Show I 0 0 0 t r w L 11 v II 0 J.- J. t diF r nyS b K t r-t- ri r-ri ss Ji l Ii p vvo d View of Cairo Prepared by tho the National Geographic Society Washington D. D C. C It Is difficult to shake the dust of ot tho the ages from froin the tile land of the Nile and to realize that lint there Is an nn Egypt of the vibrant present The recent announcement of the withdrawal of the British protectorate from the time countr country however and the setting up of Its first Icing king In more than 1900 years eus turns the spotlight squarely on the modem aspect of ot this long civilized civilized civil civil- 1 ed region The map lacks much of or giving one tine true picture of Egypt The country country coun coun- try is shown covering ering a large area of northeastern Africa This is the nominal nom final inal Egypt t. t The real Egypt t Is n a narrow narrow nar nar- row row tortuous strip on either side of the Nile and the shaped fan delta surrounding surrounding sur sur- rounding Its mouth Save for a few oases outside the river Yane valley the time rest of Egypt t Is but a n sea of sand practically uninhabited Figures confirm this for of the more than square miles of oC Egyptian territory only about 1000 can ever ever be cultivated cultivated n and a n considerable part of this tillable area has bias not yet et been re re- re- re claimed Looking only at the surface of Egypt's Institutions one Is likely to decide that the changes since the days s 's of the Pharaohs have been great but when certain fundamentals are arc considered considered con con- 81 ered the wonder may mar well wen be at atthe atthe atthe the lack lacI of or change To be sure the Eg Egyptian of to today speaks s Arable Amble l Instead instead In In- stead of his his- old tongue and Osiris Isis and anti Horns Horus have e been long forgotten forgot forgot- ten for Allah and Mohammed But nut ButIn ButIn In spite of numerous Invasions the blood of oC the great majority of oC the population has been altered hardly at all Eg Egypt's resources es are arc almost wholly agricultural and in the agricultural scheme the millions of f fellaheen are the time ultimate D te units Thc They work worl long hours scratching the the soil with cro crude implements or 01 tediously raising water In In skin buckets n attached to pivoted l poles oles that the time thin stream ma may s save e their plants from parching Taxes are hea heavy and andU it Is the lowly fellaheen who keeps the treasury supplied Liv Liv- Living lag ing con conditions are very Cry poor mud huts tints house most of Egypt's thirteen millions In the fields they wear ear little lit tle tie more mOIe than titan n a loin cloth and the younger children of or the villages go naked When the fellah Is dressed up he wears a rough shirt and loose trousers troupers Cairo the Wonder City The stamp of the outside world and of ot the Twentieth Tu century on Eg Egypt pt isto Is Isto Isto to be seen chiefly in n Cairo that wonderland wonderland won won- derland which has hns superseded Bagdad Bagdad Bag nag dad as ns the time city of Arabian Nights Cairo Caho is a living kaleidoscope with Its gleaming anti drab human fragments fragments frag frag- ments tumbling into a changing pattern pattern pattern pat pat- tern not merely from frown East and I HI West but from flom North Korth and South as well White robed robed Bedouin Ill fellah nah shiny-black shiny e and central African negro su Turk lurk Persian Hindu Mongolian dusl dusky y Moor Italian Italian Ital Ital- ian lun Greek Jew Armenian and ami the time whiter folk from Europe Europ America and the antipodes antipodes all all all are ure jumbled together In Cairo their various tongues making a babel tilt that can hardly be duplicated at any other spot on earth enith Time The life that tho t flows Hows along the streets of Cairo could not be duplicated anywhere any any- where else In the world At time the tire Western observer Is likely to b b reminded forcibly of or circus parade on Main lInin street back home Swa Swaying camels move along with brightly dressed riders perched upon them hem or with suspended cars In which are veiled damsels while drummers drun thunder thunder thunder thun thun- der their rhythm and fife glowers blowers emit their shrill notes Snake charmers pass along with their hags bags of snakes magicians perform in some nook carts bullock find rind laden done donkeys donke's s 's compete com com- for fot with pete space SI shining st sines sies es Cafes in the Streets The Time al nl fresco cafe Is one otie of or the most characteristic marks marls of Cairo It Is not isle taste more or less well ordered ordered affair of ot the boulevards of Purls Paris Sidewalks and streets overflow with seemingly Innumerable chairs nail and tables until often n a single sIng file of pedestrians