Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1869-06-05
ROYAL WEDDING IN EGYPT.
Marriage Festival of the vlccr0y's
Oldest Daughter.

Marriage Festival OF the tlccFOy
Oldest Daughter.
A Thousand Women Presen.cNot "
Bride and Attendants
The Dancing and
Ceremonies.
The following letter is from an
American lady.
CAIRO, Egypt, April The Rham-
seen winds from the desert have al
most suffocated us these past few days,
and have filed up with dust all the
pores of the skin until we feel like
mummies. 1t is pity they should
have come just now, for this week is
q week of .fetes, ON account of the
marriage of the Viceroy's eldest
daughter. A truly Oriental rumor
that has excited our curiosity Is that
twenty-eight dressmakers have been
imported from Constantinople for the
occasion, and are now engaged day
and night in sewing diamonds on the
mosquito nettings of the happy pair.
The absence of butter at the hotel is
also accounted for by q royal edict seiz-
ing the whole supply for the fetes,
and proclaiming fine of G250 for any
shopkeeper who dares to sell it. AS
far as the show goes, we have been
very fortunate in being here. We
hate it all, in remembrance of the
poor souls i'm Upper Egypt out of
whom the MONEY is wrung; but in it.
selfit has been better worth seeing
than any tete any of iis have ever
seen any where else. Streets have
been thronged all day long with
these delicious natives, who cannot
help making pictures of themselves
every moment of their lives, and
every evening there has been really
magnificent illumination at the
harem palace, where the princess
lives, and in all its neighborhood.-
The clear atmosphere, the Rhamseen
going down always at sunset, is just
the thing fora successful illumination;
and Oriental despots, when they do
anything of the sort, do it on the most
princely scale, and so all hands agree
that st. Peters at Rome, and Napo-
leon Mt Paris. have been forever
eclipsed.
The music and dancing were kept
up sturdily for two or three hours,
when suddenly there was a move
ment at the extreme lower end of the
room, and the music ceased, and the
crowd was pushed back, and out of
some unknown region beyond came
the most novel feature of the even.
| ing, the wedding procession. Great
black men came first, two and two,
not merely half dozen, as one
; would expect, but couple after couple,
until some ninety or one hundred
stood in solid black walls up and
down the room, each one grasping in
= his hands great three-foot candle,
I. such as one sees in the Catholic
churches, making double line of
light and n double line of darkness
the whole length of the great room.
They were followed by young girls in
the gayest colors, each also holding a
light candelabrum of wax tapers,
who took their places side by side
with the black men, and made q
wonderful effect of light and shade
J., first great black fellow, then a
brilliant little white girl, then anoth-
er black, and so on. After them
came the musicians, the two Arat
bands, who had been playing through
the evening, and a third of brass
wind instruments, played admirably
by young girls dressed in a military
costume; after this came a great
number of the slaves and special at
PENDANTS of the Princess and the fat
old dowagers who had her in charge
J, When these had all passed up anC
taken their places on each side of tn,
way, n roll of gold-colored brocad,
=, was brought in and carefully unrolleC
IS all the length of the room andthen
y supported on each hand by he
younger sisters, and surrounded by
still more slaves and attendants
came the poor young bride and trem
bling, and literally covered from
head to foot with gold and jewels
, Her dress was heavy, white damask
tmckly embroidered with gold, ant
her veil, or mantle, was so loade'
Of down with coins aQd trinkets that /
had to be carried out behind her b,
A. some of the slaves to take the weigh
n of it from her head. The Who'll
e front of her dress was a mass of dia
mond and pearl necklaces, and in tn
midst of them, in comical contrast
was Photographic likeness, set il
jewels, of her ''narsty" old papa
She made her way very slowly up tn
longroOm To little boudoir ut the en-
IL and after resting ten or fifteen min
utes, came slowly down again in jus
m the same way and disappeared in tn
- darkness, followed by the whole pre-
cession.
AS soon as the crowd would pei
mit-for you must remember tina
there We're n thousand women in tn
room and not one man-we made on
:, way up to see the little boudoir itsel
which was now thrown open.-
"There was richness" for YOU It'll
=, walls covered from floor to ceilin
y with artificial flowers, the divans, a
ofwhite damask and gold, and all owe
the carpet a thick sprinkling of gol
- spangles which sparkled in the ligl
like so many diamonds. We gail
cred up few of them with our pl'
bian fingers, and then went hack int
To- the room to find another ceremon
going on-the distribution anon
the dancers of presents from the PriI
mt cess. These Were brought in larg
: velvet and satin eases, and proved
,a- be camels hair shawls, which wei
unfolded and tied around the necl
of the women until the poor unfortl
- nate things We're half buried in then
There We're about twenty dancer
and each one got at least six shawl
I All the time the presentation WI
going on, the musicians We're playiI
- away for dear life, and the rest of Il
'lh harem were Joining in a wild shrl
pa cry Of pleasure and thanks of "E
L fcndina,n the great lady, wheth
- they got any shawls or not. Q
I, As for the personal appearance
~ the hours, II you want 10 cherish Il
illusions of your childhood you hi