The pasha, rising at her entrance, received Lady Hester in a small kiosk, or pavilion, being a detached room in the garden of his harým, painted and gilded so beautifully within and without that it looked like a fairy palace. The room had a divan or sofa of scarlet velvet gorgeously embroidered with gold, on three sides, and a fountain in the centre. A delicious sherbet of a green colour was first presented in cut glass cups: the pipe was presented, but declined by her ladyship, who had not yet learned to smoke. Coffee was then served in china cups, supported in gold zerfs, ornamented with precious stones. The pasha smoked a rich pipe, and drank his coffee out of a cup equally costly: he is a small man, and was plainly though richly dressed. I do not now recollect what the conversation turned on. The visit lasted about an hour. The person who acted as interpreter on the occasion was Mr. Boghoz, a gentleman of the most courtier-like manners, and who, to a great fidelity of interpretation, of which, from his knowledge of many languages, he was perfectly capable, added an amiability that seemed to embellish the phrases he had to repeat. On taking leave, we were shown through the apartments of the harým, at that time under repair. They were in too confused a state for us to judge what they finally would be; but the ceilings which were finished had not half the taste that I afterwards observed in the arabesque gilding in some of the old houses of Cairo and Damascus.
One of our first employments in Cairo was to see the best riders of the old Mamelukes, whose reputation for horsemanship in Turkey is unrivalled. For this purpose we rose every morning with the sun; and, mounting asses, went to the open space in front of the castle, where the parades and drills are held, and where the officers of the court amuse themselves in throwing the girýd. The result of what we saw during ten or fifteen days was that a Mameluke will, in the bas airs of horsemanship, do as much as a European, but that his practice is founded on no rules, and is derived from a cruel exercise of the power that an irresistible bit gives him over the animal, who is otherwise so overweighted with a heavy saddle and accoutrements that he cannot resist if he would.[19] The rapidity of his charge for a short distance, and the suddenness of his halt, are likewise matters of admiration. We were, however, present at Cairo at a time when the most famous of the Mamelukes no longer existed. The massacre of 1811 had destroyed or dispersed the whole of that body, and their very name and attire were enough to expose a person to suspicion.
The Place, or square before the castle, was likewise used for buying and selling horses. A common riding horse fetched about ten or twelve pounds, and a very good one about double that money. Franks, however, always seemed to have some disadvantage in purchasing, from their ignorance of the language, and their general custom of being more liberal of their money than the Turks and Christians of the country, and hence they always paid dearer.
Soon after our arrival, Monsieur Drovetti, the French consul, a Piedmontese, invited Lady Hester to be present at the opening of a mummy. I went with her, and there we found also Mr. Milner and Mr. Calthorpe, English gentlemen on their travels. A French surgeon performed the dissecting part, which consisted in dividing a vast number of folds of fine linen or cotton which bandaged the body tight round from head to foot. When these were removed, the right hand was found to hold a papyrus. The features were not in good preservation. But M. Drovetti had in his possession the head of one so little changed that the spectator could with difficulty persuade himself of its great antiquity, as the features, hair, and teeth, still existed in good preservation. The surgeon drew a tooth from the mummy before us, which broke in the extraction, as a recent one would do.
Frequent opportunities occurred of seeing the troop of French Mamelukes, which remained in Egypt in the service of the beys after the evacuation of that country by the French army. Their complexion and look rendered them distinguishable from the other cavalry of the pasha. They were (by guess) from thirty to sixty in number; and, when the remnant of the Mamelukes fled to Nubia, they joined Mohammed Aly Pasha. As renegadoes and deserters, they would not seem to deserve our esteem; but the circumstances of the times in which they changed their religion and their masters must serve as their excuse. Certain it is that those whose sentiments we had an opportunity of knowing did not repent the change. He that was a soldier in the French army, and subject to the hardships of a soldier’s life, found himself enabled, as a Mameluke, to keep his horse, his groom, and, what most accords with a Frenchman’s ideas, to take a wife and repudiate her as often as he liked, without scandal too. And he that worshipped the Goddess of Reason, or had no religion at all, had adopted a creed at least of some sort, although the creed of an impostor. As their characters accorded but very little with those of the Egyptians, so did their manners; which, with the exception of sitting and dressing like a Turk, were as much French as ever they were. They played at billiards, drank, and gamed as heretofore, and were always to be found in the Frank quarter.
