A HOLIDAY IN EGYPT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2692, 18 October 1905, Page 89

A HOLIDAY IN EGYPT.

Bt the Eev. A. Cameron, M.A.

CAIRO. With only a few clays to spend in Egypt, the first question to be decided is — Where? Are they to be given to Cairo, the capital, which lies near at hand, or should they be' given to the exploration of the magnificent ruins of Thebes, the ancient capital, which lies on the banks of the Nile, 450 miles south from Cairo? I was particularly anxious to .visit Thebes, and see the ruins of Luxor and Karnak, of which it is said " that for splendour and magnitude they are the most magnificent group of ruins in the world, but for various reasons I had to content myself with Cairo and its environs. FROM PORT SAID TO CAIRO. For Cairo, then, I took train from Port Said on the 28th March. The journey can scarcely be called exciting, yet it is not without interest to one who is making his first entrance into Egypt. The first part of the journey is along the west bank of the canal, &o that occasionally a glimpse is caught of steamers passing through it. And here and there dredges are seen clearins and improviua: this great sraterway.

! After a run of an hour md a-half wo I reached Ismailiya, and then turned off into I the desert in a S.W. direction. I was greatly interested in seeing at one of the l'ailwa'y stations— Zaqazik — fKvo New Zcaiaiid posters proclaiming the beauties of New Zealand lake and mountain scenery. It; was fikc the sight of an old friend, and set me watching lor the game at other stations, but none was to be seen. I have been pleaded to find that people everywhere have a most favourable opinion of New Zealand. Its beauty and its climate are in everyone's month. I tell them that we have variety of climate and scenery something like that "of Europe, and one of the finest countries in the world. At the same time it is amusing to find the .strange notions that, prevail regarding our far-off land One of the first questions put to me in Berlin was, " Is not that where the cannibals live?" Then one delightful German music teac-ber asked me in all seriousness,' "Are there any pianos in New Zealand?" I replied, '"We have one or two." I" think the best of all the questions' put to ane" was that of the sheriff of a large town in the North of England, who asfced, "Do you speak th© English language in New Zealand?" This same sheriff was as proud as possible of the fact that a few days before he had had the honour to represent his city at Windsor and to shake hands with the Queen and -Prince of TVaks. Evidently the schoolmaster as well as the photographer is needed to give a right impression about New Zealand even in our beloved Motherland. The mention of our small population excites no end of surprise-Tel-el-Kebir awakened more than passing interest as the train ran into it. Here is the site of the battle in which Lord Wolseley broke up Arabi Pasha's army on the 13th September, 1882, and crushed the rebellion which threatened to bring down in ruins the whole fabric of civilised society in Egypt. There, at the station gate, is the cemetery in which lie the remains of the officrs and men killed in that action. Happy "the country that has -no history, we are told, and certainly thrice happy the country that has no battle fields to show. In this, thrice happy condition is our southern island ; and yet perhaps the absence of battle fields in our midst increases the interest in one when we see it abroad. At Tel-el-Kebir, as we look over these sands, we see the marshalled forces — black and white contending with one another — and amid the roar of cannon and crack of muskets hear the groans of the dying, and see the whitened faces of the dead, and turn away sick at heart, because in these later days we are still far from the time when men shall learn the art of war no more. Between Ismailiya and Tsl-el-Kebir lies a Tel where M. Naville made interesting discoveries in 