TIE

Entering inside the second pyramid (1)

Tue, 03 Jan 2006 15:54:45 +0100

December 1817.

Having embarked all that was found this season, I left Thebes with another accumulation of antiquities, of which an account will be found at the end of this volume. I shall not describe this voyage, as I think it useless to repeat almost the same things over again. We arrived at Boolak on the twenty-first of December, after ten months absence. My business in Cairo detained me longer than I wished, as I was anxious to return to Thebes, for the sole purpose of taking models and impressions in wax of all the figures and hieroglyphics in the newly discovered tomb, first called that of Apis, but now of Psammethis. Finding I could not immediately despatch my little business there, I sent up the boat, with the intention of going myself by land. I had engaged Signor Ricci, a young man from Italy, who was very clever at drawing, and who with a little practice became quite perfect in his imitations of the hieroglyphics. He was to begin the drawings of the tomb on his arrival at Thebes.

Between Alexandria and Cairo

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 09:02:06 +0100

In the afternoon of the 19th [April, 1826], attended by the Janissary Selim, we mounted our donkeys and rode to the Canal of Mahmoudieh, where our Maash was waiting for us. The Camseen had sunk, the moon shone brightly, the evening was delightful, we talked of Cleopatra, and we agreed that every thing was very novel, pleasant, and agreeable. We met several boats laden with cotton; it required some dexterity to keep clear of each other, arid, in passing rapidly, the rigging not unfrequently caught, to the mutual detriment of both vessels. On a slight dispute arising, Selim caught up his silver stick, his badge of authority, and silence on its appearance immediately ensued. A heavy dew beginning to fall, C. recommended my retiring to the cabin, which was about six feet square, and four feet high, so that for the first time in my life I positively found myself too tall! On the lamp being lighted, to my great consternation, we discovered thousands and ten thousands of cock-roaches running merrily about in every direction, and absolutely over our couches; and we had also the pleasure of finding our boat was infested by rats, which paid us repeated visits during the night.

My Christmas with the Copts

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 10:55:38 +0100

It was on Christmas Day last year that a telegram came to Cairo for a nurse to go as soon as possible, to take charge of a case of typhoid in a Coptic family at Assiout.

I was not altogether sorry that it fell to my lot to be the one to go, and the next morning, I was on my way to Cairo station to catch the 8 a.m. train for Assiout, feeling rather curious as to what might be before me.

Most of the way the railway lies quite near the Nile, and all the land is cultivated; but beyond this, on either side, one could see the yellow, sandy desert. Soon I had to close all the windows to keep out the dust, but, nevertheless by the time I reached my destination everything, including myself and portmanteau, was thickly covered with desert dust.

An Obelisk for Central Park

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 08:13:09 +0100

“Forgive the pun, Your Highness, but any old obelisk will do.”

Written by Edmund S. Whitman

Images by the TIE staff

Shortly after the Suez Canal Inaugural of 1869, the Khedive of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, had a conversation with William Henry Hurlbert, editor of the New York World. Hurlbert was an ardent advocate of closer Egyptian-American relations and he knew that the Khedive was keen to move Egyptian cotton onto the markets of the West. With cotton production in the Southern States still paralyzed following the Civil War, this might be an auspicious moment for the Khedive’s vessels to start moving cotton in New York harbor.

Passages of Eastern Travel

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:31:13 +0100

by an American

Our engagements in Cairo made it impossible for us to remain in Alexandria as long as we could have desired. To the traveler who wishes to see only the external appearance of things, or to look only at the ground which overlies old cities or on which they once stood, one or two days will suffice as well as a month or a year to see the city of the Ptolemies. But not so with us. We caught ourselves often standing for an hour before a modern Arab, or rather Egyptian, house, in the wall of which was worked a piece of old marble, whose exquisite carving and polish proved it to he without doubt a part of the old city: possibly from the pediment of a temple; possibly from the boudoir of a lady; possibly from the throne-chamber of a king. Conjecture – or, if you prefer the phrase, imagination – was never idle as we passed along the streets of the modern city, or over the mounds that cover the ancient. It was most active in the tombs, where we found the ashes of the men of Alexandria of all periods in its eventful history, and the memorials of their lives and deaths.

