Evening star., 1926-10-06
EGYPT DEPLORES
PASSING OF 'SAH|BS'
Natives Recall Days Before
/ Arrival of Temporary
D. Gentlemen"
BY NEGLEY FARS0N.
Correspondence Of The star and the ChicaRo
Daily News.


LONDON, England, September "a
Much of the so-called awakening Of
the East" and the discomfort to which
the British have fallen heir in India
and Egypt is largely due TO the fact
that the tradition of the sahib has
been shattered The native has seen
q new type of white man-an un-
worthy inferior breed. which does
not make him feel so small by COM
parison This is the worst legacy
which the World War left Great
Britain.
You chaps" said a civil service Of.
fetal to me one day in Cairo. ARE
making a sweet mess of Egypt. 1t
will take US years to clean up after
you have cleared QUITO establish the
sahib again
He was speaking of the temporary
gent the type of officer who wore
little gorblimy" hats and suede shoes
and turned up pasty faced on parade
the officers who took a native
gharry to the Continental Hotel. told
out the back door. The type of rascal
whose check was no good. The
staggering bully who used to beat up
his native hatman> The "knut" who
made the adjutant groan "Oh, Gawd"'
when he walked into the orderly
room.
The Tarbush Sweep.
There was game in Cairo in those
war days called the tarhush sweep.
stakes. a sweet little sport Four
or five important gentlemen. after
having drunk a good dinner at
shepeard's, would each put up 10
piastres. Then they would sneak
into the waza--forbidden ground after
f,o kt,r.i,- 49, 70
thibbas and fezzes sidled past the
officer knocked off the feZ with his
swagger stick.
"One for me, BERTHE
"Righto. ole bean--I've got six al
ready"
Whack: Bang. Another native
chased down the street.
"Pleese Meester captain. Please.
Glib it-tarhush.
devil"
Then the officers and gentlemen
foregathered counted the fezzeS-and
drank up the bets.
Fine stuff TO uphold the prestige Of
the white man. The natives began
70 get together and mutter and dis
cuss what delightful thing it would
be to slip a. knife into one of those
insolent khaki backs.
Azhar the great Mohammedan uni
versity-and heart of anti British sedi
ton oi-'there. what have we been
telling YOU about the vile white man,
And the sahihs? Well most of the
sahibs were dead. * now type OF of
ficer was lording it over Egyp;.
Fuzzy Wuxzy" Fought Back.
One-probably the one-bright spot
Was there in this degradation of
Egypt The Fuzzy W-uz
~ Good old Fuzzy Wuzay' lie
wasn't having any. lie was first
class fighting man" The fez hunting
sportsman who knocked off A Fuzzy
Wuzzr's headpiece got the stddest
surprise Of his life.
Fuzzy Wuzzy hit back
Not with his tsts-hecause he did
not know how to use those-but with.
the officers own sWagger-stlck. or
ANYTHING that was handy Fuzzy
vuzzy would have thrown motor
car at him if he could have hurled
It far enough. He was not a cowardly
Cairo Arab But the coWardly Cairo
Arab did see a black man put the
everlasting breeze" up a white man.
And he began to have heart.
Before the war British officer,
when he wanted anything in Egypt.
went INTO a store ana look l--IelllnS
the storekeeper 70 send the chit to his
hotel. Before the war had been on
many years he was asked to pay cash
before the war ended Sheppeard's
would not cash an unknown officer
check Thus had the sahib come down
In Egypt.
AS YOU know. there was a revolu-
ton in Egypt-at the end of the war.
Eight years later ! sat beside an
Egyptian in Helsingfors. Finland. He
was a delegate to a convention there.
He talked of conditions in Egypt--and
he had a very low opinion of the
white man. In fact, he had no use
for the white man at all. He was
modern Egyptian.
Things Have Changed.
But what about the sahibs?"
asked
He laughed.
"Ho Ho, Can't fool me with that
Don't YOU believe in the sahibs?"
"Of course. I don't. Before the war
we had very nice class of English
men in Egypt. Yes. very nice-but
now things have changed most con-
siderably. The Cairo boys say that
they do not see anything wonderful
about these Englishmen-they are
Just like anybody else. Why should
they run our country"
But al least you will admit that
the English officials are straight