The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-31

Cairo. Egypt-Egypt is the gateway
of the east. Entering it. the occidental
Is bewildered and delighted BY its strange
confusion Of color and its nameless spell
Looking out of il, the oriental gazes with
Indifference. tinged with contempt upon
ne curiously dull and conceited west
Here IN Egypt. the cradle of civilization
tne FOUNTAIN of both western and eastern
law and religion, the twentieth century
Iinds the gate between the two worlds.
mere the most enlightened Moslems are
making the last great stand for the re-
NlNdI OF Islam. Here the missionary from
Wisconsin is battling for the ultra-prO-
testant type of Christianity. Opposed 10
pOth are the reacuonary and nOn-prO-
gresslVe Moslems and the ancient Coptic
CnuICh- most conservative Of all Chris
tisn bodies
Here the patriotic Egyptian nationalist
Is making a fight for the political reform
Of the Ottoman empire and from here
was directed, in part, the blOodless revo-
iuJOn which gave Turkey a constitutional
government, later confirmed by the de-
lhr0nement of Abdul Hsmid. And here
is England. INDUCING the native patriot
IN his dreams of reform. and at the same
time ruling him and keeping a firm grasp
upon that real and tangible gateway 10
the Orient-the Suez canal
Here is a country nominally subject To
the sultan of Turkey and nOminaily a part
or the Ottoman empire. Under that power
1t IS norninally autonomous and is nOmi-
naly ruled by the khedive of Egypt. He
IN turn IS nOmlnaliy CircumscrtDed by
sort of constituted government which
gives the people a nominal voice in the
nominal government. And back of all this
IS Sir Edon Gorst, his Britannia majesty
consul-general, who rules the country &C
tually. although nOminaliy he has nothing
whatever to do with it.
Here one sees parading the streets a
weil-drilled and well-set-up regiment
Of soldiers. 1t is a part Of the Egyptian
army It is differed by Egyptians, for the
most part, and owes allegiance and fealty
to the khedive. 1t is a respectable army.
But. an hour or so later there IS another
regiment Instead of the. khadi and red
tarboosh of the Egyptian, mere is the scar
let coat of Tommy Atkins. II Is a part
OF the British army Of occupation. mat
army has been here more than quarter
Of a century. It came with the professed
intention of staying three months, but
probably will stay as long as Britannia
continues to rule the we've.
The occidental has always looked upon
the orient as a tOpsy-turvy land. where
everything is done backwards. We know
that the OTientals begin to read and write
from the right side of the page instead
customs which offend our own. We learn
of habits of thought which strike us as
impossible, and here in Egypt at the
threshold of the east one finds himself
already in the Land of Paradox.
Here was the first civilization, the first
written history. the first code of morals,
the first law. The evidences of the great
ness of this early empire are found on
every hand in the magnificent monuments
which have withstoOd the ravages of forty
centuries. The tOmbs of the ancient
Egyptians are inhabited by the living
Egyptians Of tOday-miSerable creatures
to whom civilization means nothing and
who look at the great monuments only
as a means of bringing tourists in whom
there is the hope of bakshish- II there is
a new house in Egypt one OF two Things
is true Of it-either it is built Of mud or
it has been built by an European. The
grandeur and glory of Egypt is departed.
Yet here is the River Nile bringing the
floods of Ethiopia to make fruitful this
richest of all farming lands. The crops
are certain and bOuntifUl and are reaped
several times year. The English have
begun to restore the splendid irrigation
facilities which existed in the time when
Joseph ruled over Egypt. The Nile is
being cared for and its waters soon VIII
enrich many more acres than ever be
fore. 1t is difficult to comprehend 1t. yet
it is true that the peasants are living in
luxury compared 10 their condition before
British occupation.
on every side one sees the evidence Of
the meeting of the east and the west.
The Oriental in his red tarboOsh, cor
rupted by Western Christian nations,
sits in front of an imitation Partisan cafe
and sips an alcoholic liquor despite the
prohibition of the Koran. The Occidents!
pokes his way through the narrow pas
sageWays Of the bazaars and bargains
and haggles and quarrels as if he had
never been in a ''One-pTice store in the
west.
The educated Oriental delights in the
society of the wealthy OCcidentals who
make their winter homes in Cairo hos
telries. The American girl stopping here
is quite as much interested in the Persian
poet she meets at the hotel dance as she
is in the mummified remains Of the great
Rameses in the museum Even the
museum is q paradox, for the bodies of
the ancient PharaOhs and their priceless
crown jewels are exhibited in a building.
the exterior of which suggests nothing
but modern Italy.
Cairo and Alexandra areN built after
Italian and French patterns and even
the immutable law of the prophet has
been bent that the parks might have orn-
aments in statues Of great Egyptians.
The well paved streets, the good street-caF
service the excellent police system-ali
these things are of the west western. Ten
minutes walk in any direction viii take
the wayfareT into a quarter where the
streets are paved only with ten centuries