A thousand miles up the Nile, with upwards - NYU | Digital Library ...

CAIRO AND THE GREAT PYRAMID. 5
absurdly stiff white tunics, like walking penwipers ; Persians
with high mitre-like caps of dark woven stuff; swarthy Bedouins
in flowing garments, creamy-white with chocolate stripes a foot
wide, and head-shawl of the same bound about the brow with
a fillet of twisted camel's hair ; Englishmen in palm-leaf hats
and knickerbockers, dangling their long legs across almost
invisible donkeys ; native women of the poorer class, in black
veils that leave only the eyes uncovered, and long trailing
garments of dark blue and black striped cotton ; dervishes in
patchwork coats, their matted hair streaming from under
fantastic head-dresses ; blue-black Abyssinians with incredibly
slender, bowed legs, like attenuated ebony balustrades ;
Armenian priests, looking exactly like Portia as the Doctor, in
long black gowns and high square caps ; majestic ghosts of
Algerine Arabs, all in white ; mounted
Janissaries with jingling
sabres and gold -embroidered jackets ; merchants, beggars,
soldiers, boatmen, labourers, workmen, in every variety of
costume, and of every shade of complexion from fair to dark,
from tawny to copper-colour, from deepest bronze to bluest
black.
Now a water-carrier goes by, bending under the weight of
his newly-replenished goatskin, the legs of which being tied up,
the neck fitted with a brass cock, and the hair left on, looks
horribly bloated and life-like. Now comes a sweetmeat-vendor
with a tray of that gummy compound known to English
children as "Lumps of Delight"; and now an Egyptian lady
on a large grey donkey led by a servant with a showy sabre
at his side. The lady wears a rose-coloured silk dress and
white veil, besides a black silk outer garment, which, being
cloak, hood, and veil all in one, fills out with the wind as she
rides, like a balloon. She sits astride ; her naked feet, in their
violet velvet slippers, just resting on the stirrups. She takes
care to display a plump brown arm laden with massive gold
bracelets, and, to judge by the way in which she uses a pair of
liquid black eyes, would not be sorry to let her face be seen
also. Nor is the steed less well dressed than his mistress.
His close-shaven legs and hindquarters are painted in blue
and white zigzags picked out with bands of pale yellow ; his
high -pommelled saddle is resplendent with velvet and em-