The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-08-14

seeing Egypt Is never a Gull puISu
Whether your approach is from Alex
andria. famous of OLE, or Port Said. a
city of modern building. there is much
TO fascinate the eye OF the Occidental.
The way through the Delta and much
of Egypt may now be made on we'll
equipped railroads under government
control. Leaving Alexandria at noon
we travelled the 40 miles to Cairo in
good second class compartment for
30, arriving at 800 p. m. Every
where is a panorama of life. In the
country. on roads and in fields. the
workers, called fellahs. are busy with
camels. oxen and donkeys bearing bur-
dens, getting the water from the Nile
and the canals on TO the land. prepar-
ing the dykes for the next overflow
and generally busy in slow sort of a
way. Cotton mills and sugar refiner-
les are found along the way, the enter
prise of foreign capital. AT the head
of the Delta is Cairo. Today Cairo
presents many features of Orientalism,
but one soon feels that much of the life
is artificial and is on exhibition as the
result of the popularity of the city as
winter resort for tourists from all over
the world The streets of Cairo have
been on exhibition in America. The
cosmopolitan population makes an end
less variety of type, fashion and Gus
tom. Here is a first class electric car
system. with first and second class ac-
are here to be found An American
traveller of some wealth, after paying
his bill at the famous Shepherds hotel
remarked that he didn't object to being
robbed, but he did hate to have all his
worldly goods taken from him at once.
The bazaars, crowded together IN
narrow streets, await the visitor to
probably pan off some English made
stuff as real Egyptian or Arabian;
the mosques open their entrance to
christians and others when the feet
have been crowded into provided slip
pers, with the understanding of a fee
at the exit; and the willing guides with
evidently a proper, but a peculiar
knowledge of the character of the globe
trotters and tourist classes, offer to
open up all the mysteries and mean
nesses of the Eastern world for a prop
er compensation.
One mosque built 80 years ago. is
worthy of note, as having beer built
from some stone taken from the largest
pyramid Cheops. Climbing the cita-
del, back of the city, one gets a grand
view of Cairo with its color and hum
at his feet, the Nile flowing down a
few miles away, a thread of silver in
=
standing out on the edge of the sea of
sand. In Cairo. is the museum of
antiquities. where are now preserved
the valuable relics of ancient Egypt,
instead of having them bought and sto-
len to be carried to other lands. Wis
itors pay the sum of six dollars for
permit to visit this museum and all
the different. monuments. tombs and
temples of Egypt, which have been ex-
cavated, and this sum is applied to the
preservation of these possessions and
in further search and excavation. In
the magnificent museum. the mummy
of the Rameses II, supposedly the Pha-
roah of the captivity, with his father
Seti, open to view after these $500
years makes an attractive subject of
thought and study as one observes the
features of this matchless builder and
mighty monarch.
Being in Cairo, the pyramids are
easy of access. A short drive through
the city and across the bridge of the
Nile and then on to electric car. pay
IL cents fare, and soon you are at the
base of these mighty monuments some
or 8 miles away Golf links are
found under the very shadow of the
pyramids. A bowling mob of natives
accommodate you in your survey of
these vast heaps of stone. Walking
is better. but they insist and follow
until peremptorily commanded out of
sight. The impression these mighty
works of men of long ago makes upon
one is difficult to give. One would
like to figure out the secret of the
sphinx and could he do that as the
sphinx stands in the company of these
three larger pyramids and an excavat-
ed temple. he would know the true
story. too, of the days when builders
wrought wonders which are a mystery
to us today. The same day of the
visit to the sphinx and pyramids. one
can by donkey. camel or wide wheeled
carriages. make a visit over the edge
of the desert, ride of a couple of
hours or less. to Sakkarah. to other
pyramids and to the tombs of man.
moth proportions buried under the