It is melancholy to contrast the present poverty of Egypt with its prosperity in ancient times, when the variety, elegance, and exquisite finish displayed in its manufactures attracted the admiration of surrounding nations, and its inhabitants were in no need of foreign commerce to increase their wealth, or to add to their comforts. Antiquarian researches show us that a high degree of excellence in the arts of civilized life distinguished the Egyptians in the age of Moses, and at a yet earlier period. Not only the Pharaohs and the priests and military chiefs, but also a great proportion of the wealthy agriculturists, and other private individuals, in those remote times, passed a life of the most refined luxury, were clad in linen of the most delicate fabric, and reclined on couches and chairs which have served as models for the furniture of our modern saloons. Nature is as lavish of her favours as she was of old to the inhabitants of the valley of the Nile; but, for many centuries, they have ceased to enjoy the benefit of a steady government: each of their successive rulers, during this long lapse of time, considering the uncertain tenure of his power, has been almost wholly intent upon increasing his own wealth; and thus, a large portion of the nation has gradually perished, and the remnant, in general, been reduced to a state of the most afflicting poverty. The male portion of the population of Egypt being scarcely greater than is sufficient for the cultivation of as much of the soil as is subject to the natural inundation, or easily irrigated by artificial means, the number of persons who devote themselves to manufactures in this country is comparatively very small; and as there are so few competitors, and, at present, few persons of wealth to encourage them, their works in general display but little skill. But the low state of the manual arts has, in a great degree, been occasioned by another cause: the Turkish Sultán Seleem, after his conquest of Egypt, took with him thence to his own country, as related by El-Gabartee, so many masters of crafts which were not practised in Turkey, that more than fifty manual arts ceased to be pursued in Egypt.

Painting and sculpture, as applied to the representation of living objects, are, I have already stated, absolutely prohibited by the religion of El-Islám: there are, however, some Muslims in Egypt who attempt the delineation of men, lions, camels, and other animals, flowers, boats, etc., particularly in (what they call) the decoration of a few shop-fronts, the doors of pilgrims’ houses, etc.; though their performances would be surpassed by children of five or six years of age in our own country. But the Muslim religion especially promotes industry, by requiring that every man be acquainted with some art or occupation by which he may, in case of necessity, be able to support himself and those dependent upon him, and to fulfil all his religious and moral duties. The art in which the Egyptians most excel is architecture. The finest specimens of Arabian architecture are found in the Egyptian metropolis and its environs; and not only the mosques and other public buildings are remarkable for their grandeur and beauty, but many of the private dwellings, also, attract our admiration, especially by their interior structure and decorations. Yet this art has, of late years, much declined, like most others in this country: a new style of architecture, partly Oriental and partly European, and of a very plain description, being generally preferred. The doors, ceilings, windows, and pavements of the buildings in the older style, which have already been described, display considerable taste, of a peculiar kind; and so, also, do most of the Egyptian manufactures; though many of them are rather clumsy, or ill finished. The turners of wood, whose chief occupation was that of making the lattice-work of windows, were very numerous, and their work was generally neater than it is at present: they have less employment now, as windows of modern houses are often made of glass. The turner, like most other artisans in Egypt, sits to his work. In the art of glass-making, for which Egypt was so much celebrated in ancient times, the modern inhabitants of this country possess but little skill: they have lost the art of manufacturing coloured glass for windows; but, for the construction of windows of this material, they are still admired, though not so much as they were a few years ago, before the adoption of a new style of architecture diminished the demand for their work. Their pottery is generally of a rude kind: it mostly consists of porous bottles and jars, for cooling, as well as keeping, water. For their skill in the preparation of morocco leather, they are justly celebrated. The branches and leaves of the palm-tree they employ in a great variety of manufactures: of the former, they make seats, coops, chests, frames for beds, etc.: of the latter, baskets, panniers, mats, brooms, fly-whisks, and many other utensils. Of the fibres, also, that grow at the foot of the branches of the palm-tree are made most of the ropes used in Egypt. The best mats (which are much used instead of carpets, particularly in summer) are made of rushes. Egypt has lost the celebrity which it enjoyed in ancient times for its fine linen: the linen, cotton, and woollen cloths, and the silks now woven in this country, are generally of coarse or poor qualities.

