The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-11
A LITTLE GIRL IN EGYPT.
Some of the Queer Things to BE Seen
in That Old Country.

Some of the Queer Things to BE Seen
in That Old Country.
little girl writes an interesting COM
munication in the Letter Box in the No
vember st. Nicholas. She says:
1 have lived all my life in Egypt, except
the summer months. We leave for Europe
in May or June, but already then it is so
hot that We do not know what to do with
ourselves. Last winter was exceptionally
cold We have not had many khamsins
yet On a bad khamsin day everybody
stays indoors with shut windows, as it is
much hotter out than in. 1t is a hot, hot
wind that blows from the desert, whirling
burning sand along with 1t. In the even
ing swarms of little flies come in, attract
ed by the lights and die all over your pa
per If you are writing letter. The damp
ness is another very disagreeable thing In
Alexandria, which Is not dry like Cairo.
But the real plague of Egypt is the black
beetle 1t is a continual fight to keep
them from swarmlng all over the house.
Some are enormous and even have wings.
We call all the natives Arabs, though real
ly there are many tribes-for instance, the
Bedouins of the desert, who pitch their
dirty tents among The country houses OF
the Europeans. Whole families live in
one tent Some gentlemen pay the chief
Bedouin Of the family not TO rob them and
to prevent other from doing so. was told
once that they descend from some Greeks
of the time of Alexander the Great They
keep up family feuds as the ancient
Greeks did. They have sheep. fowls, don
keys. calems and buffalos (Which they call
giamoose). In fact, they live the same
kind of life as the patriarchs in the Old
Testament, wandering about with their
fiocks and herds. The women wear black
robes and bright-colored sashes; the men
a sort of burnoose folded gracefully about
them. We go sometimes to sketch their
tents, and the children come to watch and
ask for "bakshish." The Arab men wear
a scanty long skirt of different colors, and
the red fez called tarboosh, or turban
Usually they go barefooted. Some of the
women wear a long robe, with glass or
brass bangles on their wrists and ankles
others a sort of scarf turned over their
heads and a veil covering their faces be-
low the eyes which Is tied behind their
ears.
They wear a plat of cotton mixed with
their hair stain their nails red and their
lower eyellds black. The women Of the ha-
rems wear black silk clothes with a white
muslin yashmak They never go out ex-
cent carefully yelled. The carriages they so
in have the blinds drawn. On the railway
there are special compartments In which
they are locked In. At the theater they
have before their box wooden latticework
so that they cannot be seen. At the we'd
dings of the lower classes the furniture
is paraded round the town on carts, and
in the evening the bride Is brought home
by torch-lght while little street ARABS
dance about to the sound OF a fearful
band.
Their funerals are very singular. They
used to throw the body over their should
ers and take 1t TO be buried Now they
are not allowed to do that. They put the
body on a kind of stretcher cover 1t with
a piece Of cloth. At the head of the corpse
thew fix a stick Of wood, on which is put
the fez of the deceased, IL he is a man.
Four Arabs carry this, and on the way
any passes-by offers to help, for they soy
that the person that Is dead prays for
each one that carries him. A crowd fol-
lows wailing shouting, and making iran
tic noise The women wave their hand
kerchiefs pun their hair, and make
funny sound with the tongue. There are
special women paid TO do this, and often
have / seen them laughing at the same
lime. The cemetery is not inclosed. and
the tombs are made Of stone. with pole
sticking up on one side. Moslems shave
all over their heads. except one tuft, which
they leave for Mohammed TO catch hold
OF and drag them into heaven by. Their
Sabbath day is Friday. They have Two
Ramadans. or fasts, the great and the
htue A gun is fred at sunrise and sun
set. between these guns they may not eat
ror drink They make up for It by feast
ing and rioting in the open air all night.
The longest lasts about thirty days, and
II must be dreadful in the hot weather
when they cannot drink a drop Of wafer
all day long. The great Ramadan Is kept
to commemorate a day when Mohammed
lost his camel He prayed all day .ong
10 find it, and at sunset he discovered that
he was sitting on Il! They do not know
exactly which day OF the month it was.
so they fast thirty 70 forty days so as 0
bit the right one The fast ends when the
noon Is seen reflected IN a certain well.
The event IS telegraphod all over. guns
'-~ @~ed and the great Baicafn or feast,
sets in.