Leading the Blind

by Alan Sillitoe

  The population of Egypt was said to be about two million, while the Thomas Cook handbook of fifty years later gave it as nearly ten million. Settled conditions after 1882, when the country was administered by the British, perhaps accounted for the steep rise. The Baedeker of 1885 puts the population in ancient times at seven million. ‘This number is quite reasonable in itself, as it is estimated that the country could support 8–9 million inhabitants.’ The latest census gives a population of 55 million.

  The local people are seen, in the mid-Victorian Murray, from the point of view of those who hold the purse-strings: ‘The traveller, apart from his ignorance of the language, will find it exceedingly difficult to deal with the class of people with whom he chiefly comes in contact. The extravagance of their demands is boundless, and they appear to think that Europeans are absolutely ignorant of the value of money. Every attempt at extortion should be firmly resisted, as compliance only makes the applicants for bakshish doubly clamorous. Payment should never be made until the service stipulated for has been rendered, after which an absolutely deaf ear should be turned to the protestations and entreaties which almost invariably follow. Thanks, it need hardly be said, must never be expected from such recipients. Even when an express bargain has been made, and more than the stipulated sum paid, they are almost sure to pester the traveller in the way indicated. The Egyptians, it must be remembered, occupy a much lower grade in the scale of civilisation than most of the western nations, and cupidity is one of their chief failings; but if the traveller makes due allowance for their shortcomings, and treats the natives with consistent firmness, he will find that they are by no means destitute of fidelity, honesty, and kindliness.’

  An authority on the country, Wallis Budge, wrote a short guide to the monuments of the Nile for the benefit of Thomas Cook & Son’s tourists in 1886. In twenty years, this work had become a thousand-page Hand-book for Egypt and the Sudan, fully the equal of Murray or Baedeker. In the preface Budge states, of course, that travellers in Egypt ‘owe the ease and comfort which they now enjoy in journeying through the country entirely to the efforts of Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son, who were the first to organise the tourists system, and to make Egypt and its wonderful antiquities accessible to all classes. They have spared neither pains nor money in perfecting their arrangements for tourists, and their officers are ever watchful to place promptly at the disposal of those who travel under their care the advantages of rapid and comfortable transit which are becoming more and more numerous owing to the steady development of the country under British influence.’

  The last word on begging is a notice, printed verbatim in the handbook, issued by Lord Cromer, and the United States and German Consul General: ‘The attention of the Egyptian authorities has been frequently drawn (in 1906) both by visitors and by residents of the country, to the evils resulting from the indiscriminate bestowal of “bakshish” to the inhabitants of the Nile villages, and other places visited by tourists during the winter season. The intention of the donors is no doubt kindly, but the practice – more especially in view of the yearly increase of visitors to Egypt – cannot fail to be detrimental to the moral sense and the social well-being of the poorer classes of the community. At the present time many of the poorer inhabitants of those towns on the Nile which are most visited by tourists live almost entirely on what they can obtain by “bakshish” during the winter months; the easy means thus afforded of obtaining a small livelihood prevents their adopting any form of labour; and children are brought up to regard the tourist season as the period during which they may, by clamorous begging, enable their parents and themselves to lead a life of idleness for the remainder of the year. The unhealthy tendency of such a system is obvious.’

  After more of such advice the section concludes with a plea: ‘Tourists should especially abstain from throwing money from the decks of steamers on to the landing stages or on to the banks of the Nile for the purpose of witnessing the scramble for the coins; such exhibitions are mischievous as well as degrading.’

  The writer of the handbook naturally wants tourists to look favourably on Egypt, and to appreciate the benefits the country has to offer, and with this end in view we are told that whoever visits the country for the first time ‘will certainly be delighted … but it is probable that he will not admire the natives with whom he will come in contact until he knows them fairly well’. He strains to give a balanced view by saying that the Egyptians in general ‘have never been accustomed to travel, and they look upon those who wander from country to country as beings who are possessed of restless though harmless devils’. The Egyptian whose character has not been tainted by cupidity ‘is a very estimable individual. He is proud of his religion, but is tolerant to a remarkable degree’, but ‘it must never be forgotten that the strictest Muhammadans despise the Christian faith in their hearts, although Christians are treated with civility’.

