While Abraham knew of no property but herds and movables, they had invented records and wrote their kings’ names and actions on the massive temples which they raised. They had invented hieroglyphics and improved them into syllabic writing, and almost into an alphabet. The history of Greece begins with the Trojan war, but before the time of David and before the time of the Trojan war, the power and glory of Thebes had already passed away. About 1,000 years B.C. Shishak the conqueror of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, governed all Egypt; at his death it was torn to pieces by civil wars. After a time the kings of Ethiopia reigned in Thebes, and helped the Israelites to fight against their Assyrian masters. This unsettled state of things lasted nearly 300 years, during which, as the Prophet Isaiah foretold, “Egyptians fought against Egyptians, brother against brother, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.” At last the city of Sais put an end to this state of things and under the Sais kings Egypt enjoyed again a high degree of prosperity. They were more despotic than the kings of Thebes, and struggled with the Babylonians for the dominion of Judæa.
Probably many of my readers are aware that M. Ferdinand de Lesseps was not the originator of a canal to the Red Sea, for Pharaoh Necho, one of the Sais kings, began it from the Nile. His sailors, circumnavigated Africa; he conquered Jerusalem, and when the Chaldees afterwards drove back the Egyptian army the remnant of Judah, with the Prophet Jeremiah, retreated into Egypt to seek a refuge with King Hophra.
523 B.C. the Persians became masters of Egypt, and behaved with great tyranny. Cambyses plundered the tombs and temples, broke the statues, and scourged the priests. They ruled for 200 years; then the Greeks, B.C. 332, the Romans, B.C. 30, and on the division of the Roman Empire, A.D. 337, Egypt fell to the lot of Constantinople. In A.D. 640, just 670 years after the Roman conquest, Egypt was conquered by the followers of Mahomet, and now, in this year of grace, A.D. 1884, we are rather upsetting the late order of things, but whether for good or evil time will show.
In this age of progress, it may seem strange to say so, but Egyptian landlords had much the same tastes 3,000 years ago as English landlords have now. They were much addicted to field-sports. Not only does history tell us so, but I have seen often in their sculptures and paintings that this was so. Even on the tomb and chapel of King Phty at Sakkara, which is said to be over 5,000 years old, I saw scenes of fowling, fishing, hunting, running down the gazelle, spearing the hippopotamus, of coursing and netting hares, of shooting wild cattle with arrows, and catching them with the lasso. They had fish ponds, game preserves, and game laws, they were fond of horses and dogs, kept good tables, gave morning and evening parties, amused themselves with games of skill and chance, were proud of their ancestors, built fine houses and furnished them handsomely, and paid great attention to horticulture and arboriculture.
This certainly reads like contemporary history; but I will go further. To use a well-known expression, “would you be surprised to hear” that the tenants paid the same proportionate rent as the British farmer of to-day? The average gross produce of a farm here was £8 an acre, average rent about 32s. an acre—just one-fifth—the exact rent paid by the tenants of Potiphar, Captain of the Guard, and of Potipherah, Priest of On, Joseph’s father-in-law, and the same was paid to Pharaoh himself by his tenants. At that time the whole acreage of the country was divided into rectangular estates. One-third belonged to the king, two-thirds in equal proportions to the priestly and military castes; and these were cultivated by another order of men, who, for the use of the land, paid rent—one-fifth of the gross produce—to the owner.
Altogether I spent nearly a fortnight in Cairo, and feeling a great interest in the historical associations of this ancient place and the neighbourhood, I resolved to see and learn as much as I could of them during my short stay. In the morning, after early breakfast, I amused myself for a short time by sitting in the shade of the extensive balcony in front of Shepheard’s Hotel, which overlooks the street, and is contiguous to it. The scene which presented itself to my gaze was truly Oriental in character. Now I see a few camels stalking silently, slowly, and sedately on, variously laden—some with baskets of large stones for building purposes, others with long pieces of timber on each side, others with skins of water and so on; then an Arab lady on donkey-back, riding after the manner of men, and covered from head to foot in unsightly black wrappers, having just a slit in them, through which can be seen a large pair of lustrous dark eyes, and down the bridge of her nose are some brass-looking ornaments, resembling as much as anything a row of thimbles inserted in one another. A Turkish lady’s dress and yashmack (covering worn over the face) is much more becoming, and her nose is not ornamented by the addition of the thimble arrangement. The Turkish ladies wear (in Constantinople) quite a thin white muslin yashmack over their faces. This does not conceal very much of the features, which, as a rule, are very beautiful. The Egyptian ladies wear a black yashmack, which conceals all except the eyes. Report says they are ugly; if so, they are quite right to do so. Next I see a carriage driven along preceded by two sais, or runners, to clear the way, and it is surprising what a pace they go at with a long, swinging trot. They are picturesquely and gorgeously dressed, each bearing a long wand, and wearing a tarboosh (Turkish fez), the long thick blue tassel of which floats gracefully over the shoulders, and not at all unlike what some of the ladies in Athens wear, except that their tassels are black. Then we see blind, or partially blind, beggars, of whom there are vast numbers, Coptic and Mahomedan women and children, girls with baskets of flowers and lovely roses, sweet-meat, fly-whisp, water, and fruit-sellers, conjurers, snake-charmers, one and all soliciting “backsheesh,” dusky, brown-skinned Arabs clad in loose-flowing robes and white turbans, coal-black Nubians, Jews, Greeks, Armenians, and Europeans of all shades of colour, religion, and politics. Here, in fact, in this city of Saladin and of the “Arabian Nights Entertainments” creations (which once seemed to be so fanciful and visionary) kindle into life and reality as I look upon everything around me.
