The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1874-02-01
VIENNA, September l6,
EGYPT,

What strange, solemn and mys.
terious things shall we find in this
Land of the Milo and the Pyramids,
this land where the sphynX looks
with oracular eyes over toe desert
wastes, this land SO interviewer
with the history Of the chosen pro-
pie of Israel, the ancestral history
of the worlds RedecmcrY Filled
with these thoughts We enter with
rcverenlial tread the precincts OF
the Egyptian department, and our
solemn glance falls first Of all upon
n display Of cakes and confectionery
and we breath Il sigh rs we cXclaim;
The children Of Israel did eat
mama in the Wilderness" but if
their forty years Of wandering had
been in this degenerate age they
would have supplied themselves be-
forehand with sugar r'ums and bon
bons, and | fear that even those
under twenty years of age would
have failed to reach Canaan, land
even Moses would not have lived to
see over into the promised land.
Egyptian customs, dress, and
furniture are illustrated by ar en-
closure fitted up with furniture
inlaid with pearl and upholstered
with velvet A man dressed IN
oriental costume sits on II sofa
smoking pipe with long curling
stem and the bowl resting npon the
floor, and ~ woman with face par
TALLY covered sits on chair sup
porting her right foot upon her left
knee, u very good illustration OF
their ideas of modesty.
A collection of plants dried and
pressed are evidences that at least
in one respect Egypt differs from
our own country, for althoug h she
may have railroads, fancy bakeries
and the fashions Of the day, nature
still maintains her right to the soil,
and the fashions of nature do not
change rapidly; it is only by
long centuries of coaxlng that she
consents to adorn her caves with
stataclites. or to yield up her growth
of mammoth ferns and adopt the
fashion of trees.
The collection of precious stones
Jasper, turquoise, alabaster, opal
make us think of the gates OF
Heaven, but specimens of litho-
grapic stone and TYPOGRAPHY, sent
BY Y. Penasson of Alexandria, bring
US back to the busy everyday world
again.
But ut last we have left he world
behind us, and now on the banks OF
the Red sea we stand, within a
dwelling common among the Bedou-
ms, those children of the
desc with their swift studs and
queer notions of hospitality. The
house is low frame work about
ten by twelve feet, and the walls
are made of canvas outside ana
straw mating within; mating also
covers the floor; the outside OF the
house is decorated with spears and
other war.like weapons fastened
upon the canvas. A bedstead IN
the corner has peicc of mating
for the bedding and leather pillows
for the head. Across one end OIL
the room a small loft is partitloned
off by lattice work and a ladder
leads up to the exceedingly SINAI
opening that seems as an entrance
A bedstcad is standing just outside
the door. 1t is made OF heavy
pieces of dark wood and an inter
iacing of strips of hide forms sole
foundation for the mating bed. 4
child's bed similarly constructed II
suspended frcm the front rail OF th'
large bed, and this swinging to an'
fro forms very comfortable cradle
for the infant Arab chief. In tn
center of the room hangs an orna
mont of shells strung on strips o
hide, that in form reminds me 0
the fly catchers or "air castles Q
straw and bits of red flannel that W
often see at home. If this "alr cas-
tie" of the Bedouin hut has use
do not know it; perhaps its purpos
is to amuse the baby.
IA We leave Egypt we feel ina
With railroads, telegraphs, on