Identifier: edgeoforient00russ (find matches)
Title: The edge of the Orient
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Russell, Robert Howard
Subjects: Middle East -- Description and travel
Publisher: New York : Scribner's
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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y wigs, and had girdles about theirwaists covered witli shells and highly coloredbeads. A weird and umnusical EuropeanizedEgyptian band struggled with the Marche Bou-lansrer duriuir the intermission, and the audi-cnce, wdiich consisted almost entirely of Egyp-tian men—only two tourists being present in therude strangers box at the side—lighted cigarettesand waited patiently for the second i)art. Thisconsisted of a j)lay acted by the two clowns. AsAH Moorad explained it to me it was very amus-ing, and the audience, to judge by their frecjuentlaughter, w^ere highly delighted with its humor.One of the clow^ns produced an old table-cloth,wdiich he tried to sell to the other, as he had Imisli money, and wished to get more that hemight go to the bazaar and buy food. The pros-pective purchaser pointed out the holes and de-fects in the cloth, whereui)on the f^rst declaredthat it was all the more valuable for that reason,as it was an antika. This provoked the laughter of the many vener-276
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Luxor and Assc^ii.in al)lc <;rav-lKar<ls in llit- aiuliciuc \\lir, t«) the i4;iiilclcss andunsusijcctiiij^ traveller. Failin;Lj to omviiKe hisfriciui of the value «»l the table-cloth, the clownproposed another scheme by which ujoney inij;htbe raised. Clown number one su«^^ested thatclown nuniber two shoidd stretch himsell on the♦•round as tJKUi^h dead; this done. nund)ei onecovered the bodv with the table-cloth, and com-menced the wildest lamentations, which soon at-tracted the attention of a kind-hearted passer-by.The clown mana^^ed between the throes of his«rrief to explain to the stranj.(er that his br«)therhad just died, and that he was disconsolate, as la-had n«»t the money to provide a proper burialor a headstimc for the ^nave. The kiiul-heartedtraveller svmpathi/ed with him in his sorr«iw.and handed him a purse of jjohi. At this liiemourner burst oni in a fresh

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