The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1911-12-20
NEWS FROM THE
WORLDS TOURISTS
Interesting Letter From Dr.. Coon
Dated From 6ombay-Descrip-
ton OF Port Said.
IN THE LAND or GOSHEN
Visit to the Great Pyramids-Ramese:
u, the Oldest and Best Pre-
served Mummy.
Tai Mahal Palace Hotel,
Bombay, Nov. %, 1911.

Tai Mahal Palace Hotel,
Bombay, Nov. %, 1911.
Review
We left you at the entrance OF the
Suez canal at Port Said. This city OF
$4,000 people lies on the west bank OF
the canal and on the east bank is
Arabia and on the west side of the
city is one arm of the river Mile. The
canal was dug along the Nile some 40
miles to Ismalia, where the Egyptian
railway, which has followed the canal
thus far, turns to the southwest and
crosses desert for some Is miles,
when it begins to strike the fertile
lands of the Nile, and from here to
Cairo the country is very level and all
irrigated and produces fine crops of
cotton, corn, sugar cane and all sorts
of tropical as we'll as most all the
sub-tropical fruits. 1t is a strangely
pleasing sight to see corn and cotton
and cabbages growing together with
orange and banana trees and date
palms all around the edges as we have
cottonwood and box elder trees around
our farms. No horses are seen in any
of the fields, but water buffalo, camels
and asses are used to do all the work
not done by natives. The land is
worth from $4,000 to 100000 per
acre and pays large dividends on its
value. We pass directly through the
Land of Goshen of bible days to the
historic land of the PharaOhs with it's
great capitol of Cairo, it's mosques and
temples and pyramids and sphinx.
The English are doing wonders for
Egypt, as they do for all countries
they take over. They have shown the
natives how to irrigate scientifically
alone has revoutionized Egypt We
stopped at the hotel where Roosevelt
put up while in Cairo and the people
of Cairo thought Teddy altogether too
radical and they disliked him very
much for his remarks. The English
quarter of Cairo is beautiful and
n,odern city, while the old Cairo is the
same today as the old cities were
when Christ was on earth.
The poverty and filth are beyond
any description and one seems to have
left the earth we know and be in some
horrible nightmare of place. About
one person in every ten is blind in
one or both eyes from tracoma, the
terrible eye disease our government is
trying so strenuously to keep out OF
our country. The reason the terrible
disease is so prevalent here is be-
cause of religious belief that one
must not kill any creature and so flies
may not be brushed away from ones
eyes, but allowed to stay on the eyes
at will and little children have face
and eyes covered with flies all day
and never attempt to drive them
away.
OF course we saw the pyramids and
went in them and in the great sub.
terranean temples built before Christ
1000 years. We saw Ramesis II, the
mummy. His body and all his parts
are perfectly preserved and even his
hair and teeth and nails are as natur-
al as life, and his coffin is as we'll pre-
served. To tell what we saw would
indeed require large book. Our days
were all too short and we enjoyed
very much to see all these historic
places and to see the life of these
quaint, superstitious and ignorant
people. Though ignorant in many
ways. they are very clever artisans
and do the most exquisite inlay work
in wood and pearl and stone, and the
ancients were able to paint on stones
and wood so that now, after lapse
of 5000 years, the colors are as bright
and beautiful as if placed on today.
We were much interested to visit
the great public school where Moses
Plato and all the great characters of
ancient times were educated. This
school has $4,000 to 100000 pupils all
the year around and all go free of eX-
pense, but all sit on the stone floors
in little groups and all study aloud
and you may be sure one thinks he is
visiting the stock exchange or board
of trade in America when someone is
running a corner on May lard or April
corn.
The teachers each have large
to recite and probably 200 pupils re-
cite to each instructor. On entering
this school, as entering all the
mosques, one must first remove the
shoes and put on thin leather slip.
pers, or one may go in stocking feet.
This school building was built for
mosque and then turned into school,
SO that they consider the place sacred,
and they do not lose sight of the
former conservation of the church al
though it has been school for hun
dreds of years. In fact it is the old
est school extant today. The students
are bright and intelligent and range
from to 70 years of age and even 80
years of age. All males, as are all
the teachers, and the pupils wear
simply breech clout and sit on the
stone floor.
We visited the great fortress over
looking the city. 1t is called cita-
del and has within it's walls the great
mosque called Mohames Ali, the most
beautiful and costly mosque in Egypt.
1t is built of alabaster and has gold
and silver concentrations every
where. The citadel was captured by
Napoleon and he shelled the mosque
of Sultan Hassan, which is short