Between the broad water and the sea was a fishing hamlet, called El Tat, on the right hand side; and, facing it, branched off a gut, leading into the lake in a South East direction, named Ishtûm ed Dybah, down which we sailed. Upon the point of junction between Ishtûm ed Dybah and Dunet el Sharây stood the castle of Dybah, a fortress of brick, built by the French for the defence of this entrance.
Our object in visiting the Dybah bogàz was to learn something of the Botarga fishery. Botárekh in Arabic, Botarga in Italian, is considered throughout the Levant, by Turks and Christians, as a very great delicacy: and in Lent the consumption by the latter is enormous. It is the roe of a fish, salted and dried. There are three places where this fishery is carried on; namely, Mferdjy, Gemäyd, and Dybah. It would appear that the fish leave the open sea in search of a tranquil place where to deposit their spawn, in the months of August, September, and October, and are then caught. The fish is called, in Arabic, lebt, and is from a foot to two feet long.
On the side next the lake, the fishermen ply day and night with circular hand-nets, which, from habit, they throw with great expertness; and, from the number caught each time, the fish must be very abundant. They are carried on shore, ripped open with a knife, and the roes taken out, salted, and exposed to the sun for three successive days, when they are fit for the market. There is also a kind of botarga prepared by simple drying only: and a third sort, where the fish, when caught and salted, are sent to a distance; after which the roes are there taken out and dried.
The botarga fishermen form almost a distinct race. They are all natives and inhabitants of Mataryah, and reside at the Ishtûms only during the fishing months, when they build themselves cabins of mats, spread over ribs of palm branches. Each hamlet may contain forty or fifty families; and, at the close of the season, they strike their cabins, and return to Mataryah. The men appeared to be a very fine race: and, to convince us of the purity of their clan, pretended that they intermarried only with each other. The children were naked, and wanted not beauty in their shape: and there was a young man, the fineness of whose person, much above the common size, particularly attracted our attention. Indeed we were of opinion that the Egyptians employed on the lakes and on the Nile were of as symmetrical and robust a make as any men that we had ever seen or read of.
The fishery, like every other profitable business under the existing government of Egypt, was in the hands of the pasha, who farmed it out to the shaykh of Menzaleh. The shaykh sent an overseer to every hamlet, to whom was delivered whatever fish were caught, and an account was kept of them. At the end of the season, the whole amount was summed up: two thirds of the profits were given, in fixed portions, to the fishermen, and the remainder was the farmer’s. No fish could be sold, no botarga cured, except by the order of the bailiff; and a severe bastinado was the immediate consequence of detection: so that the poor fishermen might be said to be miserably off. Their gains for a season (as they told us) amounted to from 50 to 125 piasters a man.
On our arrival at the hamlet, our dress and our beards, in everything corresponding with those of Mahometans, had imposed on the bailiff, who, as soon as the boat grounded, advanced into the water up to the waist to salute us: but, the moment we spoke, finding we were khawágys[75] (or Christians) he very coolly returned to the shore; and, when we were landed, whilst we sat smoking our pipes and making our inquiries respecting the fishery, he was snoring at his length on the ground, close by us. We bought four fish, each about one foot and a half long, for a shilling, and paid very dear for them. They were lebts, and were, when boiled, of a good flavour. The roes had little taste done in this manner.
These fishermen employed themselves likewise in catching wild fowl, which was done, at particular seasons of the year, in the following manner. The fowler strips himself, and puts on his head a black woollen cap. When night comes, he wades into the lake, taking care that his head only is visible. The birds at this time are all sleeping. The main object of the fowler is to seize the leader of the flock: without securing him he can do nothing. The leader is called on the Lakes the cadi, and is known, we were told, by a white head and large mouth. The fowler gets hold of the cadi by the neck, and draws him under water, where he holds him, and then he gently serves four or five more in the same way, until his hands are full, when he wades back to the shore. Another way of catching them is to throw the circular hand-net over the flock, and envelop as many as possible. We did not see many flights of ducks. At this time of the year, gulls, ox-birds, and pelicans, seemed the most numerous.
A little before sunset we set sail with a fresh wind through Ishtum el Dyby in a north-west direction. On our right, on entering the gut, was El Weranyah, a fishing hamlet: farther, on the same side, El Arkûn; and beyond it El Malaca. The canal here was a quarter of a mile broad; and somewhat farther on, opened into the lake, between several small islands on the right, and the hamlet of Sunâra on the left; close to which is a triple marabût of Shaykhs el Mograby, El Bugdády, and Abu el Wafy. We then kept a south and by west course, and anchored, after a short run, at an island called Zubbàr.
Much amusement was here created by Shaykh Ibrahim’s objections to anchoring and the räis’s determination to do so. The wind, it is true, was very fresh, and our bark without ballast: the räis also said that he could not answer for his course in the night: but we had every reason to believe that he availed himself of these excuses only to lengthen out the voyage; since the pay that he received from us (seven piasters a day) was much more than he could gain by his ordinary work. Nor is it unnecessary to observe, that nothing is ever gained from these people, except by seeming desirous to have, in the common phrase, as much for one’s money as can be got. For if, out of compassion to their poverty, you seem disposed to afford them indulgences, they immediately become either importunate beggars, or insolent cheats. Although, therefore, we passed the night at Zubbàr, it was not done until we had urged the point with much seeming vehemence, threatening to throw Ahmed into the lake, to cut off a day’s pay, with many other menaces, for the purpose of ascertaining if there really were a necessity for staying.
Next morning it was calm, and our crew were rewarded for their delay by being compelled to push the boat on with poles. We left Zubbár at half past four, and scarcely advanced more than a mile in an hour. The lake was very shallow hereabout, and around us were a number of small islands, with several more to the north-east.