No. IV.

Some Observations on the account of Egypt given in the works of Savary and Volney.

Vol.i. p. 27. Savary says, Alexandria is only a village, containing scarcely six thousand inhabitants. The fall of Alexandria from its antient splendour has already been remarked; and how vague all computations of number must necessarily be, by persons who reside there only for a few weeks or months. But Alexandria alone furnished to the Imperial army and navy, in the war with the Russians, four thousand men able to bear arms. This, with other circumstances, might serve to prove that the population must greatly exceed the number mentioned.

He computes the people of Damiatt at eighty thousand, which appears no less extravagant on the other side, and is certainly at least double the real number.

Vol. i. p. 220. Savary’s description of the topography of Memphis is characterized by an apparent error. He speaks of the small bourgMenf, antiently Memphis, a little to the South of the Pyramids. It is somewhat singular, that no one writer before him should have found a spot so remarkably coinciding in name with the antient capital. The writer of this inquired repeatedly for such a village, but always without effect; andOlivierandBrugniere, in the employ of the FrenchRepublic, who passed several months in Egypt, nearly at the same epoch, were equally unsuccessful in their researches. So that it would seem fair to pronounce that no such place exists. The only town in Egypt which bears even a distant resemblance to the name of Memphis, isMenúf, which is many leagues to the North, and within the Delta.

P. 275. The story of Murad Bey discovering his father, it is somewhat surprising should have escaped all the merchants residing in Egypt, some of them almost half a century, and always eager for anecdotes of this kind. The inventive talent of the Greek servants is indeed often put in activity to amuse strangers with such tales, but Savary, who was so experienced in Egypt, should have had more discrimination than to blenddes contes de ma mere l’oyewith historic narration. The facts are wholly discordant.—The man is a labourer of the environs of Damascus, Murad Bey a native of Georgia.—To go from Damascus to Kahira he embarks at Alexandretta, seventeen days journey N.W. of Damascus, when he might have gone to Beirût, Seidé, Akka, or Yaffa, each of them four days. This labourer travels with the eccentricity of a comet; and even the French philosopher is lost in calculating his course. But Savary was writing on Egypt, and is not obliged to know the geography of Syria.

P. 288. J’ai tué plusieursIbisdans les marais près deRossette. Ils ont les pattes longues, le corps mince, alternativement blanc et noir, et le col allongé. Ils vivent de poissons, de grenouilles et de reptiles.

Had Savary given the Arabic name of this curious bird, that sups on so many different dishes, the extent of his own error might have been exactly known, by comparing the bird he means with the figure of the realIbis. Others are contented with seeing one Ibis, but they have come in covies to welcome M. Savary, and he compliments them with a volley of small shot. S. should have known, that birds accustomed to feed on fish, do not commonly eat reptiles, andvice versâ.

Vol. ii. p. 59. The Ruin at Achmunein had before been fully described by Pococke; Norden passed it in the night, and therefore saw it not. Bruce has also mentioned it. What is described as gilding, however, on this and other monuments, I take to be yellow colour, never having seen any instances of gilding in the antient remains of Egypt. It might be curious to inquire of what materials these colours were composed, which have thus defied the ravages of time.

Vol. iii. p. 33. Savary speaks of the military corps of Assabs as still in being, but some years before his time that body had been dissolved, and no longer existed.

The Janizaries are still inrolled, to the number of about fourteen thousand; but the greater part of them are peaceable citizens, who never handle either sword or musket. From them are appointed the gate-keepers, a small garrison in the castle, &c. &c.

A body of Janizaries was called out and maintained by Ali Bey, but since the time of Mohammed Bey Abu-dhahab I have not understood that they have been on active service. The Yenk-tcheri aga, or commander in chief of the Janizaries, ranks as a Bey, as do theKiahiaandIchawûsh. These three are elected in the Divân of the Beys. The inferior officers are appointed by theShech-el-belad, as are the officers of the city police.

[Decoration]

Volney seems generally to hint that women are despised in Egypt, and says, they can possess no inheritance in lands.

They are exactly in the same predicament with the other sex as to inheritance of land, and receive possession by paying a fine to the government, from which none are exempted. In fact, their situation is in many respects better than that of men. Public opinion is in their favour, and their property is generally more respected, and they are treated more equitably than males. Their complaints, in case of injustice, sometimes carried even to intemperance, are heard with more patience.

A large portion of landed property having devolved to a widow atMonfalûtin Said, Solyman Bey, Senjiak of Said, desired to purchase it at the price the widow might demand. She refused, and he afterwards married her to gain possession, though she was both old and diseased.

English edit. Vol. I. p. 216. Volney says, that when there are no ships at Suez, that town has no other inhabitants than the Mamlûk governor, and a garrison, consisting of twelve or fourteen persons.—In Suez are twelve or thirteen mosques, which could never have been designed for a garrison of so few persons. There are also several coffee-houses. In truth the inhabitants are not numerous, but there are four or five considerable merchants constantly residing there, who have their correspondents at Kahira, and in the towns of Arabia, and conduct the commerce between Egypt and India. There is consequently a proportionate number of their dependents, and persons who manage commercial affairs of a less considerable kind. There are ship-builders, and several other artificers; a large khan or okal where merchandize is lodged; some Greek Christians constantly residing there; Mohammedan ecclesiastics, and others; and a number of fishermen and people more immediately connected with the sea. The population is restrained by the difficulty of procuring water, scarcity of provisions, and other inconveniences; but invariably much exceeding the estimate here given.

