. Egypt painted and described . terness isfull when a heavily laden camel with silent tread comesfrom behind, and, all unconscious of the havoc he ismaking, sweeps you and your picture into the dust, orthe kicking of a passing mule destroys what might havebeen a masterpiece ! Even then there is compensationin the concern of the native for your distress. Youand your belongings are picked up, and consolationis offered by the sympathetic bystanders. Of course the artist need not always be so placed asto be liable to such disturbance. Almost any shop-keeper will give you accommodation, while in th
. Egypt painted and described . terness isfull when a heavily laden camel with silent tread comesfrom behind, and, all unconscious of the havoc he ismaking, sweeps you and your picture into the dust, orthe kicking of a passing mule destroys what might havebeen a masterpiece ! Even then there is compensationin the concern of the native for your distress. Youand your belongings are picked up, and consolationis offered by the sympathetic bystanders. Of course the artist need not always be so placed asto be liable to such disturbance. Almost any shop-keeper will give you accommodation, while in the nativecafe you are sure of a welcome and undisturbed free-dom for work. Let me give an example of this. I was engagedupon a large oil-painting of the Bab-Zuweyla, andI found that my canvas was so large that the onlypossibility of my working was by entirely occupying ajewellers shop. Here I worked for a month, practi-cally putting a stop to his business for the time, and at 32 THE GAMALIEH AND MOSQUE Of THESULTAN BABAAS, CAIRO. Streets and Bazaars frequent intervals was supplied with fresh coffee froman adjoining cafe kept by Moorsi Kharth. Neitherwould accept any remuneration, and the only return Iwas permitted to make was by painting a small portraitof the jeweller, while even to this day I have thegreatest difficulty in inducing Moorsi (whom I alwaysgo to see) to accept payment for the coffee supplied. Another instance was when painting in theGamalieh.^ This is a busy thoroughfare, and thepoliceman on duty, seeing that I was disturbed, stoppedthe entire traffic of the street, until I begged him toallow it to pass as usual! To most people, however, the culminating interestof Cairo lies in its mosques and bazaars—the formerrich in arabesques and decorative features, to whichI shall have occasion to refer in another chapter, andthe latter presenting many architectural charms, anda phase of life as picturesque as that to be seenoutside. The Khan-el-Khalily and its neighbour,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectegyptde, bookyear1902
