Page images
PDF
EPUB

to be found in which it is more remarkable than in Egypt. Delta, the provinces of the East and West, and all those on each fide of the Nile, quite up to the Tropic, are populous to an amazing degree. I have been told, that there are more than nine thousand villages and twelve hundred towns in Egypt. It is very certain, they are fo ncar to each other, that having ftopt at Mentoobes, below Fooa, I reckoned forty-two within fight; the farthest of which was not two leagues off. "Wherever the inundation can reach, there habitations are erected, on little hills, raised for that purpofe, which ferve for the common foundation of all the houfes which ftand together, and which are contrived to take up as little room as poffible, that they may fave all the ground they can for cultivation. This precaution is neceffary to prevent the waters wathing away the walls, which are only of mud.

"The villages are always furrounded by an infinite number of pointed turrets, meant to invite thither the pigeons, in order to collect their dung. Every village has, likewife, a finall wood of palmtrees near it, the property of which is common thefe fupply the inhabitants with dates for their confumption, and leaves for the fabrication of baskets, mats, and other things of that kind. Little caufeways raifed, in like manner, above the inundation, preferve a communication during the time it lasts.

"The cities are all fituated on the Nile, or the great canals; the houfes in them are built of brick, feveral flories high, and in a taste like that in vogue with us during the reign of Francis the First. The palm-trees which furround them, and the veffels which line the banks

of the river, add to the beauty of their fituation.

"It is thus, by uniting agriculture with commerce, that all the cities of Egypt continually invite, encourage, and profit by the induftry which encircles them: but the advantages which Cairo enjoys are not confined to the interests of Egypt. Its commerce embraces both the hemifpheres, and its streets are continually crowded with camels, which bring the merchandises of Europe and the Indies, and piled with bales of goods from Madras and Marfeilles; fo that Cairo appears to be the centre of the world.

"This city, called by the Arabs Mithir, is fituated on the right fide of the Nile, about half a league from the river. It is adjoining to the mountains of Arabia: at the eaftern angle of thefe mountains the caftle of Cairo is built. Boolac and Old Cairo form the fuburbs: and if, when added to the city, we fhall find affembled here not lefs than feven hundred thousand perfons, we have then another proof of the great number of inhabitants in Egypt.

"Cairo contains feveral fquares, fufficiently fpacious to invite and deferve decoration; fuch as the fquare of Lufbequia, that of Rome lia, and that of the Great Mofque, named Sultan Haffan: but all the freets are narrow, ill-contrived, and badly paved. The palaces themfelves, which contain fuch great wealth, have nothing in their exterior appearance fuitable to the opulence of this city.

Enriched and occupied with the commerce of Egypt by the Nile, of Europe by the Mediterranean, and of Yemen and the Indies, by the Red Sea, this capital fwallows up, befides, all the revenues of the great. Its fubfiftence, which ap

pertains

pertains alfo to its commerce, augments its riches; and the luxury which follows thence is increafed to fuch a degree, that gold is efteemed common; nor can the richeft manufactures of India give fatisfaction.

"Whatever, in another ftate, could only be the effects of an adminiftration well informed, and conftantly guided by the most falutary principles, arifes in Egypt from the nature of the foil. The riches of its productions fatisfy the avidity of its tyrants, and defend the cultivators from theit tyranny. The furplus of its corn, become abfolutely neceffary for Arabia-Felix, by furnishing its commerce with new and certain exchanges, affords its activity the moft folid and independent bafis. The principal ports of Egypt are Suez and Alexandria; but it is not in these that we can judge of the importance of commerce. Where there are no political regulations, there cannot exist either individual companies, exclufive privileges, or fubaltern monopoly; commerce na turally finds its level; it is feized on by credit, the cultivator is its affociate; and its agents receive

Wages.

"The poverty of the cities I have just mentioned, may, without doubt, be referred to this principle; they are only the hired agents of commerce. Suez, efpecially, is remarkable for the penury of its inhabitants. The Arabs have ufurped the right of becoming the carriers of commerce, without renouncing that of plundering the merchants, as often as anarchy promifes them impunity.

"Befides the corn Egypt exchanges with Yemen, for the coffee with which Europe, but particularly Turkey, is fupplied, rice, flax,

1785.

falt of natron, employed in the tan neries, fal ammoniac, ufeful for tin-work, fenna and faffranum for dying, and the most valuable gums and drugs, are objects of commerce equally important.

"Sugar is the only article in which the industry of the Egyp tians is confined to what is neceffary for home confumption; and the little powder-fugar, which is exported to Conftantinople, gives no great idea of the goodness of that commodity, brought from the Higher Egypt and refined at Cairo.

