Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/750

726 EGYPT [MODERN INHABITANTS. be added, however, that the Egyptians rarely, if ever, exer cise their social virtues but towards persons of their own persuasion and country. Their vices are indolence, ob stinacy, and licentiousness, especially among the women, cupidity (mitigated by generosity), envy, a disregard for the truth, and a habit of cursing. Murders, and other grave crimes of this nature, are rarely committed, but petty thefts are very common. " The Arabic spoken by the middle and higher classes in Cairo is generally inferior, in point of grammatical cor rectness and pronunciation, to the dialects of the Bedawees of Arabia, and of the inhabitants of the towns in their im mediate vicinity, but much to be preferred to those of Syria, and still more to those of the Western Arabs" (Lane, ibid. ch. ix.). The language varies in Upper and Lower Egypt, and is more correct inland than near the Mediterranean. In the decay of Arab literature, Cairo still holds the chief place as a seat of learning, and its university, the Azhar, is undoubtedly the first of the Eastern world. Its professors teach " grammatical inflexion and syntax, rhetoric, versification, logic, theology, the exposition of the Kur-an, the Traditions of the Prophet, the complete science of jurisprudence, or rather of religious, moral, civil, and criminal law, which is chiefly founded on the Kur-an and the Traditions, together with arithmetic as far as it is use ful in matters of law. Lectures are also given on algebra, and on the calculations of the Mohammadan calendar, the times of prayer, <fcc." (Lane, ibid.}. The students, as already remarked, pay no i ees, and the professors receive no salaries. The latter maintain themselves by private teach ing, and by copying manuscripts, and the former in the same manner, or by reciting the Koran. The students are now said to amount to the number of 11,000. Except the professors of Iit3rature, few Egyptians are taught more than to read and write ; and of these, still fewer can read and write well. The women, as before mentioned, are very rarely taught even to read. Science is but little studied, and barbers generally prac tise medicine and surgery. Mehemet AH endeavoured to improve this state of things, by sending young men to Europe for the purpose of scientific study, and by establish ing various schools, with the same object, in Egypt. His improvements have been continued by the present khedive, Ismail Pasha, with some success. In common with other Muslims, those of Egypt have very many superstitions, some of which are peculiar to themselves. Tombs of saints abound, one or more being found in every town and village ; and no traveller up the Nile can fail to remark how every prominent mountain has the sepulchre of its patron saint. The great saints of Egypt are the imam Esh-Shafe ee, founder of the persuasion called after him, the seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee, and the seyyid Ibraheem Ed-Dasookee, both of whom were founders of orders of dervishes. The former of these two is buried at the town of Tanta, in the Delta, and his tomb attracts many thousands of visitors annually to his prin cipal festival ; the latter is also much revered, and his festival draws together, in like manner, great crowds to his birthplace, the town of Ed-Dasook. Biu, besides the graves of her native saints, Egypt boasts of those of several members of the Prophet s family ; the tomb of the seyyideh Zeyneb, daughter of Alee, that of the seyyideh Sekeeneh, daughter of El-Hoseyu, and that of the seyyideh Nefeeseh, great-grand-daughter of El-Hasan, all of which are held in high veneration. The mosque of the Hasaneyn (or that of the " two Hasans ") is the most reverenced shrine in the country, and is believed to contain the head of El- Hoseyn. As connected with the superstitious practices of Egypt, dervishes must be mentioned, of whom there are many orders found iu that country, the following being the most celebrated : (1) the Rifa eeyeh, and their sects the Ilwaneeyeh and Saadeeyeh ; (2) the Kadireeyeh ; (3) the Ahmcdeeyeh, or followers of the seyyid Ahmad El- Bedawee, and their sects the Beiyoomeeyeh, Shaaraweeyeh, Shinnaweeyeh, and many others ; and (4) the Barahimeh. or followers of the seyyid Ibraheem Ed-Dasookee. These are all presided over by a direct descendant of the caliph Aboo-Bekr, called the Sheykh El-Bekree. The Saadeeyeh are the most famous for charming and eating live serpents, ic., and the llwaneeyeb for eating fire, glass, &c. The Egyptians firmly believe in the efficacy of charms, a belief which is associated with that in an omnipresent and over ruling Providence. Thus the doors of houses are inscribed with sentences from the Koran, or the like, to preserve from the evil eye, or avert the dangers of an unlucky threshold ; similar inscriptions may be observed over most shops, while almost every one carries some charm about his person. Among so superstitious a people, with whom, as we have already seen, science is in a very low state, it is not to be wondered that the so-called sciences of magic, astrology in the place of astronomy, and alchemy in that of chemistry, are in a comparatively flourishing condition. Since the time of the Turkish conquest, the arts in Egypt have rapidly fallen into decay ; this is partly attributable to the deportation of most of the skilled artificers of Cairo to Constantinople by the sultan Selim, but it is mainly owing to the misrule of the Turkish pashas, who have successively domineered over this unfortunate country. Cairo contains the most splendid specimens of Arab architecture of any part of the Arabian empire ; but at present new buildings are erected after the Constan- tinopolitan model, or, what is still worse, the purely European both styles immeasurably inferior to the Arab, and very ill suited to the requirements of the climate. In like manner, every other kind of native art is gradually perishing ; and it is to be feared that even should the people be relieved from oppression and bad government, their industry will be encouraged rather to adopt imaginary improvements imported from Europe, than to cultivate the beautiful taste of their ancestors. The manufactures of the present inhabitants of Egypt are generally inferior to those of other Eastern nations, their handicrafts are clumsy, and the inevitable results of tyranny are every where evident ; nevertheless, the curious shops, the markets of different trades (the shops of each trade being generally congregated in one street or district), the easy merchant sitting before his shop, the musical and quaint street-cries of the picturesque venders of fruit, sherbet, water, &c., with the ever-changing and many-coloured throng of passengers, all render the streets of Cairo a delightful study for the lover of Arab life, nowhere else to be seen in such perfection, or with so fine a background of magnificent buildings. Among the luxurious habits of the Egyptians must be classed the immoderate use of tobacco (as before mentioned) and coffee. They are, however, rarely guilty of the vice of drunkenness, wine being prohibited by the Koran. Eaters of opium, and smokers of hemp, called hasheesh, are not uncommon, though they are always of the dregs of the people. The bath is a favourite resort of both sexes and all classes. In Cairo alone are upwards of sixty public baths, and every good house lias a private bath. Their amuse ments are generally not of a violent kind, being rather in keeping with the sedentary habits of the people, and the heat of the climate. They are acquainted with chess, draughts, backgammon, and other games, among which is one peculiar to themselves, called Mankalah, and played with cowries. The game of the gereed requires great bodily exertion : and wrestlers, <fcc., are found in the country, though not

in any number. Music is the most favourite recreation