The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-04-06

prepared by the National Geographic So
Ciety, Washington. ID. c.
Cairo, where sleep scores of Egypt'S
once mighty kings, not in the rock-hewn
sepulcherS that were prepared for
them, but in glass cases, open to the
gaze Of the curious, will probably be-
come the resting place of many Of the
objects brought to light by the most
recent important tomb discovery, even
though the body Of Tut-ankh-amen is
left where it was found. For archeo-
logical finds in Egypt are the property
of the government, and at Cairo it has
set UP the greatest museum Of Egyp-
tian antiquities in existence.
Yet the remains of the Pharaohs are
after all in alien hands, primarily
Arabic, secondarily cosmopolitan, for
Cairo is today what Bagdad was III
the days Of HarOun-al-RaSchid. Just
a the mantle of Rome passed west to
London and New York, SO the mantle
OF the metropolis Of the Arabic speak
ing world has passed west and has
fallen on the great city Of the Nile.
Carlo is q living kaleidoscope its
COlOred fragments are tumbled into
place not merely from east to west,
but from north and south as well.
White-robed Bedouin, ill-clad fellah,
shiny-black SudaneSe and central At
rican negro, swarthy Turk, Persian,
Hindu, Monaghan, dusky Moor, Ital-
ian, Greek, Armenian, and the whittier
folk from Europe, America and the an
tipOdeS--all are jumbled together in
Cairo, their various tongues making a
babel that can hardly be duplicated at
any other spot on earth.
Down the Centuries by Trolley.
The life Of Cairo is almost what
you will. Do you want the finest Of
European hotels with the last word in
luxury? They are there. Do you long
for the bazaars OF the true East? You
will find them just around the corner
Would YOU sec the primitive life Of
the humble city dwelIer. the inn Of
the desert %wanderer, student life
among Mohammedan youth, the
crowds about the mosques, the palaces
of eastern potentates-they are all
within easy reach. And if you would
journey swiftly and cheaply into the
past you need only board an electric
trolley car and be whlSked through
q few miles Of sand to the Pyramids
Of Gizeh and the Sphinx.
The life that GIBBS and flows along
some OF the streets Of Cairo presents
sights no less varied than its sounds.
Deliberate camels move along with
brightly-dressed riders perched upon
them or with suspended cars in which
are yelled damsels. while drurnmers
thunder their rhythm and fife blowers
emit their shrill notes. Sn~ake-charm-
ers pass along with their bag OF
snakes; magicians perform in some
nook bullock-carts and laden dOnkeys
compete for space with shining limou-
Eines.
~orgeou cOlors of every hue and
shade assail the eye-a post-lmpres-
sionistic fanfare Of prehistoric color
schemes. The poorer the Egyptian
the more ragged; the mere a 6 the
more colors. Then again the Arabs
denote their families and dynasties by
;urbans Of distinctive col0rS. To tell
n prophets scion from a priest or to-
day. or one dervish order for another,
or any of the countless dynasties and
sects apart requires Il study OF turDali
lore as complicated as the numerous
insignia worn by American soldiers
when they returned from France.
One thing Is certain. If a turban
! trails the ground II means that the
wearer has followed the orthodox GUS
tom Of having 1t seven heads" long.
so that it may serve to shroud him
when he dies and keep him mindful
OF hat certain end while he lives.
The richer women. attended by
eunuchs, may be seen in carriages,
faces yelled to their eyes. eye lashes
and lids, fingers and exposed toes
darkened with henna. and bedecked
with earrings, anklets. beads and
! bracelets. Poorer women 20 afoOt, also
yelled, CARRIED in plain robes highly
suggestive of Mother lIubbards."
In the street crowds, too, are the
beggars whose balloons serve the pur-
nose of the monkeys OF our organ
grinders. snake clarmers, vendors of
the ubiquitous scarabs and tiny craven
; images, and the Berbecine bead boys.
; The al frescc cafe t. one of the most
characteristic marks Of Cairo. 1t is
not the more or less well ordered