Evening star., 1937-04-18
::::WH|TE NILE TRIP
AFFORDS THRILLS
Contrasts 30 Miles of Ba.
zaarS, SaVages and
Gases Beauty.

CAIRO, April ia travelogue
combining the thrill of the seldom
visited Egyptian oasis, with the sup
plement of a strange voyage up the
White Nile, is now offered the tourist
who visits Egypt.
Today old Khartoum remains a his
toric memory closeted with the relics
OF Stanley's stirring march and Lord
kitchener's reconquest in the city's
magnificent museum of antiquity,
which is surrounded by the finest ZOO
logical gardens in the world. Strangely
contrasted with this modernity, near
the city are the sacred balloon-shaped
hut encampments and holy Shrines of
African devotees. Three miles from
the modern city stands the century,
old mud brick community of Omdur-
man, the African metropolis of 25 900
native dervishes, who, in flowing white
robes, turbaned sheik headgear, now
welcome the tourist.
Thirty Miles of Bazaars.
AS the steamer heads toward Kawa
the shoreline is ended by innumerable
shore-bank markets, where the brown
races exhibit their wares of ornamen-
tai carved tusks, bright red and yellow
slippers with the upturn pointed toes
of fashion, neckwear, swords and cur
ious f1ligree designs which attract the
nomads of the surrounding desert. The
vast corridor of bazaars stretches as
an emporium for 80 miles. Beyond the
trading centers the traveller glimpses
the first native villages of the Suks,
who hold the Niles distinction for
gaudy costume.
AS the steamer nears Renk, 290
miles from Khartoum, the modern
world slips away and history repeats
itself. Here on the banks live the
Shilluks in grass-thatched villages. A
few miles beyond begins the land of
the Dinkas. where half-naked ebony
giants practice their weird barbaric
customs and one may see their exhi-
billions of shore forest of glittering
spears in the daily war maneuvers of
Africa's tribesmen.
Hippos, Savages and Civilization.
This region also introduces the
huge horned heads of buffaloe, viewed
above the elephant grass, and the
hippo who rises above the shining
surface of the water and seeks shore
on the approach of the steamer. From
this point the passenger has the
strange experience of living in an
other world, for the steamer becomes
an oasis of civilization, gliding down
sea framed by arbarism. The
unique costumes, the feathered head
gear, millions of beads, bracelets that
decorate dark skins, all add to the
memory book Of the exciting and
exotic experience.
No less strange and fascinating are
the journeys to the oasis. The visitor
who conceives these places as a little
grass and sparse water is surprised to
find a fertile country with houses and
walled gardens, growing pomegranate,
orange, lemon, mish-mish, mulberry
and fig trees, and their own wells sup
plying spring water. The inhabitants
are picturesque, hospitable and gay,
and have quaint customs dating back
to the twelfth century. The oasis girls
are throwbacks to the pure Egyptian
types and dress with a wealth of orna-
mentation.
The oasis of silva bursts like an
Aladdin-like city upon the view. One
moment there is nothing to be seen but
the desert, the next moment one is in
an enchanted country, with colored,
painted houses like medieval castles
perched upon high rocks The build
ings resemble the architecture of early
Greece, with a sprinkling Of Persia,
India and the Orient.