The record-union., 1893-02-27
TEE Nile COUNTRY.
Among the Tombs of Old
Egypt.
Pyramids and ObeIisks-Cairo n Stranee
and Interesting Study-Mud Towns
Amid Sandstone Hills-The ROYAL
Dust of Ancient Kings.

with its cloudless skies, its balmy
oreezes, its varied life, its MOSQUES. some
the pride of the Moslem world, other:
crumbllng ruins, and, above all, with its
dreamy atmosphere, so heavily lader
Win The memories of the past, Cairo, the
city on the Nile, possesses attractions
which the globe wanderers are just be.
ginning to rediscover. Even the Ameri.
can considers long the relative attraction:
OF Florida, the Bermudas, or Egypt as {
winter home, and if he decides for the
latter he at once becomes devotee to the
lahd OF the Pharoahs. Not only before
the pyramids, but at every turn memen.
toes dating from forty centuries confront
one, and he is forced to become the
student, not of any one period, but of the
history OF the human race from its earlies
genesis. The modern city of Cairo is &
study in life ever new, ever changing
ever dull, a huge mirror rejecting the
varying phases OF the fascinating Orient
Ihese attractions it shares in part, how
ever, with other cities of the East, but the
tomDs and monuments of the ancient
world which lie all about the city are its
unique possession.
A cool morning ride through the Eng
hsh portion of the town and across the
one iron bridge which spans the Nile
Drought us to the Bulak station. Mosi
1orclbly We're we reminded of our boyist
delight on the day when we viewed our
nrst circus procession by the long line o1
odultles IN animal form which we met on
the way, and never succeeded in passing
because there was evermore to follow. Ii
was Calro,s daily provisions coming in
from the fertile fields which extend on
elUner, SIDE up and down the shores OF
Egypts river. Little patient, long cared
donkeys with load of vegetables sus-
pended on their backs, twice as large as
the motive power itself, which quite con-
cealed the latter, so that one saw only the
effect but not the cause. On top, to max e
lne load complete, were perched some
cnDdren or woman with veiled face and
black eyes. Broad-horned, wild oxen,
no longer wild, were numbering along
with clumSily constructed, tWo-Whe led
cart, groanlng under its burden of paving
stones. Long -necked frowzes awkward
camelS, the serts of cameldom, tied one
behind the other in packs quarter of a
mile long, with their huge loads of green
clover which looked like so many NOV
ing stacks, were lazily floating into their
city haven in the morning cooI-alI were
Jumbled together, while the shouting.
quarreling Arab and Berber drivers
made the confusion, the normal state in
TIE Orient, complete.
1t was very prosaic taking stuffy Eng
liSh train to go to view the tome of old
Egypt, but thirty minutes of dust and
noise was preferable to six hours on dom
key back. Accordingly we comforted
ourselves with n dozen oranges apiece
and busted ourselves with the wearyiur
labor of simply existing. a step from
the platform, and we were in the midst
g.ffs lNE.N IN l. -,
boys, each shouting good donkey'' con-
siderably louder than the other. But our
surprise at being attacked by twenty
1Iends incarnate had quite disappeared
since our life in the East, so we calmly
allowed ourselves to be stepped on by
donkeys, pulled to pieces by the drivers
while they tried 10 put each one of US on
i've donkeys at once. The attacking
force was strong and the supply of VIC
Tins unusually small. Their policy of
dividing our ranks and conquerinp each
in turn threatened in the first fray to
prove successful, had we not thought our
selves of our football tactics lust in time
to form V and rescue the professor from
black pond into which he was making
haste slowly.
Evidently the collective sense of assaiI-
ants told them at last that this was the
exception that proved the rule thai they
could always bulldose the callov tourist
into engaging wretched donkey for an
eXorbltanT sum simply because the trav-
eler valued his life more highly than
gold. one who seemed to be more highly
endowed than the others with trickery
ana deceit those two characteristics
which we believe to come from the devil
but the Moslems from Allah, came out for
parley and told us that he was the ''son
OF shelk." We prostrated ourselves
before royalty with such good effect that
nnnl<pU how hot do,
transformed into the ''son OF a sneik :"
and thus princes became our servants.
''Son of the Sheik' number one finally
contracted to provide for five shillines
apiece donkeys to take US to Sakkarah
which he informed us was twenty-eight
miles distant. knowing that in reality it
was nearly three, we asked him why he
did not make 1t an even thirty. Doubt
less his strong native sense of truth for
bade him to eXaggerate, although his
command of English or French did not
enable him to tell us this.
As the drivers gradually shouted them
selves hoarse. the prices fell until we
made our bargain, and, after climbing
over two or three rival donkeys, we sue
ceeded in mounting, and found ourselves
careening along with a screaming boy in
close pursuit of the luckless brute and the
helpless victim, who was struggling TO
keep on top.
with our new and trying position to raise
our eyes above the donkey's ears, we
found that we were going along the SER
pent-like, raised road which winds
through the fertile Nile Valley. 1t was a
picture of tropical luXuriance painted in
the most gorgeous colors. Tall palm
trees, the embodiment of artistic grace
extended as far as the eye could reach.
Beyond, the Nile wound along among
the banana and orange trees, the source
Of all this life. The air was heavy with
the fragrance OF the delicate bridal bios
SONS. This was the site of powerful old
Memphis, the home OF Joseph, the royal
abode of the Pharaohs, ana the pretty
city of Lower Egypt, long before the He
brew race emerged from the seclusion of
its early nomadic lite. \ long dyke.
1robably built by king OF the first dy
nasty, and many mounds which indicate
ruins below are nearly all that remain
to mark the ancient city.
Here we were treated to a new phase of
Oriental methods. After we had ridden
two miles our guides bethought them
selves OF the fact that, in order to see the
tombs, tickets should have been secured
back at the station. Accordingly the only
thing to be done was TO sit down on
mound which covered some ancient tenn
ple. under the shade of palm tree, and
mediate upon the character of this tribe
of children grown tall and sturdy, the
ragamuffins who came out of the mud
town near by to beg for 'backshish."
i fter an hour, to our surprise, the donkey
came back with the boy and the tickets
and we were admitted within the walls
that inclose the huge statue OF Rameses
II. (nrobably the Pharoah of the oppres-
sionl which, according 10 Herodotus,
once stood at the entrance to the famous
te,nnle of Plato. Now this massive statue
! ,s,,1lr