The Egyptians have long been famous for the art of hatching fowls’ eggs by artificial heat. This practice, though obscurely described by ancient authors, appears to have been common in Egypt in very remote times. The building in which the process is performed is called, in Lower Egypt, “maamal el-firákh,” and, in Upper Egypt, “maamal el-farroog:” in the former division of the country, there are more than a hundred such establishments; and in the latter, more than half that number. Most of the superintendents, if not all, are Copts. The proprietors pay a tax to the government. The maamal is constructed of burnt or sun-dried bricks; and consists of two parallel rows of small ovens and cells for fire, divided by a narrow, vaulted passage; each oven being about nine or ten feet long, eight feet wide, and five or six feet high, and having above it a vaulted fire-cell, of the same size, or rather less in height. Each oven communicates with the passage by an aperture large enough for a man to enter; and with its fire-cell by a similar aperture: the fire-cells, also, of the same row, communicate with each other; and each has an aperture in its vault (for the escape of the smoke), which is opened only occasionally: the passage, too, has several such apertures in its vaulted roof. The eggs are placed upon mats or straw, and one tier above another, usually to the number of three tiers, in the ovens; and burning “gelleh” (a fuel before mentioned, composed of the dung of animals, mixed with chopped straw, and made into the form of round, flat cakes) is placed upon the floors of the fire-cells above. The entrance of the maamal is well closed. Before it are two or three small chambers, for the attendant, and the fuel, and the chickens when newly hatched. The operation is performed only during two or three months in the year—in the spring—earliest in the most southern parts of the country. Each maamal in general contains from twelve to twenty-four ovens; and receives about a hundred and fifty thousand eggs, during the annual period of its continuing open; one quarter or a third of which number generally fail. The peasants of the neighbourhood supply the eggs: the attendant of the maamal examines them; and afterwards usually gives one chicken for every two eggs that he has received. In general, only half the number of ovens are used for the first ten days; and fires are lighted only in the fire-cells above these. On the eleventh day, these fires are put out, and others are lighted in the other fire-cells, and fresh eggs placed in the ovens below these last. On the following day, some of the eggs in the former ovens are removed, and placed on the floor of the fire-cells above, where the fires have been extinguished. The general heat maintained during the process is from 100° to 103° of Fahrenheit’s thermometer. The manager, having been accustomed to this art from his youth, knows, from his long experience, the exact temperature that is required for the success of the operation, without having any instrument, like our thermometer, to guide him. On the twentieth day, some of the eggs first put in are hatched; but most, on the twenty-first day; that is, after the same period as is required in the case of natural incubation. The weaker of the chickens are placed in the passage: the rest, in the innermost of the anterior apartments, where they remain a day or two before they are given to the persons to whom they are due. When the eggs first placed have been hatched, and the second supply half hatched, the ovens in which the former were placed, and which are now vacant, receive the third supply; and, in like manner, when the second supply is hatched, a fourth is introduced in their place. I have not found that the fowls produced in this manner are inferior in point of flavour, or in other respects, to those produced from the egg by incubation. The fowls and their eggs in Egypt are, in both cases, and with respect to size and flavour, very inferior to those in our country.—In one of the Egyptian newspapers published by order of the government (No. 248, for the 18th of Ramadán, 1246, or the 3d of March, 1831, of our era) I find the following statement:—

Though the commerce of Egypt has much declined since the discovery of the passage from Europe to India by the Cape of Good Hope, and in consequence of the monopolies and exactions of its present ruler, it is still considerable.

