The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-02-22

OuO Suh' DIuoh VI SOIh lOaNSA dhS
used for roofs. ut never rains and
ice is unknown.) ! stopped in front
of one door and in the same room was
woman sitting on the floor, (cold
ground) in one corner was a donkey
tied and goat and some chickens
had the liberty of the house.
almost forgot to tell you that the
morning before reaching Suez while
steaming through the famous sea that
opened up for the fleeing Israelites,
we passed the famous Mount Sinai.
An obelisk marks the site of the
ancient capital of Heliopolis and near
it only few minutes ride from Cairo
is the Virgins tree and Virgins well,
where the Virgin and child rested
after fleeing into Egypt from Herod.
The Holy Child was bathed here and
the beautiful legend is that the water
was salt until Mary bathed her child
therein.
A day may be sent profitably in the
National Museum. The fine collection
of antiquities is placed in the Palace
of Ghizeh which was the harem of
Khedive Ishmael. He kept all of his
wives in this palace; but Ishmael
Pasha had separate place for each
one of his fifteen hundred wives so that
they would not fight; the Mikado at
Toxic has this latter arrangement.
To me, the royal mummies were the
most interesting Of all. Rameses H.,
who oppressed the Israelites so
grievously, is seen. Some of the
other noted mummies are Rameses
III, Thottemes III, Amasis l. The
mummy cloth is removed from their
faces and one walks along and looks
down upon them in glass cases. This
is place where one does not have
to look up to but can look down
upon kings, and one also sees sacred
alligators, dogs and birds that we
reads about in history that have
been preserved for 80 many centur-
les. There are wooden, stone and
marble statues galore. 1t is re-
markable the advancement attained
by this ancient people in the fine and
useful arts. The collins are literally
covered with paintings and writings
on the inside and outside. There is
the jewelry taken out of the pyra-
mids and tombs, writings on papyrus
and pieces of old jars. The key to
the hieroglyphics has been removed
to London but a similar stone is
here.
Some of the other things to be
seen here and in the vicinity are the
petrified forest, ostrich farm, Bar
rage dam, the Mohammedan Univer-
sity, with an attendance of $4,000
students, bazaars, Khedives palaces,
botanic and geological gardens,
bowling dervishes. We noticed a
funeral going down the street yes
terday, the men wearing the red tur-
bans and gowns; one was carrying
the remains on his head, the women
following, all walking and singing,
| The students in the above university
sit on the floor while learning their
lessons and move their bodies back
ward and forward and at the same
time repeat aloud what they have
learned. 1t is interesting to watch a
Mohammedan at prayer. In every
mosque is a niche in the wall turned
toward Mecca and just outside is a
fountain where the additions are
performed before going into the
sanctuary.
Cairo is great winter resort and
being so close to Europe and Asia
almost every nationality is repres-
ented. They tell us it is one of the
most licentious cities in the world. ]
do not see much difference in this
respect from most large cities. The
horses are beauties and some of the
swell rigs have the gayly dressed