P. 263. Volney remarks, that the horizon is every where flat, even in the Upper Egypt, and refers for a proof of his assertion to Norden’s Plates, which demonstrate precisely the reverse. The fact is true indeed as to Lower Egypt, but from Kahira upward to Assûan there is only a very small space where the view is not terminated by the mountains, of various aspects, on each side.

Some remarks on the account of Egypt, contained in the recent correspondence of the French officers who accompanied Buonaparte to that country. The work referred to is intitled,Paris, pendant l’annee1798.ParPeltier.Vols.xix.andxx.

Vol.19, page 455. The distance from Cairo to the cataract is about 360 Geog. miles. The Nile is never an impetuous torrent, nor does it ever overflow its banks in the whole course from Assûan to Kahira, but is admitted at proper times into the transverse channels prepared for it.

P. 457. The Arabs, it is evident, would not build walls of much greater extent than the habitations they proposed to defend. A very small part of these being now filled, shews that the decay the city has undergone since the Turks became possessed of it, has even been greater than what it sustained from the time of Severus to the Saracenic conquests.

P. 459. Old Kahira is not Fostat, but Misr el attîké, further South.

P. 475. I doubt whether any one of the towers about Alexandria would contain 700 men.

P. 475. The writer says every Mamlûk is bought; and yet there are Frenchmen among them.—Where are Frenchmen sold? It is probable no Frenchman would be found among them, unless perhaps two or three individuals who might have embraced Mohammedism, but who certainly never were sold. In an engagement, I believe, no one has more than a single piéton with him; for those inconsiderable officers, who are attended on ordinary occasions by numerous followers, when in the field, avoid as much as possible any shew of preeminence, which would only expose their persons to greater danger.

P. 476. A Mamlûk has rarely more than one fusil, which he discharges once, and then gives to his piéton, to reload if he find opportunity.—One pair of pistols is attached to the body, and the second pair is carried in holsters, never about the body.—Of the arrows in a quiver I have no knowlege; occasionally in engaging the Bedouins the Mamlûks use a light spear, about six feet long, or amisdrâk, which is often ten or twelve feet.—The former is thrown, the latter never discharged from the hand. But these are by no means part of their common arms.—One sabre is used most adroitly and with extraordinary effect, by every expert horseman, but never two.—This part of the officer’s account seems taken from the mouth of some Egyptian peasant, who, as usual, exaggerated.

P. 476. From Alexandria to the mouth of the Nile is not twenty leagues, but from twelve to fifteen.—The anecdote of the shech in the same page appears authentic.

P. 479. The Mohammedans in general, and the Egyptians in particular, of whatever order, are very far from being regardless of the children.—On the contrary, they are extremely anxious for their welfare. Perhaps their domestic government may in some degree afford an example of the happy medium between weak indulgence and unnecessary severity; and parents daily experience the benefit of this their moderation. Very few instances of ingratitude are seen in their children. Women offering to sell their children, it remained for Boyer to discover. If reduced to desperation they might have desired rather to see their offspring in slavery than pierced with bayonets; but not the most wretched of Egyptian mothers would ever have consented at any price to sell her child, even to Murad Bey. I rather imagine the writer mistaken as to this fact.

A moitié nuds.Would not men go half naked in Great Britain if the climate permitted it?—La peau dégoûtante.In the populace of no nation are fewer cutaneous diseases found, or the skin more smooth and healthy, than in the Egyptians.Fouillant dans des ruisseaux, &c. Are hedgers and ditchers in any country very polished and delicate?—None are found raking the muddy channels but those whose business it is to keep them clean. The houses of the Alexandrines are neat, andcomfortableaccording to their ideas, though perhaps they would appear gloomy to a French or English man.

P. 480. This is not quite correct. On the West of the W. branch of the Nile, the arable lands are very narrow, but to theEast they extend along the road to Bilbeis and Salehich. The villages indeed are ill built; yet a house is here of little use but as a shelter from the sun. One of our neat, snug, brick houses, covered with red tiles, would be absolutely intolerable in Egypt. They are poor because the government is oppressive, not because they are uninclined to labour. The muddy appearance of the Nile water is no motive for any Egyptian to abstain from drinking it; nor is any other circumstance attending it, except its being polluted. Water, according to their law, is not polluted by a camel, a horse, or an ox drinking of it; but it is by a dog’s drinking, or a man washing his hands in it.

481. Boyer seems to have been too hasty in numbering the inhabitants—400,000 seems to me about one-fourth too much.

Ibid. The streets of Kahira are narrow, but inconveniences would attend their being wider. The houses are by no means without order: two long streets, as is seen in Niebuhr’s plan, bisect the city longitudinally and parallel with the river. The streets are often rectilinear, though they are by no means rectangular.

The ecclesiastics all read, and many of them write. All merchants of any consequence read, and many write. Often their female offspring are taught to read. The Copts most of them read and write. Who then regards the arts of reading and writing with admiration? The soldiers, the peasants, and the laborious part of the populace are ignorant enough of readingand writing, but by no means wonder or are astonished at what they see daily practised.

P. 536. All Egypt, according to this writer, is in submission to the French troops; but it appears the farthest post the latter have occupied is at four leagues from Cairo, where there is an entrenched camp; then there remain 130 leagues yet to subdue.

P. 599. It seems to me impossible that the old port could contain half the number of vessels here mentioned, viz. 300.

—. This place, whose name is so murdered, is spelled Jibbrîsh.

P. 603. In Julien’s letter, I know not how the flag could be placed on the walls ofthe celebrated city Thebes, when all that remains of that city is the ruins of public buildings, that formed a part of its interior.—Often join, &c.There is one annual feast dedicated to the Prophet, calledMewlet-en-Nebbi, which lasts one day; and one feast also annual in honour of cutting theChalige, which also lasts one day. How did the soldiers then often celebrate them?

