| Show An Oriented Oriental Journey BEING THE PLAIN FLAm NARRATIVE OF SIMPLE THINGS BY A PROSAIC MAN MANBY MANBY AN ANBY BY CHARLES L ROOD Continued from last Sunday t the tho evening eve meal after a really hard initial days Work Ibrahim came In with the sweets as he lie expressed it each time to announce the Itinerary for the following day and to tell a story He Is a portly not to say corpulent specimen of or the race of or Arabs who has trended crowded into his sixty years a great deal of experience He has been doing this duty on the Nile for tor twenty years cars making four tour to six trips each winter season He has also been to England and continental points I took a great liking to him for the lines of or his face his mien and dignity show him as a aman aman aman man of or strong character and as hon honest honest honest est as is permitted to the Oriental nature na nature nature ture On this evening he announced that we would remain all next day on the boat We Wo then had ample time to look around and observe the details of or our establishment The Victoria is new white and freshly painted kept as aslean clean lean as my ladys floor and has three large decks the upper one of which is almost entirely devoted to the comfort of or the guests in Jn parlors open promenades promenades promenades nades and deck She is a aline line fin type of ot river steamer Our pas passengers passengers passengers are arc in number not enough to give Ive any feeling of ot being c crowded row ed Their safety and progress are to three river pilots called Rats Rais who remain in the wheel house during the entire trip having their meals sent up and sleeping on mattresses mat mattresses tresses trem es Notwithstanding the water re released released released leased from the dam the river riverIs Is Js low and will so continue beyond the end of oC the boat season about March 16 15 Our boat will make only one more trip I Even now it requires constant vigilance to keep it off oft the sandbars which are continually shifting Ibrahim is in charge of all the native servants at least to the extent of giving them di directions directions directions since he only can make mal p them understand In all things he bosses bosses the shore excursions of ot the passengers A manager having charge of the busi busiS S arrangements Including the com uis completes the officers We have a French chef an Arabian assist assistant assistant assistant ant and the waiters walters are mostly Arabs with possibly two or 01 three Nubians Judging from their darker skins In Inthe Inthe Inthe the dining room these fellows are ar arrayed arrayed arrayed rayed In one white garment coming com coming comIng ing down to the ankles much like the night dress of ot an American gentleman This is belted with a red sash and the costume Is appropriately completed H n Ith red shoes or slippers sUppers and a red Ted fez Like the natives na Ives generally generall they are tall straight and slim The Missouri of Egypt By the end of the second day we like likewise likewise wise lse can an form some Idea of our sur surroundings surroundings externally It is an old say saying sayIng sayIng ing Who ho drinks Nile water must return I 1 am not an Iconoclast and hate Late to dispel a poetic illusion Nev Nevertheless Nevertheless I feel bound in the Interest of truth to put the matter thus He Hf who drinks and gets away May lIay live to drink another day The Nile lille Is a muddy stream devoid deold cf M any beauty or interest In itself Its yellow jellow ellow sediment was most g 1 i g to those who patronized the bath bathtubs ti bathtubs th tubs on the boat It is true the na naties natives ties tives drink the water but this fact is rot J ot altogether reassuring The present race represents the survival of the fit fittest fittest fittest test after atter natures selections and inoculations inoculations inoculations lations for thousands of ot years The width of the river is from yards upward and it flows sluggishly On the west or Sahara side the bank is from ten to fifteen feet teet above the wa water water water ter at this season of the year and the country beyond stretches away fiat flat as asfar asfar asfar far as the eye ee can see On the opposite or 01 Libyan side there frequent fre frequent quent que nt cliffs of ot appearance which give way as we approach As to granite There is much less arable land on side often otten a narrow strip only between the river and the cliffs Everything about us differs so much from our home conditions we live now In an atmosphere of novel sensa sensations sensations sensations As the steamer moves smoothly UP UD the river we pass Jass the native small boats or feluccas flat fiat boats laden with sugar or pottery or cotton and with their three large white sails bellying in the wind Little squalid villages dot the shores the houses or huts made of mud usually and always Inhabited Inba by cow pig or other possession of the own owners owners owners ers In the midst of ot such scraggly dirty environs loom the domes and minarets of ot the well built mosques the contrast suggesting that cleanliness is not always next to godliness Here In these cliffs opposite are the evidences of subterranean caves occupied by no nomadic nomadic madic madio people p ople Again on the other bank the