The principal imports from Europe are woollen cloths (chiefly from France), calico, plain muslin, figured muslin (of Scotch manufacture, for turbans), silks, velvet, crape, shawls (Scotch, English, and French) in imitation of those of Kashmeer, writing-paper (chiefly from Venice), fire-arms, straight sword-blades (from Germany) for the Nubians, etc., watches and clocks, coffee-cups and various articles of earthenware and glass (mostly from Germany), many kinds of hardwares, planks, metal, beads, wine and liqueurs; and white slaves, silks, embroidered handkerchiefs and napkins, mouth-pieces of pipes, slippers, and a variety of made goods, copper and brass wares, etc., from Constantinople:—from Asia Minor, carpets (among which, the seggádehs, or small prayer-carpets), figs, etc.:—from Syria, tobacco, striped silks, ’abáyehs (or woollen cloaks), soap:—from Arabia, coffee, spices, several drugs, Indian goods (as shawls, silks, muslins, etc.):—from Abyssinia and Sennár and the neighbouring countries, slaves, gold, ivory, ostrich-feathers, kurbágs (or whips of hippopotamus’ hide), tamarind in cakes, gums, senna:—from El-Gharb, or the West (that is, northern Africa, from Egypt westwards), tarbooshes (or red cloth scull-caps), burnooses (or white woollen hooded cloaks), heráms (or white woollen sheets, used for night-coverings and for dress), yellow morocco shoes.

The principal exports to Europe are wheat, maize, rice, beans, cotton, flax, indigo, coffee, various spices, gums, senna, ivory, ostrich-feathers:—to Turkey, male and female Abyssinian and black slaves (including a few eunuchs), rice, coffee, spices, henna, etc.:—to Syria, slaves, rice, etc.:—to Arabia, chiefly corn:—to Sennár and the neighbouring countries, cotton and linen and woollen goods, a few Syrian and Egyptian striped silks, small carpets, beads and other ornaments, soap, the straight sword-blades mentioned before, fire-arms, copper wares, writing-paper.

To convey some notion of the value of money in Cairo, I insert the following list of the present prices of certain common articles of food, etc. In the country towns and villages, most kinds of provisions are cheaper than in the metropolis: meat, fowls, and pigeons, about half the prices here mentioned: wheat and bread, from about one third to half.

There are in Cairo numerous buildings called “wekálehs,”^[434] chiefly designed for the accommodation of merchants, and for the reception of their goods. The wekáleh is a building surrounding a square or oblong court. Its ground-floor consists of vaulted magazines for merchandise, which face the court; and these magazines are sometimes used as shops. Above them are generally lodgings, which are entered from a gallery extending along each of the four sides of the court; or, in the place of these lodgings, there are other magazines; and in many wekálehs, which have apartments intended as lodgings, these apartments are used as magazines. In general, a wekáleh has only one common entrance; the door of which is closed at night, and kept by a porter. There are about two hundred of these buildings in Cairo; and three-fourths of that number are within that part which constituted the original city.

It has already been mentioned, in the Introduction to this work, that the great thoroughfare-streets of Cairo generally have a row of shops along each side, not communicating with the superstructures. So, also, have many of the bye-streets. Commonly, a portion of a street, or a whole street, contains chiefly, or solely, shops appropriated to one particular trade^[435]; and is called the Sook (or Market) of that trade; or is named after a mosque there situated. Thus, a part of the main street of the city is called “Sook en-Nahháseen,” or the market of the sellers of copper wares (or simply “the Nahháseen”—the word “Sook” being usually dropped); another part is called “the Góhargeeyeh,” or [market of] the jewellers; another, “the Khurdageeyeh,” or [market of] the sellers of hardwares; another, “the Ghóreeyeh,” or [market of] the Ghóreeyeh, which is the name of a mosque situated there. These are some of the chief sooks of the city. The principal Turkish sook is called “Khán El-Khaleelee.” Some of the sooks are covered over with matting, or with planks, supported by beams extending across the street, a little above the shops, or above the houses.

