I.

MARCH 13, 1895.

We reached Alexandria several hours ahead of time, and were landed safely. You may be interested in knowing more fully the method of taking on and off passengers and baggage from the large steamers that we have been travelling on. Occasionally they have a chance to land at a wharf, but usually they anchor out in the bay; and small boats come from the shore, and take from the steamer all that wish to land. When the steamer is anchored, and gives the signal that everything is ready, there starts from the shore anywhere from ten to forty Arabs, Turks, Moors, etc., with turbans on their heads, clad in either gowns or Turkish trousers, bare feet and legs, in their little boats, talking and shouting at the top of their voices, rowing for dear life; for the first one to the steamer expects to get his boat full. Being in an unknown tongue, it is a perfect pandemonium. Up they come, climbing up the side of the vessel like a pack of pirates; but, as our managers have the entire charge of our transportation, we have nothing to do but stand back and enjoy the fracas. This small boat arrangement is all right with a smooth sea, but with a rough surf it means business. The laws of different cities usually regulate the price these boatmen should charge; but, when they get hold of Americans that are not posted, they will fleece them every time.

The “Thalia,” that brought us from Brindisi to Alexandria, nearly one thousand miles, is a boat nearly four hundred feet long, manned by Austrians. They gave us good service, and were polite and attentive. When we took carriages for our hotel, a foreign country dawned upon us as never before. Camels with solemn tread, bearing heavy burdens, the streets full of donkeys, the people with their turbans, gowns, and Turkish trousers, women with the water-bottles on their heads, blacksmiths with their anvils on the sidewalk in front of their shops, hammering iron, the shoemakers and other mechanics in the same way, having their shops, but working in front in the open air. The Turkish gown and trousers is the common garb. The police here, as well as in Naples and Rome, carry the sword instead of the billy, and here in Alexandria most of them are mounted on fine horses. Everywhere they are in uniform.

After lunch we took carriages, and drove most of the afternoon. Went out and visited Pompey’s Pillar, which is a wonderful monument of granite. The base is about fifteen feet square, ten feet high; and then there is a round, solid shaft, made out of one stone, about nine feet in diameter, seventy feet high, with a capstone that would weigh, in my opinion, ten tons. How this pillar was set up on end, and that capstone placed in position, is a mystery to the mechanic of the nineteenth century. This was erected in honor of Pompey, after his death. He was beloved by the people, as he had fed them many times in famine. From this point we went to a villa and beautiful garden owned by one Antonides, a Greek merchant. These grounds are said to be the finest in Egypt. The khedive’s palace we could not get a permit to enter. Our drive ended about 6 P.M., landing us at our Hotel Abbas, where we were soon ready for dinner, and spent a restful night.

The next morning we took train for Cairo, one hundred and thirty miles, and made the run in three and a half hours. The country through which we came was perfectly level, lying but a little above the level of the sea. Most of the way we followed the canal that was cut through years ago from Cairo to Alexandria, connecting the Nile with that place and the sea, through which a great amount of traffic passes, not drawn by horses, as in America, but with sail and row boats. Our ride from Alexandria took us through a rich farming country, which seemed to be covered with crops. The work here is done differently from what it is in Italy. Instead of the hand work, the soil is lightened up with the old wooden plough drawn by oxen. The Egyptian cattle are peculiar looking, coarse, large size, with horns growing directly backward, close to the neck. Oxen and cows are both used to draw the wooden plough. Everything about their work is of the crudest character. The yoke is a round stick some four inches in diameter, perfectly straight, and about eight feet long, lying upon the neck with ropes instead of bows to hold it on. I have had a curiosity to examine one of these ploughs. I went for an old fellow to-day that I saw ploughing in a field, but, when I reached him, could not make him understand what I wanted. So I caught hold of his plough, and pulled it out of the ground. There was no mould-board to turn over the soil, but they do have a piece of iron on the point. This drawn through the ground has a tendency to lighten it up. The soil is rich and lumpy; and on the Nile they use only sand brought from the desert to improve their crops, which are wheat, barley, flax, onions, cucumbers, etc. Egypt raises immense quantities of onions. We have not seen as yet many orange groves; but there are sections where they are produced in abundance, as we can find all we want, large, sweet, and juicy, for one cent apiece. There is no tobacco raised in Egypt. If a man should have a piece of ground two feet square covered with tobacco, he would be liable to imprisonment for ten years. Great quantities are brought in from other countries, with a heavy duty. This gives the government a large revenue, and is the reason why the people are not allowed to raise it. The people here are ground to the earth by taxation. American slavery, that we used to have, would be far preferable. Wages here are ten cents a day, and the laborer boards himself. Every palm-tree is taxed, and everything that a man raises. Every village has its sheik, or what we might call one of the khedive’s lieutenants, and rules with an iron hand; and, if a man cannot pay his tax, he is bastinadoed until his cries excite the sympathy of his friends, and they come and pay the amount required.

[Illustration: PLOUGHING IN EGYPT.]

As we left Alexandria, we first saw the Arab villages built of dried mud,--anywhere from twenty to a hundred of these mud boxes, clustered together, with alley-ways between them. Some were thatched on top with straw, others had a dome top built with mud. Here men, women, and children, goats, chickens, and donkeys, find a home. All seemingly are living together. Here by these villages they bury their dead, graves or tombs being above ground, built of same material as their houses. Many of these burying structures are whitewashed.

Our first plans were to spend several days in Cairo before going up the Nile; but on our arrival it was thought best to start up the Nile at once, and visit Cairo on our return, which will be the first week in April. This letter will be mailed at Rhodes. My next letter will be the commencing of the Nile tour.