The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1900-08-25
N ID o TH B PHIN
,EGYPT.AcO COUNTRY OF STRANGE
g CONTRASTS.
w here the Imple dement's of Pharaoh's
# Time May AZ BE Seen from Modern
Train's v The y 81 CIV
dlization. 8E Ef Is q &

"A
5s Probably the average American
looks pom Africa as al dark ointment
in every thin even in railways, says
q returned WesRrner. Yet the fact is
thai the Egyptian railways are better.
run than many American ones. The
railway that runs from Alexandria to
upper Egypt is one after which many
American railways mi ght pattern. 1t
is a doub track road: tItgshas heavy
steel rails. u The track is we'll BALLAST
ed. It has an elaborate system OF sig
nal towers and pneumatic switches
Much of it's roadway is lined with
heavy cut stone masonry parapets. It's
station platforms are also builttof cut
stone. masonry. It's station buildings
are of stone It's bridges and other
4 viaducts are Of steel. . It's trains run
smoothly and swiftly, Yeraging 35
miles an hour. There are many cross
ings in$,which the railway is carried
over the roadway on steel yiaducts;i
the few grade crossings are. guarded
by gates, with gatekeepers. Signal men
with flags stand at all switches sta
tions and crossings. Altogether the
equipment and operation of the road
are admirable. For hundreds of miles
this modern railway goes through the.
fertile fields Of Egypt---most incongru-
ous amid the primitive methods OF
4 husbandry to be noted there. .@ as es I
2 For as the express trains Whirl and
shrek past the toiling fellaheen in the.
fields you see that they are using the
same primitive implements that their
forefathers used when Pharaoh reign
ed. They still plowwith a simple wood
zen implement, hauled by patient buff
5;-falo oxen. They still laboriously lift
water with IA sweep i to the
head level of irrigating bitches.
They still use the :, sickle, as
they did " in the days when
Ruth followed the sreapers of .Boaz
And they still carry their, bundles of
fodder upon the backs of patient asses,
ror, in default Of asses backs, upon
their own. = 's .,-1 =, .$>3g.5S5 ~. t@.s
Of course, all agriculture in Egypt is
mot on such rudimentary lines. Rich
well as fellaheen peasants, and many
tall chimneys testify to the existence
<of pumping works. Then, too, the
Egyptian government has damned the
Nile at an enormous cost and is en-
gagged in other water storage schemes
that will enlarge the narrow strip of
irrigated land on either bank of the
great river and thereby enlarge the re-
sources of this wonderful country. e
To talk of it's temples, it's pyramids,
its ruins and it's dead cities would be
telling, twice-t told tales. But no man
scan gaze on this fiat and fertile river
valley without being amazed at it's
produetiveness. Il have been shown in
! Virginia worthless lands which the
"Wasteful Anglo-Saxon had exhausted
by two centuries of tobacco-raising.
But here in Egypt I see fields still as
fertile as when the first, dynasty be-
gan, although they have been titled for
4,GG0 years. ..,. -, .,t.gi NJ =. -
Some historians believe that Egypt
was the, cradle Of our Aryan sciviliza-
tion.A Here, they say, nomadic man
paused at the great river: when wan
dering from Arabia-Felix into Africa.
Gradually those tired Of wandering set
tied upon the fat and juicy banks Of
the Nile river and began a fitful hus--
:bandry of the soil. Gradually villages
grew UP and thrift brought peace and
prosperity. The =rich lands were 1sd1-
vided among the Villagers. This was
the beginning Of real property. The
property boundaries were annually OBJ
liberated by the rise of the Nile; regu-
lations were made to settle disputes
concerning them: this was the begin
ming OF law. Wise men among the vii
layers observed that the sun, moon
and stars had much to do with the vol
ume Of the Nile food; this was the be-
.ginning of astronomy. The simpler
H villagers looked with awe upon these
wise men who spent their time COM
muning with the stars; this was the
beginning of the priesthood. sss.# 49, +
# The priests soon claimed super
1nao