The shop (“dukkán”) is a square recess, or cell, generally about six or seven feet high, and between three and four feet in width; or it consists of two cells, one behind the other, the inner one serving as a magazine.^[436] The floor of the shop is even with the top of a “mastab′ah,” or raised seat of stone or brick, built against the front. This is usually about two feet and a half, or three feet, in height; and about the same in breadth. The front of the shop is furnished with folding shutters, commonly consisting of three leaves, one above another: the uppermost of these is turned up in front; the two other leaves, sometimes folded together, are turned down upon the mastab′ah, and form an even seat, upon which is spread a mat or carpet, with, perhaps, a cushion or two. Some shops have folding doors instead of the shutters above described. The shopkeeper generally sits upon the mastab′ah, unless he be obliged to retire a little way within his shop to make room for two or more customers, who mount up on the seat, taking off their shoes before they draw up their feet upon the mat or carpet. To a regular customer, or one who makes any considerable purchase, the shopkeeper generally presents a pipe (unless the former have his own with him, and it be filled and lighted), and he calls or sends to the boy of the nearest coffee-shop, and desires him to bring some coffee, which is served in the same manner as in the house, in small china cups placed within cups of brass. Not more than two persons can sit conveniently upon the mastab′ah of a shop, unless it be more spacious than is commonly the case; but some are three or four feet broad, and the shops to which they belong five or six feet in width; and consequently these afford room enough for four persons, or more, sitting in the Eastern fashion. The shopman generally says his prayers upon the mastab′ah in the sight of the passengers in the street. When he leaves his shop for a few minutes, or for about half an hour, he either relies for the protection of his property upon the next shopkeepers, or those opposite, or hangs a net before his shop. He seldom thinks it necessary to close and lock the shutters, excepting at night, when he returns to his house; or when he goes to the mosque, on the Friday, to join in the noon-prayers of that day.—The apartments above the shops have been described in the Introduction.

Buying and selling are here very tiresome processes to persons unaccustomed to such modes of bargaining. When a shopkeeper is asked the price of any of his goods, he generally demands more than he expects to receive; the customer declares the price exorbitant, and offers about half or two-thirds of the sum first-named; the price thus bidden is, of course, rejected: but the shopkeeper lowers his demand; and then the customer, in his turn, bids somewhat higher than before: thus they usually go on until they meet about half-way between the sum first demanded and that first offered, and so the bargain is concluded. But I believe that most of the tradesmen are, by European travellers, unjustly blamed for thus acting; since I have ascertained that many an Egyptian shopkeeper will sell an article for a profit of one per cent., and even less. When a person would make any but a trifling purchase, having found the article that exactly suits him, he generally makes up his mind for a long altercation: he mounts upon the mastab′ah of the shop, seats himself at his ease, fills and lights his pipe, and then the contest of words commences, and lasts often half an hour, or even more. Sometimes the shopkeeper, or the customer, interrupts the bargaining by introducing some irrelevant topic of conversation, as if the one had determined to abate his demand no further, or the other to bid no higher: then again the haggling is continued. The bargain being concluded, and the purchaser having taken his leave, his servant generally receives, from the tradesman, a small present of money, which, if not given spontaneously, he scruples not to demand. In many of the sooks in Cairo auctions are held on stated days, once or twice a week. They are conducted by “delláls” (or brokers), hired either by private persons who have anything that they wish to sell in this manner, or by shopkeepers; and the purchasers are of both these classes. The “delláls” carry the goods up and down, announcing the sums bidden with cries of “harág” or “haráj,” etc.—Among the lower orders, a bargain of the most trifling nature is often made with a great deal of vehemence of voice and gesture: a person ignorant of their language would imagine that the parties engaged in it were quarrelling, and highly enraged. The peasants will often say, when a person asks the price of anything which they have for sale, “Receive it as a present:”^[437] this answer having become a common form of speech, they know that advantage will not be taken of it; and when desired again to name the price, they will do so, but generally name a sum that is exorbitant.

