DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0161
]28 TRAVELS IN EGYPT, NUBIA,
four or five feet broad. The raised parts were covered with
mats, on which were placed the mattresses of the family;
who, however, during my stay abandoned the apartment
entirely to me.
At twelve o'clock I was summoned to dinner, consisting
chiefly of fish, dressed in various ways. It was the fast
of Maria, to last fifteen days, during which the Maronite
Christians rigorously abstained from flesh; though my host
affected to be above this prejudice, and joined with me in
eating the meat dressed on my account.
Our company at table (for we had a table—perhaps the
only one at Damietta) was the chancellor, and a Greek,
whom I at first had taken for a servant. The table was
served by the mother of the host, assisted by Greek servants ;
and was cooked by the female servants of the family, over
whom she presided. We adjourned after dinner to the saloon
for coffee, when a fresh set of visitors arrived to pay their
respects to the master of the house, who seemed to lord it
over his neighbours with much consciousness of his superior
situation. I retired to my room till the heat of the day was
passed, when I rode with the vice-consul through the town
to the country adjoining it. The palm was here varied with
the svcamore or wild fig-tree, which grew with some luxu-
riance, and gave a relief to the uniform foliage of the former
tree, I was surprised at the population of Damietta; it was
four or five feet broad. The raised parts were covered with
mats, on which were placed the mattresses of the family;
who, however, during my stay abandoned the apartment
entirely to me.
At twelve o'clock I was summoned to dinner, consisting
chiefly of fish, dressed in various ways. It was the fast
of Maria, to last fifteen days, during which the Maronite
Christians rigorously abstained from flesh; though my host
affected to be above this prejudice, and joined with me in
eating the meat dressed on my account.
Our company at table (for we had a table—perhaps the
only one at Damietta) was the chancellor, and a Greek,
whom I at first had taken for a servant. The table was
served by the mother of the host, assisted by Greek servants ;
and was cooked by the female servants of the family, over
whom she presided. We adjourned after dinner to the saloon
for coffee, when a fresh set of visitors arrived to pay their
respects to the master of the house, who seemed to lord it
over his neighbours with much consciousness of his superior
situation. I retired to my room till the heat of the day was
passed, when I rode with the vice-consul through the town
to the country adjoining it. The palm was here varied with
the svcamore or wild fig-tree, which grew with some luxu-
riance, and gave a relief to the uniform foliage of the former
tree, I was surprised at the population of Damietta; it was