Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-12

tian peasant is his abiding love for the
soil. He is never so happy as when
cultivating, by primitive methods, the
rich fields that border the Nile. When
he is serving in the army his dream is
to return to agricultural pursuits, al
though his opportunities for earning a
competency are slender, and he usually
passes his life in what an American
would consider the extremity of power
ty. If the khedive is not really an
Egyptian, he is at least an Egyptian in
his fondness for country life and for
filling the land. If he should be re-
moved from the khediviate he would
probably spend an active life as a
wealthy landed proprietor.
Being a Mohammedan, the khedive
is bound by his religion not to indulge
in intoxicants. Unlike Mehemet Ali,
who is said to have died from the eff
fects of drinking three bottles of cham
payne when overheated, he lives up to
the requirements of the Koran in this
respect In a country where not only
men and women, but also children of
both sexes, smoke cigarettes, he is
total abstainer from tobacco. Although
he might, without arousing criticism in
his capital or violating the rules of
conduct laid down by the prophet, have
four wives, he is content with one.
When the announcement that the
khediVe had married slave was made
in the capitals of the western world
many readers of Occidental papers be-
lieved that a salty scandal had devel-
oped in Cairo. Not only a difference
in the point of view, but also differ
ence in definitions of the word "slave"
explain the fact that Egyptians con-
sidered the match eminently suitable.
The Slaves of an Egyptian princess
are not women of low caste. They are
Circassian sin-waiting, as unlike
real slaves as they are unlike the
beautiful Circassians" seen in a cir
Gus tent in the United States.
In Egypt at present there are no
real slaves within the western mean
ing The harem Slaves are educat-
ed, after Oriental standards, as ladies.
They speak French and perhaps read
light French novels, aside from having
the womanly accomplishments priced
in the east. Because she was born
princess the mother of the khedive
takes rank over her daughter-in-law
as first lady of the land. But the fact
that the consort of the khedive was
"slave" does not lessen the respect of
the court or the common people for the
mother of the half dozen children of
his highness.
Like the Khediveh-mere and all
other women of the palace, the wife
of Abbas Pasha lives in the strictest
retirement. Women of the diplomatic
corps and others entitled by rank or
position to social recognition by the
royal family, are welcomed in the "ha-
rem division" of the palace, so called
| in a homogeneous domestic establish
ment in the east as well as where there
are several wives, but the visits cannot
be returned, lest the profaning eyes
of men should rest upon the unveiled
| faces of women whose religion strictly
prohibits them from being seen by
men not of their own family. When
the Khedive gives a ball his wife and
mother and other women of his house.
hold occupy a screened box from which
they witness the spectacle without be-
| ing visible to persons in the ballroom.
Compared to official salaries in
| America allowance made to Oriental
potentates are large. While William
H. Taft draws $4,000 as the executive
head of a nation of 90,000000, where he
Yields more actual power than the
king of England. the khedive of Egypt,
nominal ruler over 100000 and prac-
tically without power except in minor
| internal affairs, has an official salary
of 100000 and an additional 100000
for the support of other members of
the khedivial family. Aside from Abb
din palace, his official winter palace
in Cairo and Ras-elTeen, used for
similar purposes in summer when the
| capital is moved to Alexandria, he has
| Koubbeh, a fine country seat near
| Cairo, and Montazan, a seat on the
shores of the Mediterranean sufficient
ly large to include a handsome game
preserve, where his highness may hunt
African antelope and other varieties
| of game. He has also palace on the
Bosphorous, a gift from his majesty
| Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey. His
yacht, the Mahroussa, in which the
| ill-starred Ismail departed from his
] country when he was deposed, Is more
than 500 feet long.
His official stipend is only part
of Abbas Pasha's income, From his
agricultural lands and business houses
he draws about $1,000,000 a year, and
| as he Is a long-headed business man
| his holdings are rapidly increasing.
Compared to Ismail, who appropriated
one-flfth of the arabic area of Egypt
to himself, farmed it with forced labor,
used the "courbash," the historic whip
of Egypt to thresh funds from the
fellaheen to fill his Golfers and mort
gagged the future of Egypt by borrow
| ing millions in Europe, Abbas Pasha
is light burden upon the shoulders of
his people.
Copyright, 1909, by Frederic ]. Haskin)
TOmorrow-Twentieth Century Egypt.
XIV-An African Health Resort.
paadad for bea1thv nIanf growth must