ROUND ABOUT CAIRO.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 30, 6 February 1915, Page 7

ROUND ABOUT CAIRO.

THE MOSQUES AND TOMBS

The following interesting letter has liocn received in Stratford from a

member of the N.Z. Expeditionary Force, stationed in Egypt, 'i lie writer says: As I have the afternoon off I will take you for a trip through Cairo. I left camp at 2 p.m. and caught a car at Heliopolis for Cairo (seven miles). By the bye, the car service here is very up-to-date and will give anything in New Zealand a good shake up. It isV.II worked by natives, but it is a fine Service, Landed in Cairo (which has a population of a million} we took a taxi-cab and did the city, visiting the principal places of interest. We struck a good guide who spoke English fairly well, so that we were fortunate in this respect. After doing the main streets we visited the Citadel, a magnificent building, which commands a fine view of the city (which is built on a flat). Wo then

visited the .Mosque Sultan Hassan, in which Eshmall Pasha is entombed, and a magnificent mosque it is too. One is not allowed in with boots on, so we put on sandals which are supplied for a piastre (2}d in Englffish), 1 Ihe floors arc beautifully tiled in •Egyptian designs, and those which arc not tiled arc carpeted with almost priceless carpets. Two of the doors in the building are made of bronze and inlaid with gold and silver, and are valued at £15,000 per piece. In the main hall is a huge fountain, and on the northern, southern, eastern, . and western sides of the main hall are smaller halls leading off, and in these - are suspended from chains 365 lamps, representing the 365 days of the y ear. These lamps are overlaid with gold and jewels, and each lamp is worth £6OOO. Then there are sixteen candlesticks of solid silver and about six loot high and one foot thick, each hand made, worth £IOOO. Of course the design makes up the value a good deal. Ihen we visited in the same building the tomb of Eshmnil’s daughter. This tomb is aWit 7ft high, and is covered • with ebony and overlaid with silver and gold, and cos't thousands of pounds to create. Now we shall visit the Uluo Mosque, so called because the tiles in the walls are of beautiful blue color, and depict .the Cyprus tree and the Lotus flower. These tiles are 900 years old and have not faded (apparently) in color at all. In the mosque ( a,e crytbs inlaid with tourquoise, 1 mother-of-pearl,' and malakite stone. Some of the ceilings and windows are I most beautiful in design and color, and must have cost thousands of pounds, as all the tiles arc band made | ami band painted. Now let u s take | the car again and visit the Ibn-Tcloun ! n ‘ os( i ue > tlle oldest in Egypt, namely, 1200 years. This is a replica of the | ,noS( l ue of Mecca, and has not been used for over 500 years for worship. While talking of worship I might say j that the Mofiamedans pray live times I a day, but it is not absolutely nccos- , sary to pray in the mosque. As our | guide put it; Some time in mosque, j } ol,le mc Juliana desert,some time ; oi .street. If they neglect prayer tho\ «i-o met at death with the angel of

fire and they get it ten times hotter j than anything on earth. If a man is a backbiter he may never touch paradise juo matter how much he prays. To i 00,lti,lue through the Ibn-Teloun mosque,we pome into a courtyard .with the fountain of ablution in the centre, and round about it are hundreds of pillars support the walls, which are | arched in the Gothic style. To light t ns courtyard are 365 yvindows fretted out all in different designs and each i t() the day of the year We 1 proced from tiie courtyard to the mini aret, which is the tower of the mosqoe- In fact, each mosque has four minarets, one at each corner. This particular minaret is the only one in Which has its Stair-case on the outs.de instead of inside. I'Vom tins minaret a fine viewe is commanded,

f'ul one Rets a splendid view of the citadel, the several mosques of the old ■ y > all( * t,1(3 pyramids iji the distance. Also can he seen the Mokawtan mountain and the Lihian desert. 1,1011 .we descend the minaret and stand m what is supposed to be the eldest pulpit in the world. In these mosques, especially the Blue one, the students gather from all parts of '4typt to learn, and they are not discharged until they can repeat the "hole of the. Koran by heart. They also learp Arabic, English, and a little history and geography. Xoa we shall leave the mosque and proceed down the oldest street in Cairo 1000 years old. It is narrow (about 12 feet), and the houses overbang the street so much that they almost meet overhead. The stench is awful and the street filthy. I forgot to mention that in the first mosque visited—the Sultan Hussan—that we saw a book of the Koran, which was discovered under the mosque, and is supposed to be .900 years old. It was hand printed, o( course,e and beautifully illuminated on papyrus paper; also wo saw the Khedive’s special Koran, which is placed in a solid silver casket and is used only once a year. Wo saw that .Mokawtan mountain is it present a huge quarry and that the stones used for the Pyramids are sup. >osed to have come from there. The sultan Hassan mosque was shelled by Vapoleon when he went through fcypt, and still bears the marks of he cannon halls, which had but little ffect on the masonry. A minaret, I I

might explain, is the place from which tlnv Moliamednn priest proclaims the •Muezzin or the .Mohammedan call to nrayer five times each dav., After

, leaving the mosques we drove round to the Europan quarters and saw i Kitchener’s residence on the banks of

the .Nile, which is only as largo as the

Wanganui river at Cairo

| Well, the afternoon is clone and we catch the train for Zeitoun (pronounced Zettoon), and arrive in camp just in time to report for horse picket at (i p.m. This trip cost Id piastres, written I’.T. Id, and is cqnivalent to 9,5. Everything here is reckoned in piastres, which is 2.Jd in English.

December 20.—T0-day 1 went to the hnried city and scratched about amongst human hones, etc., looking for treasure, hut only found a few heads after sweating underground for about two hours. This country is over-run with large birds about as- big as a fowl, which are called scavenger birds (hundreds of them, and they are as hard to shift as the natives). Tho married women here (as you probably know) cover up their heads and faces except the eyes. They are very sharp with their eyes; in fact, they seem to fascinate a chap with their eyes as docs the snake, Tho Turkish women wear white veils and the Egyptians wear black. Tho men all wear long dresses, and it is often difficult to distinguish them from the women.