Egyptian Village Life. 327 



The world's history can scarcely parallel that of the Mahmoudie 

 canal. 



Let us turn to the brighter side, happily it is there in spite 

 of " man's cruelty to man." Affection is the poor man's 

 wealth, the love that can be so strong as to induce an Egyptian 

 mother to maim her child that she may keep him near her, is 

 above all evil governmental influence. Easily made happy in 

 a climate where existence is a pleasure, having few wants to be 

 satisfied, with an eager desire to convert the simplest good into 

 a great benefit, a child-like enjoyment is felt, even by the aged, 

 who have had so much cruel worldly experience. This it is 

 that surprises the European, and the Englishman especially, 

 who delights so thoroughly in depreciating " the good the 

 gods provide him." The faces of these poor people lit up by 

 the gift of a loaf of bread, an orange, or a few halfpence, may 

 furnish a useful lesson to some of the London sybarites who 

 now travel on the Nile. 



The cottages are constructed of clay, or built of clay bricks, 

 dried in the sun, and which, in this dry climate, will last for 

 ■centuries. The mud of the Nile is a very tenacious slime, and 

 the deposit laid every year by the overflow of the river, bakes 

 into thin layers under the hot sun, so that the age of the banks 

 may be reckoned as you may count the age of a tree by the 

 examination of the succeeding layers of bark. The houses are 

 comfortless hovels, devoid of ail furniture but that required for 

 cooking. The larger houses have their upper rooms furnished 

 with raised divans, or seats of palm-branch, upon which carpets 

 are spread. Windows are small, for light brings heat, which 

 is to be especially guarded against. The roof of the house is 

 the place where in the evening the family delight to congregate, 

 and often sleep during the night. Some of these houses are 

 made especially gay by rude painting, as shown in the engrav- 

 ing which accompanies this paper. The style of this decoration 

 is evidently traditional, remaining with the people from the 

 most ancient time. It resembles portions of the wall-painting 

 at Beni-Hassan, and other places, where we see the most 

 primitive forms. The houses thus especially decorated are 

 those of such persons as have performed the pilgrimage to 

 Mecca. When a hadji returns, his neighbours help in orna- 

 menting the surface of his dwelling with red, white, and blue 

 washes, in patterns bounded by broad black outlines. The 

 beam over the door has its wooden surface painted still more 

 delicately, but in the same taste, and a circular ornament is 

 usually painted above ; sometimes this ornament is a Moorish 

 tile in vitrified tints, but the author was once surprised at 

 finding a plate of the famed old English ", willow pattern " 

 inserted over a doorway. 



