Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-10

! or tell your fortune OF Sell you llLLio
blue scarabs, the workmanship of
which suggests a French or Italian
factory. When one journeys 5000 miles
to contemplate the pyramids and solve
the riddle of the sphinx interruption
by these persistent grafters is a nui-
sance.
Dancing is the chief feature of social
life in Cairo. The stranger within the
gates who stops at the right hotel may
go to a ball almost every night in the
week. Next morning as he takes his
coffee and eggs he may read that he
was "among those present" at an af-
fair at which, judging from the list of
titles, half the aristocracy of Europe
disported itself. But unless he finds
friend who has been properly intro
duced he meets no one and is lucky II
he can even find out who's who" as he
occupies seal. in a corner
! II the tourist wishes to avoid the
/ ultra fashionable hotels he may go to
a modest pension, where the proprietor
bids for the patronage of shirt
sleeve" nation by announcing that
"evening clothes at dinner are option
al" He finds that the obliging host
who suspends a convention of Cairo
to allow him to dine in his sack suit
speaks seven or eight languages In
! addressing his guests, his servants and
his tradespeople. Perhaps mine host
| could not write good letter in italian
or Spanish, but the Italian OF Span
lard will be understood when he COM
! plains that his chop is underdone. So
will the Greek whose forefathers have
resided on the southern shore or the
| Mediterranean since the days OF Cleo
patra or the gentleman in baggy trou-
scrs and red tarboosh just arrived
| from Constantinople or Smyrna.
| I,,Iya n C0nnAnRhf.
brother and sister-in-law of his najes-
ty, King Edward VII, make occasional
visits to Egypt Sometimes they, with
Prince Arthur and the Princess Pa
| tricia, join Mr. and Mrs. 1ddings or the
American consulate as sponsors for an
Anglo-American ball for the benefit OF
charity Tourists in Cairo who are
willing to invest in ticket to the ball
may have a glimpse of the royal party.
| Princes and princesses from the vari-
| Gus European countries, and persons
| and personages of varying Importance
from east of Suez, form part of the
| throng. There are more Americans
among Cairo's winter population than
persons from any country save Eng
| land, and each year finds the terraces
] of the fashionable hotels more and more
like Broadway, where, it is often said,
no American fails to meet an acquaint-
ance.
society in Cairo is that composed Of
clever Adventures, who live by their
| wits sometimes most luxurious1y, An
| American meets a titled European who
speaks a half dozen languages, and Is
far more affable and generally agree
able than other persons of title whom
| our American has met or failed to meet.
The American may show signs of being
as well-to-do as Europeans suppose all
| people from the United Stats to be, in
which case the intimacy develops rap
idly. Over the card table or at the
races 1t develops that the "aristocrat"
| is a card sharp or a tout. Not few
American girls wintering in Cairo have
discovered the "vicomtc" or the baron
or even the prince" to be spurious.
| Chauffeurs, Wallets, coachmen-clever
| imitators of the manners and manner
isms of their masters-have exploited
themselves In Cairo in the hope of
marrying or Matchmaking an American
heiress.
Golf, with Arab boys for caddies,
races at Helouan and Ghizireh with
real Arabian horses for which no
American thoroughbred would have
any respect, a horse show and other
outdoor amusements keep social Cairo
upon the move from morning till even
| ing. When there is not ball or con-
| fetti battle at one of the large ho-
tells in the evening 1t is Sunday, md
upon Sunday there is often a carnival
or battle of flowers" in the Ezbekieh
gardens to fill the gap between the
regular week day festivities.
Unequaled in point of spectacular
brtlliancy by any other Cairo social
affair and hardly approached by any
entertainment in any other capital is
a state bail given at Abdin palace by
his highness, the khedive. The gov
ernor generals ball at Algiers is the
only function" west of Suez which
approaches its manificence. It brings
together notables from four CONT
nents, officers of the Egyptian army
and the British army of occupation.
and diplomatic representatives OF all of
the important countries of the civilized
world. Not the least numerous and
not the least picturesque of the guests
are mudirs and omdehs from Upper
Egypt and Bedouin sheikhs from the
desert provinces. Formerly the khe-
dive gave a ball every year, but re-
Gently he has given official entertain
ments too infrequently to meet the
demands of persons who spend their
winters in his capital and would ap-
preciate invitations under the khedival
crest.
Copyright, 1909. by Frederic J. Haslsin)
Tomorrow-Twentieth Century Egypt.
XU-The romance of the Suez Canal.