DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11637#0337
AND LOWER EGYPT. 3O9
piece of tapestry coveting the saddle and crupper,
reached down to the ground. It is to he pre-
sumed, that the ladies were not deficient in
charms : but they were masked with thick veils,
and bundled up as it were in pieces of stuffs,
which did not allow either the face or even figure
to be seen, and exhibited nothing but a shapeless
mass. Such meetings had nothing in them very
pleasant to an European : he was not only obliged
to alight in token of respect, but he must also
take care to avoid, I will not say looking the la-
dies in the face, for this was invisible, but even
looking at them ; the most he could do being to
eye them askance as they passed. If he ventured
beyond this, it would have afforded a pretence for
an avatile, or been attended with consequences still
worse.
The asses of Egypt have at least as much vi-
gour as beauty. They readily perform the long-
est journeys. More hardy than the horses, and
less difficult with regard to the quality or quan-
tity of their food, they are preferred lor long jour-
neys across the desert. Most of the Mussulman
pilgrims use them for the long and laborious jour-
ney to Mecca; and the chiefs of the Nubian ca-
ravans, which are sixty davs in passing immense
solitudes, ride upon asses, that do not appear fa-
tigued when they arrive in Egypt.
x 2 Tiie
piece of tapestry coveting the saddle and crupper,
reached down to the ground. It is to he pre-
sumed, that the ladies were not deficient in
charms : but they were masked with thick veils,
and bundled up as it were in pieces of stuffs,
which did not allow either the face or even figure
to be seen, and exhibited nothing but a shapeless
mass. Such meetings had nothing in them very
pleasant to an European : he was not only obliged
to alight in token of respect, but he must also
take care to avoid, I will not say looking the la-
dies in the face, for this was invisible, but even
looking at them ; the most he could do being to
eye them askance as they passed. If he ventured
beyond this, it would have afforded a pretence for
an avatile, or been attended with consequences still
worse.
The asses of Egypt have at least as much vi-
gour as beauty. They readily perform the long-
est journeys. More hardy than the horses, and
less difficult with regard to the quality or quan-
tity of their food, they are preferred lor long jour-
neys across the desert. Most of the Mussulman
pilgrims use them for the long and laborious jour-
ney to Mecca; and the chiefs of the Nubian ca-
ravans, which are sixty davs in passing immense
solitudes, ride upon asses, that do not appear fa-
tigued when they arrive in Egypt.
x 2 Tiie