Show I An Oriental Journey I 1 BY CHARLES L I ROOD HOOD Continued from last Sunday Cairo Our famous Nile trip trail trl Is at an end Yet Cairo lies before us with Its whirl t u fascinations Standing on the Hie walls of ot the citadel we see sec the tho Nile west westward westward westward ward In the distance the Pyramid of beyond on one side old Cairo behind us the hills at our feet the ground where two civilizations have havo met and intermingled This historic his historic historic fortification was built by Saladin about 1166 Within its Us enclosure the alabaster mosque of AH AU at once compels attention Fortunately for us UK it Is Friday the Sunday A few early worshippers are washing their f feet t atthe at the fountain out outside outside outside side When we enter r the portals we weare weare weare are given the benefit of the tho doubt and required only to place sandals over our shoes Visitors are not allowed to re remain remain remain main during services but hut time Is al allowed allowed allowed lowed us to Inspect the interior As we wo go SO out the tho monotonous chant of the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer sounds from the tho high parapets of the needlelike minarets From an adjoining ad adjoining joining enclosure comes the tho bugle call of the British soldier which reminds us how little the temporal power of ot the British empire Interferes with the ro re religions or customs of Ha its foreign subjects sub subjects subjects This mosque Is not regarded as architecturally good Before leaving the citadel we visit vi lt Josephs well sunk 00 feet to the level of the Nile and traditionally associated with Joseph the Hebrew prime minister of an Egyptian Pharaoh The most handsome mosque Is that of Sultan Hassan Its archi architecture architecture architecture Is held by many to rival Thal the Byzantine of St Sophia at Constanti Constantinople Constantinople Constantinople nople The conception was so daring and original that Hassan cut off the hands of the designer to provide against a repetition Our trusts should take out a patent on this thorough method of insuring a close monopoly of a good thing as It has some somo merits over the plans now employed This mosque Is about years old but is still t years younger than that of Amr in old Cairo built by b the earliest rabian conquerors Of the many others oth rs the mosque of Rafal Rafai contains the body of Ismail who years ago had brought Egyptian finances to such a pass that the sultan of Turkey deposed him And Kail Bail Bey in the he he midst of the th tombs of the Is photographed by every beater bearor of a kodak By the way those individuals are everywhere so numer numerous ous and so persistent I would suggest coining for them the comprehensive name of As for tor these Mameluke tombs they depend for their Interest upon the history of their oc occupants occupants Early Earl in the thirteenth cen century century century tury about 1000 people mostly Tar Tartars Tartars Tartars tars and Turks were brought as slaves to Egypt After some years a body bodyguard bodyguard guard formed from this number killed Turin Shah and seized Egypt From until 1811 they and their descend descendants descendants descendants ants ruled the country either alone or m indirectly with and through others In Inthe Inthe Inthe the latter year the great All Ali Invited of ot their chiefs to the citadel to a feast and there treacherously at attacked attack attacked tacked tack d them with soldiers and killed all tut Iut one who gained his horse and took a flying fi leap over the walls pay paving paying av ing lug hl own Om life We Ve were shown the indentation of the horses hoofs on the solid rock which hard as it was must have havo been more plastic than our cre credulity credulity credulity dulity The tombs of the caliphs are more Imposing and better kept Just Justas Justas Justas as our minds refashioned the appear appearance appearance appearance ance end life of the old Pharaohs when we stood In their temples so here we conjured up the scenes of splendor and debauchery of the tho Arabian Nights The most important feature Cairo is I the museum The fin fi s new building near the Kasrel K Nil bridge holds the story of ot the tho oldest known civilization of the world orld Our two visits sufficed for only a most cursory examination of its treasures The Tho wisdom of making the Nile Kill Journey first is now manifest We Ye have obtained more technical knowledge knowlt ge and a better bett r perspective We Ve have seen s n In the temples and tombs the symbolism of Egyptian life liCe and death the outer shell shelt but here we get the core the realistic objects themselves In 1881 M 11 Maspero con conducted ducted investigations and negotiations with the natives that led to the th uncovering uncovering ering of one of the tombs of the kings near In which coffins coffin and mummies rapidly scanned s by the 1 light of a candle were found to bear historic names of Pharaohs of the twentieth dynasty In 1893 1898 M 1 Loret found In the tho tomb of II nine more mummies of the three great Theban dynasties and there have been other discoveries The work of un unwrapping unwrapping unwrapping wrapping the time bodies was conducted with care and deliberation So now the visitor can look down upon uvon the