CAIRO AND THE PYRAMIDS.
CAIRO, February 17, 1890.
On the 13th at 1 P.M. we took the train at Ismaïlia, had a first-class
carriage and agreeable company. For half the distance we passed through
a sandy desert, but when we came to the station Tel-el-Kebir, near which
Wolseley routed the Egyptian army, the country improved, great fields of
sugar-cane, lentils, grain, and grass were to be seen; men were
ploughing, and others gathering the crops, assisted by camels, bullocks,
and donkeys. In one instance, a camel was harnessed to a bullock drawing
a plough. The people were everywhere industrious, and the fields looked
in splendid condition. Very often we saw large flocks of sheep and
goats, and soon we came in sight of a long arched bridge spanning the
Nile. After crossing this we entered a fine depot at Cairo, where there
was the usual clamor of hackmen, but our conductor rescued us from these
land sharks, and we were soon at the Royal Hotel and I found my room,
which had been engaged, and directly a package of letters and papers
were handed to me, which were very welcome.
It is as cool here as March in New York, and I have on my regular winter
clothing. The Red Sea voyage and the weather here have toned me up, and
I feel in first-rate health. This is one of three fine hotels in Cairo,
and is first class in every respect--French cooking, splendid bread and
butter, and excellent beef and mutton, which have, no doubt, helped to
put me in good condition, after the horrors of our campaign of the India
cookery.
Mr. Norris sent a telegram to Baltimore last evening at 5.30, and had an
answer at 11.30 P.M., so that we are all now in touch of home.
We have been this afternoon through the bazaars to the great Citadel and
the grand Mosque, where I unfortunately stumbled over a prostrate man
praying, with his face towards Mecca, and there was a little row, but I
apologized and passed on.
Yesterday we started out at nine and did not get back to the hotel until
four. We went first to the famous museum three miles distant, over the
river, and saw an immense collection of antiquities, illustrating
Egyptian history for six thousand years, including the mummies of the
great kings, Rameses I., II., and III., and their wives and some of
their children. Their remains are not pretty to look at, and it seemed
to me to be sacrilegious to expose them for show in a museum at one
franc admission. The museum building is very beautiful, having been
erected by the Khedive for a palace, the same Khedive who was deposed by
the English, and is now in exile in Italy.
One room had marble pillars three feet in diameter and thirty feet high,
and the whole building is fitted up in the highest style of modern
French art.
We entered carriages and drove over a fine shaded road to the great
Pyramids, where we arrived at noon. I at once announced my intention of
going to the top of the big Pyramid, as did also Mr. Kolish of Vienna
and Miss Roe of Cincinnati, the others of the party declining.
The old Arab sheik, who has charge here, appointed three stalwart
Egyptians to assist me, and two others followed with jugs of water; with
one man holding each hand, and another to push, we commenced the ascent.
The stones were from two to two and a half feet high, making the tallest
kind of stairs, but the men were careful and good at pulling and
pushing, and I made rapid progress.
They stopped twice to rest, and then I found what violent exertions I
had been making, for I was completely blown, and my mouth and throat as
dry as if I had not had a drink for a month.
We rested at each stopping-place a few minutes, and rinsing my mouth
with water refreshed me; then we rushed on, reaching the top in
seventeen minutes. Such had been the violence of the exertion that I
could hardly speak for fifteen minutes afterwards. Mr. Kolish being a
stout young fellow got along first-rate, and Miss Roe being strong,
cool, and fearless came up serenely. From the top the view towards the
Nile was of unsurpassed beauty; long stretches of country covered with
green as far as the eye could reach. Farther back was a boundless plain,
but all sand and desolation. I intended to recite here Napoleon the
First's address, "Soldiers of the grand army, forty centuries are
looking down upon you," but I was so much engaged getting my breath that
I forgot all about it.
After stopping on top for half an hour, we commenced going down, one man
holding each of my hands and another holding a rope which was around
under my arms. We got along very nicely with only one stop, indeed I
think I could have come down perfectly well without help from any one.
