12 illustration(s) from this book
NOTE 17.--_On the occasional Decorations of Eastern Cities._ On various
occasions of rejoicing in the palace of the king or governor, the
inhabitants of an Eastern city are commanded to decorate their houses,
and the tradesmen, in particular, to adorn their shops, by suspending
shawls, brocades, rich dresses, women's ornaments, and all kinds of
costly articles of merchandise; lamps and flags are attached to cords
drawn across the streets, which are often canopied over; and when
sufficient notice has been given, the shops, and the doors, &c., of
private houses, are painted with gay colours.--Towards the close of the
year 1834, the people of Cairo were ordered to decorate their houses and
shops previously to the arrival of Ibráheem Báshà, after his victorious
campaigns in Syria and Asia Minor. They ornamented the lower parts of
their houses with whitewash and red ochre, generally in broad,
alternate, horizontal stripes; that is, one course of stone white, and
the next red; but the only kind of oil-paint that they could procure in
large quantities was blue, the colour of mourning; so that they were
obliged to use this as the ground upon which to paint flowers and other
ornamental devices on their shops; but they regarded this as portending
a pestilence; and the awful plague of the following spring confirmed
them in their superstitious notions.
NOTE 18. As the notes to this introductory portion are especially
numerous, and the chase is here but cursorily alluded to, I shall
reserve an account of the mode of hunting to be given on a future
occasion.