1883, which led to its identification with the city Pithoin, in which Ramses ii constructed his great storehouses. This is one of the cities in building which the Israelites suffered at the hands of Pharoah. Thus Exodus i tells us, " And they built for Pharoah store cities — Pithoin and Raamses. And the Egyptians made the children ' of Israel to serve with rigour ; and they made their lives bitter with 'hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, wherein they made them serve with rigour." It requires an effort of the imagination to repeopte the desert with the slave labourers smarting under the cruel lash, as they toiled in the blazing sun to make bricks and build cities for Egypt's proud kin". And yet this desolate region is the birthplace of the world's later progress, for .thence went up the cry of sorrow which brought help to Israel from above. Here were endured the birth throes of the nation in which all nations of the earth have been blessed. CAIPvO. Cairo is said to be the second city in the Turkish Empire, its population numbering' over 500.000. Here we see the blending of East and West in a remarkable manner. In some quarters we have a modern Paris; indeed, it was the ambition of the Khedive Ismail to convert his oriental capital into a kind of African Paris. In this quarter we have all the improvements of modern civilisation — fine buildings lighted with electricity, electric cars running to all parts of the city _ with surprisingly cheap fares, cabs and carriages crowding the busy streets, and shops filled with wares to meet the need or fancy of the visitor. When first I passed through these crowded streets in which white and black rubbed shoulders, and seldom a word of English was to be heard, I was quite bewildered, but soon I began to find my way about oven in this strange city. Of -course there were guides to be had by. the dozen. I had not stepped out of the hotel omnibus before two or three guides wished to be engaged for the next day. But I have found by experience that tl.e best way to know a town is to wander about it and learn to know ifc for oneself. This means more time, of course. A guide can hurry you by the shortest way from place to -place, but after it is over you can hardly remember the way you have gone. I remember" an experience I once had in Glasgow. I had spent about a sight-see-ing with a friend who knew every part of the. city like the palm of his hand, and I had come to think that I. too. could find my way alone ; but one day when I had seen my friend off in a train I went away in the opposite direction from that in which I wished to go. Some of -the finest buildings in Caii'o are the great hotels. They are equal in accommodation — and in price too for that matter — ; to the finest hotels in Europe. These hotels form the centre of Cairo's social life, as visitors of the highest rank make them their homes during their stay in Cairo. At one of them the ex-empress Eugene and the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire were staying during March. If we turn from modern Cairo to it& native quarters all is so changed that one can easily believe himself back in the times of the Arabian Nights. Never-ending crowds of natives in many coloured costumes fill the narrow, dirty, winding streets, sit in the tiny shops filled with native merchandise, or busy themselves with the- manufacture of native goods. It is a strange, fascinating sight which we will come again to see when we visit the bazaars. CAIRO AS A HEALTH RESORT. I do not suppose anyone is likely to come from New Zealand to Cairo for his health. We have health resorts within our own borders ; yet it may interest your readers to hear something of this famous gathering place of " the sick and halt and blind." One authority says : " Cairo itself cannot be unreservedly recommended as a health resort pure and simple. . . An over-crowded city of over half a million inhabitants, with its unsatisfactory hygienic

