The daily democrat. [volume] (Anadarko, Oklahoma) 190?-1908, 1907-01-21

For those whose desires lie outside
the beaten track Of globe trotter and
tourist the upper reaches of the Nile
offer great Inducements. Leaving
Cairo by train, one starts from
what will one day be the northern ter
minus OF the great Cape 10 Cairo
railway, and travels steadily south
wards over the desert for two days.
Then change is made to n Nile
steamer. which southwark. ever
southwark, slowly forges It's way
against the current of that mighty
river whose history goes back TO such
remote impenetrable ages of antiquity.
In another two days Wady Ilalfa Is
reached, and thence n light military
railway bears the weary and DISNEY
eled traveller at length to Khartoum.
over 20 years have passed since Cor
don't magnificent defense of the city
against the Mahdis hordes and his
tragic fate at the hands of the Der.
wishes. thrilled all England to its
depths. For the following II years
the town was practically an abandon
at Omdurman, on the other side of the
river. Then, with the reconquest Of
the Soudan by Lord Kitchener, In
1898, everything was changed, and
Khartoum arose proudly from its ruins
TO be once more the capital OF that
vast desert empire whose resources
are as yet hardly realized and are abb
ha al
where the great general met his death.
was merely n ruined shell, haunted,
as the superstitious natives averred,
by his uneasy spirit, so II was decided
20 erect n new palace wherein the sir
dar and his retinue might be flttingly
housed On the site of the former
building arose the Gordon college, a
really fine educational institution.
Since then have risen in rapid success
sion a military hospital, an English
church and n hotel, with lines of bar
racks and officers quarters, dominat-
ing the quaint huts and low narrow
bazaars which constitute the native
city.
In the summer months II is said of
fortune to remain there that, had
Dante visited 1t he would have added
another canto to his Inferno" only
The opinion Is generally expressed I'm
language more terse than polite. The
thermometer stands at 122 degrees
I'm the shade, and the ptiless sun
blazes down on the hot glarlng desert,
varied by periodical sandstorms. when
the wind whirls down on the unhappy
place with terrific violence, buryiug
everybody and everything under a
layer Of choking sand. In addition, all
the myriad descendants of that swarm
of flies who constituted the fourth
plague of Egypt lead one to fervently
sympathize with the unfortunate sub
jccts of King Pharaoh.
But with the month Of October a
change comes DER the scene. The
mercury gradually falls until il
reaches SO degrees or so, a freshness
creeps into the dry bracing atmos-
phere, the nights become cooler and
more rostrul and the season is at
hand Those lady members of the
ENelau thlbUN WHO nave Dtlahtu
themselves 10 Cairo, Alexandria, or
even England, return like birds TO
their nests, for the feminine element
during the hot weather consists solely
OF the missionaries and a couple OF
enforcedly stoical army medical sis
ters. The quaint curiosity shops in
the bazaar furbish up their goods. the
English church holds on Sunday a
fair-sized and smartydressed congre-
CATION, the hotel shows signs of life,
and finally, with a grand flourish OF
trumpets the Sirdar and Lady Win
gate arrive, take up their abode in
the palace, and another season has
begun.
Both the Sirdar and his wife are i'm.
mensely popular, and contribute not
a little to the gaioty OF the city by
entertaining frequently and giving a
succession of dinners, dances and gar
den parties throughout the season.
Their entertainments n too, have any
thing but the stff Armal air which
usually characterize pficial gather
ings, and their dinneN parties are es.
pecially popular, The guests arrive
In the little donkeycarriages known
as arabeahs, which constitute the
chief mode Of locomotion In Khar.