CHAPTER XXXIX--ADVENTURES WITH A DONKEY.--A DAY AT THE RACES.

_A “Syce” what is he?--A Man with a Queer Dress and Large Calves--A Gorgeous Turnout--An Escort of Eunuchs--Veiled Beauties--A Flirtation and its Consequences--The Tale of a Dropped Handkerchief--The Donkey as a National Beast--A Tricky Brute and an Agile Driver--An Upset in the Mud--Astonishing the Natives--A Specimen of Arabic Wit--Going to the Races--The Grand Stand--A Dromedary Race--An Aristocratic Camel--The Arrival of the Khedive--Starting Up the Dromedaries--Cutting an Empress._

A STRANGER is impressed during his first days in Cairo with the spectacle of runners in front of carriages to warn people to get out of the way. These fellows have a picturesque dress and muscular legs, and their duty is to clear the way, by keeping a few yards in advance and warning people that a carriage is coming. An appendage of this sort is called a syce, and formerly it was necessary that he should be a native born Egyptian, but at present a Nubian may aspire to the position, and it is not unusual to see syces of the complexion of charcoal in front of elegant carriages. Public fiacres and ordinary private carriages have each but a single syce, but the carriages of the Khedive and all official turnouts must have a pair of syces running side by side.

The syce carries a stick, which he holds perpendicularly in the air. As he goes along he warns people by his shouts; it occasionally happens that a crowd of common Arabs will be in the way with their donkeys, and if they do not move at the vocal admonition, the stick is brought into use with no savor of mildness. {489}The most gorgeous turnouts in Cairo were, of course, those belonging to the reigning family, and used on state occasions. The Khedive ordinarily rides with very little display; he has a two-horse carriage, open or closed according to the weather or other circumstances, two syces in front and two outriders or household guards behind him.

The carriages of the harem are quite as gorgeous as his, and they have the additional escort of one or two eunuchs, sometimes on horseback, and at others seated on the box with the driver. Sometimes the blinds are drawn, and again they are open, but in either case the face of the fair occupant cannot be seen, as it is invariably covered with a veil.

The eyes only are visible and they are generally pretty, I think I may say invariably so, and have that soft, melting lan{490}guor for which the Orient is famous. Concealment has its advantages here as elsewhere; what we can see is rarely as beautiful as what we do not see. The unattainable is always of more value than what is within our reach. Possibly all the women of the harem are not beautiful, but I had the word of a lady who has been in the sacred enclosure, that there are faces there whose beauty is rarely equalled in the Occident, and there was one that roused my informant to a pitch of enthusiasm more appropriate for a young and ardent man.

Some of these carriages of the harem have been associated with scandals of a mediocre character. I was told of one whose occupant used to drop her veil to a dashing young officer when promenading on the Shoobra Road, and on one occasion let fall an embroidered and perfumed handkerchief, which he picked up and retained.

As the story goes, he was imprudent enough to speak of the adventure and to show the trophy, and one day he was told his presence was no longer needed in the Egyptian army, but that his resignation would be accepted. How much truth there is in the story I cannot say, I am sure; I was not present; never saw officer or handkerchief to my knowledge, and neither have I ever seen the veiled beauty. But who among us would have neglected to peep at her face if he had the opportunity?

The beast par excellence of Egypt is the donkey; he ought to have a place on the national coat-of-arms, as much so as the llama has on that of Peru. The horses of Egypt are magnificent, some of pure Arabian, and some of a cross between English and Arabian stock, and are famous for their speed and beauty. But they are a luxury that not everybody can afford, as their support requires a constant outlay, not to speak of the first cost of the property. But the donkey is universal, and everybody can have one, unless he is the poorest of the poor.

At every hotel door there are groups of them ready saddled at all hours of the day, and you can hire them cheaply. If you can make a bargain in advance you can hire a donkey at three or four francs a day, inclusive of the boy, to drive him, though the latter generally looks for backsheesh in addition to the price of the beast and saddle. I have hired donkeys frequently for half

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{493}a franc an hour, though the hotel keepers tell you that a franc an hour is the proper fare.

