liiii/ CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 01=1 t, i m BLANCHE M.CARSON . FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT CAIRO TO THE CATARACT BLANCHE MABUKP CARS OK Illustrated uq Q BOSTON L.CPAGE CO. MDCCCCIX Copyright, 1909 BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (INCORPORATED) All rights reserved First Impression, March, 1909 Blectrotyped and Printed at THE COLONIAL PRESS: C.H.Simonds & Co., Boston, U.S. A. To The loving recipient and patient reader of many long letters, this volume is affectionately dedicated 2205102 3Q' East Lortgifudt 3*' PREFACE FOE the facts of Egyptian history the au- thor is indebted to the following : Dr. James Henry Breasted, Prof. M. G. Maspero, Dr. Flinders Petrie, Dr. Wallis Budge, Prof. Sayce, Mr. Carl Baedeker, Mr. Stanley Lane Poole, Messrs. J. E. and A. H. Quibel, Messrs. L. W. King and H. R. Hall; to Mrs. Elizabeth W. Latimer and Miss E. Chennelle, Mr. Jeremiah Lynch, Mr. Henry C. Greene, Mr. Arthur E. Weigall; to M. Legrain, M. De Morgan and M. Amelineau, and to all who have in any way aided in the unearthing of early Egyptian history. The majority of the photographs for illus- tration are supplied by the kindness of Mr. W. A. Setchell, Mr. W. Potter, Mrs. Charles D. Blaney, and by Mr. Isaac Morse. The author also wishes to express her ap- preciation of the helpful criticism and en- couragement of her sister Eugenia, at whose suggestion these letters were prepared for publication. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE EGYPT Frontispiece MAP OF EGYPT .vii PORT SAID 20 A HAREM OUT FOR A RIDE 35 THE BOULEVARD BEFORE THE HOTEL CONTINENTAL, WITH THE ESBEKIYEH GARDENS OPPOSITE .... 38 THE GREAT NILE BRIDGE 41 THE BEDOUINS OF THE PYRAMIDS 50 THE GREAT PYRAMID 54 THE SPHINX AND THE GREAT PYRAMID .... 62 DOORWAY OF UNIVERSITY MOSQUE COURT OF UNI- VERSITY MOSQUE 76 BRIDAL PROCESSION NEAR CAIRO, BRIDE BEING IN THE COVERED Box 82 FOUNTAIN IN THE COURTYARD OF A MOSQUE A TOMB MOSQUE 90 TOMBS OF THE KALIFAHS 97 THE CITADEL AND THE MOSQUE OF MOHAMMED ALI, FROM THE MOKATTAM CLIFFS 99 THE ALABASTER MOSQUE OF MOHAMMED ALI . . . 101 BEDRECHEN, THE LANDING STATION FOR SAKKARAH . 105 FALLEN COLOSSI OF RAMSES THE GREAT .... 109 THE STEP PYRAMID, MAUSOLEUM OF KING ZOSER . .112 MARIETTE'S HOUSE, SAKKARAH 117 READY FOR THE RACE HOME 120 VISTA OF PALMS ON THE WEST BANK OF THE NILE . 124 BENI HASSAN 130 A VENDER OF COPTIC VEILS 137 A SERIES OF SHADUFS . 139 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE A SAKKIYEH 140 SAIL-BOATS ON THE NILE MARKET-BOAT ON THE NILE . 142 MOUNTED POLICEMAN, UPPER EGYPT 147 APPROACH TO THE TEMPLE OF KARNAK THE RUINS OF KARNAK 161 COLUMNS OF THE HYPOSTYLE HALL, KARNAK . . . 163 VIEW FROM THE PYLON OF THE TEMPLE OF KARNAK . 165 HOUSE OF M. LEGRAIN 170 COURT OF THE TEMPLE OF LUXOR 176 HEAD OF RAMSES AT LUXOR . . - . . . . 178 VALLEY OF THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS, SHOWING ENTRANCE TO THE TOMB OF AMENHOTEP II 184 FUNERARY TEMPLE OF QUEEN HATSHEPSUT . . . 188 COLOSSI OF MEMNON 193 TEMPLE OF HORUS AT EDFU 198 GORGE OF SILSILEH TEMPLE OF KOM OMBO . . 200 ASSUAN FROM THE ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE THE ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE, OPPOSITE ASSUAN . . 202 A GROUP OF BISHARIN 206 A BISHARIN CAMP 210 MAIN BOULEVARD, ASSUAN NORTHERN END OF THE ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE BEACH ON THE ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE 212 THE ISLAND OF PHIL^E 216 THE KIOSQUE OR " PHARAOH'S BED " .... 218 THE CATARACT ABOVE ASSUAN BOATS ENTERING THE LOCKS NEAR THE DAM ABOVE ASSUAN . . . 222 TAKING SOUNDINGS IN THE NILE 229 HOTEL GARDEN AT LUXOR 231 ON THE ROAD FROM BALIANA TO ABYDOS . . . 234 A DAHABIYEH , . . 252 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT " S. S. Finland/' Trans-Atlantic Red Star Line. New York, November 12th, 1907. A STUPENDOUS roar from the whistle! The heavy throbbing of the throttle shook the ship from stem to stern. Then came the gongs! The deafening din dulling the ears and drowning the voices. Up one side, and down the other, through salon and smoking room, upper deck, hurricane and steerage, went the stewards beating their devil's tattoo on the big brass pans, the resounding clan- gour warning visitors off the ship. The leave-taking began all over again! Hurried handshakes, frantic embraces, quick kisses and repeated messages whispered in husky voices with sudden blinding of tears. "Non-passengers ashore!" shouted the First Officer. With final pressure of hand, last caress and promise of frequent posts, the i 2 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT devoted fathers and fiances, overstaying their extra minute's grace, made a rush and a jump for the gangplank one end already in mid- air. The passengers lined the rails, the specta- tors pressed to the pier's edge, shouting last words and commissions across the increasing chasm as long as their voices carried. The dock hands hauled away the planks and let go the forward cable. Wider and wider grew the wedge of blue below between ship and wharf as the boat's bow swung out to mid-stream. " Cast off everything! " called the Captain, and with the dropping of the hawser aft, the great leviathan floated free at last. The band burst forth with a lively air, the hundreds of friends assembled on shore waved farewell and wished Godspeed to the staunch ship and its human freight. B. and I waved answer, although we knew not a soul in that vast mul- titude. :< We're off! Hurrah, for Egypt and In- dia! " B. gleefully exclaimed, while a wave of conflicting emotions swept over us ex- ultant expectation mingled with pathos of parting, joyful anticipation joined with vague apprehension of possible hazard on the long, long voyage over three oceans, Atlantic, In- dian and Pacific, before we make home port FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 3 on the far side of the continent, the California coast. As the pier faded to a speck, we turned for a brisk promenade down the deck, and now are dashing off these dozen lines to be mailed by the harbour pilot, who is taking us out to sea, when he goes ashore an hour hence in the , sailboat waiting off Sandy Hook. November 16th, Mid- Atlantic, 1800 miles from New York. OUR ship has just been exchanging Mar- conigrams with six other vessels all within a radius of two hundred miles! We have learned their names, latitude and direction, and do not feel ourselves so isolated to-night as we had supposed. The Professor of our party more of him anon has likewise sent a message, " All well," to the Agent in New York, to be forwarded to our various homes. The aerogram is to any passing ship which, when within hailing distance, will transmit it by wireless to Sandy Hook. We feel very up-to-date, I assure you. It is not yet two weeks since we left Cali- fornia, yet it seems ages. The transcontinen- tal trip was longer and more tiresome than ever. The one interesting incident was our meeting a party of three Englishwomen, from thirty to forty years of age, who were on their way home from a tour around the world. They had envied the " conducted " parties they met, who saw all the important 4 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 5 sights and travelled in the most comfortable way. This was pleasant news to us, just booked for a party starting on the grand tour, of which the trip up the Nile is merely the first chapter. Heretofore when in Europe B. and I have always gone about by ourselves, and have looked askance at the " Cookies," but India seemed so remote and so barbaric we thought best to seek the protection of a " personally conducted " party. New York was full of life and bustle, and we were in the midst of it at the Hotel Knick- erbocker. The morning after our arrival we met our Conductor, Mr. Richards tall, gray, smiling and capable. He informed us that the " Princess Irene " of the Red Star Line had met with an accident which would pre- vent her sailing on schedule time. In order not to miss connection with our Nile steamer, he had taken passage for us on the " Fin- land," a boat of the same line, running to Antwerp. Thence we will proceed by rail via Paris to Marseilles, where we will again take ship for Egypt. Such sudden change of plan nearly took our breath away; when we found, however, that it meant no delay, but a glimpse of Europe, with a day at Paris thrown in, we considered ourselves fortunate. Saturday, November 12th, we were up at 6 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT seven, and by nine were well on our way to the boat with bags and trunks piled high on the carriage. Mr. Richards was awaiting us and at once conducted us to our cabin. We then met the three other members of our party. Madam Shinn, aged 77, widow of a former prominent member of the New York bar, is a lady of fine features and dis- tinguished manners. Although slightly deaf and unable to walk far, she seems equal to the exigencies of travel. In her fur hood and long black cloak she looks like an Eskimo, while her delicate pink and white complexion is as fair and fresh as any girl's. This is her twenty-third trip across the water. Miss Martha, her daughter, middle-aged and prac- tical, is devoted to her mother. Lastly there is the Professor, an old friend of these ladies and most chivalrous in his at- tention to Madam Shinn, leading her about as tenderly as a child. He not only calls her " Honey " and " Dear " he is from Texas but "Sisters" us, and "Brothers" Rich- ards and the passengers generally, to the in- finite amusement of all. Soon after we were introduced, the Professor said, " Now, Rich- ards, you take care of the young ladies and I'll look after the old ones! " As I am a widow of forty with not a few FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 7 gray hairs, and B. has twenty-five summers to her credit, we smiled at the joke. We are already known as the Professor's party, and the deck-steward has labelled all our chairs with his name. At luncheon the first day out a small side table was assigned us, over which the Pro- fessor willingly presided. Pale, slight, of medium height, with jet black hair and pier- cing eyes, he is a man of rare intelligence and charms with his brilliant conversation. Every meal is a feast; w r e sit long after the other tables are cleared, and our steward has now learned to be patient. The Professor has made some records in mountain climbing, and had many hairbreadth escapes, all of which he relates with spirit. He has brought with him a small library of twenty or thirty vol- umes, and threatens to write up the trip in the form of a novel and put us all in. Every good joke goes down at once in his note- book. Sunday morning the Captain invited the Professor to conduct service in the salon. Miss Martha, for years the soprano of her home choir, led the singing, while Mr. Rich- ards officiated at the piano, playing the tunes by ear. In the congregation were seven young women from the second cabin going 8 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT out as missionaries to India. That afternoon the Professor prevailed upon two of them, who had been in the work several years, to tell us of their experiences in the Orient. Their mission in India contains about 7,000 children, mostly those who had come to them during the famine, and whose parents had died from starvation rather than lose caste by eating foreign food. One missionary told of going to the house of a Hindu to teach English to a girl of fourteen. During the lesson an old man of sixty passed through the room, whereupon her pupil immediately arose. In answer to the teacher's query as to who he was, she replied, " My husband." When asked why she was so anxious to learn English, she con- fessed after some hesitancy, "So that in the next life I may be born an American woman." Although the list of passengers is small there are a number of prominent people aboard, among whom is a member of the Swedish Parliament, and his daughter, a tal- ented singer. Another interesting fellow-traveller, M. Fontaine, of Belgium, has written a book on Arbitration, which gives an account of all the arbitration treaties ever made. He is also musical and plays Chopin and Brahms for us. Grand Hotel, Paris, November 24th. WE have just breakfasted, and have half an hour before taking the train for Mar- seilles. It has been delightful to get this glimpse of Europe and not to pass it by ut- terly. Early Sunday morning as we reached the English Channel a gale struck us, driving the " Finland " toward the Dover break- water. It took two tugs to pull her off. The ship had been rolling and pitching tremen- dously, but we had accepted it all as legiti- mate Channel weather never suspecting how near to disaster we had been. The voyage up the Scheldt in the late afternoon under a gray