The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-06-30
ALONG THE NILE.
A VIVID DESCRIPTION BY AN
AMERICAN OFFICIAL.
What United States Minister Cox
Saw on an EXcursion--Pic-
turesque Views of Oriental
Life and Character.

In Constantinople letter to the New
York Wr'd Hon. S. S. Cox, United
States Minister to Turkey, writes abou
an excursion in Egypt made by him re-
Gently. Wequote from his letter:
We had been in Egypt before, but
never beyond Cairo or the Pyramids Of
Ghiza, so that the scenes on the railroad
travel were novel, diverting and inter.
esting. Having an apartment or carriage
to ourselves we placed our porlmanteaus
, on the seat and mounted thereon as n
vantage situation, and for eight hours,
! from 0 A. NJ. till evening, we gazed out
Of the windows at the strangeness Of the
panorama, with its constantly shifting
colors and forms. Remember, it is win
ter-mid-F february. The grain harvest
is nearly ripe. The cotton is picked
only Il few bols remain in the fields. The
sugar cane is being cut and carried on
| donkeys, camcls and cars to the sugar
factories. The long stalks are seen every
where. The little Arab boys, in utter
nakedness, are grinding the succulent
saccharine stalks between their gl:sten-
ing upper and neither teeth. Everyone
on the route has long sugar cane, carry
ing one end in the mouth. The flies
are settling thick around the juicy ori-
fl es. The sugar factories are at work
The fumes not only add their fragrance,
bat the long iron chimneys give their
peculiar business look to the landscape.
There were other peculiaritics for
which the car was point of observation
Not the costumes of the people, for they
seemed uniformly a dark or blue
bournous. The sexes are hardly dis
tinguishable from each other, except by
the mustache, beard or turban. After
an eager glance toward the pyramids of
Sakarrah, near old Memphis, the null
titudinous mud huts and villages appear.
Palms in abundance everywhere plume
themselves in their stately beauty. The
soil is being ploughed in places for the
new crop. The people are said to be in
dustrious. but everywhere we see them
sitting under walls, in the shade, and
covered with flies-eyes, ears, face, hands.
feet covered with flies. The animal life
seems to move as slowly as if it had
ages to do lifetime of work. The buff
falo is very unlike our almost obsolete
big headed species. 1t is seen in the
fields ploughing with the old one handled
plough of the time of Sets. or turninr
the water wheel. At a distance, and
especially when cooling in the water, 1t
looks like pachyderm. In fact, its
brown-black tough hide. ungainly form
and hideous face, to which the horn
gives sinister expression, make him an
object of curious interest. Here and
there we observe shepherds, gen.
orally children. with shepherd dogs.
Some are Bcdouins, with tents of
camel-hair. black and dirty. They
have focks of sheep and goats,
and often mixed focks. There
are generally donkey and a yellow
dog and plenty of naked children. Vel
low and white flowers are already be-
decking the meadows. At various times
on the railroad we obtained glimpses of
the white and yellow sands; and the
peculiar masts of the dahabiehs at an odd
angle, with their still more quaint sails.
Ridges and plains of sand soon give way
to villages. which are the sign and site
of palm groves. On both sides of the
valley of the Nile lone. arid and tawny
mountains appear They are pictures
not unlike the Desert of Moab--out OF
whose wilderness the Baptist came They
are the shaggy barriers of the fruitful
valley. For such fences as are needed
to separate the fields. the cane inter-
woven, makes q tolerable pretcxt of
protection. 1t would not "turn' reso-
lutte rabbit. Everywhere are seen stakes.
indicating metcs and bounds and propri-
etorship, which have to be renewed when
the Nile flood disappears. Old we'll
sweeps are seen, such as were common in
Ohio in my boyhood. They lift the water
out of the soft soil to the surface. The
bottom of the we'll is, of course, on level
with the river; and, as said, the river
is everything in Egypt. 1t is now quite
low; still, the fields have ponds in them:
but the pond water does not seem stag
nant. Indeed the people use the water
for every purpose--cooking, washing,
bathing, &c.
After the buffalo, for number and
utility, come the donkey and camel. I
had no idea that the donkey was such
"da' sy" in Egypt. Bridleless and sad
dlelcss, he will amble gayly with family
on his vertebre. He is as patient and as
meek as if his burden were nothing.
Sometimes you do not sec his legs and
only parts of his ears when he is loaded
down with sugar cane or grasses.
Now and then we approach near the
river. There we observe the shadoofs or
watec-lifters. 1t is the old bucket on the
wheel, which is turned by buffalo, and
empties the water from the river to the
level above and makes horrid crcaking,
as if all the "weely -wcelies" of the CEN
turies were in pain. At some of the
places, notably at Drouth. we perceive
immense Government works, where tn"
river is divided for irrigation. They con
sist of slack water dams and fine stone
bridges, etc. The work is of the most
elegant style and engineering skill.
Many birds. such as the wild gray goose,
storks. duck and others of aquatic spe
cies. are seen on the ponds and river
banks and on the sand isles of the river.
We perceive frequently the heron, with
his dignified strides into deep water after
his evening meal, and another bird.
with bill as long as river and harbor
bill in GO gress and with an equal
capacity for shadows and swallows.
Why the Irish Like Green.
The early Celts worshipped the Dawn
op1 tba Sunrise If is more than DrOD-