VISIT TO CAIRO.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14873, 23 September 1918, Page 2

VISIT TO CAIRO.

. . * I AN OFFICER'S IMPRESSIONS. Lieutenant D. W. Madden,/who left" Now Zealand with tho Thirty-fifth Eoinforcements, in a letter to his sister, Mrs. T. M. Brennan, of the Royal Hotel, gives a very interesting description of a visit paid to Cairo while the draft was .en route to France. He ; says:— , Dujt-ing the present war Egypt has! been the permanent and temporary abodo of troops from all corners of the Empire, and the great majority of Australian troops haA^e spent some littlo time here. On account of its being . so closely associated with things ancient, the country presents many features of: interest to the young colonial AA'ho has ■ been usejd to the environment and; ; .ideas. -pf.his.own newly fledged country. IHe has been in the habit of looking ; upon anything in the region of 50 years old as absolutely..primitive— so aalicii ho looks about himself here and hears''folk' ; talking of the times of Christ and Moses, and of things that happened a ; feAv thousand years before tho time of i either, and parts of the country are1 pointed out to him as' being directly associated with them, he begins to trlio [notice and to, ; think—probably, tries to recollect some of. his Biblical history, or may bo-get out the Testament that was-given him by one of the church societies on leaving home, and endeavour to gather information from it. Every country -possesses some place or places that attract more than others. Iv Egypt the great magnet that draws everyone is Cairo, the capital city of modern Egypt. As soon as a soldier gets a few days' leave he makes straight away there, and no matter what he may have found to interest and hold his attention elseAvhere, Cairo beats the lot and leaves him wondering. ' During our temporary stay in Suez Aye haw been fortunate in each getting 48 hours' leave. We go in pairs, and within a Aveek or so more, every officer will have had his "-.turn. To soe the points of interest of Cairo properly, one AA'ould require at least a fortnight, so in trying to get an idea of the place in'two days avo have been taking on a big contract. Any way Aye have each covered, a lot of ground, and have scon most of the main points in a hurried fashion. It was a great education, and! gave us an insight into the methods and habits of the people oi" the early ages. I will try and describe our trip and put down .just: what I sajv. Perhaps some of statements may Ix* challenged by someone with a knowledgo of ancient Egypt, *but my-inform-, ation is gathered mostly from i}\e guide .who showed us around, and most probably he AA-as like all good guides, a bit of a liar. W-9 left Suez at.0.10 p.m. on a Friday, and arrived at Cairo at midnight. The distance is about 155 miles, so the Egyptian trains are.not much speedier than oxir own, even though they haA-e. a sft. 2in. gauge here. The first class return fare for a soldier is 29s 2d, which is fairly reasonable. The. cars are divided into compartments, and-a.ro on the corridor principle. Each compartment holds six persons, and on account of..'.the..-w,ide-, guagc there is i plenty vof- Aviclth in-'the cars, nud'^tl^ey ! proved wyery comfortable.' All the cars and-waggons here have much higher wheels, than ours," and .the result is I that the cans are be tier sprung and ,! they run-much easierv :: ; We. changed trains at Ismailia and continued our joiv"'ney on the. Port Saidj Cairo express; .On 'this ..train we found i! p luxurious dining car, with -a.; well stocked bar thrown .in. We sampled i both departments, and the fee Avas 7s .■ 6d each. The dinner cost &6d and "a ; j spot" Is. - ■" IWe arrived at Cairo a-t 12,30 a jn. j There were a good many oil: the station, -even .at- that hour, and we ?were.iiitmS- ■■ diately besieged by native porters from various hotbls-^-somothihg; on tho same style as the Rotorua hotel agents. We had already decided to stop at a hotel called tho Eden Palace, so sorted out our man and drove down in tho hotel waggon. Although it Avas now nearly 1 o'clock there were still plenty of people about. In fact, staying about

