DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0176
158 A. THOUSAND MILES UP TUE NILE.
dogs bark ; camels snort and snarl; donkeys bray; and
clamorous curiosity dealers scream, chatter, hold their
goods at arm's length, battle and implore to come on board,
and are only kept off the landing-plank by means of 'two
big sticks in the hands of two stalwart sailors.
The things offered for sale at Assiian are altogether new
and strange. Here are no scarabaei, no funerary statuettes,
no bronze or porcelain gods, no relics of a past civilization;
but, on the contrary, such objects as speak only of a rude
and barbarous present—ostrich eggs and feathers, silver
trinkets of rough Nubian workmanship, spears, bows, ar-
rows, bucklers of rhinoceros hide, ivory bracelets, cut
solid from the tusk, porcupine quills, baskets of stained
and plaited reeds, gold nose rings and the like. One old
woman has a Nubian lady's dressing-case for sale—an un-
couth, fetich-like object with a cushion for its body, and a
top-knot of black feathers. The cushion contains two kohl-
bottles, a bodkin and a bone comb.
But the noisest dealer of the lot is an impish boy blessed
with the blackest skin and the shrillest voice ever brought
together in one human being. His simple costume con-
sists of a tattered shirt and a white cotton skull-cap; his
stock in trade of a greasy leather fringe tied to the end of
a stick. Flying from window to window of the saloon on
the side next the shore, scrambling up the bows of a neigh-
boring cargo-boat so as to attack us in the rear, thrust-
ing his stick and fringe in our faces whichever way we turn,
and pursuing us with eager cries of "Madame Nubia!
Madame Nubia!" he skips and screams and grins like an
ubiquitous goblin, and throws every competitor into the
shade.
Having seen a similar fringe in the collection of a friend
at home, I at once recognized in " Madame Nubia" one of
those curious girdles, which, with the addition of a necklace
and a few bracelets, form the entire wardrobe of little girls
south of the cataract. They vary in size according to the
age of the wearer; the largest being about twelve inches in
depth and twenty-five in length. A few are ornamented with
beadsand smallshells; but these aveparures de luxe. The or-
dinary article is cheaply and unpretentiously trimmed with
castor-oil. That is to say, the girdle when new is well
soaked in the oil, which softens and darkens the leather,
besides adding a perfume dear to native nostrils.
dogs bark ; camels snort and snarl; donkeys bray; and
clamorous curiosity dealers scream, chatter, hold their
goods at arm's length, battle and implore to come on board,
and are only kept off the landing-plank by means of 'two
big sticks in the hands of two stalwart sailors.
The things offered for sale at Assiian are altogether new
and strange. Here are no scarabaei, no funerary statuettes,
no bronze or porcelain gods, no relics of a past civilization;
but, on the contrary, such objects as speak only of a rude
and barbarous present—ostrich eggs and feathers, silver
trinkets of rough Nubian workmanship, spears, bows, ar-
rows, bucklers of rhinoceros hide, ivory bracelets, cut
solid from the tusk, porcupine quills, baskets of stained
and plaited reeds, gold nose rings and the like. One old
woman has a Nubian lady's dressing-case for sale—an un-
couth, fetich-like object with a cushion for its body, and a
top-knot of black feathers. The cushion contains two kohl-
bottles, a bodkin and a bone comb.
But the noisest dealer of the lot is an impish boy blessed
with the blackest skin and the shrillest voice ever brought
together in one human being. His simple costume con-
sists of a tattered shirt and a white cotton skull-cap; his
stock in trade of a greasy leather fringe tied to the end of
a stick. Flying from window to window of the saloon on
the side next the shore, scrambling up the bows of a neigh-
boring cargo-boat so as to attack us in the rear, thrust-
ing his stick and fringe in our faces whichever way we turn,
and pursuing us with eager cries of "Madame Nubia!
Madame Nubia!" he skips and screams and grins like an
ubiquitous goblin, and throws every competitor into the
shade.
Having seen a similar fringe in the collection of a friend
at home, I at once recognized in " Madame Nubia" one of
those curious girdles, which, with the addition of a necklace
and a few bracelets, form the entire wardrobe of little girls
south of the cataract. They vary in size according to the
age of the wearer; the largest being about twelve inches in
depth and twenty-five in length. A few are ornamented with
beadsand smallshells; but these aveparures de luxe. The or-
dinary article is cheaply and unpretentiously trimmed with
castor-oil. That is to say, the girdle when new is well
soaked in the oil, which softens and darkens the leather,
besides adding a perfume dear to native nostrils.