"Delta, likewife, produces a great quantity of fugar-canes; but they are only cultivated for the pleasure of the inhabitants, who ufe them in their repafts.

"A more useful branch of induftry is that of the linen manufacture; it is under no regulations, and extends as far as the cataracts; as does the culture of indigo. In this burning climate, where no clothing is worn but a linen shirt, or frock, which is always dyed blue, the furplus of this manufacture affords another article for exportation. The coafts of Syria, and the whole inland country, quite up to Damafcus, are fupplied with falt from the pits of the Lower Egypt.

It is worthy obfervation, that foreign plants, brought into Egypt, degenerate to fuch a degree as to be incapable of reproduction. This is the cafe of indigo; and, what is not lefs remarkab'e, is, that the fields of indigo, which are every year fown with fresh feeds, brought from Syria, furnish the Egyptians with a very fine dye, though this fame plant is of much inferior quality in its original foil.

"It is plain, from this remark, that the indigo of Syria fhould be F tranf

transplanted, but that the richness of the foil, and heat of the fun, in Egypt, make that country a kind of hot-houfe, which damages the quality of the feed.

"To this fertility and richness of the productions of Egypt, muft be added a moft falubrious air. We fhall be more particularly ftruck with this advantage, when we confider, that Rofetta, Damietta, and Manfoora, which are encompaffed with rice-grounds, are much celebrated for the healthinefs of their neighbourhood, and that Egypt is, perhaps, the only country in the world where this kind of culture, which requires ftagnant waters, is not unwholesome. Riches are not there destructive to the lives of

men.

"The researches I have carefully made, concerning the plague, which I once believed to originate in Egypt, have convinced me, that it would not be fo much as known there, were not the feeds of it conveyed thither by the commercial intercourse between Conftantinople and Alexandria. It is in this laft city that it always begins to appear; it but rarely reaches Cairo, though no precaution is taken to prevent it; and when it does, it is prefently extirpated by the heats, and prevented from arriving as far as the Saide. It is likewife well known, that the penetrating dews, which fall in Egypt about midfummer, destroy, even in Alexandria, all remains of this diftemper.

"It is only upon the fhores of the Mediterranean, to the diflance of ten leagues, within land, that rain is known in Egypt; very rarely does it extend farther. At Cairo they have hardly two hours gentle rain in a whole year. The noi e of thunder is never heard, and forms, no where frequent in E

gypt, always difcharge their fury on the deferts of Lybia and Arabia, where there is nothing to deftroy. Thus, every thing concurs to confer on Egypt the most precious gifts of nature. Birds, of every kind, and of the most rare fpecies, feem to haften thither in flocks, to enjoy the beauties of the country, and add their various melody to the gaiety of its inhabitants.

"The Nile offers a moft interefting picture of this kind. The banks of this river, as well as those of all the canals, are crowded with vaft numbers of peafants; continually employed in watering the country, either by their own labour, or the management of those animals which relieve it. An intinite number of draw-wells, worked with a wheel, are contrived for this purpofe; the waters, which are raised, are poured into a channel, and diftributed among the grounds, at a distance from the river, by various canals, which the industry and activity of the cultivator prepares, with intelligence and nomy. Women, occupied with the care of their families, are feen carrying home water, for its ufe, in jars upon their heads; others wath their linen, bleach that which is newly made, fpread it out, and give themfelves up to that chearfulness and gaiety, fo natural to them on every occafion, making the air refound with their fhrill voices, the ululatus of the Romans. The barges, which pafs from one city to another, the boats employed in the conveyance of commodities, and the navigation which commerce maintains, add to the variety and motion of the scene.

co

"This navigation is principally remarkable for the agility of the watermen, and the manner in which

they

r

they convey the pottery-ware, made in the Higher Egypt. It will be neceffary, before this is explained, to obferve, that the carthen pans, made to preferve water, ought to be the bigger, the farther thofe for whofe ufe they are intended dwell from the river; and as the inhabitants of the Lower Egypt refide at the greater diftance, the potters, who dwell in the Higher, contrive, accordingly, the raft by which they convey their wares. The largest jars, fastened by their handles, form the first row of the raft; the middle-fized are placed next, and the leath uppermoit; the proprietor contrives for himself a convenient itation, and, furnished with a long pole, commits himself to the courfe of the waters, without fearing running aground on a foft clay, which can do no damage. Thus he arrives at Delta, and foon gets rid of his pile of pottery, by the fucceffive fale of all the materials of which it is compofed.

"The Egyptians, naturally mild and timid, are alfo fprightly and temperate. All their actions partake of this character; they are terrified by the leaft accident, and familiarized by the smallest encouragement. The taste of this people for dancing, has introduced into Egypt female dancers, who have neither modefty nor referve, and only please by the contrary extravagance.

