The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-05-27

secuted and openly regarded as a pest.
IS treated with cOnsidera ton in Egypt
HUNDRED, petted, INDUCED. actually
spoiled. In the L. s. a a fly is al
most as unpopular as the millionaire
lie IS wary fretful and suspicious be
cause he knows that all humanity is
Joined i'm a conspiracy to put him ont
Of business. If he strolls I'D to a pool
of water temptingly set forth i'm \
white bowl he finds himself a few min
uteS later writing i'm cramps and full
of corrosive Sublimate He sees what
appears to be 2 tempting luncheon of
sweets and when he starts in to serve
himself he discovers that he is caught
and held by the tTeaCherOuS ''tang1e-
foot mixture. He sees a sign. This
Way 10 the dining room" and after
passing through long corridor he
lands in a wire trap from which there
is no escape If he aIights on A bald
head and tries TO use It as a rink some
body strikes at him and calls him
names.
It is all different in Egypt. The great
est indignity that q MOhammedan ever
offers a fly is to give him gentle
shove and request him TO move on II /
is contrary TO the religious teachings
TO kill or even cripple this diminutive I
household companion The belief in 4
TRANSPORTATION of souls seems to pre-
vail everywhere in the mystical east. /
and perhaps the fly that follows and /
spiritual essence Of a former head
spiritual essenced Of a former hea
waiter or a boy or some other digni- /
tary. When the flies assemble in ]
large numbers around the various aper-
lures of a bdbyS face the child. obey
ing an instinct Of Self-defense tries to
spat' them and drive them away But
the mother restraints the infant by
holding its hands and the flies give
thmSelVeS over to unmOleSted eniOv-
ment. The older children have learned
their lesson and seldom make any eff
fort to brush away the flies which loiter
al over their bright young features.
This is not pleasant thing to talk
about, but. inasmUch as the fly is Omni-
present during a trip w the Nile and
this friendly understanding between
the fly and the native is constantly I'M
der the travellers observation. a de-
scriptiOn Of Egypt would be sadly in
without a chapter on the fly.
Having been a privileged class for
many generations the flies are imOII-
dent and familiar to a degree. When
the white Unbeliever, with no con-
scientioUs scruples against murder.
comes UP the river they swarm about
him and buzz into his ears. Welcome
to our city" Then, when he begins
sparring with them and using sulphur
Gus language, they gather about him I'm
augmented numbers and dodge when
he strikes and side step when he slaps
himself and seem to think that he is
trying to teach them some new kind Of
a tag" game. The MOhammedan fly
cannot by any effort of the imagination
bring himself to believe that a human
being would wilfully injuTe him. This
feeling of OveT-COnfidenCe in mankind
breeds caTelessness, and during the
open season for tourists many of them
are laid low. Mr.. Peasley said that If
there was anything in the transmigra-
ton theory he figured that he had mas
sacred a regiment of soldiers. several
boards of directors, a high school and 7
an insane asylum. The mOrtalities dur
ing the tourist season do not seem to
lower the visible supply or in any way
discourage the surviving millions.
When we started up the river a ped
der came to the boat. and offered us
some small fly broOms. They are very
much like the brush used by the an
prentice in a blacksmith shop to pro
-ect the horse that is being shod. The
brush part is made of split palm leaves
)r horse hair and the handle is deco
-ated with bes-1 work The idea of a
person sitting about and Whiskng him
self with this ornamental buster
struck us as being most unusual not
% say idiotic. Before we Travelled far
Ip the Nile we had Joined the grand
lTmy of WhiskeTs. The fly broom is
essential. Tt is needed every eight sec
)1ds. At Luxor we went out to see a
yymkhana under the ausDices of the
luxor Sporting club. and every one of
he 200 spectators sat there YEARLY