A DAY IN CAIRO

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2570, 18 September 1915, Page 12

A DAY IN CAIRO

BAZAARS AND MOSQUES . A SOLDIER'S IMPRESSIONS Writing from Zietmm under date Jiily 29, -Private 11. J. Daniel, i'ornierlv on J lie stall' of the Douixion, who left'.Now .Zealand with the oth Ilcinlorcpnieiits. and whose death at the front was recorded last week, gives some impressions ot Cairo as under:— . Jn Cairo there is no Sunday. Every dayjs alike; one does not appear to be busier than another. Leave was granted many of the. New Zealand men on this particular Sunday, different from no others except in this not unprecedented detail, and they saw Cairo ; Cairo also saw; them. One thousand 6oldiers, and yet thoy were' all but not noticea, for the bazaars and streets of Cairo are in these days teeming with khaki-clad men. Australians, New Tommies, men from "Kitchener's new army, many returned from tlie front, wounded arid non-convalescent; others duo to/go forward in a. few d'ays; and, again, others who ,had been dratted as base details, and J would not see the tiring line for some weeks. All but not noticed, and yet no matter where they went, in twos or threes, sixes or dozens, they were insingled out by tlio' natives as is aw Zealanders and addressed as suc-li. -V 1 excellent name has been givan. prolans reinforcements and the Main Body, and Cairo aud its inhabitants expect-, and 6o far have received, the same standard.

""Guide, sir I Guide, sir!" is the first salutation one receives et the exit from the station. .- A "convalescent" lias, however, already agreed! to "show one round," so the offer is courteously declined. Two paces further and the offer is thrice repeated by. as many voices. Ihe "convalescent-," a- member of the Main Body, takes <i hand, ami the way is rapidly cleared. Dinner is decided on first as a sorb of "welcome to Cairo," and l the party.move off to a neat French cafe. There are dozens of enowy-linen-eovered tables down the sidewalk, and here meals -are usually taken. Cairolile from this vantage point is seen at its best. The people are emviiere— jostling ami crowding on the sidewalks; filling the roads, sitting in chairs 'round small tables at street comers, doorways, pavements—anywhere. Every nationality has representatives within hearing. Costumes as varied as the fish in the sea ; skins of every-shade,. from'pure wilite to jet black. Trams, great long cars, silent and swift, fly past. Victorias, or rather a cross 'twixt a victoria, and a, liansom cab, filled with soldiers or smooth oily-facea Egyptians with the inevitable fez, fed- and heathenish looking, glide through the throng on rubber tires. Donkeys, wonderful creatures, because of the extraordinary weight they i carry on still more extraordinary thin ' spindle-like legs,, sometimes certainly no thicker than a child's wrist, trot along, threading their way in and out of the crowd. Some are laden with huge packs balanced' on each side, and |

with the native rider perched in tlie middle, sitting .cross-legged. Bridleless, and in fact laoking head-gear of any description, the animals obey tlie slightest muttered, word of their masters. Others there are for hire - and these _ are saddled with gaily coloured trappings. The owner runs behind wflion a patron has been secured and urges 1 the donkey_ to fresh efforts with the necessary aid of a sturdy waddy. Despite the orammed thoroughfares, the flying trams and the never-ceasing procession of vehicles with the donkeys, the humour, of the soldier finds expression, and he persists in organising and holding race meetings, muoh to his own pleasure and certainly to the delight of the 'cosmopolitan' inhabitants.- , A cart ri!nj]|lo3 past, drawn by a mule, and both'are in the same state of dilapidation. Tlie driver walks alongside, and seated on the raised floor, dressed in rusty black, veiled and holding babies in their arms, aire two women—the .driver's wives. Never the same, the scene every hour, every minute, presents new, strange, and more curious features. And not for a moment is one free from the. solicitations/ of tlie itinerant hawker. In walking down tlie street a. dozen and more menu cards representing tho bill-of-fare in as many different cafes are thrust into the stranger's hand. He sits down at any table in any restaurant, and between soiip . and tlie coffee he is requested cringmgly and persistently to buy every conceivable object that is made in or out of Egj-pt. If ]i 6 s i); S inside, though the visitor to Cairo seldom sits anywhere but at the exterior tables, he is to a certain extent protected. The moment, however, tlie' waiter 'has vanished to carry out ail order a descent is made on the helpless victim. Round Ills table, from the open doorway, through the windows, he is beseeched, prayed, and appealed to that he will intervene and save the vendor or beggar from certain starvation by buying Buy! Buy! Buy! is the cry, till the waiter re-appears, and then , lite chaff before the wind they go—hut not far. Two old women approach, haggard, ri. r P? vvery-stricken.t y-stricken. One takes the other's hand and pushes it' before the face,°f a diner. She is supposed to b 0 blind _ and her guide directs the hand that is expected to receive the alms. Supposed" is used advisedly. it the main street; are interesting, 11 hat can be said of the bazaars and mosques? Lanes . break off anvwhere and everywhere, vanish behind the corner of a building, to nj? , a tortuous course ° ™ > tbo stranger never seeks the end,, bliops, veraudahless, with the exception of a canvas 6creon overhead are crammed into any and everv corner The goods are displayed on: the'floor, on the counter on the shelves, in the dborday. Ao systom of, show is followed: an indiscriminate heap, boforo which stands tlie proprietor, or rather site, for the is ever fond of his ease. Before the shop 101 l and squat and smoke the ligyptmns, Armenians, Greeks, and Arabs, with their womankind and children. Dozens of bootblacks dart hither and thither, linger to allow tlieir dirty hands, to touch some delicate silk fabric or article, and then away before tho irritated shopkeeper has timo to do more than remonstrate. Bootblacks! Why, they are more numerous than .flies. To stand still in tho street and gaze or talk for a littlo while is a direct invitation to the bootblack to clean one's boots, and the clutch, on t'lio ankfo as 'he endeavoursto placc the boot 011 his block is not easily sliaken off, especially if lie, as lie often does, gets in a lightning sweep of. his brush tliafc blackens fully one-half of trie boot. His persistence, however, is more often rewarded with a kick than with the coveted ''baksheesh" (money). JDaoli bazaar has its own individual peculiarity, for evory nation has its own quarters, and every quarter has its own bazaars. So, wnile there are common characteristics in all, and one of the commonest is the pervading smell, something,different can 'bo found in each. Then there are the mosques. A city of wickedness, bazaars, and mosques is an apt description of Cairo. The wickedness of Cairo cannot bo conceived in Now Zealand; the bazaars could bo fittingly described' only in a volume, or several volumes; and tho mosques, hundreds, permips thousands, in number, have a history in almost every stone. Massive buildings, some of them are with wonderful architecture, showing in their tiled cpurtyards, immense columns hundreds of feet high, huge domes and half-domes, and slender turrcted towers running up into ine sky. Imposing structures on the exterior, awe inspiring in tha grandiur and immensity of Iho inUrior- Oao day Is oil too sEoit to sea