DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0165
132 TRAVELS IN EGYPT, NUBIA,
of these machines Avith four rammers, worked by two oxen,
ought to purify forty ardebs* in a month.
In one of my rides about the country, I entered into con-
versation with an Arab peasant of about twenty years of age,
whom at first I had terribly alarmed by sketching him while
he was sitting on a water-wheel, which he supposed was
an act of enchantment to his future misfortune. It was the
Ramazan. I had been eating a morsel of bread, and offered
him part, by way of encouraging his confidence. He dared
not accept it. " Have you no fast ?" said he to me. " We
have; but not so strict as yours/' " Are }rou beaten if you
do not keep it?" " No." " Then I wish I were in your
country ; for were I not to fast, the cadi would beat me
to death." This remark of his needs no comment.
On the 21st I was able to find a rice-vessel about to sail
for Jaffa; and accordingly left Damietta, without any regret,
in a small boat, and descended about ten or twelve miles
towards the mouth of the Nile, where the rice-boat lay. In
my descent I was witness to the rigorous observance of the Ra-
mazan by my boatman, who, though an old man, and almost
fainting from thirst and want of food, would not take refresh-
ment till the sun had gone down, of which he was not
* Each ardeb about fourteen and a half English bushels.
of these machines Avith four rammers, worked by two oxen,
ought to purify forty ardebs* in a month.
In one of my rides about the country, I entered into con-
versation with an Arab peasant of about twenty years of age,
whom at first I had terribly alarmed by sketching him while
he was sitting on a water-wheel, which he supposed was
an act of enchantment to his future misfortune. It was the
Ramazan. I had been eating a morsel of bread, and offered
him part, by way of encouraging his confidence. He dared
not accept it. " Have you no fast ?" said he to me. " We
have; but not so strict as yours/' " Are }rou beaten if you
do not keep it?" " No." " Then I wish I were in your
country ; for were I not to fast, the cadi would beat me
to death." This remark of his needs no comment.
On the 21st I was able to find a rice-vessel about to sail
for Jaffa; and accordingly left Damietta, without any regret,
in a small boat, and descended about ten or twelve miles
towards the mouth of the Nile, where the rice-boat lay. In
my descent I was witness to the rigorous observance of the Ra-
mazan by my boatman, who, though an old man, and almost
fainting from thirst and want of food, would not take refresh-
ment till the sun had gone down, of which he was not
* Each ardeb about fourteen and a half English bushels.