A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

132 ARAB FILIAL AFFECTION.
by Mohammed, who was the bearer of a letter
written by the English consul at Cairo to Said
Hussein, to apprize him of our passage by
Kenneh. They found him seated, like a pa-
triarch, in the open court before his house,
surrounded by his sons (the eldest of whom is
agent to the East India Company at Cosseir),
and receiving the visits and salutations of all
the passers by, who severally entered to kiss
his hand. Nothing could exceed his courteous
reception of the stranger ; coffee and pipes were
immediately brought, and upon the latter ob-
serving that the sons declined smoking, and
asking the reason of it, he was informed that
it is a mark of respect always shown to parents
by their offspring in this country to abstain
from smoking in their presence. Indeed the
sentiment of filial duty and affection is more
strongly felt, and acted upon to the latest pe-
riod of their lives, by Mahometans than by any
other race ; and among no people are mothers
more fondly cherished and revered than by the
Turks and Arabs—a lovely and touching fea-
ture in their character, sufficient to redeem a
multitude of faults ; for the heart that can
grow cold to a mother's claims upon its ten-
derness, is little better than an error of nature