DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0098
80 A THOUSAND MILES UP THE NILE.
see it for the blinding dust. Now, a dom palm is just the
sort of tree that De Wint should have painted—odd, angu-
lar, with long forked stems, each of which terminates in a
shock-headed crown of stiff finger-like fronds shading
heavy clusters of big shiny nuts about the size of Jerusalem
artichokes. It is, I suppose, the only nut in the world of
which one throws away the kernel and eats the "shell ; but
the kernel is as bard as marble, while the shell is fibrous,
and tastes like stale gingerbread. The dom palm must
bifurcate, for bifurcation is the law of its being; but I
could never discover whether there was any fixed limit to
the number of stems into which it might subdivide. At
the same time, I do not remember to have seen any with
less than two heads or more than six.
Coming back through the town, we were accosted by a
withered one-eyed hag like a reanimated mummy,
who offered to tell our fortunes. Before her lay a dirty
rag of handkerchief full of shells, pebbles and chips of
broken glass and pottery. Squatting, toad-like, under a
sunny bit of wall, the lower part of her face closely veiled,
her skinny arms covered with blue and green glass brace-
lets and her fingers with misshapen silver rings, she hung
over these treasures, shook, mixed and interrogated them
with all the fervor of divination, and delivered a string of
the prophecies usually forthcoming on these occasions.
" You have a friend faraway, and your friend is think-
ing of you. There is good fortune in store for you; and
money coming to you; and pleasant news on the way. You
will soon receive letters in which there will be something
to vex you, but more to make you glad. Within thirty
days you will unexpectedly meet one whom you dearly
love," etc., etc., etc.
It was just the old familiar story, retold in Arabic, with-
out even such variations as might have been ex2)eeted from
the lips of an old fellaha born and bred in a provincial
town of Middle Egypt.
It may be that ophthalmia especially prevailed in this part
of the country, or that, being brought unexpectedly into
the midst of a large crowd, one observed the people more
narrowly, but I certainly never saw so many one-eyed
human beings as that morning at Minieh. There must
have been present in the streets and market-place from ten
to twelve thousand natives of all ages, and I believe it is no
see it for the blinding dust. Now, a dom palm is just the
sort of tree that De Wint should have painted—odd, angu-
lar, with long forked stems, each of which terminates in a
shock-headed crown of stiff finger-like fronds shading
heavy clusters of big shiny nuts about the size of Jerusalem
artichokes. It is, I suppose, the only nut in the world of
which one throws away the kernel and eats the "shell ; but
the kernel is as bard as marble, while the shell is fibrous,
and tastes like stale gingerbread. The dom palm must
bifurcate, for bifurcation is the law of its being; but I
could never discover whether there was any fixed limit to
the number of stems into which it might subdivide. At
the same time, I do not remember to have seen any with
less than two heads or more than six.
Coming back through the town, we were accosted by a
withered one-eyed hag like a reanimated mummy,
who offered to tell our fortunes. Before her lay a dirty
rag of handkerchief full of shells, pebbles and chips of
broken glass and pottery. Squatting, toad-like, under a
sunny bit of wall, the lower part of her face closely veiled,
her skinny arms covered with blue and green glass brace-
lets and her fingers with misshapen silver rings, she hung
over these treasures, shook, mixed and interrogated them
with all the fervor of divination, and delivered a string of
the prophecies usually forthcoming on these occasions.
" You have a friend faraway, and your friend is think-
ing of you. There is good fortune in store for you; and
money coming to you; and pleasant news on the way. You
will soon receive letters in which there will be something
to vex you, but more to make you glad. Within thirty
days you will unexpectedly meet one whom you dearly
love," etc., etc., etc.
It was just the old familiar story, retold in Arabic, with-
out even such variations as might have been ex2)eeted from
the lips of an old fellaha born and bred in a provincial
town of Middle Egypt.
It may be that ophthalmia especially prevailed in this part
of the country, or that, being brought unexpectedly into
the midst of a large crowd, one observed the people more
narrowly, but I certainly never saw so many one-eyed
human beings as that morning at Minieh. There must
have been present in the streets and market-place from ten
to twelve thousand natives of all ages, and I believe it is no