brooding sky was most beautiful. The yellow water stretching far on either side was barred from the low level land of Holland by miles of massive dykes. Here and there, silhouetted against the sky, were clumsy Dutch windmills reach- ing wide arms for every chance breeze. The even growth of bordering woods, already in 9 10 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT mid-November, bereft of their foliage, re- peated the low shore line. There was a sense of breadth and wideness in the landscape that bespoke a spirit of peace and calm. As we neared the city the long twilight with its Norse mystery gave place to the night. By the aid of the harbour signals the Captain felt his way up past buoy after buoy toward the circle of lights whose glimmering meant Antwerp. The band played a joyous air as the gang-plank was thrown out, and we once more set foot on terra firma. It took so long to get our eleven trunks together that it was eight o'clock before we reached the hotel. Next morning when we visited the Cathe- dral the exquisite little wooden figures of the choir-stalls, so wonderfully carved, caused us to break the tenth commandment; after nu- merous inquiries we found the studio of Herr Van Windt, Antwerp's famous carver, but unfortunately all his copies had been sold, and he is now at work exclusively upon a set of forty-five figures in stone for the fa9ade of the Cathedral. The five o'clock evening express brought us into Paris at ten that night. The long ride from the Gare du Nord to the Grand Hotel through the brilliantly lighted streets of the French capital was most exhilarating. FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 11 Our one day in Paris lasted until long after midnight, and was spent in the Louvre Gallery, with an hour only for shopping. In the evening we heard the opera of " Sa- lammbo," its gorgeous Egyptian mise en scene being a most fitting introduction to the land of the Pharaohs, whither we were bound. The Mediterranean Sea. Friday, November 25th. WE took the train de luxe from Paris early yesterday morning and did not arrive at Marseilles until midnight. Our party filled one small first-class compartment, very lux- urious for Europe, but we felt rather crowded. Madam Shinn dozed most of the time, while the rest of us listened to the Pro- fessor, who talked incessantly. He likes to solve every mystery on the spot. He told us how to calculate longitude and latitude, how to tell the speed of a train by counting the number of clicks made in twenty seconds by the cars passing over the ends of the rails; all such mathematical niceties delight him. Our Conductor had contracted a cold. The Professor at once prescribed for him, telling him he should look after himself some day he would die of heart failurl. On the " Finland " when slightly indisposed, the Professor had called in the ship's surgeon. But when the doctor found that his patient had already taken eleven different kinds of 12 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 13 medicine, he refused to give him anything more. The Professor now further cheered us by saying he was very delicate, being sub- ject to fainting spells. " And you, Miss Martha," he added, ad- dressing Miss Shinn, " you are so stout you will go off suddenly some day of apoplexy! " B. and I looked at each other aghast! Was this the kind of party we two healthy women had joined in order that we might have some one to care for us in case of sick- ness in a foreign land? It did not lessen our concern to have Madam Shinn now confide to us that a few years ago she had broken two ribs on her left side, and just three weeks before sailing had fallen down stairs and broken three more on the other side. But to return to Marseilles: On arrival we found there had been a slight fall of snow and it was very cold yet this was southern France. This morning sixty guests from the hotel sailed with us for Egypt. Two specials from Paris, which just made connections, added their quota of passengers. The big court of our hotel was full of bustle and stir. By eleven o'clock trunks and steamer-chairs the latter selected with care to last all the way round to San Francisco 14 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT had been tossed up on top of the long buses. Mme. Shinn had sat for an hour, hooded and cloaked, awaiting impatiently the moment of departure. Finally, when fif- teen of us had been tucked snugly inside, the big bus started for the docks, three quarters of an hour distant. Our boat, a P. and O. Liner, was crowded with passengers. We stood on the upper deck and watched the belated ones arrive. The butchers' and bakers' supplies were the very last aboard whole sides of beef and barrels of potatoes and oranges were hurried up the gangways by white-capped scullions and cooks. There was no lack of entertain- ment, for all the mountebanks in Marseilles with an overflow from Italy had congregated on the stone quays determined to extract our last sou. Here and there were spread small squares of dingy red carpet on which clowns turned somersaults, athletes held wrestling matches, and girls in cheap red cotton bloomers squirmed through tiny hoops. One old man balanced on his chin a ladder to the top of which his poodle climbed, while his white- haired wife feebly played a violin. Farther on an Italian mother appealed to another group of passengers by stolidly grinding out FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 15 of an antiquated hand-organ the gay airs, " Funiculi, Funicula " and " Santa Lucia." Her two mites of children in Neapolitan dress sang the words in husky voices and held out tambourines for chance coppers. Near by a miserable woman and her three ragged children were scraping up the few gleanings of coal from a lighter just unloaded. The ship weighed anchor promptly at twelve and left behind not only the mountebanks and numerous vendors with their strands of gay coral, but also two young women pas- sengers who had gone ashore on the Captain's promise that he would not sail till one. Saturday, November 26, The Mediterranean Sea. THIS is our second day out, the sea is calm, the air balmy, and all the passengers are in evidence. On the " Finland " the complexion of the ship was American; from the Medi- terranean east it is decidedly British. Wives of English officers stationed in various East India colonies are returning with their chil- dren and amahs after a vacation in the mother-country. These dark, copper-skinned women in voluminous white draperies and silver anklets, their muslin veils falling back- ward from their glossy black hair, are fas- cinating figures to us our first glimpse of the Orient. Those from Madras make the best servants. They' are devoted nurses and will sit on the floor by the hour to amuse their young charges. Our sailors are Lascars another name for Oriental seamen slight and small, with pointed black beards. It is a wonder such slender men can work the ropes. They are clad in white cotton trousers and long blue 16 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 17 cotton shirts reaching to the knee and con- fined at the waist by a big bandanna, the wide red fold and fluttering points showing in the back, while the other ends barely knot in front. Their small turbans are likewise red. With noiseless bare-foot tread they move about the ship and deftly and unobtrusively perform their tasks. The Lascar has almost entirely superseded the European on Eastern lines. The boat is literally crowded, the steamer- chairs being two and three deep along the deck. Old India travellers have canopies and side-curtains of green denim over their chairs to keep out the reflection from the water, which in Oriental seas is almost as bad as the direct rays of the sun. We often see on the lower deck aft our little band of missionaries who crossed with us on the " Finland." Our Commander has just been telling us of the exciting times in these waters a few years ago when the Russian fleet was due to pass the Canal on its way to the War with Japan. Every one was on the qui vive to catch a glimpse of the ships. Our Comman- der happened to sight the convoy several times during one voyage from England to Egypt. Various mysterious masts would suddenly appear in the western horizon, but 18 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT not liking the proximity of their big guns, he would as quickly steam beyond range. Later he learned that this was a division of five battle-ships under command of Admiral Nebogatoff. Our Commander could easily distinguish their order. They were proceed- ing in double column, closely followed and surrounded astern and abeam in the form of a letter U by a British " squadron of obser- vation " twice their strength. From the English Channel to the Pillars of Hercules ten ships of the line of King Edward's Home Fleet had " observed " the warships of the Czar. And at Gibraltar, the strangers were met by Great Britain's Mediterranean squad- ron, which in turn acted as " escort of obser- vation " the remainder of the way to Port Said. Fast or slow, as moved the Russian, so moved the British fleet. " And," concluded our Commander, " when night would settle over the face of the waters and no lights show from either squadron, while they kept up their swift race through the darkness, we put all steam on, and our P. and O. easily fled away before them." Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday morning, November 30th. YESTERDAY in the middle of the morning, although it was hours before we sighted the African continent, little gray swallows, har- bingers of land, came out to greet us, chirp- ing and twittering as they perched on rail and mast. In the late afternoon, as we neared the level shores of Egypt, the milky sea stretched away in liquid miles, with just on the horizon the outline of Port Said dimly visible. The soft blue sky wore a delicate sunset flush as our ship steamed slowly up the harbour past the monument of De Les- seps a fine bronze statue on a massive stone base and anchored in mid-stream not far from the docks. A swarm of boats and launches immedi- ately surrounded us. Two huge barges came to the luggage end of the vessel and took off our trunks. We said good-bye to a num- ber of fellow passengers bound for India direct, and walked down the gang-way to the launch. Madam Shinn managed the shaky 19 20 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT stairway very well with the Professor's as- sistance. Several large coal lighters were presently towed alongside the P. and O. An army of black imps, each clad in a single grimy gar- ment reaching to the knee, rose from their squatting position on the barges. Filling their baskets with coal, they nimbly sprang up one steep plank, dumped their load in the ship's hold, and ran briskly back by another. This slow method of coaling is still adhered to because it gives employment to so many. The customs examination a mere form was gone through in the midst of great yelling and shouting and calling out "Mind! Mind! " to make way for the porters. After they had been paid these men continued to pester the different members of the party for fees. B. pretended she did not understand and answered them in German; I replied in French. The Professor told them confiden- tially that we none of us had any money, that Richards had it all. Finally he gave in so far as to promise them six pence apiece if Richards would do the same. Poor Richards was at once surrounded and besieged, but he pretended to be deaf. Having an hour to wait, we promenaded the long platform, and gazed out over the PORT SAID. FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 21 <\ Delta, which is wide as a sea, and was cov- ered with picturesque sails. Our attention was presently attracted to a Moslem stand- ing on the narrow platform of a side-tracked car. Spreading down his robe for a prayer- rug, he removed his shoes and began his devo- tions: these consisted of repeated kneelings and risings and bowings of the forehead to the ground; he must have practised long to be able to calculate to such a nicety the space required for so elaborate a ritual. Meanwhile a swarthy, keen-eyed peddler passed from door to door of the waiting train, selling Egyptian stamps. Every one patron- ized him, eager to know the required postage for foreign letters and post-cards. The Pro- fessor, who writes long volumes, which keep him up invariably into the small hours of the night, and whose bill for postage is never less than two or three dollars, purchased heavily. After the man withdrew we began to count our stamps, got out our Baedekers, and found that the wily Egyptian had charged us just double! The Professor started in in- stant pursuit, "to do unto him as they do " in Texas, but the man was nowhere to be seen. Ben Hassan, an oily-tongued native, put in this hour