Show I Twentieth Century Egypt EgyptI L I XIV An African Health Resort L BY FREDERIC J HASKIN Cairo It is estimated eB mated that about of or the visitors to Egypt each winter vinter are persons seeking health 01 or pleasure beneath sunny skies The cli ell climate climate mate is 18 credited with vast possibilities In it Inthe Inthe the matter of the restoration of oC health Possibly not net enough credit Is given to tc the European or American physician whom the Invalid brings with him In it Inmany Inmany many Instances Instance or to the Occidental l practitioner established in Cairo Until re recent recently cent at any rate foreign doctors had hac to depend entirely upon foreign practice The native natle Egyptian would have none ol ot of othis his medicine preferring to pin his faith fait to remedies in use we when the pyramids pyramid were building rather than trust to dis discoveries discoveries of the infidel and outlander I Until recently village barbers barbera and old oU women constituted the th medical advisers of or the natives cured their theli ailments by texts from the Koran am and Copts doctored themselves by applying excerpts from Crom the Psalms or Gospels An Ar operation warranted to cure all but fa fatal fatal fatal tal diseases consisted In drinking NUe Kile water vater from rota a specially constructed brass bras bowl for three consecutive Fridays II It the patient did net nt live Uve to the third Fri Friday Friday Friday day It was wall manifestly because the dis dill disease disease ease was fatal A bone from the body bod bodor of or a Jew Jev or an Egyptian mummy was wai considered a charm chann against fevers A I sterile woman who wished to bear chil children children children dren stepped over the corpse cOrpLe of or an exe ole executed executed cured criminal walked upon skull or bathed In water previously u used ed to wash vash a corpse corp e A headache was cured by driving a nail into one of the gates of Cairo An antidote for poison polson was to tc drink water in which texts from the Ko Koran Koran Koran ran had been soaked ked A dislocated joint was bound to a cow and the animal fed so that the swelling would reduce the swelling of the patients limb It is quite true that the pure air al of the desert Is la a tonic tonk of or rare value to the de debilitated debilitated debilitated and of or especial benefit to suf sufferers sufferers from various illnesses but the first discovery and disillusionment of the un unwary unwary Unwary wary visitor vt is in that it is easier ster to catch cold eold In Jn Cairo than it is i in Chicago and harder to get rid of know how to guard against colds The late arrival does not The Egyptian who kneels Dy by bythe the roadside with his face tace toward Mecca and says sa his prayers as an the sun tUR is in set lIat setting setting ting wraps his hili mantle manUe about his hl hI head and throat The American has been free f from cold in southern California C at th the Gulf coast winter resorts re or In Florida I Believing Belle that In to KYJ t as al In semitropical Ical leal America colds colde are rare and hard bard to tc catch he finds himself at sunset five miles from his hotel ill top coat Chilled to the bone he be arrives in due time tim at an American bar bel his fetich against th the cold germ But when he awakens next morning 1 ha haIs e is 18 in the grip of an Egyptian cold lie He tries everything from asperin to in an effort to get pt rid of or It It lasts a week despite his efforts His Hie teUs tell him gravely gravel that a cold in Cairo sometimes results seriously It is always serious in Itself the gravity of an Egyptian cold which in strict justice must be credited with con confining confining confining fining itself chiefly to the head heed the COU coo COUtry coutry try tl Is 1 sought by consumptives from Eu Europe Europe Europe rope as a Arizona Arisona is ill sought h b by Americans An similarly affected Although the French and English occupation occupation pation potion of Egypt might be supposed rup to have bave taught Europeans that Egypt El 19 i not altogether tropical the fact is that it has hai not The tourist buys his hi sun helmet be before before before fore he be gets geu to Cairo Perhaps be gets it from his hie furnisher at home bome Having firm firmly firmly ly I fixed in his mind the Idea that he Is 18 doing a 1 hot country be he dons done his hie helmet before he ventures venture on the street The mere fact that it is rather nipping in the early earl morning just comfortable in the sun llyn at midday and decidedly cold at su sup set does doe not eradicate the Impression that without a sun lIun helmet he be might ht suffer death or 01 great bodily bodO harm In Africa He Heis HeIs Heis is forced for ed to get his hie overcoat out of Ills his hi trunk but the stately white helmet pierced by ventilating holes holee towers the necessary nece sary outer garment Sometimes the exercise Incidental to visiting the pyramids on his hla bicycle does des not sufficiently sufficiently heat his tood to cause him to leave off ot his overcoat but the sun lIun cur curtain CUrtain tain tam reaching from tro the back of his hel hal helmet helmet halmet met to hie his shoulders shoulder does dOe not net strike him himas himas himas as being an absurdity Rheumatism bronchitis asthma th the after effects of grip and of pleurisy and pneumonia pl monia the effects of overwork or mental strain strata neuralgia and many other ot r diseases dl s and ailments aliments are said ald to Rive give Ive way wa before Egyptian air and attention to medical advice Horseback riding camel and donkey riding and ad other forms of exercise incident to seeing ing monuments aira a ruins of antiquity give the muscle j of orthe the rheumatic a suitable kneading Aid tid d doubtless form a good part of th the beneficial effect to other persons persona Egypt ia Is not subject to wide and vio violent yb ff lent variations of temperature There Thel is isan Isan isan an occasional sand storm of a mild va variety s a ariet