orientalcairocit00sladuoft

258 Oriental Cairo
to take the plunge, which is not so great for an Arab as for a
Christian, because he can get out of it on well-understood,
though rather expensive terms. Arab women are better
protected than any others on the monetary side of divorce.
In a good many ways the Arab system seems the ideal one,
and they seldom use it without urgent reasons.
To our great regret, we missed the uncle's triumphant
progress through Cairo from the railway station. A Hadji
procession would have been simply glorious in that narrow
and ancient street, which winds over the hill from the Bab-es-
Zuweyla to the Merdani mosque. But we had notice that the
wedding would be on a certain night just before midnight,
and we went to it.
It was well worth it. The drive itself was striking in its
contrasts. The Esbekiya— I refer to the quarter of sin, and
not to the faineant garden—was braying with brass bands,
blazing with flares and electric lights, buzzing with people,
having a night out ;
the cafes round the Ataba El-Khadra still
had their complement of dreamy-looking Arabs doing nothing
particular except smoking hubble-bubbles or poring over
a Nationalist newspaper ; the Sharia Mohammed AH, down
which we drove to the Bab-el-Khalk, was as dull as usual,
except where a belated Levantine tailor was finishing a
guinea suit for an Arab toff. The Bab-el-Khalk looked
lonely without its queue of people crowding into the police
court, though this was compensated by the look of antiquity
confercd on the Saracenic facade of the Arab Museum by
the half-light.
Mystery began as we plunged into the narrow, winding
Sharia Taht-er-Reba'a, the street of the Little Blue Mosque,
which was quite dark and had its silence unbroken by
the white shadows of men who flitted past us. Presently
we could see the lofty garden wall of the El-Moayyad mosque
looming faint and black against the starlit sky. We dismounted
for a minute at the Bab-es-Zuweyla, whose dark
arch framed a single feeble light. We passed through the
gate into the Sukkariya, so crowded and bustling by day. It
was dark, deserted, and silent. All you could make out were