THE CITY OF WONDERS

A Souvenir of the World’s Fair.

BY

MARY CATHERINE CROWLEY

CHAPTER 11. A STREET OF CAIRO

[For other installments of our serialization of The City of Wonders (1894), see the Table of Contents]

“Now that we have made the tour of the world on a small scale, suppose we go back to old Cairo?” said Aleck.

Accordingly, the party retraced their steps down the Plaisance, until they came to the arched gateway in the wall which shut in a bit of the Orient, caught up out of the heart of Egypt and transported just as it was, with all its details of daily life, to our City of Wonders, which, to the impassive Moslems so suddenly set down in our midst, must have seemed indeed in those days, the Mecca of all the nations.

A ready disbursement of backsheesh (coin) proved the open sesame to this mysterious portal; and our ramblers found themselves, so far as the testimony of sight and hearing could be relied upon, within the confines of the metropolis of the Khedive.

“Isn’t it all delightfully strange and picturesque!” said Ellen.

They paused at the beginning of a street so narrow that it was like a mere lane or passage. Upon either side were houses two or three stories in height, and seemingly of parti-colored marbles, stone, and sun-baked brick; the latter tinted in the soft, faded tones of yellow and rose, which blend in so harmonious a picture beneath the intense blue of the skies, and the brilliant sunshine of tropical countries.

These exteriors were inlaid with plaques and tiles of curious designs and coloring; the lintels above the queer little latticed windows were adorned with quaint mosaics, arabesques and hieroglyphics; and over the pointed and round-arched doorways verses from the Koran were inscribed in Eastern characters. A short distance farther along, the thoroughfare widened into an irregular open space, at the entrance to which arose the lofty minarets and dome of a mosque, or Mahometan temple, art imposing specimen of Turkish architecture.

The whole town was evidently in holiday array; for, stretched from the second story lattices from one side of the street to the other, hung rows of little square bright flags, each bearing a white crescent and a star, the device of the Ottoman Empire.

“Look just like red cotton handkerchiefs, don’t they?” chaffed Aleck.

Uncle Jack laughed, but the girls being disposed to regard their surroundings from a romantic point of view, did not appreciate the comparison.

These decorations were varied by others strung in garlands across the casements of the curious little bazaars that occupied the ground-floor of every dwelling, and over the window-sill counters of which one could accomplish any amount of shopping without once leaving the street. There were banners, also of Tyrian hue if not dye, upon which one caught a glimpse of the traditional horsetails of Turkey; triangular white pennons, edged with green, and displaying the sun and armed lion of Persia; yellow and blue streamers, and anon a flash of gold-emblazoned scymitars.

“One might conclude that we had chanced upon some especial festival, were it not that every day is a gala day here during this auspicious summer” said Mr. Barrett.

The quarter was alive with people; and although among the throng were a few European and many American strollers like themselves, there was also a sufficient representation of the motley tribes of the delta of the Nile, as well as of the inhabitants of the nations bordering on the deserts, to encourage the illusion that they were indeed in the Land of the Pharaohs. Here were swarthy Arabs and Egyptians, in flowing white garments and mantles; charlatan pashas, robed and turbaned in rich silks of many colors; the ubiquitous Turk, in showy zouave costume and the inevitable fez; Persians, Kabyles, Bedouins, Soudanese and Nubians. Their occupations, too, were as foreign as their aspect.

Yonder a dragoman, clad in a brown cotton gown and wearing a green turban, was leading a dromedary. His feet were bare, and his appearance suggestive of a dusty journey across the burning sands. Near by, a juggler amused a knot of idlers by his inimitable tricks; and beyond, a diminutive donkey boy prodded his freakish animal, and shouted in Arabic as it set off at a trot with its rider,—a little light-haired Chicago girl, who must have felt at that moment as if half of the circumference of the earth were between her and home.

“This street is a reproduction of the ancient Bein el Kasrein, in the City of the Caliphs,” said Uncle Jack. “Here we are, shut in from our prosy everyday world by the walls of palaces, bazaars and mosques, and surrounded by types of the strange races and the primitive modes of travelling mentioned in the Scriptures. Before us is the passing pageant, familiar to those who have visited Egypt. In the history of that wonderful land Cairo ranks as a city still in its infancy, although founded in the time of the Crusades. The picture here presented however, to a certain extent, and exclusive of the Mahometan worship, which is but a mushroom growth, represents the world’s most ancient civilization. Cairo is like a great khan, or inn, at which the wanderer stops to rest on the way to Heliopolis, the city mentioned in Genesis, which had existed a thousand years in the age of Moses, and before the temple of which stood the famous obelisks known as Cleopatra’s Needles, that in our day have been transported to London and New York.”

“It all seems so real I am inclined to ask that driver to bring a second dromedary and take us out for an afternoon at the pyramids,” jested Aleck.