conditions and appallingly primitive and unsan'tai-y system ot drainage — a system it tan be cau-ea,— t!ie occasional visitation ct cholera, etc , seems nuleta the last place to wiiioh the health-seeker sliouid be sent. The official returns &how that in 1904- over the whole of Egypt theie wcro 4'^bs cases oi smallpox, of which 654- terminated fatally. And of plague cases b55 wore reported, of whom 501 died. Yet m spite ot these facts ucople crowd to Cano for their health. Jits warm, long, dry days attract them. in the depth of winter there arc 10 houis of daylight And the average rainfall for the- year is'liin, the days on which rain falls averaging nine or 10. The rainfall for 1905 will oeitainly total more than l^in, for on one day during my stay in Cairo we had a terrific thunderstorm, during which r iie rain poured down in torrents. The streets were soon flooded, and shopkeepers were busy sweeping back the flood from the pavements to prevent the flooding of their shops. The "lightning was wonderfully beautiful, as it rent the heavens, now with a zigzag thrusi from heaven to earth, and now with a horizontal sweep as of the sword of an archangel. Its nearness was all too evident from the swift-following - peals of thunder which rolled and crashed as if the heavens were falling in ruins about our heads. One flash of lightning struck one of the great Pyramids — the 2nd — and did slight damag-e near the top. Next day one of the papers said it would be necessary to go back to Noah to find a storm to equal it. While some seek Cairo for health, some come to it for pleasure and for sight-seeing. First it is the gateway through which the tourist passes up the Nile to see the buried glory of the past; then at its doors lie the pyramids; and •within itself is a world of ; nterest. Perhaps the reader will accompany me as we visit some of the sights of Cairo. ITS BAZAARS. For the social side of the city we have neither time nor taste We leave its dinners and its dances, its afternoon teas and concerts for others. These can be had elsewhere ; but its bazaars are reekon-eel among the most interesting anywhere to be eeen. Here we find shops or booths grouped together where only one kind of food is sold. Here is the carpet bazaar, where carpets, rugs, and embroidered stuffs may be bought at a bargain, if you have time and patience and sense enough not to be cheated by the cunning merchant, who will ask you four or five times the value of the goods you admire. Further on we have the goldsmiths' bazaar, where workmen make and sell their- wares, and are not slow to pawn off worthless articles on the unwary purchaser if possible. Then here is the bazaar for Red Sea traders, where perfumes, spices, mother of pearl, and attar of roses are sold. Thenjthere arc bazaars for booksellers, glassworkers, etc., etc. However, it is not the goods they sell, but the people that make and sell them, and the crowds that fill their streets, we have come to see. We are recommended to go without guide or plan, if we would feel the real charm of" a visit •to the bazaars ; but before we stari; we are to fix in our minds by a careful study of the guide book a few geographical facts. That is easily done in the hotel, and so early next morning we start off with a sharp eye for the streets we have studied on the plan. Down the first street we make a bold plunge, soon, to discover that something has gone wrong — the guide book names and those on the buildings at the street corners do not agree, and so we find ourselves in very deed ■without a plan. Still we go on, charmed with the crowd that surges -round us. If we have eyes to ©cc. and corns often enough to note the dress and features of the crowds, we will find here " a living diorama that is quite unique." This is how one writer describes it: — "Not even in Constantinople, the most cosmopolitan city, in a spectacular sense, in Europe, can we find a greater variety of nationalities. One seems to meet here every costume of Europe, Asia, and Africa ; and the kaleidescopic varieties of brilliant and fantastic colouring are bewildering to a -stranger. Solemn and irn-riaesive-lookin^ Turks, gently ambling past on gaily caparisoned mules, grinning negroes from the Soudan, melancholy-looking- fellahs in their scanty blue kaftans, cunning-featured Levantines, sfveen-turbaned Sbereefs, and picturesque Bedouins from the desert, stalking pa=t in their bernouses, make up the mass of this restless throng;. A sakkah, or watercarrier, carrying his picturesque goatskin filled with Nile water, while other dramatis persons? of the ' Aral : an Nights ' are the vendors of sweets aid other edibles; gorgeously arrayed Jewesses, fierce-lookinEf Albanians bristling with weapons, and petticoated Greeks givo variety" of coloiir to this living kinetoscope." That, or something- like it. is what wo ought to sec ; but I fear we fail from lack of time, knowledge, and imagination to see much of it. And yet we wander on fascinated by the ever-changing groups that meet us. 'Here we are in the jewellers' bazaar. Men and lads are at work making brooches and chains and other trinkets, and in cur curiosity we turn down one of the narrower lanes, soon to find that it goes like the brook — in and out and roundabout — but seems to have no outlet, and soon it becomes so narrow, that there is scarcely room for two persons to pass without touching. It is charming to be alive in such a quarter as this. The blood begins to run cold down one's back, and at every turn you expect to £>cc a dark-visaged son of the desert spriag out witli flashing eyes and flaming blade to make an end of you. And so you begin to think it time to get. back and out of the jewellers' bazaar without waiting to make any purchases. In the booksellers' bazaar \\e find nothing of interest, as our education has been neglected in the matter of Arabic. And yefc we can scarce refrain from feeling as if we had suffered wrong somehow as we hear the natives chatter merrily in Arabic, which we would so gladly know and don't. Jt does not need rain to make muddy streets in th's quarter of Cairo. The drainage runs, or, rather, is thrown, into the streets, and so one has to keep a lookout for mudholes while he admires rhe gay head-dress of some passer-by. And so we zander on from bazaar to bazaar, not sorry at last to find ourselves safely out ci the crowd and the. dirt; all the more so that the street w-e havo taken has brought us to the gates of the greatest irohammedan University in the world— the Mosque El-Azhar. Of this famous seat of learning- we will have more to say in our n-ext letter. (To bo continued.)

Five ca=!<?s of scarlet fever in one hou«e at Lovell's Flat h&ve been reporter to the Brucd County Council.

A curious custom connected with thft Servian Army is the manner in which most of .the regiments carry the big drum._ It is not, as in most other countries, slung 1 in front of the man who plays it, but it is placed upon a small two-wheeled cart diawn by a large dog, which has been so trained that it keeps its place even through long and tedious marches.