The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-03-07

ter canal was built, and part Of this is
stin being used.
Monday. January %.
Last night before going to bed, saw
( the Persia" pass two steamships in the
/ canal; the ships were so close to each
other that passengers could almost
/ shake hands At night. the canal is
lighted with buoys. and every ship pass
/ ing through has strong electric lights
/ aloft and at the bow.
L arose early this morning to take
] another look at the canal On one side
runs the fresh water canal and the rail-
/ road. few stunted trees grow along
/ the fresh water canal. but there is no
/ other vegetation The canal company
! mas good many buildings along the
] route, and a good many dredges, so that
| the great waterway is not as lonely as
| you imagine it to be. Dredges seem to
! be at work every few hundred yards,
ana this must be kept up continually.
A few months ago. a ship loaded with
dynamite struck another ship in the
canal. and caught fire. The ship loaded
/ with dynamite was sunk, to avoid an
explosion. This blocked the canal, and
il was finally determined to explode the
ship load of dynamite. This was done,
and the ship torn in pieces great
ragged hole was blown in the side of the
canal, and this the officers pointed out
to me this morning.
When the waves run high in the
Mediterranean, it is wonder they
do not wash Port Said out of existence,
for 1t is located on a sand bar, and
does not seem a foot above sea level.
We landed there a ten this morning,
and by the time the quarantine and
custom house officers were through
with us, it was time to go to the rail-
road station. as we were to take the
1890 train for Cairo. The quarantine
officers, and the custom house officers,
never bother US. but they insist on our
going through a Formally everywhere.
A Dor
Sade"D the quarantine officer asked:
ANY soiIed linen ?" We replied no,
and that ended the examination. After
we had piled our baggage in the Gus
tom house. and waited a long While
during the wait, we saw a big fight
between the Egyptian porters), an
officer came along, and asked if we
had anything dutiable and we replied
that we had not. Then he put a chalk
mark on each piece of baggage, and
we were free to go
The railway running from Port said
to Cairo is an excellent one. Luncheon
was served in a dining car, that would
have done credit to any American
road, and the meal was one of the best
ever ate on a dining car. The
coaches were large and new, being di-
vided into conn artments, with an aisle
running along one side. The train was
vestibuled, after the modern fashion.
I had wondered if any country could
be more barren than India. Egypt is;
or. rather, that part of it in the desert.
For many miles we ran through a
country as barren as a Missouri river
sandbar Then suddenly We ran into
the valley of the Nile; every foot of it
cultivated. and green with growing
crops. The Nile valley reminded US of
the better part of India; people of the
same color and dressed after the same
fashion; villages built of mud, and the
same crops growing in the fields.
Flowing is done with the same crooked
stick, and at one place 1 saw a camel
and an OK attached to a pillow. The
same irrigating wells were seen along
the road. and everywhere the same
crowds Of people. We passed through
large towns we had never heard of;
and this also reminded US of India.
There were differences. of course;
among them. in Egypt we saw a good
deal of corn. and many of the houses
were covered with corn fodder. Camels
are as numerous in Egypt as cattle in
Kansas. and on every road we saw
men riding queer little donkeys.
You do not know what sunburn is
unless you have seen a man from the
hot countries. An Anglo-Indian in our
train was so tanned that the whites of
his eyes were sunburned.
Mr. and Mrs L A. Bigger of Hutch
inson, whom we met on the Persia, "
were also passengers on our train. Mrs.
Bigger is a very industrious buyer Of
lace; she bought lace of the barber on
the ship, and at the stations where we
stopped. Mrs. Bigger "shOpped" awhile
with every native who had lace for
sale.
I had expected to be very familiar
with Cairo. having seen the Streets Of
Cairo" at the Omaha fair. but I found
a difference: the real Cairo is a large
modern city: it reminded me of Paris,
and is much the finest city we have
seen. not excepting Bombay. 1t is
built at the foot of a bluff, on the Nile,
and, at a distance. looks as modern as
Cleveland or Cincinnati.
When we went to Shepherds hotel
in Cairo. we found it crowded and
could not get in. This was a new ex-
perience to me; I had never before
been turned away al a hotel. The
manager OF Shepherds recomm ended
the Ghezireh Palace, and we went
there. 1t is one of the hotels that Is
too fine to be comfortable The dining
room is of marble: so noble and lofty
that at dinner tonight I felt as though
I was dining in the senate chamber at
Washington, with United States sena-
tors waiting on me. In a million years,
the ruins of the marble dining room
Of the Ghezireh Palace hotel viii be
discovered, and the statement made
that it was once the palace of king.
What you might call the atmosphere
of the Ghezireh Palace is different
from the atmosphere of other hotels,
but the meals are about the same
everywhere. except that the real heavy
swells among the hotels. do not serve
butter at dinner. The walters at ordi-
nary hotels wear rings in the lower
IIobes of their ears: at the Ghezireh
Palace. the walters wear rings in the
upper lobes of their ears, but the meals
are the same; the dinner we had to-
night at the Ghezireh Palace, was an
exact duplicate of the dinner we have
been having on the P. & o. ship Per
STA" for the past ten DAYS, in service.
and IN everything else. Managers and
walters at the hotels change, but the
cooks. never. If you can pronounce
s'Ghezireh." you can do better than
can do: if ] should become lost in
Cairo. I could not pronounce the name
Il - Ii Z