DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0039
CAIRO AND THE MECCA PJLGliLVAOE. 21
screws get along wonderfully; but it seems odd at first, and
not a little humiliating, to bo whirled along behind a
coachman whose only livery consists of a rag of dirty white
turban, a scant tunic just reaching to his knees, and the
top boots with which nature has provided him.
Here, outside the walls, the crowd increased momentarily.
The place was like a fair with provision stalls, swings,
story-tellers, serpent-charmers, cake-sellers, sweetmeat-
sellers, sellers of sherbet, water, lemonade, sugared nuts,
fresh dates, hard-boiled eggs, oranges and sliced water-
melon. Veiled women carrying little bronze Cupids of
children astride upon the right shoulder, swarthy
Egyptians, coal-black Abyssinians, Arabs and Nubians of
every shade from golden-brown to chocolate, fellahs, der-
vishes, donkey boys, street urchins and beggars with every
imaginable deformity, came and went; squeezed them-
selves in and out among the carriages; lined the road on
each side of the great towered gateway; swarmed on the
top of every wall; and filled the air witli laughter, a babel
of dialects, and those of Araby that are inseparable from
an eastern crowd. A harmless, unsavory, good-humored,
inoffensive throng, one glance at which was enough to put
to flight all one's preconceived notions about oriental
gravity of demeanor! For the truth is that gravity is by
no means an oriental characteristic. Take"" a Moham-
medan at his devotions, and he is a model of religious ab-
straction; bargain with him for a carpet, and he is as
impenetrable as a judge; but see him in his hours of re-
laxation, or on the occasion of a public holiday, and he is
as garrulous and full of laughter as a big child. Like a
child, too, he loves noise and movement for the mere sake
of noise and movement, and looks upon swings and fire-
works as the height of human felicity. Now swings and
fire-works are Arabic for bread and circuses, and our pleb's
passion for them is insatiable. He not only indulges in
them upon every occasion of public rejoicing, but calls in
their aid to celebrate the most solemn festivals of his
religion. It so happened that we afterward came in the
way of several Mohammedan festivals both in Egypt and
Syria, and we invariably found the swings at work all day
and the fire-works going off every evening.
To-day the swings outside the 13;i!> en-Nasr were never
idle. Here were creaking Russian swings hung with little
screws get along wonderfully; but it seems odd at first, and
not a little humiliating, to bo whirled along behind a
coachman whose only livery consists of a rag of dirty white
turban, a scant tunic just reaching to his knees, and the
top boots with which nature has provided him.
Here, outside the walls, the crowd increased momentarily.
The place was like a fair with provision stalls, swings,
story-tellers, serpent-charmers, cake-sellers, sweetmeat-
sellers, sellers of sherbet, water, lemonade, sugared nuts,
fresh dates, hard-boiled eggs, oranges and sliced water-
melon. Veiled women carrying little bronze Cupids of
children astride upon the right shoulder, swarthy
Egyptians, coal-black Abyssinians, Arabs and Nubians of
every shade from golden-brown to chocolate, fellahs, der-
vishes, donkey boys, street urchins and beggars with every
imaginable deformity, came and went; squeezed them-
selves in and out among the carriages; lined the road on
each side of the great towered gateway; swarmed on the
top of every wall; and filled the air witli laughter, a babel
of dialects, and those of Araby that are inseparable from
an eastern crowd. A harmless, unsavory, good-humored,
inoffensive throng, one glance at which was enough to put
to flight all one's preconceived notions about oriental
gravity of demeanor! For the truth is that gravity is by
no means an oriental characteristic. Take"" a Moham-
medan at his devotions, and he is a model of religious ab-
straction; bargain with him for a carpet, and he is as
impenetrable as a judge; but see him in his hours of re-
laxation, or on the occasion of a public holiday, and he is
as garrulous and full of laughter as a big child. Like a
child, too, he loves noise and movement for the mere sake
of noise and movement, and looks upon swings and fire-
works as the height of human felicity. Now swings and
fire-works are Arabic for bread and circuses, and our pleb's
passion for them is insatiable. He not only indulges in
them upon every occasion of public rejoicing, but calls in
their aid to celebrate the most solemn festivals of his
religion. It so happened that we afterward came in the
way of several Mohammedan festivals both in Egypt and
Syria, and we invariably found the swings at work all day
and the fire-works going off every evening.
To-day the swings outside the 13;i!> en-Nasr were never
idle. Here were creaking Russian swings hung with little