604. The canal of Alexandria wanted nothing more than to be cleared of the sand which had accumulated in it, and to be defended by a dike against the incroachments of the sea,which the citizens of Alexandria refused to do for themselves, lest the repair of all other public works should be expected from them, and the Beys would not do it for them.

Vol. 20. p. 50. He says the Alexandria of the Greeks was situated on a tongue of land, formed by earth lately accumulated, when the city was founded.—He means, I suppose, that the sea had left it but lately. This is possible. The natural soil round the city is rock intermixed with sand. The vegetable mold appears to have been extraneous. If he suppose that district, like the Delta, to have been a deposition of the river, this seems utterly improbable; all the circumstances are at variance, which in such a case should be common to both. The land which divided the lake from the sea is a rocky ridge, which seems to have undergone no variation for a great length of time. The remark as to the column of Pompey is not new; but I cannot agree that the capital and base are of bad taste. The sharp relief of the foliage and mouldings is worn off by time, and it never was perhaps possible to exhibit on granite marble the finer strokes of the chissel, but the proportions, though not those of the later Corinthian, are strictly conformable to those of the purest age of architecture. What may have been discovered relatively to the obelisk by digging is uncertain; but from a comparison of this with the circumstances attending the obelisks at Thebes, it cannot be deduced that much is lost of its height. It must have been erected in the most flourishing state of the city, and while it remained in that state, it seems scarcelyprobable that such multitudes of ruins should have existed as to raise other buildings on them. I am satisfied, from the position of the one that remains entire, and the broken one near it, they never underwent a second arrangement, but remain in their relative position, as at the gate of some public building. The obelisk is in a very low part of the city, (which indeed is all very low,) and very little above the level of the sea—how does this accord with the ruins of other buildings being yet found under it? Perhaps in this part a firm foundation was not found very near the surface, and the builders have formed an artificial one. The French antiquary may have mistaken this for the ruins of buildings.

P. 59. My measurement of the height of the pyramid was a few feet short of this, but does not very materially differ from the one here given.

P. 95.El Marabootis a kind of fort, and the tomb of a saint, situated on a high ground in the neighbourhood of the Gulf of the Arabs, a good view of which it commands.

Explanation of the Plate facing page 286.

1.Theprincipal inclosure, consisting of apartments exclusively appropriated to the use of the monarch.2. Principal rukkûba, or place of public audience.3. The large court where public audiences are given.4. Two gates, the one of the interior, the other of the great court; at both stand slaves, to refuse admittance when the Monarch is not in the humour to do justice; and the chief of them, to strike the greater awe, is the public executioner.5. Exterior court in which the public officers leave their horses, and thence walk barefoot to the presence of their master.6. External entrance, fronting the market-place.7. A court with some apartments in it for faquirs, guards, and slaves.8. A wide court where are some horses tied.9. Rukkûba at the other entrance, where the Sultan gives audience, principally in winter, and where he would be less public.10. Small court surrounding that rukkûba or shed.11. Outer court where a mob assembles, and horses and slaves are in waiting.12. Outer gate, calledBab-el-burrâni, as the great one is calledBab-el-Gebeia.13. A multitude of small apartments reaching almost the whole length of the palace, where slaves are kept in confinement,as a punishment for misdemeanors; they are chained and fettered, and kept to hard labour, as dressing and tanning leather, making spear heads, &c.14. A large court of irregular form filled with a multitude of small apartments for the women; they pass through the two gates markedwto fetch water, but have no other outlet. Each of the principal women has a large apartment, surrounded by a number of smaller ones for her slaves; there are also apartments for cooking.15. Granary, which is builded on a frame of timber, to prevent the accession of theTermisor white ant.16. Gate by which the women enter the Sultan’s apartment where that sex performs all offices.17. Stable or court where the best horses are kept tied, and sheltered from the sun.The Eunuchs live in the interior, to be always near the Sultan; male slaves, wherever they can find a place.18. Are the slaves’ apartments who guard the entrance.19. A place where the faquirs read.The officers immediately attached to the court live in small inclosures on the outside of the fence, as that marked 20.The houses of the Meleks resemble this in miniature; those of inferior persons only of smaller size without divisions, and having fewer apartments.

1.Theprincipal inclosure, consisting of apartments exclusively appropriated to the use of the monarch.

2. Principal rukkûba, or place of public audience.

3. The large court where public audiences are given.

4. Two gates, the one of the interior, the other of the great court; at both stand slaves, to refuse admittance when the Monarch is not in the humour to do justice; and the chief of them, to strike the greater awe, is the public executioner.

5. Exterior court in which the public officers leave their horses, and thence walk barefoot to the presence of their master.

6. External entrance, fronting the market-place.

7. A court with some apartments in it for faquirs, guards, and slaves.

8. A wide court where are some horses tied.

9. Rukkûba at the other entrance, where the Sultan gives audience, principally in winter, and where he would be less public.

10. Small court surrounding that rukkûba or shed.

11. Outer court where a mob assembles, and horses and slaves are in waiting.

12. Outer gate, calledBab-el-burrâni, as the great one is calledBab-el-Gebeia.

13. A multitude of small apartments reaching almost the whole length of the palace, where slaves are kept in confinement,as a punishment for misdemeanors; they are chained and fettered, and kept to hard labour, as dressing and tanning leather, making spear heads, &c.

