Although bamboos did not grow in Sofi, great numbers were brought down by the river during the rains; these were eagerly collected by the Arabs, and the grave of the Faky was ornamented with selected specimens, upon which were hung small pieces of rag-like banners. The people could not explain why they were thus ornamented, but I imagine the custom had originated from the necessity of scaring the wild animals that might have exhumed the body.
Although the grave of this revered Faky was considered a sacred spot, the women had a curious custom that we should not consider an honour to the sanctity of the place: they met in parties beneath the shade of the mimosas that covered the grave, for the express purpose of freeing each other's heads from vermin; the creatures thus caught, instead of being killed, were turned loose upon the Faky.
Although the Arabs in places remote from the immediate action of the Egyptian authorities are generally lawless, they are extremely obedient to their own sheiks, and especially to the fakeers: thus it is important to secure such heads of the people as friends. My successas a physician had gained me many friends, as I studiously avoided the acceptance of any present in return for my services, which I wished them to receive as simple acts of kindness; thus I had placed the Sheik Hassan bel Kader under an obligation, by curing him of a fever; and as he chanced to combine in his own person the titles of both sheik and faky, Ihad acquired a great ascendency in the village, as my medicines had proved more efficacious than the talismans. "Physician, cure thyself," applied to the Faky, who found three grains of my tartar emetic more powerful than a whole chapter of the Koran.
We frequently had medical discussions, and the contents of my large medicine-chest were examined with wonder by a curious crowd; the simple effect of mixing a seidlitz powder was a source of astonishment; but a few drops of sulphuric acid upon a piece of strong cotton cloth which it destroyed immediately, was a miracle that invested the medicine-chest with a specific character for all diseases. The Arab style of doctoring is rather rough. If a horse or other animal has inflammation, they hobble the legs and throw it upon the ground, after which operation a number of men kick it in the belly until it is relieved--(by death). Should a man be attacked with fever, his friends prescribe a system of diet, in addition to the Koran of the Faky:
he is made to drink, as hot as he can swallow it, about a quart of melted sheep's fat or butter. Young dogs, as a cure for distemper, are thrown from the roof of a house to the ground--a height of about ten feet. One night we were sitting at dinner, when we suddenly heard a great noise, and the air was illumined by the blaze of a hut on fire. In the midst of the tumult I heard the unmistakeable cries of dogs, and thinking that they were unable to escape from the fire, I ran towards the spot. As Iapproached, first one and then another dog ran screaming from the flames, until a regular pack of about twenty scorched animals appeared in quick succession, all half mad with fright and fire.
I was informed that hydrophobia was very prevalent in the country, and that the certain preventive from that frightful malady was to make all the dogs of the village pass through the fire. Accordingly an old hut had been filled with straw and fired; after which, each dog was brought by its owner and thrown into the flames. Upon another occasion I heard a great yelling and commotion, and I found Mahomet's "mother's brother's cousin's sister's mother's son," Achmet, struggling on the ground, and nearly overpowered by a number of Arabs, who were determined to operate upon a large boil in his groin, which they had condemned to be squeezed, although it was not in a state that admitted of such treatment. The patient was biting and kicking liberally on all sides in self-defence, and his obstinate surgeons could hardly be persuaded to desist.
Syphilis is common throughout the country, and there are several varieties of food that are supposed to effect a cure. A sheep is killed, and the entire flesh is cooked with the fat, being cut into small pieces and baked in a pot; several pounds of butter or other grease are then boiled, and in that state are poured into the jars containing the baked meat; the patient is then shut up by himself in a hut with this large quantity of fat food, with which he is to gorge himself until the whole is consumed. Another supposed cure for the same disease is a pig dressed in a similar manner, which meat, although forbidden by the Koran, may be taken medicinally. The flesh of the crocodile is eaten greedily, being supposed to promote desire. There are few animals that the Arabs of the Nubian provinces will refuse; the wild boar is invariably eaten by the Arab hunters, although in direct opposition to the rules of the Koran. I once asked them what their Faky would say if he were aware of such a transgression. "Oh !" they replied, "we have already asked his permission, as we are sometimes severely pressed for food in the jungles; he says, 'If you have the KORAN in your hand and NO PIG, you are forbidden to eat pork;but if you have the PIG in your hand and NO KORAN, you had better eat what God has given you.'"This is a charming example of simplicity in theological discussion that might perhaps be followed with advantage in graver questions; we might cease to strain at the gnats and swallow our pigs.