It would be tedious and uninteresting to enumerate all the trades pursued in Cairo. The principal of them are those of the draper, or seller of materials for dress (who is simply called “tágir,” or merchant), and of the seller of ready-made dresses, arms, etc. (who has the same appellation); the jeweller (“góhargee”); the goldsmith and silversmith (“sáïgh”), who only works by order; the seller of hardwares (“khurdagee”); the seller of copper wares (“nahhás”); the tailor (“kheiyát”); the dyer (“sabbágh”); the darner (“refta”); the ornamental sewer and maker of shereet, or silk lace, etc. (“habbák”); the maker of silk cords, etc. (“’akkád”); the maker of pipes (“shibukshee”); the druggist and perfumer (“’attár”), who also sells wax candles, etc.; the tobacconist (“dakhákhinee”); the fruiterer (“fákihánee”); the seller of dried fruits (“nukalee”); the seller of sherbet (“sharbetlee”); the oilman (“zeiyát”), who sells butter, cheese, honey, etc., as well as oil; the greengrocer (“khudaree”); the butcher (“gezzár”); and the baker (“farrán”), to whom bread, meat, etc., are sent to be baked. There are many cooks’ shops, where kebáb and various other dishes are cooked and sold; but it is seldom that persons eat at these shops, generally sending to them for provisions when they cannot conveniently prepare food in their own houses. Shopkeepers often procure their breakfast or dinner from one of these cooks, who are called “tabbákhs.” There are also many shops in which fateerehs, and others in which boiled beans (fool mudemmes) are sold. Both these articles of food have been described in a former chapter. Many persons of the lower orders eat at the shop of the “fatátiree” (or seller of fateerehs), or at that of the “fowwál” (or bean-seller).

Bread, vegetables, and a variety of eatables, are carried about for sale. The cries of some of the hawkers are curious, and deserve to be mentioned. The seller of “tirmis” (or lupins) often cries, “Aid! O Imbábee! Aid!” This is understood in two senses; as an invocation for aid to the sheykh El-Imbábee, a celebrated Muslim saint, buried at the village of Imbábeh, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Cairo, in the neighbourhood of which village the best tirmis is grown; and also as implying that it is through the aid of the saint above mentioned that the tirmis of Imbábeh is so excellent. The seller of this vegetable also cries, “The tirmis of Imbábeh surpasses the almond!” Another cry of the seller of tirmis is, “O how sweet the little offspring of the river!” This last cry, which is seldom heard but in the country towns and villages of Egypt, alludes to the manner in which the tirmis is prepared for food. To deprive it of its natural bitterness, it is soaked, for two or three days, in a vessel full of water, then boiled; and, after this, sewed up in a basket of palm-leaves (called “fard”), and thrown into the Nile, where it is left to soak again two or three days, after which it is dried, and eaten cold, with a little salt.—The seller of sour limes cries, “God make them light [or easy of sale]! O limes!”—The toasted pips of a kind of melon called “’abdalláwee,” and of the water-melon, are often announced by the cry of “O consoler of the embarrassed! O pips!” though more commonly by the simple cry of “Roasted pips!”—A curious cry of the seller of a kind of sweetmeat (“haláweh”) composed of treacle fried with some other ingredients, is, “For a nail! O sweetmeat!” He is said to be half a thief: children and servants often steal implements of iron, etc., from the house in which they live, and giveand give them in exchange for his sweetmeat.—The hawker of oranges cries, “Honey! O oranges! Honey!” and similar cries are used by the sellers of other fruits and vegetables, so that it is sometimes impossible to guess what the person announces for sale, as when we hear the cry of “Sycamore-figs! O grapes!” excepting by the rule that what is for sale is the least excellent of the fruits, etc., mentioned; as sycamore-figs are not so good as grapes.—A very singular cry is used by the seller of roses: “The rose was a thorn; from the sweat of the Prophet it blossomed.” This alludes to a miracle related of the Prophet.—The fragrant flowers of the henna-tree (or Egyptian privet) are carried about for sale, and the seller cries, “Odours of paradise! O flowers of the henna!”—A kind of cotton-cloth, made by machinery which is put in motion by a bull, is announced by the cry of “The work of the bull! O maidens!”

As the water of the wells in Cairo is slightly brackish, numerous “sakkas” (carriers or sellers of water) obtain their livelihood by supplying its inhabitants with water from the Nile. During the season of the inundation, or rather during the period of about four months after the opening of the canal which runs through the metropolis, the sakkas draw their water from this canal: at other times they bring it from the river. It is conveyed in skins by camels and asses, and sometimes, when the distance is short, and the skin small, by the sakka himself. The water-skins of the camel (which are called “rei”) are a pair of wide bags of ox-hide. The ass bears a goat’s skin (called “kirbeh”); so also does the sakka, if he have no ass. The rei contain three or four kirbehs. The general cry of the sakka is, “O! may God compensate [me]!” Whenever this cry is heard, it is known that a sakka is passing. For a goat’s skin of water, brought from a distance of a mile and a half, or two miles, he obtains scarcely more than a penny.

