DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14563#0060
3G
EGTPT, PAST AND PRESENT.
chapel. He dresses richly and in good taste, wears a
turban of red silk wreathed about a white skullcap, a white
gown descending nearly to the knees and terminating in
two loose bags fastened about the legs, and a striped silk
waistcoat of gay colors, the back being of the same mate-
rial. His hamees is frilled and filigreed upon the breast,
and copiously adorned with buttons, and has wide sleeves
reaching below the elbows. When the weather is cool, he
throws over all a flowing mantle of blue calico. He has
not attained to the dignity of shoes, but goes with the legs
bare from the knees. When the wind blows, he sits cross-
legged all day long in the bow of the boat, smoking his
chibouque as if he were a youthful Hawagee on the lookout
for pyramids, sphinxes, and crocodiles; and when the boat
is becalmed, he still sits dreamily whiffing, as if the Prophet
had given him a foretaste of his Paradise in Latakia * and
sleep. But when the boat is aground, an almost daily
occurrence — or when the poles, the oars, or the rope must
be used to start her on her way, then the word of command
goes forth with the most violent guttural energy, and in
strange contrast, that soft plaintive voice leads in the invoca-
tions to the sun, and the moon, and father, and mother, and
sister, and the Sultan, and Mecca, and the Effendi, and
Mohammed, while after each comes in the full monotonous
chorus, " Wulleh ha holy-saw." Nor does the reis disdain at
times to lay aside his mantle and his pipe, and in flowing
turban, striped vest, and puffing knee-bags, to put his brawny
arm to pole and oar, and to follow the invocations of his
mate with a "hee-haly-saw." At early morning and at
sunset, and many times in the day, he washes his feet, goes
up on the quarter-deck, spreads out his mantle, and turning
* Laiakia, the representative of the ancient Laodicea, is a small town
on the coast of Syria, celebrated for its tobacco. The mild flavor of the
plant here grown, causes it to be highly prized throughout the Levant.
EGTPT, PAST AND PRESENT.
chapel. He dresses richly and in good taste, wears a
turban of red silk wreathed about a white skullcap, a white
gown descending nearly to the knees and terminating in
two loose bags fastened about the legs, and a striped silk
waistcoat of gay colors, the back being of the same mate-
rial. His hamees is frilled and filigreed upon the breast,
and copiously adorned with buttons, and has wide sleeves
reaching below the elbows. When the weather is cool, he
throws over all a flowing mantle of blue calico. He has
not attained to the dignity of shoes, but goes with the legs
bare from the knees. When the wind blows, he sits cross-
legged all day long in the bow of the boat, smoking his
chibouque as if he were a youthful Hawagee on the lookout
for pyramids, sphinxes, and crocodiles; and when the boat
is becalmed, he still sits dreamily whiffing, as if the Prophet
had given him a foretaste of his Paradise in Latakia * and
sleep. But when the boat is aground, an almost daily
occurrence — or when the poles, the oars, or the rope must
be used to start her on her way, then the word of command
goes forth with the most violent guttural energy, and in
strange contrast, that soft plaintive voice leads in the invoca-
tions to the sun, and the moon, and father, and mother, and
sister, and the Sultan, and Mecca, and the Effendi, and
Mohammed, while after each comes in the full monotonous
chorus, " Wulleh ha holy-saw." Nor does the reis disdain at
times to lay aside his mantle and his pipe, and in flowing
turban, striped vest, and puffing knee-bags, to put his brawny
arm to pole and oar, and to follow the invocations of his
mate with a "hee-haly-saw." At early morning and at
sunset, and many times in the day, he washes his feet, goes
up on the quarter-deck, spreads out his mantle, and turning
* Laiakia, the representative of the ancient Laodicea, is a small town
on the coast of Syria, celebrated for its tobacco. The mild flavor of the
plant here grown, causes it to be highly prized throughout the Levant.