The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Fourth. Thomas Wallace Knox
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meaning of it, Frank's donkey stumbled and fell forward, and Frank went sprawling in the dust over the animal's head.
"We all laughed (Frank did not laugh quite as loud as the rest, but he did the best he could), and so did the people in the street where the accident happened. Frank was up in an instant, and so was the donkey; and when we were off again the guide said that the donkey had a habit of stumbling and going down in a heap. If you have your feet in the stirrups when he goes down, you can't help being thrown over the animal's head; but if you ride as the guide does, your feet come on the ground when the donkey falls, and you walk gracefully forward a few steps till the boy brings your animal up for you to mount again.
"We immediately began learning to ride with our feet free, and an hour's practice made us all right.
"The donkeys all have names, generally those that have been given to them by travellers. We have had 'Dan Tucker,' 'Prince of Wales,' 'Chicken Hash,' and 'Pinafore,' and in the lot that stands in front of the hotel there are 'General Grant,' 'Stanley,' 'New York,' and 'Mince Pie.' They are black, white, gray, and a few other colors, and sometimes the boys decorate them with hair-dye and paint so that they look very funny. The donkey-boys are sharp little fellows, though sometimes they keep at the business after they have become men. They generally speak a little English; there are two at our hotel that speak it very well, and know the city perfectly, so that when we take them along we have very little need of a guide. They will run all day as fast as the donkey can, sometimes holding him by the bridle, but generally close behind, ready to prod or strike him if he does not go fast enough.
"The saddle is a curious sort of thing, as it has a great hump in front instead of a pommel, and there is not the least support to the back any more than in an English riding-pad. They explain the peculiarity of the saddle by saying that the donkey's shoulders are lower than his back, and the hump keeps you from sliding forward.
"About the best thing we have yet seen in Cairo is the people in the streets. They are so odd in their dress, and they have so many curious customs, that our attention is drawn to them all the time. We can't say how many varieties of peddlers there are, but certainly more than we ever saw in any other place, not excepting Tokio or Canton, or any of the cities of India. We will try to describe some of them.
"Here is an old woman with a crate like a flat basket, which she carries on her head. It is filled with little articles of jewellery, and she goes around in the harems and in the baths frequented by women, as they are her best customers. The guide says her whole stock is not worth a hundred francs, and if she makes a franc a day at her business she thinks she is doing well.
"There are women who sell vegetables, fruits, and sweetmeats, which they carry in the same way as the one we have just described. They are wrapped from head to foot in long cloaks or outer dresses, and they generally follow the custom of the country and keep their faces covered. The oldest of them are not so particular as the others, and we are told that the custom of wearing the veil is not so universal as it was twenty or thirty years ago.
"There is no change of fashion among the women of Egypt. They wear the same kind of garments from one year to another, and as all are veiled, except among the very poorest classes, they all look alike. Every lady, when she goes out, covers her face with the yashmak or veil, so that only her eyes are visible; her body is wrapped in a black mantle which reaches the ground, and, though she looks at you as if she knew you, it is impossible to penetrate her disguise. We are told that when the European ladies residing here wish to call on each other, and have nobody to escort them, they put on the native dress, and go along the streets without the least fear that anybody will know them.
"The wives of the high officials have adopted some of the fashions of Europe in the way of dress; they wear boots instead of slippers, and have their dresses cut in the Paris style, and they wear a great deal of jewellery mounted by Parisian jewellers. Their hats or bonnets are of European form; but they cling to the veil, and never go out-of-doors without it, though they often have it so thin that their features can be seen quite distinctly. We have seen some of them riding in their carriages, and if they had been friends of ours we think we should have recognized them through their thin veils.
"How much we wish we could understand the language of the country! Doctor Bronson says the peddlers on the streets have a curious way of calling out their wares, quite unlike that of the same class in other countries. For instance, the water-carrier has a goat-skin on his back filled with water, and as he goes along he rattles a couple of brass cups together, and cries out, 'Oh ye thirsty! oh ye thirsty!' A moment after he repeats the call, and says, 'God will reward me!' And sometimes he says, 'Blessed is the water of the Nile!' Those who drink the water he offers usually give him a small piece of money, but if they give nothing he makes no demand, and moves on repeating his cry.
"The seller of lemons shouts, 'God will make them light, oh lemons!' meaning that God will lighten the baskets containing the lemons. The orange peddler says, 'Sweet as honey, oh oranges!' And the seller of roasted melon-seeds says, 'Comforter of those in distress, oh melon-seeds!' Behind him comes a man selling flowers of the henna-plant, and his cry is, 'Odors of Paradise, oh flowers of henna!' The rose-merchant says, 'The rose is a thorn—it bloomed from the sweat of the Prophet!' We could make a long list of these street cries, but have given you enough to show what they are.
"Every few steps we meet women carrying jars of water on their heads. Many of the houses are supplied in this primitive way, and the employment of carrying water supports a great many people in this strange city of the East. Of late years pipes have been introduced, and an aqueduct brings water from[Pg 58]
[Pg 59] the Nile, so that the occupation of the bearer has been somewhat diminished. But the public fountain still exists, and the people gather there as they did in the days of the Bible. Every mosque has a fountain in the centre of its court-yard, not so much for supplying water for those who wish to carry it away as to furnish an opportunity for the faithful to wash their hands before saying their prayers. Some of these fountains are large, and protected from the sun by a marble canopy. But the public fountains at the street corners are generally quite exposed to the weather, and many of them are quite small.
"We walked slowly along the street during our first excursion, as there were many sights to attract our attention, and we did not wish to miss anything. Two or three times we narrowly escaped being run over by camels or donkeys. The camels move along in a very stately way, and do not turn out unless ordered to do so by their drivers. They have a wicked expression in their eyes, and seem quite willing to knock over a stranger who gets in their way. Sometimes the crowd of people was so dense that it was not easy to move among them; but everybody was good-natured, and there was no jostling or rudeness of any kind. There were a good many beggars sitting in little nooks where they were not in danger of being run over, and quite often we met blind men who were feeling their way along by means of long sticks. They called out something in Arabic, and the people made way for them, so that none of them were hurt.
"The portion of the Mooskee where you enter it from the new part of Cairo contains a good many European shops, so that you do not come at once into the old-fashioned Orient. But as you go along the scene changes; the shops of the merchants are open to the streets, and the shopmen sit there cross-legged, in full view of everybody, so that you do not have to turn out of the way to see what there is to buy.
"When you think of an Oriental shop you must not picture to yourself an establishment like those on Broadway