Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-07-10

exception to the rule. like to have their
merry-makings at night. And they
are right. The intense heat of the day
is over; the sun, with It's rays and its
glare, no longer wearies eyes and
ne: yes; the glorious star-lit sky-such
a sky as only the far East can show
spreads its canopy over all; soft.
balmy breeze comes gently through the
valley, and blows up-stre I'M, bringing
the cool but never cold atmosphere OF
the Mediterranean, whose moisture and
briny odors have been modified by the
long journey it had to make before
reaching the inland capital. This is the
time, above all others, at which the riv-
er and its shores become the scene OF
animated life. At regular intervals the
cannon boom. for without smell Of pow
der, much shouting::and screaming, and
oft-repeated fireworks, the proper holt
day mood is wanting. Legions of small
boats, like midges glancing over the
water, move about ia all directions as
connecting links between the large,
firmly anchored vessels.
From some one point the sound of the
tarabooka'' is heard. and to its mo-
notonous rhythmic accompaniment fe-
male singers MARBLE their slow and mel
ancholy ditties, ending generally in a
chromatic scale. From another side
'the sound of castanets meets our ears
sure sign that here the aforementioned
and far-famed, though certainly not ad-
mirable, dancing-girls are in full per-
Torrance. Along the shore hundreds
of tents are erected, lighted, according
to their rank and degree in the social
scale. either by most primitive little oil
lamps, or, progressing upward, most
luxurious colored lanterns. In those
booths refreshments of all kinds, but
mostly coffee and sherbct, are to be
had; and here one finds the sedate and
well-to-dO paterfamilias and the youth
full, though independent, donkey driver
side by side, smoking. The entertain
ment consists in listening to ballad
singers, comic actors, reciters of Koran
verses and rOmances; and all these
artists manage to collect an ample pub
lie around them, and one which is very
simple in tastes and most grateful and
apprec!ative for whatever is offered it,
ing and shouting. maze of human
forms ever rolling and unrolling itself.
and my readers will be able to form
some idea of what are the elements that
60 to compose every Arab festivity, and
so also this feast of the Nile
Shortly after midnight the Arabs be-
gin their work a. the dixie. 10 the ac.
compartment of a mOnOtOnOus STRAIN
they dig away valiantly. so that at day
break only thin wall of earth remains
rs a partition between them and the
mighty flood beyond. At rise of sun
the khedive (viceroy), surrounded by
the grandees of his realm, all in uni
forms and gold-lace, arrives; he takes
his stand in tent prepared for him,
and which commands the best possible
view of all that goes on. A secretary
takes a place at his side, and is prepared
t. take notes on this most important
act, testifying that the Nile has reached
the necessary height for bursting the
dyke, and for the land tax on all the
fellahs to begin its work. This docu-
ment is sent to Constantinople the mo-
ment the festivities are at an end.
A boat with a sharply built bow APP
proaches and steers straight at the dixie,
thus breaking through the thin wall of
earth, and admitting the flood, which,
tumbling aud foaming, rushes through
the opening, growing wider from
minute to minute, and soon the
rapid flow of the water has swept away
even the last obstacle. Seated in a lit
tie boat, which dances on the top of the
muddy waves. is the overseer of these
earth works, looking calmly victorious,
as, floating onward with the current, he
is carried back to the city, Many black
and brown individuals hastily divest
themselves of their, at best scanty.
wardrobe, and jump into the water,
swimming about and watching for the
moment when the Khedive shall throw
a handful of coin into the river. For
merly these were of gold, then of silver,
and now, alas! are only given in copper.
Hardly have the coins flashed in the
sunlight when the swimmers dive after
tn, m with great adroitness, and happy
the man who returns with booty. BY
the rosy light of the early morning the
last Latch of rockets and other fire.
works is set off, salvos of cannon and
never-ending shouts and hurrahs pub.
lish far and wide the good news that
the Nile has risen to Its full height
Dir. Il. Irautcetter, IN Harper's Maya.
zine.