14. A large court of irregular form filled with a multitude of small apartments for the women; they pass through the two gates markedwto fetch water, but have no other outlet. Each of the principal women has a large apartment, surrounded by a number of smaller ones for her slaves; there are also apartments for cooking.

15. Granary, which is builded on a frame of timber, to prevent the accession of theTermisor white ant.

16. Gate by which the women enter the Sultan’s apartment where that sex performs all offices.

17. Stable or court where the best horses are kept tied, and sheltered from the sun.

The Eunuchs live in the interior, to be always near the Sultan; male slaves, wherever they can find a place.

18. Are the slaves’ apartments who guard the entrance.

19. A place where the faquirs read.

The officers immediately attached to the court live in small inclosures on the outside of the fence, as that marked 20.

The houses of the Meleks resemble this in miniature; those of inferior persons only of smaller size without divisions, and having fewer apartments.

The exterior is an hedge of dry thorns, about ten feet thick, and as many high.

THE END.

FOOTNOTES:[1]Volney has considered the walls of Alexandria as of antient structure. But D’Anville had before rejected that idea, and the fragments of columns, &c. worked into the masonry, shew that he is right.[2]Now supposed to have been erected in honour of Severus.[3]There happened a plague in 1796, which it is said carried off one half of the inhabitants. This estimate is possibly exaggerated; but no doubt it thinned them much; so that at present they cannot be near so numerous.[4]Hirtius, Bell. Alex. prope init.[5]The miles spoken of are always geographical.[6]See Major Rennel’s map.[7]D’Anville with equal probability supposes Siwa to be Mareotis.[8]The water in the river between Terané and Kahira was so shallow, that with a very small boat (Canjia) we had great difficulty in passing.[9]The condition of slave is so very distinct in Egypt from what it is in other countries, that they who defend the practice of trading in human flesh by its antiquity, and the general consent of nations, should be well aware how they adduce the example of Egypt.—In Kahira, when a slave is legally purchased in the market, if after any length of time he feel discontented with his master, has only to say, “Carry me to the market,” (Sûk-es Sultân,) and the master is legally compellable to offer him for sale.It can never be believed, that where a power so absolute as that of the proprietor over his slave, is supported by the sanctions of law, that no abuses of it should exist; but this single privilege greatly softens its asperity.The child of a female slave, begotten by her master, is ipso facto free, and a slave may authorize a free person to purchase his emancipation.[10]The Mamlûks suffer not the beard to grow till they be emancipated, and hold some office, as Cashef, &c.—A similar practice obtains among the Osmanli. The Ytch oghlans, though free in their persons, yet exercising a kind of servitude, shave the beard: so that though it be not absolutely the mark of a slave, the want of a beard seems to denote a dependent situation. Among the Osmanli, (European Turks) the beard is allowed to grow rather in conformity to the precept and practice of the Prophet, than as a national fashion. The Tatars wear no beard; and the Arabs alone shew great respect to that ornament.[11]The two last offices are annual.[12]The patacke may be rated at from three shillings to three and four-pence. The foddân is a given measure, taking its name from the quantity that a yoke of oxen can plough in a day, roughly taken, equivalent to an acre.[13]English edit. p. 188.[14]The length may be estimated at about three thousand five hundred yards.[15]The city is still infested with the usual herds of dogs, and the kites still shriek wildly over the canal; while the turtle-doves, unmolested by men or children, breed in the houses, building their nests under the projecting beams.[16]Histoire de l’Afrique, et de l’Espagne sous la domination des Arabes; composée sur differens Manuscrits Arabes de la Bibliotheque du Roi, par M. Cardonne, &c. Paris 1765, 3 tomes 12mo. It is to be regretted that the learned author did not divide his work into epochs and chapters, and particularly separate the history of Africa from that of Spain.[17]Vol. ix. p. 448-466, 8vo.[18]Their authority did not extend over the ancient Mauritania. The Edrissite dynasty ruled Ceuta, Fez, Tangier, &c. Fez was built by them in 788.[19]The power of the Chalîfs, successors of Mohammed, had fallen about the middle of the eleventh century. The Turks, a Tataric nation, seized Iconium, and most of Asia Minor, about 1074. Twenty years after, Aleppo and Damascus became separate sovereignties under the grandsons of Elf Arslân; the former city had been long subject to the Chalîfs of Egypt.[20]This expedition remains in considerable obscurity, though it may be regarded as the last dying spark of the crusades, as the adventurers seem to have been of several nations. Fordun,Scotichr.vol. ii. p. 488, mentions Norman Lesley, his countryman, as a prime actor. There was an old Scottish poem on the feats of Sir Walter, his brother, Duke of Leygaroch in France.Ibid.and Maitland’s Poems.[21]This place takes its name from the tomb of a Christian ecclesiastic, calledAmmon-el-abed, or the devout; its other name isEnsené, evidently from that ofAntinous.[22]The remainder might be easily copied, but circumstances did not then permit me to give the time necessary for that purpose.[23]That custom is still retained at Damiatt, notwithstanding the purer precepts of Islamism.[24]They sell the males, and themselves generally mount mares in their warlike expeditions.[25]NowGeziret-es-Sag, Claustra Imperii Romani.Tac.[26]A place where the troops are exercised, and rencontres between opposing parties frequently have had place.[27]Populorum Africæ vocabula plerumque ineffabilia, præterquam ipsorum linguis.Pliny.[28]The best idea of the Sphinx seems to be that of Maillet, who supposes it an emblem of the increase of the Nile under the signs ofLeoandVirgo.[29]Pococke, vol. i. p. 56. conceives this place to have received its name from the Greek word Ταμιέια, there having been a kind of lock there to restrain or let loose the water in the canal which passes by it.[30]Parallel to this is a narrow cut, called Bahr Yussuf, which runs into the Birket-Kerûn.[31]Τὸν Μῖνα πρῶτον βασιλέυσαντα Ἀιγύπτου, ὁι ἱερέες ἔλεγον τοῦτον μὲν ἀπογεφυρῶσαι καὶ τὴν Μέμφιν.Herodot.Of the fact of Memphis having been surrounded by water, some evidences appear even at this day. Parts of the banks of the canal yet are visible toward the mountains, and at the extremities of the ground, where ruins are distinguishable.[32]Soudân in Arabic corresponds to our Nigritia, merely general words for thecountry of the blacks.[33]In passing the desert, partly from want of water, partly from being overloaded, (these animals being then scarce and dear in Egypt,) so many camels died, that several merchants of the caravan were obliged to bury their goods in the sand near Selimé, whither they afterwards sent for them.[34]TheMahréaArabs have the art of making wicker baskets, of so close a texture, that they carry in them milk, water, bouza. Much of the earthen ware made by the people of Dar-Fûr is glazed, I know not with what composition.[35]A fermented liquor, calledBûzaorMerîsi.