can hardly force fOlce Its tl way n ay I through One gets the Impression Mint lint few people need to work In Cairo ven In In the mornings morning the chairs are ii mEd died led with apparently prosperous ten ion sipping coffee e or sweetened wu wa ter puffing cigarettes and talking Toward noon they disappear for tor their siestas but again at four fohr or five o'clock they are out In force and remaIn remain remain re re- re- re main far Into the night Among them circulates a stream of ot peddlers offering offerIng offer offer- Ing for tor sale almost every conceivable ware from sweetmeats to mousetraps mousetraps mouse mouse- traps and underwear The dweller In Cairo who has not his servant or his group of servants Is low Indeed In the time economic scale These ing serving men carry tiny bundles for Cor their employers or masters They run ahead of c carriages to clear tho the wa way the they fan away the flies files and ono one after another they come In troops Into the presence of the prosperous to brIn bring smoking materials or to offer a bewildering bewildering- succession of drinks and foods Life Is hard and a few cents a da day satisfies them Even en the porters who carry heavy bundles and the who laboriously pole the Nile craft against the current work 12 or 15 Hi hours for tor little more than as many cents In Cairo Carro is the Oxford of the Mohammedan world the University of ot El EI It seems a queer university university sity to those familiar with the higher Institutions of learning of the time West Its classrooms are the time halls and niches of a mosque Its professors receive no salaries but are primarily religious officials government employees employees em em- law lawyers ers and the like who teach In addition to performing their regular duties The pupils who at times number more than squat on mats while their instructors leo lee ture tare This premier college of ot the Moslem world orld has been In existence for OJO ears and hundreds of thousands thou sands sands- of students have passed through Its doors It has been cen the center of the time nationalist propaganda which tins has sought entire freedom for Eg Egypt pt More l It is the hotbed of Pan- Pan Islamism which like Its Us companion movement In the past past- past past- Pan German Ian would lam would combine Its own culture with militarism to dominate the world But nut Pan lan would go 0 further and would bring the world as well hell under the religion of Mohammed Glimpse e at Egypt's Past Pat Tie The Egypt that emerges now again as a kingdom has had a n. checkered history but that Is s reasonable enough when one recalls that It had bad one of the earliest of starts Here Is one on of ur the first places In which man lI lived lId d nn ordered life and left r records cords ot of othis his activities Some anthropologists In fact look 1001 upon central Africa as us th the place of origin of moan man and upon Egypt as ns one of the first ar way stations In hs diffusion over time tile other con con- After the long reign of the Pharaohs Egypt had Its Grecian and Roman Itoman regimes which brought but few fow changes Then In Gil A A. A D D. came the Invasion aslon of the Saracens from which time began benn Egypt's ts t's Mohammedan history For a n- n time the country was wasa a pro province of the time Arabian caliphs later It was Independent though still Mohammedan under the finally In 1510 1516 It became a provInce province pro ince Inee of Turkey which controlled It first through a governor and later through a sort of hereditary viceroy or khedive For Per the time third time Europe took a hand baud In the affairs of Egypt In 1703 1793 when Napoleon won his battle of the Pyramids The British drove the French out In 1801 1501 and aud turned the country countr back to Turkey In came the building of the Suez canal by br De DeLesseps I Lesseps which has given Europe an growing ever Interest In En Egyptian tIan affairs af nt fairs To 10 protect European bondholders bondholders bond hondo holders holdel'S France and Great Britain made a Joint Intervention Jo tv 1879 ISiD and for n D while controlled finances The uprising In 1882 against the khedive was suppressed h by the British alone and after that the they controlled finances finance without assistance Time TIle government was nas In him effect E Egyptian with British assistance and with the nominal suzerainty of Turkey acknowledged When the World war tear b began gan Great emit Britain n established a protectorate abolished Turkeys Turkey's suzerainty deposed the khedIve and null appointed ap al- pointed another prince of or the family to be sultan The British protectorate II Is now being withdrawn but hut Instead of ot the former r Turkish Interest restored Egypt Is s set t up 01 as an min Inde tude Independent pendent kingdom I |