EGYPT TO-DAY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19952, 20 November 1926, Page 24

EGYPT TO-DAY.

BRITISH RULE POPULAR

THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS. Probably no other land save the Holy Land has continued to attract, as Egypt has, the interest ot all parts of the world. In its historic monuments and records of the ancient past it stands unrivalled. In this fascinating land *.riss Catherine Murray, of Milton, has made her home tor the past 11 years us an agent of the Egypt General Mission. She is at present enjoying her second furlough in her own country, and yesterday an Otago Daily Times interviewer learned from her much of interest about life and conditions in Egypt to-day. Miss Murray first went out to Egypt in 1915, her departure having been somewhat delayed by the outbreak of war Her first two years were spent in Cairo studying the Arabic language and attending Islamic lectures triven by Dr Samuel Zivemer and Canon W. H. T. GairdneV, who are recognised as the greatest living authorities on thing Mohammedan These lectures are given chiefly to oung missionaries at the School ol Orient Studies, which is part of the American University at Cairo. Cairo, or as its people call it, El Kahira ( 'The Victorious), i.- of course, the capital of Egypt and the metropolis ot Africa. It is the publishing centre ol the Moslem world, and has Moslem population larger than that of any other city in the world. Its popula tion is about 800,000, of whom the overwhelming luajority are Mohammedans. The people, the architecture and mstitu tions of the city, the signs and cries in the streets all impress the visitor with cue fact that he is in i thoroughly Moslem city. The sheikhs, or Islamic professors of the great El Azlar University, ihe guardians of the citadel of Islam. No other city has so many students of Moslem theology and law; and from Cairo is poured out a great flood of Islamic literature throughout the whole of the Moslem vorld. It is all in Arabic, which is their universal religious language. Everywhere Moslems pray in Arabic. In A 1 Azbar there are from 8000 to 10,000 students in training to go out as missionaries to spread their aggressive faith. The cry is “Back to Mohammed!” A wealth of information about the sickness and suffering in Cairo is summed up in the statement that the city contains 39,000 blind. The latest census figures of literacy in Egypt give an eloquent testimonal to ihe educational value of the work of the missionaries and native Christian workers during the past generation. The figures are for men, women, and children above five years of age. The total popplation of Egypt is estimated at 13,000,000. of whom 800,000 belong to the Coptic Church and 47,000 are classed as evangelical Christians. Among the Moslems only 0.3 are literate, the orthodox Copts have 17 per cent, literate, but among the evangelical Christians 33.3 per cent, can -read and write. Among the Moslems only 1 per ien of the women can read, as compared with 8 per cent, of the Coptic women and 23 per cent of the evangelical Christian women. It is easy to understand, therefore, that the native Christian church exerci .a in Egypt an influence out of all proportion to its numerical strength. Cairo is a great mass of varied nationalities, among whom may be commonly distinguished Sudanese, Jews, Greeks, Turks. Berberi, Maltese, Syrians. French, Italians, British, Russians, Belgians, Germans, Rumanians, Spanish, Swiss, Armenians, Hindus, and Indian Moslems, and they all have heir own newspapers, printed in their own language. All telephone operators and icstal oflicials require to known a number of languages before they can enter the service. They must be familiar at least with Italian, French, English, Arabic, and Greek, and many operators know far more languages than those.

Since the completion of her preliminary training in Cairo Miss Murray has been stationed at Ismailia, where the Egypt General Mission has two large schools, one lor boys and one for girls. Ismailia is situated right on l.io Suez Canal, and nas a population of over 15,000. Ismailia is something of a garden city, and the French part of it in particular is beautifully ’aid out. Most people who pas? through the Canal believe that it is solely under Brjtislj control, but that is not the position. While Britain has a dominating share in its management France is also concerned in it, and the local headquarters of the French Administration of the Cenal is at Ismailia. The water used is conveyed a very long way by canal from the Nile, and laid on in up-to-date fashion. Miss Murray has the assistance of two young ladies from England in the management of a school with a roll of over 100 girls. The majority of these are Moslems, and in view of the fact that a Government school for Moslem girls, in which the Koran is taught, was established at Ismailia about five years ago, it is remarkable that there are any Moslems in the mission school at all. The boys’ school with a roll of about 150 is conducted by a Mr and Mrs King. King Fuad I, who is a Mohammedan, but keenly interested in education, visited both the schools at Ismailia and left behind him a gift of £IOO to each school to provide an annual prize of £5 for the most industrious boy and girl. Ismailia is quite near the treasure cities of the Pharoans, and half an hour’s motor run will bring .you to Rameses and Pithom. There is nothing to be seen there now except broken pottery, for it has all been very thoroughly dug over by excavators. Near Moascar camp there is a great aerial shaft and landing stage erected for the use of airships on the new aerial route soon to be opened through India. There is a large aerodrome at Abu Soueir quite close to Moascar,

