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An Arab Bank Holiday: the Sheni'en'Nesim 125
One of the chief charms on the day of the SJion-en-Nesim
was the way in which every alley was filled with natives in
brilliant dresses and their stalls and their asses and beggars
and water-sellers. It was as if the Ataba-el-Khadra had
emptied itself into the Barrage gardens. We ate our lunch,
which Ramidge's precious Mustapha had been carrying
behind us, in an arbour of tropical hanas flaming with
blossom.
On the way back the boat was a pandemonium. The
reis, who takes the place of a captain on a Nile boat, kept
shouting the same thing down the tube to Mist' Ibrahim
and Mohammed somebody. At intervals he blew a whistle
to attract their attention. I asked Ramidge, who had
acquired a remarkable familiarity with Low Arabic in the
Sudan, what the captain kept saying. One imagined that
it must be to tell them to make the boat go faster, as she
was only going about three miles an hour. But what he
really was saying was " May }-ou be eaten by fleas !
" which
was probably another way of telling them to get up more
steam. This was not the only thing he said, but the curses
were too picturesque to translate for publication in England.
To add to the noise, several steamers were returning to
Cairo side by side, and most of the Arabs on them, however
well-dressed, were enjoying themselves characteristically
by chanting the Koran with the drawn-out hoarseness of
a railway whistle. Even people in golf-collars were chanting
the Koran. But if collars were a qualification for Parliamentary
suffrage Egypt would be ready for it at once.
While this awful noise was going on, while the boats. were
so crowded with squatting Arabs that there was hardly room
to put your feet down for standing, I was saved from swearing
by hearing a sweet little girl about four say : " By the grace
of God what a number of people there are ! " She said it
in Arabic— I give Ramidge's translation.
Many of the boats which flew past before the wind were
decorated with palm-leaves. It was very pleasant running
up before a strong north breeze, with sakiyas under green
mimosas reminding us of those unforgettable days when we