riet called the which brines brt s impalpable dust Into the most tightly tt tty closed room but the khamsin comes but three or four times in a season e son blurring the landscape so that Cairo seems II wrapped Tapped in a yellow London fog It I gives give the th visitor an opportunity to see s a yarn d aed storm without imposing upon him the dis discomforts discomforts il comforts comfort of a real Tel sirocco sr Nearly erl every ev everyone ry one enjoys a khamsin khamin as an aR experience There Tee are ar sufferers from fo catarrhal ctrl affections aUe who insist that th it is 1 beneficial The Te mean n temperature In Cairo Caro in w wi la ia later ter te is il C c degrees deges Fahrenheit as warm as 11 a athe the Maderia islands IsIAn Because Bu of th te the tr U UIn tres ei in Cairo it rains r two or 01 three tl times I a year ye Along Alg the Upper Upp Nile Nie th the slights sl ht shower causes eu a sensation among the th aa on tines Uve A temperature turf of 12 a degrees d gell ha has bu bute been te recorded re in Cairo Ciro but bt it i is In i very eri ar rat r rRy rBy By Ry early 1 forenoon on the coolest colet days daye degrees degree dege the sun always lifts the mercury many masy ma It is La much warmer wane In upper Egypt Et Ii It I the traveler is not content with a ten tees ten In which an af overcoat o t must mus bt b b worn n after sunset be he bf ma mar take a slow siw sl boat bt for the upper NH NW NI or 01 a somewhat less lea slow and ald much mth less les comfortable train In Tn a day d by b land Jan 01 or Ir Ira ora a fe to by b water he reaches a cli cl sIte where summer clothing j tty ay be b worn wor hi in i January Janu without discomfort The ss system tern tem te of hotels from trees the tl Mediterranean n southward to t the tb cataracts of the t Nile Nib Nf i is o gradual dull expanding and improving Every Ever effort of Europeans in Egypt who ar at al Interested Interacted in I the tb volume of tourist travel is bent toward convincing Ye the Oe tray trA elf cloy el of the t folly folK foh of In sun sn and health helth on en the while the nodding an te palms palm pal 8 that fringe the Nile Nie beckon the wayfarer to rest and Nt recuperation where when fans falls frt fa frost te is I unknown and wn whee where e rain wl rarely rarey The Te American men visitor proud of ff the th fart fact fac that tt his government came et and saw sw and andoval overcame oval th the mosquito in Havana and th the an canal eal zone lone Is I amazed ame to find a peculiarly large and ferocious type of o mosquito in one of the driest countries In IR the th world Eier Every bed bd in Cairo has ha If ite i bar It I is 1 used the year round In th the absence o of us f n fly screens scene er it i ro is il a necessity tf Th The lull mosquitoes br breed upon the le pools by hy iTt tl ditches and Infest the th whole we country Within convenient distance from Cairo Cairn there wU ar are I several 11 health Ith a biou l oasis o with its It famous famo baths and horse he races reea claims caln th thO attention of or per persons sons wo who 5 a are w war weary of Pyramid climbing pr golf pl polo and an dancing in Cairo or whose state o of f health does dos not no permit Ji them to dl while recuperating This town tOW with its it sulphur springs that were valued by the th Romans is I in the th desert deser It I affords afo a view w of ot the th Nil 11 a sky sk line lino ln against agist the tR pyramids are ae etched etche nd a B distant view tew w of the hills be hind Cairo Ca It I is in i within a 0 of ol the U social s gaiety of or the capital At Luxor In IR Egypt the health E seeker seker who w has bs eliminated a t rt of ot hi his bill rheumatism by bathing at or climbing Cheeps Che finds rin a warmer drier climate and an more monuments to explore He takes take his tonic while exploring Thebes Tb or o musing upon up the th grandeur of the th past pst before th th the temple of Karnak Kark at He may my take tae his hi sun In a sailboat upon a a lake above the dam dam two tw or three thre times ti as large lare as Lake Le Geneva and al I see the th ruins of or ancient Philae Phie insulated I bv by irrigation If t h he is i j master mast r of or the t art ar I df i traveling b by eu stages stags and enjoys I tra travel ol tl not nit t insist uses u the thes s t 8 1 i mo n mints hf ti i ma ia a pd a i tt th I or r T wo e TT I ng the t Nil i i a da 4 j a i ar ff f r nt t 1 ly art uh f i t te TH 1 y io Ia a af 1 f 1 i 11 I 1 10 n nd 1 f t t T pi piT a 4 These T Woo Waist insist that in of agriculture due to British methods of irrigation has ba reduced the th violence doten eto and a frequency of sandstorms In Cairo can cannot cn cannot not he be b taken taen seriously when the size of o the adjacent desert is 18 considered But John ohn Bull Bul may ma justly claim caim that while he has ha made Egypt habitable to Occidentals t Ocen tale and therefore a health resort h hhas he has ha also alo Improved the condition of or the natives The Te prevalence of o due to the superstitious belief of Bg that tat to o drive insects from Crom the faces Ca of or children subjects them to the Influence of the evil evi eye ee Is still plainly plaint and pa pathetically p pathetically in evidence But ophthalmic hospitals hospital are doing much toward aiding the afflicted and medical mecal science sl Is gradually overcoming opposition Although British occupation has bs brought to bear upon the public health healt of the tb country modem medical meica methods a cr meto tain tam amount of sanitation and proven tine tive measures against t the plague a much remains remans to be b done Progress is in necessarily necessarily I nes sari slow In a land where direst pov po poverty poverty erty dense Ignorance f and Intense super superstition s per and suspicion of ot Christians Christins exist to a degree deg Impossible to be appreciated by western wester people unfamiliar with wit Oct Ori Oriental Or conditions and an manner of or thought Copyright 1509 1105 10 by b Frederic Free J Haskin Ilkin |