Evening star., 1904-01-23

consul because he charges fees for fumigat-
ing them and prefers that the public should
not know the extent OF his income from
that source, but that is not a reasonable ex-
planation. 1t is quite necessary that all
rags shipped from oriental countries to the
paper mills of the United States should be
fumigated as thoroughly as possible. for no
bugologist could enumerate OF describe the
insect and microbe life that exists among
them Their very odor would make good
fertilizer.
These rags go chiefly torthe paper mills in
Massachusetts,. and are collected for export
off the backs of the people, who wear moth
ing but cotton, and wear it as long as 1t
holds together The universal garment of
Egypt is a breech-clout; that is limited to
individuals of both sexes above the age of
ten. Below that age outside of the cities,
the children wear nothing but the con-
sciousness of their own innocence. Some
youngsters vary the altogether" by tying
red string around their waists or wearing
silver bands around their ankles; and occa-
sonaliy urehin is fortunate enough to
get hold of an embroidered cap or an old
fez. " hich makes him superior to his play
mates. He feels like a young American boy
in his first pair of pants.
But grown-up people, that is. those who
have passed the age of twelve, are required
by the police to wear at least one garment,
and that is tunic, cut like nightgown.
which reaches to the heels. And it is usual
ly made of blue or white cotton woven IN
the mills at Manchester, England Former
here and the cloth was superior to factory
goods But the latter are so much cheaper
that they have driven the hand looms out OF
the houses. Most of the cotton is brought IN
white and the natives dye it with indigo
from India. They have tried to produce IN
t.igo here. but it has never been success
When these garments are worn to rags
they are collected by peddlers representing
iunk dealers in Cairo and Alexandra, VINO
go about on donkeyS from village to village
very much as peddlers and rag buyers do
in the United States. trading new cloth and
household utensils for the old The rags are
shipped to Alexandria in gunnysacks. and
are there fumigated and packed in bales for
shipment to Boston. The United STATES
consul is required to see that they are thor
oughly fumigated and understand. as has
already been suggested. that the late consul
owned the fumigating plant himself
Little Linen Worn.
Formerly a good deal of linen was shipped
from Egypt to the paper mills OF the united
States but that trade has all played out be-
cause so little linen is worn. Mehemet All
introduced cotton into Egypt about seventy
five years ago. Until then the people raised
fax and wore nothing but linen, which was
made on their own looms. This apparel had
been worn by the Egyptians since the time
of Joseph and Moses, and indeed from the
very beginning of things. In some OF the
far-off villages fax is still grown, and line
garments are still worn. and occasionally
you will find beautiful specimens as fine
and as soft as silk, with a luster that never
can be lost.
Mummies are wound in cerements cf
linen and there used to be popular I'M
preston that the carloads of linen import
ed into the United States were stripped
off them: but that is all nonsense. 1t came
from villages of live people who Were then
still wearing it from the time before the
cotton trade of Egypt received its great I'M
petus by our civil war. When the supply
of raw cotton from the United Stats was
shut Off the British manufacturers induced
the Egyptian farmers to cultivate the sta
pies extensively possible, and they
made an immense amount of money. Then,
when the war closed and the price Of cotton
went down, the linen trade was practically
broken up. but the supply already on hand
in the shops and the houses lasted for sew
eral years. and it was that which we inn
ported. and not mummy cloth. After lying
in a grave for two or three thousands years
the vitality of-the fiber would be exhausted.
Grave Robbing.
Grave robbing still goes on. Mumrnies
can be bought secretly through dealers in
antiquities, who have underground relations
with the grave robbers. Twenty or th.ty
years ago. however, there was great deal
more of this rascality than now for the
government is trying hard to stop it. On
the banks of the Nile the entire distance
between Cairo and the second cataract
there is almost a continuous cemetery, mil
lions of people being buried in the desert
sand and in tombs chiSeled out of the rock,
where it was very easy for human jacka il;
and vandals to burrow them out search -he
bodies for ornaments and scarabs. and if
they were well preserved to box them up
and send them off to antiquity dealers.
Twenty-Five years ago well-preserved mum
mics would not bring more than five or ten
dollars i'll the curio market, and first-cIass
ones with the wooden cases in which they
were found could be purchased in carload
lots for hundred dollars each. And that
is the way SO many museums got them.