Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-03-23

TOUR TliROuuH EGYPT AND PALESTINE IN
THE WINTER AND SPRING or LAST YEAR.
No. VII
Three weeks in Luxor, LOnhnE and
GOssiping.
On March 10th 1887 ! mailed in Luxor a
diary of forty pages, which has disappear
ed. committed the great imprudence Of
adorning it with every kind Of postage
stamp used in Egypt, and probably dis
honest clerk, tempted by them, robbed the
whole or, as / dropped it in the big letter
box of Luxor, it may have been fshed out
10y skilful Fellah, who thought he had Sc
cured treasure Being blessed with a
number of children, sisters and friends who
wish to follow us and read our haps and
mishaps while nursing their snug fires !
write a daily diary, and when voluminous
enough send it ON a round of travels from
Africa to Europe and America. 1t is very
tedious for a traveller to write again and
again the same story, admitting that he has
time so indicate my practise for the use
Of future wanderers. As | am not writing
a book, but only our experiences, ! am fond
of using dates. The reader can thus COM
pare better our fate with his own surround
ings.
February 22. Intense heat-14 to 81 I;
~ in the sun. We are glad to do nothing
but live. Two steamers arrive, one bound
up the river, the other returning from As
souan We find on board many American
friends they report 1906 in the cabins at
Assouan We invite them TO dinner, and
spend the evening on the cool deck of the
boat
February "a The night has been most
oppressive a great dust storm has arisen
and pervades the smallest opening. Our
| Lady closes every aperture, and am al
most smothered But these tempests act
as rain and cool the atmosphere; they come
/ from the west across the Nile from the des-
ert The river becomes agitated and full
of waves it is a new landscape.
/ February p. Much cooler, 81 to 90 /;
almost too cold, so great is the transition.
/ The Professor hires a donkey and boy and
/ is of to Karnak, where he finds guide
sensible enough to leave him alone, pointing
out only here and there an almost buried
/ statue which might have been overlooked.
| Thus the mind can make comparisons, judge
Of the size and grandeur of buildings, as
/ simulate the general plan by looking at the
| " hole from IA favorable height. The guide
is satisfied with hat he receives 50 is the
/ donkey boy. 1t has been IA pleasant morn
ing
During my absence my Yankee wife has
/ again transformed herself into a chamber
maii called Ahlnet and Nusef to her they
/ have been feed yesterday and are ready
/ for anything She moves, shakes, dusts.
/ washes everything. and it is most pleasant
/ tp live again in a clean room. II she could
/ clean equally the whole hotel it would be Il
/ perfect godsend give 10 our chamber
/ men a regular fee Of five piastres each a
week 20 cents. It stimulates them as oats
| DO a horse \ small fee every week is bet
I ter than a big fee when you leave, especial
| ly in the Fast, where an open hand is in
/ dispeusable. \ mail arrives ours is in
| Mr. Cooks private bag-a bushel Of letters
and papers, among them two Vermont Php-
nix or Phpnixes We feast on them, aud
| spend whole afternoon at the love banquet
| We have been three weeks without mail
and are famshed
February 26 Thermometer - outside
my window at eight O'Clock \. NJ, later go
and mp to 20 and it will be so every day.
| Cool nights. hot in the sun in daytime
most delightful climate, recalling Brattle
| boro during July and August. We start
| for karnak with the postmaster, Sehm
/ Hunna have engaged a swell guide, who
treats himself to donkey. our Lady has
| two men, and We tell our own donkey boys
/ TO wait on her also she has thus four at
tendants, and almost disappears on her tiny
donkey and in the arms Of her followers.
But the show will cost 30 piastres, almost
two dollnrs-a trihe in the United States an
enormous sum here My previous visit en-
ables me to he the real guide Of the party
TO show views of the best points. Our Lady
returns highly pleased with her visit.
might earn my living as a dragoman or
guide if knew Arabic enough to under
stand the natives when they jahber among
themselves,
Among the ruins find a party Of Ger
mans. 4 lady in very short flannel dress
quite masculine, but the very thing for
travelling: she has short hair-ooks like a
disguised boy has gun and shoots at birds,
ii most reprehensible proceeding, as the re-
verheration might dislodge stones and cause
accidents. We fud Germans belonging to
the nobility extremely off hand and often
very inconsiderate. Luxor has a resident
English doctor, but his apothecary shop is
So poorly supplied that he has not even a
seidltz powder ready. Travellers do well
to carry small medicine chest with them.
February "a We are invited to a tea
party. Tea is to be served in grove in
the fields surrounding Luxor, At three
o'clock we start-fifteen Of us, on donkeys,
each with boy or man attendant followed
by half dozen others carrying the tea
thugs in baskets upon their heads Il total
of nearly forty human heings-a small
crowd in itself We wander for an hour
through green wheat fields. The tempera
turc is delightful Our long Indian file,
with the many ladies carrying bright colored
parasols, forms AN enchanting spectacle.
Young aud old trot, gallop, shout it is a
band of school children of for II holiday.
We alight near a small village, whose occu-
pants soon surround us Their chief OF
sheik, brings his hoy tof whom he seems
very proud with very dirty nose, and
/ nresptts him as one yyOuld IA flower to the