On going to Cossîr, I had sent my baggage forward to Assiût. Nothing remained therefore but to find a small boat, on my return to Ghenné, in which to be conveyed to Assiût. This offered itself on the second day, and two Derwîshes were my companions in that journey, one of them a very intelligent man. We stopped at all the principal towns, but without any new occurrence, and reached Assiût on the 21st.
I remained in that city till the 30th, when we set sail for Kahira, or rather trusted ourselves to the current, the wind blowing constantly from North-west. I stopped a night at Benesoef, intending to have passed thence to Feiume: but finding it not easy to meet with a conveyance, declined that journey, and arrived in Kahira on the 8th of December.
The wind, which was high during our excursion to Cossîr, and afterwards on the Nile, contained such penetrating cold, that, on coming to Assiût, I found myself affected strongly with a fever. A large dose of James’s powder however removed it.
A short time before my arrival at Ghenné, two Greeks, who were going to seek their fortune, as they reported, in Habbesh, came to Kous. The one had a small supply of money, of which the other was destitute—Words arose between them, and some good friend advised them to have recourse to the Cashef of the place to settle their difference. This officer, who was a young man, and noted for the violence of his character, heard their respective narratives, and then, finding that money was the cause of their disagreement, terminated the hopes of the one, and the fears of the other, by an order for the instant death of both.
The report, in reaching Kahira, was charged with various circumstances of aggravation, and even the persons of the sufferers were changed. It was there said, that the Frank who was in Saïd was one of the two massacred, and the Cashef’s master was among the number of those who had been deceived. Keid Aga, in whose department Kous was situated, sent word of this event, accompanied with a suitable comment, and, as was said, an offer of any reasonable reparation, to the Austrian Consul, the only one resident in Kahira. The latter had forwarded it to the British Consul at Alexandria, when I arrived at Kahira in time personally to contradict it. The death of the two Greeks, it was said, remained unnoticed.
CHAP. XI.
OCCURRENCES AT KAHIRA.
Arrival of the Pasha — Death of Hassan Bey — Decline of the French factory in Kahira — Expulsion of the Maronite Christians from the Custom-house — Riot among the Galiongîs — Obstruction of the canal of Menûf — Supply of fish in the pools of Kahira — Expedition of Achmet Aga, &c.
On the 13th October 1796, the newly-appointed Pasha made his entrance into the city, in a manner more public than has been usual for some years. His name is Bekîr: he is a Pasha of three tôk or tails, and was formerly Grand Wizîr. The procession consisted of, first, the great officers of the city, and among them the Janizary aga, then some bostangîs, two and two. Several of the Beys, superbly mounted, two and two, preceded and followed by a body of Mamlûks. Twelve fine led horses, richly caparisoned. The band of music belonging to the Pasha. The tails, the officers and servants of his house-hold; and lastly, the Pasha himself.