The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-06-01
Twentieth Century Egypt
II. The Streets of Cairo.
BY FREDERIC J.HAsKIN.

/ Cairo. Egypt.-In the Thousand and
One Nights" a citizen of MOsul praises
/ Bagdad as the city Of peace, but veneer
able man in his audience replies that he
who has not seen Cairo has not seen the
/ world. Her soil. he declares, is gold. Her
women are an enchantment. The Nile is
/ a wonder. Upon the following evening
| Scheherezsdeah says:
What are the joys of seeing the be-
/ loved compared to seeing Cairo? When
one has seen Cairo he thinks of the night
when the Nile reaches the desired height
and returns the goblet of wine to him
/ that offers il. he lets the water return 10
I its fountain head. That is to say, he
wants nothing more. And when thou
/ seest this land OF Roda, thou art trans
/ ported with a joyful delight. And when
/ thou standest by the Nile. when, at sun
set, II is yelled with a tissue of sunbeams,
| thou art revived by the soft breeze that
/ fans the shady shore"
This was written Of the City of the Ca
I !tphs before European civilization super
/ Imposed itself upon the structure of
I Egyptian life. Nowadays the streets Of
I Cairo present a hevelier scene than they
I did before the British occupation resulted
I In the eSta blishment Of a chain of hotels
I from the shores of the Mediterranean to
I the CataraCts of the Nile, brought Thebes
and Karnak within easy reach of the
| personally conducted" tourist. and
/ brought the accomplished French chef 70
Il
The Nile valley is a ribbon of emerald
( upon a carpet of brown. Not less striking
/ than the contrast between the desert
where it is still desert and the strip that
Nile water has made to blossom as the
! rose are the contrasts that make the
streets Of Cairo distinctive. Color is the
/ idiosyncrasy Of this gay city. 1t gives
| character to the streets as optimism and
| opthalmia characterize the Egyptian
masses. In the muldchrome. scarlet rules
supreme. Every color in the rainbow
contributes to the picture, but the flam-
| ing coat of the British soldier and the
blazing fez Of the Egyptian predominant
/ in the perspective.
| 1t is a kaleidoscope panorama that IN
rolls itself. The beggar in picturesque
rags passes the hey in European garments
of the latest mode; the boy COntOrtiOnist,
clad in union suit of American manu-
facture and crimson sash, who ties
/ himself in knots upon the sidewalk, is
gravely contemplated by the stately tur-
/ baned Moslem sheikh with flowing robes
the dainty Parisienne passes the Arab
girl who is proud of the silver anklets
above her bare feet, and whose black eyes
flash above the veil that hides her mouth
from the prOfaning eyes of man. Amer
lean tourist Levantine adventurer.
Tunisian. Armenian Algerian. Nubian,
Greek, COpt and Syrian lend their pres
ence to a spectacle of cosmopolitanism
unequalled in any city Of the world.
Where the Orient and Occident meet
interest in the costumes and customs of
another world. The Orient does not try to
hide its serene lack of interest in a world
for which It has no admiration, and in
the dOings of which 1t feels no curiosity,
The camel individually as ancient as the
pyramids in appearance, and scion of an
ancient race, does not look with greater
disdain upon the electric hanson than
does the unprOgTessive son of the east
upon the progressive son OF the west.
The Egyptian, astride Of a donkey, no
larger than a Rocky mountain burro, his
red toe-slippers hanging down from his
bare heels and almost brushing the as
phalt, is not envious Of the magnificence
Of the British army officer whose gold
lace glints in the sunlight as he gallops
/ by upon a trim Arabian horse. The
American millionaire may impress his
own countrymen. but he is only a poor
worm compared to the gorgeous Circas-
/ sian, in baggy Cream-colored trousers and
1 red boots with gilt trimmings, who swag-
gers along with the air Of the man who
/ broke the bank at Monte Carlo. Tn
I young sprig of British nobility, wear
/ ing his white flannels, his monocle and
/ his sun helmet. is a bird of sorry plum
age and humble withal compared to the
white-robed and crimson-sashed eunUch
Z from Central Africa who guards the car
rage conveying the Circassian ladies Of
/ a pashas harem to the shopping quarter.
Surprising all of the rest in pride of
raiment and position is the Sudanese
! fOotman. whose ebony complexion, the
Swallowed livery Of the FURNISHED sun,
makes his white duck suit and white tur-
ban whittier than the wing Of a gull. The
west may invade the east. and camp
there, with its striped pantaloons, its
derby hats. its theories of education
and sanitation its religion. its laws and