APPROACH TO CAIRO.

185

mouldering pyramids, which extend along the edge of the desert from Dashour to Ghizeh, conferring, by the historical associations they awaken, an indescribable air of grandeur and solemn antiquity upon the landscape. Presently we draw near the ruins of Babylon, now chiefly remarkable for the noble avenue of sycamore trees, leading from thence northward along the banks of the river. To this succeeds Masr el Atikeh, or "Old Cairo," and then the village of Ghizeh, embosomed in date-woods the verdant and beautiful island of Rhouda - the tower of the Nilometer-the narrow channel on the right filled with ships, now crimsoned by the beams of the setting sun- the palaces, the gardens on either hand ladies, veiled, rowed by in sumptuous pleasure boats by their slaves-trees- odoriferous plants- flowers and every sign of spring. Evening being, in these countries, the season of the day principally devoted to enjoyment, the palaces and villas on both shores began, as twilight thickened, to be lavishly illuminated, while music, such as even the most fastidious Frank might listen to with delight, came floating on the perfumed breeze. In such moments, the romantic incidents and gorgeous descriptions of the "Arabian Nights" spontaneously present themselves to the mind; and though, upon cool examination, the interior of those Musulman palaces might not have strictly corresponded with the pictures traced by the fancy, it would still, I make no doubt, have sufficed, with its superb divans, mirrors, chandeliers, and numerous female inmates, attired in the seductive

186

ARRIVAL AT CAIRO.

costume of the harem, to steep the senses in forgetfulness. It was already quite dark when we arrived at Boolak; but, since it seemed extremely probable that in Cairo I might find waiting for me letters from Lausanne, I immediately quitted the kandjia, and walked hastily across the plain, in order to arrive before the time of evening prayer and the closing of the gates. Among the pains of travelling, however, none are more acute than those caused by the irregularity and uncertainty of the post-office, more especially in a country like Egypt; - no letters had arrived ; —and all the pleasure I had promised myself on my return to Cairo vanished in a moment.

BURCKHARDT CRIME OF POISONING- TRAGICAL EVENTS IN POISONING OF TRAVELLERS

THE HAREMS

THE DATURA

ANECDOTE OF AN ARAB MODE OF SEDUCTION - VISIT TO HE

LIOPOLIS- PILGRIM CARAVAN-TENTS
TERIES OF CAIRO -PLAIN OF HELIOPOLIS

SUN
DANS

ARAB HORSES -CEME

FOUNTAIN OF THE VENERATED BY THE MOHAMME

SITE OF ONSOLITARY OBELISK ANCIENT CAPITAL OF

EGYPT ANCIENT TRADITIONS

RAMESES, THE EGYPTIAN GOD

OF WARABATTOIRS.

Friday, March 1. CAIRO.

DXXXII. INSTEAD of taking up our quarters at the Italian Hotel, we now hired a house in the Turkish quarter, the property of Osman Effendi, whose attention and civility to European travellers, -more particularly towards the English,are well known. He had been the friend and companion of Burckhardt in the Hejaz, and frequently amused us, in the evening, by relating humorous anecdotes of his adventures both in Arabia and Egypt. Osman, it seems, first saw him in a tailor's shop at Jidda. Some peculiarity in the countenance, and, perhaps, a foreign accent in the pronunciation of Arabic, which each could detect, but not avoid, mutually betrayed them to each other, notwithstanding the masquerading costume in which they both appeared. Osman was

188

ANECDOTE OF BURCKHARDT.

at this time practising as a physician; and Burckhardt, who always associated reluctantly with the Arabs, found some relief in occasionally putting off, in his company, the burden of an assumed character. To prolong this enjoyment, our Hakim, to whom the society of Turks and Arabs was no less irksome than to Burckhardt, joined his friend at Mekka, where they went together through the ceremonies of the pilgrimage; a fact which it is somewhat extraordinary that Burckhardt should have omitted to notice. Shy and timid in his manners, passionate, but placable, in his character, he was often, when moving about the country in the disguise of a peasant, ill-treated and beaten by the Arabs; and once in a very severe manner, with the naboot*, by a Jellabi, or "slave merchant," in Upper Egypt. Burckhardt, some time afterwards, met the man in the streets of Cairo, where he was living in high respectability and had friends at court. Retaining no resentment, he accosted him very mildly. "Ah! my old friend, said he, how do you do? Where is your naboot?" The Jellabi, recollecting his features, and observing that the person whom he had beaten as a Fellah occupied in reality a much higher rank in society, began to imagine he already felt the koorbash on the soles of his feet, and throwing himself upon the ground before the traveller, and kissing his shoes, conjured him by the Prophet and by his

A heavy walking stick, usually about four feet in length, carried as a weapon by the Fellahs, and sometimes shod with iron.

beard to have mercy on him. Burckhardt, laughing at his terrors, dismissed him very good-humouredly, merely remarking that it might be prudent to be more sparing of the naboot in future, lest he should, some time or another, strike a more powerful and implacable man.

DXXXIII. Poisoning is a crime of very common occurrence in Egypt, where the imperfection of the laws, and the peculiar state of society, render detection and punishment exceedingly difficult. When a man dies, therefore, it is the custom to take hold of his mustachios or beard, which, they say, will easily come off in the hand, if the deceased has been poisoned; though this is a fact which I have never seen corroborated by the testimony of any European physician. Jealousy and revenge-"spretaque forma"

constitute, among the inmates of the harem, the most ordinary incentives to this crime. Having no resource but sensual excitement, with no other companions than their own fierce passions; deprived, when they do not happen to be mothers, of all the holy and purifying influence of affection; cut off by many thou

But a circumstance corroborative of the fact has been noticed by Captain Williamson in his Oriental Field Sports. "The poison," says he, never fails to kill within an hour.". -"As soon as the tiger is dead, no time is lost in stripping off the skin, for, were it suffered to remain until tainted by the heat, nothing could effect its preservation; it would rot, to a certainty; or even were it not to do so, the hair would loosen and fall off. Such would result merely from the atmosphere; but poison accelerates its decomposition tenfold; and after the torments produced by the wound, the carcase becomes exceedingly disposed to putrescence."