Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-10-11
LIFE In EGYPT.
THE SAD CONDITION OF THE
TAXElDDEN FELLAHS.
a Nation of Peasants Who Dwell in
SquaHd Mud Houses Their
Wretchcd Food and
Poor Apparel.

Out OF the six and half million pcoplc
OF Egypt, fully six millions are peasants.
writes Frank G. Carpenter. They are
known as 'fellals." They are the tillcrs
OF the soil and they are the people who
do the work, and make the money Which
pays the immense yearly debt of Egypt
Ihesc ''fcllahs" are the ancient Ervp.
'iahs: They have been oppressed through
out the ages until they have no spirit left
IN them, and they are happy if they can
get enough 10 keep themselves alive. You
see their mud villages everywhere, and
they slave from morning until night in
the fields. Their houses are rarely more
than ten feet high, and often not more
than eight feet square. In an Egyptian
village the houses are built close together.
lherc are 10 paremcnts, gas lamps nor
| modern improvements of any'kind. The
furniture Of each house consists of few
mats, IL sheep skin, a copper kettle and
some eartheuwarc pots The bed of the
family is Il ledge of mud built in the side
OF the room. There are no windows, and
the cooking is usually done out of doors
Ill little earthen pot-!ike stove.
The fuel is Of dried COW, camel or
buffalo manure, and the food of the fam
lily Is q mixture of sorghum seed, millct
aud beans ground up into II flour and
baked into sort of big, round, flat
cake. y large part OF the food of the Eel
lahcen consists of greens, and | watched
one eating turnip yesterday. He began
ut the tip OF the root and ate the raw, in
| diSes,lble vegetable To the very end of
the green, leavin" not visagc Of it. /
have seen them eating clover and | am
told that they seldom have any meat. Out
OF the milk of The buffalo and cow they
make sort oil Il curd-likc cheese, which
is extensively used They use no knives,
forks nor spoons, and at supper they have,
i'll addition TO their vegetables, sauce of
onions and butter, into which they dip
pieces of bread and cat it.
These Egyptian peasants wear little or
no clothing while working in the fields,
and here in Cairo the apparel of the men
consists of long blue gown which comes
| below the knees and IL brown skull cap
oil wool. The women have gowns of blue
cotton, and the better class of them cover
| their faces with Il Ion" veil, which is ras-
| tened Just under the eyes so us to hide
the lower part of the features. Between
this veil and the cloth head dress there
Is Il brass spool about three inches long,
on each side OF which the eyes show out.
! Some of the girls are beautiful, but [
imagine that many OF them look better
with their wells on than Off. The Egyp-
tian eye is large, black and scnsuous.
The cyeashes are very long on both lids
and the edges of the cyelids are often
blackened with kohl. The eyebrows are
straight and smooth, and never bushy.
The cheek bones are high, the fore
head is receding and the nose somewhat
inclined to fatncss. In the country YOU
find much darker women than you do in
Cairo, and see scores of them working
in the fields without wells. These fela-
heen arc Mahommedans Very few of
them attain riches and but few rise to
| power. Arab Pasha was "fcllah, :"
and he was one Of the few exceptions TO
this rule.
1t is no wonder they remain poor.
They have been taxed for ages to such
an extent that they could barely live.
lsmail Pasha, the last Khcdive, would,
| am told, often collect taxes twice Il
year, coming down upon the farmers for
second sum after he had demanded the
regular amount. If they were not able TO
supply it the taX-gathcrcrs sold their
stock mt auction, and he had the right to
make such rs he pleased work for him
for nothing. Al present there are about
five million acres of land under cultiva-
ton in Egypt, and there is an agricul-
tural population of more than four mil
lions. This gives less than one and
one-iiith acre per person., and the taxes
amount to from 81 to 50 an acre. The
best lands Of Egypt pay 50 an acre, and
this is only one form Of Egyptian taxa
ton.
Just outside Of Cairo there is a
Government Office, through which every
piece of produce brought into the city
for safe must pass, and every article is
taxed. The farmer vino brings donkey
load of grass to the city for sale must
pay percentage on its value before he
can go in will: it, 1t is the same with a
chicken or pigeon, basket of vcgcta-
bics or anything that the farmer raises.
Then there is tax upon date trees
amounting to 5000, 900 year, upon salt
of more than Il million, upon tobacco
and slaughter houses, and in fact upon
everything under the Egyptian sun The
donkey boy here pays II tax, the doctor
pays tax, the storekcepcr is taxed, and
there is in addition to this general
tariff of eight per cent. on all imports.
There are taxes upon sheep and goats,
which are paid whether the animals are
sold or not. There are taxes Oil wells,
taxes on fisheries and taxes paid for land
which Egypt once owned, but which she
gave up with the loss of Soudan 1t is
no wonder that the Egyptian people are
poor. 1t is Il wonder that they can exist
at all.
Two Miles Minute on a Crcmlar Track
On two-lnilc circular track the start
ling speed of two miles minute was re-
Gently maintained for about ten miles by
the three-ton motor of the Electro Auto