The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-09-23
ODD SCENES IN OLD CAIRO.
THE QUEER EGYPTIAN PAGEANT
KNOWN AS THE " MAMMAL"

| Of tbe Holy Carpet or the Departure
OF the Pilgrims for Mecca-Origin of
the show.
"Grand Carol" as Lord Beaconsfield
persisted in calling the capital of Egypt
long after the rest of the world had
dropped the adjective-lends herself to
all forms of public festivity with smil-
ing face. The most characteristic of all
her fetes is, undoubtedly, the procession
OF the Holy Carpet on the departure OF
the pilgrims for Mecca. l have seen it
! over and over again, and yet it never
loses its freshness, though the main
features are always alike. Will the reader
come along with me while we see it?
| We start early in the delicious June
morning and drive up the long, ugly
street of Mohammed Ali to the citadel.
All along the way are parties of der
wishes carrying the banners of their
guilds and chanting as they go. Then a
pacha in GOLDEN broidered coat, with
his syce running before him, drives along
in his victoria. Then two big troopers
belonging to our military police, ride
slowly by with an elaborate air of being
where they are accidentally. No British
regiment takes part in the pageant; it is
s.
shabby and hideous, the street of Mo-
manned Ali terminates superbly, for it
passes between the Mosque OF Sultan Has
san, the gem of Saracenic architecture,
and the stately Mosque of Rilaiyeh, un-
| fortunately not finished.
| Then we emerge into an open place, and
before us rise the citadel and the great
| mosque where the founder of the present
dynasty lies buried. Every battlement,
every flight OF steps, every parapet, every
coign of vantage is crowded with men and
women all aglow with excitement and
pleasure. We take up place in the midst
OF the most good humored crowd in the
world. tattered beggar asks for baks-
hlsh, a travelling fruit seller offers US
p1stachio nuts, and the inevitable water
carrier, with his tinkling brass cup, in
vites US to drink. But they take cour-
teous " No" for an answer and leave US
to watch the procession.
The theatre wherein the pageant is dis
played is an open space beneath the tow
ering citadel, and the centre point of the
ceremony is now a little wooden kiosk;
it was once a rich crimson velvet tent,
where the khed We or his representative
takes his state. The Egyptian soldiers, in
white uniforms and red tar bouches, keep
the ground, and, in their midst, swinging
to and fro, is the howdah, or covered
litter, ablaze with spangles and gold, on
the hump OF a camel that will do no more
work after bearing that holy burden.
And this howdah-a square frame with a
pyramidal top, not the carpet as is popu-
larly supposed-goes by the name which
popularity describes the whole pageant,
the Mammal.
The origin of The show, according to
the erudlte Lane, was curious. In the
thirteenth century of our era Sheger- ed
Durr, beautiful female slave, who be-
came the favorite wife of the Sultan Els
Saleh Neym ed Deem, caused herself to be
proclaimed Queen of Egypt, and actually
went in state to Mecca, performing the
pilgrimage in a superb hoday or covered
litter. Hence litter called the Mammal
has been sent ever since as an emblem of
royalty. Strange that the most popular
public festival of the harem- guarding
Arabs should have been held for more
than half dozen centuries in honor of a
stormy minded woman!
At last there is a stir in the crowd
that peculiar movement we all know
when multitude, as it were, pulls itself
together before the event of the day takes
place. Driving rapidly, the Prime Min
lister, Mustapha Pacha Fehmy, who is to
represent the khedive, appears with vice.
regal escort and equipage. During the
summer months the khedive is always at
Alexandria, and sends high minister to
represent him. Though the pilgrimage
to Mecca is an act of religion and cardi-
nal duty for all who hold the faith of
Islam, this Cairene ceremony of the NAH
NAL is State function, and Nubar Pacha,
an Armenian Christian, when Prime Min
lister, represented the khedive on more
than one occasion.
The act performed by the khedive or
his deputy is simple. Directly he arrives
at the kiosk he salutes and is saluted by
the high functionaries. These great ones
are strangely contrasted group. Some
are dressed in regulation black frock
coats, some in uniforms covered with
embroidery, others, like the Sheik ell
Islam or the Sheik ell Saddatt, sit sublime
in robes of silk and turbans worthy of
Abdallah- ell Hadji, in "The Talisman."
After salutations given and received the
music bursts out, and the camel, with it's
glittering howdah or tabernacle flashing
in the sun, goes round and round, some
times three, sometimes seven times,
while the dervishes on the attendant
camelS utter Jhelr strange, Shr1ll note OF
joy, and all the spectators echo the sound
and thrill with excitement and sympathy.
At last the camel is brought up, very
dizzy probably, before the steps of the
little kiosk, and the officer in charge of
the pilgrimage takes a crimson cord
which hangs from the Mammal and places
it in the hand of the khedive's represent
alive, who kisses it reverently and wishes
the Hadji "God speed" Loudly boom
the kettledrums, shrilly sound the pipes,
and the procession is on it's way through
the murmuring rejoicing multitude on
the first stage to Mecca. This stage is
not long one, but only as far as Abbes-
seyeh, where they will all repose for a
day and half, and then the gay trap
pings of the camels will be taken off, and
the housings sewn with beads and the
headstalls glittering with scraps of look
ing-glass will be unbuckled; and, soberly
equipped like
Warriors for the working day,
the bona fide pilgrims will really start.
and the properties that are brOupht ont