Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-05-04
From E, D. Patterson.
CAIRO, EGYPT, MARCH G, 1900
To THE SAVANNAH COURIER:
Continued From Last Week.

On Monday about l o'clock we emit
cred the mouth of the Suez Canal and
soon came to anchor near the wharf at
the city of Port Said. The first object
to attract ones attention as the ship
comes in, is the magnificent De Les
seps Statue or monument that stands
at the mouth of the Canal. There are
good many fine buildings in the city,
but the whole place is rather thorny
looking-low, flat, only few feet
above the level Of the sea, and gives
one an idea that it's a place to be got
ten away from, as speedily as possible.
We had barely time to get our bag
gage through the custom house, and
get it and ourselves transferred to the
depot in time for the train to lsmailia.
This road which is a narTow-guage
one, runs from Port-Said to Ismailia-
a distance of fifty miles or more-all
the way along the west bank of the
canal, so that we had abundant oppor
tunity to see it, also to see quite n
large number OF vessels passingthrough
it. The country is simply treeless,
sandy, waste with a few little bushes
scattered about over it. 1t reminds
me more of the sand bars, or toeheads
along the Tennessee River than any
thing else | could think of. 1t takes
about four hours to make the trip from
Port Said to lsmailia, and we arrived
there at 7 O'Clock, and changed cars
for Cairo. 1t was announced that we
would have 30 minutes for dinner so
we all made a rush into the hotel, and
took our seats at the table. They had
a menu, beginning with soup, and |
thought we were going to have fine
dinner. AS soon as we were comfort
ably seated, the collector came around
and collected the price of the dinner,
20 plathres ISL ,00l each, and as soon
as the collecting was done, they came
to warn us that the train was ready to
start, and would not wait, so we all
rushed to get on board, leaving our
dinner on the table. There were about
a hundred of us, and as we went on
our way hungry to Cairo, our cusses
were not loud but deep. | did not eX-
actly swear, but | was something like
an old Scotch elder | once read about.
His pastor was warning him to be on
his guard, and never to give way to
the temptation to swear. The elder
said "No, No, minister, we medina
warn me against the sin o'Swearing, |
dinna swear; | wouldna swear at all.
but sometimes I've been id neaar
it, At half past ten o'clock we arriv-
ed III Cairo, and were comfortably
domiciled in the "Grand Continental
Hotel" 1t is much the largest and
finest hotel | have seen on this side
the ocean, suppose it is as large as
the Maxwell, the Duncan and the Tu-
lane, combined, and the scale of prices
correspond with the size and magnifi-
cence of the building. The scene in
the dining room at dinner, which is
served at o'clock p. M, is very bril-
liant. Electric lights blazing every
where, great masses OF flowers, palms
and other ported plants on all sides,
and Il large orchestra furnishing fine
music. Officers of the British army,
officers of the Egyptian army, French
officers and etc., all in brilliant uni
forms, of red and white and silver and
gold. Swords and spurs changing on
the marble floors, civilians in dress
suits making it difficult to distinguish
them from the walters. Ladies in full
dress, or rather undress, blazing with
jewels and rustling with silks and
satins. When we came into the din
ing room, with our plain Savannah
clothes on, you may guess that felt
like bare-footed boy at a frolic, but
remembered the story of the father
son and daughter, who were making
their first trip away from home on {
steamboat. The girl was rather lit
tie timid, but her brother called out tC
her across the table, "Sal! why don
you sop in the dish, Dad pays as mucl
as any Of them" There were waiter,
of half dozen different nationalities
so that guests could be all served by
some one speaking their own langu
age, whether Egyptian, English
French, German or what not. | sup
pose half of the guests are Americans
and people over here, say that we ira,
ell more than any other people in thu
world. Our first trip, after looking
around the city little bit, was to &c
q carriage, and drive out to the Pyra
mids and Sphinx, distance of abou
nine miles from Cairo. This drive W,
thoroughly enjoyed. The day was per
feet and the road almost perfect.
crossed the Nile ON a magnificen
bridge put at the outskirts Of the cit,
; and then runs along up the west BAN
of the river about three miles, befor
turning across the valley or "rive
bottoms,n toward the Pyramids whicl
stands in all their silent grandeur OF
the edge of the desert. The roadwa
is built up some twelve or fifteen fec
above the level of the land on eithe
side, and the entire length of the grea
driveway, is shaded by row of larg
Acacia trees on either side. As ia
as the eye can reach, up and down tn
valley are fields of wheat and barley
sugar cane, and clover, dotted her
and there with large Palm trees. TIL
wheat and barley are just beginning
head out, and the clover is being GU
Very little of it was being cured c
made into hay, most of it being fed
n green state. AS fast as it is bein
r cut, they bring the camels out into tn
fields, make them kneel down, an
load them with the green clover-tyin
it on with ropes-and it is astonishin
to see what loads they can carry.
suppose we must have met 100 or MOI
: eamels loaded with this green clov,
&. on our way out to the Pyramids. Thel
: is no use of my writing you descrip
ion of the Pyramids and the Sphin,
You can find that in any enclycopedi
1t is enough to say, they are not di
I appointing They are all you had e.
pected-and more, end the longer We
stay, and the more you gaze upc
them the bigger and grander the
seem to grow. We spent the day o,
there, and when we left, they SCENE
larger than when we arrived. Peop
n come from all over the world to S,
these wonders, and | think there wei
about 1000 people there the day we've
y, The Sphinx stands East of the Pyr
d mids and 800 or 400 yards from Cheap
J. which is the longest one. The ground
o or sand, for it is nothing but sand
y considerably lower where the Temp
" of the Sphinx stands than at the Pyi'
e mids, and these sands constant