64 
beauty of the silk with which these pil- 
lars are covered, and the fineness of the 
carpets which are spread’ over the 
cushions. They sleep on the ground, 
and in their clothes. ; 
The picture of this town is’ live- 
Rly given. 
«* Entire long streets, if paltry narrow 
‘ Tanes deserve to be so called, flied with little 
miserable shops, in which you see a dismal 
meagre-lookinig figure, if not blind-of at 
least one eye, certainly with both sore and 
inflamed ; rolled up-in-a blue shrowd, or 
rasher loose shirt, like our carter’s frock, 
stretched at his Jengih, sleeping, or else 
sitting cross-legged in the middle of his tene- 
ment, eating bread and garlic pounded ina 
mortar, with rancid oil ; or garlic and horse- 
beans fried in this same sort of oil; or cu- 
eumbers and gallad, which they stuff in 
handsful down their throats ; or water-me- 
tons, which they ravenously devour as if 
afraid the passer-by was going to snatch 
them away ; or adried fish, with mountains 
of rice, which they cram down with their 
fingers; and, when one imagines they are 
so full as to be unable to hold another grain, 
- 2 guglet. of water is applied to the mouth, 
nor taken from it until empty, although at 
least a quart shall have been its contents. 
T never saw people swallow so much at a 
draught: it is true they drink seldom, which 
is a fortunate thing, or God help the Nile ! 
“« The shopman is at no trouble in hand- 
ing you the thing you want, for, without 
moving from his seat, his hand* reaches all 
- corners of these shabby little holes, rather 
than shops, which are square places, in- 
closed, about three feet from the ground, 
upon a bread wall or bank, which, project- 
ing from the house, makes the, passage 
' through the shop-streets, already too narrow, 
so impracticable, that an European nose 
can’t venture to. force its way through the 
croivd, assailed on one side by strong smel- 
ling cheese and rancid oil, on the other by 
garlic, and the filth of the people them- 
selves.” 
«© Your ears are constantly assailed by the 
elinking of the bason and jar of the shirbett- 
seller, who parades the streets to satisfy the 
drought of the passengers ; honey and wa- 
ter, liquorice and water; in short, shirbett 
of all kinds’ (water sweetened) is his be- 
verage. . 
«* Your eyes aré next caught by ‘the bar- 
her's shop, in which you see half-a-dozen 
bald heads enveloped, in suds and ‘lather, 
which, the barber, (with his customer’s 
head and a lump of soap in hand) spreads 
ever face, head, and neck, and, never mind- 
ing eyes, nose, or mouth, scrubs away until 
one would imagine he had stifled the mise- 
rable but patient sufferer, whose neck is bent 
~ forward to hinder the water,’ poured from a 
-Jarge urn upon the top of ‘his head, from 
running down his back; the expert. shaver 
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
“so civilized. 
then, most dexterously certainly, 
his operation in the reverse way to which 
we do, pushing the razor from, instead of 
drawing it to him, and concludes the cere- 
mony by opening the spout of the water- 
urn, washing off all the soap, plucking the © 
hairs from the ears and nose, and finally cut- 
ting and pairing the nails; and-all this for 
three paras! 
“* Your nose is nowattacked by the snuff- 
maker, who, with a mortar between his legs, 
and an immense heavy log of wood, sharply 
pointed, pounds and cuts the tobacco, at 
the great risk, L always think, of the fingers 
of jis feet, with which he very dexterously 
holds the mortar.” 
The water-carriers are completely — 
dressed in leather, and use goat-skins 
instead of barrels. In the ji Moves 
which are numerous, a story-teller usu- 
ally amuses the company. The Scribes 
have their open-shops; they not only 
copy books, but mdke.out petitions and 
write letters: a very useful people in a 
country where not one man in ten thou- 
sand can write or read. 
** But now for the description of one af — 
the employments of the fair sex. You must 
know firing (1 don’t mean shdoting) is a 
very scarce article, there being, in fact, no 
wood in the country but date-trees, which 
they convert into so many better uses, as I 
Salt hereafter tell you, that they don’t cut it 
for fuel ; the imported wood is of course very 
dear, and only to be gotten by the people in _ 
aiid about the towns, so that in truth the 
whole firing of the country, one may almost 
say, is produced by the happy compost 
and delicate feminine work of the lo 
class of women, who dance attendance upon 
the cattle, and not only carefully, but with 
avidity and delight, ‘* ramassent~ce qui 
tombe,” and with a melange of dust form a 
hard thick pancake, of which they. make 
their fires: never was any thing so shock- 
ingly disgusting as this is. From my win- 
dow, which opened upon several court-yards 
full of oxen and buffaloes, I could not help 
seeing it; and curiosity (though nota wo- 
man) made me watch them; the creatures 
almost. naked, nothing but a loose shift, 
and trowsers to the knees, all in rags 5 wal- 
low in the filth; and, seriously speaking, 
seem to delight in it.” 
The okells or caravanseras have each 
a sort of colonnade, where such travel- 
lers as are not able to pay for a room, 
are suffered to rest: a lesson, says the 
author, to countries that are réputedly 
The plague of vermin 
seems still to have remained upon 
Egypt ; the officers complain even 
more of the flies and mosquitos upon — 
the march, than of the creepers: and 
crawlers in the towns. 
performs 4 
oo See 