running from one to another of 22 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT the party, praising his " learning and his goodness " and urging us to take him as guide. Our would-be cicerone watched us like a hawk and mounted guard at the door of our compartment until ordered off by the guard. Although night fell quickly and hid the landscape from view, we could see the lights of occasional ships steaming along the Suez Canal which our line parallelled a few hundred feet away. Our proximity to this gigantic feat of modern engineering made us the more eager to know something of its history. The Professor was only too happy to regale us with an account of the opening of the Canal and the part played by the Empress of the French in particular on that occasion facts gleaned from his little travelling library which included Elizabeth Wormeley Lati- mer's fascinating volume, " France in the 19th Century." " Port Said," began the Professor, " sprang into existence with the overturning of the first spadeful of dirt. It is all made ground; the mud dredged from the lagoon of Lake Menzaleh, to make a channel for the approach of deep water vessels, having been dumped on this one spot. Thus was made the north- ern port of the Suez Canal which received FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 23 its name Port Said after the Khedive Said then reigning. Ismailia commemorates the Viceroy in power at the completion of the waterway. " Every crowned head and prince, every scholar and scientist, had been bidden to the inauguration by Khedive Ismail, who had travelled the length and breadth of Europe, delivering his invitations in person. To the Viceroy's dismay the Sultan of Turkey, the real Sovereign of Egypt, at once signified his intention to attend. The poor Khedive saw his part on the programme relegated to that of a mere vassal attendant on his liege, a satellite eclipsed by the sun, and suffered a most miserable quarter of an hour until the Turkish Vizier persuaded the Sultan of the unwisdom of the journey: again the Vice- roy's star was in the ascendant. " Affairs in France being then in too critical a state to permit Napoleon III to leave his realm, he sent the Empress Eugenie as a fitting representative of his country's appre- ciation of the unparalleled achievement of her illustrious son, M. Ferdinand de Lesseps. The charming young Empress of France, then at the height of her beauty, power, and pop- ularity, sailed on the war steamer c L'Aigle ' accompanied by a French squadron of escort. 24 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT She was the only lady of royal rank to attend the opening festivities. " Going by way of Constantinople the Empress was given a magnificent fete by Sultan Abdul Aziz, on which occasion her dark Spanish beauty was resplendent in am- ber satin and diamonds. "Nov. 16th 'L'Aigle' reached Port Said and was greeted by a chorus of bands play- ing the then popular French air composed by Queen Hortense, mother of Napoleon III. " Partant pour la Syrie Le brave et jeune Dunois.' " That afternoon her Majesty attired in a black hat and a pale gray silk gown fes- tooned with flounces of Brussels lace, at- tended the Fete of Benediction. The Khe- dive with the Empress Eugenie led the pro- cession, followed by the Emperor of Austria, the Prince of Prussia, and the Prince and Princess of Holland. Facing the royal dais were two platforms, one bare save for a prayer-tower beside which stood five Moslem priests in red, green, black, violet, and light blue, the other decked with altar, candles, and crucifix, and crowded with abbots and acolytes. " The Mohammedans began the sendees ; FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 25 their youngest priest ascended the high pul- pit and in a few reverent words besought Allah's benediction on the work accomplished, the country, and its ruler. Then Abbe Bauer, the Empress' private chaplain (a con- verted Hungarian Jew), came forward, clad in velvet. He pronounced a long harangue, in the middle of which the weary Khedive, exhausted with the labour of planning for the comfort of his royal guests, fell asleep and snored audibly. The Abbe concluded by baptizing the united waters, Atlantic, Medi- terranean, and Indian with Eau de Cologne. " Even up to the very morning of the Opening, Nov. 17th, many claimed it was impossible for an ironclad to clear the canal; others predicted disaster to any large vessel making the attempt. A general anxiety and apprehension of accident prevailed. " It had been arranged that the warships should lead the procession at intervals of fifteen minutes and at a speed of less than five miles an hour. There was great discus- sion as to which should go first and tempt the dreadful hazard. The brave comman- ders chivalrously waived the honour in favour of the lady, and ' L'Aigle ' was allowed to lead the line. As a famous wit observed when leading the way to the dining-room, * We're 26 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT all going to the devil! You first, Madame.' Accordingly the Empress Eugenie was the first to pass into the Canal. ' At that mo- ment,' as Mrs. Latimer so aptly expresses it, ' the eyes of the world were on Egypt,' * the venerable great-grandmother of civiliza- tion,' and ' Eugenie was the Cleopatra of the occasion.' " By night the van of the fleet had reached Ismailia in safety. Here where six months before was desert waste, the Khedive had hur- riedly erected an enormous palace in which to house his royal guests, and celebrate the Inaugural Ball. " Nov. 18th was the day of the great Fete. In the morning exhibitions of jereed throw- ing and of Arab horsemanship were given the latter more or less a failure because of the heavy sand. In the middle of the per- formance there came dashing down the tract a gay camelcade on the trot, led by the Em- press of France in yellow habit and stream- ing yellow veil; her maids and attendants followed hard after on similar ungainly beasts, while every cavalier in Ismailia that could procure a mount of any kind raced alongside. A well-meaning Italian workman shouted to her Majesty, * Lean back or you'll fall off heels over head ! ' Her smiling ac- FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 27 ceptance of this homely advice captivated the hearts of all. " Six thousand guests were in attendance that evening at the Vice-Regal Ball, many of whom, report says, belied their Christian civilization by their lawless behaviour. Again the beautiful Empress was the cynosure of all eyes. An English gentleman present on that occasion gives this testimony to her charm : ' It is impossible to overrate the gra- cious influence of the Empress Eugenie. The occasion, great as it was, would have lost its romance if she had not been there. She it was who raised the spirit of chivalry, subdued the spirit of strife, enmity, and in- trigue among rival men, and over commerce, science and avarice spread the gauzy hues of poetry.' " By Nov. 19th all the forty-seven ships had arrived at Suez. The French vessel ' La Pe- louse ' drawing eighteen feet had run aground, although an equally large Russian cruiser had cleared the channel without mishap. " Nov. 25th M. De Lesseps was married at Suez to Louise Helena Autard de Bra- gard; on which occasion in recognition of the successful completion of the Canal, a stupen- dous undertaking, the Empress Eugenie, on behalf of France, presented M. De Lesseps 28 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT an ancient silver trireme, a gift symbolic of his great contribution to nautical science. " Ten short months later," concluded the Professor, " so fickle is Fortune, the beautiful Empress found herself fleeing as a fugitive on an English yacht to seek sanctuary in the island home of her royal cousin, the noble Queen Victoria." We now proceeded to the dining-car, where we whiled away another of the five hours required by the journey to Cairo. The table d'hote dinner was as well appointed and as carefully served as that of an American Pull- man. Opposite us sat a naive young Brit- isher who explained the features of the coun- try, the value of its coins, and wrote out for us a vocabulary of useful words. B., to tease him, referred to the peculiar English custom of sisters dressing alike. " We had two such on our P. and O.," she said, " who always appeared in hats and gowns of identical colour and pattern!" " Yes," he replied, " that was a cast-iron rule in our household my three grown sis- ters were made to dress alike. It was that sort of parental discipline that made myself and my sister run away. Father insisted I take a position in the bank. When I ob- jected, he kicked me out, and I ran away and FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 29 married an actress. First I tried acting, and then being a soldier, but neither paid; so now I'm an Inspector of Salt in the Civil Service and father sends me 60 a year to stay away." The young fellow had a good face, had been married five years and was homesick, and we felt sorry for him. At Is- mailia he left the train and we nodded him a cheerful adieu through the car window. In going from Ismailia to Zigazaz we trav- ersed the length of the district of ancient Goshen. We are now coming to Old Testament Ground, and if you look in your Bagster you can follow along with us. The Professor took out his Bible and read us the passages bearing upon this region. We entered Egypt from Port Said, going southward by train along the eastern border of Lake Menzaleh, a few miles below which are the ruins of Tanis, ancient Zoan, the cap- ital of the Hyksos, where stood a colossus of Ramses the Great, ninety feet in height, and where Moses performed the miracles before the eyes of the hard-hearted Pharaoh. The long, straight road debouched westward at Kantarah near a site colonized by the Jews after the fall of Jerusalem. From Ismailia we travelled through the land of Goshen 30 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT along the road whither Jacob and his sons journeyed on their way down into Egypt in the time of the seven years' famine. After living seventeen years in this land of exile the aged patriarch called his sons about him and divided his patrimony among them, bestowing on one a blessing, on another a curse to Judah a sceptre, to Simeon and Levi dispersion, but to Joseph, " the fruitful bough whose branches run over the wall," the lion's share, dominion and increase of tribe. Then Israel charged the twelve that they should carry him back to Canaan and bury him with his fathers in the cave which Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hit- tite for a burying-place. " And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons he yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people." Joseph now commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; "and the physicians embalmed Israel;" and "the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days." Then Joseph, obtaining permis- sion of Pharaoh, " went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh," and " all the elders of the land of Egypt and all the house of Joseph and his brethren;" "only their little ones and FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 31 their flocks and their herds they left in the land of Goshen." When it came Joseph's time to die he also " took an oath of the children of Israel, say- ing: ' God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.' ' The closing verse of the last chapter of Genesis records: " So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt." Later when the Israelites were ready to cross the Red Sea, the oath was kept. In Exodus 13-19, we read: "And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had straightly sworn the children of Israel saying : ' God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.' ' A little farther on our train passed close to Pithom, one of Pharaoh's treasure-cities, built by the Hebrews out of bricks made without straw, " where the Egyptians made the chil- dren of Israel to serve with rigour." When we reached the station at Cairo at once the charm and picturesqueness of Africa confronted us. We were puzzled and fasci- nated. A sea of swarthy faces, muffled in white, a bright sparkling of conical red caps, and a mass of green and yellow draperies 32 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT bodies swathed in multitudinous folds of bril- liant hue pressed round us. A babel of strange tongues broke forth on the air. With some trepidation our little party stepped upon the platform, and were taken in charge by the head porter of the Grand Hotel Continental, dressed in regula- tion blue uniform and brass buttons, his Egyptian blood betokened by his red fez. Victorias were in waiting and we were soon clattering noisily at neck-break speed through