The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Fourth. Thomas Wallace Knox

AN ORIENTAL SHOPKEEPER EXAMINING HIS BOOKS.

      "In our own land," said Doctor Bronson, "as well as in most countries of Europe, you find shops and stores scattered about so as to catch as much custom as possible. As a general thing a tradesman endeavors to set up his business in a block or street where there is no one in the same line, and it is only in rare instances that you see two establishments of the same kind side by side. But in the East all the men in a certain line of trade gather together, and out of this tendency we have the bazaars of Cairo and Constantinople. Suppose you go out in New York or Chicago in search of a book, a coat, a pair of shoes, a piece of silk, some perfumes, and an article of jewellery. You might find them all in a single walk of a few hundred yards, as it is quite possible that a book-store, a clothing-store, a shoemaker's shop, and the other establishments might be found in a single block. But in Cairo you would need to visit several bazaars or collections of shops; the book-stores are all in one place, the clothing-stores in another, the shoemakers in another, and so on through the list. It would take hours to accomplish what you would do at home in a few minutes, and there is nothing better than this system of shopping to illustrate the Oriental disregard of time. The shops in any given bazaar are pretty much alike, and contain almost identically the same articles; the customers wander from one shop to another, and spend a great deal of time in bargaining and examining the goods. Time is of no consequence either to them or to the dealers, and you will often wonder how the latter can possibly make a living."

INTERIOR OF A CARAVANSARY.

      As the Doctor finished his remarks the guide called their attention to a large gate-way, and at his suggestion they passed inside. They found themselves in a broad court, which was formed by a series of rooms running round a square, and opening toward the enclosed space. Goods were piled in many of these rooms; in the court-yard there were boxes and bales scattered about, and several camels with burdens on their backs were standing quietly, or being led by their owners according to the will of the latter. Near one side of the square there was a fountain like a pile of whitewashed bricks, and a horse was drinking from a trough in front of it.

GATE-WAY OF A CARAVANSARY.

      The guide explained that the place they had entered was a caravansary or inn (usually called a khan), and that it might be taken as a fair sample of the Oriental hotel. "The rooms," said he, "are let out to travellers or merchants for a small sum, and the keeper will provide food for man and beast, just as a tavern-keeper would in America. The rooms have no furniture, nothing but the bare walls, and floors; the occupant spreads his carpet and bedding on the floor, and if he has any merchandise he piles it up, and can, if he chooses, convert the place into a shop. There are stables for camels and other beasts of burden on the side opposite the entrance; if you go into them you will find a small platform over the farther end of each compartment, and the trough or manger is directly beneath it. The drivers sleep on these platforms, so as to be near their animals, to prevent their being stolen, and to look after them generally."

      Frank asked if the Eastern caravansary of the present day was like the same institution mentioned several times in the Bible.

      "There can be little doubt that it is," the Doctor answered, "as the customs of the country have changed very little from Bible times to our own. It was just such a place as this where our Saviour was born, and the trough or manger where he was cradled was like any one of the feeding-troughs in this caravansary."

      While they were looking at the rooms and other parts of the caravansary, the khanjy, or keeper, came forward and asked what they wanted. The guide explained that they were strangers who wished to see the place, and he accompanied the explanation with a small backsheesh. The khanjy said they might remain as long as they liked; but they had seen all there was of interest about the place, and soon withdrew.

A STREET IN A BAZAAR AT CAIRO.

      Soon after leaving the khan they entered the cloth bazaar, where the shops were principally filled with cloths of different kinds. The merchants endeavored to attract their attention, and the runners were at times so troublesome that the Doctor instructed the guide to say that they had not come there to buy, but simply to look around. He took the opportunity to tell the boys that the word bazaar is Persian, and means "a collection of shops," while the Arabic word of the same meaning is sook. "We thus have," said he, "the 'Sook el Hamzowee,' the 'Sook el Attarin' (drug bazaar), the 'Sook-es-Soudan' (bazaar for Soudan products), and many others whose character we shall learn by-and-by."

SHOPPING SCENE IN THE HAMZOWEE.

      "We are now," said the guide, "in the 'Sook el Hamzowee,' or cloth market, though a more literal translation would make it 'the market of the Christians.' The merchants here are all Christians, either Syrians or Copts, and they close their places on Sunday. Many of the cloths here are of European manufacture, and the merchants are just as keen as their Moslem competitors in demanding exorbitant prices for their wares. The man you see running up and down with a roll of cloth on his head is a dallal, or auctioneer; he is shouting out the last offer for the goods he is carrying, and is asking if anybody will give more. If he receives a new offer he instantly calls it out, and when nobody will give any more he shouts for the owner of the goods to come and close the transaction."

      Our friends encountered several of these auctioneers in the course of their walk, and Frank remarked that there was a fine opportunity for fraud if anybody chose to practise it. He thought that while out of sight round a corner the piece of cloth might be exchanged for a cheaper one of the same general appearance, and the purchaser would be defrauded.

      "Not much chance of that," responded the Doctor; "these fellows are altogether too sharp to be imposed on in that way; and if an auctioneer should play that trick once, and be detected, he would be forbidden to come into the bazaars to practise his profession."

      The narrow street that formed the double row of shops in the bazaar was covered with an arched roof containing openings for admitting the light. The Doctor said that the dealers did not object to the sombre aspect of the place, as it made their goods appear finer than when submitted to the full glare of day. "You may sometimes notice," said he, "that the tailors of New York and other American cities take their customers to the rear of the shop when exhibiting materials, rather than to the front where the light is strongest. The reason is the same there as here; textile fabrics have a finer appearance under a subdued light than under a powerful one."

      From the Hamzowee the promenade was continued through other bazaars, till the youths had seen a great deal more than they were likely to remember. They went through the bazaar of the jewellers, which consists of a series of narrow lanes, rather irregularly connected, and in many places not more than a yard in width; Frank thought the place was originally intended for a labyrinth, and his opinion was confirmed when they came around in their wanderings to the point whence they started. Frank wanted to buy something for his sister and Miss Effie, but was restrained by the Doctor, who advised him to postpone his purchases till he was better acquainted with the ways of dealing with the jewellers.

EASTERN NECKLACES.

      We may as well record at this point that he returned another day, and bought some necklaces which he thought would be prized at home, and the result proved the correctness of his theory. For his sister he chose a necklace consisting of a string of gold coins about as large as silver five-cent pieces, with one in the centre much larger than the rest. For Miss Effie he selected one of curiously shaped links, with tiny globes between them, while from the lower point of each link there hung a heart-shaped plate of gold that was intended to sparkle whenever the wearer moved. There were many of these necklaces for sale in the bazaar, and Frank had no difficulty in finding one that suited his taste.