A HOLIDAY IN EGYPT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2690, 4 October 1905, Page 66

A HOLIDAY IN EGYPT.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES.

(By Rev. Andksw Cameeon, 8.A.) , "When we turned our faces from the ..few towards the Old World one of the pleasures we anticipated was a visit to - Palestine and Egypt, and in part, but^pnly in part, that pleasure has been fulfilled. Mr and Mrs Hewitson have seen and enjoyed Palestine, Egypt they passed by, "while I have seen some little of Egypt, but nothing of Palestine, a little rascal germ I met somewhere in India having taken ,I&uch a fancy lo me, that nothing would -. satisfy him but that, J should keep him j V^company in hospital for six weeks, most of r which time was spent in Port Said. This, j i>f course, put Palestine out of the question J. 30 far as I was concerned, and thus illustrated afresh the saying of Burns: The best laid! 30116111*8 o' mice and men , ' 'Gang aft agley. After getting rid' of this unwelcome . germ I had- a fortnight in Egypt. What associa- ; *ion 3 are linked with the name Egypt.! "I v remember Avell the v thrill of joy with" ■which, "l entered Edinburgh years ago. All I ite'Scot "within nic danced as I found" my- j "" self -in Scotia's ancient" capital. Here was , * ,the city on whose stones the story of Scot- - land was written, and llitis had been the iiome of many of her noblest sons. It was not quite the same, but somewhat similar, feelings that possessed me as I stood before jthe Pyramids and knew that at last I was \ in the Land of the "Pharaohs. Had I not • *een it long ago in my dreams? Had I not ibeen with Joseph when his brothers , platted, to take, his life, and sold him to strangers, who carried him thither? I had eeen him fight his ' good fight in his , Master's House; had heard him tell the meaning of "Kings' dreams, and rejoiced ' jrith Mm a* he fook the place of honour be- - side the king. This, too, was the land of Moses,-^ho had lived first as the king's son arid then' became the' "champion and •deliverer of the ' king's slaves^ It was ;worth coming a long way to see a land so full of sacred memories. And yet there, -was much to sadden one. It seemed like a tnountain that had burned itself out, and -in doing so- had -drowned in lava streams the magnificent 'homes that ~'once"."sur--tounded"TOJf^^jnueir of il the , hand of idesolationr- «^^^MflS^" -heavily* TW iiistory of Egypt' rdPfoack to- the almost Jimitless past, when" "it was a great /and f ijowerful (nation. , ~And now, after long years 01 helplessness, it is- springing into new life, and so Lord Cronic-r in- his last report to Lord Lansdowne speaks of it as " now rapidly striding towards an- advanced «tage of civilisation." 'For the new Jife that is stirring Egypt /she is to a large ♦rtent indebted to Britain. BRITAIN AND EGYPT. The position of Egypt is somewhat unique — nominally it is a vice-royalty under tee suzerainty of the Sultan of Turkey, $o whom an annual payment is made^ of ' over half a million pounds ; in reality, how•ever, it is controlled bjr the British Governanent, every question of importance being -referred to London through the English Consul-general. The occupation of Egypt fc iby -Britain has long been a root of bitterness %o some' of the Continental Powers, especially to France, which in 1882 refused to •£oin with Britain in suppressing the Arabi "aevolt, which threatened to sweep away whole fabric of civilised society in Egypt. The declared purpose of the British at the time of the occupation •was that it should be of brief duration, feut soon it became evident that this was Empossible, unless she was prepared to see fche good work she had begun for the regeneration of Egypt arrested and destroyed. fFhus, for more than a quarter of a century •we have been open to the taunt of having (broken our pledge — a taunt which Continental neighbours have not been slow to use. The Anglo-French "Agreement of April. 8, &904,' has changed ;all this. The continued occupation of Egypt by Britain has in &' "measure been legalised;- France-having declared that' " the Government of theTEtepublie iwill not obstruct the action, of Great- Britain In Egypt, by asking ?• that a 'lljmit of time ie fixed for the British occupation, orjin *ny other manner." A declaration to the«ame effect has subsequently" been made by the -Governments of Germany, AusfcriaIHungary, and Italy. Britain gains something from this agreement, but it is confidently expected that Egypt will- gain much "Snore. Thus ' Lord Cromer says: — "As to jthe advantages which are likely to accrue to the residents in Egypt, both European ;'and Egyptian, there cannot be a shadow ■of & doubt. Apart from the fact that the financial restrictions, which by a change of circumstances had become obsolete and unmece66ary, have been removed, it is to be observed that Egyptian progress will now, at may be hoped, continue to advance with--out being hampered by that somewhat acute .stage of international rivalry- which has - S>een productive of so much harm in the Jiast." - . . , -, As "indicating the prosperous condition ox tfche country, two facts may be here given — " i&) the excess of revenue over the estimates i ifor 1903 amounted to nearly £2,500,000, and Sn 1804 the "excess was much larger (I fthink it was "nearly £4-, 000, 000, but I cannot lay my hands on the exact figures). Lord jCromer says: "The trade statistics for 1904 Are very remarkable. Exclusive of tobacco, -the- total value of the imports was 1319,589,000 (Egyptian) or £3,742,000 (EgypJfcian) more than in 1903, and* of the exports '^20,316,000 (Egyptian), or £11200,000 (Egyptian) more than in 1903." (The Egyptian ' mound is is worth about £1 0s 6d.) (b) The —irrigation works carried out have increased ' '*he "annual rental of the lands affected by over one million and a-half pounds; and > 3when the work in hand is completed it ia estimated that for a total expenditure of I x »ix and a-half millions the annual rental j of the land affected in Middle Egypt will j le increased by over two and a-half million pounds, and its sale value by over 26; L ■aillions. IN HOSPITAL IN PORT fc»AID. j At Bombay all passengers ~te£ar& soing