the deserted streets of Cairo, passing occa- sionally a poor merchant asleep on a bundle of dried palm leaves before his locked cup- board of a shop, the southern stars with unwonted brilliance shining down upon us from the deep midnight sky. The wide glass doors of the hotel opened automatically at our approach. Within stood two attendants in crimson robes. They wore long baggy trousers of yards and yards of cloth pleated about the waist and gathered in a pouch at the tops of black gaiters, zouave jackets and belts a mass of gold broidery, and the inevitable tarbush, the Egyptian fez. These were but two of an army of servants whose picturesqueness gave the touch of Ori- ental splendour for which our imagination longed. FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 33 Late as it was we had " high tea " in the supper-room where the orchestra was still on duty. After midnight our trunks arrived, carried on the backs of porters, the weight being partially borne by a strap around their foreheads. Cairo, Wednesday evening, November 30th. CAIRO is the western metropolis of the Orient and a most cosmopolitan city. Its wonderful climate makes it the winter resort of thousands of Europeans and Americans, while its sunny skies and its wise administra- tion by the British make it the favourite home of the wealthy Asiatic, be he Turk, Syrian or Jew all build splendid palaces of stone or stucco along the broad avenues of the modern city. The native quarter, a hive of narrow lanes with lofty minarets and shining domes shut in by small shops and dingy dwellings, is a place quite apart. It is comical to see these Nubians, black as night, trigged out in the heavy cloth uni- form of the English police, all except the helmet. The street-car force, also Egyptian, appear very clumsy in their European dress. Mansfield Pasha is the head of the Cairene police force. The British give the minor positions to natives and reserve the important offices for themselves. 34 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 35 We see few women. Occasionally a Mo- hammedan beauty, her person enveloped in a big blue cloak puffed out like a balloon by the wind, rides by astride on a brown burro, the toes of her heelless slippers tucked in the short stirrups which thrust her knees nearly up to the level of her chin. She wears the customary two veils, a black band bound about her forehead and a pendent veil across her face below the eyes, the two held to- gether by a brass cylinder resting on the bridge of the nose. The only features visi- ble are the deep black eyes which gaze curi- ously out with the frightened look of a caged deer. Sometimes we meet a family group. This morning we passed the four wives of a Mussulman, his harem, sitting tailor- fashion on a long two-wheeled cart, their babies with them, and the paterfamilias afoot beside the donkey. The lot of the Moslem woman is far from happy. She is not only regarded as a mere chattel, but as a wile of the devil as well. Upon this point Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole cites the words of the great Mohammed himself: " The unalterable iniquity of woman- kind is an incontrovertible fact among the men of the East; it is part of their religion. Did not the blessed Prophet say, I stood at 36 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT the gate of Paradise and lo! most of its in- habitants were poor: and I stood at the gates of Hell and lo! most of its inhabitants were women. Is it not moreover a physiological fact that woman was made out of a crooked rib of Adam, which would break if you tried to bend it, and if you left it alone would always remain crooked? " Apropos of harems: An amusing incident happened to Mr. and Mrs. Gorham and their friend, Miss Cox, guests at our hotel. They were told that one passport would suffice for the three on their recent trip through Pales- tine. Later they discovered on examination that it was made out in true Oriental fashion : " Gorham Pasha and harem," which resulted in somewhat mixed feelings in the whole trio as to just who was who. Moreover the gen- tleman in question, being of an independent American spirit, objected to the waste of time incident to having this precious docu- ment viseed every time the party entered or left a town; so when they arrived at Damas- cus, without having attended to this little preliminary, the Paslia was arrested and thrown into prison, and his harem, between them, had to put up a good round sum to bail him out. The natives, both men and women, are clad FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 37 in long, flowing robes of deep blue or black; while the chamber-boys of our hotel wear costumes of white cotton for all the world like night-shirts. Many of the men are tall and slender with small heads and fine fea- tures. All have a dignified bearing and the better class are decidedly aristocratic. The first concession to European dress the native makes is to lay aside the huge yellow paddles which by courtesy we call slippers - for a civilized shoe or gaiter. Then in- stead of his splendid, all-enveloping outer robe he assumes a European overcoat; grad- ually his under robe grows shorter and shorter and finally he dons trousers. This is his last concession ; to his tarbush a taller fez with dark blue tassel he clings, never parting from it except to sleep, for it is the peculiar badge of the disciple of Mo- hammed. Over the tarbush many wind a turban. The orthodox turban among the Arabs is a goodly piece of cloth ; it must reach seven times around the head, a length equiva- lent to that of the body, in order that it may serve as its owner's winding-sheet, and thereby accustom him to the thought of death. The descendant of Mohammed wears a white tur- ban, while the Hajis who has made pilgrim- age to Mecca is entitled to a green one. 38 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT Our hotel is on the main avenue, facing the Esbekiyeh Gardens. Across the entire front of the building, a few feet above the level of the street, is a wide terrace enclosed in an iron railing. Here Madam Shinn and I had tea this afternoon, sitting under the shade of potted palms and oleanders while we watched the kaleidoscopic scene below. A constant stream of carriages passed from both directions, for all Europeans ride; Cop- tic EfFendi in government employ trotted proudly by on well-groomed horses, urged on with voice and stick by tall, lean Arab runners in clumsy blue gowns. Swarthy Mohammedans with long legs nearly touch- ing the ground rode by on the rumps of tiny burros. A smart dog-cart next caught my eye, the ribbons held by a swell young Eng- lishwoman, while the tiger was a big Egyp- tian resplendent in gold. Every person of position has a dozen servants, all elaborately gold-embroidered. I should want a retinue. Opposite in the Esbekiyeh was a fair young French mother with her pretty babe in the arms of a dark-skinned nurse, whos? bright yellow gown and necklace of gold coins showed under her loose black drapery. About four o'clock B. and I went in search of a book-store. We had to pass through FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 39 the crowd of peddlers and vendors of every description, dragomans and loafers generally, who from morning till night throng the side- walk adjoining our hotel. As we stepped into this moving mass we were at once sur- rounded. The " posty-card " man thrust a package of cards into my hand, while a soft- voiced dragoman on my right with the bow ~ of a Chesterfield beseeched me to let him con- duct me around Cairo. At the same moment my vista was shut in by two huge bouquets of La France roses presented by a flower peddler, who balanced on his head the while a can of flaming poinsettias. At this junc- ture a glittering circlet was thrown over my head, and the man with beads dangled neck- lace after necklace before my eyes, and finally thrust his person directly before me, every inch of him covered with shining strands of coloured glass, so that it was hard to resist him, quite hard until I caught sight of an English grandmother bedizened with a half dozen of these same showy trifles, whereupon the tawdriness of it all dawned suddenly upon me. Although it is December, dainty baskets of delicious strawberries appeared as if by magic, and we sampled them on the spot, two berries a millieme* Lads bearing long stuffed 40 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT crocodiles on their heads, and carrying trays of scarabs and amulets manufactured in Bir- mingham in their hands, followed us like hawks, grinning at us as they darted across our path every few moments to present their wares. It was in this same crowd, before he had gone a dozen steps from the hotel this morning, that the Professor had his watch stolen. By the aid of the police, however, he recovered it, but not before he had landed in jail a gang of five newsboys, organized thieves. Now the Professor wears his time- piece pinned conspicuously in his watch- pocket with a big white safety-pin. At the table d'hote to-night, which was at the fashionable hour of eight, we found the guests mostly English with some few from out- of-the-way corners of Europe. A big blond German rubbed shoulders with a dainty French count, the fierce grizzled Russian with the slender effervescent Italian, while next the artist with open collar and wide tie sat a long-haired archaeologist, lost in rev- erie over ages long gone by. The ladies all were gowned in gorgeous toilets, while a few British officers in short scarlet jackets and red-striped trousers added brilliance to the scene. Thursday, December 1st, Cairo. THIS morning Mr. Richards introduced to us Selim, our Cairo dragoman, a most im- posing individual of portly figure, unctuous, jealous for his reputation, demanding con- sideration, and not to be troubled by many trifling questions. He is a Copt, a Christian like ourselves, he wishes us to understand, and possesses but one wife. Moreover, he is a travelled personage, having held some re- sponsible position in the Egyptian concession, at the Chicago Fair. Selim to-day took us first to the Pyramids, driving westward across the great Nile bridge, which is guarded by two massive bronze lions. The bridge is open at certain hours to allow ships to pass up the river. We hap- pened to arrive at such a time, and found, congregated near the approach, fashionable turn-outs, native carts, trim soldiers, swarthy mounted police, vendors in long blue or white robes with hand-carts of sweets or fruits, tur- bans of every shade bobbing here and there, 41 42 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT sheiks in silken caftans, Arabs in dirty green and yellow gowns astride huge camels, laden with cane or alfalfa, and Syrians on donkeys, the curling toe of their tasselled slippers rest- ing on their stirrups all waiting to pass. No less a concourse had gathered on the op- posite bank. As the bridge swung to, the impatient crowds surged forward from both sides in a mad rush to be the first across. Our driver likewise lashed up his horses, and as I saw the towering camels come on, cleav- ing a way for themselves through the moving mass, and heard the screams and shouts of the various teamsters, I held my breath, ex- pecting some catastrophe. Nothing worse happened, however, than the loss of a few bunches of alfalfa, which a long-eared donkey at once appropriated. The road to the Pyramids extends eight miles to the southwest, and is in reality a causeway raised several feet above the level of the low land it crosses. This avenue dates back to 1869, the time of the opening of the Suez Canal. That year Egypt swept her front steps and furbished up her monuments. In order that his chief guest, the Empress Eugenie, might visit the Pyramids with com- fort, the Khedive ordered this carriage road constructed thither, and a kiosque erected near FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 43 the Sphinx where her Majesty could rest and shelter from the sun while viewing the monu- ments at leisure. Every man for miles around was summoned to the task and compelled to do forced labour without food, tools or pay. This corvee system which the Khedive used for all his public works was like that of Egypt's ancient kings, Khufu and Khafre. Mme. Eugenie Bonaparte occasionally comes over in her declining years to pass a winter under Egypt's mild skies. " Two years ago," said Mr. Richards, " when in Cairo, I went to dine with a friend at The Savoy, where the widowed ex-Empress was stopping incognito under the title of Com- tesse de Pierrefonds. My friend and I joined the group gathered in the hallway to salute the elderly white-haired lady, pale of face and gowned in quiet black, as she passed leaning on a cane between the waiting guests, and followed by her small suite on their way to the