FASCINATING CAIRO.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10042, 9 January 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

FASCINATING CAIRO.

£ (By Frederick K. Stearns.) It has been aptly said that one may sit on th<t ..terrace at Shepherd's Hotel in Cairo and see the world pass in review. Nowhere- else can there be found such a strange co-mingling of the Orient and the | Occident, the Far East and the Far West, 1 the mpdern and the primeval, as in this strange old Egyptian capital, -which has succeeded to a remarkable arid gratifying degree in warding off the march of progress. Do not misunderstand me. Cairo is far ' from benighted. Inventive genius and ' modern enterprise have made themselves ' felt in more than oiiC direction. 1 Yon can .board an electric car and ride ' out to the pyramids with the same ease f that you would take a trip from Detroit ; to Grosse Pointe, and the distance is not eo much greater. You can dine do rigueur 111 the evening at a hotel having no superiors throughout 1 the length and breadth of America, with : tho very best of European music to add relish to the repast. You can hear sung in Cairo grand opera such as Detroitcrs were never permitted to enjoy at home. You can hire an automobile and go skimming about the city or out into the country, communing with the sphinx or resting in the shades of the pyramids; At the hotel you. will meet travellers from every clime and of every nationality, but wherever you may chance to wander there is a background of Oriental splendor from which 6princ contrasts that render Cairo fascinating Beyond compare. On the tram car that clatters noisily through streets which until a few years ago knew no sound more modern than tho hoarse shouts of the camel drivers you will have as travelling companions gaudily attired soldiers, fond of exhibiting thenieelvcs for the ediScation of a populace that while it looks upon compulsory military service as irksome, nevertheless has a wholesome admiration for the Khedive's fighting men; gaily turbaned sheiks, bedouin? fresh from the desert and resplendent in the brilliant colors'of their tribe; clerks, merchants, Americans, Freneh, Germans, natives with apparently no mission in life save to ride, for the electric car hes taken a firm hold on the Cairons, and ha who can do .so willingly parts company with a few piasters arid looks down pityingly on his less fortunate or more frugal feilow being w"ho trudges along on foot. You motor out to the pyramids and almost the first thing you encounter is a camel train, the great lumbering brutes, relics of a mode of locomotion long since outdistanced in civilised communities, paying no attention whatever to the automobile or its unmistakable odor of gasoline. On the streets you encounter much that is foreign to what may be witnessed in any other city. The East and the West meet on a common footing here. An American maid, looking decidedly chic Ml her perfect fitting gown, may rub elbows with an Egyptian woman wearing a shapeless outer garment, her mouth hidden by the veil without which a native woman never ventures forth. Beturbaned bedouins jostle donkey drivers, and heavily laden camels jog along, picking their way • skilfully through the crowds. It is a cavalcade that beggars description—dog carts, with European drivers, the occupants fashionably attired ladies from foreign capitals; dcnkcys staggering beneath burdens out of all proportions, their ha'.f-nased drivers trotting at their 6ice, urging them on with whip or prod ; automobiles, where the streets are wide enough and progress possible: sightseers ' from far-off lands astride loping camels, for there are a goodly number of tourists who insist on making the journey about- tho city in this manner, regardless of the attendant discomfort; Government em-ntm-Ofi rtr rtovL-c in

