CAIRO'S HOUR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIV, 19 March 1921, Page 9

CAIRO'S HOUR

WHEX CAIRO LIVES

The city of Cairo is really plea sanf in summer, at. least in tin evening (writes; a correspondent oHic'jJaily Lxprews). English people living in Egypt had a ciianee n.. lind (his out. when the high cosi lof travel prevented their usua: milliner trip to England. 11 is for the evening -bat Cain. jreally lives. Through the. lomi illcrmioii one may lie motionless, 11 a darkened room, avoiding even the effort of thought ; but nothing arrests the steady (low of perspiraion that drips and drips until on-. .marvels that there is anything oi urn left lui| skin and bone. Vv'nen ihe Nile is rising the air is hea\y with moisture, and it is t".is that makes the heat so hard to bear. At last (he setting sun i'oods t,hc 'desert and the Mokaftani ;»db; viti 1 tangerine glow that changes swiftly into a soft, opalcsjent giccn light." Dusk fails swiftly, and a little breeze shivers throng l .! the rce tops. The streets that but a mori. white ago were almost empty save, jo; lslless policemen and beggars deeping in a patch of shale, be■ojue as animated as a. Paris bouovard The pavement tables out-.-:ide the cafes arc thronged. Picturesque sellers of water and dierbert, dashing two targe bowls .ogcther 10 attract attrition, ply iiieir trade; others sell little nosegavs of strongly-scented jasmine; and the evening papers are bought •agerlv bv the awakening population, while birds iwitter (heir ■veiling hymn. It is on the pavement that the true Caireiie prefers to dine. There is one street in particular filled .villi nothing hut eafes, and then .allies stretch halfway across the road. At some one may order a meai 1 la carte from the restaurant; at others one orders a glass of ueer ■md Picks up courses haphazard from half a dozen different vendors -strange mixtures of salad from me, bread from another, slices oi spiced sausage, the leg of a chickm a handful of prawns, fruit and ill manner of things from as many lifferent sources. Thiß is Cairo's hour ; there are other things that the .strenuously inclined may do during the day-ime-tennis, golf, cricket out. at Gezira Sporting Club swimming ; n the fresh-water bath beneath rtic shadow of the Pyramids or in ■he sulphur spring at Helonan■mt there is more of hard labour ban pleasure in such pastimes. It is for the evening that one : ives. and the perfect evemn?, r-nishes with a sail in a felucca on the romantic Nile, where one takes deep breaths of the cool night air and turns ones face to ■•atch every little breeze that blows.