The Progress., 1893-06-17

older men and women, and no end OF
children, mount the backs of the camels
and are sent weaving and lurching up the
oriental thoroughfare. IL is great sport
for all concerned, and it brings many n
good American dollar into the till of the
willy Arabs who run the show.
Here is another crowd. 1t stands in a
circle about group of three or four
Arabs. They make the strangest music
you ever heard on the quaintest musical
instruments you ever saw. When the
noise ceases n monkey with n muzzle over
his nose jumps down from the back Of the
donkey where he has been riding and
scizes stick with which he carries on a
mimic but spirited warfare with one of
the Arabs. This is all done to attract the
people and to gain their attention, and the
scheme succeeds. The crowd around is as
thick rs it can pack itself. Then Khalil
Hada, the great Egyptian conjuror, steps
forward. He has in one of his eyes mon
ocle which loo Ks much like an egg. In a
moment he causes this to disappear down
his throat and then picks it off the top of
the monkeys head. Or he thrusts it into
one of his ears and picks it out the other
When the crowd murmurs in appreciation
on his intelligent face, "gallah, gallah. "
He performs some more clever tricks, and
just rs the throng is getting interested tho
conjuror announces that the performance
will be continued in his tent a
little way up the street. Then
the orchestra strikes up, and the
march toward the conjuror's tent is be-
gun. OF course large number of people
follow this strange cavalcade, and give up
their silver quarters for the privilege OF
seeing the great Khalil Hada perform his
tricks. This is n sample of the manner in
which these smart Arabs get out in the
street and hustle for trade. They can give
the Yankees points in this business.
Those who enter the tent of the conjuror
do not regret it. He is n very skillful
prest:digateur. Without any elaborate
accessories he sits down upon dias only
four or five feet from the heads of his
nearest spectators and performs feats
which are really marvellous. They are
common enough feats in the orient, aud
most of our professional performers are
able to do them, but the Egyptian has q
style and q charm all his own. He, too, APP
preciates the value of good humor. He Is
always smiling and joking, never fails to
mutter "gallah, gallah, when the crowd
applauds, characterizes his own work as
every clever" makes no pretensions to be
anything but trickster, and Is evidently
happiest when he most successfully fools
those who assist him in his work by hold
ing the rings and the coins and the hand
kerchiefs.
The Arabs have here about a thousand
devices for charming money out of the
pockets of the crowd. Most of these are
worthy devices, but few are not. The so
called Cairo by Moonlight" to which an
admission fee Of quarter Is charged, is a
mere revolving stereopticon fake, most Of
the pictures being Of Jerusalem rather
than Cairo, and uninteresting. Another
fake is the so-called Temple of Luksor,"
$500 years old. The advertisements, and
the glib-tongued young man who stands in
front of the temple shouting to the passers-
by, say one may see within the mummies
of Pharoah, of Rameses III, oppressor of
Israelites, of Seth /, whose daughter
found Moses, of Hirhor /, father-in-law of
King Solomon and of Nessi-ta-neb-asser,
Solpmon's sister-in-law. But these num-
mics are merereproductions. There is not
a genuine mummy in the building. The
so-called sacred dance of the ancient Egyp-
tians Is flippant bit Of mummery gone
through with good deal OF laughter and
awkwardness by party of young Arabs
who are evidently new at the business.
The Cairo theater is rather sensational
There Is some talk of having the authori-
ties stop the dancing which goes on in it.
Five or six dancing girls from Egypt go
through such strange contortions here,
always before large audiences, with such
reckless abandon and indecent exposure,
that Americans deem the performance dis
gushing. Women, and good and proper
women at that, do go to see this show, but
they 20 unconscious of its character; and
you may be sure they do not go second
time, or permit their daughters to see it
after them. The street in Cairo Is a
charming addition to the international
feature Of the fair, but its dancing girls
should be sqvelched and one or two of its
fakes be closed up by the authorities.
RoBERr GRAvEA