The population of Cairo is composed of a great many different races. The most numerous class are the Arabs, who constitute the body of the people. The other race arc the Copts, who are Christians, and arc the original people of the country, Albanians, Mamelukes, Turks, Jews, Syrians, Armenians, and (;reek and Roman Ca tholic Christians. Besides these, there are Persians, Indians, Muggrebins, or western Africans, Abyssinians, and individuals of almost every nation under the sun, to gether with multitudes of negro slaves. To many of these races distinct quarters of the city are assigned, particularly to the Jews, Muggrcbins, and Europeans The amount of this mixed and motley population it is impossible to ascertain, as the Mahometans neither keep registers, nor permit a numeration of the people. Some have stated it so high as 700,000, asserting that in one season 300,000 have been swept off by the plague ; while others reduce it to 250,000 souls. Niebuhr justly con tends, that the immense circuit of the town is no criterion of its population, containing as it dots so many vacant spaces of canals, gardens, reservoirs, mosques, and pub lic edifices, not to mention the lowness of the houses, which are, in general, but one story high ; so that the population cannot by any means be supposed equal to that of a European city of the same extent. Browne, however, thinks it cannot be less than 300,000. The dress of the common people is simple, and adapted to the climate. The men wear a shirt of coarse calico, which hangs down to the knees ; above this they have another larger and longer, of a blue, or rather black colour ; and the addition of a broad leathern girdle com pletes the body dress. Their legs arc bare, their feet sometimes protected by coarse shoes of untanned leather, while their heads are covered w ith a red cap, wound round with a piece of calico. The women arc dressed much in the same style,but without the girdle and shoes; the most remarkable difference consisting in an ugly thick veil, which entirely covers the face and breast, with two holes in it, opposite the eyes, to see through. This piece of dress, together with the brown arms and ragged drapery of the Egyptian women, gives them somewhat of a hideous appearance in the eyes of a Eu ropean. The people of condition, particularly those in any office, are remarkably gorgeous in their dress, and affect a good deal the Turkish costume. There is no place in the world where the traveller meets with a more remarkable contrast in point of condition than in Cairo ; splendid palaces in the midst of mud hovels ; horsemen clad in the most costly apparel, with their horses magni ficently caparisoned, rushing through crowds of squalid wretches, emaciated with famine, and fluttering with rags.
The women of Cairo are upon the whole well formed, though not tall. Those of the upper ranks sometimes rival in point of complexion our European ladies ; and this quality, in conjunction with fatness, constitutes the perfection of Egyptian beauty. They marry at the age of 14 or 15, and at 20 are already past their prime. The Coptic women are remarkable for their interesting fea tures, black eyes, and genteel form. " The female Greeks born in Egypt," says Lord Valentia in his de scription of Cairo, " are pretty fair, and well made, when young ; but childbirth destroys their figures by relaxa tion, and their bosoms become large and flaccid. Their head dress is Asiatic, and richly adorned with gold, pearls, and diamonds : their robes are of the same style, and consist of satins and velvets, faced or lined with fur. Unfortunately, in the same proportion in which the out side is adorned, the inside is neglected." The female love of finery is here so excessive, that, according to Niebuhr, the ladies retire, several times, from the same company, to appear again in a new dress, still more splendid than the former. The following sketch by Lord Valentia is no less descriptive of the Mahometan ladies of the Harem, than it is of the other ladies of Cairo.
" In the morning I returned Mr Macardle's visit, and accepted an invitation from him to be present in the evening at an Egyptian dance. I went, but was not amused. The dancers were veiled, not from modesty, but to conceal their ugliness. They were somewhat in the manner of the Indian nautch girls, but never raised their voices to an artificial pitch. The dancers were in finitely too indecent even for description. Mrs Macat die, a pretty Greek, and a great number of ladies, were there ; none of them seemed the least discomposed ; but, on the contrary, laughed excessively : yet unquestionably this was by no means the effect of vice, but solely of habit, which had rendered the scene so familiar, that they did not perceive its impropriety, and even when asked, dan ced themselves in as indecent a manner. In the inter vals the dancing girls went round, demanding money from each person." The dancing girls here alluded to, called almeh, are those who make a profession of dancing, singing, and relating tales for the amusement of company. Their gestures and songs are to a European disgusting in the extreme, and the frantic movements to which they are sometimes excited by their own ideas, with the help of brandy, make them no bad representatives of the an cient bacchantes. These are the governesses at Cairo, who instruct the wretched wives of the Ma.hometans, and teach them in their 1larems, with great assiduity, those accomplishments in which they themselves are so infa mously eminent. The lower orders also have their alnzek, who are, if possible, still worse than the former.
Life, at Grand Cairo, partakes largely of that indolence which character iscs the manners of warm climates. For nine months in the year, the body is oppressed by heat, and the mental faculties experience a corresponding languor. I fence it is, that you every where find sofas, cushions, and every convenience of repose : in every garden you have charming arbours and seats, but no walk ; and tobacco, coffee, and sherbet, occupy the dreaming ii tervals of sleep. An Egyptian rises with the sun to enjoy the cool air of the morning ; and having per t'ormed his ablutions and devotions, lie receives his pipe and coffee, reclining, indolently on his cushions. At the farther end of the apartment, his slaves, with their arms crossed, stand in silent attention before him, watching his eye, and anticipating his smallest wants. After break fast, visitors arrive. His equals are placed beside him self, with their legs crossed ; his inferiors, in a kneeling posture, sit upon their heels ; whilst those of very high rank are seated on a raised sofa overlooking the com pany. Towards the end of the visit, a slave goes round with a silver plate, in which odoriferous essences are kept burning : each in his turn perfumes his beard, and sprinkles his head and hands with rose water. About noon dinner is announced ; which is served in a large tray, and consists chiefly of rice and poultry, with melons, cucumbers, and other refreshing fruits. The guests, arranging themselves round the table, sit down on the carpet, and convey the morsels to their mouth with their fingers, the use of knives and forks being here unknown. To remedy this inconvenience, a slave, with a pitcher in one hand, and a !Jason in the other, is ready to present water, in which the guests occasionally dip their hands. After dinner, a rich Egyptian retires to his harem, where he passes some hours in sleep or amusement, among his women and children ; afterwards, a short walk among the orange and sycamore trees, which grow in great luxu riance on the banks of the Nile, occupies part of his time in the cool of the evening ; and about an hour after sunset, supper appears, consisting chiefly of rice and fruit.