DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11448#0171
CHAP. XX.]
ARAB FEAST.
139
twopence to fourpence each. The fruit is not the only useful
part, however: of its fibres ropes are manufactured; of ita
leaves, baskets; of its lighter wood, hencoops, and light bed-
steads ; of its timber, with the addition of some mud, houses and
boats ; and even the kernels of its fruit are bruised for the food
of camels.
The forests that it forms are very picturesque, though solemn,
from the deep shadow that its foliage casts over the arcades of
columnar trunks. It harmonizes beautifully with the ruins of
the tombs and temples ; but most of all, it appears to advantage,
when standing alone in the desert, waving aloft its verdant
plume, " the banner of the climate."
The Acacia in Lower Egypt is very ornamental and abun-
dant ; but it is only in the Said and Nubia that it produces the
o-um-arabic, which trickles from incisions in the bark : this last
is the Acacia Nilotica ; the former is the Acacia Lebbekh. The
Olive and the Sycamore are the only other trees that deserve
the name in Egypt. Shrubs abound in infinite variety, and the
Citron, the Orange, and the Lotus are also indigenous. This
last tree is the Rhamnus Spini Christi of Linnaeus, and perhaps
bears the fruit that proved such an antidote to Nostalgia in the
days of Ulysses. This fruit is about the size of a grape, and
very pleasant to the taste ; the thorns look like beautiful ivory,
tinged with pale rose color.
At each village where we halt for supplies, a little market is
improvised round about us. The old men squat in a circle in
the front places, smoking their pipes, and discussing us as coolly
and gravely as if we were mere abstractions. The men offer
spears, or crocodiles, or antiquities, for sale ; the women, butter,
eggs, milk, and poultry—the latter cost about two-pence each ;
eggs about three-pence a hundred ; butter, seven-pence a pound ;
a sheep costs about four and six-pence.
On arriving at Keneh, we gave the crew a feast, consisting of
an old ram, preferred by them to younger mutton, because it
"stood more chewing." The creature was alive, killed, boiled,
and devoured, within an hour: his very eyes, feet, intestines,
and, I do believe, his horns, were swallowed, and nothing remained
but his skin. This, in the first moment of digestive leisure, was
ARAB FEAST.
139
twopence to fourpence each. The fruit is not the only useful
part, however: of its fibres ropes are manufactured; of ita
leaves, baskets; of its lighter wood, hencoops, and light bed-
steads ; of its timber, with the addition of some mud, houses and
boats ; and even the kernels of its fruit are bruised for the food
of camels.
The forests that it forms are very picturesque, though solemn,
from the deep shadow that its foliage casts over the arcades of
columnar trunks. It harmonizes beautifully with the ruins of
the tombs and temples ; but most of all, it appears to advantage,
when standing alone in the desert, waving aloft its verdant
plume, " the banner of the climate."
The Acacia in Lower Egypt is very ornamental and abun-
dant ; but it is only in the Said and Nubia that it produces the
o-um-arabic, which trickles from incisions in the bark : this last
is the Acacia Nilotica ; the former is the Acacia Lebbekh. The
Olive and the Sycamore are the only other trees that deserve
the name in Egypt. Shrubs abound in infinite variety, and the
Citron, the Orange, and the Lotus are also indigenous. This
last tree is the Rhamnus Spini Christi of Linnaeus, and perhaps
bears the fruit that proved such an antidote to Nostalgia in the
days of Ulysses. This fruit is about the size of a grape, and
very pleasant to the taste ; the thorns look like beautiful ivory,
tinged with pale rose color.
At each village where we halt for supplies, a little market is
improvised round about us. The old men squat in a circle in
the front places, smoking their pipes, and discussing us as coolly
and gravely as if we were mere abstractions. The men offer
spears, or crocodiles, or antiquities, for sale ; the women, butter,
eggs, milk, and poultry—the latter cost about two-pence each ;
eggs about three-pence a hundred ; butter, seven-pence a pound ;
a sheep costs about four and six-pence.
On arriving at Keneh, we gave the crew a feast, consisting of
an old ram, preferred by them to younger mutton, because it
"stood more chewing." The creature was alive, killed, boiled,
and devoured, within an hour: his very eyes, feet, intestines,
and, I do believe, his horns, were swallowed, and nothing remained
but his skin. This, in the first moment of digestive leisure, was