A Visit to the Convent of Sittna (Our Lady), Damiane (2)

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 08:44:13 +0100

Read the first part of this story

Connected with our labors in the book-shop, I must give some account of our friend Makar’s doings. Poor man! it seemed he had to be every where, and with that one eye of his see and attend to every thing. He is a tall, rawboned man, with a good deal of executive capacity, which seemed tasked to the utmost. Wherever there was a row or quarrel, a case to be settled, a bargain to be made, or money to be received, there his towering form was conspicuous among the sea of heads. When he could find time, or needed to rest a while, he came and sat down beside us on the church steps, and here causes were brought to him for judgment, and votive offerings to be received, and thus we had an opportunity of observing many cases of sharp practice as well as of monkish jurisprudence. At former Mulids it has been usual for several policemen to be present. This year there were none, and so, besides his other onerous duties, he had to perform all the police duty of this whole encampment of feasting and carousing pilgrims.

Cairo the Grand

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 15:03:42 +0100

In the night we dropped down to Bulac, and, when we looked out in the morning, we found ourselves moored close in front of the palace of Ismael Pasha (he had been murdered, or rather put to death, by the peasants of Nubia. He was among them as a conqueror, and was oppressive); it has an appearance princely, and is a strange mixture of Italian, Greek, and Asiatic taste, having a wide front, of handsome windows and balconies, Greek painting on its walls, much gilding on its iron-work, and a wing for the harem quite eastern. Cairo the Grand by no means corresponds with this early promise of show and magnificence; but Cairo is abundantly interesting, and, though I confess myself the possessor of a sanguine disposition, it did not disappoint my expectations. As I lay looking from the cabin-window at this palace, a voice said (with the deliberate utterance and accent of a Scotchman), – “If you are the gentlemen from Upper Egypt, the consul has sent me to conduct you and your baggage to Cairo.” I looked up and saw a fresh-looking man with the Highland countenance, sandy mustachios, the red Mamaluke trowsers, and the fine white cloak of Africa;

My Visit to the Pharaoh City

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 14:26:57 +0100

You need a lot of credulity when you go to Egypt, and a superb contempt for anything less than three thousand years old. If you don’t have these, you spoil your holiday by questioning the wonderful stones told by dragomans and you fill your hand-bag with antiques of a mere yesterday.

The more one looks about the world, the more disgusted one becomes with the average globe-trotter. When he goes to Egypt – unless he happens to be a mad Egyptologist as well, and burns all the skin off the back of his neck and pants all day long under awnings up at Luxor – he limits his progress southwards to Cairo; and, instead of even getting familiar with the picturesque sights in the Arab town, and becoming acquainted with the varied and vigorous smells, he prefers knocking round the Ezbekiyeh, looking in shop windows and sipping his coffee under the verandah outside Shepheard’s Hotel. He can do all this much better in Paris; but then Paris is plebeian by the side of Cairo.

A Visit to the Convent of Sittna (Our Lady), Damiane

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 13:26:15 +0100

Awid, our bookseller at Cairo, having left a few days previous in our new boat the Morning Star, on her first colporteuring trip, I left Cairo on Tuesday, May 5, to join him at Semanoud. Reached Tanta at noun, where I took the branch railway to Semanoud, on the Damietta branch of the Nile.

The Arabs never start on a journey, nor undertake any great enterprise, without first imploring the blessing and aid of God, and asking their friends also who may be present to prey for them. On this occasion, as we were leaving Tanta, where are the tomb and centre of the worship of Said-El-Bedawe, who is the chief of the Muslim saints of Egypt, the ejaculations and prayers which were offered to him as the train was starting were numerous and fervent. I was particularly struck with the earnestness of the man sitting beside me, as he exclaimed, “I am on thy account, 0 Said-El-Bedawe! Yes (with an oath), I am on thy account!” And then, as if recollecting the stronger claims of another, he varied the expression the third time by saying, “On God’s account and thine!”

Travellers' Graffiti from Egypt and the Sudan IV

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 09:01:59 +0100

Elkab - The Rock Tombs

by Roger O. De Keersmaecker

Approach to Cairo

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 08:43:27 +0100

The boats of the canal are confined exclusively to its waters, and we here found it necessary to look out for other conveyances, a necessity to which our last night’s experience made us very gladly submit; nor had we at any time occasion to find fault with the comfort or cleanliness of the boats on the Nile. Those which we engaged had about three fourths of the length of one of our canal boats, and about twice the breadth, and drew from three to four feet water near the stern were a forward and an after cabin, the former of sufficient height to allow us to stand upright. In front of it we spread awnings above, and at the sides, so as to make a cool verandah or vestibule for eating and sitting during the day; and, with the aid of curtains, a pleasant sleeping apartment for the night. Towards the bow the deck ceased, and gave place to an open area filled with sand, where our excellent cook erected his throne, and chopped off as many heads as might have satisfied even Mohammed Ali himself.