  Now comes a paragraph, again from Cook’s handbook, which will no doubt find agreement with many people today.

  The abolition of corporal punishment, by Lord Dufferin, early in 1883, has had effects which were not contemplated by him. As soon as the whip was abolished the people refused to work, and Lord Cromer says that the period which followed its abolition ‘caused him greater anxiety than any other’ during his lengthened Egyptian experience. Another result was that life and property became insecure, and Nubar Pasha was obliged to appoint ‘Commissions of Brigandage,’ that is, to introduce martial law. The Egyptian had also learned that no one can be punished for a crime unless he is proved guilty, and that proof of guilt which will satisfy the law courts is hard to get. The result has been that large numbers of guilty people have escaped punishment, and through the country the people have little respect for the Law. The inability of the governors to use the whip is the cause of the present state of unrest among a certain class of Egyptians, and it is clear that only corporal punishment will reduce this class to order and obedience.

  In 1858 our traveller arranged his trip up the Nile, says Murray, by first hiring a dahabeyeh, which boat was provided with ‘at least two or three cabins and a bath; and the largest have a front cabin sufficiently spacious to accommodate a party of 8 or more persons at dinner. The price depends of course on the size of the boat and the number of men; but a large one, capable of accommodating 3 or 4 persons, generally lets for about 50 to 70 pounds a month. All furnished boats are supplied with divans and other furniture, a canteen, kitchen, fireplace, and all requisites for the journey except provisions.’

  The boats are said to be very clean, ‘so that it is no longer necessary to have them sunk before going on board’. Then follows advice on destroying flies, still one of the plagues of Egypt, but much attention is paid to strict discipline in the boat, and obedience to orders, as long as they are reasonable and just. ‘But I am far from advising that constant use of the stick which is sometimes resorted to most unnecessarily: firmness and the determination of being obeyed seldom fail to command respect and obedience; for, when they know you will be obeyed, they will seldom disregard an order.’

  It is just as well that ‘however much they may try to impose on one over whom they think to get the upper hand, they never harbour any feelings of revenge. In short, my advice is, to be strict and just, without unnecessary violence, in order to have the satisfaction of being indulgent.’

  A system of rewards was suggested, in the event of the crew behaving well. On going up the river, ‘give them a sheep at some of the large towns, or a certain quantity of meat at least, as a reward for past exertions; but some travellers have spoilt them through a want of discrimination, and they now begin to look on it as a right, whether they deserve it or no. This should be resisted; and they should be made to understand that they are to have no reward till they have earned it. They are allowed a sheep no longer; but instead of it a small sum may be given to a crew if they have had much towing and have worked well; though certainly not if the wind has done all the work for them.’

&
nbsp; At the end of the journey, when the crew is paid off, ‘they also expect about 24 piastres each if they have given satisfaction; if not, they should be dismissed with no more than 6 piastres each, and, if at all unruly, they should have nothing but an introduction to the police’.

  Before setting out for the south a few items of interest may be culled from the various guidebooks on Lower Egypt. At the village of Bebayt-el-Hagar, we are told in Murray’s that the author ‘had the satisfaction of shooting the great enemy of the village, a large wolf, which in broad daylight was prowling about the field that now occupies part of the enclosure of the temple. It had been a great annoyance to the people, and had been in the habit of entering the village at night, and carrying off sheep, poultry, and whatever it could find; so that its death caused great joy among those who had suffered from its unwelcome visits.’

  In the Wadi Natrun there were several monasteries, to which Arabs were not admitted, though if they had been they would not have made away with so many priceless Coptic manuscripts as did visiting Europeans. The Revd H. Tattam departed with ‘upwards of 50 volumes; among which was a treatise on Eusebius, not previously known, and on his return in 1842 he obtained four times that number of manuscripts, all indeed that were not used by the monks’.