[36]By the law of the Prophet, any illicit connexion with the female slave of another makes the person guilty responsible for her value to the owner. Thus the personal injury is expiated. The public offence ofZinna, whoredom, incurs a punishment varying according to the character and circumstances of the offender; but the positive testimony of four witnesses is necessary to establish this fact.[37]A female slave.[38]It is not usual with Mohammedans to eat meat in such a state. It is reported in Soudan, I know not how truly, that the Leopard, after he has seized his prey, leaves it till it become putrid before he eats of it.[39]Here is one among many instances of tacit submission to the authority of the head of a tribe, though unfurnished with any express deputation from the government.[40]Sultan Teraub used always to reside at Rîl, but the present monarch, or usurper, is induced by his fears to wander from place to place. The first place I saw him at wasHeglig; the next wasTini; the third wasTendelti, where he passed about a year.[41]The Fûrians, it may be remarked, distinguish the South part of their empire by this term, as well as the Egyptians.[42]On the East of Fûr there is a particular tribe of Arabs, who curl their hair, as it were, in a bushy wig, resembling that of the antient figures in the ruins of Persepolis. It is probable that many fragments of antient nations may be found in the interior of Africa. Carthaginians expelled by the Romans, Vandals by Belisarius, &c. &c.[43]In the market held at Cobbé, there are slaughtered ordinarily from ten to fifteen oxen, and from forty to sixty sheep; but all the villages, six or eight miles round, are thence supplied.It is usual for the people of the town to lay in their annual stock of grain when cheapest, which is commonly about the month of December. At that time two, sometimes threemids(pecks) of millet (Dokn) may be had for a string of beads, worth about one penny sterling in Kahira.[44]Fruit of India.[45]Season of the rains.[46]I remember to have borrowed, while at Damascus, a small quarto volume, written in easy Arabic, without either title or conclusion, which contained a kind of history of the progress of the (ashab) early propagators of Mohammedism, and which enumerated, if I mistake not, a tribe under the denomination of Fûrفورamong their adversaries, after the taking ofBahneséin Middle Egypt, and their consequent invasion of the more Southern provinces.[47]If but a small quantity of rain fall, the agricultors are reduced to great distress; and it happened, about seven years before my arrival, that many people were obliged to eat the young branches of trees pounded in a mortar.[48]The inhabitants of a village calledBernoo, having quarrelled with those of another hamlet, and some having been killed on both sides, all the property of both villages was forfeited to the king, the inhabitants being abandoned to poverty.[49]About a century and a half ago.[50]A great tribute is also paid in butter.[51]Thummara Hindimeans simplyFruit of India, notdate, as insinuated by the learned author of theBotanical Observations, inAsiatic Researches, vol. iv. p. 250.[52]This is observable in many of the slaves. They seem to esteem it a beauty. In filing the teeth, they also force the gums from them, to make them appear longer: the teeth in this case suffer discoloration, but do not appear to undergo a consequent decay.[53]Qui Africæ aut Asiæ plagis peragratis, primi hunc exsecandi morem Occidentalibus narravere auctores, ab ore incolarum re acceptâ, et novitate ejus perculsi, de modo excisionis toto cælo errare solent, nymphas exsecari perhibentes: prorsus ineptè quidem, sed septâ pudicitiâ vitam agentibus, nunquam illis nudam vel è longinquo vidisse, multo minùs muliebria attrectavisse, uti manifestum, contigerat.[54]Quoties autem confibulatio fortior meatûs etiam urinarii aditum claudere minetur, plumâ vel osseâ quâdam tubulâ adhibitâ, illam in ore urethræ inserunt, ibidemque tenent, usque dum canalis majoris aditui amplius invigilare non sit opus.[55]In the neighbourhood of Damiatt the Papyrus is termedel-Berdî. Another name is also given it, evidently derived from the term in use among us,El-Babîr.[56]The butcher.[57]He brought her thither during the process, instituted at Rome, relatively to her first marriage, and before that marriage was set aside. A long history attends this part of the life of this remarkable man. Montague having persuaded the first husband, who was captain of a merchant-man in the service of persons at Marseilles, to leave his wife, whom he had brought with him to Egypt, under M.’s protection at Rashîd, the latter took advantage of his absence on a voyage home, to persuade the woman that her husband was no more. He then made an offer of himself, which was accepted. On a disclosure of the affair, Montague had interest and address enough to set aside the first marriage, which had been solemnized before either of the parties were of age. The religious were persuaded that Montague was a zealous convert to the Catholic faith.[58]TheSantons, or Mohammedan saints, are still permitted to continue their excesses. I was informed that one of them, very vigorous in transitory amours, met the wife of a rich Mohammedan merchant, newly married. The female attendant who was with her fled, and he accomplished his purpose in the open street. The merchant, complaining to the Pasha, only received this answer, “You ought to esteem yourself very happy, for your wife will probably be brought to bed of awellî,” that is, a saint.[59]This sect, represented to me by the Arabs, and others in Syria, as having only at a late period originated, is precisely mentioned by Niebuhr, Description d’Arabie, ed. Paris, p. 208. with a little variation as to the tenets of its founder. He dates its rise in the year 1760, which is very possible, considering that the later accounts all agree thatAbd-el-azîz el Wahhâbéis a man of very advanced age.[60]The machine used in the manufacture is very simple, but the fabric is very complete, and executed with tolerable expedition. To make acottonirequires one hundred and twenty-five drams of silk. Half that quantity is sufficient for a lightalléja. The wages of a manufacturer for making the former are sixty paras. The fabric of white silk is technically called in Arabiccraishi; thealléja,darekli; thecottoni,dadâr. The ordinary length of each of these is about ten pikes (draa). The width about a pike.[61]The manner of making soap here deserves mention. They use oil of olives, putting to an hundred weight twenty-five pounds of kali, and five pounds of pulverized chalk. The latter articles are boiled till the water be sufficiently impregnated; the oil is then poured in, and the whole boils for three days over a fire composed of stones of olives.[62]Throughout Syria and Anatolia is established a kind of tolls calledghafar, demanded under pretence of keeping up the roads, and freeing them from robbers. A fixed sum is exacted from all Christians; and even an European, though furnished with a travelling firman, often finds it difficult to avoid paying them. Mohammedans pay what they please, or even nothing.In Syria these tolls are of no apparent use; the demand is somewhat considerable, the roads are not repaired, and there is no defence but immemorial custom. In Anatolia, where there are woods, some responsibility is attached to the office of toll-gatherer, in case a traveller is robbed; and the sum paid is more reasonable.[63]Musket and bayonet.[64]Ibeit is one of the principal towns of Kordofân; it is also the name of a small district.[65]The bearing of the road from Rîl to Hellet Allais is reported to be generally E. with very small variation.

