Omaha daily bee., 1896-04-25

desert already. One Of these days OF dust
and partial suifocatlon Is enough to start the
elderly tourists northward, and, according to
Arab tradition, fully fifty are intermittently
due. Last year residents tell me, there were
really but six days of actual sand storm, and
they are all hoping in Cairo for similar eX-
emption this year.
The only excurslonists up the Nile now are
the troops and their supporters, who are
heading for the land of the Soudanese der
wishes. All Of Cooks boats are carrying sol
diers and supplies and war material. Last
year more than 900 tourists and health SEEK
ers touched at Cairo, many of them remain
ing for weeks, and of these fully one-half
were Americans. II Cairo is not shaken by
wars nor deserted by its English protectors
II will become in few years the greatest
winter pleasure resort in the world. Che Is
astounded now by the grandeur of its hotels,
the beauty and cleanliness Of its avenues, the
splendor of its equipages, the gayety OF It's
cafes and the brillance of its opera.
There Is vice enough, and depravity, too, TO
attract the most blase seekers after novelty.
That extravagant reckless khedive, 1smail,
the spendthrift, may have dragged Egypt
down to bankruptcy and war. but the beauti-
fed Cairo, and the traces Of his prodigahty
are to be seen Gu every hand. His gorgeous
Ghezireh palace, across the river is now
hotel. with its harem building and gardens
and kiosques, and a finer hotel no traveller
natn ever nung up MS nat Ill. NHlle lHe
average new hotel in Europe and America is
marvel of brllllancy and comfort, 1t is rich
with tnSel aud Starvation. Here one
finds Substantiality In alabaster, onyx, marble
and gold. Think of rooms wherein are man
telpieces and fireplaces costing $4,000 each!
To what better uses can palaces, built from
the unrequited toll Of the people by profiigate
kings, be put than converting them into
hostelries for the accommodation OF the gen
eral public?
While Carlo has many attractions 1t is
lamentably destitute in the matter of mu-
seums such as should constitute Its chief
attraction. One must go TO Paris, London
and Berlin to study Egyptian history ana
commune with antiquity, and while Rome,
Paris, London and even New York can show
from ons to half a dozen obelsks, the CAPT
tai of the land of the Memphte kings, the
Ptoemes, the Pharaohs and Khalifs end
less has none. How shamefully has this an
cient seat been pllaged and plundered!
Nine. Hyacinthe-Loyson has recently been
writing In the newspapers here to urge for
elgn countries to return to Egypt her stolen
monuments and the bones of her ancestors.
OF course, no more attention will be paid
to this appeal than is given to the groan of
the complaining camel in the desert.
MUMMIES, COINS AND JEWELS.
The Ghzeh museum, which represents the
Egyptian governments collection of an
tiquties, Is woful exhibit One finds there
the well preserved mummy OF tnaI ftaIneses
who was the SeSostris of the Greeks and OF
Thatmes H.. and of princesses who -four
ished fifteen centuries before the dawn Of
the Christian era. but the best exhibits are
jewels and coins discovered only few years
ago, and most limited they are. How natural
it is that we should sympathize with the
despoiled Egyptians. Carlo is rich in
mosques, and it is not probable that any of
these will be torn down now and carted off to
embellish the cities of "civ!lzation." How
well that aabaster mosque of Mohammed
Ali would look in one of the squares of gay
Paris!
Despite the destruction of the pleasure seek
ers, picturesque Cairo is not lacking in gay
ETY.. The brilliant shops are still open; the
roulette wheel still whirls at night in un-
restricted joy; the al fresco cafes are
thronged with bibulous crowds representing
every phase OF the Levant and the Orient;
the painted feminine adventurers from VI
emma, Budapest, Bucharest and sunny
Italy ply their arts with commercial vigor,
and there is much happy leave taking of the
soldier boys billeted for the Upper Nile; the
gaudy uniforms Of the 'Connaught Rang
ers" and the stiff-baCked cavaliers of the
Queens Bays" give vivid color to streets
already radiant with Egyptian military
dress; the agile syce, more gorgeous than
the paradise bird, leaps and shouts In front
of the carriage loaded with yelled favoritea
Of the harem; marching soldiers are every
where with their trumpets, and the eye is
never free from "shanghaled" gangs Of rag
ged, shambling recruits of every shade and
color, fresh from the adjacent deserts; the
peripatetic merchant, with his lottery, ac
costs you at every turn; the cries of mendi-
cants and tine shouts of donkey drivers fill
the air. and Egyptian military band
blares and wheezes every afternoon in the
rich garden Of Esbekeh. Such is Carlo to-
day-"out Of season."
Then there is the drive to the Pyramids.
1 used to think of visit to the Pyramids in
connection with donkeys and camels, and
sunshades and linen helmets, swathed in
puggarees, and sand and dust, and much
fatigue and objurgation. That was doubtless
the case in the days of the Buckeye
Abroad" and when Howadji Curtis ascended
the Nile. Now you throw yourself into a
handsome barouche, driven by whip-crack-
ing Arab, and you are whirled to the
Pyramids a distance of eight miles, along
roadway as smooth as the Prater and shaded
on both sides with stately trees. You have
verdant landscape for at least six miles, with
the eternal pyramdlcal monuments for
background. At the foot of old Cheops you
find comfortable, well equipped hotel, filled
with semi-invalid boarders; you lunch sumpt-
uously; you smoke your cigar and gaze
dreamily at the overshadowing pillars, watch
the crowds going and coming, the camel
riding and the English equestriansm, and
then you take your carriage and are whrled
back to the city in the glow of the richest
sunset you have ever known. You have
simply made a trip to an attractive road
house. OF course there is no sentimentalty
in this and very little romanticism, but it is
enjoyable.
A GLIMPSE OF THE KHEDIVE.
In Cairo one can frequently see the young
khedive dashing about in his open carriage,
clesely hemmed in by his handsome cavalry
escort His residential palace is Koobeh. in
the suburbs of the city, He is an early
riser Some of his receptions begin as early
as o'clock in the morning. He drives daily
to the Abdeen palace in the city, where he
trarsacts official business. He is fond of
horses and he spends his ESQ 900 per year
with considerable lavishness. Seated in his
carriage he is a rather handsome person. but
on foot his heavy legs and waddlng gait
detract very much from his appearance His
popularity with the people has increased
very much since he married his servant
sweetheart and legitimatized her child
His brother, Prince Mohammed Ali is very
much in evidence in the streets of Cairo
He is immensely fond Of horses and equally
Indifferent to female society. Tandem driy-
ing is his fad, and he spends his f15OO
year like a true sport" and is always in
debt He likes foreigners very much and the
foreigners who know him speak of him as
"a good sort"
/ the khedve the other morning under
M als tan