The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-02-22
FROM JOHN MCCOY.
An Oskaloosa Boy En- Route
Around the World.
From Cairo, Egypt, John N. Mccoy
writes to his parents here as follows:

!, |
CAIRO, Egypt, Dec. 10, 1885,
DEAR FATHER.-You complain be
cause have not written extensivel,
about my trip, Japan, China, India
Ceylon, etc.
Will try to make amends by telling
you all that can about Cairo and its
environs. But you have all the in
formation at hand in the Britannica
iLnd the articles are carefully writer
| Ivy specialists and are SO much more
instructive; but here goes.
AS you know, Cairo is the capita
of Egypt; it is the second Mohamme.
dan city in the world, having popu
lation of four hundred thousand PEG.
pie, and is situated upon the Nile, the
most historic river in the world, at
the southern extremity of the delta
about one hundred miles from Alex
andria. A tourist is usually advised
to visit the citadel first, which is an
ancient fortress now used by the Eng
lish soldiers as barracks. Within the
citadel is Joseph IS we'll the celebrated
Bey's Leap, the alabaster mosque of
Mehemet Ali, built where the Mann
elukes. were slaughtered, land one gets
a splendid view of the city here with
its three hundred mosques, their
domes and lofty and graceful minar-
cts. One.may take theIelectric trans
to the pyramids of Ghizeh seven miles
away. The road is an elevated one
and extends through the rich, level
valley, and an avenue of beautiful
tropical trees extending the entire
distance helps to make it favorite
drive. The pyramids are built upon
the edge of the desert overlooking the
valley. AS one views them from the
distance they appear like sman noun
tain peaks. The great Pyramid of
Kherfu (Cheops) is the largest. 1t
covers thirteen acres and is 400 feet
high. They are fearfully and won
derfully made. One can only realize
their magnitude by climbing one; the
steps are so high that it makes climb
ing rather difficult, and one of the
thoughts that arise is how did they
get these immense stones so high.
will let you tell me when get home.
The interior of the one we visited was
entered by low passage like going
into one of j. B. Bottoms coal mines,
and the chamber that contained the
body of the king was room not over
fifteen feet square. Surrounding these
three pyramids were few small ones,
sepulchers of their wives. The ruins
of the Temple of Isis is near, and
within a.stone's throw is the immor-
tai sphynx, the guardian of the Nile.
SITS face is turned towards the east
to greet the rising sun, and since I'M
known ages it is believed to keep
guard over the sands of the desert to
prevent them drifting over the fertile
lands of the valley" There are al
ways few camels at the foot of the
pyramids. The valley is about eight
miles wide at this point. All that can
be seen on the desert is perhaps a
few small herds of goats. The
sandy, barren desert is a striking
contrast to the rich, fertile valley.
One of the most enjoyable excur-
sions we have made was to the Pyra-
mids of Sakkarole, twelve in number.
To 60 there one takes the train
to Bedreshen about an hours ride.
One here hires donkey and man for
ten piastres $50 cents) for the day.
You ride the donkey and the man
runs along behind and whips. When
we got away out on the desert the
man tried to make anew bargain with
me and the only way could bring
him to time was to get off and start
back to town, he was very exasper-
ating but had the fun in the end by
making him beg piteously for his
money. Besides the pyramids are
the ruins of ancient Memphis where
is to be seen the colossal statue of
RamesesII. The underground tombs
of Thi and Mera are interesting, the
walls of the rooms are covered with
hieroglyphics, and deliberately painted
and sculptured. The serapium or
tombs of the sacred bulls is the
most interesting of all. The under
ground cave is hewn out of hard lime
stone and as one walks down the
great passage way, he views the
chambers containing the huge gran
tie coffeirs, these sarcophagi weigh
many tons. The attempts so far to
remove one of them to the museum
have been unsuccessful, and is an
illustration of the ingenuity of the
people possessing such marvellous
building instinct. And how did these
ancient people get them here? 1t is
several hundred miles to the granite
quarries. On the way back to the
station was invited to participate in
the afternoon repast of some Egyptian
farmers, the. bill of fare was, dates,
figs and wheat bread baked like our
pies. They had been sowing wheat.
This is the season of the overflow OF
the valley by the Nile, and soon after
the waters abate the wheat is sown
upon the rich black alluvium de-
posted by the waters, row of men
follow and cover it with sort of a
wide hoe, and it is surprising how
much ground can be covered by a
few workmen in day. The ground
does not have to be broken up like