New Britain herald., 1923-08-29


the Nile and muses. bit perhaps on
the ancient splendor of Egypt, there
appears visions of the historic cha
racters-men and women who lived
ana fought and died in the centuries
of previous civilization. There it
was that hundreds of thousands of
slaves toiled and were ruthlessly sac
rificed in the hurry to complete one
or another of the great Pyramids be-
fore the death of their royal masters,
whose bodies were to be placed in
spacious chambers deep in the recess
ses of the stately piles of stone.
There 1t was that Cleopatra, the
siren of the ages, reigned and plotted
and loved and directed, for a while,
the world when she lured Mark
Anthony from Rome and ultimately
brought about his death in battle, and
then her own self destruction.
And it was in Egypt, stripped of her
ancient power, her strength crumb-
ling, which was to fall before the
swarms of Turkish fanatics who in
vaded the land of the Nile, Staying
and torturing with the name of Mo-
manned eternally on their lips.
Cairo, itself is one of the most CO.'S
mopolitian cities of the globe Certain
ly its population includes every ma
tionality ION the face of the earth.
lsmail Pasha, a progressive ruler of
the last century, is responsible for
much of the growth of the modern
Cairo, he built the opera house and
being a dutiful son, placed the statue
of his father in the front of the build
ing. The palace of the Khedive, the
principal hotels and the government
offices stand near the Ezbekiyeh
Gardens.
Street scenes in Cairo constitute a
most fascinating part of the city. |
Caravans of camels attended by their
drivers plod steadily along while the |
frequent funeral professions assume
many of the aspects of circus pa
rade. The corpse is not placed in a !
coffin and carried in a hearse as in |
the States, but is taken to the GENE |
tary on sort of litter or stretcher. |
Hired mourners walk behind the bier !
crying and wailing in as weird a tone
the American Indians. The widow or |
widoWer as the case may be, rides at |
the end of the procession, a fororn |
figure all swarthed in black. When the |
mourners pass a mosque they all go !
in to pray, leaving the corpse outside |
and not bothering to even put a guard
over the remains.
From Mosque
From the great Mosque of Moham-
mend Ali, the visitor can see practi
cally the entire city laid out below.
The mosque is built on the site of the
ancient citadel where the Mamelukes
were slaughtered by order of Moham-
mend All after they had been enticed
into Cairo. The last of the Mamelukes
escaped after jumping his horse down
preciptous cliff. being the only one
OF the nearly five hundred members
OF the dynasty in the city to escape
the massacre.
Another famous vantage point is
the top of Saladns Citadel. From this
place can be seen the MOSQUE of
Sultan Hassan. When the structure
was built the sultan was SO delighted
with the beauty of the architecture.
that he cut off the hand of the build |
er so that it would be impossible for
him to ever design another and nos
sibiy more beautiful mosque.
On the border of the desert sands.
some forty five minutes ride south
ana west of Cairo, lie the three Great
pyramids of Gizeh, most famous of
me seVety similar piles of masonry
scattered throughout the land of the
ME. Mystery shrouds the real story
OF the building of these tombs of
Kings, but several interesting theories
nave peen advanced as to their origin.
tradition has it that the stones
used in their construction were drag
sed from the quarry fifteen miles
Away ana on the other side of the
ME. The stones vary in weight from
TWO and half to fifty tons, and the
historians estimate that fully 100
200 men labored twenty years to quar-
~ and assemble the stones into one
pyramid. The original height of the
argest pyramid is 472 feet, the pre-
sent height $50 feet, lengths of sides
1O6 feet. The interior of the great
is devided into six parts,
namely; first Great Hall, Second,
Kings Chamber Third, Queens
chamber, Fourth, entrance, Fifth,
'ubterranean chamber, Sixth, Passage.
In the former ages the surface of
he Pyramids was composed of polish
ID stone, but time is eating toward the
!eart of each structure and much of
he outer casing has been crumbled
way before the onslaught of later