As in most ancient towns, there were no sidewalks. The middle of the street being intended for pedestrians and four-footed wayfarers indiscriminately, our friends were several times brought face to face with great, loping camels,—one carrying perhaps a portly citizen of our Republic, in a light-colored suit and derby hat; another, two or three young girls or lads, who were determined upon “doing” the Plaisance thoroughly. Again, they were warned to get out of the way by a shrill call in Arabic, as a lively white or grey jennet scampered by, with some timid wee maiden, the darling of an American home, clinging to the gaily ornamented saddle; or a small boy of the species Young America, who, intent upon showing his skill, sat bolt upright, clutching at the donkey’s shaggy mane, and enjoying the jolting immensely, although looking decidedly uncomfortable; and bringing up the rear, was always either a turbaned driver or a comical black urchin, who yelled and gesticulated and capered about, as if a fit subject for a lunatic asylum.

“Mam-ma! mam-ma!” cried, with a peculiar intonation, a staid Egyptian, as he glanced around in a perplexed manner and then back at his charge, a merry fairy of maybe five years of age. At a repetition of the call, a fashionably dressed lady darted away from one of the booths, and, brushing past him, caught up the pretty child and set her on the ground.

“Go ‘long, Ta-ra-ra Bom-de-ray!” shouted another driver, proud that he could say so much in English, and giving a vigorous thrust to a suspiciously sedate white donkey, that winked one eye in a way that made Nora suspect him of being capable of perpetrating upon a too confiding rider any prank or practical joke that might occur to his fertile fancy, or tingle in his obstreperous hoofs.[1]

“Whoa there, Christopher Columbus!” called a third, in a voice so piercing that it might have arrested the course of the great navigator himself, although it did not appear to disturb in the least the equanimity of his humble namesake.

Alas! ‘such are the usages of fame,’ there was a Shakespeare too; the lyric and the dramatic stage were represented by a Patti and a Mary Anderson; while a particularly frisky little beast was dignified by the name of Methusalah.[2]

“Oh, see!” exclaimed Ellen, suddenly.

An impish equestrian had come into view. He was perched upon a white jennet no larger than a dog of average size, and rode in a careless, rollicking manner, ever and anon responding to the cheers of the spectators by wheeling round in the saddle and doffing his mite of a red fez.

“Is this a little dried-up Egyptian mummy resurrected?” laughed Nora.

“A monkey, by jingo!” ejaculated Aleck; “and the proudest pasha of them all. If he is so resplendent in those baggy blue satin trousers, that round jacket, and scarlet top-knot, what would he look like in trailing, richly embroidered robes and a turban?”

They stood watching the antics of the monkey until a diversion occurred. This was the return of one of the dromedaries. Its burden consisted of two middle-aged country women,—one stout and good-natured, the other grave and sharp-featured.

“How are they going to get down?” queried Nora, gazing up with a puzzled air at the long-legged animal.

The dromedary soon solved the difficulty. With a lurch that nearly sent his riders over his head, he bent one knee and sank to the ground; then, almost before they had recovered their balance, he repeated the performance with the other foreleg. The stout woman screamed, the scrawny one gasped convulsively. A similar program pursued by the hind legs, tilted them from side to side in the opposite direction. Another expostulation, which was something between a titter and a half-suppressed shriek; another gasp, and the dromedary was lying, with his feet doubled up under him, as he would be portrayed in a picture of a caravan resting at an oasis of the desert. The dragoman then assisted the ladies to alight.

“Land alive, I’m shook most to pieces!” complained the stout woman, with a jolly laugh.

“It’s worse than the rack, I reckon,” groaned her angular companion. “Only for your sake, Margaret Ann, I never could have been persuaded into trying it.”

Margaret Ann accepted this evidence of friendship with another laugh.

“Won’t you have a ride?” asked Uncle Jack of his party.

“I will,” answered Aleck.

Ellen shook her head, but Nora thought she would like to see how old Cairo looked from the back of a donkey.

Mr. Barrett finally engaged one for each of his nieces,—Ellen having been persuaded to accompany her sister,—and they set off, Aleck following on a camel, which was gaudily caparisoned. At his side tramped the driver, a swarthy figure in a black robe, with a red scarf wound around his head. The girls were attended by two little Kabyle boys, whose blue cotton gowns reached almost to their bare brown feet, and whose small white skull-caps appeared to be glued to their heads.

The tour of the town was made without special adventure, except that Aleck picked up an uninvited companion during the trip. The monkey, seeing him passing along in state, with a rustle and a bound sprang up on the camel’s hump, to the delight of all beholders, and look a place beside him. After repeated efforts to get rid of this persistent attaché, Aleck began to enjoy his company, and had much sport with him.

Having returned to the stand, our sight-seers dismounted. They now made the round of the bazaars, in which they found many curios. Here were specimens of Assioot ware,—pottery made of red and black earth and turned on a wheel; jugs, water-stoups and vases; fly brushes with ivory handles; gauze scarfs embroidered with the words of Persian benisons; dagger cases of silver or brass to be worn in the belt; silken head-shawls, bracelets and anklets of half sequins; little coffee·cups, Arabian finger-bowls, and the queer mosque shoes without which no one is permitted to enter a Mahometan house of prayer.

