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THE
CHAPTER XII
The Arab and Bedawin Markets of Cairo
Market of the Afternoon, which takes place in the
early part of every afternoon, the Tuesday market
at Gizeh, and the Monday market at
some miles behind—the Mena house,
the
are
village behind
the best places
in Cairo for studying, that is for kodaking, primitive native
life.
The Market of the Afternoon is a fascinating place. I often
wandered there alone, and generally found no other European
in the place. It is held in the huge square beyond the
Meidan Rumeleh under the walls of the Citadel. And here
the East asserts itself untrammelled by the conventions of
civilisation.
Some people are frightened of its pickpockets and its
hooligans ; its dirt and its fleas are more formidable, but
I did not find that I carried many of these reminiscent
little animals away with me from here, not more than I
might collect in a tramway—a drop in the ocean beside
the consequences of a visit to the Coptic churches in Old
Cairo.
The market begins to unfold itself almost directly you are
past the great Mosque of Sultan Hassan, which is so leisurely
in rebuilding itself There are people lying asleep in the road ;
and huge cakes of dates and dirt which have been crushed
into lumps in camel bags. There are people selling bread
slung in rings on their arms ; people selling long and juicy
lettuces ; people selling fried meats of uncertain origin ; and
there are Eastern noises.
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