Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-05-19

Alexandra mas no cndrmS IOr one VINO 1
has read of its former greatness. The thought |
ever present while driving through its |
streets was, where is the departed military |
glory of the ancient city? Alexander, the
great warrior, founded it B. c. 323, and at
the dawn of the Christian era it was
great city with a population of over 500,-
| 900, and with pre-eminently superior adj
| vantages, both in art and literature, over
any other cotemporary city in the world.
The burning of the vast library augments
our thirst for the draughts its literature
contained of matters pertaining to every
art and all wisdom. Yet, upon little re-
| Election, it may be that the poison of asps
that permeated its volumes would have
proved a greater curse to mankind than
| would its lost arts and chronology bless
| ing.
From Alexandria to Cairo it is 1856 miles
| by rail. The land is level and under cul-
| tiyation. The work is nearly all done by
| the fellaheen, who constitute three-fourths
of the population of Egypt. They are the
representatives of the conquering Arabs
who came with Amer
The Nile is, indeed, the "river of life
to Egypt. The entire plain is irrigated
with its waters. 1t is also filtered through
half-burned and unglazed water-pots and
used to quench the thirst Of the toiling sons
and daughters of the desert. Were it to
cease, Egypt would became waste like the
Sahara, with now and then an oasis to tell
| of its former productiveness. They raise
all kinds of grain, and give special atten-
| ton to gardening. Donkeys and camels
crowd the highways ladened with garden
stuffs for the city markets. They travel
I Al,
quite content to receive their small COM
pensation, and return to their mud novels
| to rest for few hours, and repeat the
journey next day.
My first view of the camel (the ship of
the desert" " brought forcibly to my mind
| the language of one of the finest writers
of our day. Those who have read "Ben
Hur" will recognize it: "The camel is
stately brute. The charm is not in the
| figure, which not even love can make beau
tiful; nor in the movement, the noiseless
stepping, nor the broad careen. As is the
kindness of the sea TO ship, so is that of
| the desert TO its creature. it clothes him
with all its mysteries, in such manner, too,
| that while we are looking at him we are
| thinking Of them; therein is the wonder"
| The customs and habits of the people
are the same as they were forty centuries
ago. | saw the old wooden pillow at work
crooked stick with thing or iron point.
1t has but one handle. The plowman
must keep constant watch or bis share will
break the furrow and throw the pillow upon
| the soil. Having but one handle, the
hold upon it must not for moment be
relinquished. This pillow is in general use
in Palestine also. The Christian minister,
especially, will see the application of Luke
tx, g." And Jesus said unto him, no
man having put his hand mot hands, to
the pillow, and looking back, is fit for the
kingdom of God"
Polygamy is in practice everywhere in
| Egypt. Four wives are the limit. When
the man becomes tired of one he casts her
off and buys another. The four favorites
are often seen riding together on a two
wheeled cart, and the poor cast-of creature,
| barefooted and but half clad, with head
uncovered Chastity no longer protected),
| walking in the rear to serve the younger
wives. Four" say they, "Mohammed
taught is all they can love at one time"
| The woman has no choice. The man and
| the father of the woman consummate the
contract, and at midnight she is carried to
his " harem," not knowing who it is till
she enters the den, in which every vestige
of womanhood is hopelessly destroyed
Girls marry at eleven years of age, i. c.,
are sold as wives at that early age, but
owing to hereditary formation and the
intensity of the climate are then at matur-
ity. Boys are educated in the public
schools, girls never. Girls of eleven to
fifteen years of age are sold to men from
| forty to fifty and sometimes upwards
They think it is their fate. at was so to
be-" 1t was always so, they are told and
seeing the same state of affairs all about
them, they cannot feel their degradation
as would a woman of civilized country.
Their husbands can beat them, divorce
them, and still retain and enslave them,
and they have no recourse to law nor pity
| through mercy.
But what shall | say of the helpless
babes that survive their neglect Ny heart
pains me to look at them 1t cannot be
that their faces or forms ever enjoy the
blessings of a bath Filth is incrusted
upon them, and ophthalmia has destroyed
| the eyes of their innocent luster and for
| want of attention the lids adhere and in
| famation sets in, and fully one-half of the
native population have squirt eyes, and
| and large numbers are totally blind In
Cairo | saw poor little girl, perhaps four
years of age, clinging to the skirts of her
mother, begging to be carried over the
sharp-angling stones, with the sun at 95
degrees in the dry atmosphere. When she
came nearer it could be plainly seen that
| the little sufferer was very sick. Her
| emaciated face and limbs and her deep
sunken eyes diagnosed her condition.
How the little creature pleaded to be
held in the arms of her mother
could but weep profusely, and
| resist the Impulse to step from the carriage,
| and carry the dying child to some
place of comfort But was unable to
| venture it, however much | desired so to
do.
The reader viii inquire why the mother
was so oblivious to its appeals. The
answer is at hand: She may have been
Ignorant of its real condition, for women
here work in the fields, carry wood,
manure, water; they chop, grub, pillow,
reap, gather stones for walls, make brick,
ETC., and are not much with the younger
children. This poor mother was so loaded
with an S-gallon jar of water on her head,
and large budget in hand that she could
not have carried the child. Her own suf-
fering was perhaps almost beyond endur-
aRce.
American slavery, the black spot on the
escutcheon of our republican institutions,
was at no time so cruel, nor the suffering
entailed so terrible and unmitigatlng, as
is the serfdom of Mohammedan institu-
tions. Would to God the whole system
could be blotted from the earth and free
dom reign supreme. But if in civilized
country slavery had its stronghold for sew
eral hundred years, and required the blood
and treasure of the bravest and best men
| that ever contested so unjust an institu-
ton on the field of battle, what shall be
the means and how extended the time to
set the bondaged sons and daughters of
Mohammedan rule at liberty? Never be-
fore could | so discernedly sing the closing
lines of our national hymn:
Our fathers God. to Thee.
/ Author of liberty,
| To Thee we sing:
| Long may our land be bright
I With freedoms holy light
| Protect us by thy might
Great God, our King
shall close this letter by giving a little
notice of what larger observation could
not cover. 1t is backsheesh.n These ORR
entalists think foreigners are uncomforta-