CHAPTER IV
BEN HASSAN'S DAHABEAH
NABUL often talked with the "little Effendi" during their ridestogether, of his home and the mother and the two little sisters, andabout his father and the dahabeah with its huge sails, until nothingwould do but George must know them all and take a trip on the dahabeah.
The boys had their heads together a lot these days, and at last it cameout that it would be a splendid plan for all of them to take a trip upthe Nile on the dahabeah of Nabul's father.
"Think what a treat it will be, Uncle Ben," said George, "to go andlive on a real Egyptian boat. Nabul's mother is going to keep house forus on board, and the little girls will help her. Then, just think! wecan take the donkeys, too," continued George, warming up more and moreto his subject.
"Well! George, you seem to have thought of everything," and Mr.Winthrop laughed long and heartily. "I did not know you had such a headfor business. It does not seem a bad idea, however, this river trip ofyours; there must be much that is interesting to be seen in that way,"continued his uncle. "I will ask Mustapha what he thinks about it."
"Uncle Ben, you are a good fellow!" exclaimed George, jumping up andhugging his uncle, for now he would have a chance to see something ofthe real life of the country such as the tourists who stayed only inthe cities never had.
Mustapha was very bland and gracious when he found out that he wasexpected to go along, too. He said that Ben Hassan, Nabul's father,was a good friend of his, that there was no more skilful captain norbetter dahabeah on the Nile than his, and that everything could bearranged as they wished.
Nabul was a happy little boy the day he guided these wonderfulAmericans, as he always thought of them, to his home. There they metNabul's father, a tall, grave man of few words. While he and Uncle Bentalked the trip over (with Mustapha as interpreter, though Ben Hassanknew some English), Mizram the mother gave them coffee served in tinycups without handles, each set in a brass holder,--the thick Turkishcoffee which is all grounds and sugar which one gets in Egypt. Thenthe two little sisters crept in to see the kind people their brotherhad talked so much about. Menah, who was the eldest, was rather shyand quiet, but Zaida was a roguish, merry little soul who made friendseasily. They did not know a word of English, but by smiles and gesturesthey made friends with George and showed him all their treasures.There was the big white cockatoo who swung on his perch and could talk,and a cage of small singing birds that Abdal's father had sent them.
And the little girls had some dolls of which they were very proud.The dolls were queer little figures, fashioned after those which hadbeen dug up from old tombs where they had been buried for centuries.There were odd little stone and clay figures, too, which the girlstreasured quite as much as they did the dolls in human form. One wasin the form of a Nile crocodile, another of a buffalo and another of alion, and still others in the form of goats, camels, and donkeys. Therewas another doll in the form of a man carrying a great basket on hisshoulder and another of a washerwoman.
The custom of little Egyptian children playing with these dolls andfigures is very old--for all the world their dolls are like the Noah'sArk animals which you have at home--and ages and ages ago, when littlechildren died, their dolls were always buried with them.
After the call upon Nabul's family everybody trooped down to the riverto see the _Isis_, which was the name of Ben Hassan's dahabeah, and Mr.Winthrop agreed with George that it was just the thing they would bothlike, so it was all arranged on the spot without further ado, and itwas decided that they would start on the voyage up-river the followingweek.
Finally the day came to set sail. It was indeed a busy morning for thefamily of Ben Hassan! Baskets and pots and pans and jars and sacks ofclothing and household belongings of all kinds were loaded on to TeddyPasha and Bobs, who must have wondered to themselves what was going tohappen. At last everything had been thought of, Nabul's mother gave thelast directions to the friends whom Abdal lived with who were to lookafter the house and the fowls and the birds while they were away, thenamid good-byes from the neighbours, who were all at their windows anddoors to see them off, the little procession started down to the riverlanding where lay the dahabeah.
"Hurry up, lazy one," cried Abdal, "thou wilt have plenty of time torest," as he hurried Bobs along with a tap from his stick.
"Thou dost not go that way to-day," said Nabul, giving Teddy Pasha'sbridle a jerk as he started to turn down his habitual street. "Thougoest on a longer journey to-day." And the two little donkeys put theirheads together as if to discuss this unusual proceeding.
When they got to the dahabeah everybody was bustling about, puttingthe boat in order for the voyage. Nabul's father was standing on thelittle upper deck giving orders to some of the crew who were lookingto the ropes and sails, while others were scrubbing the deck. Here andthere were piled up all sorts of things, gaily painted wooden boxes,which are the kind of trunks Egyptians use, baskets of eatables, livechickens, and big water-jars.
Everybody was talking and shouting all at once in the usual Egyptianfashion. Mizram, however, at once set to work to get thingsstraightened out, and the little girls helped her as best they could.