The apartments of an Arab house of the well-to-do are decorated with Arabesque lattices, instead of glass windows. Inside are luxurious divans heaped with soft cushions, instead of sofas and chairs; and instead of the rattling of cabs, carts, and tramcars we hear the wild, shrill, trilling note of the Arabian women indicating some occasion of joy or sorrow, or hear the equally peculiar long drawn-out note of the muezzin from some minaret calling the faithful to prayer.
Very near to our hotel, on the opposite side, are always to be found a number of donkeys ready for hire, and very good little donkeys they are. I can see the head, legs, and tail of a donkey; the remaining portion of him is almost concealed by a great padded saddle, to which is attached a very inconvenient pair of stirrups, into which you may get the tips of your toes, and sometimes a portion of the foot, but if the foot is not small, or is so unfortunate as to possess a respectably-sized bunion, you must be content if you can get the tips of your toes only in the stirrup; this, again, slips down to the right or left, according as you put more pressure on one side or the other. There are no girths, but one long strap placed around the saddle and donkey very insecurely fixes the former. If my reader has not been accustomed to circus-riding, I assure him he would experience some difficulty at first in exhibiting his powers of equitation before the Egyptian public under these circumstances, and I have seen more than one individual come into ignominious contact with mother earth; fortunately he has not far to go ere he humbles and tumbles himself in the dust.
My first experience was this: as soon as I was seated and had rammed the tip of my boot into the stirrup, the donkey-boy shouts, “Ha—ha.” This warning note the donkey knows full well, and off he goes at a kind of running trot, which is all right. Soon these ha-ha’s increase in frequency, and ere long I can fancy myself a second Mezeppa. The imp behind now accompanies his peculiar yell with a sharp prog of a pointed stick, and the donkey takes a very pointed cognisance of it, for now “He urges on his wild career.” In the wide, open streets this rapid mode of progression has an exhilarating tendency, but in the narrow streets of the bazaars unguarded human beings fly to the right of me, unguarded human beings fly to the left of me, and imprecations, not loud, but deep, in an unknown tongue, fall on my untutored ear as my donkey indiscriminately cannons on to the unobservant. A few words about these donkeys, and donkey-boys so called. Most of the latter are not boys at all, but full-grown men, notwithstanding which they are always called donkey-boys. These and their donkeys are quite an institution in the East. The donkeys own all kinds of popular English names, and of course (if the owner may be believed) are possessed of every good quality. Most of the donkey-boys have picked up more or less English, and in expatiating on the good qualities of their beasts are accustomed to interlard their speech with the strong language of the West, and you would be surprised to hear how promptly they will consign a fellow donkey-boy to an inhospitable and much-warmer region than Cairo, and to the care of a much blacker individual than themselves. The reader is here called upon to exercise his or her imagination. I had myself derived considerable amusement when watching an intending pilgrim securing one of these donkeys. To be forewarned is to be forearmed; I flattered myself that by making my selection sure before I got amongst them, my tactics would be most successful, but as the sequel will show, I was grossly deceived, having reckoned without my host, or hosts I ought to say. First intending pilgrim. He descends the steps of Shepheard’s Hotel, and moves towards the donkeys—a fatal movement. Instantly the air is thick with donkeys and donkey-boys. The latter yell frantically a chorus of praises concerning the useful quadrupeds, which are most adroitly and with surprising dexterity brought one after the other under his very nose, whilst the poor victim is jostled about in the most bewildering and unpleasant manner. I have been both a spectator of and an actor in this performance, and I can safely say the spectator derives by far the greatest amusement.
I resolved to pay a visit to the bazaars and some of the mosques of note. Having, as I thought, gained some experience by observing the misfortunes of others, I executed a strategic movement which I fondly imagined would turn out successful. I had, from a distance selected my donkey; then cunningly walked up and down the pavement smoking a cigarette, apparently with no object in view. Suddenly I darted on to the enemy, but alas! I found myself in an absolute whirlwind of donkeys and their troublesome two-legged attendants, who yelled into my ears and bumped me about until I was quite unable to recognise the donkey I had selected. Beauties were here represented, such as Mrs. Cornwallis West, and Mrs. Langtry; national names, such as John Bull, and Yankee-doodle; mythical names, such as Jim Crow and Billy Barlow. One donkey rejoiced in the name of Dr. Tanner, another in that of Madame Rachel; others, again, had been honoured with the names of statesmen, such as Prince Bismarck, John Bright, Sir Stafford Northcote, Lord Randolph Churchill, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Parnell, Lord Beaconsfield, and others. “Dr. Tanner, he debbil to go—he berry good donkey indeed, hakeem,” said the owner. However, I declined him, as he was said to be a FAST one (excuse the joke), and as this was entirely an Eastern question, I could not help thinking that Lord Beaconsfield would certainly be the most likely to carry me safely through. I therefore selected him, and had every reason to be satisfied with him and his secretary, Lord Rowton alias Ibrahim, the donkey-boy, whom I employed on several subsequent occasions. He proved a very good conductor, for he took me through the various bazaars, Tunis, Algiers, Turkish, Persian, and Arab, &c., pointing out all places of note and interest en route. Ibrahim soon got to know that I was a doctor, and so indeed did all the attendant Arabs about the hotel. He, like hundreds of his countrymen, suffered from ophthalmia, and when I was out with him he said—