1786.b.33, 1(33)

Genre: Portrait Photography

Portrait of the British Vice-Consul at Luxor, Mustapha Aga, 'seated on a chair, in front of the colonnade of the Temple [of Amun-Kamutef], with the whole of his family, excepting his wives, seated or standing around him. Mustapha himself may be considered as one of the institutions of Thebes. He is now about fifty years of age, is dark in complexion, of Bedouin extraction, speaks tolerably good English, is greedy, grasping and unscrupulous, yet, among the Arabs, sustains a high character for hospitality and openhandedness. When a young man, he made a voyage to England and to India, in the forecastle of a man-of-war; he returned to Alexandria with the knowledge of English and of the world peculiar to that school, and with the loss of a great part of his religion and of his nose. His peculiar fitness and education adapted him for service in a Marine Store, where he served for some years, at first as servant, and latterly as partner. He, by some means, obtained the situation of Titular British Vice-Consul at Thebes, which, although it yielded no salary, places him in official relation to all English Travellers there, and gives him great influence among the Arabs. He took up his abode in some of the deserted chambers of the Temple of Luxor, hoists his flag from the roof, fires a gun on the arrival and departure of an English boat, and pays his respects with an offering of a sheep, some fowls, or vegetables. He is profuse in his offers of assistance. He, however, causes it to be understood that as he receives no salary, it is customary to make him a liberal present ... He deals in antiquities of all kinds ... and will assuredly cheat you if he can...'