Peeps at Many Lands: Egypt | Page 6

many colours shade the bazaars and shopping
streets.
[Illustration: AN ARAB CAFÉ, CAIRO.]
Heavily laden camels and quaint native carts with difficulty thread their
way through the crowd, amongst which little children, clad in the
gayest of dresses, play their games. Goats and sheep pick up a living in
the streets, clearing it of garbage, and often feeding more generously,
though surreptitiously, from a fruit or vegetable shop. Hawks and
pigeons wheel and circle in the air, which is filled with the scent of
incense and the sound of the street cries. Everywhere is movement and
bustle, and the glowing colour of the buildings and costumes of every
tint and texture.

Let us study a little more closely the individual types and occupations
that make up the life of the streets, and a pleasant way in which to do
so is to seat oneself on the high bench of some native café, where,
undisturbed by the traffic, we may watch the passers-by.
The cafés themselves play an important part in the life of the people,
being a rendezvous not only for the refreshment provided, but for
gossip and the interchange of news. They are very numerous all over
the city, and are generally fronted by three or more wooden archways
painted in some bright colour and open to the street. Outside are the
"dekkas," or high benches, on which, sitting cross-legged, the customer
enjoys his coffee or his pipe. Indoors are a few chairs, and the square
tiled platform on which are placed the cooking-pots and little charcoal
fire of the café-keeper. Generally an awning of canvas covered with
patches of coloured cloth screens you from the sun, or gives shelter
from the occasional winter showers which clear the streets of
passengers and render them a sea of mud, for the streets are unpaved
and no drainage exists to carry off the surface water.
The café-owner is always polite, and glad to see you, and the coffee he
makes is nearly always excellent, though few of his European guests
would care to regale themselves with the curiously shaped water-pipes
with which the native intoxicates himself with opium or "hashish," and
which are used indiscriminately by all the customers.
Like most of the small tradesmen, our host is clad in a "gelabieh," or
long gown of white or blue cotton, gathered round the waist by a girdle
of coloured cloth. Stuck jauntily on the back of his head is the red
"tarbush," or fez, universal in the towns, or, if married, he wears a
turban of fine white cotton; his shoes are of red or yellow leather, but
are generally carried in his hand if the streets are muddy.
And now, having noticed our café and our host, let us sit comfortably
and try and distinguish the various types which go to form the crowd
which from dawn to dark throngs the thoroughfares.
First of all it will be noticed how many different trades are carried on in
the streets, most prominent of all being that of the water-sellers, for

Cairo is hot and dusty, and water is in constant demand.
There are several grades of water-carriers. First, the "sakka," who
carries on his back a goat-skin filled with water; one of the fore-legs
forms the spout, which is simply held tight in the hand to prevent the
water from escaping. He is the poorest of them all, barefooted and
wearing an often ragged blue gelabieh, while a leather apron protects
his back from the dripping goat-skin. He it is who waters the streets and
fills the "zirs," or filters, in the shops, a number of shop-keepers
combining to employ him to render this service to their section of a
street.
A superior grade is the "khamali," who carries upon his back a large
earthen pot of filtered water. When he wishes to fill the brass
drinking-cups, which he cleverly tinkles as he walks, he has simply to
bend forward until the water runs out of the spout above his shoulder
and is caught in one of the cups, and it is interesting to notice that he
seldom spills a drop.
Then there is that swaggering and often handsome fellow clad in red,
and with a coloured scarf around his head, who, with shoulders well set
back, carries, slung in a broad leather belt, a terra-cotta jar. This is the
"sussi," who sells liquorice water, or a beverage made from prunes, and
which he hands to his customers in a dainty blue and white china bowl.
The highest grade of all is the "sherbutli," also gaily dressed, who from
an enormous green glass bottle, brass mounted, and cooled by a large
lump of ice held in a cradle at the neck, dispenses sherbet, lemonade, or
other cooling drink. Each of these classes of