Letters from Egypt, 1863-65 |
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Common terms and phrases
A'gha Abab'deh Alee Alexandria amused Arab asked Aswán Asyoot baksheesh beautiful Bedawee boat bread brother Cairo cattle Christians coffee cold Copt Coptic curious dahabeeyeh darweesh dinner donkey dragoman dressed Efendee Efendeena Egypt El-Karnak El-Uksur English et-Teiyib Europeans eyes face fancy Fat'hah fear feel Felláh Felláheen Girgeh Girgis girl give hand handsome hareem Hasan hear heard Heir of Redclyffe Hekekian Bey Kádee Kinč kissed Koran lady laughed LETTER little Ahmad live look lovely Lower Egypt Maoon Mohammad mosque Mudeer Muslim Mustafa never night Nile Nubian Omar Omar's Pasha piastres poor pray pretty Ramadán religion Reyyis Rougé salám Seleem sent servant Sheykh Yoosuf Sheykh-el-Beled simoom slave steamer Sultan talk tell Thebes thee things thou to-day told tomb Turk Turkish Ulema Upper Egypt village weather wife woman women yesterday young Zeyneb
Popular passages
Page 93 - Two beautiful young Nubian women visited me in my boat, with hair in the little plaits finished off with lumps of yellow clay, burnished like golden tags, soft deep bronze skins, and lips and eyes fit for Isis and Athor ; the very dress and ornaments were the same as those represented in the tombs ; and I felt inclined to ask them how many thousand years old they were.
Page 169 - Karnac with Mustafa's Sais running by my side ; glorious hot sun and delicious air. To hear the Sais chatter away, his tongue running as fast as his feet, made me deeply envious of his lungs. Mustafa joined me, and pressed me to go to visit the sheykh's tomb for the benefit of my health, as he and Sheykh Yoosuf wished to say a Fat 'hah for me ; but I must not drink wine that day.
Page 268 - (I beg pardon of God) seven times a day. I wish the English could know how unpleasant and mischievous their manner of talking to their servants about religion is. Omar confided to me how bad it felt to be questioned and then to see the Englishman laugh, or put up his lip and say nothing. "I don't want to talk about his religion at all, but if he talks about mine, he ought to speak of his own too. You, my lady, say when I tell you things, ' that is the same with us,' or, that is different, or good...
Page 218 - What, then, O Muslims, •will avail that you may be happy when that comes which will come for all ? Truly God is just and will defraud no man, and he will reward you if you do what is right, and that is to wrong no man, neither in his person, nor in his family, nor in his possessions.
Page 104 - Pasha got the Sultan to allow him to take 90,000 feddans of uncultivated land for himself as private property. Very well. But the late Viceroy granted, eight years ago, certain uncultivated lands to a good many Turks, his employes, — in hopes of founding a landed aristocracy, and inducing them to spend their capital in cultivation. They did so ; and now...
Page 313 - and, in truth," said he, " he is really a Sheykh, and one who teaches the excellent things of religion. Why, he was kind even to his horse; and it is of the mercies of God to the English, that such a one is the Imam of your Queen and Prince.
Page 102 - There is a quarrel now in the street ; how they talk and gesticulate, and everybody puts in a word ! A boy has upset a cake-seller's tray. " Nal-abook !" (curse your father !) he claims six piastres damages, and every one gives an opinion, pro or contra. We all look out of the windows. My opposite neighbour, the pretty Armenian woman, leans out (baby sucking all the time), and her diamond headornaments and earrings glitter as she laughs like a child. The Christian dyer is also very CONDITION OF THE...
Page 208 - I hear him joke with Omar about Ramadan, and even about Omar's assiduous prayers, and he is a frequent and hearty laugher. I wonder whether this gives you any idea of a character new to you ; it is so impossible to describe manner, which gives so much of the impression of novelty. * Philip Stanhope "Worsley, Esq., translator of the Odyssey.
Page 133 - I saw a camel go through the eye of a needle, ie the low-arched door of an enclosure. He must kneel, and bow his head to creep through ; and thus the rich man must humble himself.
Page 231 - By my soul, she rides like a Bedawee, she shoots with the gun and pistol, rows the boat; she knows many languages and what is in their books...