dining-salon. A faint smile and slight inclination of the head acknowledged the courtesy accorded to former rank, past beauty and feeble age." This high road to the Pyramids is indeed a magnificent way shaded by lofty wide- spreading lebbek trees arching overhead trees planted when the road was made. On 44 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT one side runs an electric line with first and second class and women's compartments. The carrying of an electric tram to monu- ments of such unquestioned antiquity to the very base of the Pyramids is a bridg- ing of the centuries by the spirit of modern utilitarianism which seems most irreverent effrontery. As the country at this season is inundated by the Nile, our road for miles was a dyke with water on either side of us. The an- cients poetically attributed this yearly flood- ing of the Nile to the tears of Isis weeping for Osiris. Their proverb for the impossible was a similar allusion, " Can man arrest the tears of Isis as they flow? " The land which has been flooded for two or three months is now being drained. Men and boys were standing ankle-deep in slush, hoeing and scraping the mud with a narrow blade, for it was too wet to be ploughed. Sow- ers followed scattering the seed which they carried in their robes, and after them came other fellahs dragging branches of palms over the seeded section to cover it. Selim says the seed formerly was trampled in by driving cattle and sheep over the land. Here and there on a bit of high ground were saucy black crows strutting about with a gray spot FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 45 like a pointed shawl on their shoulders. Far- ther on men were fishing with trousers rolled high above the hips. One fellah stood where the current was strong, reached round in the muddy stream with his hands, and flung his catch ashore to a dirty urchin who put it in his robe. Nothing more picturesque than this drive can be imagined. A continuous string of pa- tient donkeys trotted by, buried under stacks of alfalfa; long lines of stately camels, tied nose and tail, stalked past us covered with great bundles of sugar-cane, the long stems sweeping the ground as they trod; quaint Egyptian carts, crowded to the limit with picturesque folk, demanded right of way, while companies of Arabs, their swarthy faces contrasting strangely with the white drapery of their head-dress, strode by, staff in hand, and garments fluttering in the breeze. Suddenly between the hurrying trunks of lebbek trees shading the highway, we caught glimpses of faint pointed pinnacles that seemed to float like phantom islands, rose red, in the distant amber haze. The nearer we ap- proached the Pyramids, the more stupendous and overpowering appeared their mass and size. Vast and primeval, these titanic shapes press with tremendous gravity earth's level 46 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT floor, grappling far fingers on every side deep into the sandy soil; their pointed crests, hoar with the cycles of many suns, rise like lesser Alps from the desert's dusty plain; compact and grim these mighty piles stand like the everlasting hills, enduring, unmov- ing, their mystery close-locked under myriad slabs, only to be revealed at that latter day " when the heavens roll together as a scroll," when " the earth melts with fervent heat," and " the sea gives up her dead." One does not marvel that the ancient Greeks counted these mountains of masonry in their classic list of seven world wonders; the Pyramids are to-day the only one of the seven extant. Being in the foreground the Great Pyramid so absorbs sky and horizon as completely to fill the eye, to the exclusion not only of the group of lesser monuments near, but of its equally gigantic mate just beyond. Not a mound but a mountain, erected layer by layer with labour unthink- able not alone a tomb, but a temple, it afforded both sepulchre and sanctuary. One wonders what the prototype, what the creed of a race requiring for the adequate expres- sion of its faith a geometry of such gigantic blocks of granite. Whatever the doubt or FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 47 the dogma dominating their builders, we can- not but believe that / " The hand that rounded Peter's dome And groined the aisles of ancient Rome, Wrought in a sad sincerity ; Himself from God he could not free. " Earth proudly wears the Parthenon As the best gem upon her zone, And morning opes with haste her lids To gaze upon the Pyramids. " And nature gladly gave them place, Adopted them into the race, And granted them an equal date With Andes and with Ararat." We reached Mena House near the Pyra- mids in time for one o'clock tiffin. It is a most artistic hotel modelled after a Saracen mosque. The arches of its windows and cor- ridors are filled in with exquisite lattice screens. The dining-room is especially Ori- ental in its use of the beautiful horseshoe arch, peculiar to the Mosque of Cordova. The tables were festive with roses, while the grounds are planted with eucalyptus and aca- cia; here, too, as elsewhere near Cairo, flour- ish the scarlet poinsettia and the purple bou- 48 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT ganvillia. A short shower delayed our dri- ving on to the Pyramids until three o'clock. Beside the Great Pyramid, which is the one usually ascended, there are two others approaching it in size, and groups of smaller ones near. At last we had arrived, this was the desert, this the Egypt of our dreams. Dismissing the carriage we plunged on foot into the deep sand, the glaring golden sand that burned through our shoes and gleamed into our eyes. Weary with walking the heavy way, we sank on the shifting soil, scooped handsful of the glittering grains, sifting their gritty particles through our fin- gers. Before, behind, around, naught but an endless sea of sand ! Even the giant Pyramids themselves, looming bare and bald, seemed but huge mountains of rusty sand raised by sweeping siroccos. All was one single sub- stance, vast, elemental, monotonous. Must not this unmeasured desert store- house, this inexhaustible supply of sand, have furnished material for our earth planet? Were not these the primeval atoms, this the star dust of which spheres were constructed? In this wide and lonesome space the foun- dations of the earth were laid; here time began with the beginning of days: "And FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 49 the evening and the morning were the first day." In this workshop mountains were moulded, hills and valleys made; and here Adam, the dust-man, was formed. " As the sand which is upon the sea shore, so shall thy seed be," was the wondrous promise to the patriarch Abraham, a dweller beside the desert. Overhead the fierce African sun, single and all-enveloping, beats down with resistless force on the bare brown earth, compelling undivided homage. The monotheism of He- brew and Moslem, desert-bred, is not far to seek. Now that we have trod its sands, and felt its sun, endured its thirst, and seen its desolation, the history of Egypt and adjacent Palestine is no longer a sealed volume; the imagery of the Prophet, the poetry of the Psalmist, and the parable of the Nazarene all have a meaning and significance before un- known. But Selim is calling, " Do we wish to climb Khufu? " All the way out the party had bravely dis- cussed making the ascent, but as we neared the foot of this formidable pile their courage oozed out. While we debated the question, the voluble Arabs, eager to exhibit their agil- ity, crowded about us offering to run up the 50 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT Great Pyramid and back in six minutes for a shilling. B. chose one man, who immedi- ately discarded his outer garment and girt up his loins. She took out her watch and he made a dash for the Pyramid, climbing like a goat without pausing for breath. At the top he waved a salute and then came jumping down, first on one foot, then on the other over blocks three and four feet high, and arrived breath- less and smiling at the end of nine minutes to claim his shilling. A breeze had delayed him somewhat, but even then it was a mar- vellous feat. Thus encouraged, the Professor, B., and I decided to make the attempt. We each paid our two shillings to the sheik who was in charge of a lot of Arabs lined up in a row. B. told the sheik to choose the cleanest ones for her. Three helpers were assigned to each of us. All the way up B.'s three kept telling her how clean they were. The Arabs at once seized upon their respective victims, one at each elbow, and a third behind to push. The altitude of the Great Pyramid is 451 feet, but the ascent is made from one corner up an angle 750 feet. Many of the blocks are over four feet high. We now discarded our jackets and pinned on our hats securely. We had worn our oldest shoes and our short- THE BEDOUINS OF THE PYRAMIDS. est walking skirts, but they were not half short enough. Accordingly two of the men unwound their long white turbans from their fezes and tied them around our hips to hold up our skirts. Then two of my helpers climbed ahead and reached back to pull me up, while the third stood behind " to boost," and I was only too glad of his aid. Besides these a volunteer carried a jug of water to quench our thirst and incidentally extract a piastre now and then. We rested frequently. At the first stop- ping place the Professor got out his pills and took some nitro-glycerine " dynamite," he calls it, and gave some to each of the ten Arabs, who were his sworn friends on the spot. The medicine-man they revere as a god, and at once confided to him not only their own ailments, but those of their numer- ous wives and children as well. As we started on, the Arabs urged us to go more slowly. A sturdy Frenchman with his three helpers passed us and reached the top long before us. After the second halt the steps grew steeper and narrower. In some places there was just room to place a foot, and the blocks were breast high. I was entirely winded and quite helpless, and my natives had literally to haul me up over the 52 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT ledge. B.'s pusher was " boosting " with all his might. ' You're heavier than the gentle- man," he told her a puff of wind would blow the Professor away! insinuating he deserved a bigger fee. B. promised every- thing, for was she not at his mercy? Near the top we paused on a narrow step, and as I glanced back, the layers of stone projecting scarcely a foot looked like a smooth incline, and I felt sick at the thought of the descent, with nothing to break a fall. After many halts we finally gained the top; the people and camels below looked like pyg- mies, and I had long since ceased to hear their voices. I hurrahed and waved my hand- kerchief; they waved back scarfs and um- brellas. Now, for a few straight facts; skip them, if you like. These Pyramids of Gizeh, built exactly facing the four cardinal points of the compass, are one of five groups of Pyramids extending southward for twenty miles along the eastern edge of the plateau called the Libyan Desert. The stone for them came mostly from the Mokattam cliffs on the east, and was transported across the Nile and over the sandy plain. Lepsius' layer theory of construction was long approved. According to it, each heir FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 53 apparent of the ancient Pharaohs, as soon as he became twenty-one, began to build himself a pyramid-tomb, constructed with passage leading by many turns and trap-doors to a secret vault; every succeeding year he added an outer layer; the longer his life, the larger the pyramid. At his death the steps of the sides were filled in smooth with triangular stones by his successor. A recent examination of these piles by the architect Dr. Borchardt discredits this naive assumption of enlargement at the rate of a layer a year, but discovers in many pyramids evidence of a change of plan during construc- tion. Dr. Borchardt concedes that long-lived kings probably remodelled their monuments on much larger lines; as was certainly the case with King Khufu's Pyramid. The Great Pyramid at Gizeh was built B.C. 2900 by Khufu (Cheops) of Memphis, the founder of the Fourth Dynasty. The base of the Pyramid covers thirteen acres, while the mound itself measures 755 feet on each side and has an altitude of 451 feet. Originally it was some twenty feet larger each way, but the outer casing has been used as a quarry by later generations. Khufu elected to place his Pyramid on the edge of the mesa in order that it might com- 54 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT mand both " White Wall " and Sacred City Memphis and Heliopolis. His Great Pyr- amid Khufu named " Horizon," for into it he would sink when his earthly course was run, even as the sun