Asked about the tourist traffic in Egypt, Miss Murray said that the tourists leave a lot of wealth behind them and many of the guides and dragomans are quite rich with the money they have' amassed through tourists, and especially from Americans. Floating palaces, lighted by electricity, steam up and down the Nile, going as far up as Assouan, and at Cairo, Luxor, and Assouan there are gigantic and most luxurious hotels. Yet across the river oxen toil in the fields drawing wooden ploughs such as were used in the days of the Pharoahs, and one can see camels and buffaloes, sometimes yoked together, tread ing out the corn. Women scramble down the river banks with water jars on their heads, which they fill, and then depart again with stately step and graceful carriage to their villages. Motor cars pass rows of camels laden with sugar cane or bales of cotton, stalking sedately along the roads or through the streets of the towns. Men with goat skins filled with water cry in the streets as they did in the day of Isaiah. “Ho, ye thirsty ones, come and drink without money and without price.’’ Not that they really moan that, but it is their Eastern way of inviting custom. They do not name a price, but if a customer rewards them —well and good ! The famous tombs in Luxor, which Miss Murray has visited are now lighted by electricity. ' There are chambers and gal leries as largo as houses, cut out of the solid rock. Visitors can see the rows of mummies there and the carvings all round.

Asked about the effects of the Great War on Egypt, Miss Murray said it had broken down a lot of bigotry. The Egyptians realised as they did not before that coming from a Christian country does not necessarily make people Christians. Egyptians often toll the missionaries that they do not want the British to leave their country. They know they would never get justice from the rich pashas, men who are swayed by position and bribery, and who would novel care whether the poor got justice or not. The Christians know, of course, that they could never trust a Moslem Government to give them liberty of conscience or Christian privilege. At the same time while the British Govern ment is popular with the masses, the fol lowers of Zaghlul exercise a powerful sway. During the progress of an election campaign they will go round collecting from every shop getting as much as 40 or 50 piastres (8s to 10s) from each one. If anyone dared to refuse to contribute his shop would bo smashed to pieces, and so the people are terroised. 2 The funds so collected are often used for sending electioneering telegrams. Zaghlul has a tremendous hold over the people and thousands of them almost worship him. When ho drove about they had to be restrained from throwing themselves under his car. The Egypt Genera! Mission ha now a staff of 50 missionaries, occupying nine different stations. It has a number of good schools and a hospital at Shcbin-ol-Kanater, about 30 miles from Cairo. Be foro the war Ismailia used to be a hotbed ot malaria, derived from mosquitoes, but non the Canal Company has practically stamped it out. Bilharzia and ophthalmia are lho most common forms of disease now, and provide the bulk of' the hospital patients At first the mission had groat difficulty in getting a tooting among the Moslems, who are always aggressively anti-Christian, but prejudice i- breaking down, and there is a warm welcome for the missionaries in all the homes from which children have come schools. The narants often

admit that the boys and girls coming from the mission schools are much better behaved than those who come from the Moslem schools. The Governor of Ismailia and the chief of police send their children to the mission schools, although they were warned that Christianity would be taught them. When one of the schoolgirls, a Christian girl 17 years of age, died some time ago, hers was the largest civil funeral ever seen in Ismailia. Crowds of Moslem men and women attended the funeral service held in the Coptic church and heard the words of the Scriptures about the resurrection and the life. Openings for Christian enterprise are now abundant, and the trouble is that there are not nearly enough workers to take advantage of them all. There is a steadily-growing body of Christian converts and many faithful and efficient native Bible women and teachers. Miss Murray speaks enthusiastically of Dr Zivemor, under whom she studied in Cairo. His sympathy and tact and understanding give him great influence with the Moslems, and one night in Ismailia he addressed a groat courtyard full of them on the Cross versus the Orescent. He has spent a lifetime in Arabia and other parts of the Moslem world. On his return from one of his tours, he was embraced by Moslem sheikhs in the streets of Cairo, and he afterwards went with the party to the El Azlar University, and, with the professors there, returned thanks to God for his safe return. He has placed in the university there a special copy of the Bible in beautifully-illuminated Arabic text. His home is always open to Moslems, and ho has done a great deal in breaking down their prejudice. Dr Zivemer is of DutchAmorican descent, and his wife is a Sydney Miss Murray expects to be occupied with deputation work during a considerable part of her furlough, and will probably bo addressing meetings later on in Dunedin.