Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1882-08-24
AN EGYPTIAN PRISON.
The UideOus Scenes Encountered by m lie.
nevOient Englishman at Cairo.

m
nevoient EngIiEhmRn at Cairo.
We were in sort of ill-paved, ill.
looking, ill-smelling square; on each
side of the square was a large door, now
thrown open, displaying an inner door
Of cross barred, wooden lting, and
behind row upon row of miserable,
hopeless faces. Already the old folk and
children who had followed us had begun
to pilfer from the bread paniers, and
as soon as the prisoners caught sight
of the food, the horrid clanking of
chains grated on my ears, loud cries
and howls came from the gratings,
and the faces at the apertures mul.
tiplied threefold. l could see
the poor wretches struggling with one
another for place in front, the weakest
of course going to the wall, the greed
lest and strongest crushing forward.
And such faces Most of them were re.
volting enough in themselves, and
could we'll have spared the loathsome
environment that made them worse. OF
some, indeed, that scourge of the East,
leprosy, had left its mark; some were
merely ill and hungry-looking; the bet
ter favored seemed to stay with their
chains behind, for shame, perhaps. All
the foremost cried out for the bread
they saw, and scrambled and fought
like wild beasts for such of the round
cakes as escaped through the bars with
put being torn piece. meal in their pass
age. One or two OF the officials volun.
tereed to help us distribute our doles;
aud OF course inviolable Eastern custom
demanded that little of the sorry stuff
should disappear by the way into their
own capacious pockets. tried to get
one of the fellows-Jusef, as l had
heard some of the prisoners call him
TO deal out the bread in something like
order, but order seemed impossible;
official authority stopped short outside
The bars of the prison-house, while in
side l could see some sturdy ruffians
dealing blows to their fellows with
rude whips and sticks, and even with
their chains, driving them from the
raised step that led to the door, cursing
loudly. And while this din was in our
BARS and we were feeding the wretches
inside the bars the unfortunates outside,
who had followed US closely to this very
holy of holies, were pilfering as fast as
hands, big or little, could help them.
Yes, big or little. One tiny child, about
i've years old, sole three cakes, before
my eyes, was cuffed, hustled away and
returned in minute to steal fourth
from my left hand, while her mother
was snatching from my right. The
cigarettes produced almost equal ex-
element and were Rugged by the happy
possessors almost as eagerly as the
bread.
And now that my stock of provisions
was exhausted 1 thought I had seen
enough for once, and proceeded to
make my way out of the vile den. AsI
was moving off one OF the officials
blandly asked far backshish, in reply to
which used all the few Arabic indig.
nant expletives I knew, and failing that,
French, aud when that also came too
slowly for my indignation, found re-
lief in native English.
I heard subsequently that "the khe.
eive"-i. g., I supposed the government
sends daily supplies to the prisons to
the extent of three of those small round
cakes for each person in confinement,
but they only get one and some who
had tasted the sweets of this same
prison house assured me that they often
got none. Where do the rest go What
man who knows Egypt knows not this
too 2-MGcmd'aq's Magazine.
.