Egypt : handbook for travellers / edited by K. Baedeker.

Date:
1885-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Egypt : handbook for travellers / edited by K. Baedeker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    them, however, extol the pleasures of friendship and rational enjoyment, or express derision of an enemy, or contempt for the rustic fellah. Thus a favourite song of the donkey-boys derides a young fellah called rAli, the favourite of his village, and is usually sung in mockery of some one of the name. Shuftum 'Ali yd nas Labis '’amis wilbds Wa'if 'ala-l-'abbds Yil'ab el-birgas Wal ’antaret ethaddit JYus il beled haggit Kulluh Lila shdn 'Ali Shuftum 'Ali fikum Wall&htaf tawdLkum Wdhrtih beled min ddl Wd'Lid teldtin y6m Kulluh 'ala shdn 'Ali Ya'ni ya'ni Kulluh Lila shdn 'Ali. Ya'ni ya'ni Kulluh 'ala shdn 'Ali. 1. Have you seen rAli, ye people, in shirt and drawers, standing on the bridge of c Abbas and showing off his equestrian tricks? But the bridge is now destroyed, and half the village has flown away. And all this for rAli’s sake, yes, for fAli’s sake. 2. Have you seen cAli among you? If not, I will run off with your skull-caps (p. 14) and will go into one of the villages and remain there thirty days. All this for fAli\s sake, yes, for rAli’s sake. The pleasures of hashish-smoking are thus extolled: — G6zeh min el-hind wumrakkeb 'al&ha ghdb Wumdandisheh bil wa' wumgamm'a el ahbdb Akhatteh minhd nefes el-'akl minni ghdb Ba'et abaldam zei el gamal guwwa Lghab Tub LiUya yd tawwdb Min shurb el gdzeh wal ghdb. ha hd lid f Min shurb el gdzeh wal ghdb. Oh cocoa-nut ft of India, in which is fixed the stem inlaid with shells, that collects friends around it. I have taken a whiff from it — and my understanding fled. I drew so that the tube gurgled like a camel. Oh ! forgive me, thou Blotter out of sins! that I smoke out of the cocoa-nut with its stem. Thwarted love is another favourite theme. One of these songs begins — Hdi, hdi, yd habibi! Ildi, hdi, kun tabibil (come, come, oh beloved ! come and be my physician !). These songs also frequently describe the charms of the beloved object with great minuteness. Female Singers {'Awalim, sing. 'Almeh or 'Alimeh; i. e. ‘learned women’) of a good class are now very rare, and those who still exist perform only in the harems of wealthy natives, so that the traveller will seldom or never have an opportunity of hearing them. Others of a low class are frequently seen in the streets ac- companied by one or two musicians, who are generally blind. The Female Dancers, or caste of the Gliawazi (sing. Ghaziyeh), which is quite distinct from that of the rAwalim, were formerly one of the chief curiosities of Egypt, but for some years past they have been prohibited from performing in the streets. Really good dancers are said to be now rare, but on the Nile voyage the traveller will have I The.se syllables represent the coughing caused by the great quantity of smoke inhaled by the hashish smoker at intervals of Vi'Vz hour, after which he gradually becomes intoxicated and insensible. ft The water-pipe out of which the hashish is smoked has generally a cocoa-nut (gdzeh) as a receptacle for the water through which the smoke passes.