VI.

CAIRO, April 6, 1895.

This has been a great day in Cairo. The tomb of Mohammed in Mecca is kept covered with beautiful carpets of tapestry and embroidery, which are renewed every two years. This is the year for renewal, and they have with great labor and skill been prepared; and the 6th might be called the day of dedication. All business in Cairo came to a stand-still: everybody and everything was in gay attire.

8 A.M. was the hour to meet on Citadel Hill. We were there with our carriages promptly on time. Many of those beautiful carpets were spread over oval top stretchers, carried by men. Then there was a canopy for the tomb that was gorgeous and dazzling. This was on a sacred camel, and entirely covered the animal, the top being some ten feet above the camel’s back. These all passed close by our carriage. Some two thousand soldiers, with a large amount of cavalry, artillery, etc., all beautifully uniformed, and large bands of music. The khedive was in the procession. The people and carriages covered acres. The coverings for the tomb were taken from the citadel to a mosque; and in a few weeks another day will be set apart, and the goods will start for Mecca.

The night before the 6th they had what they call a feast. These goods were placed in one of the public buildings, brilliantly lighted; and eatables also were added, and all that wished went in. It was like a grand reception. When the whole thing was over, we decided we were lucky to hit so rare an occasion.

When we visited the oldest mosque, we saw the column with Mohammed’s hand holding a whip imprinted on it. They claim this column flew from Mecca to Cairo,--quite a flight.

When on Citadel Hill, we saw the place where Mameluke jumped his horse off a precipice, killing his horse, but by a miracle, as it were, saved his own life. This was when Mohammed Ali made a banquet, and invited all the head men of the different provinces, and at the right moment let his soldiers in upon them, killing several hundred, this Mameluke being the only one to escape.

When Abraham walked the plains of Mamre with the angels, and pursued the captors of Lot, Egypt had her large cities, and was the centre of art and learning. Even Rome and Athens had their first instalment of knowledge and science from this old country.

Saturday we took carriages, and drove ten miles to Heliopolis. Here was located the great institution of learning in the time of Pharaoh, the place where Moses and Joseph received their education. Here is the oldest obelisk in Egypt, and the old sycamore tree, said to be growing on the spot where the holy family rested, when they went down to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod.

The more you travel here in Egypt, the more you are impressed with its ancient historical interest.

I have given you thus far in this letter more of the new Cairo than of the old. There is a part of this city that is as ancient seemingly as are the eternal hills that are around it, and there is no way that you will get more of the Oriental life than to go with me through the bazaars. Here you will enter streets miles in length, some of them so narrow that only pedestrians and equestrians enter them. Each side is full of stalls, many of them not more than six by ten feet. On the floor is usually a rug, on which sit the merchants, many of them smoking their nargileh. These boxes or stores, and occasionally larger ones, are packed full of goods, many of the richest quality. In these bazaars you will find them manufacturing shoes, garments, silver and copper ware, etc., using the crudest tools imaginable, yet their work is fine. We saw articles in silver that were exquisite. The natives and their donkeys are going to and fro, good-naturedly jostling each other; and you can rejoice in one thing, that the large, fat people do not live in Egypt. If you are buying goods, you should pay about two-thirds the asking price. In buying expensive articles, it takes usually about three days and several cups of coffee to complete the bargain. You will find stores filled with attar of roses and the sweet-scented perfumes of Arabia and the Oriental country. The buildings usually jut over above the first story, the merchants living upstairs, the buildings so near together you can almost shake hands across the street; and, as you are aware there are acres covered in this way, you will have some idea of the wealth and stock in trade in Cairo.

While making our way through one of these streets, we turned to our right into a narrow lane, and entered an establishment for manufacturing furniture, saw beautiful fret-work and inlaid pearl. There was a scaffold in the shop that was ten by fifty feet. We went up a ladder to get on it, and I counted forty men and boys working on that space. Some were carving, others were working on inlaid pearl; but the work which interested us most was turning beaded work. They had a fillbow, the string around the piece of wood they were turning. With one hand they kept the piece of wood in motion. With the other hand and the toes of the left foot they held the chisel, and you would be surprised to see them sit there and rapidly perform that work. I have a piece of the work in my pocket-book that I shall take to America.

