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APPENDIX.

SONGS OF THE EGYPTIAN SAILORS ON THE NILE,

WITH TRANSLATION AND COMMENTS.

(THE MUSIC IS ADAPTED FOR VOICES AS THEY SING IT, AND THE WORDS ARE ARABIC IN EUROPEAN CHARACTERS.)

No. 1.

On coming down and arriving at any village (bandar) they sing :

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TRANSLATION.

Solo. He! the Faium is thy country, O Greek!
Coro. (Repeat the same words with a different air.)
Solo. He! Beni Suef is the land of the beloved one.

Coro. (Repeat the same words with a different air.)
Solo. He, Lisa!

Coro. He, Lisa! (See the music.)

COMMENTARY.

The commentary of the poetry as far as the tradition of the Egyptian sailors goes:

"He!" is an exclamation.

"Faium" is a small village distant from the bank of the Nile. The Egyptian sailors apply it to Greeks, because they are thieves and dwell in the village of Faium, which is close to the Desert, and they cannot easily come to steal the beautiful girls of Beni Suef, because they belong to them. "Lisa," or "He Lisa!" is an exclamation to a girl named Lisa, who (according to the tradition of the sailors) was from Upper Egypt, and was of an extraordinary beauty, such as the world never saw afterwards. All the sailors who were so fortunate as only to see her face became so strengthened that each one of them could tow the dahabie from daybreak till sunset without eating or drinking. This is the tradition of the present Egyptian sailors about that beautiful girl, whose name is still invoked by them.

No. 2.

When the wind is favourable, and the dahabie is sailing well, or they wish to rest themselves, they sing together the following:

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1ST VERSE-Masuda, O Masuda! thy father is a Beduin; thou hast made the Pacha lose money in drinking ambari (liquor). Ialel, ialel, ialel, iatantaui!

2ND VERSE-Take me, O Maaddaui! I will go to my own land; I will go in peace, and purify my son. Ialel, ialel, ialel, ialel, ialel!

3RD VERSE-Thou Masuda hast melted the hoary-headed also-and why so? Ialel, ialel, ialel, iatantaui!

COMMENTARY.

"Masuda” (means happy-fem. gen.) was the young Beduin girl in question. She was the only daughter of a Beduin from Upper Egypt, and, as the story goes, she was endowed with such extraordinary beauty that the Pacha had honoured her by admitting her into his Harem. He

had sent an embassy to conduct her solemnly to Cairo. When the ennobled Beduin arrived there a poet and musician named Tantaui composed a few verses, and set them to music, to praise her, in a playful strain, as it appear from the translation. "Thou," said he, "art the daughter of a Beduin; but so handsome that the Pacha, seeing thee before him, will be unable to restrain his ardour, and will make merry and drink his ambari. (This is a kind of liquor distilled from figs, and is very agreeable to the palate.) When the Pacha becomes elated by his potations, he will throw money on all sides." Tantaui himself, on seeing Masuda, was softened and exclaimed, "Thou, Masuda, art really so handsome that the old, too, become youths again, and are enraptured by thy face." This is the first edition. The second is certainly more interesting and amusing. It is as follows:-Masuda had entered the fields of love before the fame of her beauty arrived at Cairo, and was known to the Pacha. She was cultivating love with a Beduin youth on the delightful banks of the Nile. The Beduin lover lived on the eastern shore, and every day used to come to the western bank to cultivate both land and love, because Masuda was there tending her father's sheep grazing in the Amene land, and being in a warm climate, their love grew apace. The youth had already a wife and a child, too; but being enamoured of the beautiful Masuda, he intended to repudiate the former one, of whom he was quite tired, to marry Masuda. (To repudiate a wife is a very easy matter amongst the Mohammedans : the husband must give her a certain sum of money of sixty, seventy, or one hundred piastres, and bid her adieu.) It happened that the embassy or commission of the Pacha sent to bring Masuda away came to the very spot on the bank where the youth was making merry with his beloved. On seeing a magnificent dahabie arrive there, they both rose up to satisfy their curiosity by looking at it, and very likely to ask its raies (captain) alade (the custom), that is to say, bachshish. (There is a custom amongst the inhabitants of Upper Egypt to ask bachshish from the raeis of the boats which pass by their village for the first time.) The sailors were struck with the beauty of Masuda, and asked the Beduin youth, "Who is this very beautiful girl? Is she thy sister?" He, unconscious of the trap, answered with delight and pride, "She is my betrothed, Masuda." They inquired again "Is she Masuda, daughter of the Beduin?" "She is, indeed," replied the youth. The sailors gave notice to the officer sent for executing the commission, who landed at once and presented his humble respects to the Beduin girl. She declined his civility, having some mistrust, and called

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