  He presumably received every civility during his stay with them, ‘particularly from the superior of St. Macarius; and I have reason to believe that the other Monasteries are equally hospitable. The room allotted to a stranger at Dayr Suriani is large and well lighted; but I recommend him to remove the mats before he takes up his abode there, otherwise he is not likely to pass a comfortable night, under the assaults of some hundreds of bugs; and he will run a risk of carrying away many score in his baggage, which may continue to torment him’ – though I suppose the conscience did not torment those who carried away such loot in their baggage, a not so novel way in those days of financing one’s expeditions.

  Wallis Budge relates that the Revd Tattam sold his manuscripts to the Trustees of the British Museum in 1838, who the same year sent him back to Egypt, ‘to obtain the manuscripts which were still there, and of these he was so fortunate as to secure about 314, which arrived at the British Museum in 1843. In 1845 M. A. Pacho went and lived with the monks for six weeks, and in the end succeeded in obtaining the remainder of the manuscripts, about 190 in number; 172 of these came to the British Museum in 1847, 10 were sold to the Trustees in 1851, and M. Pacho kept back and sold several to the Imperial Public Library in St. Petersburg in 1852. At the present time there are no manuscripts of importance in the Natron Valley, and only those who are interested in archeology are recommended to visit it.’

  Setting off down the Nile in his well-appointed boat, our traveller will be captivated by the town of Benisooef, which presents ‘the ordinary scenes common to all large towns on the Nile; among which are numerous boats tied to the shore – buffaloes standing or lying in the water – women at their usual morning and evening occupation of filling water-jars and washing clothes – dogs lying in holes they have scratched in the cool earth – and beggars importuning each newly-arrived European stranger with the odious word “bakshish.” This is followed by the equally odious “Ya Hawagee,” by which the Franks are rather contemptuously dismissed; and the absurd notion of superiority over the Christians affected by the Moslems is strikingly displayed in these as in many other instances. The “Faithful” beggar, baredly covered with scanty rags, and unclean with filth, thinks himself polluted by the contact of a Christian, whose charity he will not condescend to ask in the same terms as from a true believer.’

  The people of the Nile do not have the same prejudices against dogs as those of Lower Egypt, though. ‘Some of the fancies of the Moslems respecting what is clean and unclean are amusingly ridiculous, and not the least those respecting dogs. Three of the sects consider its contact defiles; the other fears only to touch its nose, or its hair if wet; and tales about the testimony of dogs and cats against man in a future state are related with a gravity proportionate to their absurdity.’

  Beyond Keneh, the author encounters the crocodile, a rather timid animal, ‘flying on the approach of man, and, generally speaking, only venturing to attack its prey on a sudden; for which reason we seldom or never hear of persons having been devoured by it, unless incautiously standing at the brink of a river, where its approach is concealed by the water, and where, by the immense power of its tail, it is enabled to throw down and overcome the strongest man; who, being carried immediately to the bottom of the river, has neither the time nor the means to resist.’

  While one village abominates the crocodile, the next place may venerate it, which ‘was the cause of serious disputes with the inhabitants of Ombos, where it was particularly worshipped; and the unpardonable affront of killing and eating the god-like animal was resented by the Ombites with all the rage of a sectarian feud. No religious war was ever urged with more energetic zeal; and the conflict terminated in the disgraceful ceremony of a cannibal feast, to which (if we can believe the rather doubtful authority of Juvenal) the body of one who was killed in the affray was doomed by his triumphant adversaries.’

  Thus we come to the great Gem of Thebes (or Gems, for the traveller is informed that he may spend weeks in this area with profit) and, on arriving, ‘horses and asses are readily obtained for visiting the ruins with guides, some of whom are intelligent, and well acquainted with all that travellers care most to see. Though many guides are deserving of recommendation, I am, from my own experience during many visits to Thebes, bound to speak well of the civility, honesty, and other good qualities of one of them called A’wad.’

