The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-06-03
%" George AIDE i'm Pastures New. $500



as you roam through the many acres
of topping ruin. He is afraid that you
will steal something. Inasmuch as the
smallest fragment of one of these
huge statues, or obelisks. would weigh
probably six hundred pounds, we felt
that he was not justified in suspeeting
us. But he followed us along and then
when we were leaving he calmly came
forward and indicated that he was
ready to take money insult. This
move on his part was most character
istic of the Egyptian attitude toward
visitors in general. Every native ex-
poets to get something out iof tray-
eller for the simple reason that he
needs the money. Suppose that sus-
picious character should arrive in an
American city and the chief of police
sent out detective to shadow him
and see that he did not blow open any
safes or crawl into any second stories.
The detective, having followed the
suspect all day, approaches him at
nightfull and says, Look here; you
have put me to a lot of trouble.
have been on my feet all day watching
you for fear that you were going to
commit a burglary. and I think it is
only right that you should pay me
something"
Every time we visited an antiquity
these guards tapped at out heels,
watching us like hawks, and invaria-
bly, they tried to hold us up for piece
of silver before We departed. There
is a Masonic understanding among
the natives that the tourist is to be
heeced. For instance, although the
copper coins are in common use
among the natives, and in the cheaper
shops the prices are usually reckoned
in milliemes, it is almost impossible
for traveller to get any of these
copper coins because the natives want
him to bestow his gratitudes in pias-
tiers. A millieme is worth one-half
cent, and then the millieme is further
subdivided into fractional coins, some
of which are about the size of the
mustard seed and worth about as
much as a share of mining stock.
Egyptian money is very easily UNI
derstood by Americans. The plaster
is the same as our five-cent piece or
nickel The silver five plaster piece
resembles our quarter and has the
same value. The ten plaster piece is
ha1 da1I
pIaster bill is worth five dollars. in
asmuch as many of the prices sound
large and important when quoted in
piasters, the dealers have learned to
American dollars. That is, they name
their first prices in sovereigns and
dollars and then gradually work down
to piasters. | saw native trying TO
sell a scarab to tourist His first
price was Ell, equivalent to $685. After
half hour of haggling he had cut ii
to piasters or 50 cents, and the deal
was consummated.
The old city of Thebes was a huge
and hustling metropolis, surrounded
by high wall of hundred gates,
with countless regiments of soldiers
marching out to conquer distant lands
and bring back slaves in little patches
of $4,000 or so. This was along about
1000 B. C. The city began to lose
some of its Importance a few centuries
before the Christian era and dwindled
in size until twenty years ago it was
a mere village of huts nesting in the
shade of the great temples. Then the
tourist travel set in very heavily, and
today Luxor is a hustling city with
large hotels and fancy shops and a
general air of prosperity. The mag
heart of the new city. The rambling
temple of Karnak is short donkey
rue to the north and across the river,
some three miles to the west; there
are more temples and shattered stat |
ues and the wonderful tombs of the !
kings. In olden days there was a
broad avenue leading north to Karnah /
and thence west to the valley in the |
desert, where the kings were buried |
and this boulevard was guarded ON !
either side, for the entire distance, by |
huge recumbent Sphinxes carved out |
of granite Can you imagine a double |
row of gigantic figures crouched on |
each side of the street and about |
twenty feet apart all the way up
Broadway to Central park and then |
through the park to Riverside drive |
and up the drive to the distant sub !