"The Egyptians, were it not for the brownnefs of their tanned fkins, would certainly have a fine complexion. Their perfons are genteel and well fhaped. Both the men and women wim like fifh. Their clothing is only a blue fhirt, which but indifferently conceals the pudency of the women; the men gird it round them, for convenience, while they labour; the chil

dren always go naked, and I have feen girls, eighteen years old, ftill children, in that refpect.

"Mahometanifm is the principal religion of the Egyptians; but they have added to it an infinity of ceremonies, derived more from their own love of fhew than the precepts of the prophet. Fraternities of penitents, nocturnal proceffions with wax-candles, vestments proper for that kind of devotion, chantings and mournings at intervals, and the epulum ferale, are so many practices which belong more to the fuperftition of their anceftors than the new law they have received.

"The Egyptians, notwithstanding, have lefs ferocity in their prejudices than the Turks, who have lefs fuperftition; the reason of which is, that thefe latter are. proud,, while the Egyptians are only weak. We may perceive, that the pomp which attends their ceremonies, is more regarded by them than the thing fignified; and that their gaiety and licentioufnefs have more part in the pilgrimages they undertake, than the faint to whofe honour they affemble.

"The most revered of thefe are the Iman Chafi, at Cairo, and the Iman of Tinta, a city fituated in the centre of Delta. This latt faint is called Sayd, Achmet, and Bedouit. In the month of July, more than two hundred thoufand perfons, from the Higher and Lower Egypt, throng to this tomb. Commerce, which turns every thing to its advantage, has established near it a confiderable fair, where dancers and mountebanks are found, in plenty, during the time it lafts. Tinta then contains every thing. which can contribute to the amufement of the pilgrims: and the shek of the mofque of Sayd, Achmet,

[blocks in formation]

1

and Bedouit, gathers an ample harveft, by at once making his advantage of the devotion of fome, and the love of pleasure of a great many others.

"Each city of Egypt has, likewife, its faint, its proceffions, and its diverfions, which are frequented by thofe of the environs, and authorized by the government. It will be perceived, that the faint of the capital enjoys his privileges as a metropolitan, and that his tomb is never without cuftom. But the devotion of the women, more fervent in every country than that of the men, is not confined, in Egypt, to the invocation of the dead; and as knaves are always encouraged by dupes, there are to be found, at Cairo, many faints in perfect health, to whom they prefer paying their addreffes.

"These predeftinated perfons take their station at the door, or in the court of the mofques; where, extended on a ragged mat, they feem loft in extafy, and in poffef fion of the joys of paradife, while this appearance of beatitude infpires veneration. Others, to give themselves more importance, walk, gravely, through the street, only covered with a long white woollen tunic. They preach up a contempt for riches, of which they infolently demand a share, and prophefy continually the end of the world.

"One of thefe Egyptian faints afforded a proof, that the habit of deceiving others may, at last, lead us to deceive ourselves. This impoftor had worked himself up to fuch a pitch of enthufiafm, as to declare to the people, that, on fuch a certain day, and hour, he would crofs the Nile, standing upright on his mat, only by pronouncing the name of God. Great numbers affembled on the banks of the river.

The faint presently funk to the bottom, and his toolifh followers, for fear of interrupting him in working his miracle, fuffered him to be drowned without any affiftance.

"Humanity, though degraded, in Egypt, by thefe pious abfurdities, is, at the fame time, honoured by an unlimited foundation in favour of the blind; and it is on fo enlarged a plan, that all the blind in Egypt are affembled at Cairo. This has given birth to the opi nion, that this climate occafions blindness.

"They reckon about four thou fand, maintained by the mofque of fultan Haffan; and perhaps this number does not exceed that of other countries, in proportion to the number of the inhabitants. It muft, however, be allowed, that in Egypt, the clafs of individuals who are accustomed to lie in the fireets, or on the terraces of houses, are particularly fubject to this misfor tune. A cold dew, which falls during the night, makes the eyelids tender, and difpofes them to ulcerate with the heat of the day. But the fight of those who lie un der cover, does not fuffer fo much as it would by intemperance in other climates.

"After having confidered the monuments of Egypt, the ferenity of its fky, its population, the induftry of its inhabitants, and the riches of its productions, nothing remains but to cast an eye of con tempt on its government.

"Georgian children, brought and fold in Egypt, replace thole who die out of ten or twelve thou fand Mamalukes. This fmall num ber furnishes the beys, their ty rants, the fubaltern officers, more cruel than their mafters, and the troops, who execute and aggravate their barbarous orders.

"From

« PreviousContinue »