In the midst of it all the carriage drove up with Mr. Winthrop andGeorge and their baggage, with Mustapha beside the driver. George wasstanding up waving his cap, and was out of the carriage before itstopped. He rushed up the gang-plank and on to the deck, and insistedon shaking hands with everybody, beginning with the reis, as a Nilecaptain is named, and ending with the boy washing down the deck. Everyone was greatly surprised, for Egyptians don't known anything aboutshaking hands in our way. Their ceremonies of politeness are quite asmarked, but very different, as, for instance, a kiss on the forehead.
THE DAHABEAH.]
Meanwhile Mustapha was in his element, storming about and calling onthe great Prophet Mohammed to bear witness that they would never beable to get off with such a crew of dullards.
"As for me I am going to get out of the way by going on the upper deck,it seems to be the only quiet place on board," said Uncle Ben, as hedodged the chickens and took refuge on the elevated stern of the boatwhere the grave, stately reis gave him a deep salaam of welcome.
Urged on by Mustapha's threats, the little crew soon began to getthings in order. The tug of war came when it was time for the donkeysto come aboard. The boys got them up to the plank, but there theyjust planted their feet down firmly and not another step would theybudge. They weren't going to leave dry land. Nabul coaxed and pulled,and Abdal clucked and prodded, but all Teddy Pasha did was to backhis ears and give an awful bray, which made the crowd of loafersgathered on the river bank laugh. Finally Nabul tied a cloth over thePasha's head, and while he pulled hard at the bridle in front Abdaltweaked the little donkey's tail, and this made him so mad that hedashed up the plank and on to the deck before he knew it, and justas soon as Bobs saw him go he rushed aft. The donkeys were then ledtriumphantly to their quarters in the prow of the boat, where they werevery comfortable and content. George at once christened this part ofthe boat "the menagerie," for the chickens were already there peckingaway at some grain, each fastened to the railing by a long string tiedaround one leg to keep them from flying overboard. The little girls,too, had brought the big white cockatoo to keep them company, and hiswooden cage hung against the side of the cabin, while curled up in atight box was a tame snake belonging to one of the crew. The Egyptiansof all ages and all classes are very fond of pets.
George was as excited and happy as could be as he rushed about with thechildren from one end of the boat to the other.
"Isn't it funny to see sailors in long white gowns and turbans on theirheads, Uncle Ben?" laughed George. "How can they ever climb up therigging in clothes like that?"
"But they don't have any rigging to climb, on a dahabeah, they onlyhave to shift a rope once and again," said Mr. Winthrop.
There was a large sail in the bow and a much smaller one in the stern,each of them of the great pointed lateen variety se
en on the rivers andalong the coasts of all Mediterranean countries. The boat itself wasa sharp-prowed, broad-bottomed affair which seemed to glide over thewater rather than through it. The Nile dahabeahs are among the mostpicturesque boats afloat.
In the stern, on the lower deck, were two small cabins for Uncle Benand George, and a little saloon to eat in. Further forward was thekitchen and storeroom, and beyond these the quarters for the reis'sfamily and Mustapha.
"We sleep on the deck," said Nabul. "Abdal and I just roll up in ablanket and lie down on the deck boards, and sleep just like the crew."
"I should like to do that, too; it must be lots more fun than sleepingin a stuffy little cabin," exclaimed George, much interested.
"It's hard if you aren't used to it, but we think nothing of doing so,"said Abdal.
At last the friends who had come down to see them off had taken theirleave, and the gang-plank was drawn in, the sails unfurled, and two ofthe men seized a couple of big oars and pushed off the prow from thebank. Slowly the dahabeah swung over to the middle of the stream; thecrowd on shore shouted a last farewell; the breeze caught and filledthe big sails, and in a few minutes they were gliding swiftly throughthe muddy brown water of the Nile, up river toward the very heart ofthe "dark continent" of Africa.
On the upper deck Mustapha had just put two long wicker chairs forthe "Effendis," and Uncle Ben, who had picked up a little Arabic, wascomfortably stretched out in one trying to talk with the reis, who satbeside him on a rug spread on the deck smoking his big "hubble-bubble"pipe, every once in awhile giving an order to one of the crew as theytrimmed the sails to catch all the breeze.
Mats were spread on the decks for the others; the children, however,were too busy to think of sitting down; they kept running from oneside to the other, watching the houses and people on the banks as theyslipped past, and the queer craft going and coming on the river.
"There come three nuggars," said Abdal, pointing to three broad, flat,barge-like boats, each with a high lateen sail, coming slowly towardthem.
"What a funny name! what are 'nuggars'?" asked George.
