The dress of men and women of the common people of Egypt, consists of a blue cotton gown resembling a woman's shift: some have an upper and under garment. The men wear a sash or girdle round the middle; a turban and slippers; but no stockings. The women have no girdle round the middle; they wear vails; of which those that I saw were of coarse net-work, resembling the texture of a serjeant's sash, and shaped like the little bag nets used for catching trout in small rivers. The mouth of them is put under the chin and over the forehead, and is fastened behind: there are two holes opposite to the eyes, and the tapering end hangs down the breast. They appear to think, that modesty lies in concealing from public view the lower part of the face, whilst they are very negligent in other respects, which are more essential to that virtue. To Europeans the appearance of their faces, and particularly the part that is usually concealed, is no way interesting.—Their complexion is dark; their eyes, in general, are inflamed; and their cheeks and chins are marked with the figures of half moons, stars, &c. in the way that our sailors mark themselves.
In some of the towns, girls, 14 years old, were seen going to the river for water, in a state of complete nudity; and males of all ages were seen mixed together in groupes, in the same state, without any sense of shame. They anoint their bodies with olive oil, which prevents the sun from blistering the skin. There are no stools or chairs for sitting upon in Egypt; their common way of sitting is upon the hams of their legs, in which posture they will remain for hours, apparently as much at their ease as a European upon a chair; they eat their meals in a reclining posture, but make no use of knives, forks or spoons; when they sup they literally "dip their hand in the dish,"[[17]] and feed themselves with their fingers in place of spoons. The above customs were practised in the time of Christ, and still exists through the east.
There are numbers of mosques, or Mahomedan churches, in the towns. They have, in general, a particular kind of spires, called minarets, some of which are very lofty: they are in shape at the top like an onion, but have no weathercocks, nor clocks, nor bells; of which latter, the Mahomedan religion prohibits the use. The minarets have all one or more balustrades round them, into which a man ascends at the end of every watch, and walks round, calling the people to prayers with as loud a voice as he possibly can. In Egypt it is commonly a blind man who performs this office.
The uninterrupted sunshine at Cairo, afforded the French the means of partly supplying the want of clocks and bells, by ascertaining exactly when it was twelve o'clock. They mounted one of the guns in the citadel upon a peculiar construction, and put some fine brass work at the breech, in which was a burning glass just over the touch hole; by which the rays of the sun, the instant he reached the meridian, kindled the powder and fired the gun. This is a proof that clouds and rain are seldom seen at Cairo; otherwise the firing of the gun could not have been depended on. When the French left the citadel, the Turks got possession of it; and some of them broke and stole the brass work of this gun, supposing the polished metal to be gold.
The heat of the country was very oppressive; and the army that went to Cairo suffered much from it during their march. The perspiration came through their clothes, and wetted their buff belts opposite the back, just as if they had been soaked in water.
About this time a very melancholy accident happened to some men of the 13th regiment of foot. Their regimental store house was in a building a few yards from the hospital; some of them were employed sorting cartridges in a room on the first floor, when one of them came in smoking tobacco, and thoughtlessly held his head over an open chest into which they were packing the cartridges; a spark fell from the pipe, and the powder exploded and gave a violent shock to the hospital and adjacent buildings; several men, and a serjeant's wife, were killed in the house, and I think nine or ten more were much bruised and dreadfully burned, and were brought into the hospital; their condition was more pitiful than that of those who were severely wounded, because so much of the skin of the face and body had been burned, that they had not sound skin left to lie upon; five or six of them lingered about a week in great agony, and died. I think that twelve or sixteen were killed or severely injured by this accident. Some who were sitting in the bottom of an open window, with their legs over the wall, were blown down into the street, but were not much hurt.
