The free press., 1892-11-10
ORIENTAL SHOPS.
Curious Pictures of Life in the
Bazars Of Cairo.
A Confusion of Articles USE
full and Ornamental.


The appearance of Oriental shops is
we'll known. A square cavity hol-
lowed out of wall two feet above
the ground, that is a shop at Cairo.
Strictly speaking, it is nothing more
than a large rectangular niche OPEN
ing on 10 the street, with no way out
either at the back or the sides, in
which, instead of statue, is q mer-
chant squattihg amongst his wares, or
workman at his task. These shops,
instead of being scattered about in
different streets, as in Europe, are all
together at cerGain corners; and when
the corners are rooted in, ley become
bazar. For there is not at Cairo
special structure for protecting these
shops, as there is at Constantinople or
at Tunis.
All these shops make curious pict-
ulCSs uClC UCuluQ IL ludSS VI pOlS
and pans, dishes and plates of red and
yellow coppcr-some black and rusty
with age, others spick and span with
newness, with here and there CLEANS
of the red or straw.colored gold so
dear to painters of still-life subjects
an Arab is busy at repousse-work, his
hammering making a deafening noise
which is heard afar off. Egyptian
metal work is very fine, with dignity
ali its own, and the common ever in
use amongst the poorest is of really
extraordinary beauty of style.
Further on we come to a collection
of red, black, or gray earthen-ware;
cheap stoves, pipes, and vases, ell
graved with ornaments in intaglio,
painted blue OF red. This common
Egyptian pottery disdained, I know
not why, by dealers in Oriental ware,
is extremely interesting. Its shape is
often grand, and the forms found in
Egyptian tombs have been preserved.
Next, cleaning like border fjon-
quis and popples with its masses of
red and yellow, is oe-shop, a
regular flower bed for color.
And in the midst of Il confusion Of
Turkish slippers in scarlet or saffron
leather crouches the cobbler stitching
away or drilling holes with his awl.
The bazar, par excellence, is broken
up in az extraordinary manner. Fan
cy an alley so short that it is barely
two hundred PAGES long; so twisted
that you can only see a scrap of it at
time; so narrow that the houses
seem to be sowing at and ready to
fall upon their opposite neighbors;
and beneath the dull-hucd lcan-to
walls, in every nook and corner, are
shops full of dazz ing objects; many
colored Oriental stuffs, figured bro
cadcs, dainty Arab jowelry, cleaning
daggers and sabrcs, ancient damas-
ccned helmets, silver wine bottles,
spread out or piled up for sale. And
amidst this confusion of stuff,
weapons, and jewels in glass cases, OF
of unfoldcd silks, is the merchant,
squatting in the shadow and smoking
with absolute Indifference, his dreamy
eyes gazing forth in kind of
ecstacy of melancholy, whilst be-
fore him, in the transparent bowl of
his nargilen, at each breath he draws,
floats regular flotilla of rose leaves,
dancing, whirling round, and suffer-
ing shipwreck amongst the big bub-
bles on the surface. These shrewd
old merchants really look like poets
lost in the third heaven of blissful
contemplation.
Immediately after sunset the life and
motion of Cairo cease, and it is a rare
thing TO meet native returning home
OIL dark night with white paper
lantern in his hand, or TO see an Arab
cafe still lit up, and with the candles
hung up round the door, making a
brightness in the deserted street.
-LHarper's Bazir.
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