[1]Volney has considered the walls of Alexandria as of antient structure. But D’Anville had before rejected that idea, and the fragments of columns, &c. worked into the masonry, shew that he is right.

[2]Now supposed to have been erected in honour of Severus.

[3]There happened a plague in 1796, which it is said carried off one half of the inhabitants. This estimate is possibly exaggerated; but no doubt it thinned them much; so that at present they cannot be near so numerous.

[4]Hirtius, Bell. Alex. prope init.

[5]The miles spoken of are always geographical.

[6]See Major Rennel’s map.

[7]D’Anville with equal probability supposes Siwa to be Mareotis.

[8]The water in the river between Terané and Kahira was so shallow, that with a very small boat (Canjia) we had great difficulty in passing.

[9]The condition of slave is so very distinct in Egypt from what it is in other countries, that they who defend the practice of trading in human flesh by its antiquity, and the general consent of nations, should be well aware how they adduce the example of Egypt.—In Kahira, when a slave is legally purchased in the market, if after any length of time he feel discontented with his master, has only to say, “Carry me to the market,” (Sûk-es Sultân,) and the master is legally compellable to offer him for sale.It can never be believed, that where a power so absolute as that of the proprietor over his slave, is supported by the sanctions of law, that no abuses of it should exist; but this single privilege greatly softens its asperity.The child of a female slave, begotten by her master, is ipso facto free, and a slave may authorize a free person to purchase his emancipation.

It can never be believed, that where a power so absolute as that of the proprietor over his slave, is supported by the sanctions of law, that no abuses of it should exist; but this single privilege greatly softens its asperity.

The child of a female slave, begotten by her master, is ipso facto free, and a slave may authorize a free person to purchase his emancipation.

[10]The Mamlûks suffer not the beard to grow till they be emancipated, and hold some office, as Cashef, &c.—A similar practice obtains among the Osmanli. The Ytch oghlans, though free in their persons, yet exercising a kind of servitude, shave the beard: so that though it be not absolutely the mark of a slave, the want of a beard seems to denote a dependent situation. Among the Osmanli, (European Turks) the beard is allowed to grow rather in conformity to the precept and practice of the Prophet, than as a national fashion. The Tatars wear no beard; and the Arabs alone shew great respect to that ornament.

[11]The two last offices are annual.

[12]The patacke may be rated at from three shillings to three and four-pence. The foddân is a given measure, taking its name from the quantity that a yoke of oxen can plough in a day, roughly taken, equivalent to an acre.

[13]English edit. p. 188.

[14]The length may be estimated at about three thousand five hundred yards.

[15]The city is still infested with the usual herds of dogs, and the kites still shriek wildly over the canal; while the turtle-doves, unmolested by men or children, breed in the houses, building their nests under the projecting beams.

[16]Histoire de l’Afrique, et de l’Espagne sous la domination des Arabes; composée sur differens Manuscrits Arabes de la Bibliotheque du Roi, par M. Cardonne, &c. Paris 1765, 3 tomes 12mo. It is to be regretted that the learned author did not divide his work into epochs and chapters, and particularly separate the history of Africa from that of Spain.