"Nuggars are the great Nile cargo boats which carry all kinds ofmerchandise up and down the river," said Nabul. "See the great boxesand bales on that one," he continued.
"And the one behind has a lot of oxen and sheep on it; they are loadeddown to the water's edge, I wonder they don't sink," said George. "Oh!And here come three haystacks floating down-stream! With sails on topof them, too!" he cried.
But no, they too were boats, this time loaded with fodder and the longgreen bamboos which were being carried to the city. Then a ferryboatfilled with people and donkeys crossed the river ahead of them, rowedby men in dark blue cotton gowns. It was all so novel and amusing thechildren were almost sorry to stop looking in order to eat lunch,though George did say he was hungry enough to eat a hippopotamus.
One of the men brought a table and noiselessly set it on deck forthe "Effendis," and then served them the nice things that Mizram hadcooked. There was chicken with a nice hot pepper sauce and rice and allkinds of vegetables and melons and dates and oranges.
At the other end of the deck the reis and his family and Mustapha hadtheir meal. Mizram served them all sorts of queer dishes that thelittle Egyptians kept on bringing to the "Effendi" to taste; and howthey laughed at the faces the little American made over some of them!
"'After Al-Ghada, rest, if it be but for two moments; After Al-Asha, walk, if it be but two steps,'"
said Mustapha, quoting one of their proverbs as he stretched himself ona rug for a nap after dinner. _Al-Ghada_ is dinner and _Al-Asha_ issupper.
"Nabul, what is in that bag?" asked George, pointing to a big brown bagwhich hung on the side of the mast of the dahabeah, and which one ofthe men was just taking down.
"It is the food of the crew. They put it there so that all can see itand no one can steal any of it without his fellows seeing him. The creware going to eat their dinner now," explained Nabul, "and that fellowthere has just climbed up and unhooked it."
By this time the sun was beating down hotly on the canvas awning overthe deck, and one by one everybody followed Mustapha's advice, exceptthe men on duty. The little Egyptian children, curled up on their mats,were soon sound asleep. George stoutly declared that he was not goingto miss anything by sleeping. Mr. Winthrop had brought a book that toldall about Egypt, and George listened while his uncle read aloud aboutMemphis, which they would soon pass. Thousands of years ago it hadbeen another burial-place, when the haughty Pharaohs reigned in Egypt.But the first thing that George knew, he had forgotten all about thePharaohs, and woke with a start in his big chair by the rattle of thesails as they were dropped, while the dahabeah gently glided to thelanding-place, where the reis was to deliver some merchandise which hehad brought up to a dweller on the bank from a Cairo dealer in ironware.
From the landing-place on the river the party had time to take a rideinland, and Nabul and Abdal had the donkeys all ready as soon as thegangplank was pushed out. There was no trouble in getting the littledonkeys off the boat. The minute they saw the dry land they made a dashfor the shore. And weren't the donkey boys on the landing mad when theysaw that the strangers had brought their own donkeys. They howled andshouted, and wanted to know how the Cairo donkeys could be expected tocarry the visitors through the sand and rough soil hereabouts.
However, they felt better when Mustapha picked out two of theirdonkeys,--one for himself and the other for the two littlegirls,--grumbling at the same time something about "too many children,"but as Nabul whispered to Abdal, "Mustapha was like an old camel with ahard mouth and a soft heart."
The little girls were wild with delight that they were going, too.Menah sat with her feet hanging over one side and Zaida behind her withher feet dangling down the other side of the little donkey.
Away went the little procession, the donkeys kicking up a cloud ofdust. The road wound through fields of grain, and along the roadsidewere to be seen children guarding cows and goats and other animals, whoshouted merry greetings to our little friends as they passed by.
It was not long before Mustapha, who was riding ahead, called out,"Now you can see the village, there between the palms," at the sametime pointing with his cane--which a dragoman is never without--to alarge grove of palm-trees they were approaching and amongst which werehuddled a lot of queer flat-roofed houses.
"I don't see anything but big stones," said George.
"Let's see who gets there first," cried Nabul; and giving the donkeysa tap away the boys raced, the Pasha being the first to come to a haltbeside the palm-trees.
"Now I can see that one of the stones is a house, Uncle Ben," criedGeorge as they drew up closer.
There were some natives standing on the little landing of the minaretof the mosque, which no village hereabouts is without, whether itbe large or small, and the children lost no time in following theirexample and climbing up the crazy stairs which wound around inside theslim tower.
The view round about was wonderfully varied. On one side stretched awaythe sandy desert, where the Bedouin shepherds guarded their flocks ofgoats, leading them from one little oasis to another, wherever theycould find enough herbage to make a meal. On the other side was theflowering river-bottom of the Nile, one of the richest agriculturalregions in the world.
