The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-15

occupied. when not reading or writing. the days passed much more pleasantly than we had expected, and we were almost sorry when the time came for us to separate. One day our quarters were visited by sirrocco, and from the dust and sand that filled the air until the sun was darkened we were able to gain some idea of desert life.
 The canal itself is a little disap- pointing. It is simply a huge ditch, and with an expanse of sand on either bank seems, narrower than 1t is. The sides are not walled as a rule, and the depth-thirty feet-does not reveal it. self. Several dredges are constantly at work removing the sand which drifts in with the wind or is washed in by the tide. The canal is said to follow the route laid out more than 5000 years ago by Rameses II. About $500 ships pass through the canal each year, an average of nearly ten a day. Some what more than that passed during our stay, some of the ships being loaded with Russian soldiers from Japan, and others crowded with pilgrims return ing from Mecca.
 On the afternoon of the fifth day the head physician came out and re- leased us and at the same time con- veyed to us the cheering, but some- what belated information, that the three men taken from the ship did not have the plague; we had, however, been so courteously treated that we did not complain of the board bills or quarantine fees, even though the de- tention proved unnecessary. The spread of the plague through Europe would be such calamity that we req lize 1t is better to err on the side Of over-caution. At any rate, we have added to our experience and are carry ing the yellow flag (the quarantine efa a aa a
 A few hours ride brought us to Cairo, the metropolis and capital of Egypt. It is not an ancient city as they count time in Egypt, having been founded about 1000 years ago, but it has in the business portion the appear ance of a European city and contains a population of more than half mill lion. Of its inhabitants 35.000 are Flu ropean, the Greeks leading with about 10000 and the Italians, French. Eng fish. Austrians and Germans following in the order named. The British would outnumber the French if the garrison were included. but the city reminds one much more of France than of England Many of the buildings re- call the streets of Paris. and the side walks adiacent to restaurants and saloons are filled with tables and chairs as In continental Europe
 Q. H arets. as one quickly discovers when he takes bird's-eye view of the city from the citadel. which stands upon an eminence in the suburbs While the main streets are suggestive of Flu | rope. the native quarters and bazars are distinctly oriental, many of the streets being too narrow for a car riage. The shops are for the most part little open booths. and each line of business has it's particular section. On one street silver and goldsmiths monopolize the space; another street is gay with red shoes; in another the red fez, the universal hat. Is conspicuous; and still another Is given over to vege- tables Some of the larger stores han de Persian rugs. silks. brass ware. in- laid work and patchwork reproducing the drawings found on tombs and tenn ples The bazars also abound in inter esting reminders of the land of the mummy. the pyramid and the sphinx.
 We had not been in Cairo long be- fore we visited the banks of the Nile. that wonderful river without whose fructifying waters there would have been no Egypt. It Is one of the most.