[17]Vol. ix. p. 448-466, 8vo.

[18]Their authority did not extend over the ancient Mauritania. The Edrissite dynasty ruled Ceuta, Fez, Tangier, &c. Fez was built by them in 788.

[19]The power of the Chalîfs, successors of Mohammed, had fallen about the middle of the eleventh century. The Turks, a Tataric nation, seized Iconium, and most of Asia Minor, about 1074. Twenty years after, Aleppo and Damascus became separate sovereignties under the grandsons of Elf Arslân; the former city had been long subject to the Chalîfs of Egypt.

[20]This expedition remains in considerable obscurity, though it may be regarded as the last dying spark of the crusades, as the adventurers seem to have been of several nations. Fordun,Scotichr.vol. ii. p. 488, mentions Norman Lesley, his countryman, as a prime actor. There was an old Scottish poem on the feats of Sir Walter, his brother, Duke of Leygaroch in France.Ibid.and Maitland’s Poems.

[21]This place takes its name from the tomb of a Christian ecclesiastic, calledAmmon-el-abed, or the devout; its other name isEnsené, evidently from that ofAntinous.

[22]The remainder might be easily copied, but circumstances did not then permit me to give the time necessary for that purpose.

[23]That custom is still retained at Damiatt, notwithstanding the purer precepts of Islamism.

[24]They sell the males, and themselves generally mount mares in their warlike expeditions.

[25]NowGeziret-es-Sag, Claustra Imperii Romani.Tac.

[26]A place where the troops are exercised, and rencontres between opposing parties frequently have had place.

[27]Populorum Africæ vocabula plerumque ineffabilia, præterquam ipsorum linguis.Pliny.

[28]The best idea of the Sphinx seems to be that of Maillet, who supposes it an emblem of the increase of the Nile under the signs ofLeoandVirgo.

[29]Pococke, vol. i. p. 56. conceives this place to have received its name from the Greek word Ταμιέια, there having been a kind of lock there to restrain or let loose the water in the canal which passes by it.

[30]Parallel to this is a narrow cut, called Bahr Yussuf, which runs into the Birket-Kerûn.

[31]Τὸν Μῖνα πρῶτον βασιλέυσαντα Ἀιγύπτου, ὁι ἱερέες ἔλεγον τοῦτον μὲν ἀπογεφυρῶσαι καὶ τὴν Μέμφιν.Herodot.Of the fact of Memphis having been surrounded by water, some evidences appear even at this day. Parts of the banks of the canal yet are visible toward the mountains, and at the extremities of the ground, where ruins are distinguishable.

[31]Τὸν Μῖνα πρῶτον βασιλέυσαντα Ἀιγύπτου, ὁι ἱερέες ἔλεγον τοῦτον μὲν ἀπογεφυρῶσαι καὶ τὴν Μέμφιν.Herodot.

Of the fact of Memphis having been surrounded by water, some evidences appear even at this day. Parts of the banks of the canal yet are visible toward the mountains, and at the extremities of the ground, where ruins are distinguishable.

[32]Soudân in Arabic corresponds to our Nigritia, merely general words for thecountry of the blacks.

[33]In passing the desert, partly from want of water, partly from being overloaded, (these animals being then scarce and dear in Egypt,) so many camels died, that several merchants of the caravan were obliged to bury their goods in the sand near Selimé, whither they afterwards sent for them.

[34]TheMahréaArabs have the art of making wicker baskets, of so close a texture, that they carry in them milk, water, bouza. Much of the earthen ware made by the people of Dar-Fûr is glazed, I know not with what composition.

[35]A fermented liquor, calledBûzaorMerîsi.

[36]By the law of the Prophet, any illicit connexion with the female slave of another makes the person guilty responsible for her value to the owner. Thus the personal injury is expiated. The public offence ofZinna, whoredom, incurs a punishment varying according to the character and circumstances of the offender; but the positive testimony of four witnesses is necessary to establish this fact.

[37]A female slave.

[38]It is not usual with Mohammedans to eat meat in such a state. It is reported in Soudan, I know not how truly, that the Leopard, after he has seized his prey, leaves it till it become putrid before he eats of it.

[39]Here is one among many instances of tacit submission to the authority of the head of a tribe, though unfurnished with any express deputation from the government.

[40]Sultan Teraub used always to reside at Rîl, but the present monarch, or usurper, is induced by his fears to wander from place to place. The first place I saw him at wasHeglig; the next wasTini; the third wasTendelti, where he passed about a year.

[41]The Fûrians, it may be remarked, distinguish the South part of their empire by this term, as well as the Egyptians.

[42]On the East of Fûr there is a particular tribe of Arabs, who curl their hair, as it were, in a bushy wig, resembling that of the antient figures in the ruins of Persepolis. It is probable that many fragments of antient nations may be found in the interior of Africa. Carthaginians expelled by the Romans, Vandals by Belisarius, &c. &c.

[43]In the market held at Cobbé, there are slaughtered ordinarily from ten to fifteen oxen, and from forty to sixty sheep; but all the villages, six or eight miles round, are thence supplied.It is usual for the people of the town to lay in their annual stock of grain when cheapest, which is commonly about the month of December. At that time two, sometimes threemids(pecks) of millet (Dokn) may be had for a string of beads, worth about one penny sterling in Kahira.

[43]In the market held at Cobbé, there are slaughtered ordinarily from ten to fifteen oxen, and from forty to sixty sheep; but all the villages, six or eight miles round, are thence supplied.

