The Mamlûks breakfast before sun-rise, make their second meal at ten, and the third about five in the afternoon. Animal food abounds. A large dish of pilau appears in the middle of the table, surrounded with small dishes of meat, fish, and fowls. The meat is cut into minute pieces before it be dressed. Drink only water, and immediately after the meal, coffee is served. At the tables of the great sherbet is introduced. Egypt produces no wine; the Greeks and Franks procure that commodity from other quarters.
The Egyptians still make a fermented liquor of maize, millet, barley or rice, but it bears little resemblance to our ale. It is of a light colour, and in the hot season will not keep above a day; but it is sufficiently pleasant to the taste. It is drank in considerable quantities in Kahira and in Saïd. The native Christians mostly distil for themselves, from dates, a liquor called by the general name Araki; it is also made from currants, or the small grapes imported from Cerigo.
When brought into the houses, the water of the Nile is put into jars, called hammam, previously rubbed, in the inside, with a kind of paste, made of bitter almonds. Thus preserved, it becomes quite clear and limpid in two hours. But it is often drank in its most muddy state, without any ill effects.
The eyes and fingers are the only parts of a woman that are visible in public. In general, the women of Kahira are not tall, but well formed. The upper ranks tolerably fair, in which and in fatness, consist the chief praises of beauty in the Egyptian climate. They marry at fourteen or fifteen, and at twenty are passed their prime. For what reason the natives of hot climates ordinarily prefer women of large persons, I have not been able to discover. Nevertheless, the Coptic women have interesting features, large black eyes, and a genteel form.
The population of Kahira consists, 1. of the Arabs, or lower class of Mohammedans, who form the body of the people, and who pride themselves in the name of ibn Arab, son of an Arabian. 2. Of the Coptic Christians, who form a considerable number, here and in Upper Egypt; in the Delta they are rare. 3. Mamlûks. I was assured that, during the last eleven years, not fewer than sixteen thousand white slaves, of both sexes, have been imported into Egypt. A plague had carried off a thousand Mamlûks, and other causes had reduced their number to about eight thousand, so that there was a great demand for the article. Still I cannot venture to estimate the number of Mamlûks at more than ten or twelve thousand. 4. Greeks, Syrians, and Armenians; Muggrebîns, from Tripoli, Tunis, and Morocco, who have a quarter to themselves, are remarkable for industry and frugality, and are attracted hither by the great profits of trade. Other Mohammedans from Arabia Proper, and yet farther East. There are very few Turks established in Egypt, but many come hither on business, and return to Constantinople. Jews were once numerous, but are now on the decrease. Exclusively of negro slaves in every house, there are blacks from Nubia, who act as porters at the gates of the rich, and sometimes sell bouza and eatables.
In general, the total population of Kahira cannot certainly be estimated at less than three hundred thousand souls. Egypt may contain, in all, two millions and a half.
In speaking of the population of Egypt, and other countries under the same circumstances, it may be remarked, that among ourselves, to obtain a tolerably correct knowlege of the number of people in a town or city, it is sufficient to know the number of houses, and the average number of inhabitants in each house. In Egypt the case is widely different. A large proportion of the people has no visible dwelling. The slightest shelter suffices to protect them from the inconsiderable variations of a regular climate, and obscurity, under the falcon eye of power always a blessing, is here sought with peculiar avidity.
Of all those descriptions of men, the Copts, or original inhabitants, most interest curiosity. There are some peculiarities of feature common to all of them. I was not struck with any resemblance of the negro features or form. Their hair and eyes are indeed of a dark hue, and the former is often curled; but not in a greater degree than is occasionally seen among Europeans. The nose is often aquiline, and though the lips be sometimes thick, by no means generally so; and on the whole, a strong resemblance may be traced between the form of visage in the modern Copts, and that presented in the antient mummies, paintings, and statues.
Their complexion, like that of the Arabs, is of a dusky brown; it is represented of the same colour in the paintings which I have seen in the tombs of Thebes.
The Coptic language may be considered as extinct. Numerous and minute researches have enabled me to ascertain this fact. In Upper Egypt, however, they unknowingly retain some Coptic words, such as Boyúni, the name of a month.