Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1886-07-23
4 HItE ExcUR$IoS
Minister Cox Describes Some Eitercs:.
ing Experiences

Minister Cox Describes SoEe Interest
ing Experiences
The railroad trip 10 Aspoot is no
to be forgotten We had been il
Egypt before, but never beyont
Cairo, or the pyramids Of Ghiza, 5,
that the scenes on the railroad trave
were novel, divcrting and interesting
Having an apartment or carriage t.
ourselves, we placed our portman
teaus on the seat Bnd mouRted there
on as vantage situation, and fo
eight hours, from 8 a. m. till even
ing, we gazed out of the windows a
the strangen SIS of &c panoi ANA, Will
Its constantly changing colors ant
forms. Remember it is wintcr-mid-
February. The grain harvest II
nearly ripe. The cotton is picked
only few bolls remain in the fields
The sugar cane is being cut and car
ried on donkeys, camels and cars to
the sugar factories The long stalks
are seen everywhere. The little big
bellied Arab boys, in utter nakedness
are grinding the succulent, saecha-
rine stalks bctween-their gllstening
upper and neither teeth. Everyone
on the route has long sugar-cane.
carrying one end in the mouth. The
flies are settling thick around tue
juicy orifices The air Is pregnant
with the expression of the cane. The
sugar factories are at work. The
fumes not only add their fragrance,
but the long iron chimneys give
their peculiar business look to the
landscape.
There were other peculiarities for
which the car was point Of obser-
vation. Not tue costumes of the
people, for they seemed uniformly
of dark or blue bournous. The
sexes are hardly distinguishable from
each other, except by the mustache,
beard or turban. There is much max
edness, or nearly so. After an ca
ger glance towards the pyramids of
near cid Memphis, the
mud huts and villages
appear. Palms in abundance every
where plume themselves in their
stately beauty. The soil is being
in places for the new crop.
The people are said to be Industrious
but everywhere we see them sitting
under walls, III the shade. and COW
cred with fIies-eyes, cars, 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 buffalo is very unlike
our almost obsolete big-headed spe-
cies. 1t is seen in the fields plough
ing with the old one-handled plough
of the time of Sets, or turning the
water wheel. At distance, and es-
pecially wien cooling in the water,
it looks lie gachyderm. In fact,
its browt-bIack tough hide, ungainly
form ard hideous face, to which the
horn gives a sinister expression,
make him an object of curious inter-
est. Here and there we observe
generally children with
dogs. Some are Bedouins,
with tents of camel-hair, black and
dirty. they have iocks of sheep
and goats, and often mixed focks.
There are generally donkey and
yellow dog and plenty of naked
children. Yellow and white flowers
are already bedecking the meadows.
At various times on the railroad
we obtained gIimpses of the white
and yellow stands; and the peculiar
masts of the dahabiehs at an odd an
gle, with their still more quain sails.
Ridges and plains of sands soon
give way to villages, which are the
sign and sight of palm groves~ On
both sides of the valley of the Nile
lone, arid and tawny mountains ap-
pear. They are pictures not unlike
the desert of Moab-olIt of whose
the Baptist came. They
are the shaggy barriers of the fruit
full valley. For such fences as are
needed to separate the fields, the
cane, interviewer, makes a toIerabIe
pretext of protection. 1t would not
turn a ''resolutc" rabbit. Every
where are seen stakes, indicating
metes and bounds and proprietor
ship, which have to be renewed when
the Nile food. disappears Old we'll
sweeps are seen, such as were COM
mon in Ohio in my boyhocd. 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 to Egypt. 1t is now
quite low still, the fields have
ponds in them; but the pond water
does not seem stagnant. Indeed
the people use the water for every
purpose-cooking, washing, bath
ing, etc.
After the buffalo, for number and
utility, come the donkey and camel.
had no idea the donkey was such
ssdaisy' in Egypt. Bridleless and
he will amble gailt with a
family on his vertebr@. He is as
patient and as meek as if his burden