A person who was appointed Mohtes′ib shortly after my former visit to this country (Mustaf′a Káshif, a Kurd) exercised his power in a most brutal manner, clipping men’s ears (that is, cutting off the lobe, or ear-lap), not only for the most trifling transgression, but often for no offence whatever. He once met an old man, driving along several asses laden with water-melons, and pointing to one of the largest of these fruits, asked its price. The old man put his finger and thumb to his ear-lap, and said, “Cut it, Sir.” He was asked again and again, and gave the same answer. The Mohtes′ib, angry, but unable to refrain from laughing, said, “Fellow, are you mad or deaf?” “No,” replied the old man, “I am neither mad nor deaf; but I know that, if I were to say the price of the melon is ten faddahs, you would say, ‘Clip his ear’; and if I said five faddahs, or one faddah, you would say, ‘Clip his ear’; therefore clip it at once, and let me pass on.” His humour saved him.—Clipping ears was the usual punishment inflicted by this Mohtes′ib; but sometimes he tortured in a different manner. A butcher, who had sold some meat wanting two ounces of its due weight, he punished by cutting off two ounces of flesh from his back. A seller of “kunáfeh” (a kind of paste resembling vermicelli) having made his customers pay a trifle more than was just, he caused him to be stripped, and seated upon the round copper tray on which the kunáfeh was baked, and kept so until he was dreadfully burnt. He generally punished dishonest butchers by putting a hook through their nose, and hanging a piece of meat to it. Meeting, one day, a man carrying a large crate full of earthen water-bottles from Semennood, which he offered for sale as made at Kinë, he caused his attendants to break each bottle separately against the vendor’s head. Mustaf’a[Mustaf’a] Káshif also exercised his tyranny in other cases than those which properly fell under his jurisdiction. He once took a fancy to send one of his horses to a bath, and desired the keeper of a bath in his neighbourhood to prepare for receiving it, and to wash it well, and make its coat very smooth. The bath-keeper, annoyed at so extraordinary a command, ventured to suggest that, as the pavements of the bath were of marble, the horse might slip, and fall; and also, that it might take cold on going out; and that it would, therefore, be better for him to convey to the stable the contents of the cistern of the bath in buckets, and there to perform the operation. Mustaf′a Káshif said, “I see how it is; you do not like that my horse should go into your bath.” He desired some of his servants to throw him down, and beat him with staves until he should tell them to stop. They did so; and beat the poor man till he died.
A few years ago there used to be carried before the Mohtes′ib, when going his rounds to examine the weights and measures, etc., a pair of scales larger than that used at present. Its beam, it is said, was a hollow tube, containing some quicksilver; by means of which, the bearer, knowing those persons who had bribed his master, and those who had not, easily made either scale preponderate.
As the Mohtes′ib is the overseer of the public markets, so there are officers who have a similar charge in superintending each branch of the Básha’s trade and manufactures; and some of these persons have been known to perpetrate most abominable acts of tyranny and cruelty. One of this class, who was named ’Alee Bey, “Názir el-Kumásh” (or Overseer of the Linen), when he found a person in possession of a private loom, or selling the produce of such a loom, generally bound him up in a piece of his linen, soaked in oil and tar; then suspended him, thus enveloped, to a branch of a tree, and set light to the wrapper. After having destroyed a number of men in this horrible manner, he was himself, among many others, burnt to death, by the explosion of a powder-magazine on the northern slope of the Citadel of Cairo, in 1824, the year before my first arrival in Egypt. A friend of mine, who spoke to me of the atrocities of this monster, added, “When his corpse was taken to be buried, the Sheykh El-’Aroosee (who was Sheykh of the great mosque El-Azhar) recited the funeral prayers over it, in the mosque of the Hasaneyn; and I acted as ‘muballigh’ (to repeat the words of the Imám): when the Sheykh uttered the words, ‘Give your testimony respecting him,’ and when I had repeated them, no one of all the persons present, and they were many, presumed to give the answer, ‘He was of the virtuous’: all were silent. To make the circumstance more glaring, I said again, ‘Give your testimony respecting him:’ but not an answer was heard; and the Sheykh, in confusion, said, but in a very low voice, ‘May God have mercy upon him.’ Now we may certainly say of this cursed man,” continued my friend, “that he is gone to hell: yet his wife is constantly having ‘khatmehs’ (recitations of the Kur-án) performed in her house for him; and lights two wax candles, for his sake, every evening, at the niche of the mosque of the Hasaneyn.”
