The daily gazette., 1877-05-15
CAIRO.

THE CITY OF THE KHEDIvE-ITs TYPI-
CAL AsIATIo CHARACTERISTICS KHE-
DIVES PALAoEs-FoRcED LABoR
AND ITS FLIMsY WORK.
Although Cairo is, strictly speaking
In Africa, 1t is, says the Londoa Eat
urday Review the most intensely
and typicaily AsiatIc city in the world
Except perhaps, at Damascus. there Is
no other place in which the character
istics of the Mohammedan Semitic
races can he so easily studied. The
people call themselves not Egyptians,
but Arabs. They talk Arabci, AMI are
of the religion of the Arabian Prophet
though it would not be easy to say
from what Original stock they are real
ly derived. Are they, in the main, de-
scendants of the ancient in habitants
of Memphis? The Copts. whose name
would make them the representatives
OF the old Egyptians are even now
easily distinguished from the ordinary
Arabs" by their superior appearance.
But they may represent the governing
classes, those who compelled the con-
struction of the great monuments, and
whose features are found III the statue
of the mighty monarchs of thirty aud
forty centuries ago. The lower ranks
are Mohammedans, and possibly many
OF them are Arabs; ;but are a down.
trod6en race, the servants OF servants
the toilers, and cannot differ very
much from the people of whom Her
odotus says, truly or falsely, that 100,-
QUO OF them at time were forced by
Cheops to build his pyramid. But
Maarel Kahria, "the victorious city,"
is altogether Arab. The Roman fort.
ress erected to overawe Memphis, and
still known as Babylon, is tolerably
perfect much more perfect indeed
than any remnant of the Roman rule
In Eng land, but 1t lies some miles
south of Cairo, and was not even in
cluded In the early Arab town, Fos
tat now called Old Cairo.
AS Egypt was enc of the first con-
quests OF Mohammed's disciples, one
VI the earllestjseats OF the great Cali
phs, and long the centre seats of the
civilization it has more features of
pure Arab type than Constantinople
or indeed any other Oriental CITY of
Its size either in Europe, Asia or Afri,
ca. The traveller, therefore, who de-
sires to see the Mohammedan at home
cannot do better than seek him at Cal
ro, and he finds in the narrow, pictur-
esque streets of the old parts of the
town sceaes of interests w. ich he
may seek in vain elsewhere. When he
emerges into the modern quarters the
change is remarkable. Though all the
tyranny of the Turks has not sufficed
to alter the indelible characteristics
Of the place and thong the wide squar-
es the fountains the gardens, the. ar
cades the watered roads, the rows of
villas have a half-Freuch look, the
people who crowd every throughfare
are as unlike anything European as
they can be. Here long string of
groaning camels led by a Bedouin in
a white capote, carries loads of green
clover or long faggots of sugar-cane.
There, half dozen blue gowned wo-
men squat idly In the middle of the
roadway. A brown-skinned boy walks
about With no clothing on his long,
lean limbs, or lady smothered in
voluminous draperies rides by on
donkey her face covered with trans
parent white veil, and her knees near
y as high as her chin. A bullock-cart
with small wheels which creak horri-
bly, at every turn. goes past with its
cargo of treacle-jals. Hundreds of dom
key boys lie in wait tor a fare, my
raids OF half clothed children play laz-
lily In the cutters, turbaned Arabs
smoke long pipes and converse ener-
getically at the corners, and every
now and then pair of running foot.
men, in white shirts and wide short
trowsers. shout to clear the way for
a carriage in which behind half drawn
blinds some fine lady of the Viceregal
harem takes the air. She is accompan-
led perhaps by little boy in Europ-
can dress, and by governess or nurse
whose bonnet and French costume con
trast strangely with, the yelled figure
opposite. A still greater contrast is
offered by the appearance of the wo-
men who stand by as the carriage
passes, whose babies are carried as
tride on the shoulder or sometime in
the basket so carefully balanced upon
the head. The baskets hardly differ
from those depicted on the walls of the
ancient tombs, and probably the ba-
by entirely naked and its eyes full of
black flies, are much like what its an
cestors were in the days of the Phar-
aohs. In the older quarters of the
town the scenes arc much the same, on
ly that there is not so much room for
observing them; for the street are sell
dom wider than Paternoster Row aud
the traveller who stops to look about
him is roughly jostled by Hindbad
the porter with his heavy bale of car
pets. or the uncle of Aladdin with his
basket of copper lamps. or the water
carrier clanking his brazen cups with
an immense skin slung round his
STOPPING shoulders.
Those sanguine people who believe in
the possibility of reformation and i'm
provemenL under Turkish. rule should
visit Egypt. We are so often told of the
enlightened policy of the Khedive that
some Of us, especially those who only
look at Cairo through the windows OF a
comfortable hotel, are inclined to think
that nothing but the incorrigible stupidi-
ty of the people prevents their improve
ment. But little inquiry soon demon
strates the truth. The civilization of the