Some days after us, Mr. Henry Wynne, brother of Sir W. W. Wynne, arrived at Cairo, with a dragoman and servant, having crossed the Desert from Gaza in Syria, on camels. That servant was the means of saving the life of Lady Hester Stanhope, and two or three persons who were with her, when returning from the Pyramids. This excursion, though the Pyramids are so near to Cairo, was not then altogether free from danger, or at least strangers who were desirous of visiting them were led to believe so. Lady Hester, therefore, engaged the French Mamelukes with their captain to accompany her, and she invited Monsieur Aslyn, a French savant and linguist, residing at Cairo, to be of the party. Mounted and armed, we left Cairo in the afternoon. Four camels carried a tent, provisions, and water. We proceeded to Old Cairo, on the east bank of the Nile, once the capital of Egypt, and now in complete ruins, where it was settled that we should sleep. Mr. Pearce and Mr. Wynne were also of the party. Lady Hester had apartments provided for her in a separate house, and, being fatigued, retired to rest almost immediately.
Not knowing how to pass the evening, we resolved to send for the dancing women. As it was late, they were not found without difficulty; at last three came, attended by their keeper, who was likewise the tabor player. Just awaked from sleep, their motions at first were sluggish; but it was suggested that liquor would animate them: the experiment was tried, and succeeded admirably: they became gay, and accompanied their dancing with such gestures as are supposed to constitute its chief excellence; but, as they were devoid of grace, not being first-rate performers, they excited disgust rather than admiration.[20] They had castanets on their fingers, with which they made good music. A blouse, with a girdle round the waist, was their only covering.
And here it may not be amiss to contrast with this light dress the usages of Europe with regard to the stays, bandages, collars, and other means, by which it is endeavoured to give uprightness and justness to the female shape. No race of people can be better formed than the Egyptians, who, from their infancy, scarcely wear any covering but a blue cotton shift with a girdle. They know not what stays are; yet, to see the women as they walk along, one is tempted to call them all tawny Venuses.
The next morning we ferried over the Nile; and, riding across the country for about six miles, through fields where reapers were now harvesting, we came to the edge of the Desert, about half a mile from the Pyramids. On the top of the highest we perceived a man, who, the Mamelukes said, was planted there to give notice of the approach of Bedouins from the side of the Desert. On any alarm the peasants immediately retired with their cattle to a place of safety. The moment we could suppose he had made out what kind of persons we were, he scampered down the outside, just as if it had been a staircase; and, having met us, offered himself as a guide to conduct such as wished to mount to the top. The height is nearly 500 feet, and it was necessary to clamber, taking advantage of the receding layers of the stones that compose the vast mass, and making use of them as steps. From the summit we enjoyed a prospect, which is singular in its character, presenting on one hand a line of verdure intersected by the Nile, and of a cheerful aspect, with flocks, herds, and villages; and on the other a sandy desert, so dreary that it makes the beholder shudder merely to look across it. An English traveller, who had preceded us a short time, had acquired a temporary celebrity, by passing a night on the top of the Great Pyramid. We descended, and prepared to enter these stupendous monuments of antiquity: this was done by stripping off as much clothes as decency will permit, to save being too much oppressed by the heat within. Lady Hester, not choosing to venture in, awaited our coming out under a tent.
The first suggestions of common sense are often founded on better grounds than the parade of reasoning will allow them to be. Every person who enters the chamber of the Great Pyramid would immediately and naturally say, when he saw the granite cist in the centre—this was a sarcophagus; and to enclose that in security from sacrilege, or for the purpose of veneration, has been the object of the builder of this vast pile.