faces or bodies of Rameses the Great upon his son whose remains re remains mains are entirely out of place here rinse he Is supposed to be he the Pharaoh of the Exodus who was yag drowned In Inthe inthe inthe the Red sea Then there is I r one of the most renowned in whose was found a mummified wasp and III the bold warrior warn or orand and many others the 5 too numerous to mention men mention mention tion One of the curiosities curlo is the mummy of tho the poisoned prince whose name namo and history are unknown In endless endl array are exposed the funerary statuettes jars bronze libation liba libation tion vases boats and fragments votive offerings tools furniture and utensils mirrors fans and other toilet articles combs Jewels and all kinds of orna ornaments ornaments ornaments ments writing and writing materials musical Instruments and games wea weapons weapons weapons pons scarabs and amulets with all Kinds of pottery and nd vases uses Among the many interesting statues busts and colossi there are two in particular lar which are noteworthy A statue or of King Icing builder of the second py pyramid pyramid pyramid Is executed with remarkable adherence to natural lines In diorite a stone so 50 hard that modern workmen would have much difficulty In model modelIng modelIng modelIng Ing it Near this is a statue that has defied the ravages raa es of time and decay ecay for perhaps years ears It represents a superintendent of the thet mat t pyramid standing with a stick sUck In one hand The lineaments the pose the contour of the body all show fi fidelity fidelity delity demy to life lIe Not very Yeo many tourists visit the University of Cairo called El Azhar the Splendid It Is said to have been founded by the Arabs In their J earliest occupation of ot this land As Assuming Assuming Assuming suming that It might with propriety be caled called a university in tho the modern mod modern modem ern em sense It can boast of being older than any of the Occidental schools so named There Thero Is a serious question i however as to Its right fo to the title The studies arts are mostly confined to the Koran with some additional attention paid to mathematics history In a lim limited limIted degree degroe de roo and a certain Oriental learning that renders its influence re repressing repressing repressing pressing The building Is only suitable in its arrangements to a semitropical ical leal country consisting of an open court urt surrounded by galleries l on all aU alli 1 f the sides with the space open between pillars Sitting around on the marble hun hundreds hundreds hundreds pavement in Turkish fashion are of groups of students of two or Koran learning more some with their it by rote and reciting In a loud mono monotone monotone tone ton others with their tablets and d a peculiar metal Inkstand by their side from which they never neer spill Ink and teachers still others busy with their I while here and there are stragglers like cats curled up In the sun fast ast I asleep The tuition may be free and there thero are arc upwards of students of many African nationalities for each of which there is 18 a separate gallery provided As we dodged around around and d among the groups it seemed as if pan pandemonium pandemonium p had tad broken loose From every overy direction came the hum of chat chattering chattering voices The fussy American school maam who is nervous If she hears a whisper might get hero a new point ot or view as to the question how far silence really aids the student The ability to be unconscious of ot your sur surroundings surroundings surroundings may possess many advantages advantages Any Cairo graduate would be beable beable beable able to concentrate his attention on the work in hand whether he was In Ina ina ina a quartz mill or an earthquake The teachers teacher In charge did not seem to be bewell bewell bewell well pleased to have visitors At any rate one followed us around like a private detective and got very angry when we paused an instant or spoke to any of the students Cairo streets and bazaars are Justly famous Nowhere else will you find that infinite variety that shifting kaleidoscope of color Your first stroll makes you grateful that the Persians Nubians Bedouins Sudanese e Fella Fellaheen Fellaheen heen been Turks Greeks and other Levan tines in their picturesque costumes have not yielded to the dead level of monotony in European dress Along here by these gardens you may lean up against a fence and be shaved while you wait walt Over there by the palings of the Mixed Court you can get a aletter aletter aletter letter written home If it she can read the Arabian hieroglyphics Now you youcan youcan can top stop the water carrier who for a small mall coin will fill you rou a glass from the ancient water bottle The native policemen and soldiers in full regalia are numerous and vigilant In the narrow streets you dodge the tho donkeys and camels and amI dirty children Every Everywhere Everywhere Everywhere where you meet the Egyptian woman with her black veil ven attached to a acor cor corrugated corrugated spool across the bridge of her i nose We were vera ere told that this instrument instrument ment of torture ia is to enable her hus to determine whether or not she has been faithful to the prescribed eti eU etiquette etiquette