DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0036
THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS.
cemetery. Shrill gurgling cries fall upon the ear, taken up and repeated by the female
bystanders, perhaps with the accompaniment
of a hautboy and a drum or two. It is a
marriage procession. The bride, a mere
child ten or twelve years of age, swathed
from head to foot in red or yellow shawls,
and inclosed in a canopy or tent, is being
conducted to the bath or to her husband's
house.1 Veiled women, black slaves, Be-
douin sheikhs, burly pashas, water-carriers,
blind beggars, Greek and Coptic priests,
donkeys and their drivers, and street-sellers
innumerable, make up the picturesque and
bewildering throng.
The street-sellers in their number and va-
riety would demand a chapter to do them
justice ; and to interpret their cries require
a far greater knowledge of Arabic than I
possess. They form, however, so important
and characteristic a feature in the aspect of
an Eastern city, that they cannot be alto-
gether passed over. I avail myself, there-
fore, of Mr. Lane's help in the matter.
" The cries of some of the hawkers are
courious, and deserve to be mentioned.
The seller of tirmis or lupins often cries,
'Aid! O Imbabee! Aid!' This is under-
stood in two senses; as an invocation for aid
to the sheikh El-Imbabee, a celebrated Mus-
lim saint, buried at the village of Imbabeh,
on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Cairo,
in the neighborhood Gf which village the
best tirmis is grown ; and also as implying
that it is through the aid of the saint above-
mentioned that the tirmis of Imbabeh is so
excellent. The seller of this vegetable also
cries, 'The tirmis of Imbabeh surpasses
the almond.' Another cry of the seller of
tirmis is, ' O how sweet the little offspring
of the river! ' The seller of sour limes,
cries, ' God make them light' or easy of
sale. The toasted pips of a kind of melon
called abdallawee, and of the watermelon,
a minaret in cairo. are often announced by the cry of < O
i I saw a curious illustration in the streets of Cairo of the irresistible innovations of the West, and the unchanging; customs of the
East. The bride was being taken home in a cab, but the canopy was tied over the roof, and fixed to the four corners, to represent
the four poles which usually support it.
cemetery. Shrill gurgling cries fall upon the ear, taken up and repeated by the female
bystanders, perhaps with the accompaniment
of a hautboy and a drum or two. It is a
marriage procession. The bride, a mere
child ten or twelve years of age, swathed
from head to foot in red or yellow shawls,
and inclosed in a canopy or tent, is being
conducted to the bath or to her husband's
house.1 Veiled women, black slaves, Be-
douin sheikhs, burly pashas, water-carriers,
blind beggars, Greek and Coptic priests,
donkeys and their drivers, and street-sellers
innumerable, make up the picturesque and
bewildering throng.
The street-sellers in their number and va-
riety would demand a chapter to do them
justice ; and to interpret their cries require
a far greater knowledge of Arabic than I
possess. They form, however, so important
and characteristic a feature in the aspect of
an Eastern city, that they cannot be alto-
gether passed over. I avail myself, there-
fore, of Mr. Lane's help in the matter.
" The cries of some of the hawkers are
courious, and deserve to be mentioned.
The seller of tirmis or lupins often cries,
'Aid! O Imbabee! Aid!' This is under-
stood in two senses; as an invocation for aid
to the sheikh El-Imbabee, a celebrated Mus-
lim saint, buried at the village of Imbabeh,
on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Cairo,
in the neighborhood Gf which village the
best tirmis is grown ; and also as implying
that it is through the aid of the saint above-
mentioned that the tirmis of Imbabeh is so
excellent. The seller of this vegetable also
cries, 'The tirmis of Imbabeh surpasses
the almond.' Another cry of the seller of
tirmis is, ' O how sweet the little offspring
of the river! ' The seller of sour limes,
cries, ' God make them light' or easy of
sale. The toasted pips of a kind of melon
called abdallawee, and of the watermelon,
a minaret in cairo. are often announced by the cry of < O
i I saw a curious illustration in the streets of Cairo of the irresistible innovations of the West, and the unchanging; customs of the
East. The bride was being taken home in a cab, but the canopy was tied over the roof, and fixed to the four corners, to represent
the four poles which usually support it.