Nora and Ellen bought as souvenirs two pretty perfume bottles, decorated with Arabic characters in many colors, one containing attar of roses, the other essence of sandal-wood. As they concluded their purchase, they were rejoined by Aleck, who held out to them something which looked like semi-white, coarsely-spun glass.

“Have some Turkish candy,” he said; “the natives call it bum-bum.”

The girls declined, however, and he finally presented the unappreciated delicacy to a Kabyle elf whose face beamed with delight at the gift.

Next they looked in at the mosque.

“I believe this is supposed to be a reproduction of the famous El Azbar, which is a great university as well as a temple,” Mr. Barrett remarked.

Beyond a porch, the walls of which were adorned with carved work, many-tinted traceries and strange inscriptions, they saw a central court open to the sky. There, squatting in groups upon the pavement, were a number of boys in blue, black or brown gowns, but all wearing white turbans. They were conning their lessons, and as they studied they bowed their heads continually, according to the custom of Islam.

“A school-boy of Cairo has no time to be lazy, since he is obliged to learn ‘by heart’ every word of the Koran,” said Mr. Barrett.

The mosque itself seemed to be merely a hall built of alternate blocks of pink and white marble, and richly adorned with arabesques. In one corner was a niche, above which burned a row of small hanging lamps. Before it several turbaned followers of the pseudo Prophet, kneeling upon prayer rugs, were engaged in their devotions.

 

When the party turned back to the street once more, it was filled with new sounds, and the rumor spread that there was to be a wedding procession after the manner of the East.

A clangor of musical instruments was heard, and the crowd began to separate, leaving the centre of the thoroughfare open. The reason for this was soon apparent. A fierce Nubian, in garish livery, and armed with a staff resembling that of a drum major, was vigorously clearing the way for the pageant.

Behind him, gaily accoutered, rode upon a camel a bronze Egyptian, arrayed in a semi-military uniform, and brandishing a scymitar. His demeanor was studiedly arrogant and disdainful, and, as be turned his head superciliously from side to side, he glanced down at the spectators, as if they were so much dust beneath his camel’s feet.

Next in the retinue were three other men on dromedaries; then the band. And such a band! Here was a fellow with a tom tom, which he pounded as if bent upon smashing it to atoms; beside him a second musician was blowing with all his might into a wind instrument that had two pipes; a third clashed his cymbals with great spirit; others played upon reeds, tinkled triangles, and beat the kettle-drums, which were hung around with little bells. In short, it was plain to be seen that everyone was determined to make as much of a racket as possible.

Then came the friends of the bridegroom; and, upon a dromedary decked with gold embroidered trappings, the bridegroom himself, in splendid apparel, and posing as the proudest of the proud, upon whom all eyes were fixed.

Following him were four palanquin bearers, with a rich palanquin, curtained on every side with crimson and golden hangings; other camels laden with presents for the bride; and, bringing up the rear, several attendants carrying a gorgeous canopy.

Having traversed the street, the train stopped at a house near the entrance gate, and the band redoubled its efforts, with a result calculated to break even the spell that held the Sleeping Beauty bound in slumber, and cause her to awake with a shriek.

The wedding festivities being supposed to have occupied several days, there was a commotion at the door of the dwelling, and several veiled women came forth. In their midst was the bride, a squatty, ungainly figure, draped from head to feet in a veil of bright scarlet, which was, however, disposed in such a fashion that the forehead and eyes were left uncovered.

“How strange it seems to us that only the lower part of the face should be concealed by the folds of the long veil!” said Nora. “And yet it is evidently almost impossible to recognize a person so disguised. The bride is unusually well muffled, though; isn’t she?”

Now began the return of the procession, the escorting of the bride to the home of her husband. Again the cavalcade wound through the street; the servants, musicians and guests; the bridegroom, prouder and more ostentatious than ever; the presents and the palanquin; the women relatives; and the bride, who walked alone beneath the brilliant canopy.

“She appears quite composed.” said Uncle Jack. “But perhaps that is not surprising, since she is married to her haughty bridegroom every day of the week; and, moreover, it is only a sham wedding, after all, like a marriage on the stage.”

At the end came a file of attendants, carrying chests, shawls, household furniture, cooking utensils. and the various appurtenances essential to housekeeping in an Oriental country.

“It is as good as a circus parade,” admitted Aleck, as the young people turned away to buy some photographs from the photographer of the Khedive. After this they peeped into the tent of Khalil Nada, the great Egyptian conjurer, saw the dancing and howling dervishes, and they bade fare-well to old Cairo.

[There is more to see on the Midway Plaisance, and in Chapter 12 of The City of Wonders the Kendricks visit two Irish Villages and return to Old Vienna at night.]

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NOTES

[1] “Ta-ra-ra Bom-de-ray” The music hall song “Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay” was immensely popular in the early 1890s.

[2] “a particularly frisky little beast was dignified by the name of Methusalah” In addition to those noted by Crowley, donkeys of the Street in Cairo had names such as “Yankee Doodle” and “Bismarck.”