[67] This fact, and what occurred to me at Latakia, will enable travellers to judge when and where they can smoke openly in Ramazán time.
[68] This slave was bought in Upper Egypt and cost fifty dollars—four dollars were paid as dues at the towns coming down the Nile, and two at Cairo: making the total cost fifty-six.
[69] The Gazette of the battle of Waterloo reached Egypt a day or two after our arrival.
[70] This collection was afterwards bought for the Royal Museum at Munich.
[71] Khawágy is the appellation given to Christian merchants or gentlemen; its meaning is merchant, and it is the most civil title that Christians, whether subjects of the Porte or Europeans, ever get from Mahometans. Aga, Bey, Mûly, Shaykh, &c., they reserve for themselves.
[72] My stay at Damietta was short, yet, among the sick whom I was called upon to see, were six with pulmonary complaints. These were Hyláneh Karysáty, with spitting of blood; Khawágy Isaac, with asthma; the brother of Hyláneh Karysáty, with consumption; Michael Surûr, bronchitis; his sister, with that disposition confirmed; Khawágy Karysáty, the husband of the lady, with spitting of blood. In Alexandria, Mrs. Schutz died of consumption; her sister was ill, and lived in daily apprehension of sharing her fate: Miss Maltass, an English lady, died of it; and there were other examples, both of natives and foreigners, which I neglected to note.
[73] San, the ancient Tanis, capital of Tanites, a province of Egypt.
[74] Burckhardt, in one of his works, amongst the various theories that have been advanced by different travellers to account for the enormous heaps of broken pottery which are found among the ruins of Egyptian and other cities, has alone given a plausible one. He supposes (I quote from memory) the ancient Egyptians to have built their walls of those cylindrical pots (like English chimneypots) which, placed horizontally one upon another, are still very generally used throughout Syria for the parapets of terraces of houses; whereby air is admitted, the view excluded, and little weight added to the subjacent walls. Broken into shards, they would be sufficient to account for the vast heaps in question.
[75] An explanation of this term has already been given. This appellation, with that of mâlem, or master, and khodja, or goodman, is what is bestowed on Christians, when spoken of or to in a civil manner. A proud, an angry, or a rude Mahometan addresses them generally by the term Nusrány, Nazareen, or Christian; Kafir, or infidel; and gaûr, signifying the same thing. To true believers only belong the titles of aga or effendi (which are Turkish words), and shaykh or sayd; much less would an infidel dare to usurp the loftier titles of bey, mûly, emir, &c. Ga in gaûr is like ga in gander. The word is pronounced ga-oor, and not jaoor, as Lord Byron seems erroneously to have sounded it.
[76] The rice was now in ear.