The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1897-07-25
PROSPECT OF ANGLO-EGYPT|AN ADVANCE UP THE NILE.
"On to Khartoum' Is the Cry, Though Possibly
Complications May Cause Delay.
Survey Close Observlore Warke Spirit
People--Some of the Results o British Control

of the service the natives are in the
vast majority They call all the for
eigners English pachas" and have
faith in them, not because they are in
capable of laundering, but because they
are fairly honest.
HONESTY VIEWED WITH INCRED-
| ULITY.
Honesty is so rare. in the East as to
be viewed with incredulity; when ac-
cepted as a fact, it is overvalued Re-
member Ismail. This engaging prince,
who had learned in Paris all the vices
and none of the virtues of the West,
plunged his people heavily into debt.
Upon one crazy palace, now museum,
he squandered $24, 1000 900. In another.
now a hotel, he entertained the notables
who came to view the opening of the
Suez canal. This and other follies cost
$40, 000 900, or fully one fifth as much as
the canal itself Thievery ran riot
He encouraged agriculture, too, did
Ismail. When he saw a prosperous
village he said: Double the taxes on
these fellows to compel them to Gull
tivate more land. The system of forced
labor was used as a means of oppres-
sion The taxes We're sold by auction.
The highest bidder for a district squeez-
ed out of it for himself what he could.
The taX-farmer was always either
himself the village money lender or
handin-g glove with him. He gave no
receipts. His rapacity was governed
only by the fellahins ability to pay
and not always by that. At the height
of his power Ismail himself owned one
fifth of the arabic land of Egypt. and
the money lenders and Pachas had
II ,f fla
who did not pay up were dashed down
and beaten with rods on the soles of
their feet.
When people who had been accus-
toned to this sort of thing first saw
young engineers in riding boots stalk
ing along the banks of the canals, see
ing that the people got their fair share
of water and that the grandees no lon
ger "hogged'' it all; when they saw
ribe-offering pachas kicked out of the
engineers tents and their money SHE'D
after them, they said among them
selves: Doubtless these Franks are
great and strong people; but they are
crazy! They refuse bakshish!' But
people do get used to strange things
in time.
Reform has had hard shedding in
Egypt. Mohamed Ali, the first of the
reformers, improved the manners of
the Mamelukes by cutting off their
heads. He started schools and con-
scripted children to fill them, after first
enrolling those of his own servants.
Professional schools came before pre-
paratory ones and as the professors
| feared dismissal if their classes were
not full one saw people who could
scarcely read and write studying civil
engineering, law, and medicine. Now
good preparatory schools have been es-
tablished, and only their graduates are
admitted to the professional colleges.
In these schools Arabic is thoroughly
taught; two European languages are
studied, one thoroughly and one slight
ly; also geometry, drawing, geography,
history, chemistry and physics. Three
fourths of the pupils choose French as
the principal European language and
learn to speak it well; they also learn
a little English and pick up a smatter-
ing of Italian.
you mustn't compare Egyptian
schools with those of Europe" said In
spector- in Chief Douglas Dunlop to me.
In a land of 5000, 900 or more souls, we
have only about 10000 pupils. 1t is not
at general education we are aiming.
]
terial for the professional schools, to
train men to enter the civil service.
Here in Egypt there is no middle class
| between the fellahin and the pachas.
and it would be doing no good to edu-
cate people to stand around in patent
leather shoes and high collars doing
nothing. OF the Kottabs, or native
schools, there are 10000 and we have
no control over them. The only way to
get control would be by government
subvention to each, and we haven't the
money. The Kottabs teach little be-
sides the Koran"
AMERICANS NO LONGER WANTED.
Great prominence is given in the gov
eminent schools to sciences and draw
ing. because so many graduates are to
study medicine and civil engineering.
| The land survey department for in
stance, was founded by Mason Bey,
one of the many ex-Confederate officers
who, after our Civil War, entered the
| Egyptian service. There is not one
American in the service now, l believe.
Mason Bey was intrigued out of Office
in 1883, and the department lapsed. 1t
was revived in 1892, and A. r. Bird
wood, who was Mason's private secre-
tary, and who married an American
wife, is now the Director.
THE NOMINAL RULER.
I have not thus far mentioned the
Khedive Abbas II Hlmy. The omission
is not fatal. In appearance, Abbas is
an all-powerful ruler. Everything is
done by order of the Khedive but he
is a figure head. A featured
young man of twenty-three, he looks
as if his life were an easy one, its prob
lens mainly solved for him. His face
is neither so strong nor so careworn
and thoughtful as that of his nominal
suzerain, Abdul Hamid of Turkey.
But Abdul Hamid is so unfortunate
as to be real ruler.
Copyright, 1897, by Bachelor Syndicate.