The Arizona champion., 1891-01-03
PLAQUES OF EGYPT.
The Effects of a Dry, Dusty Alt
 moSphere.
PERTIaAGITY 0F TIE EaYPTIAA FLY.
Inoessant Dsmand for Backshish.-A
 Bed Among ths FlsaS.

A large, rambling building in a fine gar den running down to the river. It is em powered in noble palms and towering trees and shrubs, and would be charm ing retreat anywhere. but here surround ed by the hot mud novels which make up an Egyptian village, with the burning sands and sterile mountains close by, 1t IS simply delightful We are the only occu pants; have the whole house, do what we please, and shall leave it with regret. In valids in search of health could spend month or two here not only delightfully."-, but in this wondrously dry atmosphere most advantageously in many classes of complaints need state only three facts to show the rapidity of evaporation in Upper Egypt. Water too warm to drink is put into porous jar and placed in the wind. though in the sun; in half hourit Is as cool as good spring water At night, exposed to a breeze, even when the breeze is rather warm. before morning it becomes almost ice cold The night of my arrival here took pouring bath on balcony The wind was balmy. but fresh. The rapid evaporation so chilled me that l could not stay out long enough for my bath. At the foot of the cataract we took swim in the Nile We wore our underclothes for bathing suits. We hung them up before our staterooms to dry In ten minutes they were dry enough to be worn We have all heard of the univer sal habit of all Africans to anoint them selves with oil, and travellers speak of it as a nasty habit It is, however. neces- sary in very hot and very dry climates to prevent the cracking of the skin An English officer told me that during the hot winds on the Upper Nile his hands and face chapped worse than they ever did in a cold climate-chapped even to bleeding badly
 THE WIND AND THE FLIES.
 have found fresh white butter quite as pleasant on my hands as on my toast. The boys have felt no inconvenience from the winds My hands are very sensitive to the effect of dry. dusty atmosphere. At Assouan we were in the sun during two days We did not use our umbrellas, our pith hats being quite comfortable, and yet we were just on the edge of the tropics It has been rather too chilly to lie down on the top of our little steamer for any considerable time at night. We have had no musquito curtains on our boat. and have needed none, the breeze on the water making them unnecessary. It takes hard blow. however, to keep flies away The pertinacity of an Egyptian fly is beyond that of any other living crea- ture. The natives never brush them away They deem It bad luck to do so. Flies are never driven from baby's face, and 1t does. not seem annoyed by them. Its face is rarely washed. and Is so dirty that it affords admirable forage ground for hundreds of the little brutes.
 watched child of about 1-2 years enjoying 8 crust of bread There was about it swarm of flies, and l do not exsggerate when say two or three dozens were on its face at one time in patches as big as half dollar about the eyes and mouth It would screw up its eyes when they threatened to go in l thought some must have gone into Its mouth with the bread It did not seem at all annoyed saw sleeping child on the street whose face was almost black with the insects It smiled as if angels were whispering in its ears. have seen men talking pleasantly together while a dozen flies would be promenading about their faces. apparently unnoticed by the owners of the faces. l asked man how he could stand It. "Mashallahl They don't bother me" was his reply This has made the fly bold and he seems ut I6TlJ uudDl6 u uuU6TSbdLu WudI d TUT eigner means when he tries to drive him of He has, too. remarkably prehensile claws, and keeps them keen and sharp when taking constitutional walks over European countenances It was probably the knowledge of this quality which made these people pronounce it bad luck to drive them away They found 1t best to educate the masses to bear the infiction and so get used to 1t.
 THE DEMAND FOR BAcKsHIsH.
 By the way, travellers are shocked by the incessant demand for backshish (gifts) throughout the mighty east. The thing Is not to be wondered at, for all the beggars the world over knew there are none equal to the gods of the east Their hands are everywhere represented ex- tended for backshish Their favor was won by offerings-their anger averted by sacrifices. Like the proboscis of a cele- brated elephant, their hands could pick up pin or carry of a cart load of pota- toes. They could make a lunch from a few grains of rice. the widows mite, or they could devoura hecatomb of bullocks, the gifts of prince The gods took gifts and demanded them. Thegreat and pow erful. profting by their example, took gifts and enforced the giving. The poor took gifts and begged for them. The well to do in the whole region of the early sun reach out the hand for commission. The poor claHsor like hungry CUTS for crumbs and bones, and are not ashamed of their clamor.
 fear what I have said about Upper Egypt looks too much as if 1 was seeing 1t through rose glasses Thirty-six years ago, when Bayard Taylor and 1 travelled in the east together. l suffered terribly from feas The only pun I remember him to have made was anent the little tormentor He said Homer wrote the "niad. Virgil the ''Eneid;" that if ever wrote an epic 1t would be the "F1ead." had hoped we were about to escape this Egyptian plague. but yesterday. after lunching in one of the old tombs of the kings. we lay down for a nap on the sands; but my donkey boy, desiring to please the old man, whom he fatters by calling his father. spread the blanket and saddle for me to have a nice siesta. Ahl moment of mad forgetfulness. Islept an hour. but the Nemesis came. This particular tomb is now called the lunch tomb" Hundreds have lunched in it this season. though it is where no living thing is seen, and ap- parently nothing can live, yet the sanded floor was full of my mortal enemies, brought to it by the many donkey boys, who in it's shade rest while their employ CTS are wandering among the mighty caves of the dead l have passed good part of my time since then as hen with one chick does in an empty chicken yard-scratch- ing. l am like certain officials not far from the old court house in Chicago-only more so. They have itching palms. am all palm itch all over and am raw in patches,-Ex Mayor Carter H. Harrison's