sinks to rest below the western horizon. Herodotus, who visited Egypt in the fifth century B. c., is authority for most of the legends relating to Khufu. He attributes to this Pharaoh a most cruel and vicious dis- position. Hearing of a magician who could restore a severed head to its body, Khufu sent for the man and offered a slave for ex- periment. The wizard objected to a human subject, but called for a goose and performed the miracle, tradition says, to the satisfaction of monarch and multitude. The historian declares that Khufu locked up the temples and forbade all sacrifices to the gods, in order that he might expend their revenue and appropriate the work of their attendants upon his own monument. Khufu was said to have forced the labour of 100,000 men for twenty years in the building of his pyramid-tomb, exclusive of the ten years spent in constructing from river to pyramid site the stone causeway up which the huge blocks weighing tons were hauled by mere man power. These enormous slabs were set FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 55 side by side in long rows, their hundred feet of seams, not over one five-hundredths of an inch in width, being then filled in with cement - the whole evidencing a mechanical skill in the cutting and polishing of edges and sur- faces not exceeded by the present day opti- cian, but with this difference the ancient w r orked in acres in inches, the modern. It was charged against Khufu and Khafre, the builders of the two Great Pyramids, that the construction of their sepulchres had retarded the life of the nation by more than a century. Surely the monarch was mad, the men maniacs who undertook such superhuman tasks. Long the mystery remained unsolved, until the reading of their hieroglyphics finally revealed the reason of these vast piles. The nation was driven by a superstitious fear of future extinction, possessed by a nightmare of annihilation; thus impelled, the race spent its life constructing its tomb. Even so, it is incredible that one man, albeit a god-king, could compel the labour of millions to the selfish purpose of securing immortality for his single soul. The small ivory statuette of Khufu, found at Abydos, reveals to history the forceful features of this Pharaoh who bestrode his age like a colossus. Dr. Flinders Petrie remarks 56 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT the " enormous driving power of the man," adding, " There is no face quite parallel to this in all the portraits we know, Egyptian, Greek, Roman or modern." The costume and attitude of this statuette illustrate the official dress and pose of Egyp- tian royalty from the time of Khufu down to the very days of the Ptolemies and their Ro- man successors; thus early had these features of art become stereotyped. Their general belief in immortality proves that it was no new doctrine, but a faith whose credence had grown with the centuries. De- spite the perversion to which they put it, to the Egyptians belong the gratitude of the ages for the idea of immortality. Politically the Pyramid is the earliest evi- dence known of a union among the petty tribes of primeval ages into a nation thor- oughly organized under a strong head. By what processes these people arrived at this high stage of development earth's annals do not disclose. The nation jumps full-armed upon the world-stage into the earliest lime- light of history. The Great Pyramid originally was sur- rounded by a wide pavement, with mortuary chapel on the east front, both now destroyed. Khufu's royal residence was probably on the FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 57 south. The three small pyramids to the east, in line with the parent pile, were the tombs of members of the royal family. Khafre (Khephren), who came to the throne eight years later, was the builder of the Second Pyramid, the lower layer of which is of the more costly granite of the first Cat- aract; otherwise the monument is smaller and of far inferior workmanship. The remains of its causeway leading to the edge of the pla- teau still exist, also this royal road's splendid granite Gateway long erroneously named " The Temple of the Sphinx." The nice measurement requisite for the building of the Pyramids, and the fine fitting of faces to the points of the compass, de- manded a proficiency of geometrical skill, the development of which the Greeks attributed to the necessity the Egyptian was under each year to re-survey his field after the oblitera- tion of landmarks by the annual inundation of the Nile. " Ting-a-ling-a-ling," called B. " Din- ner's ready," and as I turned from the pan- orama of sand and sky, there on the apex of the Pyramid the Arabs were serving hot coffee, made by the water carrier while we drew breath, and very acceptable it was after our fatiguing exertions. 58 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT The Professor, instead of enjoying the wonderful view, took out his Baedeker with its list of Arabic nouns, lined up the natives before him, and gave out words for them to translate, by word or sign. Strange to say, they all knew their own language and the Professor was not only delighted with them, but pleased with his own pronunciation as well. One of the men said he had four wives who were always quarrelling. Every now and then he had to beat them all around to keep the peace; but the last wife was as "young and strong as a bull," so that he had to get his son, a lad of twelve, to hold her by the feet whenever he chastised her. The Moham- medan is allowed four wives, but by a special dispensation his harem may number eleven. The Copts pride themselves on being Chris- tian, and have but one. Refreshed, we now walked about on the lofty platform which was over thirty feet square. The view from the summit is most unique. At our feet to the southwest were grouped five smaller pyramids, and just be- low us on the southeast lay the crouching Sphinx with head raised, awaiting the day of awakening. Beyond, on either side, was a picture of life and death, fertility and des- FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 59 olation; on the west, dancing with fiery heat, undulated the Libyan Desert, a dreary waste, along the confines of which to the south of us, dotted here and there, stood the sentinel pyramids masses of rock adding their brown and yellow note to the picture of des- olation. In vivid contrast lay on the east the ver- dant valley of the Nile with fields of waving cane and tall palms interlacing above the mud huts of the fellaheen. Northeast on the opposite bank of the river at the end of the long straight road of lebbek trees was the great city of Cairo, covering an area of eleven square miles, a mass of stone and stucco, clustered domes and myriad minarets showing above crumbling walls and lofty gateways. From the limestone ridge just south of the metropolis the Citadel boldly fronted us embattled walls of gray ma- sonry encircling the grim fortress, and the splendid Alabaster Mosque of Mohammed Ali, its pale yellow dome and tapering min- arets piercing the sky. Still farther south and just above the fortress rose the frowning Mokattam cliffs of deep reddish brown, six hundred and fifty feet in height, keeping guard over city and Citadel nestling at their feet. 60 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT After we had started up the Pyramid two French women ambled up on donkeys, and, after much chattering, began the ascent. Painted and powdered, with fluffy silk petti- coats and ostrich plumes nodding in the breeze, they tripped along the path, their high French heels clicking on the stones as they walked. One persevered to the top, but the other, more timid, stopped half way up, and insisted on returning. The descent, how- ever, is much more formidable. The path was so precipitous, that the lady became paralyzed with fear. Two Arabs had to take hold of her arms, and two her feet, and thus carry her down. When we were ready to descend our Arabs again offered their turban-bands, protesting at the same time that they would surely take cold, intimating, of course, that they de- served an extra fee. I had one end of the long white scarf tied about my waist, while the other end was held firmly by a native above to keep me from falling; two of my helpers stood below ready to catch me and brace me up by pushing against my shoulders as I jumped down. The man in the rear was always very strong. When B., who is rather plump, slipped once or twice, screaming vo- ciferously, her rear guard jerked her so sharply FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 61 that for a few moments she dangled in mid- air, her waist nearly cut in two. We had to rest fully as often on the way down, for our legs gave out with so much jumping. The Professor, who is thin as a reed, trembled like a leaf. Shod in white canvas, his feet were nearly blistered from the vigorous manner in which his Arabs jumped him down, causing him to rebound like a rubber ball at every leap. The first French woman now passed us, being vigorously assisted on her way up, her Paris hat cocked over one ear, her silk petti- coat in tatters, and the leather of her delicate kid shoes all scarred and hanging in shreds. We were just an hour and a half in ma- king the trip up and back. All of a-tremble, we came limping up to the rest of the party, who were jeeringly sympathetic; B. was so weak that if a feather had struck her back of the knees, she would have gone down like a nine-pin! For several days it was exquisite agony to rise or sit, but one ascends a pyra- mid but once in a lifetime! With many "Oh's!" and "Ah's!" and some misgivings the party now climbed into the gay saddles on the backs of the kneeling camels, and holding tightly to the pommels, were jerked up into space and carried rock- 62 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT ing over the sandy way three hundred and fifty yards to the southeast to interview the Sphinx which looms grandly up before one even from that high vantage-point. The Sphinx faces the east; it is hewn out of a ridge of solid rock, to which slabs of limestone have been added to round out its form. The body extends along this ridge a hundred and fifty feet; the head is thirty feet high, the paws fifty feet long, and the monu- ment altogether seventy feet in height. The body is buried in sand, but a pit has been dug about the front of it, round the edge of which we rode and looked across at the monster image lying there huge and imperturbable the rid- dle of the ages. The head originally bore the royal serpent. The eyebrows, nose and rays of the head-dress were painted red. The nose and beard have been broken off and their fragments strew the ground. Between the paws was discovered an open temple, in the middle of which lies a small recumbent lion facing the Sphinx. Close to the breast is an altar and the memorial stone of Thutmose IV, on which he is seen sacrificing to the Sun- god Harmakhis, who is represented as a sphinx. The inscription relates that the god appeared one day to the sleeping prince, promising the youth the crown of Egypt if FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 63 the latter would " free him from the dust of the desert sand that encumbered him." This Thutmose did, B. c. 1533 about the time that Moses was rescued from the bulrushes by Pharaoh's daughter. The record further indicates that Thutmose IV regarded Khafre as the builder of the Sphinx. In the Gizeh Museum at Cairo is a stela or slab which was found at one of the Pyra- mids near the Sphinx and which bears an engraving of the great image there mentioned as being in existence in the days of Khufu and Khafre, B. c. 2900. This inscription proves the origin of the Sphinx to be undoubt- edly prehistoric. Archaeologists are yet unde- cided as to whether or not Khafre was the architect. The many sphinxes in Egypt were usually portraits of the Pharaohs the lion's body symbolizing imperial power. The Great Sphinx is the only isolated one known in Egypt; they are usually in pairs or in long avenues leading to temples. Those of the Pharaonic period are almost in- variably masculine, with either a man's or a ram's head. M. J. de Rouge quotes an inscription at Edfu to the effect that the Sphinx was a representation of Horus, the power of good, who assumed the form of a human-headed 64 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT lion in order to vanquish Set, the power of darkness or evil. In this shape Horus was also revered in the Nome Leontopolites. The Khufu stela calls the Sphinx " Horus- on-the-Horizon." The image, says Miss Amelia B. Edwards, faces east in order to greet the return of his father Osiris from the underworld. Egyptologists now consider that this Sphinx represents Re-Harmakhis, god of the rising sun, and that it has the features of whatever king of the ancient