It is usual for the people of the town to lay in their annual stock of grain when cheapest, which is commonly about the month of December. At that time two, sometimes threemids(pecks) of millet (Dokn) may be had for a string of beads, worth about one penny sterling in Kahira.

[44]Fruit of India.

[45]Season of the rains.

[46]I remember to have borrowed, while at Damascus, a small quarto volume, written in easy Arabic, without either title or conclusion, which contained a kind of history of the progress of the (ashab) early propagators of Mohammedism, and which enumerated, if I mistake not, a tribe under the denomination of Fûrفورamong their adversaries, after the taking ofBahneséin Middle Egypt, and their consequent invasion of the more Southern provinces.

[47]If but a small quantity of rain fall, the agricultors are reduced to great distress; and it happened, about seven years before my arrival, that many people were obliged to eat the young branches of trees pounded in a mortar.

[48]The inhabitants of a village calledBernoo, having quarrelled with those of another hamlet, and some having been killed on both sides, all the property of both villages was forfeited to the king, the inhabitants being abandoned to poverty.

[49]About a century and a half ago.

[50]A great tribute is also paid in butter.

[51]Thummara Hindimeans simplyFruit of India, notdate, as insinuated by the learned author of theBotanical Observations, inAsiatic Researches, vol. iv. p. 250.

[52]This is observable in many of the slaves. They seem to esteem it a beauty. In filing the teeth, they also force the gums from them, to make them appear longer: the teeth in this case suffer discoloration, but do not appear to undergo a consequent decay.

[53]Qui Africæ aut Asiæ plagis peragratis, primi hunc exsecandi morem Occidentalibus narravere auctores, ab ore incolarum re acceptâ, et novitate ejus perculsi, de modo excisionis toto cælo errare solent, nymphas exsecari perhibentes: prorsus ineptè quidem, sed septâ pudicitiâ vitam agentibus, nunquam illis nudam vel è longinquo vidisse, multo minùs muliebria attrectavisse, uti manifestum, contigerat.

[54]Quoties autem confibulatio fortior meatûs etiam urinarii aditum claudere minetur, plumâ vel osseâ quâdam tubulâ adhibitâ, illam in ore urethræ inserunt, ibidemque tenent, usque dum canalis majoris aditui amplius invigilare non sit opus.

[55]In the neighbourhood of Damiatt the Papyrus is termedel-Berdî. Another name is also given it, evidently derived from the term in use among us,El-Babîr.

[56]The butcher.

[57]He brought her thither during the process, instituted at Rome, relatively to her first marriage, and before that marriage was set aside. A long history attends this part of the life of this remarkable man. Montague having persuaded the first husband, who was captain of a merchant-man in the service of persons at Marseilles, to leave his wife, whom he had brought with him to Egypt, under M.’s protection at Rashîd, the latter took advantage of his absence on a voyage home, to persuade the woman that her husband was no more. He then made an offer of himself, which was accepted. On a disclosure of the affair, Montague had interest and address enough to set aside the first marriage, which had been solemnized before either of the parties were of age. The religious were persuaded that Montague was a zealous convert to the Catholic faith.

[58]TheSantons, or Mohammedan saints, are still permitted to continue their excesses. I was informed that one of them, very vigorous in transitory amours, met the wife of a rich Mohammedan merchant, newly married. The female attendant who was with her fled, and he accomplished his purpose in the open street. The merchant, complaining to the Pasha, only received this answer, “You ought to esteem yourself very happy, for your wife will probably be brought to bed of awellî,” that is, a saint.

[59]This sect, represented to me by the Arabs, and others in Syria, as having only at a late period originated, is precisely mentioned by Niebuhr, Description d’Arabie, ed. Paris, p. 208. with a little variation as to the tenets of its founder. He dates its rise in the year 1760, which is very possible, considering that the later accounts all agree thatAbd-el-azîz el Wahhâbéis a man of very advanced age.

[60]The machine used in the manufacture is very simple, but the fabric is very complete, and executed with tolerable expedition. To make acottonirequires one hundred and twenty-five drams of silk. Half that quantity is sufficient for a lightalléja. The wages of a manufacturer for making the former are sixty paras. The fabric of white silk is technically called in Arabiccraishi; thealléja,darekli; thecottoni,dadâr. The ordinary length of each of these is about ten pikes (draa). The width about a pike.

[61]The manner of making soap here deserves mention. They use oil of olives, putting to an hundred weight twenty-five pounds of kali, and five pounds of pulverized chalk. The latter articles are boiled till the water be sufficiently impregnated; the oil is then poured in, and the whole boils for three days over a fire composed of stones of olives.

[62]Throughout Syria and Anatolia is established a kind of tolls calledghafar, demanded under pretence of keeping up the roads, and freeing them from robbers. A fixed sum is exacted from all Christians; and even an European, though furnished with a travelling firman, often finds it difficult to avoid paying them. Mohammedans pay what they please, or even nothing.In Syria these tolls are of no apparent use; the demand is somewhat considerable, the roads are not repaired, and there is no defence but immemorial custom. In Anatolia, where there are woods, some responsibility is attached to the office of toll-gatherer, in case a traveller is robbed; and the sum paid is more reasonable.

In Syria these tolls are of no apparent use; the demand is somewhat considerable, the roads are not repaired, and there is no defence but immemorial custom. In Anatolia, where there are woods, some responsibility is attached to the office of toll-gatherer, in case a traveller is robbed; and the sum paid is more reasonable.

[63]Musket and bayonet.

[64]Ibeit is one of the principal towns of Kordofân; it is also the name of a small district.

[65]The bearing of the road from Rîl to Hellet Allais is reported to be generally E. with very small variation.

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