Having now described the manners and customs of the Muslims of Egypt in the various stages and circumstances of life, from the period of infancy to the tomb, I close my account of them, as a writer of their own nation would in a similar case, with “thanks and praise to Him who dieth not.”
SUPPLEMENT.
I.—THE COPTS.
The fame of that great nation from which the Copts mainly derive their origin renders this people objects of much interest, especially to one who has examined the wonderful monuments of Ancient Egypt: but so great is the aversion with which, like their illustrious ancestors, they regard all persons who are not of their own race, and so reluctant are they to admit such persons to any familiar intercourse with them, that I had almost despaired of gaining an insight into their religious, moral, and social state. At length, however, I had the good fortune to become acquainted with a character of which I had doubted the existence—a Copt of a liberal as well as an intelligent mind; and to his kindness I am indebted for the knowledge of most of the facts related in the following brief memoir.
The Copts, at present, compose less than one fourteenth part of the population of Egypt; their number being not more than about one hundred and fifty thousand. About ten thousand of them reside in the metropolis. In some parts of Upper Egypt are villages exclusively inhabited by persons of this race; and the district called the Feiyoom particularly abounds with them. The vast number of ruined convents and churches existing in various parts of Egypt shows that the Copts were very numerous a few centuries ago; but every year many of them have embraced the faith of El-Islám, and become intermixed by marriage with Muslims; and thus the number of genuine and Christian Copts has been reduced to its present small amount.
The Copts are undoubtedly descendants of the ancient Egyptians; but not an unmixed race; their ancestors in the earlier ages of Christianity having intermarried with Greeks, Nubians, Abyssinians, and other foreigners. Their name is correctly pronounced either “Kubt” or “Kibt;” but more commonly, “Gubt” or “Gibt,” and (in Cairo and its neighbourhood, and in some other parts of Egypt), “’Ubt” or “’Ibt:” in the singular it is pronounced “Kubtee, Kibtee, Gubtee, Gibtee, ’Ubtee,” or “’Ibtee.” All of these sounds bear a great resemblance to the ancient Greek name of Egypt (Αίγυπτος): but it is generally believed that the name of “Kubt” is derived from “Coptos” (once a great city in Upper Egypt), now called “Kuft,” or, more commonly, “Guft;” to which vast numbers of the Christian Egyptians retired during the persecution with which their sect was visited under several of the Roman Emperors. The Copts have not altogether lost their ancient language; their liturgy and several of their religious books being written in it: but the Coptic has become a dead language, understood by very few persons; and the Arabic has been adopted in its stead.
With respect to their personal characteristics, we observe some striking points of resemblance, and yet, upon the whole, a considerable difference, between the Copts and the ancient Egyptians, judging of the latter from the paintings and sculptures in their tombs and temples. The difference is, however, easily accounted for by the fact of the intermarriages of the ancestors of the modern Copts with foreigners, above mentioned. The people who bear the greatest resemblance to the ancient Egyptians, at present, are the Noobeh (or more genuine Nubians); and next to these, the Abyssinians and the Copts; who are, notwithstanding, much unlike each other. The Copts differ but little from the generality of their Muslim countrymen: the latter being chiefly descended from Arabs and from Copts who have embraced the faith of the Arabs, and having thus become assimilated to the Copts in features. I find it difficult, sometimes, to perceive any difference between a Copt and a Muslim Egyptian, beyond a certain downcast and sullen expression of countenance which generally marks the former; and the Muslims themselves are often deceived when they see a Copt in a white turban. We observe, in the latter, the same shades of complexion, in different latitudes of the country, as in the former; varying from a pale yellowish colour to a deep bronze or brown. The eyes of the Copt are generally large and elongated, slightly inclined from the nose upwards, and always black: the nose is straight, excepting at the end, where it is rounded, and wide: the lips are rather thick; and the hair is black and curly. The Copts are, generally speaking, somewhat under the middle size; and so, as it appears from the mummies, were the ancient Egyptians. Their women, of the higher and middle classes in particular, blacken the edges of their eyelids with kohl; and those of the lower orders tattoo blue marks upon their faces, hands, etc., in the same manner as other Egyptian females, but usually introduce the cross among these ornaments. Most of the Copts circumcise their sons; and another practice which prevailed among their pagan ancestors, mentioned by Strabo, and alluded to in a note subjoined to page 48 of this work, is observed among the Copts without exception.
The dress of the Copts is similar to that of the Muslim Egyptians; excepting that the proper turban of the former is black or blue, or of a greyish or light-brown colour; and such Copts as wear cloth generally choose dull colours, and often wear a black cotton gown, or loose shirt, over their cloth and silk dress. In the towns, they are usually careful thus to distinguish themselves from the Muslims; but in the villages, many of them wear the white or red turban. Other Christians, and Jews who are subjects of the Turkish Sultán, are distinguished from the Muslims in the same manner; but not all: many Armenians, Greeks, and Syrian Christians wear the white turban. Subjects of European Christian powers are allowed to do the same, and to adopt altogether the Turkish dress. The occasions which originally caused the Copts to be distinguished by the black and blue turbans will be mentioned in some historical notes respecting this people hereafter.—The Copt women veil their faces, not only in public, but also in the house, when any men, excepting their near relations, are present. The unmarried ladies, and females of the lower orders, in public, generally wear the white veil: the black veil is worn by the more respectable of the married ladies; but the white is adopted by many, from a desire to imitate the Muslim′ehs.
The Copts, with the exception of a small proportion who profess the Romish or the Greek faith, are Christians of the sect called Jacobites, Eutychians, Monophysites, and Monothelites; whose creed was condemned by the Council of Chalcedon, in the reign of the Emperor Marcion. They received the appellation of “Jacobites” (“Ya’ákibeh,” or “Yaakoobees”), by which they are generally known, from Jacobus Baradæus, a Syrian, who was a chief propagator of the Eutychian doctrines. Those who adhered to the Greek faith were distinguished from the former by the name of “Melekites” (“Melekeeyeh,” or “Melekees”), that is to say, “Royalists,” because they agreed in faith with the Emperor of Constantinople. The secession of the great majority of the Copts from what was generally considered the orthodox Church gave rise to an implacable enmity between them and the Greeks, under whom they suffered much persecution, and with whom they would no longer even contract marriages. This enmity was, of course, more bitter on the part of the Copts: they gladly received the Arab invaders of their country, and united with them to expel the Greeks. Their revenge was gratified; but they were made to bow their necks to a heavier yoke: yet the hatred with which even the modern Copts regard the Greeks and all other Christians who are not of their own sect is much greater than that which they bear towards the Muslims.—Saint Mark, they assert, was the first who preached the Gospel in Egypt; and they regard him as the first Patriarch of Alexandria. The Nubians and Abyssinians embraced Christianity soon after the Egyptians; and, following the same example, they adopted the Jacobite doctrines. The Nubians, however, have become Muslims; and boast that there is not a single Christian among their race, and that they will never allow one to live among them; for, as they are more ignorant, so are they also more bigoted, than the generality of Muslims. In Abyssinia, Jacobite Christianity is still the prevailing religion.