Dear John,
Here is my favourite from Rudyard Kipling, supreme artist in depicting life
in words, taken from Egypt of the Magicians, (page 236) in 'Letters of
Travel, 1892-1913' Macmillan, London, 1920.
"[Cairo in 1913]….. The city thrust more treasure upon me than I could
carry away. It came out of dark alleyways on tawny camels loaded with pots;
on pattering asses half buried under nets of cut clover; in the exquisitely
modelled hands of little children scurrying home from the cookshop with the
evening meal, chin pressed against the platter's edge and eyes round with
responsibility above the pile; in the broken lights from jutting rooms
overhead, where the women lie, chin between palms, looking out of windows
not a foot from the floor; in every glimpse into every courtyard, where the
men smoke by the tank; in the heaps of rubbish and rotten bricks that
flanked newly painted houses, waiting to be built, some day, into houses
once more; in the slap and slide of the heelless red-and-yellow slippers all
around, and, above all, in the mixed delicious smells of frying butter,
Mohammedan bread, kababs, leather, cooking-smoke, assafetida, peppers, and
turmeric. Devils cannot abide the smell of burning turmeric, but the
right-minded man loves it. It stands for evening that brings all home, the
evening meal, the dipping of friendly hands in the dish, the one face, the
dropped veil, and the big, guttering pipe afterward.
Praised be Allah for the diversity of His creatures and for the Five
Advantages of Travel and for the glories of the Cities of the Earth!
Harun-al-Raschid, in roaring Bagdad of old, never delighted himself to the
limits of such a delight as was mine, that afternoon."
Yours, Roger
p.s. Original spelling. R
---- Original Message -----
From: "JOHN WALKER" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 4:53 PM
Subject: Fwd: odour and the East
Dear All,
Would you have a favourite line or two to recommend? Replies to
Chrissie, please, and apologies for any cross-postings.
Remember that the original request was not to the RK list, so credit
the author...
Regards,
John
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Chrissie Bradstreet <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Apr 27, 2006 10:58 AM
Subject: odour and the East
To: [log in to unmask]
Hi,
I am looking for particularly evocative descriptions of the odours of
the Near, Middle or Far East written c.1880 - 1905.
eg: spices, perfumes, incense, market and food smells, floral odours,
body odour, dirt, animals, coffee, smoking etc etc.
These descriptions of place could be in travel diaries, journal
articles, travel guides, letters, or novels -- any written source
really!
Even better still --- in travel accounts by Orientalist artists.
And I am still looking for any sources relating to the odour of
pomegranates!
Thanks,
Christina Bradstreet
School of History of Art, Film and Visual Media
Birkbeck College
<mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]
<http://www.19.bblk.ac.uk/> www.19.bbk.ac.uk
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