empire erected it, and who, being the son of a god, regarded himself the earthly representative of Harmakhis. The monarch who imagined the Sphinx thought in mountains, calculated in cosmic cycles; disdaining the petty art of mortals he reshaped the land, reformed the hills. Like another Yawah the mighty Khafre laid bare a rib from earth's rocky ridges, fash- ioned and formed it afresh into this new strange shape, half beast, half man. The vast animal length extends couchant, close- lying on earth's large side, not wholly sep- arate from her unconscious mass, its brute form dominated and subdued by the majestic human head. Into the dead stone the de- signer breathed a marvellous spirit; into the dull ear whispered a wondrous word some FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 65 secret of a far-off time to come, some hint of higher things. Mortality perplexed and puz- zled still stands and listens beside the mon- strous image, waiting for some murmur of the message and the hour. High above mortal discord and pain, aloof, serene, with the large patience of prophetic vision, undoubting, unhasting, the silent Sphinx lifts his august head, gazes out above and beyond earth's little circle, eastward to infinity's larger horizon, waiting for the dawning of an endless day, watching for the appearing of the deathless Osiris, looking for the resurrection of the human soul the prom- ised immortality. Not for ever will the Sphinx gaze upon interminable wastes of sand. Now at last will the desert be made to bloom as a garden, to blossom like the rose. This miracle is being wrought by an intelligent Arab of Cairo, who is sinking wells and installing irrigating pumps at the very foot of Pyra- mid and Sphinx. We rode on a few yards to the Granite Temple, a building now more correctly known as the Royal Gate to causeway and Pyramid court. It is built of translucent ala- baster and red granite monoliths of hardest stone highly polished. The slabs are sixteen 66 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT feet long and four square; they are fitted so closely and without the aid of mortar that it is impossible to insert even the blade of a pen- knife between them. This is the oldest build- ing extant of the Egyptian empire ; absolutely bare of decoration, it is nevertheless imposing by reason of its mass and simplicity. A well in the court-yard yielded up seven black diorite statues of Khafre, builder of the second Pyr- amid. In the Cairo Museum is an unusually fine seated statue of the same king, also in diorite; its wonderful vivacity of expression attests the skill attained by ancient sculptors of this hard stone. Miss Shinn, being timid, was one of the last to remount and by mistake got on the wrong camel. Thereupon ensued a fierce al- tercation between the respective camel-drivers, some half dozen mixing in the fray; the men finally had to be separated, but not before they had covered themselves with blood. We were late in reaching Cairo and were thankful for the closed carriage which protected us from the heavy rain then falling; yet "in Egypt it never rains! " Cairo, Friday, December 2nd. JUST now the Faithful are observing the annual fast of Ramadan, which lasts a moon, the Moslem calendar counting thirteen months to the year. During the four weeks every good Mohammedan abstains from food from sunrise till sunset, not a drop of water even passing his lips. Indeed the code admon- ishes the worshipper not to delay beginning his fast until sunrise, but to refrain from food " from the moment there is sufficient light to distinguish a black thread from a white : " which moment is signalized by the firing of a gun from the Citadel. This morn- ing the gun boomed an hour and three min- utes before dawn a long fast and thirst for a man in active service in such a hot cli- mate. The Moslem makes up for it after sun- set, however, by gorging himself the livelong night. The ordinance is so generally observed, that when Ramadan falls in summer the mor- tality is great. For the Christian's "God willing " the 67 68 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT Moslem substitutes, " If Allah spare my life ! " and even the ancient Egyptian deliv- ered himself in like phrase: " If Ammon spare my life! " In Egypt there are three Sabbaths; Fri- day for the Mohammedan; Saturday for the Jew; and Sunday for the Christian. This being Friday, every other tourist in Cairo, like ourselves, drove to the plaza to see the Khedive on his weekly visit to the mosque. All the native population were on foot, bound for the same place. Men in long flowing robes of white or deep blue, some with red tarbushes, some with white turbans, passed along the narrow way that led down into a dilapidated quarter of Old Cairo, the street being lined temporarily with red poles from which fluttered triangular banners of crim- son cloth. Women crouched on every roof observing the crowd, but sadly and from afar, for religion was not for them. Tiny naked children rode astride a shoulder of their mother, their little hands resting on her head. The women wore the usual black veil, but the only feature really hidden by the drapery was the mouth which every Egyp- tian woman is most careful to conceal. Some of the veils were heavy with silver coin, their owner's fortune. FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 69 Within a block of the plaza men were sit- ting on straw mats washing hands and feet with water from small earthen jugs prepara- tory to the service. Under an improvised canopy we found seats, even arm-chairs, at a shilling apiece, reserved for foreign visitors. Here we had nearly an hour to wait before his Majesty appeared. The small hillocks near were crowned by mud huts, of which the mul- titude quickly took possession a shifting mass of blue, white and red. The small Egyp- tian police with short whips undertook to keep the natives back, repeatedly driving them away, only to have them close in again the moment the officer's back was turned. We could look across the plaza into the mosque and see the turbaned heads bowing, and the figures continually rising and pros- trating themselves on the marble floor. A regiment of cavalry on stocky Arabian steeds of dappled gray rode up on the trot and lined two sides of the square. Then came the high officials of state driving up in splendid carriages. The Turkish Ambassador was especially magnificent. The two runners of Oriental custom in full white muslin knee- breeches were most picturesque; carrying erect long wands held close to the body, they ran before the minister's coach to clear the 70 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT way. Their red zouave jackets were a mass of gold embroidery, and the black silk tassels two feet long dangled wildly from their fezes as they ran, while their bouffant sleeves of white muslin swelled in the breeze like sails. A smart young English officer spent a busy half hour trying to make his crooked line of native infantry toe the mark, but finally gave it up as hopeless. A clatter of hoofs and clanking of sabres announced the Khedive! His escort was mounted on superb brown Syrian horses ex- cellently drilled. The Prince, a stout gentle- man with fair skin and reddish moustache, was in European costume except for his tar- bush. He repeatedly raised his hand to his head in military salute, but no answering shout came from all that mass of subjects. As he entered the mosque there was a salvo of twenty-one guns. . The cavalry now exe- cuted some intricate manoeuvres, wheeling in fine style. The inevitable bead-boys were out in full force, first one and then another came by, holding out tempting strings, their arms aglitter with blue, white, green and gold glass and iridescent shells. At the close of a short half hour the Khe- dive reappeared and again there was a can- nonade of twenty-one guns. He stepped into FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 71 his carriage and was driven quickly away, his guard of cavalry swinging into line after him at a brisk pace. The police tried to maintain their line until the other carriages also had gone, but the people no longer feared them and poured into the Plaza like a flood. We drove through this mass of strange humanity dusky, swarthy faces of every shade of brown Syrians, Armenians, Nubians, and Ethiopians mingling with Egyptians, Arabs, Copts and Turks. This pageant is, however, as nothing compared to that of the Salemlik, or going to Mosque of the Sultan of Turkey, who is so fearful for his life that whenever he goes abroad he requires his Grand Viziers to run afoot beside his carriage, and has never less than a regiment of troops to guard his progress. On the way we passed near the little island of Rhoda in the middle of the Nile. A half hour sufficed to cross by ferry, walk in the picturesque old garden, and inspect the Ni- lometer, whose marble column erected in the thirteenth century, still measures the ebb and flow of the Nile. On this island, according to Mr. Jeremiah Lynch, the well-known Egyptologist, stood the palace of Pharaoh's favourite daughter. She was a widowed queen before she was a 72 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT wife, her husband, the King of the Hittites, to whom she had been married by proxy, having died while she was yet journeying toward his realm. Being virgin, she would have been debarred in the hereafter from the joys of Paradise, according to the tenets of the Egyptian religion. Only a king was eligible to mate with the daughter of a Pha- raoh; but kings were as scarce in ancient Egypt as in modern Europe. In such di- lemmas it was customary for a monarch to wed his own daughter; this Ramses did, making her consort and queen, and bestowing upon her a palace on the Nile here on this island of Rhoda. This was the favourite daughter of the great Ramses she who, according to hieroglyphics recently discov- ered, rescued from his floating basket of bul- rushes, as it drifted near her home, the infant Moses, destined later to deliver his people from the bondage of Egypt. The Zikrs of the Dervishes take place every Friday afternoon. We went first to see the Howling Dervishes. The perform- ance was held in an enclosed garden on a platform thirty feet square, shaded by tall trees, while all the Europeans in Cairo - each party with its dragoman sat in chairs round about. The Zikr is supposed to be FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 73 a religious exercise, the devotees working themselves into an ecstatic frenzy by repeat- ing in unison the name of Allah, but the en- trance fee and the eagerness for a large audi- ence gave it a decided commercial aspect. The Dervishes, in trailing gray robes, re- moved their turbans and allowed their long straggling locks to fall about their shoulders as they seated themselves in a row on the floor and began to sway backward and for- ward, bowing low to the earth at each cry of "Allah! Allah!" This rhythmic motion gained in impetus and the shouting grew louder and louder, until the Dervishes stopped short exhausted, and the " Allah " sank to a sigh, " Hu! Hu! " A no less fanatical scene is enacted in the mosque of El Akbar by the Dancing Der- vishes. Men and boys in long white gowns, which sweep the floor when they walk but stand out conically as they turn in the dance, were engaged in twirling around in their bare feet, keeping as closely as possible to one spot. Their hair and beards were long and they wore high fezes of gray felt. They extended their arms on either side, the right hand up- ward toward heaven, the left toward earth, their heads rolling in sympathy with the movement of their bodies. A diabolic tooting 74 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT of fifes and beating of drums added to the weirdness of the scene. A boy of twelve small for his age twirled rapidly thus for forty-five minutes, and when we left, dis- gusted with such antics, he was still spinning like a top. And this they called religion! Cairo, Saturday, December 3rd. TO-DAY we visited the great University Mosque. Students from Arabia, Persia, and all the Moslem world come here to study the Koran. The course is from four to six years. No native women are allowed within the mosque, but exception is made in favour of foreigners. A tall, stout warden, stick in hand, saw to it that we had slippers tied over our shoes before we were permitted to put foot even in the vestibule. The latter opened on a large quadrangular court entirely sur- rounded by an arcade, under which were groups of students sitting cross-legged on the pavement in circles about their teachers, re- ceiving instruction or reciting chapters from Koran. As they recited they swayed back and forth to emphasize the rhythm and assist their memory. Here and there isolated fig- ures were studying aloud, rocking themselves to