DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0021
StWAN CUSTOMS
Doctor Mahmud Mohammad 'Abd Allah
Egyptian Medical Service
[In 1914, wishing for further information on several points which had attracted my interest when at
Siwah, I forwarded a questionnaire to the Egyptian Medical Officer stationed in the Oasis. The resident
who received my letter was relieved before he could find time to answer it, but his successor, Doctor
Mahmud Mohammad 'Abd Allah, was good enough to give it his immediate attention. The result was
the excellent letter printed below.
'Abd Allah Effendi’s carefulness and good sense impressed me so strongly that, on receipt of his
report, I ventured to send him a long list of questions, inquiring minutely into many details of Siwan
life and belief on which it seemed probable that he could obtain trustworthy information. In December,
1915, while in the Sudan, I receiyed a brief letter saying that the second report was finished, and asking
to what address it should be directed. My answer to this question was immediate, but was, I fear, never
received, for the sudden descent of the Senussi forces on the western frontier of Egypt — a movement
which certain German and Turkish emissaries had long ardently promoted — led to a good deal of tem-
porary confusion, in the course of which Siwah Oasis was cut off. Whether 'Abd Allah Effendi was killed,
or whether he fell into the hands of the Senussi, is uncertain. Such inquiries as I was able to make led
to nothing, and the fate of this exceptionally good Moslem collector of folklore, and of his final report,
is unknown.
The following letter is here reprinted with as little revision as possible. The English will in some
places strike the reader as curious, but all who are acquainted with the ways and mental caliber of the
educated Egyptian will, I am sure, be impressed with the Doctor’s critical attitude and with his power of
expression in a language not his own.
The notes which have been added are intended not only to illustrate the material in the letter, but
to supplement it sufficiently to give the reader as complete a view as possible of the folklore of Siwah.
Occasional references are made to the other Egyptian Oases as well. The notes, which owe much of their
value to my colleague E. A. Hooton, are therefore somewhat disproportionate to the length of the text.
In conclusion it ought to be remarked that the songs at the end of Dr. 'Abd Allah’s letter are in the
original accompanied by the Siwan texts — the only Siwan texts of any length which we possess. The
able grammatical sketch published by Rene Basset1 contains but thirty six short phrases and texts in
addition to the vocabulary, and a short paper by Mohammad Effendi Kasim 2 gives us sixteen others:
1 R. Basset, Le dialecte de Syouah, Paris, 1890, p. 19, sqq.
2 Mohammad Kasim, ‘A meteorological expedition to Siwa’ (Cairo Sclent. Jour., vol. 6, no. 67, Apr. 1912, p.
76 sqq.).
Doctor Mahmud Mohammad 'Abd Allah
Egyptian Medical Service
[In 1914, wishing for further information on several points which had attracted my interest when at
Siwah, I forwarded a questionnaire to the Egyptian Medical Officer stationed in the Oasis. The resident
who received my letter was relieved before he could find time to answer it, but his successor, Doctor
Mahmud Mohammad 'Abd Allah, was good enough to give it his immediate attention. The result was
the excellent letter printed below.
'Abd Allah Effendi’s carefulness and good sense impressed me so strongly that, on receipt of his
report, I ventured to send him a long list of questions, inquiring minutely into many details of Siwan
life and belief on which it seemed probable that he could obtain trustworthy information. In December,
1915, while in the Sudan, I receiyed a brief letter saying that the second report was finished, and asking
to what address it should be directed. My answer to this question was immediate, but was, I fear, never
received, for the sudden descent of the Senussi forces on the western frontier of Egypt — a movement
which certain German and Turkish emissaries had long ardently promoted — led to a good deal of tem-
porary confusion, in the course of which Siwah Oasis was cut off. Whether 'Abd Allah Effendi was killed,
or whether he fell into the hands of the Senussi, is uncertain. Such inquiries as I was able to make led
to nothing, and the fate of this exceptionally good Moslem collector of folklore, and of his final report,
is unknown.
The following letter is here reprinted with as little revision as possible. The English will in some
places strike the reader as curious, but all who are acquainted with the ways and mental caliber of the
educated Egyptian will, I am sure, be impressed with the Doctor’s critical attitude and with his power of
expression in a language not his own.
The notes which have been added are intended not only to illustrate the material in the letter, but
to supplement it sufficiently to give the reader as complete a view as possible of the folklore of Siwah.
Occasional references are made to the other Egyptian Oases as well. The notes, which owe much of their
value to my colleague E. A. Hooton, are therefore somewhat disproportionate to the length of the text.
In conclusion it ought to be remarked that the songs at the end of Dr. 'Abd Allah’s letter are in the
original accompanied by the Siwan texts — the only Siwan texts of any length which we possess. The
able grammatical sketch published by Rene Basset1 contains but thirty six short phrases and texts in
addition to the vocabulary, and a short paper by Mohammad Effendi Kasim 2 gives us sixteen others:
1 R. Basset, Le dialecte de Syouah, Paris, 1890, p. 19, sqq.
2 Mohammad Kasim, ‘A meteorological expedition to Siwa’ (Cairo Sclent. Jour., vol. 6, no. 67, Apr. 1912, p.
76 sqq.).