Towards the end of September, my wound was nearly whole, but my leg was very much contracted. I was ordered to prepare to join my regiment at Alexandria to go home with it. But before taking a final leave of the hospitals, I would make a few further remarks upon the manner in which I saw my fellow creatures depart this life. And it must be confessed, that to all appearance many of them died hardy; they might groan through extremity of bodily pain, but did not exhibit any anguish of mind at the fear of death or judgment; but I could not discern any rational ground for this apparent want of anxiety about futurity. To make a merit of meeting death bravely, when it can not be avoided, is but a poor reason for a rational, immortal, and accountable creature, to act upon. If man is a sinner, and must render an account to his Maker when he dies, surely to manifest no concern about the issue of death, is not to act the part worthy of a rational creature. To shut out all concern about eternity, in order to act the hero at the last, is liker the conduct of a blind madman than a true hero; for true courage in the hour of death can only be founded on the knowledge of our being happier hereafter; and this persuasion is only to be attained, by the reception of the good news of salvation by Jesus Christ, revealed in the Scriptures. Infidelity has said much against the superstition of the Bible; but while it does this, it gives an accountable creature nothing in the room of it upon which to found a reasonable hope for eternity. Infidels have often said that the fears of hell which make men afraid to die, are the produce of superstition. Were there none of those whom I saw die, who had freed themselves of the fears produced by the Bible account of a future state? It is likely that some of them had; for their previous habits and behaviour were as opposite to the Scriptures, as if they had never heard of such a book; and it was as little talked of, as if it had never existed. If infidelity be true, the death of its disciples ought to be more dignified and composed than that of any others: their future prospects ought to be the most certain, intelligent, and cheering to the immortal soul, when it is about to take its flight into the world of spirits and return to God who gave it. A dying infidel, if his system be truth, should be one that should rejoice in death, that he had freed himself from the fears produced by the Bible; he ought to be able to direct those around his dying bed to the truth that supports his mind, and show, at the same time, that he has a proper discernment of his own condition as an accountable creature, and suitable conceptions of the moral character of his Maker and Judge. But of all that I ever saw die, I never heard any rejoicing in the assertions of infidelity: I saw many die apparently hardy; but their deaths resembled more that of the beasts that perish, than of accountable immortal creatures. I have since seen Christians die, but the manner of their death was very different: their conceptions of the majesty and holy purity of God were exalted; their sense of the evil of their own sins, and the moral responsibility of their conduct, was deep; but with all this full in their view, they had good hope through trusting in Christ; and I never yet saw or heard of a dying Christian who regretted that he had trusted too much to Christ, or thought too highly of him; but the contrary. I have often heard them regret deeply that they had thought too lowly of him, and of what he had done to save sinners, and had trusted too little to him, and depended too little on the promises of the Bible; and I have heard them pray earnestly for forgiveness for this, as being the most heinous of all their sins.—Reader, if ever your mind has been stumbled by the arguments of infidelity, try it by this test,—what provision does it make for eternity, to a sinful and accountable creature; and you will find that in this most important of all other concerns it makes no provision whatever: it is revelation alone that either does or can make any provision for a certain ground of hope for futurity. God alone can tell how he will forgive sin: he has done this in the Scriptures, and there alone. O be sure you examine what is revealed in them upon this subject, and build your hope for eternity only upon what God has revealed to a sinner to trust in, that you may not die in despair, nor be deluded by a false hope, and finally be disappointed: and for this purpose, I earnestly entreat your serious consideration of what is said towards the conclusion of this narrative.
Before leaving the hospital, I feel bound in gratitude to acknowledge the care and attention that was paid to the sick and wounded: all things considered, every thing was done for them that could be done, and much expense was incurred for medicines, attendance, and accommodation, and every exertion made to procure suitable provisions. When I think upon it to this day, I feel grateful for the care that was taken of the helpless, and those who were rendered unfit to serve their country any longer: by this means many were preserved to their families and their friends, who otherwise would never have returned.
On the 29th September, I embarked in a Germ on the Nile, which dropped down the river, and lay near the entrance, to be ready to pass the bar early in the morning, that being the most favourable time; for the wind rises at sun rise, and blows from the sea up the river during the day, with a steady, and sometimes strong breeze, and dies away in the evening. Vessels going up the Nile carry a press of sail, and go at a great rate during the day, and stop at night: vessels going down the river lower their sails and yards, lay their broadside to the stream, and drift along with it. On the morning of the 30th, the wind and surf were so high, that it was unsafe to attempt passing the bar; so that we returned to Rosetta and lay it the quay three days, waiting for moderate weather. The Nile was still considerably above its banks: the extensive fields of rice, and corn, particularly on the east side, excited my admiration. The seed had been sown previously to the inundation, and had taken root and grown up with the rise of the water; which made it to have a compact and level surface, resembling that of a bowling-green, for many miles. This crop would be ripe, by the time the inundation would fall within the banks of the river; and another crop of wheat or barley, and one of clover or vegetables, would be produced before the return of the inundation next year.—Water is raised by buffaloes and oxen from the river, into the canals;[[18]] the beds of which are above the level of the country. It is let out into the fields during the growth of the other two crops; and when the last one is reaped, this labour is suspended. Then the heat of the sun soon dries the ground, and rends it into numerous and deep fissures; some of them are from ten to twenty feet deep. The army experienced considerable difficulty from this cause, on its march back from Cairo; particularly at night, when both men and horses were in danger of having their legs broke by falling into them.
