Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-09
CITY FULL OF COLOR
Cairo Suggestive Of an I'm
pressionist Picture.
ALL PEOPLES THERE
THE MOST cosMoPoL1TAN OF
PLACES.
Called by Hebrew Poet the Mother
Of the World-The Works and
Worth Of Saladin.
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star AMI
Chicago Record Herald
CAIRO, December g. 1908.
Cairo reminds one of an Impressions
picture. It is so unreal; the colors are 81
unnaturally bright, and the costumes ane
the manners of the people SO different from
what we are accustomed to. The scenery
as well as the actors appear to belong te
another world. For the first few days aftel
your arrival you are satisfied to sit or
the terrace Of the hotel and watch the
noisy, restless, ever-changing crowd-hal
oriental, half European-that passes bach
and forth on foot, on horseback, in car
riages, on camels and astride dlminutive
donkeys.
Every nation of the earth seems to be
represented, and the present touches fingers
with the past wherever you look Under
the glare of an electric light you see ven
cradle Arab sheiks wearing the same robes
and leaning upon the same sort Of staff
that was used when Abraham was a boy
and scribes with inkstands made from the
horns of cattle and pens whitfield from
reeds sit at the street corners and at the
threshold Of the post Office, writing letters
at the dictation of patrons whose fingers
have never been taught to frame their
thought in words. Go block from the most
will come face to face with stately patri-
archal figures in ample turbans, long vests
of Syrian silk and outer robes of cashmere
that seem to have stepped out of an Illus
trated Bible, and as the sun goes down you
hear the call of the muzzein from the bal
cony of the minarets, and devout MOslems
drop down on the pavement to pray.
Water carriers with the same sheepskn
and pigskin bottles that were used by the
patriarchs rub up against English grooms
in top boots and silk hats; sherbet and
Hcorfce water and lemonade sellers, with
tin cans and brass cups, which they clink
like castanets. gossip with peddlers of post
cards and wax matches. Merchants, bank
ers, lawyers, soldiers, beggars. guides, po-
ltcemen meet and dodge each other. OFF,
Gals from the foreign office and the treas
ury, conscious of their, Importance and re-
sponsibility, and dressed In the smartest of
modern French tailoring, halt at the cross
ing to avoid an Egyptian lady riding astride
upon a donkey with her bare feet in velvet
slippers and her face covered with a rusty
black veil. Syrians in long baggy trousers
and braided Jackets; Bedouins In flowing
robes of brown and white stripes, whose
turbans indicate the clan to which they be-
long; Persians with tall, caps of brown
camePs hair; Nubians with faces as black
as coal; Egyptian feHaheen in ragged blue
shirts and fezzes of red felt; Copt priests
in long black gowns like those worn by our
judiciary, and sharp-edged stovepipe hats;
Englishmen in pith helmets and khaki suits;
representatives of every other race and ma
ton elbow each other as they pass along
the sidewalk. talking with nervous gesticu-
lations
There is nothing IKE. IT, elsewhere in the
world. 1t is novel tOp.the Oldest traveller;
and one must have seen the strange picture
for himself to appreciate how UNIQUE and
how fascinating 1t is. a1s
The Three Cairos.
There are three Cairosr.the new oity,
which Ismail. the spendthrift khedive.
made in imitation of the boulevards and
apartment houses Of Paris. with trolley
cars, electric lights, sewers and water sup
ply; parks. open squares. fountains, statues
of bronze: wide shaded streets and broad
sidewalks, banks. department stores,
churches. clubs, cafes. court houses, thea
ters opera houses and music halls. schools
and public libraries. splendid villas and
rounded by gardens and shaded grounds.
Old Cairo. the city Of the Arabian
Nights" and it's narrow crooked streets, its
bazaars, mosques and coffee houses, still
remains as 1t when Harounal-Rashid
made his midnight rambles. AS it was in
the middle ages SO 1t Is now and It's dis
reputable appearance gives it a sense Of
reality and genuineness. Among its
mosques and colleges, and the courts Of its
palaces. which can never be seen from the
street, are the purest examples of Sara
Genie architecture that can be found in all
the wide empire Of Islam. and its dirt and
dila pidation are uncorrupted by modern
ideas Of neatness and habits of repair.
What has been called "the blessed con-
servatism of Cairo" has protected the an
Client part Of the city in Its fifth and dis
order. The stone benches that used to
stand in front of the shops for the gossips
have been removed by the city government
in order that carriages might pass through
the crowded lanes. but the men who sit In
the little cupboards that are called shops
are unchanged in dress. ideas and educa-
ton They are still as calm, courteous,
dignified and unreliable as ever and lie
and cheat with the same urbanfty. The
upper classes are becoming more modern
and less oriental every year because of for
eign travel and contact. but the peasants
and tradesmen keep up the old traditions
and protect the picturesque past.
There was still an older city once among
the hill of shining sand, but 1t was known
by another name. The real Cairo, the
Cairo that the tourist PUSHES to see as soon
as he arrives, was built by Saladin, the
greatest and noblest Of the sons of Hagar
and Ishmael. He was king of Egypt by
the limits of the desert, from the Black
and Caspian seas to the Indian ocean, and
the sources of the Nile. He reigned from
1859 to lisa quarter OF century that
was filed with activity and usefulness. He
was a warrior, statesman, scholar and phil
anthropist. He founded six colleges and
the first public hospital ever known. The
citadel, which stands upon the summit of a
hill in old Cairo, is his monument; but Is
no longer occupied by, the bare-legged
warriors that followed him in the crusade,
nor wild Kurds and Turks in changing
armor; but this media'eva1 fortress is gar
risoned by Tommy Atkins" who stands
guard over vast stores of modern arms and
ammunition and goes to bed and rises by
the sound of an English trumpet.
"Cairo, Mother of the World"
He who hath not seen Cairo" said a
Hebrew poet. haiti not, seen the world
Her soil is gold her Nile is marvel; her
women are as the bright-eyed houris of
paradise: her houses are palaces; her air is
soft with an odor above. aloes refreshing
the heart; and how should Cairo be other
wise, when she is the mother of the world"
This beautiful Rhapsody expresses the adj
miration Of the Arabians and the Egyptians
for their capital, but, like much other
poetry, 1t liz not strictly accurate. Before
the Moslems invaded Egypt in $40 there
was no Cairo; only a little village of
nomads in the suburbs called Fustat, or
"The Town of the Tent" Saladin was the
creator of the Cairo that we know New
ertheless from the towers of his citadel the
horizon Is dotted with the oldest monu-
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