DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11636#0244
AND LOWER EGYPT. H §
robbers ; while at Cairo, the European, confined
to his own home, or, at least, to a narrow quarter
of the town, trembling every moment for his life,
durst not shew his face amidst a confusion, an up-
roar, of which it is impossible to form an idea,
without having lived in this capital of Egypt. I
Waited in expectation that the troubles would sub-
side, and permit me to enter on the execution of
my design ; but wearied out with the anxious state
of inaction to which I was reduced, tired of living
the life of a recluse, and seeing no prospect of the
era when Egypt was to resume a tranquillity which
could admit of travelling through it without being
exposed to certain danger, I resolved on returning
to Rossetta, a privileged country, which the com-
motions of the rest of Egypt did not reach, and in
which the stranger had it in his power to walk
about unmolested, especially if he had the pru-
dence to conform to the customs of the country.
I had, at Cairo, laid aside my European dress,
and assumed the Turkish habit. To this I was
obliged to make a sacrifice of my hair ; an enor-
mous turban, a la Druse, enveloped, in various
rounds, my close-shaven head, and sheltered it
from the attacks of an ardent sun ; vestments long
and wide, which a silken girdle hardly confined,
covered my body, without compressing it, and left
every limb perfectly at ease. No part is cramped,
p 4 nothing
robbers ; while at Cairo, the European, confined
to his own home, or, at least, to a narrow quarter
of the town, trembling every moment for his life,
durst not shew his face amidst a confusion, an up-
roar, of which it is impossible to form an idea,
without having lived in this capital of Egypt. I
Waited in expectation that the troubles would sub-
side, and permit me to enter on the execution of
my design ; but wearied out with the anxious state
of inaction to which I was reduced, tired of living
the life of a recluse, and seeing no prospect of the
era when Egypt was to resume a tranquillity which
could admit of travelling through it without being
exposed to certain danger, I resolved on returning
to Rossetta, a privileged country, which the com-
motions of the rest of Egypt did not reach, and in
which the stranger had it in his power to walk
about unmolested, especially if he had the pru-
dence to conform to the customs of the country.
I had, at Cairo, laid aside my European dress,
and assumed the Turkish habit. To this I was
obliged to make a sacrifice of my hair ; an enor-
mous turban, a la Druse, enveloped, in various
rounds, my close-shaven head, and sheltered it
from the attacks of an ardent sun ; vestments long
and wide, which a silken girdle hardly confined,
covered my body, without compressing it, and left
every limb perfectly at ease. No part is cramped,
p 4 nothing