of his endless insomnia and nightly brooding; he had stuffed his ears with pages from the market ledgers so that he wouldn’t hear the screams of those who called on him for help and none should wake him from his stupor, and he’s stayed flat on his back to this very day, which is to say, up to the day of the recording of this incident. If he awakes, it will be up to the reader to enter that fact at the end of this chapter, and I have left him space to do that.
Here ends the rolling of the boulder,
praise be to the Prime Mover.
الفصل الثانى
ڡي سلام وكلام
Chapter 2
A Salutation and a Conversation
2.2.1
عمتَ صباحا يافارياق * كيف انت * وكيف رايت الاسكندرية * هل تبيّنت نسآها من رجالها فان النسآ فى بلدكم لا يتبرقعن * وكيف وجدت مآكلها ومشاربها وملابسها وهوآها ومآها ومنازلها واكرام اهلها للغربآء * الم يزل براسك الدُوار * وعلى لسانك هجو الاسفار * قال اما موقع المدينة فانيق لكونه على البحر * وقد زادت بهجة بكثرة الغربآ فيها فترى روس ناس مغطاة بطراطير * واخرى بطرابيش * واخرى بكمام وغيرها بمقاعط * واخرى ببرانس وغيرها بعمائم * واخرى باَصناع وغيرها بعصائب * واخرى بعَمارات وغيرها بمداميج * واخرى بنِصاف وغيرها بقبّعات * واخرى بقلانس وغيرها ببراطل * واخرى بسُبوب وغيرها باراصيص(١)(١) الاُرصوصة قلنسوة كالبطيخة * * واخرى باراسيس وغيرها بخنابع * واخرى بقنابع وغيرها بدَنّيّات واخرى بصواقع * وغيرها بصُمُد واخرى بصوامع * وغيرها بمشامذ واخرى بمشاوذ * وغيرها ببرانيط على شكل الشقيط والشبابيط والضفاريط والضماريط والقلاليط والعضاريط والعذافيط والعماريط والقماعيط *
“Good morning, Fāriyāq! How are you and how do you find Alexandria? Have you learned to tell its women from its men (for the women in your country do not veil their faces)? And how do you find its food and drink, its clothes, its air and water, its parks, and how its people honor strangers? Is your head still swimming, your tongue with disparagement of travel still brimming?” Replied he, “So far as the city’s situation is concerned, it’s elegant because it’s on the sea, and the number of foreigners it contains adds to its brio: in it you see some people whose heads are covered with tall pointed hats and others with tarbushes, some with round caps and others with maqāʿiṭ turbans, some with burnooses and others with ordinary turbans, some with aṣnāʿ turbans and others with fillets, some with headgear of a generic nature26 and others with madāmīj turbans, some with sailors’ caps and others with hoods, some with caps and others with bonnets, some with further turbans and others with watermelon-shaped(1)(1) The arṣūṣah (plural arāṣīṣ) is a cap like a watermelon. and cantaloupe-shaped caps,27 and others with head scarves large and small, some with judges’ tun-caps28 and others with antimacassars,29 some with undercloths for turbans and others with head rags, some with the turban under the name mishmadh and others with the turban under the name mishwadh, and some with Frankish hats shaped like earthenware jars, or carp, or the creases between the cheek, nose, and eye, or the crevices between the same, or the children of the jinn, or armpit sinews, or white varan lizards, or disreputable demons, or babies’ clouts.
2.2.2
ومنهم من له سراويلات طويلة مفرسخة تكنس ما خلفه وما قدّامه * ومنهم من لا سراويلات له فبُعثُطه بادٍ والناس يتمسّحون بما امامه * ومنهم من له تبّان * ومنه من له اِتْب * ومنهم بوَثْر ومنهم بهِميان * ومنهم برجِلْ (السراويل الطاق) ومنهم باَنْدَرْوَرْد ومنهم بدِقْرارة او دُقْرور * ومنهم من يركب الحمير والبغال * وغيرهم على الخيل والجمال * والابل فى ازدحام * والناس فى التطام * فينبغى للسائر بينهم ان لا يفتر على الدعآ بقوله اللهم اَجِر * اللهم احفظ * اللهم الطف * توكلت على الله * استعنت بالله * اعوذ بالله *
“Some of them have long saggy drawers that sweep the ground behind and before them and some have no drawers at all, so that their anuses are on display and the people pass their hands over what is in front of the latter.30 Some of them have short breaches and some drawers without legs, some of them have drawstrings and some have belts, some have leggings (drawers made of one piece of material) and others have underwear,31 some have boxers and others briefs. Some ride mules and asses, others dromedaries and horses. Camels are on every side, people collide. One moving among them must never slacken in his pious exclamations,32 saying, ‘God protect! God preserve! God be kind! I have put my trust in God! I seek God’s help! I seek refuge with God!’
2.2.3
فاما براقع النسآء فهى وان كانت تخفى جمال بعضهن الا انها تريح العين ايضا من قبح سائرهن * غير ان تستّر القبيحات اكثر * لان المليحة لا يهون عليها اذا خرجت من قفصها ان تطير فى الاسواق من دون ان تمكّن الناظرين من رؤية ملامحها * لينظروا حسنها وجمالها ويكبّروا لافترارها * فيقولوا ما شا الله * تبارك الله * جل الله * الله الله * حتى اذا رجعت الى منزلها اعتقدت ان جميع اهل البلد قد شُغفوا بها حبا * فباتت تنتظر منهم الهدايا والصِلات * والاشعار والمواليات * فكلما غنَّى مغنّ انصتت الى غنائه وسمعت اسمها يتشَبَّب به * فاذا بكرت فى اليوم القابل الى الاسواق ورات الناس مكبّين على اشغالهم تعجبت من بقآئهم اصحّآ قادرين على السعى والحركة *
“As for women’s face veils, if they conceal the beauty of some, at least they relieve the eye of