  In 1886 Luxor was still a rundown village, ‘unlit at night, and not in a prosperous condition’, according to Budge. Thomas Cook, in December of that year, inaugurated his line of steamers from Cairo, and from then on large numbers of tourists transformed the place, until it became ‘a town suitable for travellers to live in’. Cook’s improved the waterfront, encouraged local business ventures, and rebuilt die old Luxor Hotel. Trade increased, the streets and alleys were cleaned up, and ‘the natives began to build better houses for themselves, and European wares began to fill the bazaars’. A few years later, ‘Mr. Cook founded a hospital, and hundreds of sick and suffering gladly and promptly availed themselves of the medical assistance which be provided gratis.’

  A minor industry grew up in the manufacture of spurious antiquities, and the traveller is warned against buying them, although ‘those who understand them and know how to make a judicious choice, not giving a high price for the bad, but paying well for objects of real value, may occasionally obtain some interesting objects. The dealers soon discover whether the purchaser understands their value; and if he is ignorant they will sell the worst to him for a high price, and false ones, rather than the best they have. Indeed a great portion of those sold by dealers are forgeries; and some are so cleverly imitated that it requires a practised eye to detect them.’

  Before describing the wonders of the area Murray protests against ‘the manner in which some travellers visit its monuments, particularly the tombs of the kings, which are frequently lighted by torches. No one should be mean enough to spare a few wax candles for this purpose; and it is mere selfishness to obtain a great light by torches, with the certainty of blackening the sculptures by their smoke. A man should have some consideration for those who come after him.’

  During his peregrinations the traveller is recommended to have with him ‘a small supply of eatables, and, above all, of water in goollehs. Each of these porous water-bottles may be slung with string (as on board-a-ship), to prevent the boat-men, or whoever may carry them, from holding them by the neck with their dirty hands; and moreover, they should not be allowed to touch the water, and should be made to bring their own supply if they want it.’

  Perhaps the strictures against flaring torches that blot out sculptures and paintings acquires some importance when we read the account of the Great Temple at Medeenet Haboo: �
�The sculptures on the walls of these private apartments are the more interesting, as they are a singular instance of the internal decorations of an Egyptian palace. Here the king is attended by his harem, some of whom present him with flowers, or wave before him fans and flabella; and a favourite is caressed, or invited to divert his leisure hours with a game of draughts; but they are all obliged to stand in his presence, and the king alone is seated on an elegant fauteuil amidst his female attendants – a custom still prevalent in the East.’

  This scene is described somewhat differently by Wallis Budge. ‘The walls of the rooms are decorated with scenes in which the king is seen surrounded by naked women, who play tambourines, and bring him fruit and flowers, and play draughts with him.’

  The Baedeker of 1892 judges the scene from the strict Victorian point of view, as if Mrs. Grundy, the guardian of morality, is looking over his shoulder. ‘Rameses III is here represented in his harem. The nude maidens with whom he is playing chess, or who hand him one a fig, another a pomegranate, another a melon, another a flower which he smells, appear from the shape of their faces and from the arrangement of their hair to be captive princesses rather than his own children. This supposition is farther strengthened by the occurrence here of several representations of a distinctly immodest character. The vicious propensities of this king are gibbeted with biting scorn on other monuments. He himself appears to have looked with peculiar pride on his harem, which was rich in beauty of all kinds, and to have immortalised its memory in his Memnonium. At all events his reign marks the beginning of an epoch of luxury and immorality, upon which decay followed close.’

  Travellers who wanted to stay in their boat as far as Khartoum would have been disappointed, for Baedeker’s 1892 volume allows them to go only as far as Wadi Haifa: ‘It is much to be hoped that the time will soon come when the way will be open as far as Khartoum, which fell into the hands of the Mahdists on Jan. 27th 1885, when the brave Gordon met his death. The possession of Khartoum and the security not only of the Nile-route thither but also of the desert-route from Berber to Suakin are necessary conditions for the gradual civilisation of the Sudan.’