ployees or clerks jn business houses scampering along on donkey back, their legs barely missing the ground as they straddle these unaeraized stc-ods. And .in the midst of it- all, causing a scattering ni every direction, comes a detachment of native cavalry. There is not- a dull moment in Cairo for the one interested in ' sight-seeing, ■and you must look whether you would or; no. It is something of a surprise to walk along the Mouski and find the shops' carrying a line of unmistakably European. . clothes, shoes and furnishings. It likewise furnishes little comfort-toran' American. to discover that his native land- 'B rarely rcryreeented among the stores that abound here. But then, British supremacy is in evidence on every hand! and you comfort yourself with the fact that it would be impossible for American manufacturers to produce such weird fabrics or patterns as these that are flaunted in your face. Then, too, disappointment at this lack of American enterprise is speedily forgotten once you have turned your attention to the bazaars, whoso number is legion. European influence has not made itself ! felt- here, and you can spend hours inspecting the 6trange wares offered for sale, sipping the excellent- coffee prepared by the shopkeeper, joining hfm in a friendly smoke the while with the skill of a natural born trader he expounds the merits ] of his goods. Of course the price is high. , You wouldn't expect anything else. But . after a little dickering the dealer in his f most courteous manner assures you he will deem it an honor to make liberal concessions to such distinguished visitors, and you eventually leave the place laden with wares upon which the shopkeeper netted a handsome profit. Nevertheless, the experience is well worth while. Make not the mistake of thinking that these simple folk who still cling to the turban and the flowing robe of their forefathers are lacking in business acumen. Down the Kile vcu cruise for a- few miles in one of those strange boats that from a distance resemble more than anything else an overgrown bird, cross the historic stream and enter a sluggish little bayou. Tho boat is drawn up to ~ie bank/ the passengers debark and are led a short distance by the guide to where a spot on the river bank a few yards in extent has been enclosed by a low wall. "This," says the veracious guide, in his very best English, "is the exact spot where Pharaoh's daughter found Moses in the bullrushes." Then in the same breath he demands a half dollar from each member of the party, in addition to the boat fare. Of course you pay, for the prospect of swimming the Nile is not alluring. But you make a few mental reservations regarding the "enterprising follower of Mohammed, at the same time congratulating yourself that- the "touch" was not heavier. Your credulity is subjected to frequent and severe strains by these guides, who accompany you everywhere, and from whom there is no escape. At times they seem a nuisance, but in the end you regard them as amusing. Out on the plains of Heliopolis, a few miles from Cairo, and near the ancient land of Goshen, 6tands a tree beneath irhich your caravan halts and the guide in an impressive manner imparts the information that- beneath this very tree the Holy Family slept while fleeing from Judea into Egypt. "Great- Scott!" ejaculated one impressionable member of our party. "You don't mean to tell me that tree has stood there for two thousand years." "Well," stammered the guide, taken back by the' suddenness of the inquiry; "no, not just that one, but—but there used to he another one like it stood - there." l'hen he made the rounds collecting the bakshish that is an indispensable feature of every trip. Xearby was one of those queer Egyptian wells, from which water is dravm by a camel and a string of buckets passing over a crude wheel. They tell you in all seriousness that it. was here the VirginMary slaked her thirst during the flight to Egypt, and that as a result the water was changed from stale to fresh, continuing so unto the present t ; mc. There is no disputing the statement even if you wruld, for those who inhabited this land two thousand yeans ago Ion? entered into their final slumbers. accurate the story ma,-.- be, it furnishes .-in. . cuse to again collect tribute, which is after all of greater consequence in the Oriental eye than mere facts. . The Mohammedan year is lunar, thus . being eleven days shorter than our own. ■ It isn't necessary to spend more than a 1 few days in Cairo until you begin to woni der whether the vf-zr was abbreviated <v> that no more festivals could be crowded > in, or so that those alreadv established ■ might Tecur with greater frequency. There at® three Sabbaths every seven days

in - Cairo. The Mohammedan observes Friday, the Jew Saturday, and the Christian Church Sunday. Then there are innumerable festivals, and the day on which ft nothing of this nature transpires is the n exception rather than the rule. It doesn't r. matter to these Orientals that such obsera vances interfere with business, for this is lb really the last thing permitted to -worry [■> them. They aTe a happy-go-lucky improis vident. lot, -with few nee>ds, and these s easily supplied. g Next to religious festivals, the most pretentious event is a wedding. In no other place is joy so umconfined oil such an oc-, r casion as here in Cairo. There are noisy d processions and feasts, and the poor will S often be fed for a -week, the groom borrowing all the money he can from a e: usurer and toiling, for years to relieve him- » self of the burden assumed that he may t make a suitable showing on his wedding t day. A parade through the streets is customary, the bride being hidden within i a closed carriage. We saw one of these t- strange parties, a mingling of camels and i donkeys : and shouting, laughing pedes--1 trians. And at their head marched' a band of ragged Ethiopians, whose ebony i skin glistened in the sunlight and- who 1 were extracting the most liideous discord from Scotch bagpipes! J Another familiar sight in Cairo are the 3 paid mourners who are indispensable at a r funeral whether tho deceased be of high or low station. They tell me it is not an > uncommon thing to find these hags sqiiat- , ting outside a house wherein_ a person is seriously ill, waiting to be hired the mo- - ment the breath of life has gone. Be - that as it may they present a most gruesome sight when officiating for the bereaved family, shrieking, howling as they accompany the, funeral cortege through the streets to the burying ground, stopping for a few moments after the ceremony to gossip with one another and then scattering in search of other engagements. There is no end to the strange sights that can be witnessed in Cairo. From daybreak until far into the night can bo encountered this human tide that has no parallel, and which- is a never-ending source of wonderment. And when you have tired temporarily of the Orient you can journey a few blocks to your hotel, partake of a table d'hote dinner with dignitaries from all parts of the world amid the most modern of surroundings, and later in the evening hear grand opera sung by some of the best artists Europe has produced. Little wonder, then, that they call it Fascinating Cairo, and that idlers from every land flock here year after year to spend their winters.