Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/424

 844 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. suit ever reaches the governor's or judge's ears at all, and this favour is only to be obtained by hard cash, so that unless the peasant has. enough money about him to bribe the Coptic intermediary he never wins audience of the judge himself at all. The only plan is to ' square ' the scribe, and thus you obtain, not necessarily justice, but your suit. These Coptic scribes are found in every town, and at some places, such as Girgey, a large proportion of the population is Coptic. The black turban and kaftan would always distinguish them, but a glance at their face is generally enough. It is difficult to say exactly in what they differ in appearance from Mohammedans, but one is seldom wrong in identifying them. They constitute the lower official class, and are decidedly more corrupt and voracious than the Turkish governors themselves. There is an exceedingly good understanding established between the two orders of thieves, so far resembling that Avhich exists between a local justice of the peace and the clerk of the justices, that it is really the clerk who knows and administers the law, while the great man takes the credit of it. Probably any other official class would prove as venal as the Coptic scribes — indeed the experiment has been tried with native Muslims without improving matters — but there can be no doubt that so long as our friend Girges or Hanna holds the clerkly inkstand and portfolio there will be no justice in the land." * The Feu.ahin. The fellahin, or peasantry, belong, like the Copts, to the indigenous race, more or less modified by crossings. Those living away from the great cities of Cairo and Alexandria call themselves Aulad-Masr, that is to say, " Children of Masr," or " Egyptians." Like their ancestors, both Copts and fellahin are in general of mean height, 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 7 inches, with pliant body, straight and strong limbs. The head is of a fine oval shape, the forehead broad, the nose regular and rounded at the tip, the nostrils dilated, the lips full but finely designed, the eyes large, black, and soft, with the lids slightly raised outwardly. Most of the children are of sickly constitution and sullen temperament, with dull eyes, wan complexion, and full paunch. But such as escape the ravages of endemics grow u;) handsome and robust figures. The stranger wonders how such fine young men and women could have developed in the wretched hovels of these villages. Men are frequently met of really grand forms, recalling the characteristics of the sphinx, and most of the young women are endowed with an agreeable figure, a graceful and haughty carriage. There is no more pleasant sight than that of a young mother carrying her naked babe astride across one shoulder, as is their habit. In the rural districts the women do not veil themselves so closely as in the towns. Nearly all paint the lips a deep blue, and tattoo a floral device on the chin. Some even decorate the brow and other parts of the body in the same way. All but the abjectly poor also wear diadems and necklaces of true or false pearls, jcoins, or gilt discs, the whole family fortune being thus at times lavished on them. The fellah has, so to say, no other want except this superfluous wealth, which he
 * " Social Life in Egypt," pp. 62-3.