Every quarter in the metropolis has its sheykh, called “Sheykh el-Hárah,” whose influence is exerted to maintain order, to settle any trifling disputes among the inhabitants, and to expel those who disturb the peace of their neighbours. The whole of the metropolis is also divided into eight districts, over each of which is a sheykh, called “Sheykh et-Tumn.”
The members of various trades and manufactures in the metropolis and other large towns have also their respective sheykhs, to whom all disputes respecting matters connected with those trades or crafts are submitted for arbitration; and whose sanction is required for the admission of new members.
The servants in the metropolis are likewise under the authority of particular sheykhs. Any person in want of a servant may procure one by applying to one of these officers, who, for a small fee (two or three piasters), becomes responsible for the conduct of the man whom he recommends. Should a servant so engaged rob his master, the latter gives information to the sheykh, who, whether he can recover the stolen property or not, must indemnify the master.
Even the common thieves used, not many years since, to respect a superior, who was called their sheykh. He was often required to search for stolen goods, and to bring offenders to justice; which he generally accomplished. It is very remarkable that the same strange system prevailed among the ancient Egyptians.[[223]]
The Coptic Patriarch, who is the head of his church, judges petty causes among his people in the metropolis; and the inferior clergy do the same in other places; but an appeal may be made to the Kádee. A Muslim aggrieved by a Copt may demand justice from the Patriarch or the Kádee: a Copt who seeks redress from a Muslim must apply to the Kádee. The Jews are similarly circumstanced. The Franks, or Europeans in general, are not answerable to any other authority than that of their respective consuls, excepting when they are aggressors against a Muslim: they are then surrendered to the Turkish authorities, who, on the other hand, will render justice to the Frank who is aggrieved by a Muslim.
The inhabitants of the country-towns and villages are under the government of Turkish officers and of their own countrymen. The whole of Egypt is divided into several large provinces, each of which is governed by an ’Osmánlee (or a Turk); and these provinces are subdivided into districts, which are governed by native officers, with the titles of “Mamoor and Názir.” Every village, as well as town, has also its Sheykh, called “Sheykh el-Beled;” who is one of the native Muslim inhabitants. All the officers above mentioned, excepting the last, were formerly Turks; and there were other Turkish governors of small districts, who were called “Ká-shifs,” and “ Káïm-makáms:” the change was made very shortly before my present visit to this country; and the Felláheen complain that their condition is worse than it was before; but it is generally from the tyranny of their great Turkish governors that they suffer most severely.
The following case will convey some idea of the condition of Egyptian peasants in some provinces. A Turk,[[224]] infamous for many barbarous acts, presiding at the town of Tanta, in the Delta, went one night to the government-granary of that town, and, finding two peasants sleeping there, asked them who they were, and what was their business in that place. One of them said that he had brought 130 ardebbs of corn from a village of the district; and the other, that he had brought 60 ardebbs from the land belonging to the town. “You rascal!” said the governor to the latter; “this man brings 130 ardebbs from the lands of a small village; and you, but 60 from the lands of the town.” “This man,” answered the peasant of Tanta, “brings corn but once a week; and I am now bringing it every day.” “Be silent!” said the governor; and, pointing to a neighbouring tree, he ordered one of the servants of the granary to hang the peasant to one of its branches. The order was obeyed, and the governor returned to his house. The next morning he went again to the granary, and saw a man bringing in a large quantity of corn. He asked who he was, and what quantity he had brought; and was answered, by the hangman of the preceding night, “This is the man, Sir, whom I hanged by your orders, last night; and he has brought 160 ardebbs.” “What!” exclaimed the governor: “has he risen from the dead?” He was answered, “No, Sir; I hanged him so that his toes touched the ground; and when you were gone, I untied the rope: you did not order me to kill him.” The Turk muttered, “Aha! hanging and killing are different things: Arabic is copious: next time I will say kill. Take care of Aboo-Dá-ood.”[[225]] This is his nick-name.