Queer Things About Egypt | Page 3

is well off. He is as willing to live under other people's
governments as the Jew, if those governments can ensure him equitable
taxation, respect for his property, and good conditions for his
commerce. Hundreds of thousands of Greeks were quite willing to put
up with the government of the late Sultan of Turkey to be allowed to
trade in Constantinople and the Asia Minor ports.
The Egyptian would have prefered to live under the rule of Abdul
Hamid to living under the rule of Lord Cromer, apart from religious
considerations, because he would have lived in the hope of rising to be
one of the fountains of corruption. He does not desire equitable
conditions for trade, because he has no capacity for trade. He has not
the nerve to take responsibility or the honesty to retain credit. Little of
the trade of Egypt is in his hands. He may be a book-keeper in a
merchant's office or an assistant in a shop, but the business will belong
to some one else. The wealth of Egyptians, rich and poor, arises solely
from land. One man is lucky enough to own land which the foreigners
require for building. He gets a bountiful price, and puts it away in
sovereigns. He does not often invest it. Many Arabs still consider that
investment is a breach of the prophet's injunctions about usury, though
they make an exception for the building and hiring out of houses.
Others let their own lands or hire other people's for the cultivation of
cotton and sugar-cane. It is seldom that an Egyptian does any

productive work except as a clerk or an agricultural labourer. The
Egyptian student abroad is said by those who know him best to show
no great capacity for picking up anything but bad habits. He is also
generally like the babu, a conspirator. In short, the inhabitant of Egypt
was created to live by agriculture. In the country, superintending the
cultivation of his lands, he is a gentleman, though he is not the kind of
gentleman you could trust with the distribution of water and justice.
The evil of communication with Levantines has made the town
Egyptian hopelessly corrupt. If he could be kept from evil
communications he would become a good citizen like the country
Egyptian, for he likes peace and hates responsibility. Vanity and
venality are his besetting sins, and they are the roots of his
parliamentary aspirations. He wishes to swagger about independence,
and sell himself to the highest bidder—where he cannot sell himself to
all the bidders. How little the Egyptian desires to serve his country,
which he considers himself competent enough to rule, I show in my
chapter on the subject. (Chapter XV).
If the English could run Egypt on the same principles as the French run
Tunis all would be well. Firm paternal government is what the
Egyptian requires. He is not irreconcilable, he is not keen, he is not
pertinacious; he is merely demonstrative; he has a passion for
demonstrations, and is a born orator.
In this book I do not concern myself with him, though Egypt is on the
brink of a Revolution unless the nettle is firmly grasped. I gave him a
very complete diagnosis in Egypt and the English. Now I take up my
pen to describe the humours of Egyptian society, Egyptian servants,
and, above all, the humours and delights of travel in Upper Egypt. I
give glimpses of all the everyday life of the Englishman in Egypt, from
doing business (with Egyptians) to donkey-riding.
I also devote several chapters to the eccentricities of the Egyptian Court.
The incidents in them were the actual experiences of a very high
official and his wife, given me for publication.
Not less interesting to some people than the humours of Egyptian

high-life, Egyptian patriotism and Egyptian morality will be the advice
on curio-buying in Egypt when you have not much money to spend,
which concludes Part I.
But the book is not entirely taken up with anecdotes and absurdities.
Like Queer Things about Japan and Queer Things about Persia, it
devotes half its pages to the monuments, the romance, the mystery, and
the poetry of the Orient. The fascination of Egypt is extraordinary; its
monuments are matchless. My pen lingers lovingly round the glories of
its scenery and art. And here I have the privilege of giving the traveller
in search of fresh holiday-grounds, and the still larger, but not less
appreciative, public who can only expect to travel in the pages of a
book, a bird's-eye view of the glories of Egypt, the most remarkable
country in the world, as seen by one who has spent his manhood in the
pursuit of sunshine and beauty. I have visited a large proportion of the
most beautiful and interesting