Our party, consisting of twenty-six persons exclusive of attendants, engaged three of these boats. The Commodore and his family, and, by invitation,—-, and the writer of this, occupied one of them; a second was engaged by a party principally of lieutenants; and a third by midshipmen from the two ships. We had on board of each boat a person called a Cavass, an officer appointed by government to attend on travellers; he goes well armed, and bears in addition, as a badge of office, a long cane capped with silver or gold, to which dangle chains of the same material. His presence places the party under the protection of government, and gives it access to all public places to which he may choose to lead.

We were all a happy party on that river. Our, steward had laid in abundantly, and provisions along the Nile were plentiful and cheap; we had book and musical instruments, and chessmen and society. We changed back and forward among the boats, and sometimes gave tea-parties;

Franks at Alexandria

Mon, 17 Oct 2005 10:22:54 +0100

On the morning of the 14th of April [1826], for the first time, I saw the sun rise over a garden of date-trees, in which Mr. Salt’s house was situated, and as their light feathery tops waved and danced in the morning beams, I believed myself to be actually in Africa, for hitherto I could have fancied I had been in a dream. It being Sunday, Mr. Thunberg, the Swedish Consul, Mr. Madden, (the traveller,) and many of the European Residents called, and this seems to be the principal manner in which the Christian Franks celebrate the day in Egypt. The upper part of the principal Sala was furnished in the Oriental fashion, with deep sofas and very thick cushions, at once serving for the accommodation of Europeans and Turks, and as this was our morning sitting-room, as well as where the Consul received his guests, we had an opportunity of seeing a curious mélange of nations and customs. The visitors generally walked in unannounced; sometimes appeared a stately, dignified, well-dressed Turk, with his graceful salaam, in which I was always carefully and most respectfully included. He, perhaps, was followed by an Italian resident, or a Greek adventurer; an English captain upon business, or an Arab Fellah with a complaint. We were somewhat amused with one who came up in a most intense rage; and after a long story of his grievances, he most significantly and energetically concluded by giving himself a violent box on the ear, with “Giovanni Maltese.” Mr. Salt’s head servant, a Maltese, and he had been quarrelling, and the Consul was obliged to go out and make peace; a circumstance, he observed, of no unusual occurrence.

With Mr. Bankes in his voyage upon the Nile into Nubia (4)

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 10:46:58 +0100

Read the first part of this story

Read the second part of this story

Read the third part of this story

We passed by Tyre, less desolate than I was prepared to find it (it has been improving – particularly in the commerce of tobacco – of late years), and then into the fertile district of Sidon, where, turning from the sea-coast to a distance of about two hours (February 23, 1816), upon the skirts of Mount Libanus, and commanding a delightful prospect, we found the residence of Lady Hester Stanhope, a small building, called Mar Elias, built as a Christian convent, but lately repaired and furnished by its present occupant. Within, a neat corridor surrounded a little square court, into which all the chambers opened, including a bath which had recently been added to its accommodations, the whole consisting only of one story.

Prisse d'Avennes

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 11:18:14 +0100

Written by Mary Norton

He was, in many ways, a paradox. An artist of consummate skill, he was also a writer, scientist, scholar, engineer and linguist, a genius who spent much of his life among the illiterate. French to the bone, he was of British blood; a European, he embraced Islam and took the name Edris-Effendi. By nature contentious, he alienated colleagues, yet succored the sick and the poor. Of the hundreds of 19th-century Orientalists – those Western artists, scholars and writers who gravitated to the Islamic world following Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798 – few possessed so prodigious an intellect, such a trove of talents, so insatiable a curiosity or so passionate a commitment to record the historical and artistic patrimony of ancient Egypt and medieval Islam. He succeeded brilliantly,

Of the Country of Egypt

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 09:50:51 +0100

of the bird phoenix of Arabia; of the city of Cairo; of the cunning to know balm and to prove it; and of the garners of Joseph

Mandeville, Jehan De (“Sir John Mandeville”), the name claimed by the compiler of a singular book of travels, written in French, and published between 1357 and 1371. By aid of translations into many other languages it acquired extraordinary popularity, while a few interpolated words in a particular edition of an English version gained for Mandeville in modern times the spurious credit of being ” the father of English prose.”