370

PASHA'S SALT-WATER BATHS.

about forty-eight pounders, are six in number, and without platforms. There are also two ten-inch mortars, directed towards the town. The shot and shells lay about in confusion. The ramparts are sand, and half reveted with masonry; but the whole has been suffered to go to decay, and by means of the neighbouring buildings, hills, and hollows, it may be approached the whole way up under cover. Ahmed Chelebi, who has the superintendence of the repairs, is engaged in renewing the drawbridge; but the ditch is nearly filled up. Wooden platforms are making. It possesses a species of covered way, but this likewise has been nearly overwhelmed by débris from the ramparts above. The neighbourhood, however, abounds with materials for all the requisite repairs, so that it might be easily converted into a respectable post.

DCXXXIV. Our next visit was to the Pasha's salt-water baths, situated in the sea, below the palace, They consist of

on the western side of Ras el Tin. a large low edifice, resting on several rows of pillars, and constructed entirely of wood. A narrow wooden causeway, extending from the shore to the esplanade, leads to the entrance, which, being surrounded with clear water, and rendered exquisitely cool by the sea breezes, forms a most agreeable retreat during the heats of summer. Entering the building, and traversing a spacious saloon, the walls and roof of which are tastefully decorated, we arrived at the principal bath, where a low flight of steps descends to the water,

may

which is of moderate depth, and so beautifully clear, that every pebble in the bottom is visible. A narrow corridor, with neat railings, extends round the apartment; pillars, disposed at regular intervals, support the roof; and at each of the four corners is a diminutive aviary for a number of singing birds. Arranged along the pillars is a series of vine leaves in bronze, curled and hollow, in which the birds build their nests. From the centre of the glazed cupola depends a magnificent chandelier, which, in the evening, when the ladies of the harem generally bathe, casts a dazzling splendour over the waters; and, on these occasions, when a number of beautiful forms are seated unadorned in those cool refreshing recesses, sporting in the waves, talking, laughing, singing, or listening to some wild tale related by their handmaidens, the fictions of the Arabian Nights appear to be realised. The female bath occupies the centre of the edifice, and is surrounded by a long suite of dressing rooms, elegantly furnished, where, after bathing, the ladies sip coffee or sherbet, seated on English chairs, or reposing on soft divans, while they are shampooed, fanned, or perfumed with essences by their women. In all these apartments, the divans, though tasteful and elegant, are less sumptuous than in the palaces of Cairo, being covered with gay chintzes of Egyptian manufacture. The windows, in general, are fitted up with ground glass. On the northern side of the building is the children's bath, resembling the larger one in form,

water.

but more plainly fitted up, and containing shallower At the western front, facing the harbour, is a large open verandah, with seats, where the Pasha smokes, and amuses himself, in the summer evenings, by observing the ships entering or leaving the port. A narrow gallery, furnished with strong railings, surrounds the exterior of the baths.

FAMILY LIKENESS OF THE FELLAHS. 373

CHAPTER XVI.

FAMILY LIKENESS OF THE FELLAHS-UNIFORMITY OF THEIR PURSUITS AND CHARACTER -CORRUPTION OF MANNERS- HAREMS OF THE FRANKS PEASANTS ATTACHED TO THE GLEBE - INHABITANTS OF THE CITIES -INNOVATIONS IN TURKISH MANNERS -ANECDOTE OF IBRAHIM PASHA TURKISH MARKSMEN VULTURE SHOOTING - COPTIC POPULATION NUMBERS AND MANNERS OF THE COPTS- - TEMPORARY MARRIAGES-ANECDOTE OF A POLE - NUMBER OF JEWS IN EGYPT HERETICAL JEWSHAREMS OF THE EAST FEMALE MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS HAREM OF IBRAHIM PASHA-DISTINCTION OF RANK AMONG THE LADIES -AMUSEMENTS AND OCCUPATIONS -BILLIARD TABLES -THE SCIENCES - ARCHERY-MEASURE OF THE WAIST-EDUCATION OF THE CHILDREN COSTUME OF THE TURKISH AND GREEK LADIES - DOMESTIC HABITS OF IBRAHIM PASHA -ORIGINAL LETTERS OF IBRAHIM AND PRINCE ABBAS MIRZA TO MR BARKER USE OF WINE IN THE MOHAMMEDAN PARADISE.

DCXXXV. TRAVELLERS appear not to have remarked the extraordinary family likeness discernible in the Fellahs, who seem to have been all cast in the same mould. And this striking resemblance, which exists in character and manners, no less than in features, probably prevailed, also, among the ancient Egyptians; hence that monotony observable in their sculptures and paintings. Despotism is the primary cause of this phenomenon; for the multitude, all reduced to nearly the same level, urged by the

374

MANNERS OF THE PEASANTS.

same wants, engaged in the same pursuits, actuated by the same passions, through a long succession of ages, necessarily assimilate. Poverty depriving them of all pretension to free agency, they are universally cringing, trembling, dissimulating. Fear is their habitual passion.-Credulous, ignorant, superstitious, no man has the originality to be a heretic. In religion, morals, manners, and opinions, the son treads servilely in the footsteps of his father, without inquiry, without reflection; nay, even without the consciousness that nature has endued him with the power to do otherwise. The fellah marries and begets children, who are allowed to run naked about the villages until the age of puberty; he then throws them a rag to bind about their loins; they begin to labour; become masters of a few piastres; and, marrying in their turn, run the same career as their parents. In what does the life of such a being differ from that of a mere animal? Incapable of forming any conception of the higher affections, their love is purely physical; woman, in their eyes, being simply a necessary of life, like rice or dhourra. If they marry, therefore, it is simply because a separate store of the former is as necessary as the latter in housekeeping. Some kind of attachment exists, no doubt, between them; but exceedingly feeble, unstable, and short-lived. Both men and women are highly profligate. Few Arabs ever perform a journey to any large city without visiting the dancing-girls, whose numbers are so considerable, that the tax they pay forms an important item in the Pasha's revenue. On the other hand,