Most of the excursions in and around Cairo must be made on these animals, and even in many places where you can take a carriage the donkey is preferable. You can ride in the narrow lanes and among the bazaars, or you can go into the open country at a gallop, as though pursued by a wolf, or a guilty conscience. No matter how fast you go, the boy will keep up with you, and he never seems to be out of breath. If you want to go slowly he does not understand you, and will continue to cluck and strike the beast at the very moment you are expostulating with him.

One day I took a donkey for an afternoon ride to old Cairo, and explained to the boy that I was in no hurry, and wished to go gently. “I understand,” he said, and as we started he hit the donkey a violent blow, that sent him off on a gallop.

Two or three times I expostulated, and finally I threatened to thrash him with my cane if he struck the donkey again without orders.

“I understand,” he said, “no strike donkey no more,” and we were off again.

Within two minutes he struck the animal. The promised thrashing was administered, and even that was not enough to make the boy mindful of what I wanted, and several times he involuntarily hurried the animal ahead. It was the force of habit, which to him was perfectly uncontrollable.

The donkey is a patient beast; he never kicks or runs away, never takes fright, never asks for backsheesh, and he can bear a burden that seems out of all proportion to his size. He does not get drunk or stay away from home by circumstances which he cannot control, and he can be boarded and lodged at a very cheap rate. His food consists of beans and chopped straw, with an occasional _bonne bouche_ of fresh cut grass, of which you see great loads coming daily into the city on the backs of camels and donkeys.

The pace of the donkey is a walk, an amble, or a gallop according to circumstances, and at whatever speed he is going he is generally as easy as a cradle. The natives ride without stirrups, owing to the donkey’s tendency to stumble; he does not fall very {494}often, but you never know when he will go down in a heap under you, and he is most likely to do this when at full speed, the very time when you least relish this sort of business.

When I reached Cairo I was not up to the dodge of riding without my feet in the stirrups, but I soon concluded that I had better learn. One afternoon I had a donkey that was very good, from a progressive point of view. There was a party of us, and we went at a gallop, and my beast was ahead most of the time. Suddenly he went down, very much as a wet towel falls on the floor when you drop it from your hand, and I went down like another wet towel when it is not dropped but flung into a corner.

Had my feet been out of the stirrups they would have touched the ground as I fell, and I should have been standing erect and dignified, and could have contemplated my donkey in a heap as Xerxes contemplated the remains of his fleet at Salamis. But I was comfortably fixed in the stirrups, and so I went forward and turned about eleven-sixteenths of a somersault before I settled into a sprawling position on and in the sand, to the great delight of the multitude who are never happier than when seeing a {495}stranger make an ass of himself. I got up and found myself uninjured, though I presented the appearance of having been used as a street sweeping machine.

You may think this is drawing the donkey business to a considerable length, but you wouldn’t think so if you knew what a prominent place the animal has in the life and locomotion of modern Egypt. But through fear of wearying you, I will stop now; only let me tell you of the wit of one of the drivers.

One day I hired a donkey for a franc to make a journey for which the driver demanded three francs at the outset. When the bargain was concluded we started, but the beast was very slow, and I said to the driver that his steed was not good.

“Yes, donkey good,” was his reply. “Give donkey three francs, he good donkey; he no good for one franc.”

Soon after my arrival we had the pleasure of attending the horse races and noticing some of the peculiarities of the country.

The track for the Cairo races is two or three miles out of the city, on a large plain to the right of the Abooseer Road.

We left our donkeys in charge of their drivers, and bought tickets for the Grand Stand. The spectators were a mixed lot of natives and Europeans, nearly all the former being in European dress, with the exception of the fez or red cap, which covers the head at all times, whether in doors or out. A good many eunuchs were there and mingled freely with the crowd in and around the stand. They were nearly all tall--some of them unusually long in the legs--were clad _a la European_, and were rather gorgeous in the matter of watch chain. One who stood near me had a double length vest chain, a fob chain, and a chain around his neck. If there had been any other way of wearing a chain I presume he would have adopted that also.

