The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-09-10

died. It has more than doubled its
population since / last visited it, and
with my glass [ can now see n scat
folding about the new buildings which
are rising here and there over the
plains. The town now covers an
area equal to fifty quarter-secticn
farms: and it's build ngs are so crowd
ed together hat they form an almost
continuous structure. The only
trees to he seen are those in the new
French CUarter. which lies on the out
skirts.
Molammedan Cairo
The most of the city is Of Arabian
architecture. It is flat rooted, and
is made up of yellowish-White build
ings so crowded along narrow streets
that they can hardly oe seen at this
distance. Here n there, out of the
field Of white, rise tall, round stone
towers with galleries running about
them. they dominate the whole city,
and under each is a mosque Those
mosques are the Mohammedan
churches. Their are hundreds of
them in Cairo, and not a few have
been recently erected. Every one has
its worshippers, and upon every Tow,
or. five times a day, the shrill-voiced
Arabian priest calls out for the peo-
pie to come 10 prayers. There is a
man now calling from the NINA
ret of the Mosque or Sultan Hasan,
which is just under us. The mosque
itself covers more than two acres, and
the minare is about half as high as
the Washington monument. The
priest is standing on a gallery. with
sCaffoiding above and below him. His
mosque is being repaired. and $780,
900 will be spent upon it when the
present plans are completed. Just
next it is another mosque recently
49, -
evidences that Northumberland is by
no means dead, and that these people
worship God with their pockets as
well as with their tongues.
In the Alabaster mosque. which
stands at my back. fifty men are now
praying, and in the courtyard a score
Of others are washing themselves be-
fore they go in to make their vows of
to God and the Prophet.
Not far below me [ can see the
mosque el-Azhar, which has been a
Mohammedan university for more
thar a thousand years. and where
something like 5000 students are now
learning the Koran and Koranic law.
During my stay in Tuni the To-
hammedans were celebrating their
Lent or Ramadan, and not o. one of
the vast population of Tu1isia. who
believe in the Prophet, would take a
bite to eat from sunrise to sunset, and
the more YOU would not ever
swallow their spittle. Here at Cairo
I have seen the people preparing to
take their pilgrimage to Mecca, rich
and poor starting u on that long
journey into the Arabian desert. 1t
present many GO part of the way BY
water. The ships leaving Alexandria
and Suez are crowded with pilgrims,
and there is a regular exodus from
Port Sudan and other places on this
rf2D - +l-o D~I 49, TLo- -
% Jeddah and there lay off their
costly clothing and make their way
galand, clad only in aprons and a
TfHce of cloth over the left shoulder.
This is so of the rich and the poor.
Many of the former carry gifts and
other offerings for the sacred city.
and such gifts cost the Egyptian gov
eminent alone a quarter OF a million
dollars a year. Not only the khedive,
nut the Mohammedan rulers of the
FUdan. send gifts, and 7 understand
mat the new railroad which has been
recently completed from far up the
Me TO the Red sea is now giving
special rates to pilgrimage parties. It
: by no means safe to look upon Mo-
hammedanism as a dead religion.
\ Religion OF the Lips.
And still I sometimes wonder
whether this Mohammedanism is not
2 religion of the lips rather thar Of
The heart. These people are so ac-
Hdstomed to uttering the words of
Lrayer that they forget the sense.
me use of the word God is heard
everywhere in the bazaars. The water
.afFIer. who goes about with a pig
SAln upon his back, jingling his brass
Ups to his business, cries
~ May o. recompense met
SHd his customer replies as he drinks
~ ~ Slylng him a copper in the name
~ G44G Lord ryha lam pn61Jar