ruins of oC some old temple still stand to remind us of an effaced reli religion religion gion glon of ot 1000 to 2000 years ago Yet there In the beautiful green acres stretching away from the river bank hank are the present workaday Inhabitants tants the fellaheen earning the tho prince princely ly sum of two a day with their primitive plows drawn by an ox or an ox hitched d to a camel the women and children filling their bottles or hide pouches from the waters of ot the Nile the poor male servants In a breech breechcloth breechcloth breechcloth cloth or often naked as God made them raising water for irrigation with the or and the good Muslims bowing to the earth as they repeat the Koran at the noontime hour hourA A Desert Sunset When the sun descends low In the western sky and the shadows of or the palm trees lengthen upon the land hand handsome some camels appear homeward bound along the banks led or OI ridden by the elders In their long beards and flutter fluttering flutterIng fluttering ing robes making a silhouette against the distant landscape The air is still and warm and over all nature descends the solemn hush and tremulous veil vell of twilight Then the wonderful red glow of a desert sunset reaching more than half haIr way around the horizon tints the clouds with an light shading and fading away until the mantle of darkness Is upon us From the contemplation contemplation contemplation of ot scenes like this we are oc occasionally occasionally occasionally brought back to earth with the realization that after atter all this is the twentieth century for there in the dis distance distance distance tance Is a tall chimney which we are told belongs to one of the largest sugar factories in Egypt near the village of where our boat ties up for forthe forthe forthe the night nightOn nightOn nightOn On the third day we reached a small smalltown smalltown smalltown town called Again the I scramble for good donkeys for we have I learned that the gait of the animal makes or mars the comfort of the ride again the scramble for or good passengers passengers gers by the donkey donke boys who have learned they can earn a weeks w eks wages in a few hours bours We go along long a dusty flat fiat and Ibrahim informs us we are arenow arenow arenow now traveling over untold thousands of ot mummified cats On this east bank was erected the temple to the goddess to whom the cat was I sacred and this was their cemetery The mple tt was built about 1500 B C Cand Cand Cand and is not interesting or distinguished At other provinces animal gods would be hawks or other birds dogs wolves crocodiles etc From here we rode on ono onto to o some tombs built about the twelfth dynasty or B C The principal ones are those of and The inscriptions are of specially Inter Interesting interesting interesting esting character Besides the ordinary incidents in the lives Jives of their occupants occupants occupants pants here are found some som remarkable testimonials to the high standard of o ethi s and morality of ot those times I r heard hoard the guide give the substance of ot otone one of these inscriptions as we stood before the walls of which the follow following following ing Is the published translation What I have done I will say My goodness and kindness were ample I never oppressed the fatherless nor the widow I did not treat cruelly the fish fishermen fishermen fishermen ermen the shepherds or the poor la laborers laborers laborers borers There was nowhere in my time hunger hung r or want For ForI I cultivated cultivate all my fields fil s far and near in order that their inhabitants might have food I never preferred the great and power powerful powerful powerful ful to the humble and poor but Old equal justice to all aU i These Thase tombs are also noteworthy not worthy because here are found the lotus col columns columns columns with capitals the th col cl columns columns having sixteen edges and aud taper tapering tapering ing toward the top t p which ara ar said to tobe tobe tobe be In other words word 9 it a s claimed that the Greeks here first ob oh obtained d their ideas subsequently used with so much mu mush h race At Ass lt The following lay day y without without stopping we passed several caves in Which many mummies of or crocodiles and oth animals have been found Arriving at in afternoon we are per Ier permitted d to go through that large bar barage barage age or dam which is one of ot the three constructed under the auspices of the tho British government to control the wa Wil waters waters of or the Nile during the Irrigating season Above Abo it is a side canal lead leading leadIng J ing westward known as Josephs ca canal canal canal nal of or which tradition assigns the origin or origin orIgin tc the biblical character of the same name From the hills to the west of he town we get a magnificent view vew v ew of this his the third largest city of Egypt Eg lt containing a population of ot The Nile and the valley which at this point Is very ery wide spread out before us in n beautiful panorama extending many miles In every direction Hundreds of ot domes dom s and minarets are at our feet feit fe t tand and a little way off ot is a large cemetery both ancient and modern In thes hills art are many tombs not particularly eminent and some work of excavation