In the bazaars you will see the natives selling water, lemonade, licorice water, etc. You will hear them in all directions. They have a fancy glass bottle holding about a gallon, trimmed with brass chains and dangles. This they carry on the side with a strap or chain over the shoulder. Then with two bright copper or brass saucers in one hand they strike or chime them together in a musical way, being heard a long distance, and with the cup or tumbler that is hung to the bottle will, for half a piastre, let you have all you want. I drank some of the licorice water once, but have not been dry since.

The donkeys, many of them, have a necklace around the neck with a thousand or less little brass or nickel charms or tinklets. It is very nice in these crowded bazaars; for you will hear them as they come rushing along behind you, giving you a chance to take care of number one. While you are here, you had better go through the lace, tassel, and embroidery departments where they are manufacturing these goods by hand, then, as you leave for your hotel, come through the perfumery and spice bazaars. They will give you a chance to sample their goods; and you will return with the sweet odors of Mecca, attar of roses, etc., that will be about you the rest of the day.

We have visited the ostrich farm, thirteen hundred and fifty birds, a sight to behold, saying nothing about the eggs and feathers.

Monday, the 8th, we took carriages, and drove to the Pyramids, a drive of ten miles, one of the finest roads in the country, six miles as level and straight as you could draw a line, lined each side with the libbek trees, resembling our locust. This road was built by the khedive when the Suez Canal was opened; and Empress Eugénie came here, and was the first to ride over it. We are ready to take off our hat to the empress. The pyramid we visited, and most of the party went to the top. It was some four hundred and eighty feet high, and seven hundred and sixty feet square at the base, twenty feet square at the top. On the corners the stones were laid in a way to make steps some three feet high. So two Arabs would take a person, and in a short time walk them to the top.

On our way out to the Pyramids we met two hundred and seventy camels with produce going into Cairo. Met seventy on the bridge as we cross the Nile, twelve hundred sixty feet long. This would be quite a show if it was not in Egypt.

There are a large number of pyramids in Egypt, both small and great. These at Gizeh that we visited are the largest, and were built in the third and fourth dynasty, nothing standing to-day that dates back beyond them. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob gazed on them probably with as much wonder as the people of to-day. There has been some speculation by different writers as to what they were built for, but there is hardly a shadow of doubt that they were built as tombs for the kings. There are many passageways and apartments in them. The ancient kings had an idea of immortality, and that the body must be preserved, in order to save the soul. Hence, as soon as they had the power, they commenced to prepare for the future. This largest pyramid was built by Cheops, and was some twenty years building. It took ten years to build the roads to transport the stone. At times there were one hundred and sixty thousand men at work on it. Cheops was a tyrant, and his subjects disliked him cordially; and, knowing this feeling to exist, he did not dare to have his body placed in this wonderful tomb or pyramid he spent so many years building. He gave orders to his few friends to have him buried in some secret place. The monument remains, but its builder is forgotten.

If you wake up to-morrow morning at four o’clock or, in fact, any morning, and your windows are open, you will hear the muezzins from all directions, calling the hour of prayer. They are in the mosques, upon the balconies of the minarets. The call lasts but a few minutes, and sounds like chanting in an unknown tongue.

We all of us seem to be creatures of circumstances. That article seemed to strike the Oriental party favorably. Yesterday we were all invited to visit the residence of one of the noted sheiks of Egypt. He is a descendant of the Prophet, is very wealthy, has four hundred houses in Cairo to rent, besides large land estates. His name is El Sadatt. He has fifty servants in his residence, some three hundred in all. He received us very cordially. We found him sitting in the court. We had an interpreter; and his servants ushered us into a large reception-room, and passed the cigarettes and coffee. Every one partook of the latter, and was invited into his gardens. The gentlemen would have been glad to have seen the ladies of the house, but that was not allowable. A eunuch was called, and took the ladies into the harem, where they found a wife and two pretty daughters, and several girl-servants, probably slaves. When we departed, we gave him our cards; and he gave each of us one of his. We returned, feeling that we had seen some of the higher life of Egypt, as well as the low.