the cadence of, the passages. It was a perfect bedlam. Not only the court but the whole interior of the mosque was given over 75 76 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT to these groups of students. The attendants were of all ages, from boys of six to gray- haired men of sixty. The youths are left here by their parents who send them presents of food from time to time. Each student has a locker, a tiny cupboard a foot and a half square, in which to bestow his possessions. The scholars sleep above the mosque, and the government allows each pupil three loaves of brown bread a day. We were cautioned not to indulge in levity or ridicule, for the fanat- icism of the Mohammedans causes them to take offence easily. The mosque itself is a forest of columns, many connected by double arches one above the other, the pillars being of horizontal courses of red and white stone. The great Liwan, or Hall of Instruction, has a hundred and forty columns and occupies an area about equal to that of four city blocks; it is said to accom- modate four thousand scholars. The floor is covered with matting, and one had to be care- ful where he stepped lest he stumble over some shapeless mass of black rags, which would suddenly become animate and prove to be a student taking a siesta. We paused beside several groups. Some were writing texts on metal tablets. One elderly class was being instructed by a bright FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 77 young teacher of twenty-five. A white- haired pupil ventured most deferentially to ask a question. The teacher, irritated at the interruption, turned upon him fiercely, and in most strident tone explained the difficulty. The Koran is in Arabic. When a pupil can recite the whole text from memory he may become a teacher; that is the sum of a Mo- hammedan's learning. Although all are followers of the Prophet, the students come from many lands, and are of many races, some of which are traditional enemies. So intense is this hatred that the more quarrelsome tribes, the Syrians in par- ticular, have to be housed apart in separate rooms. Their flashing black eyes and sensi- tive features betoken a temper easily aroused. Returning, we noticed a sign, " Church Missionary Society," and as it was the noon hour we stopped to visit the school. The in- stitution is under the care of the Presbyterian Mission, and has in attendance one hundred and fifty boys. Most of the converts are from the Coptic church, an early form of Christian- ity. The Copts are eager to learn enough of the three R's to obtain a government position, or to act as dragomans. The Jews, who do not care for such emoluments, study to be- come merchants. Because Bible stories are 78 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT taught in conjunction with grammar and arithmetic, the Mohammedan will not allow his children to attend. The Dean of the An- glican Church in Cairo told us that in two years he had had but one Mohammedan con- vert and she a poor little girl who was regarded as an outcast. The principal, an earnest, intelligent man, showed us over the building, the little schol- ars giving the military salute as we passed. The rooms were furnished with desks, black- boards, and maps. The boys proudly pointed to Washington and Chicago. The principal then read us a letter he had received from an absent pupil; it was written in English, and closed, " Giving you my love and much sa- laams ! " The teachers are Armenians, and one of them, Korn Gob Gob, had had a Turkish rug-shop in Atlantic City, but assured us that he had not cheated the Americans much! Some of the tiniest boys read words of three letters to us in the sweetest voices, and their bright, eager faces beamed with delight at our praise. As we drive along the narrow, crowded streets our driver brings down his whip in the old Egyptian fashion on the backs of the passers-by who get in his way. The police FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 79 also use their canes freely, and some of their assistants possibly self-appointed enjoy showing their authority by the use of the whip. These officers are autocrats. They can hold up a public carriage and inspect its wheels. If the vehicle has not been properly cleaned of mud they can order it off the street. It is well there is some one at hand of whom the natives have a wholesome fear. At noon more bundles of rags long, swathed, mummy-like figures were to be seen strewn along the sidewalks or under the trees. The flies are so bad and the sun so bright that when the workman lies down for his mid-day siesta, he envelops his head com- pletely in his black outer robe, and might easily be taken for a corpse. At the doors of shops and palaces attend- ants are in waiting. They are allowed chairs, which they never use to sit in but to squat in this they do literally, their knees up to their chins, their slippers on the ground beside them. This evening after dinner Selim took us to an Egyptian wedding at the house of the bride's father, a wealthy merchant. We women were invited into the harem, two large rooms packed with women and children of all ages, who sat cross-legged on floor and di- 80 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT vans eating sweets and peanuts. They were the household and its guests assembled to wait for the groom to come and claim his bride. The women wore brocaded satins of every shade, covered with spangles of silver and gold. For jewels they had immense ear- rings, a mass of diamonds, and heavy cables of gold wound several times around the neck with a huge watch pendant. One woman de- lighted in pink cotton gloves, the colour of her satin gown, and over them displayed a wealth of jewelled rings. Stays were evi- dently unknown and it was as well, since the company were accustomed to sit on the floor. Every woman had as a covering for her face, when in the presence of the opposite sex, a veil or scarf of black or white net spangled with geometric designs in gold and silver which were clamped into the net, its value varying with the weight of the precious metal used. A dancing-girl in red silk and diadem of pendent gold coins trod a measure for our benefit. The dance consisted for the most part of shuffling the feet and twitching the body, the regular " danse du ventre," and seemed to delight the native guests, although we found it very distasteful. The music was furnished by a tambourine and drum and the FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 81 singing was a monotonous nasal chant. At the conclusion of the performance the dancer, to our surprise, passed her tambourine. We hastily fished out our purses and were about to contribute, when the host interfered and rebuked her sharply. Part of the time we were entertained by three bright little boys from nine to twelve years of age, all in red fezes with dancing tassels. They were scholars of the govern- ment school and spoke English well, although with the slight accent of their Irish school- master. One volunteered to recite for us, a piece about pussy-cats quarrelling over a rat. Another pushed him aside, saying, " Oh, I can speak one larger than that ! " and forth- with launched upon a string of verses, recited in breathless haste, beginning: " Brave little soldiers, Standing at attintion ! " Their ambition is to become dragomans. They are bright and quick, we are told, until they reach the age of sixteen, and have to begin to work; then the struggle for exist- ence is so severe that they grow dull and sullen. After waiting seated on stiff chairs in the middle of the large room, gazed at by curious 82 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT feminine eyes from nine till half past ten, we grew weary and inquired of our passing host the only man present, and at sight of whom the visiting ladies held up their silver veils when the bride would appear. He took pity on us and led the way into a small room where stood the little bride of fourteen, short and stout, her face plastered white with powder, and her dark eyes made unnaturally large by a dose of belladonna. She wore cor- sets which seemed to make her rigid, and a lovely pink satin gown of European cut. A crown of silver rested on her thick jet black tresses, and long streamers of silver tinsel fell from her temples to her feet. The dresser was ablaze with pink candles. On the bed, curtained in pink satin with a coverlet of the same rich fabric, lay the bride's bundle of clothing tied up in a big red bandanna ready for her departure, which was momentarily expected. We each made our felicitations to the little lady, which her father interpreted to her, and were then conducted without to a large tent where the boyish groom of eighteen, in Eu- ropean costume and fez, and his friends were congregated, drinking coffee and listening to three hired singers chant the Koran the invariable Egyptian amusement. The gen- FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 83 tleman shook hands with us and offered us coffee. We congratulated him, and assured him the bride was charming. These festivi- ties had lasted a week and this was the closing night. Presently a man mounted a chair and began to ask the groom a series of questions. The best man, as we would say, then rose and toasted the young bridegroom, who was now led to meet his bride, whom he would see for the first time, to conduct her to his home. During the fast of Ramadan Selim says there is no marrying or giving in marriage, but with the beginning of Bairam the sound of the bridal timbrel is heard in the land. Weddings are week-long affairs. The first day the relatives assemble at the bride's house, the men in the selamlik, the women in the harem. After the groom has signed the con- tract, three of his sponsors bear it to the bride, a eunuch leading the way, and calling aloud to the female slaves, " Get out of the way, attend to Mohammedan customs ! " Before the open door of the bride's apart- ment hangs a heavy curtain; here the mes- sengers pause and cry: " Wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband?" No an- swer. A second time the question is put; again there is no response, feminine etiquette de- 84 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT manding a proper pretence of shyness. After this second longer pause the interrogation is made for the third and last time, and if then there is no reply the whole affair is declared off. The usual " I will," however, is gen- erally forthcoming and the gentlemen return rejoicing to conclude the contract. The intermediate days are devoted to the display of gifts and trousseau, to dinners and dancing in which the bride, being in retire- ment, has no part. The last night of the seven occurs the procession of the bride, invi- tations to which ceremony are the most cov- eted of all. Miss Ellen Chennell's "Recol- lections of an Egyptian Princess by her Governess " describes one such fete in the royal harem, the bride being the Princess Fatma, daughter of the Khedive. On that occasion an elaborate dinner, a la franque,, was given by the four Princesses, wives of Khedive Ismail. The company then adjourned to a large salon on the upper floor, where they were entertained by the slow Ori- ental dancing of five or six female slaves, with flowing tresses, and wearing long loose Turkish trousers of pink silk gathered at the ankle; the somersault concluding each move- ment being most modest. At 10 o'clock the doors at one end of the FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT 85 salon opened and two long lines of eunuchs bearing candelabra filed in and stood shoul- der to shoulder the length of the hall. Pres- ently between the flaming candles came the bride decked in her most gorgeous gown and adorned with every jewel that could find place on her person, a long silver veil falling from headdress to train. A eunuch sup- ported her on each side to help carry the weight of her gown. The guests stood on stools to watch her progress, but the glare of the many candles and the dazzle of clus- tered diamonds made it impossible for them to see clearly. The farther doors to the throne- room were flung open and the guests rushed toward it, but only those nearest were able to enter, for as soon as the bride had passed within the doors were quickly closed after her, and she was led to a seat on the can- opied dais between her mother and the Queen Mother. Then came the exciting moment so eagerly anticipated by the expectant guests the ceremony of the Shower of Coin, gold in the throne-room, silver in the salon. An Effendi, a lady of rank, thrust her hand into a bag borne by a slave and flung a shining shower of newly minted coin among the assembled guests, who scrambled nimbly for the coveted 86 FROM CAIRO TO THE CATARACT souvenirs. The gold pieces were of various values from Is. to 5s., the silver from 2^4