E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Ernest Schaal, and the Project Gutenberg
Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
file which includes the original illustrations.
See 32720-h.htm or 32720-h.zip:
(https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/32720/pg32720-images.html)
or
(https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32720/32720-h.zip)
WHAT WE SAW IN EGYPT.
Profusely Illustrated.
[Illustration: ON THE DECK OF THE SLAVE BOAT.]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
London:
The Religious Tract Society;
56, Paternoster Row; 65, St. Paul's Churchyard:
and 164, Piccadilly
[Illustration]
Contents
PAGE
I. How we Fared in the Suez Desert 7
II. The First Night in Cairo 16
III. Sights in Cairo 22
IV. More Sights in Cairo 28
V. The Pyramids 40
VI. The Mosques 51
VII. Heliopolis, and other Sights and Scenes 56
VIII. A Long Day 66
IX. The Start up the Nile 75
X. Still up the Nile 84
XI. We go to Alexandria 101
XII. Conclusion 125
List of Illustrations
PAGE
ON THE DECK OF THE SLAVE BOAT. 2
SUEZ 10
ARAB SOLDIERS. 15
COURTYARD OF THE HOTEL. 17
EASTERN VEIL. 24
SIGHTS IN CAIRO. 26
EGYPTIAN PIPE-BEARER. 29
CURE FOR THE TOOTHACHE. 32
MOSQUE. 34
DONKEY-BOYS AT CAIRO. 41
EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS. 47
THE SPHINX. 49
MOSQUE. 53
ARAB SITTING IN FRONT OF HIS TENT. 57
VISIT TO THE HAREM. 63
OLD GATEWAY. 68
THE FINDING OF MOSES. 71
BRICKMAKING (from _Egyptian Sculpture_). 78
BRICKMAKING (from _Egyptian Sculpture_). 79
THE SACRED IBIS. 80
SCENE ON THE NILE. 83
EASTERN BAZAAR. 88
EGYPTIAN LOOM. 90
FISHING. 91
POTTERS. 92
IDOL PAINTERS. 93
HEAD OF CROCODILE. 96
RUINS OF THEBES. 97
GRAND HARP. 99
BAGGAGE CAMEL. 102
DROMEDARY. 105
INTERIOR OF GREAT TEMPLE AT ESNEH. 107
RUINS OF COLONNADE AT PHILAE 114
PAPYRUS ON THE NILE. 116
EGYPTIAN TEMPLE. 120
MARKETING IN ALEXANDRIA. 126
[Illustration]
WHAT WE SAW IN EGYPT.
CHAPTER I.
HOW WE FARED IN THE SUEZ DESERT.
The welcome cry of "Suez! Suez!" resounded throughout the steamship
_Bentinck_ one November morning. The passage up the Red Sea had been
rough, and every one was glad to exchange the rolling and pitching of
the vessel for land travelling. The railway between Cairo and Suez was
not yet finished, and travellers crossed the desert in vans, each of
which held six persons and was drawn by two horses and two mules. Our
cavalcade consisted of eight of these high-wheeled vans. The fifth team
of vans contained four grown-up people and two children, Hugh and Lucy.
It was a lovely day, the sky blue and clear as on the finest summer day
in England.
Some little time after leaving Suez, a spot was pointed out to us as the
place at or near which the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. The waters
were now calm and peaceful; they lay gleaming like silver in the
sunlight. But these very waters had been raised as a wall on the right
hand and on the left for the children of Israel to pass through. Then,
with a mighty surge, they had overwhelmed Pharaoh and his host, obedient
to the word of God. This miracle of old seemed more real than it had
ever done before, while we looked at the very waters on which it was
worked.
On we went. A blue cloudless sky above; below, sand, sand, sand: except
where, every now and then, we jolted over large blocks of stone which
sent us bobbing now to this side, now to that, sometimes almost into
each other's faces, to the great amusement of the children. We stopped
about every seven or eight miles, to change our horses and mules;
generally at some little lonely building.
Wherever we stopped, we all got out for a breath of air. For as we
passed stage after stage, the sameness of the desert began to be tiring,
especially to the children. This was not to be wondered at; for, except
the occasional skeleton of some poor camel, whose bones were bleached by
the sun, there was really nothing to interest them. Hugh consoled
himself with a nap now and then, but Lucy was wakeful and restless.
At last we reached the midway station, where we were to stop for nearly
an hour, and to dine.
"How glad I am to get out of this stuffy little van, and to stay out of
it for a good while!" Lucy cried, as she jumped down on the sand.