was then proceeding with mummies and cases scattered around In the afternoon we visited the Pres Presbyterian Presbyterian b terlan mission and hospital The latter Is in charge of American physicians physicians and surgeons The hospital is since a good many of the natives contrary to their appearance appear appearance appearance ance are able to pay vay all the charges There Is little tittle charity work Patients given up to die are removed as soon as sentence is pronounced It is custom customary customary customary ary for the friends to make so much noise with their lamentations it would wout disturb the other patients otherwise The mission school Is the highest or finishing school of the series established li hed in Egypt by the Presbyterian so society society society It is the thoi only place where the higher branches branchen are taught we lis listened listened listened to several of the recitations In m reading history and mathematics and found the students to be Intelligent and much engrossed engros ed in their work Upon our entrance into each room they po politely politely rose to their feet f t There are from 2000 to pupils but most of them do not get beyond the preparatory preparatory preparatory tory stages The success of the grad graduates graduates graduates in their respective professions or lr occupations so exceeds that of their unschooled neighbors each is an un unconscious unconscIous unconscious conscious missionary for the tile school and a liberal education Hence th tie prestige of it Is growing and the at attendance attendancE attendance Increasing Here for tor the first time we observed that ophthalmic traveling hospital es established by the government The in infection infection i of the eyes of the natives is something horrible about every other ther therone one tar har one or both eyes closed or in inthe inthe inthe the preliminary stages or suppuration The Infection has been spread by personal contact conta t and especially by the files flies in the prevalence of which Egypt is entitled to take rank with the worst The Arabs be besides besides besides sides having a sort of superstitious veneration for the evil eye ce do not nit believe bell ve in medication and if they did Ud they do not understand the necessity nece or virtue of sanitary measures or an antiseptic antiseptic antiseptic dressings dressing Strenuous efforts are now being made by the authorities In a curative and educational cam campaign campaign campaign against this scourge The Tho ba bazars bazara bazars zara at are Extensive very dirty the streets narrow and the wares though characteristic are not attractive attractive attractive tive to the traveler An exception must be noted of the network ork shawls made exclusively at this place Upon an open web or net work of oC either white or o 0 black either gilt or silver metal strips are woven and hammered into tho the strands forming conventional designs of geometrical figures and temples These shawls offering a choice of four tour different combinations are much bar gained for by tourists and highly prized Fo Fe the better part of two days das we wo now remained on the th boat jost This was wasa a restful lazy period and a good prep preparation preparation for the assiduous ous sightseeing i ahead We Va passed a good many important important important tant towns including Ballana from which the excursion to Is mad made madon madon on th return trip and which Is famous for Its manufactures of or pot pottery pottery pottery tery and seers or native lit fil litters filters so extensively used throughout Egypt On the opposite side of the river is I the temple of This is one of the most important ImI temples and is distinctive in this ails It is the first aboveground tem tern temple tempie pIe we have seen which has been en entirely entirely excavated It was built In the time of Ptolemy II therefore It ills Is not old according to our ur Egyptian lexicon I having attained only the tho infantile age of some 2000 years Upon our approach we are first struck by the row Of ot Ha columns Hathor was lS the goddess of the mountain which sepa separated separated separated rated Egypt from the other world and was figured under the form torm of ot a cow or a woman with cows ears She Sha was of beauty Identified by the Greeks GrEes with Aphrodite This temple templo was dedicated to Isis and is much larger than its first appearance indi indicates indicates indicates cates It is a remarkable remar able structure not only In its architecture and mason malon masonry ry f but especially because of the carved figures in relief both Inside and amI out outside outside side the tho walls Inside there is hardly a square foot of surface not covered with allegorical and historical figures or hieroglyph hieroglyphics ics les painted in great part and the colors col colors colors ors of blue red brown and yellow lec rec recognizable ec In spots There are winding staircases on each side built In the solid walls by which access Is obtained ob obtained obtained to the top where there ij Ii yet evidence of some kind of ot ancient use There are underground crypts for fOT treasure In one orie of or which the painted scenes s under the light of magnesium taper look like an old picture pic picture picture ture with the colors still |