There are also many sakkas who supply passengers in the streets of the metropolis with water. One of this occupation is called “sakka sharbeh:” his kirbeh has a long brass spout, and he pours the water into a brass cup, or an earthen kulleh, for any one who would drink.—There is a more numerous class who follow the same occupation, called “hemalees.” These are mostly darweeshes, of the order of the Rifá’ees, or that of the Beiyoomees, and are exempt from the income-tax called firdeh. The hemalee carries, upon his back, a vessel (called “ibreek”) of porous grey earth. This vessel cools the water. Sometimes the hemalee has an earthen kulleh of water scented with “móyet zahr” (or orange-flower-water), prepared from the flowers of the “náring” (a bitter orange), for his best customers; and often a sprig of náring is stuck in the mouth of his ibreek. He also, generally, has a wallet hung by his side. From persons of the higher and middle orders he receives from one to five faddahs for a draught of water; from the poor, either nothing, or a piece of bread or some other article of food, which he puts in his wallet. Many hemalees, and some sakkas who carry the goat’s skin, are found at the scenes of religious festivals, such as the moolids of saints, etc., in Cairo and its neighbourhood. They are often paid, by visitors to the tomb of a saint on such occasions, to distribute the water which they carry to passengers; a cupful to whoever desires. This work of charity is called “tesbeel;” and is performed for the sake of the saint, and on other occasions than moolids. The water-carriers who are thus employed are generally allowed to fill their ibreeks or kirbehs at a public fountain, as they demand nothing from the passengers whom they supply. When employed to distribute water to passengers in the street, etc., they generally chant a short cry, inviting the thirsty to partake of the charity offered them in the name of God, most commonly in the words, and to the air, here following:—

and praying that paradise and pardon may be the lot of him who affords the charitable gift; thus—

There are numerous other persons who follow occupations similar to that of the hemalee. Among these are sellers of “’erksoos,” or infusion of liquorice, mentioned in a former chapter. The “’erk-soosee” (or seller of this beverage) generally carries a red earthen jar of the liquid on his left side, partly supported by a strap and chain, and partly by his left arm: the mouth having some leaf (or fibres of the palm-tree) stuffed into it. He also carries two or more brass or china cups, which he knocks together.—In the same manner, many “sharbetlees” (or sellers of sherbet) carry about for sale “zebeeb” (or infusion of raisins). The sharbetlee commonly bears, in his left hand, the glass vessel of a “sheesheh,” filled with zebeeb; and a large tin or copper jug full of the same, and several glass cups, in his right hand. Some sharbetlees carry, on the head, a round tinned copper tray, with a number of glass cups of “teen meblool,” or “belah meblool,” which are figs and dates steeped in water; and a copper vessel, or a china bowl, of the same. Sahlab (a thin jelly, made of water, wheat-starch, and sugar, boiled, with a little cinnamon or ginger sprinkled upon it; or made as a drink without starch) is likewise carried about in the same manner; and “soobiya” (which is a drink made of the pips of the ’abdalláwee melon, moistened and pounded, and steeped in water, which is then strained, and sweetened with sugar; or made with rice instead of the pips) is also vended in a similar way, and carried in vessels like those used for zebeeb; but the glass cups are generally placed in a kind of trough of tin, attached, by a belt, to the waist of the seller.

It has been mentioned before that many poor persons in Cairo gain their livelihood by going about to clean pipes. The pipe-cleaner (“musellikátee”) carries a number of long wires for this purpose in three or four hollow canes, or tubes of tin, which are bound together and slung to his shoulder. A small leather bag, full of tow, to wind round the top of the wire with which the pipe is cleaned, is attached to the canes or tin tubes. The musellikátee generally obtains no more than a “nuss faddah” (or about a quarter of a farthing) for each pipe that he cleans.

