The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-12-22
An Oriental Journey

BY CHARLES L. ROOD.

pavement, in Turkish fashion, are nun
dreds. of sro11ps of students of two or
more. some with their Koran, learning
il by rote and reciting in a LOUD mono
tone: others with their tablets anu
peculiar metal inkstand by thelf sue;
from which they never spin Inn, eeInu
still others busy with their teachers
while here and there are stragglefs
like cats curled up in the sun last
asleep. The tuition may be free, ana
there are upwards of 1900 students OF
many African nationalities, Tor each
of which there is a separate ssllery
provided. As we lodged around anu
among the groups. it seemed as IL pam
demonium. had broken loose. FROM
every direction came the mum Oh ma
terfug voices. The fussy American
''schooI ma'am," who is nervous II she
hears a whisper, might get here new
nojn+ Of view as to the question how
far silence really aids the student. The
ability to be unconscious of your sur
roundings may possess many auVan-
tages. Any Cairo graduate would De
able to concentrate his attention on
the work in hand, whether he was in
a quartz mill or an earthquake. The
teachers in charge did not seem to be
well pleased to have visitors. Al any
rate. one followed us around like
private detective, and got very angry
when we paused an instant or spoke
TO any of the students.
Cairo streets and bazaars are justly
famous Nowhere else will you find
that infinite variety, that shifting,
kaleidoscope of color. Your first stroll
makes You grateful that the Persians,
Nubians. BedOuins. Sudanese, Fella-
heen, Turks, Greeks and other Levan-
| tines, in their picturesque costumes,
! no xrfaIdzd tho dead level of
monotony in European dress. Along
here by these gardens, you may lean up
| against a fence and be shaved while
you wait" over there by the palings
of the MIXED Court" you can get a
letter written home, if >"she" can read
the Arabian hierOglyphics. Now You
can stop the water carrier who, for a
small coin, will fill you glass from
| the ancient water bottle. The native
policemen and soldiers in full regalia
are numerous and vigilant. In the
narrow streets you dodge the donkeys
and camels and dirty children. Every
where you meet the Egyptian woman
with her black veil attached to a cor
rusated spool across the bridge of her
nose. We were told that this instru-
ment of torture is TO enable her hus-
| band to determine whether or not she
has been faithful to the prescribed ETH
Fquette, a sore nose being a sort of GER
tificate of character. Frequently you
meet a funeral procession, with its
unique and gaudy trappings, and its
hired mOurners whose professional
WaiIingS add a new terror to death;
and occasionally a wedding procession
carrying the bride in her conspicuous
array, ard always preceded by a brass
band, whose violent discords leave you
in doubt IF. after all, it were not really
better to die. We were a little too early
in the season, to witness the annual
ceremony of despatching the holy car
Pet to Mecca This rite and the return
of a similar carpet left at Mecca the
year before, costs the government $780,
600 a year. 1t is the life ambition OF
every Muslin to visit Mecca Having
done so. he at once becomes "one' OF
our most prominent citizens" He is
entitled to wear a green turban and Il
display outside his dwelling an adver
tisement Of his trip and the method Of
making it. Such a ore is supremely
blessed in this world and sure of hi
, paradise in the next. We did not un
dertake to see the spectacle of the
''h0wling dervishes," since the genuin,
, performance has been prohibited. La
ter, IN COnstantinOple. the sincere de
votions of these monks produced {
|, weird impression.
Fakirs. snake charners. pedlers
newsboys. nearly nude acrobats, turn
: ing handsprings at your feet, the cafe!
with thsir tables overlapping the walks
continental fashion, the fine large no
tells. the Europeans magnificent II
dress and equipage-all these contrib
: ute TO the gayety Of the hours.
) Mousky street, of the bazaars, is sale
to be changing its character very rap
= idly. The mating overhead has beer
5 removed; jewelry and modern ciga'
p and other shops abound; and Isaac anC
Levi have sandwiched their nameI
5 among those of Ihrahim and Ali
: Which juxtaposition reminds me
r Something is doing in Cairo all TIN
: week round, for there is no day up0l
t which some part of the population ma.
not conscientiously do business. NJ
t blue laws will ever "go'' here. for tn
Muslin has his Sunday two days be
= fore the Christian, and the Jew his he
I ! tween the other two. Bargaining in tn
: bazaars is apt to be annoying until yo1
2 get used to ii. The shopkeeper has n
sense Of obligation to name a price il
3 good faith This is the oriental notiOl
, and has not changed.
Another custom, which the govern
ment is trying to change, is the univer
sal habit or menQlCdQcy. On lne Dirk
of the Nile, in the temples and tombs
even in the museum, in the fields o
sugar cane. from the top Of the came
= On the roadside, and under the donke,
loaded with hay, from everywhere
2 hurled the word, "BakhshiSh;" frOr
/ babies that can lisp no other appea
: from men in the prime of their strenst
and from old hays that ought 10 b
retired. Under some circumstances
. might have said "toothless old hays,
b but a strict regard for unattractiv
truth compels me to admit l didn't Sc
3 such a person in Egypt. The peopi
, there without exception have the mos
beautiful, white, even teeth one coui
! wish for. Whether this is because the
sheW sugar cane necessarily, or is ma
/. lures compensation for frequent los
of sight, I will leave to the scientis
, TO say. But returning TO bakhshish
and indeed we were never able to ge
, away from it, officialdom blames tn
travellers for this decentralization, an
q urges them 70 give only for service
: performed. Yet, there must be a deep
: er reason than this. The Egyptian
o have none of the sturdy virtues tina
! spring from self-reiance and indepen
dence. AS our dragoman used to say
after he had broken a bundle of stick
over the bare legs of the donkey boys
''All Egypt is under the whip" An
so il would seem, but without the visi
/ HE form of slavery ThrOuol, On