Many of these neutral gentlemen were active in the discussion of the races; some of them made considerable wagers, and one of them, taller and rather older than the rest, appeared to exercise considerable authority over the jockeys, and superintended their mounting and weighing. The jockeys were of all colors and nationalities; there were English, French, and Italian jockeys; and there were Arab, Egyptian, and Nubian jockeys. There was comparatively little betting over the result, and quite {496}an absence of the yelling and hooting heard at all races in England and at some in America.

Just before the commencement of the races, a dozen carriages came upon the ground, bringing the ladies of the harem. A separate space was assigned to them; in this space the carriages were driven and a rope was drawn around, and guards were stationed to keep out intruders.

The ladies remained all the time in their carriages, and as they were closely veiled and the blinds of the carriages were partially closed, nobody got a peep at them. It is quite an innovation for them to come to the races at all; the seclusion of the women of the Orient is so great that a man would usually be as likely to think of taking his dog to see an entertainment as of taking his wives, or any one of them. I believe the day is not {497}far distant when the ladies of Egypt will discard the veil and go with uncovered faces like their Occidental sisters. The Khedive has done much in the way of assimilating his people with those of Europe, and he will do more as time goes on.

On the second day the affair opened with a race of dromedaries. Four of these animals were entered, but only three put in an appearance. They were not beautiful beasts; I don’t believe one of them, in his wildest moments, ever imagines that he is handsome, and he ought not to do so if he sets himself down to tame deliberation. The dromedary is a sort of fine edition of the camel; he bears the same relation to a camel that a setter or terrier bears to that “yaller” dog of America. He kneels to be mounted, and he starts off at a swinging pace, arching his neck rather gracefully, and not appearing to be in a hurry.

The saddle for racing is a sort of hollow dish, in which the rider sits. He does not straddle the beast as we would mount a horse, but he sits in this trough, or dish, and crosses his legs in front of him. His place is not an uncomfortable one, except that it is pretty high in the air and a fall from it would be no joke. Since I saw that race I have done some camel travelling, and have my opinions, but of that I will speak by and by.

These three dromedaries started off very well at the word of command, and went around the track at the rate of twelve miles an hour, though they did not appear to be doing half as much.

The dromedary race did not begin until after the arrival of the Khedive, who came in a carriage with his sons and some of his ministers, and was accompanied by a dozen or so of riders, and there was a good deal of bowing and hat lifting, but there were no cheers. Cheering after the Western plan does not seem to be in vogue in Egypt, and certainly it would not take well with the dignified demeanor of the Orient.

The Khedive acknowledged the compliment by a bow to the right and the left as he entered the grounds, and the carriage moved rapidly to the stand set apart for him and his friends. On the stand he mingled unceremoniously with the rest of the party. Among them there was one lady, the Duchess of Parma, to whom he was courteously polite. Quite a contrast, this, I thought to the conduct of the Sultan, whom I saw in 1867, at Paris, rudely {498}walk past the Empress without offering his arm or even speaking to her. She was a woman and an Infidel Christian; no one could expect the commander of the Faithful to be polite to her.

There are different ways of regarding the subject from our standpoint; we think that Mohammedanism degrades woman below her proper level, by secluding her and by treating her not as a companion of man, but as a thing for his amusement, or for the perpetuation of the human race, as the soil is made to perpetuate the fruits of the earth. And the Mohammedan looking at us thinks that we raise women above their proper level and allow them too much part in our affairs. But the Western theory is yearly gaining more adherents, and the position of woman is yearly becoming more exalted. And the enlightened ruler of Egypt is the first Mohammedan Prince or King who has ventured to show in public a feeling of respect toward the gentler and prettier half of humanity.

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