Just beside the mosque was a great grove of date palms, and Georgethought it very strange, and very much to his liking, too, that hecould reach out his hand just beyond the gallery railing and pick thegolden dates. "How I should like to come up here every day," he said asthey made their way down to the ground.
Just before the entrance to the mosque was a great stone statue whichastonished George and his uncle very much. The natives, too, evidentlyhad a great regard for it, as they had planted a lot of low-growing,flowering trees all about it, sheltering it as if it were in a bower.
"How long do you suppose it has been here, Uncle Ben?" asked George, ashe took his seat on the broad foot of t
he big statue.
"A long, long time, certainly, my boy," replied his uncle, "perhapsthousands of years."
After admiring the great statue awhile longer they discovered Mustaphasitting on the shady terrace of a coffee shop. He was drinking anotherof those little cups of muddy-looking, sweetish Turkish coffee of whichthe Egyptians are so fond. Uncle Ben, too, liked it very much, for itwas usually made of the purest of Mocha coffee which comes from theother side of the Red Sea not far away from Egypt, so he too stoppedfor a cup, the boys meanwhile wandering off with the little girlsquite by themselves.
When they all got back to the coffee shop again each of the childrenhad a little wicker cage or basket in which was imprisoned a chameleon,a queer little beast like a lizard, which lives by catching flies andinsects.
The Egyptians have a superstition that to have a chameleon in the houseis almost as good as having a cat--and they are very fond of cats,too. The cat catches rats and mice and the chameleon gathers in allthe stinging bugs and insects and flies. This chameleon is thus a veryuseful little animal indeed. When frightened it changes the colour ofits skin instantaneously in a most remarkable manner. It takes on quitea different colour from what it had a moment before. If it is lying ona green leaf it becomes a green colour so like the leaf it can hardlybe seen, or if on the yellow sand or a gray stone it becomes yellow orgray in turn. The children had bought the chameleons for a few smallcoins from some native boys whose acquaintance they had made in theirstroll about the village.
Mustapha finally called out that they must go on if they wanted to getback to the boat before dark.
The next morning George was awakened at daybreak by a funny sort ofsinging and a great clucking of poultry. He dressed himself quickly andran out on deck. The crew had cast off from the moorings, and as thebig sail was being hoisted the sailors sang a slow, monotonous chantwith the words, "Pray, pray to Mohammed!" as a sort of chorus. In a fewminutes the dahabeah was again under way.
From the "menagerie" still came a clucking of distressed hens, asnorting and braying of donkeys, mingled with the shouts of children.
"What can be the matter?" thought George as he hurried to the forwardend of the boat.
There a funny sight met his eyes! The pet snake had, by some means orother, wriggled itself out between the slats of its box during thenight and eaten one of the hens, and now lay gorged and drowsy on thedeck, raising its head occasionally to give a feeble hiss at the otherchickens, who were clucking and fluttering about at the ends of theircords, frightened out of what few wits a chicken has.
Nabul and Abdal were doing their best to pacify the donkeys, who showedthat they didn't like snakes either, by trying to back over the side ofthe boat.
The cockatoo was swinging on his perch with every feather standing onend, while Menah and Zaida stood huddled together on top of a box,though they knew that the snake could not bite as his fangs had beentaken out.
In the middle of the commotion was Mustapha, angrily scolding thesailor who owned the snake and who was cringing and bowing before thedragoman, making all sorts of excuses for his snake.
"Do we buy fowls to feed thy snake?" demanded Mustapha angrily. "Thoushalt pay the price of the chicken."
"Indeed, it was a fine fat hen and cost several piastres," put inMizram.
The sailor meanwhile was putting the sleepy snake back into its box,calling it an "ingrate" and a "heartless viper" for thus causing itsmaster so much trouble.
"What a lot of talk over one chicken," laughed George when he wastelling his uncle about it. But this is just the way these people go onover small things.
When things quieted down breakfast was served on deck, after which thechildren hung on the railings and enjoyed watching the many thingsof interest on the shores as the strong northerly breeze carried thedahabeah swiftly along. Sometimes they passed so near the shore thatthey could call to the little brown children paddling along the water'sedge, who would answer back greetings, and hold out their hands andcall out, "Backsheesh, give us backsheesh," which meant they wantedpennies thrown to them.
Menah and Zaida were much interested in a group of girls who hadbrought their big copper pots and water-jars down to the edge of theriver, and were scrubbing them while they chatted together, after whichthey would fill the jars with water and balancing them on their headsgo gaily singing back to their homes.
