"There are women who sell vegetables, fruits, and sweetmeats, which they carry in the same way as the one we have just described. They are wrapped from head to foot in long cloaks or outer dresses, and they generally follow the custom of the country and keep their faces covered. The oldest of them are not so particular as the others, and we are told that the custom of wearing the veil is not so universal as it was twenty or thirty years ago.
A LADY IN STREET DRESS.
"There is no change of fashion among the women of Egypt. They wear the same kind of garments from one year to another, and as all are veiled, except among the very poorest classes, they all look alike. Every lady, when she goes out, covers her face with the yashmak or veil, so that only her eyes are visible; her body is wrapped in a black mantle which reaches the ground, and, though she looks at you as if she knew you, it is impossible to penetrate her disguise. We are told that when the European ladies residing here wish to call on each other, and have nobody to escort them, they put on the native dress, and go along the streets without the least fear that anybody will know them.
"The wives of the high officials have adopted some of the fashions of Europe in the way of dress; they wear boots instead of slippers, and have their dresses cut in the Paris style, and they wear a great deal of jewellery mounted by Parisian jewellers. Their hats or bonnets are of European form; but they cling to the veil, and never go out-of-doors without it, though they often have it so thin that their features can be seen quite distinctly. We have seen some of them riding in their carriages, and if they had been friends of ours we think we should have recognized them through their thin veils.
"How much we wish we could understand the language of the country! Doctor Bronson says the peddlers on the streets have a curious way of calling out their wares, quite unlike that of the same class in other countries. For instance, the water-carrier has a goat-skin on his back filled with water, and as he goes along he rattles a couple of brass cups together, and cries out, 'Oh ye thirsty! oh ye thirsty!' A moment after he repeats the call, and says, 'God will reward me!' And sometimes he says, 'Blessed is the water of the Nile!' Those who drink the water he offers usually give him a small piece of money, but if they give nothing he makes no demand, and moves on repeating his cry.
"The seller of lemons shouts, 'God will make them light, oh lemons!' meaning that God will lighten the baskets containing the lemons. The orange peddler says, 'Sweet as honey, oh oranges!' And the seller of roasted melon-seeds says, 'Comforter of those in distress, oh melon-seeds!' Behind him comes a man selling flowers of the henna-plant, and his cry is, 'Odors of Paradise, oh flowers of henna!' The rose-merchant says, 'The rose is a thorn—it bloomed from the sweat of the Prophet!' We could make a long list of these street cries, but have given you enough to show what they are.
