order of the Chalîfé Omar, was lately rescued from the oblivion to which it was hastening, by the mandate of Murad Bey. This mosque is a building of great extent; there may be thirty or thirty-five columns remaining in their original position. The rest have been reversed, and again set up without any regard to order. The most perfect remain is a small octagon building in the middle of the mosque, supported by eight Corinthian columns, the shaft, about ten feet high, of blue-and-white marble. In this small edifice is a chamber, which is said never to have been opened. Multitudes of columns appear around, to the number of more than a hundred, some in black marble, one has a small cavity, fabled an impression made by the hand of the Prophet. The cement is so hard as to evince that the Saracens were no strangers to the antient mode of preparing it. Many arches of an elliptical form remain, and some inscriptions, on the West, probably the place of the antient gate, as it is of the modern.
Antient Arabic books, some of them in the Kuphic character, have been recently discovered here, in a cellar, under lock and key, and inclosed in a sycamore chest. Some of them are on vellum, and very beautiful. Such a number was found as filled a very large chest. Murad Bey, being informed that treasures were hid under the antient mosque, had recourse to the finesse of pretending to rebuild it; he did rebuild part of a wall; and the cellar and books were discovered in clearing the foundations.
From the convent of St. George, one distinguishes clearly on the west the ruins of an antient city, ascertained to have been the Babylon built by the Persians. They constitute merely a heap of rubbish, already described by former travellers.
Fostât is a long street, running parallel to the river, and occupying part of the space between Kahira and its bank. It nearly joins Misr-el-Attiké on the South.
Bulak is a large irregular town, which has gradually risen around the place of embarkation. It is marked by an extensive and convenient okal, built by Ali Bey the Great, and called the Alexandrian okal, being chiefly used for goods brought from that city. Gardens, filling the fertile grounds between the houses, and betwixt Bulak and Kahira, afford an ample supply of fruits and vegetables. Boats croud the river at Bulak, which is the port of Lower Egypt, as Misr-el-Attiké is of the Upper.
An island is situated in the middle of the river, nearly opposite Bulak, where Murad Bey has a kind of summer-house, or place of retirement. Here are also several gardens. On the opposite coast is Embabîl, a village, where cows are kept, that furnish excellent butter.
Farther to the south, and nearly opposite Misr-el-Attiké, is Jiza, a considerable town, fortified by Ismaîl Bey, who also built a palace there, completed and since inhabited by Murad Bey, by whom has been established a foundery, constructed by a Zanthiote, who has embraced Mohammedism. I found six mortars and twenty-three cannon, some of them however almost useless. Three of the mortars and six of the field-pieces, cast by that Zanthiote, were excellent, considering the place, the instruments, and the workmen. The guns are twenty-four, eighteen, and twelve pounders. These are in reserve, and the Bey has a larger number mounted, in different parts of the fort. The walls of Jiza are of great extent, and have only one gate to the country; they are ten feet high, three feet thick, and have six half-moons: but are only fit to resist cavalry, the original intention in raising them. Murad Bey has suffered the iron work about the loop-holes, &c. to be plundered or ruined.
The palace is in the southern quarter of Jiza, close to the water. It has numerous apartments for the Mamlûks, and every convenience for ease or luxury.
Murad Bey has, of late years, thought it necessary to institute a marine; to effect which, he has caused three or four vessels to be built, and has purchased some from the Europeans. The whole has been attended with no small expense, and promises no adequate advantage. The largest of these vessels carries twenty-four guns. Six of them were moored before Jiza, whence they cannot be navigated, except during the time of the Nile’s increase. They were well appointed, and had their full complement of mariners, chiefly Greeks of the Archipelago, moderately skilful in their art, and receiving every encouragement from the Bey. They were commanded by a native of Sagos namedNikôla reis, Admiral, or Captain Nicholas.
Not far south of Jiza isGeziret-ed-dahab, a small island, intended, as appears, by Diodorus Siculus under the name ofVenus aurea.
North-east of the city are gardens, and some spacious houses, the property of the great, who occasionally leave the city to divert themselves in this retreat; and have there an open space, where the Mamlûks perform their military evolutions, and exercise their horses. The ground under the mountains to the East is filled with tombs. The mountain is of white sand and calcareous stone, and destitute of verdure.
The tomb of the Imâm Shafei is without the walls of the city, near the castle. It is in a mosque of good architecture, and kept in complete repair. On Friday, the day of devotion among the Mohammedans, the women being at liberty to visitthe tombs of their relations, crowd to this mosque to provide substitutes, the place being the Daphne of Kahira, and sacred to the blandishments of Venus.
There is a much more considerable canal, styledChalige ibn Menji, which, from its opening to the Nile near Bulak, extends toBilbeis, (according to D’Anville, thePharbæthusof antiquity, which Herodotus, Pliny, and Ptolemy, make the capital of aNome,) where it joins another canal, and passes to the lakeSheib.
The pleasure boats used by the great on the increase of the Nile are very numerous. They are light and of elegant form; rowers from four to eight. Those for the women covered with wainscot; such as are for the use of the men, are covered above, and open at the sides, or only latticed. Others are kept for hire, like the Venetian gondolas. They are used in the chalige, and upon the river.
The gates of Kahira are numerous; but the most striking are two at the northern extremity of the city, calledBab-el-Nasr, andBab-el-Fituch, which present a splendid display of Saracenic architecture.
Romeiliis an open place, of an irregular form, where feats of juggling are performed. The charmers of serpents also seem worthy of remark, their powers appearing extraordinary. The serpent most common at Kahira is of the viper class, and undoubtedlypoisonous. If one of them enter a house, the charmer is sent for, who uses a certain form of words. I have seen three serpents enticed out of the cabin of a ship, lying near the shore. The operator handled them, and then put them into a bag. At other times I have seen the serpents twist round the bodies of these Psylli in all directions, without having had their fangs extracted or broken, and without doing them any injury.
The Egyptians pretend to numerous kinds of magic. The powerful influence of the name of the Divinity,Ism Ullah, an account of which is contained in theKitab-el-rihani, is supposed to work various miracles. The mode of its application is divided intohalâl, lawful, andharâm, unlawful. Though the practice terminate in perpetual disappointment, the credulous, who still confide in it, are not few. There are three or four places on the mountain, above Kahira, to which the Arabs ascribe some influence of magic.El Maraga, where they say the earth trembles.Bîr-el-kuffâr, the well of the infidels.—Cassaat el Molûk.—Ain el Siré, a spring of salt water, to which they attribute medical virtues.
The dancing girls form a distinct class. They are always attended by an old man and woman, who play on musical instruments, and look to the conduct of the girls, that they may not bestow their favours for an inadequate reward; for, though not chaste, they are by no means common. Their dances exhibit all that the most luxurious imagination can picture—allthe peculiar motions and arts for which Martial has remarked the Egyptians as celebrated,