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The Humours of the Esbekiya 57
troubled with sanitary forebodings. I have seen one take his
child to have a drink of green water out of a ditch at Marg.
The donkey-boys invite custom for the moment, and, for
the entire period of his stay in Cairo, from every foreigner
who passes. But I never sav/ a foreigner hire one. A
donkey costs a foreigner as much as a cab and a pair of
horses. You can take this carriage and pair a short distance
for sevenpence-halfpenny, and any distance in the town for
a shilling and a half-penny. The donkey-boys are not
discouraged. If you will not ride their donkey they ask
you to photograph it, which implies a small piastre. You
feel inclined to photograph every donkey you see in Cairo ;
they are dear white beasts, clipped as close as a horse, and
beautifully kept. Their saddles are of red brocade, and they
usually have a silver necklace with blue beads. The donkeyboy
seems unnecessary ; the donkey looks wise enough to
hire himself out and take the money. I wonder they don't
have donkeys which start off when you put a piastre in the
slot, and stop of their own accord when the time is up.
Just beyond the donkey-vous is one of the chief ornaments
of the Esbekiya—the row of postcard-sellers who make shops
of the railings. Here they hang up side by side the most
incongruous pictures—oleographs of Levantine saints surrounded
by indecent postcards, and postcards of Cairo
in every variety, plain and coloured ; oleographs of the
Massacre of the Mamelukes and incidents in the Greek
War of Independence vie with those of the Madonna and
St. Catherine. The real business is done in questionable
postcards.
Then succeed a variety of trades, noticeable among them
the man who combines the business of rag-picker and sugarcandy
seller. The tray of sugar-candy stands on a sort of
cage, in which he puts the treasures he collects from dust-
heaps. It is not a nice combination, but he has plenty of
rivals in the sweet trade, all at popular prices ; the Arab
has a sweet tooth. One man brings a huge cheese of nougat;
many have trays of Turkish delight and caramels resting
on the coping ; and occasionally the man comes who has a