Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-17
FARMERS MAKE THEIR IN EGYPT


| and that if they attempt to get into the
| crops adjoining.
The sheep and goats are often
| watched by the children or bv men
| who are toe old to do hard work Tho
| donkeys. camels and cows are usually tied
| to stakes and can only feed as far as their
ropes WI reach. The sheep of Egypt arc
| fine. Many OF them are OF the GQi-tailcd
| variety, some brown and some white. The
| goats and sheep feed together and there
| arc come goats in almost every lock Of the
former.
The donkey is the chef riding ami
NAL. 1t is used by men women and
children, and common sight is the yelled
| wife of enc of these Mohammcdan farmers
seated astride on a little donkey with her
| zee: nigh up On its sides in the short stir
| rups. But few camels are used FOR riding
except by the Bodouins out in the desert,
| and II is only in the cities that buggies.
carriages or wagons are to be seen.
In the Country Villages.
| Suppose we go into one Of the villages
and see how these Egyptian farmers live.
| The towns are collections of nude huts
| with holes in the walls for windows They
| ave scattered along narrow roadways and
| the aust is thick
The average hut is so low that one can
| lool; ever Its roof when seated on a camel.
| 1t seldom contains more than one or two
| rooms, and usually has a little yard out
side, in which the children and chickens
| roll about in the dust and where the
| donkey is sonnet lines tied
| Above some of the houses are towers OF
| mud with holes in their sides. These
| towers are devoted to pigeons. which are
kept ty the hundreds and which are sold in
| the markets as we sell chickens The
| pigeons furnish a large part OF the manure
| OF Egypt and this is of both gardens
and fields The manure is mixed with
earth and scattered over the soil.
| Almost every village has its mosque or
| church, and often in addition the tomb OF
| soma saint or holy man who has lived
| there in the past. The people worship at
such tombs and think that prayers made
| there avail more than those made out In
the fields or in their own huts
There are no water works In the ordinary
country village. If the locality is close TO
the Nile the drinking and washing water Is
| brought from there to the huts on the
| heads of the women. and IL not 1t comes
| from the village well. 1t is not difficult TO
get water by digging down few feet any
| where in the Nile valley; ard every town
has its well. The village well is usually
| shaded by palm trees 1t is there that the
men gather about and gossip at nigh.. and
there the women come to draw water and
carry it home upon their heads
How the Farmers Live.
The farmers houses have no gardens
about them. and no flowers or other crha-
mental decoration. The surroundings OF
| the towns are squalid and mean. and the
| peasants have no comforts in our sense OF
the word. They have but little furniture In
side their houses. Many of them sleep on
the ground mats, and many wear
| the same clothing at night that they wear
| In The daytime. Out in the country shoes,
stockings and underclothes are compare
| lively unknown; and itHs only upon dress
! up occasions that a man or woman puts
| on slippers.
The cooking and housekeeping is done
| entirely by the women. The chief food ID
| a coarse bread made Of C. millet.
| This is baked In -hick cakes snd is broken
| up and dipped into kind o. a bean stew
| seasoned with SAL. pepper and onions. Al
| most every sort Of vegetable grows well
here and onions and tomatoes are raised
| for export. The ordinary Peasant seldom
| has meat. and it is onlj the rich who can
| afford mutton or ceef. Al big feast on
] the occasion of wedding farming ma
| bob sometimes brings In a sheep which has
been cooked wnole. 1t is eaten without
| forks, and is torn limo FROM limb pieces
| being cut out by The guests with their
| knives.
| Every one IN Egypt wro can afford II
| smokes. The mon have pipes of various
| kinds, and of late many cifa. cites have
! been coming INTO use A favorite smoke
| is with a wa.nr ppc, the vapo, from the
burning tobacco being drs wn by means OF
| a long tube through a howl of water upon
| which the pipe sits, that II comes cool
! into the mouth
| FRANK G. CARPENTER.