on board the steamer are subjected to a medical examination. This is insisted on bsoause of the prevalence ofplagiie. The record in Bombay while we were there was something like 70 new cases of plague per drem, a.ncl the weekly record of deaths from the same cause rose in March to 34,000 for the whole of India. It is difficult to talc© in these numbers, but at this rate Dunedm would be robbed of man, woman, and child in less than a fortnight. I was at once passed by the doctor, but was hardly on board the steamer be-fore I began to feel out of sorts This I put down to my bad seamanship, but soon it proved to bo something more serious — something which prevented me from enjoying the trip from India to Port Said,— and finally shut me up for five weeka in the -hospital at the latter place. Long ago I dreaded the thought of being laid up in a German University town, sick in a strange land, and had I been told that I was to undergo that experience in Port Siaid I would have thought that about the worst experience that could befall me. Port Said! Why, I always thought of it, after seeing it nearly 25 years ago, as one of the vilest places on earth; and yet this was the place at which I was to be left. The thought would have been unbearable; yet the reality was nothing to speak of. To begin with, anything seemed bettor than the unceasing noise of .the steamer; and then the sound of an English nurse's* voice as the ambulance brought me to the gate of the ' hospital told me that all was right. Where a good English nurse is one may be sure of every possible comfort. And so it proved in my case; doctors, nurses, and attendants did all they could to make me comfortable and to expedite my recovery. I shall' never forget the kindness of my travelling companions, Mr and Mrs H. On board the steamer, as soon as they heard the nature of my trouble, they volunteered to nurse me, and than they spent eight days in Port Said waiting to be assured that I was on the fair road to health again. I am sure they were more distressed than I was; and their daily letters to' me were a daily-delight, to which I looked forward with impatience. I have occasionally spent long, long nights ; but my first two in the hospital were the longest I ever experienced. It seemed as if the night would never pass. When visiting patients in the Hospital in Dunedin I have often wondered how they slept with the moans and movement in the ward, and I wonder still. Every movement, every sound, seemed to keep me- awake while I was in the ward. For the first week I was the only patient, and had as my attendant a native rejoicing in the- name of Ibrahim. I was assured he was very kind and very stupid. I found that an accurate, description of the man. "He did not, understand a word of English, and was always doing things the wrong way. Yet. we- got along famously, and -when he 'bad 1 to give place -to another and more capable attendant I thought he would fall -on my neck and weep or take to kissing me, neither' of which 'promised to be agreeable. He did indeed kiss my shoulder. Mahomed was a delightful, little fellow, -who knew his _ way about and was "full of fun. He was' Mie happy, possessor of two wives and one babe; and felt his isolation from mother and babe, yet was very happy. This exchange til attendants was necessitated by the arrival of a ship's clerk and a soldier. The latter was very bad, and for a while 'troublesome to manage. Then a jolly sailor made his appearance, and kept the ward lively. I would not like always to live in one large room — I felt the want of privacy very much. Yet I enjoyed for a while this intimate contact with men of different types.

