prohibitions on begging and loitering 319

PROHIBITIONS ON BEGGING AND LOITERING IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY

BY

MINE ENER Villanova University

Sir, Permit me to call attention in your columns to a nuisance to ladies which exists in the streets of , namely the Hawkers of small wares who ply their trade, especially in the Sharia el Kamel (sic), on both sides of the way, more particularly near Shepeard’s Hotel, and the many attractive shops in the vicinity. Ladies are pursued by these men in the most impudent manner, until it is almost an impossibility for ladies to walk along that part. I have no wish to prevent the poor from gaining a livelihood, but could not the service of the police be engaged to keep those men a little within bounds! I am, etc., One who lives in Cairo (dated January 12, 1900)1 Sir, It is with great satisfaction that I saw the letter in your paper on the 12th referring to the nuisance caused by beggars and small vendors in the Sharia el Kamel (sic). I should like to add that our progress in the streets has been stopped, and we have been followed from shop to shop window by these persistent non-descripts, and have often wondered that steps are not taken by the police to keep some control over their number and conduct. I should be very sorry to stop one of them from earning an honest penny, but at the same time one must be just before generous. I am etc., PRO BONO PUBLICO (Cairo, 15 January 1900)2 Europeans traveling to or resident in Egypt during the course of

1 A letter to the editor of the Egyptian Gazette, January 14, 1900, page 3. 2 “A Street Nuisance” letter to the editor in the Egyptian Gazette, January 16, 1900, p. 3.

© Koninklijke Brill BV, Leiden, 1999 Die Welt des Islams 39, 3

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the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, much like the two individuals expressing their annoyance in the English-language publication, the Egyptian Gazette, frequently made reference to the public presence of the itinerant poor. Noting that “a very great number of persons of both sexes among the lower orders” in ur- ban areas such as Cairo and towns throughout Egypt obtained their livelihood through begging, Edward Lane, for example, re- marked upon how often one would encounter beggars who in- cluded children of all ages as well as men and women.3 Guide- books such as those of Murray and Baedeker, in addition to pro- viding information on archeological sites and “the latest informa- tion on every point of interest”4 , warned travelers that they could expect to be harassed by beggars and streetchildren and provided detailed instructions as to how to respond to their supplications. Reading A Handbook for Travelers in Egypt, a visitor to Egypt would learn that:

A favourite occupation at Cairo is that of a beggar. Very little food and raiment are necessary in this climate, and starvation is a thing almost unheard of. Blind people, and those on whom nature has bestowed some disfigurement of person, are certain of gaining a subsistence by begging.5

Drawing upon the experience of long time residents to Egypt, such as Sir Gardner Wilkinson, tourists to Egypt would be well aware of how to fend off beggars:

Sir Gardner Wilkinson has justly observed that the cry Bakshish, bakshish ya khawagah (oh sir! a gift!), with which Europeans are invariably assailed, is an insulting substitute for the good- day of other countries. The Arab reserves his pious benedic- tions for his own countrymen, but never hesitates to take advan- tage of what he considers the folly of foreign travelers. The best reply to such applications is ma fish, ma fish (I have nothing for you), which will generally have the effect of dispersing the as-

3 Edward Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern (The Hague: East- West Publications), [1836] 1989: 286, 325-327, 420-421. 4 John Murray, A Handbook for Travelers in Egypt (: John Murray),1875, vi. 5 Murray, A Handbook for Travelers in Egypt, 1875, 127.

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