Omaha daily bee., 1889-07-07
The Egypt of To-day.

CAIRO, Egypt, June l2.-[Special to The
BEE. Modern civilization Is making rapid
strides In the land Of Egypt The young
giant of the west whose itching palm Is
reaching out towards japan, China, Korea
and the lands OF south Asia, has already
strong grip on this birthplace of history. and
the Egypt Of the past has days that are num-
bered. Alexandra has long since arisen
from the ashes OF the bombardment Of seven
years ago, and it is now the size of Cleveland
or Washington. Its buildings are European
rather than Arabic and its streets have
French names. Cairo, the city of tho Ara
pian nights is fast becoming city Of Pari
sian nights, and the Mohammedan
call to prayer is mingled with the
ba cchanalian songs of the cafe chant
ants Modern science is pulling the mum
mics from the pyramids. A telephone
line runs almost to the very ear OF the
Sphynx and the old lady Is being pulled from
the sand by modern iron cars made In Eu-
rope. There is an hotel at the base OF the
Pyramid of Cheops in which English men
and women drink brandy and soda and the
spirit of the nineteenth century with
some of its virtues and all of its vices Is
breathing new life into the land of the
Pharoahs Egypt had more than two thou
Bauu AtueTlCdU VlSlJOTS bulS WlubCT, anu
the amount left here by Cooks tourists
alone is now, ] am told, about 50, ,500,0 900 q
gear. Cairo is becoming winter residence
city, aad it has hundreds of mansions which
voa,d do credit to New York or Paris. Real
essete mas rapidly risen in value and the
lsss spon which
THE BABY MOSES LAY
1. the bullrushes is now worth big price per
yVban I y-ia
eight years ago the donkey was the chief
hackney cab of the foreigner, and men,
women and children went sightseeing on
long cared beasts with donkey boys in blue
gowns, following behind and punching up the
animals by poking sharp sticks into patches
of bare flesh as big as dollar, each of which
had been denuded of skin for the purpose
The hotels had Egyptian servants in tur-
bans and gowns and you called your boy to
your room by clapping your hands. Now the
Ishmaelitish hack driver has taken the town
and though he wears a fez cap, his dress Is
European and his cheek is as hard as that of
an American cabby. The donkey boys,
though they are as bright as ever, have lost
their monopoly and their customers are con.
fined to foreign men and to the natives. In
Aide the walls of Shepneards hotel, where 1
sning, you are far away from old
Egypt as you would be in the Grand hotel at
Paris The servants are French speaking
Swiss, in black, swallow-taIl coats. The
chambers have electric bells, and the "a day
which you pay for your board does not in
clude either candles or soap.
The house is packed full and there are
counts by the score and lords by the dozen.
AT dinner you see half the men in steel pen
coats and the women in trails, low necks
and short sleeves. There is. a, babel of
English, French and German,s and the only
evidence, that you are in the land of the
Phafoahs is the tall palm trees which look
wonderingly in at the windows.
The dahibeye or sail boat, which was form
erly the only means of going up the Nile, has
been superseded by steamers as comfortable
MS those which cross the Atlantic, and the
Journey from Cairo to the interior OF Nubia
is one of the easiest ald pleasantest in the
world. There are now more than thousand
miles of railroad track in Egypt, and trav-
eled to Cairo from Suez in an express train
which made as good speed as that of our
trunk lines. The steam engine screeched
as we passed through the land of Goshen,
and at one OF the stations, while telegraphing
to Cairo, / asked the price of land in this
country,
WHICH JOSEPH GAVE TO HIS FATHER,
and was told that it was worth at least $3.50
an acre. Our steamboat Tin coming up the
Red sea- crossed the path over which Moses
led the Israelites, and in which Pharoah was
drowned, and / drove out this afternoon
in an American buggy to the is;os site OF Of
In whose hollow trunk the Virgin Mary hid
herself with the child Jesus during the flight
to Egypt. In passing through the streets OF
Cairo ] saw the troops of the Khedive clad
in a uniform like that of the soldiers of
Europe, and among them were English
officers and the red coats Of the English
army of occupation. The great governments
of Europe now control Egypt. England
foreign influence permeates every part OF
the government. The European bond-hold-
ors practically own the country, and the
lands of the Nile. If sold out at auction,
would hardly bring the value of the mort
cages which the ROthschilds and others hold
upon them. The people are ground down by
taxation now, as they have been under tho
most extravagant of their rulers in the past,
and the Egyptian improvements above men
toned, which are mainly for the benefit of
the foreigners have come out of the peasants.
Whatever Egypt may be in the future 1t is
terribly oppressed to-day, and
THE STORY OF IRELAND
is nothing in comparison with the present
condition OF Egypt.
Tho Egyptians should be the richest in
stead of the poorest people of the world.
What q wonderful country they have 1t IS
valley of guano in the midst OF desert.
teens with crops as green as Kansas i'll
June 1t produces from two to three crops
every year, and its soil gives out through the
ages bounteous crops with no other fertilizer
than this water of the Nile. Egypt is tho
gift of the Nile, and wonderful gift it is.
The country under the khedive to-day Is the
narrowest kingdom of the world, Extending
between eight and nine hundred miles above
Cairo its cuitivaple soil is nowhere more
than nine miles wide, and below here II
spreads out in a great, green fan, the ribs of
which are each a little more than one hun
drod miles long, and the top OF which does
not measure much more than the
ribs. This fan Is the famed Delta Of
the Nile, and with this long, narrow
valley above 1t, it makes the Egypt
of to-day. On the sides of this valley are
great tracts of desert of sand Of glaring
yellow silver, more sterile than the plains OF
Colorado or the alkaili plains Of the Rockies.
The Egyptian desert is absolutely bare The
rich fields of Egypt come to its edge on
either side and you can step from the green
est grass to the dryest OF sand, and standing
on the green with your face toward the
desert far as the eye can reach see nothing
but bleak, bare sand
The whole of the SOIL of Egypt has been
brought down from the mountains OF
Abyssinia by the Nile. 1t is nowhere more
than fifty feet deep and ITS average depth
ii. a.. IT,nla tbta coil 10