The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1894-05-10
Mr.. kITTELLE In CAIRO.

ule IA i EIIG LIN OdlIO.
HE WRITES ANOTHER LETTER
TO HIS PARENTS.
What is to be Seen in That Foreign
Country-Great Pyramid Built
3766 Years Before Christ.
CAIRO, Egypt, March 20, 1884,
l have been doing all the sights of
Cairo in three days, in company with
the captain and four of our mess,
namely: the captain, Norton, Gauge
and Braithwaite. This is the best no.
tel here. and very good one, built
somewhat on the Egyptian style of
architecture; the beds are splendid and
they take very fair. We were delayed
by break down and arrived late or
the first day, having time only to
drive out to see a large ostrich farm
where several hundred birds are cared
for and their feathers exported; also
the sister obelisk to the one we have
in Central Park, though in much better
state of preservation, the characters
being clearly cut and easily readable
to an Egyptologist who understands
the language. 1t stands on the out
skirts of the city and is in the land of
! Goshen, where the Israelites dwelt.
Its age is 1000 years. There is very
large tree and very old one too, near
the Obelisk, where the Virgin is said
to have rested on her flight to Egypt.
Proof of this is naturally lacking.
One of the large palaces of the Khe
dives, has been turned into museum
for Egyptian antiquities of all kinds,
| and it is naturally the finest collec-
tion in the world of mummieS, papy
rus and carvings of all kinds. We
drove there the second day and spent
the forenoon for it is very large. |
saw the mummy of RamseS II, who is
said to be the Pharaoh who prosecuted
the lsraeliteS and whom Moses got the
better of. He had strong face, of
aquiline type, the nose almost an ca
giles beak, and firm mouth. The
old chap looked quite equal to "hard
ening his heart" From the museum,
the drive to the Pyramids is very
delightful one, down long straight
road bordered by large shade trees and
wide meadows of green vegetation,
stretching out on both sides. Canals
run everywhere through these fields
for irrigation purposes, and camels
and donkeys are there browsing, or
taking on board load of grass or clio
yer for market. AS soon as you strike
the pyramids you strike the desert, in
fact short time before. A perfect
waste of brown sand with hammOckS
everywhere and not a green thing.
Under the great pyramid stands
good modern hotel with every conve-
| nience where we stopped for Lunch and
being very hungry l ate heart
lily. Immediately after the lunch we
went to the foot of the great pyramid.
Only three of US decided to make the
| ascent, Norton, the chaplain and my
ft,n I'll al, g
an old Beduuin Sheik, who has the
right to charge two shillings for the
| ascent as his people, some fifty Bedou
| ms, render the necessary aid. / had
three, one hold of each hand and one
pushing astern. We made four stops
| for rest and at the end of the first one
| found myself mOmentarily faint,
| due the doctor said, to attempting
| such violent exercise, after hearty
| lunch, in the hOt'Sun. We soon push
| ed on and reached the top in about
| fifteen minutes, the Arabs jabbering
| all the time about Mark Twain, and
wanting to run down one pyramid and
up the other for two shillings in ten
| minutes time, as Twain had made
| them do. The successive steps are
waist high and the climb becomes
| tiresome after awhile, raising the foot
| and leg waist high every time. The
view from the top of the Valley of the
Nile, the desert, Cairo and the Sphinx
was fine. Coming down, one Arab
| had each hand and one unwound his
white turban and tying one end
around my waist held on by the other
to keep me from falling forward. So
we made the descent. Originally the
| pyramids were perfectly smooth and
| polished Oh the sides and it would
have been impossible to mount them,
but the MohammedanS stripped off
| the outer layer of smooth stones to
build mosques in Cairo and now the
sides Of the pyramids are a series of
ruinOus stone steps three feet high A
little of the smooth surface still re-
| mains near the apex of the second
pyramid. There are three pyramids
in all here at ShiZeh and from the top
be seen in the distance. The great
pyramid was built by CheopS, one of
the rulers, in 1866 years before Christ,
and he had himself buried in it. His
memory was found in one and his
wife's in the other compartment.
| mounted a camel after descending,
and rode for ten minutes to the
Sphinx, most of whose Immediate
expression" has been wiped off by
time. 1t is simply big, that is all one
can say of it truthfully. ] have very
little admiration to spare for these
grotesque, expressionless, unnatural
stone figures of the ancients. New
finds are being constantly made and
sent to the museum. Early this
month some fine jewelry in good state
of preservation was found in lower
Egypt and sent to the museum. 1t
dates back to the second dynasty.
The third day we went through sew
eral mosques, one that of MOhammeC
Ali, Twas alabaster and very handsome
carpeted with some rugs sent by the
Sultan of Turkey, and worth $1,000
apiece. Ne also saw the citadel, al
old fertilization built from the stone:
of the pyramids, and the tombs o
, the Mamelukes and Caliphs. l saw
the effect of wind storm which
though frightfully unpleasant and un
comfortable, was still interesting
The high winds so stir up the dus
and distribute it in the atmOspher
that on a bright sunny day the sun i
obscured and light is greatly subdued
Breathing is difficult and the eyes sui
; fer greatly. The trip by railroad from
Alexandria was three hour on
through irrigated fields and Arab mu
villages. S. e. w. KITTELLE.
VI go