DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4996#0013
DEPARTURE FROM CAIRO. 0
I took no arms in addition to an old pair of Turkish pistols; nor
were others necessary, although a good double-barrelled English one,
of which the Orientals stand much in awe, might be a valuable
companion on a solitary ramble away from the track. As to dress,
it is decidedly better, both for comfort and safety, to travel in
a light European costume, the English name being sufficient protec-
tion. A few articles, such as a handsome tarboosh, sash, &c, may
occasionally be useful as an addition to ordinary equipment, when it
is desirable to make an impression ; and a clean shirt is not without
its moral effect even in the wilderness, and among people whose
linen looks as if it had come down unwashed from the days of
Ishmael. A few articles of Eastern finery may also occasionally be
useful as presents.
At length, everything being ready, the camels blockading the
door, and the usual clamour of the Arabs filling the street, I left
the hotel to pay one or two farewell visits, and joined my little
caravan in the cemetery outside the Bab-en-Nusr, or Gate of Vic-
tory, where the splendid domes of the tombs of the Memlook sultans
—the perfection of Arabian architecture—rise like an exhalation,
from the lonely waste. By unusually good management the camels,
often reloaded here, were already provided with their respective
burdens, and I had nothing to do but to start. It was so much
earlier than I had expected to be ready, that no one was found
to give me a parting convoy ; and I stood in the dead, oppressive
heat of noon, alone on the verge of the Desert. The hot film
trembled over the far-stretched and apparently boundless sands ; and
first, consented to, because informed at the consulate that such was the usual
practice ; hut it is quite clear that if so the practice should be done away with
—indeed I did not fulfil it myself. The Arabs can have no occasion for such
a sum, and it is the height of folly so to leave oneself at their mercy. It
is obviously the traveller who requires every power that can be given him to
overawe his often refractory guides ; for otherwise they may not only harass
him with petty opposition, but actually prevent his visits to many spots of
interest. I fixed the number of camels at five, which is the utmost a traveller
with one servant can ever require ; indeed, with management, four may well
suffice, and six for a party of two.
I took no arms in addition to an old pair of Turkish pistols; nor
were others necessary, although a good double-barrelled English one,
of which the Orientals stand much in awe, might be a valuable
companion on a solitary ramble away from the track. As to dress,
it is decidedly better, both for comfort and safety, to travel in
a light European costume, the English name being sufficient protec-
tion. A few articles, such as a handsome tarboosh, sash, &c, may
occasionally be useful as an addition to ordinary equipment, when it
is desirable to make an impression ; and a clean shirt is not without
its moral effect even in the wilderness, and among people whose
linen looks as if it had come down unwashed from the days of
Ishmael. A few articles of Eastern finery may also occasionally be
useful as presents.
At length, everything being ready, the camels blockading the
door, and the usual clamour of the Arabs filling the street, I left
the hotel to pay one or two farewell visits, and joined my little
caravan in the cemetery outside the Bab-en-Nusr, or Gate of Vic-
tory, where the splendid domes of the tombs of the Memlook sultans
—the perfection of Arabian architecture—rise like an exhalation,
from the lonely waste. By unusually good management the camels,
often reloaded here, were already provided with their respective
burdens, and I had nothing to do but to start. It was so much
earlier than I had expected to be ready, that no one was found
to give me a parting convoy ; and I stood in the dead, oppressive
heat of noon, alone on the verge of the Desert. The hot film
trembled over the far-stretched and apparently boundless sands ; and
first, consented to, because informed at the consulate that such was the usual
practice ; hut it is quite clear that if so the practice should be done away with
—indeed I did not fulfil it myself. The Arabs can have no occasion for such
a sum, and it is the height of folly so to leave oneself at their mercy. It
is obviously the traveller who requires every power that can be given him to
overawe his often refractory guides ; for otherwise they may not only harass
him with petty opposition, but actually prevent his visits to many spots of
interest. I fixed the number of camels at five, which is the utmost a traveller
with one servant can ever require ; indeed, with management, four may well
suffice, and six for a party of two.