The Washington herald., 1914-02-08

Aur II. iTs FIGHTING IN the desert.
SEPT II, I7ss Turkey declared war.
Oct. q, It's Revolt in Cairo.
FEB. 10, I7es Started for Syria.
VATHILE Napoleon with his army Of
w 10000 marched up the Nile from
Alexandria to the conquest Of the
Egyptian capital. the streets Of Cairo
resounded night and day with the shriii
pipes and monotonous drum beats OF
the Dervishes, made familiar to us oy
midway limitations. At the .nrst warn
ing of the enemy's advance the Ulema-
or wise men. marshaled the children in
long professions and led them again
and again through the narrow. winding
Lanes OF the city, while their young
voices chanted an appeal for divine de-
nverance from the unbelieving hosts OF
France
NAPOLEON. on the other hand, invoked
neither Allah nor Jehovah, but the spirit
of the ages when he reminded his
troops that from the Pyramids Of Ghizeh
forty centuries looked down upon them.
What a wonderful viewpoint those cen
turtles enjoyed atop the great cairn OF
Ckeops, that memorable July morning
ia the year 1885, what well chosen re-
served seats,
went at once on my arrival In Cairo
TO join the gazing cycles at Ghizeh. You
no longer ferry down the Nile and go
out to the Pyramids on camels or mules
They are now only 0-minute spin IN
an automobile or a +0-minute ride IN
the couuauy of sheeted Egyptians
aboard trolley car, with a curtained
section for the yelled dark-eyed sorcer-
esses OF the Nile.
Handsome bridges bore me across the
most historic OF rivers, the veritaoie
stream of Time, first to park-hke
island, and then to the farther pank'
where the town of Ghizeh sprawls In the
sun. Beyond Ghizeh q broad, almost
straight avenue, five miles long. win
trolley tracks running beneath row OF
shady Iebbakh trees, stretches across .
plain, where little irrigating rivulets run
about to refresh the soil fn.its never END
ing hand to hand struggle win tne
desert. The road itself is Bonapartist,
IL having been laid out by the khedive
as an honor and convenience Tor the
empress Eugene at the time she visited
Egypt to open the Suez Canal
RnffaIo were by the roadside as 1
nassed and little white herons were NY
inc over a mud village Of the fellahln.
'Pevond that clump of huts the Pyramids
I;tta5 their rnournful bulk above the Dill
lows of sand which have beaten asaInss
their foundations nearly 5000 years anu
Uhicb rolled toward me like the ensuh-
ing waves OF the sea
In n Sea Of Sand.
Indeed a real sea wall hve feet nish -
necessary for the protect1on OF ene ioau
as II approaches its destination anu u
ali that saves it from being suomerseo.
Its last section is no more than q Pie.
.;I-oa causeway, with a big hotel and
nretty garden rising at the emu ihe
-; hsad ont of an ocean OF SAND.
T-here still remains long, steep chmo
90 ,be pyramids in a walled ana paved
trench with the burning sun above anu
the burning sand all ABOUT pu'' .ue
automobiles and trolleys stop at tne
hotoI ana deliver their passengers over
,-,arc;es of the desert and its chill
Sr.n a tribe of bowling Arabs with
herd of camels and donkeSs.
Eor the rest of the journey the Nisitor
,,as hard choice of conveyance. he
NAV board a plunging ship OF tne oeserl
and complete the Illusion py pecoilihs
seasick or be terked along on lne jan
of soaded and bewildered DONKEY.
E.oans is irnpossible You will be DEAL
mod IN Won do, and deafene6 If you don
.ccert the services of the clamorous ana
persistent mob-unless you puy tner
fha,L 10 heat them off and then buy
him all over again to go away hiiseh
and leave you alone with tne .oS
fifty centuries which saw the AInS Vi
Napoleon coming out Of the Nofui
. Great Grandstand.
But the visitor is well re"srueu ioI
his rnomentary trials Surely Sneops -
the most wonderful grandstano from
which a battle ever was seen VI az
acid reviewed. Overhead oends .he
snIsnd;d blue vault of the Egyptian SKY
Rabind rolls the tempestuous desert De
low flows the Nile. Beyond the river
the domes and minarets OF CAIRO Iise
toward the cloudless heavens IN wh'e
and gold against background Oh pare
yellow hills. These stand out on .e
IL
green and slender valley from the on
coming sands of Arabia, forever STRIVING
20 ioin forces with the sands OF LYDIA
and bury valley and city ana river IN ohe
vast and desolate waste.
orf in front some eight miles away
there is a cluster Of date palms ABOUT
the village of Embabeh by the riverside |
A. the edge of that little grove the
ceIehrated Battle Of the Pyramids was
fought. There the West met the East IN
combat for the first time in 500 years, |
,yben the Mamelukes made their one and |
only stand against the advancing French
The Battle of West and East.
n, that pIaIa 10000 turbaned horsemen. |
.acb r,ounted man with three or four |
Sootmen to serve him. were drawn up |
across 1.-THE Path of Napoleon, their
shirts of steel and their gay, Oriental
sccoutrements glistening in the sun. Be
MA iris line of brilliant cavalry there |
we're thousands of janissaries, while'i
within the earthworks of Embabeh there
were gathered more thousands of raw
conscripts with many cannon
But the Mamelukes I'm their sef-con-
fdence relied on themselves alone to
strike down and trample the French be-
meath their horses hoofs. Macaulay says
that their commander, Mourad Bey. could
not believe that mis- little antagonist who
rode like butcher was the greatest war
rior in Europe, while the Mamelukes felt
nothing but contempt fer infantry. A
man was no soldier in their eyes who did |
not have a horse, and they laughed as
NEXT SUNDAY-Tn The Patk If