quette a sere sore nose being a sort of certificate certificate of character Frequently you meet a funeral funer l procession with Its it unique and gaudy trappings and Its hired mourners whose professional wailings add a new terror to death and occasionally a wedding procession carrying the bride In her conspicuous array away and always preceded by a brass bras band whose violent discords leave you In doubt if after all It were not really better to die lie We Ye were a little too early in the season to witness tho the annual ceremony mony of the holy car carpet carpet carpet pet to Mecca This rite and the return of f a similar carpet left at Mecca the year rear before costs the government 50 a year It is the life ambition of every Muslim to visit Mecca Having done so he at once becomes one of ot our most prominent citizens He Ho Is k entitled to wear a green turban and to tc display outside his dwelling an adver advertisement advertisement of his trip trio and the method of 01 making snaking it Such a ore Is supremely blessed in this world and sure aure of his paradise in the next We did Id not un undertake undertake to see the spectacle of the howling dervishes since the genuine performance performa has been prohibited La Later Later Later ter in m Constantinople the sincere de devotions devotions devotions of these th se monks produced a weird impression Fakirs snake charmers newsboys nearly nude acrobats turn turnIng turnIng turning Ing handsprings at your feet the cafes I with their tables tablet overlapping the th walks continental fashion the fine large ho hotels hotels hotels I the Europeans magnificent in dress and equipage ail these contrib contribute contribute ute to the gayety of the hours bours street of the bazaars ba is said to be ue changing chan ng its character very rap rall rapidly rapidly idly The matting overhead has been removed jewelry j and modern cigar and other shops abound and Isaac and Levi have sandwiched d their names among those of Ibrahim and All Which Juxtaposition reminds me Something is doing in Cairo all the week round for there thore is no day upon which some part of tho the population r may fay not conscientiously do business No Ne blue laws will ever go here for the Muslim has his Sunday two days be before before before fore the Christian and the Jet his Be lie Between tween the other two Bargaining In the bazaars is apt to be annoying until you ou get used to it The shopkeeper per has no ne I sense of obligation to name a price in good faith This Is the oriental notion noMon and has not changed Another custom which the govern goern government goi ern ment Is trying to change cha ge is the universal universal sal habit of mendicancy On the banks of the Nile In the temples and tombs even een in the museum in the fields of sugar cane from the top of the camel camelon on the roadside and under the donkey loaded with hay from everywhere is hurled the word Bakhshish from babies that can lisp no other appeal from men In the prime of their strength and from old hags that ought to be retired Under some circumstances I might have said toothless old hags but a strict regard for unattractive truth compels me to admit I see such a person In Egypt The people there without exception have the most beautiful white even teeth one ono could wish for Whether this is because they shew sheer sugar cane Incessantly or Is na natures natures tures Lures compensation for frequent loss of sight I will leave to the scientist t tto to say But returning to and indeed we were never able to get getaway getaway getaway away from it officialdom blames the travelers for tor this demoralization and urges them to give glo only for services performed Yet Tet there must bo a deep deeper er reason than this The Egyptians have none of the sturdy virtues that spring from and Independence independence independence dence As our dragoman used to say after atter he had broken a bundle of sticks over the bare legs of the time donkey boys All 11 Egypt is under the whip And Ando go ao o it would seem but without the visible visible visible ble form of slavery Through 2200 00 years of domination by foreign con conquerors conquerors conquerors the heroic blood of the an ancient ancient fent Egyptians has bas thinned and van vanished vanished vanished With some fairness one could sum hunt up Egypt as the land of antiquity servility and bakhshish But modem modern ways are creeping in inThe InThe inthe The polygamy of the Koran is not practiced much among the middle and upper raper classes cla se and neither of the last t tco aco O khedives has countenanced It Machinery for farming Irrigation and other ether purposes is being Introduced to together gether with tho essential technical training raining Manufactories are being es eis established The health of the th nation is under sunder the charge of ot wi an san sant san t board Taxes are arc being steadily lowered and the debt reduced An in international International debt regulates the income and anti expenses and so much improvement has bas been made their credit Is ia Law and justice for tor all foreigners is administered by b the International courts An Ameri Americans Americans Americans cans house houst for Instance Is his Iris castle no matter what his offence e ho he is not amenable to Egyptian |