While I lay at the quay, I was astonished at the great number of boats discharging cargoes of grain, which was piled in huge heaps in the open air, not far from the brink of the river;[[19]] a sight which reminded one of the words of Jacob, "I have heard that there is corn in Egypt." But, with all this plenty, it is a miserable place. The common people enjoy little of its abundance; their condition is the most wretched I ever saw or heard of among civilized nations. The houses of the peasantry are mere hovels, little if any thing better than the Kraals of the wild Hottentots.[[20]] The inhabitants of the land of Egypt, which was the house of bondage to the children of Israel, now suffer bondage in their own land, little, if at all, interior to that which their ancestors made the Israelites suffer. The government has for a long time been in the hands of Turks or Mamelukes, who are always foreigners, and who rule with rigour; and the inhabitants never take any interest in the affairs of the government, but are entirely passive to every change that takes place. The country abounds with Arabs. The Copts, its original inhabitants, are the fewest in number; they profess Christianity, and are the more liable, on that account, to be oppressed by their Mahomedan masters. The prediction is now fully verified, that Egypt, once the first of nations, should become the basest of kingdoms: Ezek. xxix. 15, 16. It is sunk so low in ignorance and wretchedness, that, if it were not for the many elegant and stupendous remains of antiquity existing in the country, the voice of history, strong as it is, could scarcely be credited, that it was once the first of nations, and the seat of the arts and sciences. It is a land of pestilence and disease. "In Cairo, last year, forty thousand were supposed to be infected with the plague: and many of the French garrison died in that city, although the disease was treated in their hospitals with the greatest ability. In Upper Egypt sixty thousand perished during the same season,"[[21]] besides those who died of it in other parts of the country. Among the British, the plague was confined to the "hospital and troops stationary at Aboukir, where it broke out on the 12th April, and terminated on the 26th August. Three hundred and eighty, in the course of that time, were affected with it; one hundred and seventy-three died, and two hundred and seven recovered. The deaths chiefly fell on the orderlies, nurses, and other servants of the hospitals."[[22]] "The plague raged again at Rosetta towards the fall of the year and numbers of the Sepoys died of it."[[23]] When a person is infected with the pestilence, after the manner of Egypt, (Amos iv. 10,) the disease is indicated by two boils which are commonly in the groin. In addition to the plague, "Leprosy of the worst species, and Elephantiasis, which swells the legs larger than a common bolster," and a number of other diseases are very general. "The number of blind is prodigious, nearly every fifth inhabitant has lost one eye, and many both. All the children have sore eyes, and Europeans do not escape better. The French at first had more than two thirds of their army affected with this malady; and the English, during their short stay, had one hundred and sixty totally blind, and two hundred that lost one eye irrecoverably."[[24]] How many more were affected with this dreadful malady among the troops that remained in the country until the following year, when it was wholly evacuated, I can not tell; but have reason to believe the number was considerable. Children must suffer much during their infancy from the flies, because they are unable to drive them from their eyes. I saw a woman going to the Nile for water, which she carried in a pitcher upon her head: a naked child sat across her shoulders; its little hands were employed in holding by the head of its mother, to prevent itself from falling; its eye-lashes were literally black with flies that were sucking at its eyes, as they would do at sugar. They work themselves into the inner coating of the eyelids of infants, which no doubt causes some of them to lose their sight in their tender years. In addition to flies, gnats and mosquitoes, all other kinds of vermin are incredibly numerous and troublesome; so much so, that, although there were nothing else but them, they would make Egypt an uncomfortable country to live in. Although the French used all the freedom of conquerors, they were perfectly sick of it. When we landed, they supposed, that, after we had expelled them, we intended to retain possession of it; and they sincerely pitied the lot of their supposed successors. They fought, indeed, bravely; but it was not out of love to the country, but in subordination to military discipline, and for the honour of their arms; but when compelled to surrender on condition of being sent home to France, they rejoiced in the event as a happy deliverance. And indeed it was no wonder; for, in addition to the disagreeable nature of the climate, many of the military posts where they did duty, being in lonely sandy deserts, were so ill accommodated, and in all respects so uncomfortable, that to do service at them was fitter for being a punishment to men banished for their crimes, than for those who deserved well of their country.