THE GOOD CANON.

Port Said' has a considerable foreign population, the crrpat majority of whom, however, are Greeks, The British population is a mere handful. • To their spiritual needs the Church of England ministers. Thrs canon in charge could not visit us in our ward— he would, I doubt not, had he been permitted, — but used to come every week with London pa.pers, and gave us a hearty greeting over the fence. The value of a daily paper when the battle of Manchuria was on the eve of being fought was very great ; so we all felt the kindness of the good oailon very much. He told me he had been about 25 .yeaa-s in Port Said, and seemed happy in his work.

THE SUEZ CANAL

i The entrance to the canal was within sight of the verandah o!f the hospital, and when convalescent I was able to enjoy the sight "of steamers of all nations coming from and going to all parts of the world through this narrow waterway. One of the interesting events was ' the entrance of Russia's third Baltic fleet under Admiral Noubogatoff. I saw it as it lay at anchor at Port Said, and at the time felt it would be safer afc -home ; and since then the fleet of Togo haa sent most of them to the bottom. At first the English Government opposed the construction of the canal. Now it is the largest shareholder, and, of course, owns mo6t of the ships that use it. Lord Beaconsfield's happy stroke in buying the 176,602 shares of the Khedive in 1875 for £4,000,000 returns to the British Treasury something like a million pounds per annum. But for the foresight and wisdom cfi one of the London editors, these shares, with all the political and financial advantages which they carry with them, would have fallen into the hands of the French. The canal, which is nearly 100 miles in length, has cost something like £20,000,000, yet pays about 25 per cent. The passage occupies about 16 hours. From Port Said a mole runs out sea-wards a distance of 2726 yards, and on it has been placed an imposing bronze statue of M. de Lessepe," who. in spite of extraordinary difficulties, carried out this great work. PORT SAID. In 1880 I passed through Port Said, and carried with me the impression that it was one of the vilest of places. Dirt and vice were everywhere apparent. The gambling ■table was openly exposed in the street, and passers-by invited to take part in the game. Now a new town has sprung up, with fine buildings and fair streets, and tbe.jjaiinbler is forced to be more modest, and hide himself under cover somewhere. Still, hs manages to do much harm, and the Egyptian Government is endeavouring to suppress the evil. The value of all such efforts is variously estimated. On this point it may be worth while quoting Lord Cromer, as follows: — "I am aware that some persons are of opinion that, as no Government would care to embark on the quixotic attempt to put a stop to all gambling, it is useless to interfere at all, and that, therefore, the campaign conducted against gambling establishments in Egypt had better be aban.-

doned. I am unable to share this view. It is perfectly true that so long as gamblers exist they will generally find some means of gambling, even though they have to frequent establishments where there is no very cure guarantee that the play is conducted fairly. But it is equally true that facilities for gambling make gamblsrs, and not infrequently contribute to the ruin of casual spectators who are not habitual gamblers. The case is the same as that of the drink shops, an excess of which tends to make drunkards. The French proverb, that 'Opportunity makes the thief,' applies somewhat forcibly in these caa3s." A curious practice in connection with gambling is allowed in Port Said. On one night in the year — the Greek New Year — open gambling in the streets may be indulged in without let or hindrance — a kind of safety valve, where the gambling spirit may find vent. The new town is also much cleaner than the Port Said of my recollection. But one. has not got far to go to find the native quarter, and dirt and danger to his heart's content. As I passed by, not through, the streets of the native quarter, I tlwught I could hear the silent tread of 10,000 deadly guns masquerading up and down them. No; I did not go into them ; I had a lively recollection of the dirty streets in Indian cities, and of the disease that ran rife from door to door. And just then I had no desire- to see dirt, however interesting the humanity that delighted in it. Then there is danger as well as dirt in the so streets. I would not venture in daylight down some of them without an armed guard. And yet some 40,000 people live in Port Said, and count it the hub of the univeiee. So be it. So far as I have seen there is no place like horne — no place so lovely and desirable as dear New Zealand. May it prosper evermore! (To be continued.)