The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1882-07-26
From the Seat Of War!--vIeWs In
the Land Of the Pharaohs.

Egypt is in its glory. The intense heat
l. over-the fruits are rpe-and the Nile
is At its flood, giving assurance of another
years crops. The air is dry, desdite the
vast expense of flooded fie,ds-the day is
stimulating, with its hot sunshine the
nights pleasant, with the sea breezes.
Tho rid by railway from the seaport
of Alexandra to Cairo, I3l miles, is an
interesting one now. We rush out of the
respectable station through the level
suheTbs OF Alexandria, and are off for
CaIro-passing through groves of the tall
date palm. with their lunches OF redden-
ed dates, almost ripe hanging around the
tree-trunk just below the umbrellas hap-
ed top, giving an Oriental aspect to the
landscape. We pass rapidly through
cuts of white, g~ravelly soil, olive groves.
groups Of unattractive watcrselling BOYS;
through tracts Of desolate, dry
dusty earth, past clusters of one-story
huts and houses, and the train quickens
its speed to a respectable one, SO that the
observer sees rapidly flash by him the
nlnaret OF Il mosque above the ~shr4Dbery
a goat skin watcr-%c carrier. some very
black euauchs, some naked men SEEMING
a canal, bows similarly non attlrcd wash
ing donkeys, the CLINT of sunshine of II
riQAtion canals. and now In rapid sue
ce.sion green corn-like fields, cabbage,
stuble fields, potatoes, willow trees, SOME
priests. white-rObed guards. A woman
i'm front of her hut washing a CRYING.
naked boy;a view of Lake Marvut On
the right hand, liz trees, more date
groves, d~irt-colored cows; the tops of
sails on the Mahmudiyeh canal; LAKE
Abuklr on the eft. On the right, Nile
~inundation as far az the eye can see only
broken by a few GASES of reeds and mar
gins of m~arsh-pigs, sand wastes, CON.
cotton fields, corn huts. mud hutS. dark
and low and t~reeless, with no indications
of life about them cane-dark skinned
men with bare legs and whose Jnlv dress
is a dirty, short skirt. Villages of dome.
shaped small mud huts. with II sort of
chimney square, thickly built towns of
hut,; fooded fields; wretched looking
men and women eating at the doors Of
huts, and we arrived at the station of
kalr FL Daur. a swarm of natives; half
naked men watching to get to carry ii
package; women with porous water jars
marrow Misunderstanding Nile water
to thirsty travellers (who are expected
nll to drink from the same o%ritice,) and
boys. noisy, with water jugs, and we are
off again.
We look from the car windows as the
flying picture OF Egypt rushes past Us.
and see green fields on both sides as far
as one eau see; groups of COWS, whose
horns grow back wards (buffaIoes,) sails
ON IA caral, mud villages frequently at
Intervals, green fields, fields under wa
ter, hulrusheS along the bank Of Il Nile
branch, people clothed with only a thin
rag, droves of sheep and goats in care Of
q man. turkeys heard by d ragged boy,
asses. men riding on asses, women at
work, green wheat fields, very small
w~hite-doomed prayer mosque neara mud
village, y greener yard, tsrraced dirt
graves headed by a tuTban outlined in
the dirt, people nearly all dressed IN blue
cotton cloth, children smart and quick
and brightlooking. but with sore eyes
and flies thickly ~clnster around their eve
lids undisturbed. a wrecked and desert
ed mud village, a very largo irrigation
canal. clumsy machines for lifting water
to a higher level docking like a rude
brtck machine, a .hekh overseeing the
flooding of some fields and the repairing
OF the canal, Il camel lying in the field,
wind-miils. svarms of flies, until at
Abouhomnos Station we stop near piles
OF cotton bags, coal bags and crowds of
natives, with a sprinkle of fez hated
Turkish officials.
A similar scene meets the eve for miles
along the railway, varied by a buria.
scene in a dcsOlate graveyard, a factory
for separating cotton seed, women riding
asses in the masculine style, water wheels
turned by a canal, a COW and ass plough
ing in one yoke, tamarisk and sycamore
trees. long level stretches Of view broken
only by near trees, cacti, telegraph poles
cattle ploughing yoked far apart, young
asse. in fields, men narrowing fields,
straw houses. welled mud villages-tlll
we rush suddenly upon the Nile Sail
| boats, with single mast leaning back
wards, ere on it, and the stream is the
surrounding country. We cross 1t On il
long iron bridge and stop at Il station.
: when a man to solicit aims shows at the
car window a hand enlarged by the dis
ease called elephantiaslS TO the size OF a
small ham, to tie disgust of d group OF
European woman who sit at a car win
, dow. We passed a Turk in scarlet robes
| riding an ass; Il drove of camels tocKS
of sheep and goats being driven along 3;
and everybody seems to be out Of doors
; az we whirl through a land beginning to
look strange with the yellow evening
sunshine, especially when it shines on
palm groves. At Tanta Station, where
a fair is evidently going on, a great
/ crowd Of Turks swarm into the train go
ing to Cairo to see the Mecca pilgrims
start tomorrow. Turbaned beads, loose
. seated breeches, and sandals, or shoes.
OF bear feet, fill the cars TO unpleasant
ness. We watch the yellow sun set over
!: the desert through the trees of the Nile
border, the panorama of flooded fields,
canals, groves and mud villages, until
after dark we emerge from the train at
; Carlo, amid a swarming noisy multitude
; of people, donkeys and camel in a gas
/ lit square in front of the station. We
: drive rapidly in = good modern omnibus
4 through the strange locking crowds, and
\ stranger streets of the city, to the spaci-
Gus and comfortable Shepard's Hotel
; and we are in the capital city of Egypt,
; admid the scenes of a land and people
; whose history goes bach five thousand
years.