There are 250 steps on the big Pyramid, and it is 480 feet high. At one
o'clock we had a capital lunch, and then started for the Statue of
Memnon only a third of a mile from the Pyramids. Some camels were
kneeling ready to take us, and I mounted one. The beast squealed and got
up first on his front legs and then on his hind ones, pitching me back
and forth, but I hung on and got along very nicely.
The immense statue, partly covered with sand, did not impress me much,
but a tomb which I entered near by was a wonder. I measured one of the
big stones in the wall and found it was five feet square and seventeen
feet long.
We mounted on camels again and Miss Roe and I had a race across the
yielding sand, the Cincinnati young lady coming out ahead.
The beggars crowded around and annoyed the ladies so much that I spoke
to the old sheik, and he went at them with a whip and scattered them
very quickly.
We returned to Cairo the same way we went, observing on the road large
numbers of camels, bullocks, and donkeys, and once I counted seven
camels loaded with fresh hay. Thus ended one of the wonder days of my
life.
Yesterday morning we left here on a steamer, and went up the
swift-running waters of the Nile, passing numerous palaces, tombs, and
all kinds of Oriental buildings, dozens of water-wheels run by bullocks,
and once a steam-pump and boiler, all raising water for irrigation.
We had a stalwart and fancy-dressed dragoman, but he was of little use.
We took along a nice lunch and picnicked on the boat, reaching the dock
in three hours, where we found about a hundred donkeys and their
attendants yelling, screaming, and pushing. After much trouble we each
mounted one of the ugly beasts, and started for the ancient city of
Memphis, seven miles away. There was a boy with a stick to each donkey,
and every time he struck, my beast would kick and nearly unseat me.
A young lady from Boston, Miss Potter, was put in my charge, and several
times we had splendid trots and gallops on the sandy roads and plains.
We met strings of camels and donkeys on the way in front, and our
cavalcade of excursionists, stretched along the sandy road, presented a
remarkable appearance.
Half-way we stopped to rest at a place where an immense marble statue of
a king was lying in the sand. It was thirty feet long, and five feet
across the face.
The donkey ridden by Miss Potter proved so bad that she changed him for
another here, and we galloped over the sandy plain unto Memphis, our
destination. There were half a dozen big pyramids in sight, and the
whole country was covered with ruins. We were on a high hill, and looked
down upon the Delta of the Nile and its cultivated fields, a scene of
rare beauty, on one side, and on the other, vast sandy plains and
deserts.
We walked to the entrance of the "Tombs of the Sacred Bulls." The
passage-ways and tombs are cut out of solid rock and are all under
ground. These passage-ways are a mile or two long, and thirty feet in
diameter. They strongly reminded me of the sewers in Paris.
From these passages, were dug out of solid rock twelve rooms, each
containing the statue of a "Sacred Bull," each one carved out of the
rock, highly polished and covered with writing executed in a beautiful
manner.
Each of us carried a candle, and it was very hot, so much so that one of
the young men came near fainting and had to hurry out. It was a curious
and weird scene, fifty or more people, each with a candle, wandering
about in the dark. After looking at the tombs, we all returned to the
upper air, and went to the tomb of a great king near by, which was under
ground, and contained several large rooms, all made of highly polished
white marble, covered with writing and carvings; processions of men and
animals, beautifully executed, and in the best state of preservation.
Mounted on the donkeys once more, men and boys surrounded us, offering
all kinds of things for sale. One young fellow showed me the skeleton
of a lady's hand, and offered to sell it for a shilling, but I declined.
It was a rough ride back to the river, the donkeys being very
uncomfortable creatures to ride. Once the one ridden by Miss Potter
greeted some of his friends in a field, and brayed with tremendous
energy.
We were very much fatigued and glad to get to the boat.
The return voyage was very pleasant, and we reached Cairo at 5.30 P.M.