So was everybody.
"Will they give us some dinner?"
Certainly, this was the only thing we had to wait for.
We went into a large room, in which were long tables, and benches at
them. The dinner was soon brought in. Dishes of fowl and stewed cabbage,
dried fruits, and fresh dates, succeeded one another, with plenty of
bottled beer. There was no bread. But some of the older travellers had
brought some loaves from the _Bentinck_, and were very good-natured in
dividing their store with their fellow-passengers.
[Illustration: SUEZ]
After dinner we had some coffee, which we found very refreshing; and
soon the vans were announced. In a few minutes we were in our old seats
again, cutting our path through the sand and jolting over large blocks
of stone.
"There is another skeleton, papa," cried Hugh, pointing to the whitened
ribs of a camel. "Do they leave the camels to die, and take no trouble
to bury them or do anything with them?"
"Most likely this camel was unable to travel farther," his father said,
"either from fatigue or old age, and so was left behind by his owner to
die. The hot wind and the sun together have bleached his bones. But the
skin and hair of the dead camel are both used by the people of the
desert. They are made into clothes, mats, halters, and many other useful
things."
"Yes," said Hugh, in a sleepy voice; and the next minute down went his
head on his father's shoulder.
Lucy, too, was all but asleep. She was heartily tired of the jolting van
and the changeless dreary sand.
The day had worn on rather wearily to her, and now that night was
setting in she felt cold and tired. She was wrapped up in a large shawl,
and made a pillow of her mother's lap. Indeed, we were all tired. And as
night closed in, and all became dark around us, we began to feel that
there was weariness in crossing the desert, notwithstanding the deep
interest connected with it.
[Illustration]
On, on we went. The sky had become thickly studded with stars; the moon
had risen, and her beams shed a clearer light and cast deeper shadows
than they do in our colder country. All was quiet round us. Not a sound,
except the crushing of the sand beneath our wheels and an occasional
crack of the whip, urging our horses and mules on their way. There was
no chirping of grasshoppers, no croaking of frogs, no beating of
tomtoms, such as we had been used to hear at night in our Indian homes.
All was so still that we might have fancied ourselves the only living
creatures in all the wild waste of sand.
We stopped at one of the little lonely buildings to change horses and
mules. The stoppage roused us from the half-asleep state we were in, and
we got out of the van to look at the glorious star-gemmed sky. There was
an unusual stir in the little building, and the moonlight showed a large
dusky mass nearing us. Nearer and nearer it came; and as it passed, we
saw that it was a long string of camels.
The war with Persia was going on at this time; and this was a treasure
party, carrying money to pay the army. The camels were laden with chests
of treasure, silver and gold. On they came, with their long, sailing
step. "Ships of the desert," the Arabs call them. The name is well
chosen, for their motion over the sea of sand is very like that of some
stately vessel over the desert of waters.
The caravan was escorted by a party of Arab horsemen. The officer in
command of the party stopped behind for a few moments at the building at
which we were halting, to give some orders. The string of camels and
their escort were again becoming dusky in the subdued light when he
flashed past us on his Arab horse, his drawn sabre glittering in the
moonlight, which sparkled for a moment on its jewelled hilt, and on the
gems in his turban. Then he too was lost in darkness.
The stately procession moved noiselessly on; the picturesque rider
flying by like some fleet graceful bird. No tramp of feet, no ring of
horses' hoofs. The deep sand hushed every sound. It was like a beautiful
dream; seen for a moment, then vanishing into the land of shadows for
ever.
We were fortunate to fall in with this treasure party; still more
fortunate to see it by moonlight. Travellers generally pass through the
desert by this beaten track without anything to break its monotony.
In a few minutes we were again on our way; those of us who could were
dozing, perhaps dreaming of camels and horsemen, and only just conscious
of the stoppages we made.
[Illustration: ARAB SOLDIERS.]
At last some one said, "Wake up, we are near Cairo."
We shook ourselves up, undrew part of the curtains, drew our wraps more
closely round us (for the night was cold), and looked out. We were going
down a gentle slope, passing walls which enclosed gardens, and above
which we could see the tops of trees and shrubs. The moon was getting
low, and we could not distinguish what trees and shrubs they were; but
the sight of green leaves was very pleasant.
We drove on down the easy descent into Cairo; and at between three and
four o'clock in the morning we drew up before Shepheard's Hotel. We had
left Suez at ten o'clock on the previous morning. Dusty and tired, we
were all glad to have the prospect of a comfortable rest.