CHAPTER V.
Visit to the Cotton factories. Iron foundries. Palace of Ibrahim Pasha. English garden on an island in the Nile. Stables of Ibrahim Pasha. Arabian horses. Bazaars. Slave market. Madhouse. The maniac butcher.
The Egyptian monarch is fond of having his improvements inspected by foreigners, and our own inclinations being in no wise averse to this, we gave the 22d to an examination of a variety of objects of this kind bordering on the Nile. Leaving the city by the Boulac gate, we turned soon after down the avenue leading to Shubra, and, after, pursuing it for a mile and a half, crossed some open gardens, and were then shown into a large inclosure containing the summer palace and grounds of a nephew of Mohammed Ali, and one of the officers of his court. It is a pretty place, and as the day was growing hot, we particularly enjoyed a marble kiosk, with fountains tossing their delicious waters into the air. From this we proceeded to one of those large edifices that in our moonlight sail up the river had fixed themselves so strongly on our fancy; but in the broad daylight, instead of a magnificent palace, with a scene of Eastern enchantment spread all around it, we found a steam cotton factory, puffing and blowing, and sending jets of smoke from every one of its numerous tall chimnies. But as we all called ourselves philanthropists, we considered it, or tried to consider it, a very pleasing sight; and our gratification was really great, as we proceeded through the establishment and inspected its very extensive operations. The principal building is for spinning and weaving, and I counted here more than one hundred looms of cast iron, just imported from England; in this they were just putting into operation a steam engine of twenty horse power, also of English manufacture; the floor of the second story in this edifice is supported by cast iron columns, and every part is not only neat and convenient, but also substantial. It is superintended by a Scottish gentleman, Mr. Galloway. Attached to this is a yard for bleaching, a machine manufactory, and a long building for printing the cottons. The printing is all done by blocks, both made and worked by the natives, who in this business, we were informed, show great aptitude and skill. The patterns, copied mostly from the French, are handsome; and the colors are said to be enduring. The price of labor here is almost nothing, and the Egyptian Pasha has only to persevere, in order to succeed in all the Eastern markets. A difficulty presented itself in the expense of fuel for his steam engines, but his enterprise seems to be in a fair way to surmount even this. Some explorations on Mount Lebanon, conducted by his orders, have lately resulted in the discovery of a mine of bituminous coal, at a place called Carnayl, on the western side of the mountain, about four miles from the sea, and twelve northward from Beirout. Where the stratum first presented itself, it was three feet three inches in thickness, and the coal was too much mixed with impurities to be fit for steam power; but when we left Beirout, there were indications that it would increase both in quantity and purity. Mr. Brattell, an English gentleman employed by the Pasha in these investigations, thinks there is coal also on the eastern side of Mount Lebanon, and is sanguine also in expectations of discovering lead and iron ores. There can be no doubt that the latter is very abundant in that mountain.
From the manufactory we returned to rest ourselves in the cool kiosk, where we were hospitably served also with fruits and other refreshments.
Returning from this along the banks of the river, we were conducted, near the outskirts of Boulac, to a large foundry for iron cannon and other castings; it contains, I believe, three furnaces; but at midday on the 22d of July, in Egypt, we felt little disposition to be sticking our heads among iron furnaces; and instead of this useful curiosity, hastened to put all the Baldacs we could find in requisition, declaring unanimously that we had never met with any fluid so delicious as the water of the Nile. At Boulac are also manufactories for cotton handkerchiefs, and for clothing for the army and navy, as well as store-houses filled with their productions, which we were invited to visit; but the heat had become so oppressive, as to leave little disposition to bodily effort, and, mounting our steeds, we passed through Boulac, and hastened to deposite our persons in the large and cool palace of Ibrahim Pasha.
This palace, quite a new building, is situated on the outskirts of Old Cairo, about two miles above Boulac, and a few hundred yards from the banks of the river, from which it is separated by well-shaded pleasure-grounds. The halls or passages by which it is crossed in the manner already described, are here unusually spacious; and the stairway being also wide, it has an air not only of magnificence, but of delicious coolness. In the Audience hall a fountain gushes out of the wall, about six feet above the pavement, and forming a succession of small cascades at length reaches the floor, where it is received into a large marble basin; from this it meanders in a marble channel to the centre of the hall, and spreads out into a small lake about three feet in depth. Along the channel are numerous fish, sculptured in marble, in various attitudes.
The usual hospitable refreshment of sherbet, pipes, and coffee, was presented us here, and, seated on the luxurious ottomans at the end of the longitudinal hall, enveloped in odorous fumes, and listening to the waterfall, or watching the natives, who, in their picturesque costumes, were passing back or forward, we spent the time till the heat of the day had passed.
About two hundred yards from this is the island at the head of which, in an edifice erected for it, is situated the celebrated Nilometer, or graduated column, for measuring the depth of the river, and from which report is made when the river has attained an elevation sufficient to ensure a favorable season. When this is done, the banks which restrain the water from flowing into the canal leading to Cairo, are cut down, the water flows in, floods the squares of the city, and then ensues a season of hilarity and merry-making throughout the whole city.
The island contains about seven or eight acres, and, until lately, presented nothing remarkable; but it is now a very fascinating spot. About four years since, Mohammed Ali employed an English horticulturist, Mr. Trail, to put it in order. He built a stone wall around it, reaching from below low watermark, to a height above the greatest elevation of the floods, and had machinery constructed for irrigating it by means of canals, at all seasons of the year. It is laid out partly in regular plots, but chiefly in the English garden style, with winding walks, serpentine streams, lakes, grottoes, rustic bridges, glades, and lawns; and, what in Egypt is rather curious, in one place is ornamented with artificial ruins of temples and similar objects. The size of the trees here are a proof of the astonishing fecundity of the soil when irrigation is well supplied; for, although the time has been so short, the ground is covered with trees thirty and forty feet in height; the shrubbery is luxuriant, and embosoms many delicious retreats from the sultry sun. They have collected here all the plants natural to the country, together with many of foreign origin. Egypt, however, does not produce a great variety of flowers or useful shrubs. Mr. Trail has a house at one side of the garden, in which we were hospitably entertained.
On returning to the palace some of our party returned home, while the rest of us proceeded to visit the stables of Ibrahim Pasha. This warrior chief is a great lover of horses; and in the course of his expeditions into Syria and Arabia, has had the best opportunities of making a collection; and he appears to have profited by them.