all night seems to bo one,of the characteristics of the Egyptian and his kindred races. Our hotel proved a good place. It is much bigger in "every way than any New Zealand hotel, and whilst tc found practically everything at a high price all over Egypt, " the .tariff at this hotel v, as .quite reasonable, viz., 10s per day. The only oxtras we had to pay for woro baths. A cold plunge cost Is, and a hot bath Is Bd. The hotels in this country do not eater i'or the drinking public* to-, the .same extent as these in New Zealand. The cafes, which generally consist of big open rooms with plenty of tables and chairs, are the places where most of the drinking is done. None of the real hotels have a bar proper. They generally specialise in the boarding line alone. Our hotel had a partial license. You could obtain beer and stout only— no spirits or wine. Another feature of the hotels is in the dining-room. There ;is no." menu. A dinner consists of tho usual courses—soup,'fish, entree, joint, '-. sweets, fruit, and cake, but you have bo choice. One dish of each course is on hand, and if you do not like mutton, well, you cannot have beef. I do not know whether this has always been the . feature of Egyptian meals, or whether it is a war innovation in order to econo- ; mise in food. Anyhow, the food is good 1 and. well cooked. ! Cairo has a famous hotel' in Shepherd's. Practically everyone has heard of this hostelry. *It is a magnificent building, and in every way quite a.flash outfit. It is a special resort for officers en leave, and is out of bounds for other ranks. After dinner at ou,r own place we went along, and sat in the huge garden in front and had a liqueur. t The next morning (Saturday) we madearrangements to sco the sights. There 'is a well-organised system of guides called dragomen. Their method is, as follows :—-You' engage one to,-guide.you. for the day. If you like you.leave your purs©' at home. Tho dragoman takes you whereover you want to go—pays all admission moneys, tram or cab fareß, doe.sv.any tipping that is necessary,, and incidentally explains everything. At the end of the day he adds his.own fee on _ to*his .expenditure and you. pay him. This is a really good system so long as you get a reliable dragoman. We obtained ours through the hotel people, and he proved a bargain. Our expenses for the first day were 10s 2d each, and the second day 8s each. As we had the use of a "carriage and pair" the first afternoon and for two hours on the . second afternoon, you will see the force of the dragoman system. The carriage and pair consists of a small landau, rubber tyred, and holding four passengers. It is drawn by two horses, has a native driver, and is most comfortable to ride in. The native name is "garry" ■ofc "gharie"—l don't know how it is spelt, but that is how it is pronounced. Our first visit was to the Egyptian Museum. Like all the official buildings in Cairo, this is a fine structure. It has been erected only v about twelve years. Previously all the exhibits Wore in a smaller building some'" miles out of the city proper. The museum and all ; that pertains to it ig looked upon as-: a' most important part of the "national .property. A very select board -eouja-rfs . the whole affair. Egypt .'is -so old-; and . it'has passed thrditgh sq/many- vieissi- , tudes that the place is full of valuable I relics, some over four thousand years . old. The whole of the relics discovered 'or undiscovered 'are vested in the . Museum Prospectors-, and those really • iutcrostcd in Egyptian lore apply to the . museum for a permit to excavate in any i part of .Egypt they may fancy. The , authorities mark down on a 'plan the ; ground allotted to them, just as is done . on a gold-mining claim, and a license is . issued. The museum, authorities takfe i half of whatever relics are brought to; : light, and have the right to take all i:i ' the event of the prospector discovering ; something absolutely unique. In this • latter case provision-.-is made for the i paynient to the discoverer of .a sum } equal to half the value of the curio. A ■ board of arbitration :iix the value' of I the find. Before the outbreak oiothe- . war the Americans were ■ most noted for 1 their enterprise iv relic hunting, and } oue oil-'their best Egyptologists, named 1 Davis, has found some extremely valii- | able relics. The exhibits deal solely L j with Ancient Egypt, and consist mostly i cf ancient images or statues, all style's .■of sarcophogus and mummies of all! t .ysizes i n all stages of preservation. Al- i .^though there is : a sameness.' .about ail ■ ! these, the guide had a fairiy .interest-"; 3 ing bunch of anecdotes, and it proved; , very instructive. Nearly every mummy ] haa cut into the stone of the sarcophagi!* s. I a statement of his life in hieroglyphics. I, To the uninitiated those seemed a. -:'jumble of birds, animals of all sorts, f swords and every other conceivable ob- - jeefc. The guide explained these various symbols thoroughly, and &omo or the stories he unravelled were really' ■good. There is a jewel'room .contain-1 ; ing spGc-in-ens of all kinds of trinkets, , including cTowns, necklaces, bracelets, ! and rings, all alleged to have belonged jto soiiKv former -monarch. Tho speei- ! mens' of enamel and gold ware were I wonderful. j On our way back to the- howl for 1 b.mcli Avevisited.-the Ezikieh Gardens, iThose are situated right in the centre !of tho. town,. and are really t?ood. A 'portion of', them is run asa" soldiers'' jciubby the Y.M.C.A'. They hud a •; skating rink, concert hail (opeiirair), 'picture theatre, tea kiosk, hot aiu-l.tuid ■'i baths,, and a canteen (dry). This place ■was started in the interests oi* the } Australasian troops during the early •stages of the Avar, and is "run. by two 'young Ngav Zealanders. They aro doling _ good work, but .struck me as 'heing ! a bit too keen on the business :;ide for ian alleged charity organisation, 'i'hoir ■ takings for a weok nve:age iiuOO. j ; After luecu we staled* on. a.-lmtr-./of. I the principal mosques.—the v/w'iiVdviping . places of tho Mohammedan roiigioru I 1 vJairo has a population of 7-50,000,* and j I suppose about two-thirds of the people j ;ire folloAvors of Mohammed. in a\)\ ': there aro over 400 mosques in Cairo, j The first one Aye visited Avas called the I Sultan Hassen Mosque. It is over 600 j years old. Its Avails are 12ft thick, and j they are finished Avith an alabaster faci ing taken from the Pyramids. When | the pyramids were, built, some thouj sands of years 13.C, the whole of the outer parts cf them were faced with polished alabaster stone. Tho person responsible for this particular mosque j look alabaster facing off tho Pyramids I and used it to finish off his mosque.' | The building is huge in. every way, ! iMici magnificently nnishc-d. -''. Each jnosque has an ablution foufc, Avhere. anyone coining to v>orship'AYasheß his hands before praying. These ablution fonts i uv<s> always a feature of the. mosques, j and usually -have marblo and alabaster ! pillars ;:?i;riiiquutccl.by<a- huge donio. In. i one portion oi: each mosquo is a small / niche-capable of holding a couple.-.-of j people.' iiii-s i 3 called the ilccca niche." ! When praying it is esspntinl that- -the I Mohammedan should'be facing Mecca, jibe city Avhere rt-he Prophet is buried. J Tho nielio serves as his guide as to the' s direction he must- face. 'There is also jr. pulpit ecnfii sting ..of a very high raised platform', with. stairs leading v p tc; it. v)n Friday.-the -ViohannnednJi J-iuuday, ; the priest re-ads from the Koran, and j delivers'his sermon from this .pulpit: j 'There is also a secondary pulpit orj ! reader's desk. This is occupied by aj | subsidiary priest. The average Tuohnm- ■; lAedati isl not supposed to be sufficiently intelligent to •" understand the .readings I from the Koran or the high-flown, lani guago of the priest* This second priest j liuts; eyerytliing into -siniple language" '■iior the mob. • , (To be continued.) .