"See the fisherman yonder, he is about to throw his net," cried Abdal,pointing to a man who stood on the high bank with a large net gatheredup in his arms. With a swing of his arms the man skilfully flung thenet out into the river. It spread out into a great circle as it touchedthe water. The boys explained to George how it was weighted withstones, and as it slowly sank to the bottom it would imprison the fishso they could not get away. One has to be very skilful to do that, theysaid.
Sometimes the children would all gather around Mustapha and listen tohis wonderful tales. How when he was young he took long journeys oncamel-back far south in the great Lybian Desert, which they could seestretching away on their right. Once, too, he had there killed a lionwhich had chased him, and there were still lions to be found there,but not so many as there used to be. When he told them how he had seencrocodiles basking in the sun on the river banks, not so very far fromCairo, the children clapped their hands and wanted to know if theyweren't going to see some crocodiles.
"And hippopotamuses, too?" asked George. But Mustapha shook his headand said he thought not, that there was so much traffic and so manysteamboats and other craft on the river now that these animals hadbeen frightened away and were only found now in the Upper Nile, farbeyond where they were going. This disappointed the boys very much.
Then again to while away the time the little Egyptians would showGeorge how to play their games, while George in turn would attempt toteach them some of the American children's games.
On several occasions the sailor brought his tame snake on the upperdeck and showed them all the wonderful tricks his pet could do. Thesnake would follow him all around the deck, holding its head erect andwaving it about as if it liked the queer little tune the man whistled.The sailor offered to let the snake wrap itself around the boys' arms,but they would not agree to this, though they thought it amusing enoughto watch its tricks with its master.
Everybody was so much amused by the snake's tricks that Mustaphaamiably told the sailor he would not have to pay for the chicken ithad eaten.
Abdal had been telling the "little Effendi" so much about his home inthe country that George was anxious to see an Egyptian farm.
So the boys talked it over with Mustapha, and as the farm was not farfrom the river Mustapha said it would be possible to stop off there fora day or so on their way back.
Mustapha then busied himself all one day writing a letter to Abdal'sfather, saying that he and his party would stop at his farm and tellinghim what day the dahabeah would be at his landing, that he might makepreparations to welcome the American Effendis.
George wondered how Mustapha was going to send the letter, but justthen a big "steam dahabeah" passed them coming down the river crowdedwith a lot of tourists. The reis said this was their chance to sendback Mustapha's letter. So he hailed it and as it slowed down heordered several of his crew to launch the small boat which the dahabeahcarried. This they did, and rowing over to the steamer threw the letteron board as she steamed past them. So George thought there was some useafter all for a steamboat on the Nile, though it did seem out of placeand not at all as comfortable and picturesque way of travelling as by asailing vessel.
It was always a great event for the children when the boat was tied upnear some little village in order to lay in a new stock of provisions,to get some grain to carry further on, or to deliver some which theyhad brought from Cairo. They would all go on shore and it was great funwatching the people who came from near-by farms bringing vegetables andfruits and fowls to sell. They crowded around Mustapha, who did thebargaining, shouting in a high voice the prices of their wares. Ateach landing th
ey always found the water-sellers who refilled the bigwater-jars on board, from the goat-skin water-bags slung by a strapover their shoulders. All the little children came trooping down fromthe neighbouring villages to stare shyly at the strangers, often hidinghalf-afraid behind their mother's gowns; but whether they were shy orbold, all of them would hold out their hands for backsheesh; even thebabies perched on their mothers' shoulders held out their little hands,though they could not speak a word.
"'Tis the strangers who have spoiled them," Mustapha said as he droveaway a crowd of little children who were pestering George at one littlevillage. "They throw coins to the little ones on the banks as they gopast on the great steamers; they mean it kindly, but it teaches ourlittle Egyptian children to beg and that makes them bad," and the fatdragoman scowled at the village children until they shook in theirlittle slippers and ran away as fast as possible.
As they went farther up the river the green fields grew fewer and fewerand the yellow sand of the deserts on both sides came nearer and nearerthe river.
One morning the _Isis_ rounded a sharp bend in the river and therein the distance were a group of tall columns, rising from the banksurrounded by houses and trees.
"'Tis Luxor, the site of the most wonderful ruins in all Egypt," saidMustapha with pride.
Everybody crowded eagerly forward while Mustapha pointed out the placesof interest. First came the part of the town where the Egyptians liveand then the great hotels and gay shops, and finally, just at noon, ourdahabeah pushed its high prow in among a lot of other dahabeahs andsmaller craft, and tied up alongside the old temple with its row of ahundred tall columns which towered high above them on the river bank.