A very great number of persons of both sexes among the lower orders in Cairo, and many in other towns of Egypt, obtain their subsistence by begging. As might be expected, not a few of these are abominable impostors. There are some whose appearance is most distressing to every humane person who sees them, but who accumulate considerable property. A case of this kind was made public here a few months ago. A blind felláh, who was led through the streets of the metropolis by a young girl, his daughter, both of whom were always nearly naked, was in the daily habit of bringing to his house a blind Turkish beggar to sup with him. One evening he was not at home; but his daughter was there, and had prepared the supper for his Turkish friend, who sat and ate alone; and, in doing this, happened to put his hand on one side and felt a jar full of money, which, without scruple, he carried away with him. It contained the sum of a hundred and ten purses (then equivalent to rather more than five hundred and fifty guineas), in kheyreeyehs, or small coins of nine piasters each. The plundered beggar sought redress at the Citadel, and recovered his property, with the exception of forty kheyreeyehs, which the thief had spent, but was interdicted from begging in future. Children are often seen in Cairo perfectly naked; and I have several times seen females from twelve to twenty years of age, and upwards, with only a narrow strip of rag round the loins, begging in the streets of this city. They suffer little from exposure of the bare person to the cold of winter or the scorching sun of summer, being accustomed to it from infancy; and the men may, if they choose, sleep in some of the mosques. In other respects, also, their condition is not quite so bad as their appearance might lead a stranger to suppose. They are almost sure of obtaining either food or money sufficient for supplying the absolute wants of nature in consequence of the charitable disposition of their countrymen and the common habit which the tradespeople have of eating in their shops, and generally giving a morsel of their food to those who ask for it. There are many beggars who spend the greater part of the day’s gains to indulge themselves at night with the intoxicating hasheesh, which, for a few hours, renders them, in imagination, the happiest of mankind.

The cries of the beggars of Cairo are generally appeals to God. Among the most common are—“O Exciter of compassion! O Lord!”—“For the sake of God! O ye charitable!”—“I am seeking from my Lord a cake of bread!”—“O how bountiful Thou art! O Lord!”—“I am the guest of God and the Prophet!”—in the evening, “My supper must be Thy gift! O Lord!”—on the eve of Friday, “The night of the excellent Friday!”—and on Friday, “The excellent day of Friday!”—One who daily passed my door used to exclaim, “Place thy reliance upon God! There is none but God!” and another, a woman, I now hear crying, “My supper must be Thy gift! O Lord! from the hand of a bountiful believer, a testifier of the unity of God! O masters!”—The answers which beggars generally receive (for they are so numerous that a person cannot give to all who ask of him) are, “God help thee!”—“God will sustain!”—“God give thee!”—“God content, or enrich, thee!”—They are not satisfied by any denial but one implied by these or similar answers. In the more frequented streets of Cairo, it is common to see a beggar asking for the price of a cake of bread, which he or she holds in the hand, followed by the seller of the bread. Some beggars, particularly darweeshes, go about chanting verses in praise of the Prophet, or beating cymbals, or a little kettle-drum. In the country, many darweeshes go from village to village begging alms. I have seen them on horseback; and one I lately saw thus mounted, and accompanied by two men bearing each a flag, and by a third beating a drum: this beggar on horseback was going from hut to hut asking for bread.

The most important of the occupations which employ the modern Egyptians, and that which (as before mentioned) engages all but a very small proportion of them, is agriculture.

