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IMMODEST COSTUME.

nomy of the Arabs, were, at the same time, going on. There was a man cutting up, upon the mud, a buffalo, which he had just killed, while the dogs were lapping the blood. Several women were employed in turning the entrails inside out, and others in hacking and hewing the reeking limbs for immediate consumption. A little below there was a party of washerwomen. While I was engaged in looking at these different groups, a pretty young female, bareheaded and barefoot, came tripping across the green, to draw water from the river. The immodest costume, which Euripides objects to the Spartan women, was decent compared with that of this young Arab matron; for the opening in the chemise, the only garment which she wore, not only exposed to view the whole of the bosom, but the greater part likewise of the abdomen : but at this I soon ceased to be surprised; for the fair sex, in Egypt, provided they can hide their faces,and it is those of the higher order only who attempt to do this, care not what other part of their person they exhibit; observing, that it is by the features alone that one individual is distinguished from another, all women being, in other respects, pretty nearly alike. Having filled her jar, she twisted a wisp of straw into a ring, and placed it on her head to hold the vessel, which an Arab, apparently a neighbour, lifted up for her.

XLIII. In crossing the ferry, our party occupied three boats, one with a sail, which drew the second after it. The third was rowed across. As soon as we

FERTILITY OF THE DELTA.

83

entered the Delta, we observed on every side proofs of

its amazing fertility: luxuriant crops of young wheat

exquisitely green, exuberant rank grass, plants of gigantic size, beautiful tall tufted reeds, and palms and sycamores of enormous growth. Our road lay along the bank of the Nile, whose ruddy waters were now beautifully smooth, and reflected every reed which fringed its margin, and every lazy sail that moved upon its surface. Game, at least what we called game, abounds prodigiously in these rich plains. Wild ducks, widgeons, snipes, curlews, hoopoes, doves, pigeons, plovers grey and green, partridges, together with hares, and fine large wild boars, are met with in the greatest abundance; but, the hares and boars requiring too much time and preparation, we confined our attention principally to the doves, snipes, and wild ducks. Twenty-four birds of all sorts were shot in a few hours, as we rode along, and served to exercise the ingenuity of our Arab cook in the evening. At about an hour's distance from Fouah we passed a sheikh's or saint's tomb, erected under the shade of a sycamore of extraordinay size and antiquity, into the trunk of which had been driven a number of large nails, intended to support as many votive offerings, consisting of rags of every possible form and colour. On arriving at Fouah, we proceeded to the caravanserai, which stood in the midst of the bazār ; and, having taken possession of a large apartment, began at once to feather our birds and prepare supper. The dates and bananas, which constituted

for

84

TARBOOSH MANUFACTORY AT FOUAH.

our dessert, were of an excellent quality, and the finest Nile water was our beverage.

XLIV. Fouah is a large town, picturesquely situated on the right bank of the Nile, and has a small island in front of it, covered with tall reeds. It has numerous high brick houses, with many windows; and possesses several mosques, cupolas, minarets, baths, and manufactories. The tarboosh manufactory, which enjoys some celebrity in Egypt, is in the hands of Tunisians. It is a large building, well constructed, and is kept neater and cleaner than any of the Pasha's mills. The fulling-mill, moved by a wheel turned by oxen, is placed below the surface of the ground, and in it stands the driver who urges on the animals. They make use of the best European wool, which, after being carded, in small slips, is spun by women, and netted into tarbooshes by little girls. The caps are then taken to the fulling-mill, where they undergo the operation of being cleaned with soap and water, and where they shrink to nearly half their original volume. They are then wrung, put upon blocks to dry, teased and sheared smooth and neat, after which they are dyed to any intensity of shade required. They are afterwards finished up with fine shears, brushes, &c., and, being marked, and mounted with silk, are put under a press. The cattle used in the mills were all in excellent order; and the working people of both sexes, amounting to 2000, seemed much better off than the poor devils employed in the cotton mills. This establishment can

TARBOOSH MANUFACTORY.

85

manufacture 500 caps in a week. The Pasha often sends in orders for 30,000 or 40,000 caps for the army.. There is also a department for the manufacture of zaboots, or coarse woollen military cloaks for the Nizam. A finer sort of tarbooshes is likewise manufactured here for the Cairo market, where they are made to pass for Tunisian or Fezzani. They formerly manufactured, for the Constantinople market, tarbooshes higher in the crown, and thicker, than those worn in Egypt; where two, the one a little smaller than the other, are generally used to protect the head from the sun. But the most curious articles produced. at Fouah are certain very delicate caps for the Pasha's harem, of the most beautiful texture, and so small as to fit the nipple of the breast; it being the custom among ladies of rank in the East, to show the bosom through a thin gauze, but to cover the most tender part with red, probably for the sake of effect.*

Sunday, Nov. 25. El Kodabé.

XLV. After breakfasting on coffee, eggs, dates, bananas, and most excellent fresh butter, we quitted Fouah about half past seven o'clock. The morning,

* As even the most intimate friends, among the Orientals, are not admitted into the privacy of the harems, whatever I relate of the internal economy of those "sacred apartments" must be understood to, have been derived from others. But I was acquainted, in Egypt, with several Levantine Christian ladies, who lived on terms of intimacy with Turkish families of distinction, visited the harems, and mingled still more freely with the ladies in the public baths. From them I derived considerable information, which I shall hereafter introduce when I come to speak of the female establishment of Ibrahim Pasha.

86

LANDSCAPES IN THE DELTA.

though there was a cool breeze stirring, was sunny and beautiful; and the country so richly wooded, so varied in aspect by different kinds of cultivation, so dotted with villages, and flocks, and herds, and flights of white ibises, that it might well be called picturesque. Our road constantly lay within a short distance of the Nile, and sometimes close along its edge, where there was just room enough to pass between the water and those high banks of earth, or jungly thickets, which, in many places, border the stream. The river, in this part of its course, is much broader than at Rosetta, and here and there its channel is divided by small fairy islands, thickly covered with wood. Numerous boats with large triangular sails, and manned with Arabs or Nubians, were sailing rapidly along the shore; some stemming, others taking advantage of the current. The villages are extremely thick in this part of the Delta; and though, in reality, poor and ruinous, their mosques, cupolas, minarets, and white tombs, seen from afar through openings in the forests by which they are surrounded, have an air of importance and grandeur which serves to delight the eye. But it is not in the villages only that we meet with the tombs of saints. They frequently, in all parts of Egypt, stand in solitary places, and have usually a fountain and small grove adjoining, where the wandering dervish pauses to pray, and the less pious traveller to quench his thirst, or enjoy the cool shade. These buildings generally consist of a large square apartment, surmounted by a dome, in many cases handsomely fluted; and some pious or gloomy