If we quit for a moment the interior of the city to follow between two hedgerows of mastics or aloes, one of those capricious paths which lead one, now up to the summit of a hill, now to the depths of some ravine, very soon the tones of a rustic flute, the modulations of the Djou-wak, will betray some cool and peaceful retreat, some rustic café, easily recognized by its facade, pierced with large openings. To my eyes, nothing equals the charm of these little buildings scattered here and there along the edges of a stream, sheltered under the thick foliage, and constantly enlivened by the coming and going of the husbandmen of the neighborhood.
Certain old Moors from the neighboring districts, fleeing the noises of the city, are the faithful habitués of these agreeable retreats. Here they instal themselves at dawn, and know how to enjoy every moment of their day with tales of their travels and youthful adventures, and many a legend for which their imagination takes all the responsibility.
Coffee House in Cairo
HULLING COFFEE IN ADEN, ARABIA
Gérôme's painting of the "Coffee House at Cairo," which hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, gives one a good idea of the atmosphere of the Egyptian café. The preparation and service is modified Turkish-Arabian. The coffee is ground to a powder, boiled in an ibrik with the addition of sugar, and served frothing in small cups. Story-tellers, singers, and dancers furnish amusement as of yore. The Oriental customs have not changed much in this respect. Trolley cars, victorias, and taxis may have replaced the donkeys in the new sections of the larger Egyptian cities; but in old Alexandria and Cairo, the approach to the native coffee house is as dirty and as odorous as ever. Coffee is always served in all business transactions. Nowadays, the Egyptian women chew gum and the men smoke cigarettes, French department stores offer bargain sales, and the hotels advertise tea dances; but the Egyptian coffee drink is still the tiny cup of coffee grounds and sugar that it was three hundred years ago, when sugar was first used to sweeten coffee in Cairo.