The greater portion of the cultivable soil is fertilized by the natural annual inundation; but the fields in the vicinity of the river and of the large canals, and some other lands, in which pits are dug for water, are irrigated by means of machines of different kinds. The most common of these machines is the “shádoof,” which consists of two posts or pillars of wood, or of mud and canes or rushes, about five feet in height, and less than three feet apart, with a horizontal piece of wood extending from top to top, to which is suspended a slender lever, formed of a branch of a tree, having at one end a weight chiefly composed of mud, and at the other, suspended to two long palm-sticks, a vessel in the form of a bowl, made of basket-work, or of a hoop and a piece of woollen stuff or leather: with this vessel the water is thrown up to the height of about eight feet into a trough hollowed out for its reception. In the southern parts of Upper Egypt, four or five shádoofs are required, when the river is at the lowest, to raise the water to the level of the fields. There are many shádoofs with two levers, etc., which are worked by two men. The operation is extremely laborious.—Another machine much used for the same purpose, and almost the only one employed for the irrigation of gardens in Egypt, is the “sákiyeh.” This mainly consists of a vertical wheel, which raises the water in earthen pots attached to cords, and forming a continuous series; a second vertical wheel fixed to the same axis, with cogs; and a large, horizontal, cogged wheel, which, being turned by a pair of cows or bulls, or by a single beast, puts in motion the two former wheels and the pots. The construction of this machine is of a very rude kind, and its motion produces a disagreeable creaking noise.—There is a third machine, called “táboot,” used for the irrigation of lands in the northern parts of Egypt, where it is only requisite to raise the water a few feet. It somewhat resembles the “sákiyeh:” the chief difference is, that, instead of the wheel with pots, it has a large wheel with hollow jaunts, or fellies, in which the water is raised. In the same parts of Egypt, and often to raise the water to the channel of the “táboot,” a vessel like that of the “shádoof,” with four cords attached to it, is also used. Two men, each holding two of the cords, throw up the water by means of this vessel, which is called “katweh.”—In the process of artificial irrigation, the land is divided into small squares, by ridges of earth, or into furrows; and the water, flowing from the machine along a narrow gutter, is admitted into one square or furrow after another.

The “rei” lands (or those which are naturally inundated) are, with some exceptions, cultivated but once during the year. After the waters have retired, about the end of October or beginning of November, they are sown with wheat, barley, lentils, beans, lupins, chick-peas, etc. This is called the “shitawee” (or winter) season. But the “sharákee” lands (or those which are too high to be subject to the natural inundation), and some parts of the rei, by artificial irrigation are made to produce three crops every year; though not all the sharákee lands are thus cultivated. The lands artificially irrigated produce, first, their shitawee crops, being sown at the same period as the rei lands, generally with wheat or barley. Secondly, in what is called the “seyfee,” or, in the southern parts of Egypt, the “keydee,” or “geydee” (that is, the summer) season, commencing about the vernal equinox, or a little later, they are sown with millet (“durah seyfee”), or with indigo, or cotton, etc. Thirdly, in the “demeereh” season, or period of the rise of the Nile, commencing about, or soon after the summer solstice, they are sown with millet again, or with maize (“durah shámee”), etc., and thus crowned with a third harvest.—Sugar is cultivated throughout a large portion of Upper Egypt, and rice in the low lands near the Mediterranean.

For the purpose of separating the grain of wheat, barley, etc., and cutting the straw, which serves as fodder, the Egyptians use a machine called “nórag,” in the form of a chair, which moves upon small iron wheels, or thin circular plates, generally eleven, fixed to three thick axle-trees, four to the foremost, the same number to the hindmost, and three to the intermediate axle-tree. This machine is drawn, in a circle, by a pair of cows or bulls, over the corn. The plough, and the other implements which they use in husbandry, are of rude and simple kinds.

The navigation of the Nile employs a great number of the natives of Egypt. The boatmen of the Nile are mostly strong, muscular men. They undergo severe labour in rowing, poling, and towing; but are very cheerful; and often the most so when they are most occupied, for then they frequently amuse themselves by singing. In consequence of the continual changes which take place in the bed of the Nile, the most experienced pilot is liable frequently to run his vessel aground; on such an occurrence, it is often necessary for the crew to descend into the water, to shove off the boat with their backs and shoulders. On account of their being so liable to run aground, the boats of the Nile are generally made to draw rather more water at the head than at the stern, and hence the rudder is necessarily very wide. The better kind of boats used on the Nile, which are very numerous, are of a simple but elegant form, mostly between thirty and forty feet in length, with two masts, two large triangular sails, and a cabin, next the stern, generally about four feet high, and occupying about a fourth, or a third, of the length of the boat. In most of these boats, the cabin is divided into two or more apartments. Sudden whirlwinds and squalls being very frequent on the Nile, a boatman is usually employed to hold the main-sheet in his hand, that he may be able to let it fly at a moment’s notice: the traveller should be especially careful with respect to this precaution, however light the wind.