Moneys.

The pound sterling is now, and is likely to continue for some years, equivalent to 100 Egyptian piasters: it has risen, in two years, from 72 piasters; which was the rate of exchange for several preceding years.

A “faddah” is the smallest Egyptian coin. It is called, in the singular, “nuss” (a corruption of “nusf,” which signifies “half”) or “nuss faddah:” it is also called “meyyedee,” or “meiyedee” (an abbreviation of “mu-eiyadee”). These names were originally given to the half-dirhems which were coined in the reign of the Sultán El-Mu-eiyad, in the early part of the ninth century of the Flight, or of the fifteenth of our era. The Turks call it “párah.” The faddah is made of a mixture of silver and copper (its name signifies “silver”); and is the fortieth part of a piaster; consequently equivalent to six twenty-fifths, or nearly a quarter, of a farthing.

There are pieces of 5, 10, and 20 faddahs, “khamseh faddah,” “’asharah faddah,” and “’eshreen faddah” (so called for “khamset ansáf faddah,” etc.), or “kat’ah bi-khamseh,” “kat’ah bi-’asharah,” and “kat’ah bi-’eshreen” (i.e. “pieces of five,” etc.): the last is also called “nus kirsh” (or “half a piaster”). These pieces, which are equivalent respectively to a farthing and one-fifth, two farthings and two-fifths, and a penny and one-fifth, are of the same composition as the single faddahs.

The “kirsh,” or Egyptian piaster, has already been shown to be equivalent to the hundredth part of a pound sterling, or the fifth of a shilling; that is, two pence and two-fifths. It is of the same composition as the pieces above mentioned, and an inch and one-eighth in diameter. On one face it bears the Sultán’s cypher; and on the other, in Arabic, “duriba fee Misr” (“coined in Misr,” commonly called Masr, i.e. Cairo), with the date of the present Básha’s accession to the government below (1223 of the Flight, or 1808-9 of our era), and the year of his government in which it was coined above. The inscriptions of the other coins are almost exactly similar.

The “saadeeyeh,” commonly called “kheyreeyeh bi-arba’′ah” (i.e. “the kheyreeyeh of four”), or the “small kheyreeyeh,” is a small gold coin, of the value of four piasters, or nine pence and three-fifths.

The “kheyreeyeh” properly so called, or “kheyreeyeh bi-tis’ah” (i.e. “kheyreeyeh of nine”), is a gold coin of the value of nine piasters, or twenty-one pence and three-fifths.

The above are the only Egyptian coins.

The coins of Constantinople are current in Egypt; but scarce.

European and American dollars are also current in Egypt: most of them are equivalent to twenty Egyptian piasters: the Spanish pillared dollar, to twenty-one. The name of “riyál faránsa” is given to every kind; but the pillared dollar is called “aboo midfa’” (or, “having a cannon”); the pillars being mistaken for cannons. The others have also distinguishing names. The Spanish doubloon (called in Arabic “debloon”), the value of which is sixteen dollars, is likewise current in this country: so also are the Venetian sequin (called “benduk′ee,” for “bunduk′ee”), and the English sovereign (which is called “ginyeh,” for guinea).

The “riyál” of Egypt is a nominal money, the value of ninety faddahs, or five pence and two-fifths. In, or about, the year of the Flight 1185 (A.D. 1771-2), the Spanish dollar passed for ninety faddahs, by order of ’Alee Béy. The dollar was then simply called “riyál;” and from that period, the above-mentioned number of faddahs has continued to be called by this name.

The “kees,” or purse, is the sum of five hundred piasters, or five pounds sterling.

The “khazneh,” or treasury, is a thousand purses, or five thousand pounds sterling.

APPENDIX C.
PRAYER OF MUSLIM SCHOOL-BOYS.

My friend Mr. Burton (who, in the course of his long residence in Egypt, has acquired an ample fund of valuable information respecting its modern inhabitants, as well as other subjects) has kindly communicated to me an Arabic paper containing the forms of imprecation to which I have alluded in a note subjoined to page 255 of this work. They are expressed in a “hezb” (or prayer) which the Muslim youths in many of the schools of Cairo recite, before they return to their homes, every day of their attendance, at the period of the “’asr,” excepting on Thursday, when they recite it at noon; being allowed to leave the school, on this day, at the early hour of the “duhr,” in consideration of the approach of Friday, their sabbath and holiday. This prayer is not recited in the schools that are held within mosques. It is similar to a portion of the “khutbet en-naat.”[[656]] I here translate it.

“I seek refuge with God from Satan the accursed![[657]] In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful! O God! aid El-Islám, and exalt the word of truth, and the faith, by the preservation of thy servant, and the son of thy servant, the Sultán of the two continents,[[658]] and Khákán[[659]] of the two seas,[[660]] the Sultán, son of the Sultán, the Sultán [Mahmood[[661]]] Khán. O God! assist him, and assist his armies, and all the forces of the Muslims! O Lord of all creatures! O God! destroy the infidels and polytheists, thine enemies, the enemies of the religion! O God! make their children orphans, and defile their abodes, and cause their feet to slip, and give them and their families and their households and their women and their children and their relations by marriage and their brothers and their friends and their possessions and their race and their wealth and their lands as booty to the Muslims! O Lord of all creatures!”

Not to convey too harsh a censure of the Muslims of Egypt, by the insertion of this prayer, I should add, that the excessive fanaticism which it indicates is not to be imputed to this people universally.