[Illustration: SHEIK EL SADATT.]

In the evening we were invited to a reception at Dr. Grant’s, who is a Scotchman. His wife was from Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and had been a schoolmate of one of our Oriental party. The doctor has been here twenty-nine years. He has a mania for collecting Egyptian relics, and his residence is a perfect museum. He read us a paper that he had prepared on Egyptian music, which was considered fine. Certainly, it showed study. Coffee, tea, lemonade, cake, etc., were a part of the programme. We reached our hotel at 11.30 P.M., and called it a full day.

We have enjoyed our ten days’ touring here in Cairo. Most of them have been busy ones. We have been pretty thoroughly through the museum, which is very extensive, but almost wholly Egyptian.

But I have had you jostling against the natives, so much on donkeys and camels, in temples and tombs, etc., so I will not detain you long in that building, but will call your attention to a few things that interest me most. First was the statue of a man, his face having a splendid expression, well formed, fine muscle and joints, well dressed for this climate, seemingly perfect in all his parts, but, when you come to inquire for his name and what material he is made from, you will discover, by close examination, that he is nothing but wood. Quite a marvel! I think Cab Ellis must have dreamed about him before he invented his jointed doll.

The 16th of February, the day we left New York, the natives found in a tomb at Doshua, up the Nile, two gold crowns of an empress, gold chains, bracelets, and all the paraphernalia for a beautiful queen. This we saw in the museum. The workmanship was exquisite, and they looked as bright as though they had just come out of a jewelry shop. The museum building was formerly a palace, built by the khedive; and parts of it are fine of themselves, and the rooms number one hundred. It also has a garden connected with it, and a part has been made zoölogical. So, when you come to Cairo, be sure and take it in. It is about three miles out of the city.

We visited while here in Cairo, the howling dervishes. Their performance is what they call worship. They howl and bend, sway in every direction; and some of them will whirl around like a top. There were about twenty of them on a platform; and some fifty people went in to see them, with admission fee. The question with me was which was the bigger fools, the audience or the performers.

Saturday we leave here for Port Saïd by rail, there take the boat for Jaffa, and then to Jerusalem, which place we shall probably reach about the middle of next week; and I will write you from that place.

While stopping here in Cairo, we have seen some American reminders. You will occasionally see a bicycle, have seen one steam-roller for making roads. A part of the streets have on them the water-cart sprinklers. In other parts of the city what is done in that line is done with the leather water-bottle that we read of in ancient Bible history. It is the skin of the goat, many of them with the hair on, and being sewed up, from appearance, will hold two or three pailfuls. They are filled and emptied at the neck, which has a small opening. You will see thousands of the natives at the Nile filling these bottles. I should say they would weigh, when filled, one hundred pounds. They are carried on the side with a strap over the shoulder. They will go on the street, partly close the outlet with one hand, giving a swaying motion, and will thus sprinkle the streets quite rapidly and very acceptably to the dusty traveller; yet, when you have summed up the whole country, you will be obliged to write the word _passé_. They are ploughing with the same plough that Elisha used, treading out the grain with oxen. The camels are the burden-bearers. Everything about as it was four thousand years ago. Whether Jonah’s experience, as related by Dudley Warner, had any effect upon them, I am not prepared to say. When the whale landed Jonah on shore, his skin tender as a parboiled chicken, he saw a blind man eating dates. Jonah with his tender heart restored the man’s eyesight. As soon as this was done, he began to snap the seed at Jonah, and, he being in a tender condition, it hurt him prodigiously, and he complained to the Lord; but word soon came back to let things be as he had fixed them or take the consequences.

[Illustration: WATER BOTTLES AND FILTERS OF EGYPT.]

The Egyptians have let things be about as they were, and when they are going to have courage to change them no one can tell. A new civilization will have to be introduced, woman elevated, Mohammedanism exchanged for a pure religion.

LETTERS FROM THE HOLY LAND.