256

NAUTICAL HIEROGLYPHICS.

A general mistake exists in supposing that there are no hieroglyphics upon the shaft of Pompey's pillar. I regret to say, that it is now nearly covered with them, and although the greater number are as unintelligible as those of Cleopatra's needle, yet the frequent repetition of the H. M. S. attest the scientific research of the mids and reefers touching at Alexandria. Young gentlemen of the royal navy, let me ask in sober earnestness, in what consists the honour and glory of having your names emblazoned upon every post and pillar, in characters such as those in which Morrison's pills or Warren's blacking is set forth upon a dead wall in the neighbourhood of London? In England I am sure you would not, even if you dared, deface with black paint, in letters a foot long, any of our national monuments. It is not your calling; leave it to the sign-painters, or some of the travelling agents of Leeds or Manchester. The long tried worth-the unflinching courage-the gallantry, and noble daring of those proud bulwarks of Britain's liberties, whose names you have bedaubed upon this and other objects of antiquity throughout the Mediterranean, require no such homage to their greatness. In one of the efforts to place a name higher up the pillar the paint-pot upset, and has disfigured it very much. A few Greeks had clambered to the top, by means of a rickety grassrope ladder, and had a small blue flag* flying at

*The Greek revolutionary flag. Strange to see it in this

top. They had fastened up a dirty bit of paper stating, that gentlemen travellers would be insured a perfectly safe ascent for the sum of half a dollar. It was an amusement that none of our party were inclined to indulge in.

Quantities of fragments of different coloured marbles, and bits of polished porphyry are scattered around. In the plain beneath is the cemetery of the present city, the tombs of which are generally of mason-work, raised a couple of feet from the ground, narrow, and without any slab at top; at either end is an upright post or stele, that at the head being mostly expressive of the rank and sex of the deceased. In the men, it is surmounted by a turban, such as was worn by his tribe, or descrip tive of the office he held during life, as that of Kádee, Mufti, or Memlook, &c. Those of females are without any ornament, and are marked by the simple turboósh. On the front of the pillar is the name and station of the deceased, and a verse of the Koorán; many of those are beautifully executed in gilt letters, raised on an azure blue ground. All those pillars, and many of the tombs themselves are of white marble. A great number of them have a small open space in the centre of the top of the tomb, in which is planted a root of the aloe, which from its longevity, as well as its requiring so

country, and within sight of the villa of Ibrahim Basha. The French erected the cap of liberty upon it, which was afterwards removed by the British.

VOL. I.

ន

258

EASTERN LAMENTATION.

little sustenance, is a type of immortality, besides being believed by the Moos'lims to be an infallible antidote against the evil eye, which they greatly dread, imagining that its power extends as well over the dead as the living. Others of the higher orders have small cupolas,* supported by corner pillars erected over them; are kept scrupulously clean and white-washed. I did not see any

all

marabuts, or tombs of saints among them; but each family mausoleum is enclosed by a low wall, and the different vaults arranged side by side. All those who have suffered decapitation are without any turban or ornament at top, and so their graves are easily distinguished. As we passed along, we met several funerals of the lower order; the body being carried upon a rude bier without any coffin, and attended by about a dozen people. On our return to the city, we met a group of women proceeding in procession to the house of mourning, in number about thirty, walking two and two, clapping their hands together, and chanting a funeral dirge, not unlike the "wild Irish cry," or keenan. Many of them had disfigured their arms and faces and naked breasts with mud, a practice related by Herodotus as in use among the Egyptian women of his day. It is to this also that in all probability the Scriptures so often refer, when describing sackcloth and ashes as typical of mourning. These women were of the very lowest class.

* Dr. Shaw derives the word cupola from the Arabic term cubb'ha, which is applied to those small domes in Barbary.

THE DOCK-YARD COMMISSIONERS.

259

We were waited upon this morning by the surveyor of the navy, Mohammed Effendi, whose embossed card! in the latest London fashion, was certainly more than we expected to have seen in Egypt. He is an exceedingly intelligent man, was educated in some of the best dock-yards in England, and so far overcame the prejudices of Islamism, as to have married one of our countrywomen.

16th. Attended by Mohammed, we visited the dock-yard and arsenal, which must certainly be admitted to be the greatest national undertaking of the present Básha, and taken in connection with the cannon foundry and arms manufactory at Cairo, shows much of returning civilization, and of the introduction (perhaps we should say, revival) of the arts in this extraordinary country. Of all the modern works of Egypt it is that best worth seeing, and is an object of much interest, even to those more conversant with naval works; as, with the exception of the three higher powers, I doubt whether any of the European states could exhibit finer. We were first ushered into an office near the entrance, where the commissioners of the dock-yard were seated cross-legged on a deewan. They were exceedingly courteous, as, indeed, we invariably found the higher classes of Egyptian Moos'lims. Coffee was presented, in small china cups holding about a third of one of ours, not on a tray, but handed to each individual by a separate servant, in a small silver stand,

260

EASTERN SALUTATION.

(zurf) exactly like an egg-cup, which I have always found very serviceable, as the cups are so hot you are in great danger of burning your fingers.

The coffee is far superior to that commonly used by us; it is drunk without cream or sugar, boiling hot, and, as they never strain it, thick as mud; yet it has a delicious fragrance. Who will say that it is not a more grateful and more rational, while it is fully as refreshing, and much less injurious beverage than those intoxicating liquors in use in our northern countries.

In this, my first visit into polite society in the East, I was surprised at seeing each of the Moos'lims present make the usual salutation, by touching the forehead with the tips of the righthand fingers, on receiving their coffee. At first, I imagined it for the servant, but I afterwards learned, that it is intended for the master of the house, who returns it. Their salute is peculiarly easy and graceful; besides that mentioned above, they generally approach the open hand to the lips, and then touch the forehead. To an intimate friend or superior, the salutation is by laying the hand first upon the breast, and then touching the lips and forehead, accompanied by a gentle inclination of the body forward.

Their dress was remarkably handsome. The outer cloak or beneesh of brown or drab cloth, trimmed with sable, fell in loose folds upon the deewan, where they sat cross-legged, leaving their red, pointed