The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-03-16
LIFE AMONG THE A r
How tho Traveller wonder 1t the Novelty
-Interesting Scenes Described by
Father Farrelly.
CAIRO, EGYPT, I.
February "a, 1900.

a1EtmHa4r ~ \ Il
February "a, 1900. !
TO The REVIEW:
Il was February 10. your correspond
mt spent one Of the most enjoyable
days Of his life viewing the ruins Of
fhe past and the wretchedness of the
present life in Egypt. Our party left
Cairo in the early morning to spend the
day in and near old Memphis, and. when
Ne reached the station now named
Badrechein, we were met by a hundred
or more donkey boys busily grooming
their steeds to take the Mericans out to
90 the sights. Mounted on those
merry little beasts. jumping, braying,
danoing-some one hundred Americans,
mem women and children, set ont for a
memorable day. A little to the south
west Of the station lie the ruins of old
Memphis. / say ruins, for not a stone
remains upon 9 stone, though ice as
large al Philadelphia. It is now buried
beneath the sands of the desert and the
deposit from the Nile. On the site of
the temple is a Beduin village reeking
with dirt while about 300 acres of the
former city is marked by the native
Fellahin. By a winding road through
this level land our donkeys nimbly sped
their way, now kicking, nov prancing, |
now trotting, until we reached the
desert where lies the great metropolis of
this once great city. The pictured
tombs Of Meraoonas, and they are
magnificent, but what impressed me
most was the sight of the tombs of the
Sacred Bulls discovered in 1857 by
Marielle Bey. the French explorer. I
cannot describe them, it would trespass
too far on your valuable space.
It was the 21st inst, in front of the
Grand Hotel Continental, near the
square Abraham Pasha, the traveller
might behold, in fact did behold, one
of the 'grandest sights in Cairo or in
Egypt. The. day was bright and clear,
the sun arose with all the b~rilliancy of
oriental splendor. Five hundred and
sixty Americans had arrived the pre-
vious night and with. those already here
made over a thousand, subjects Of Uncle
Sam about the above mentioned square.
There were mel 81 wealth II album
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prominent denoThination ~repres91tedMM
women ofa the best Of looks and grades.
dressed - the height Of fashion--all had
inst come fromgskAAmerica to visit Cairo,
among other places OH their tour. At
eight o'clock that morning, carriages
began to roll up the grand square to
take the party out to do the Pyramids
0f Ghizeh There was noise, hustle
and confusion, seldom heard or seen by
mortal, man. Dozens Of carriages with
their noisy Arab dragomans and drivers
scores Of peddiars, beggars and for
time, tellers-yeIfinpg, shouting Hindoo
jaIggllerds trying to ply their art-huist-
ling, bustIing donkey shlfieks- and drivers
camels just arrived With green clover
for the provinder of the .day-highly
arrayed forerunners trying Is clear the
read for their masters-water carriers
with pitchers and skins of goats filled
with fluid from the sacred Nile-pan-
demonium let loose-amemorable scene
ON the streets Of Cairo during the tour.
1T season of 1900.
Cairo has a population of about 7OO,.
600 and though not over a thousand
years old is one of the most interesting
cities in the world. Hygienically speak.
ing I could not recommend it as a
health resort, though in the winter
Months, the climate cannot be excelled
hy Florida or southern California.
Outside the hotels, mostly in the Euro
Peen and new sections, the sanitation
~ something awful. The mortality
among the children is all but incredible
there are only a few European hospi-
tails, there are no doctors among the
natives, the population is dense, the
death rate is astonishing. The chris.
tian does not number more than one.
NNAA " OAO pol ScAb Gu6 NOudmm8QOn
leaves his children in the hands of ALA
who carries them away by small pox,
consumption, etc. The sick, the blind.
the crippled are everywhere-weeping,
dying for want of carel Oh! what an
awful pictured
In Cairo there are 300 Mohammadon
schools in which everything must be
learned by heart. This excessive men,
DRY business makes trained parrots of
the children and keeps them from being
ever able to think, to reason or origin
ate. The largest university" in the
world is situated here. There are 20,-
GOO boys studying the. Karan. To the
traveller the sight is novel-a building
Covering eight acres sleepy, old shieks
hearing memory lessons dirty kids ~
ing on the floors, in squads Of hundreds
flies bulzzing at their ears and sucking
at their eyes as Professionally as in the