OUR LADS IN EGYPT.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 168, 20 March 1915, Page 3

OUR LADS IN EGYPT.

A TAiHAPE BOY S LETTER. • I 10 VISITS UNEARTHED CITIES. SIGHTS GRAPHICALLY DIO'S- j C Hi BE D. The folic wing i s a letter from Mr Leu Burnes, the New Zealander’s Camp. Zeitoun, Egypt, fo friends in Taihape. Mr Burnes was for sometime with Mr A. Crawford, draper. A visit to the citadel and some of j die mosques was proposed. After much j argument about price, we engaged a guide, got two carriages, and away ■,ve went through the streets 01 Cairo. At the gate we had to leave cur cabs, as uo vehicles are allowed inside without special license. The Citadc.l is on .op of a hili, and, no doubt, in the days when.it was built, it was a most ustSful fortress, but now it ia merely a military prison and barracks. The view from the spot is simply wonderful. We could see all Cairo spread out at our feet, stretching miles away into the misty distance. The population of Cairo is nearly a million so you may judge what sort of a city it is, over ten times as populous as Wellington. The stones where we stood have been worn bellow by the countless reel which have passed ever them lot ienturies. THE MOSQUE. On entering the great square courtyard cf the Mosque we had to hire big soft slippers to keep our boots off the floor. In the centre cf the courtyard stands the great fountain, a very necessary part of every Mohammedan temple, as the 'religion requires every one tc wash face, hands and feet .three times before enttjrinjg to pray, and as they pray three times a day, they should be well washed, but they don’t look as if they are. The Mosque proper is over 100 feet high, with an immense and very beautiful dome. The walls are of solid granite, lined inside with alabaster. Each corner cf the building is a massive square column, representing their great prophet and thre'e ether important personages. Tim spacious fleer is covered with the most magnificent carpet I have 1 ever seen. Its patterns and colours are truly wonderful, and the subdued lights from the many coloured windows adds greatly to the beauty of the whole. It is surprising that the place has large rings and clusters of elctric lights, as these people rarely use modern ideas. These lights’*are only lit altogether about three times a year, and on such great days no white man is allowed t.o enter. The Mosque has a special door, only opened i'cD the Sultan to enter by. In one corner is the tomb of Me hammed All, the builder of the Mosque. If is walled in, there being a grating in the wall, but no otie has entered since old Mohammed was burie£, hundreds of years ago. We were particularly struck with the impressive silence which seemed to press like a weight, and, sympathetically we all conversed in whispers. When the old guide started explaining things to us his voice echoed away up in the greatdome like the voice of some old giant. We offered the priests in charge all sorts cf prices for on the lights, but it was no use. With the lights on I am si<re no one could describe it, it is wonderful enough with the lights coming through the coloured windows. I would have liked to stay longer, but we wanted to visit another mosque built by the last Egyptian Sultan, which stands on a lower level and nearer the town. This mosque was built to celebrate a victory. Not having ether material at hand, this old Sultan built his mosque with the stones of the outer covering of one of the great pyramids. Pie certainly made a very fine building, but he gave the pyramid a very ragged appearance. This mosque is net nearly so gorgeous a s the one at the Citadel, though built in the same style. It has no artificial lighting, it being used at night at very long intervals. Our guide showed us a large dark blotch on the floor,which, he said, was the blood stain left after 300 men had been beheaded. Soon after the mosque was built 300 Bedouins visited the Sultan who, fearing that their tribes were becoming too influential, enticed them into his mosque and had them beheaded. One escaped and got many miles away, but was finally caught and hung over the walls of the Citadel. This tale told in the fadinjg light sounded rather creepy so we decided to leave the mosques fcJ- that night and get some tea. BURIED CITIES. One Sunday after Christmas Day I visited the old city mins and the pyramids. I was Company Orderly Sergeant that day, but Sergeant Bevege, of Wanganui, kindly offered to do duty for me to enable me to join the party that was being made up. We engaged a Jguide to provide everything, including lunch, for which we each paid him 24/, there being six of us. We thought the price high at starting, but decided that we got good value when npght came. The party consisted of Sergeants Smith, Mccke, Hanbury, Charleston, myself ,and Birkett, a private in D Company. You-will remember Birkett, who was commonly known as ‘'Rata.” We arrived at Cairo at 9 a.m., where our guide met ns and took us tc the train we were to travel by.. After an hour in the train we did the (remainder of our journey on donkeys. W,e were rushed by about 20

donkey boys, but our guide cleared them off and selected what he consider id 1 lie most reliable animals; they were all shies and colours. For fun i inched the smallest doakev, 1 could easily touch the ground with my feel while astride of him. The boys nearly fell off their own steeds with laughing

at me. We hadn’t gene iar when Smith’s donkey missed the road and fell; there was no serious result.Abcut a mile along the road we came to the ruins of Memphis, situated in a grove of date palms. Excavations have been 'going cn here for the last twenty years by some society which studies anything belonging to ancient Egypt. Like many other old cities hare, Memphis is covered by sand. The first interesting sight was an enormous statue cf King Ramesis 11. It is 42 feet high, and ; s made from a solid block of granite. I will send a photo of it. There was another statue the same size made of sandstone also a small granite statue cl cue of their cid sajred monkeys.We could not spare more

time so w - e again mounted cur fiery Reeds and started for Sakkara, 5 miles away. Our way lay through fields which are closely cultivated like Chinese gardens. ■ As camcfs do all the carrying and they have no carts they only have narrow bracks between the cultivations. The villages consist of mud huts built on the side cf the irrigation canals, and the smelt of them is not very nice to say the least of it. We got a good idea of Egyptian farming, and ailived at Sakkara with only a few unimportant mishaps with our steed:/. T.iis city was captured by the Romans huntueos cl years B.C. ,vtu the 'est cf Egypt. It was later deffn.yed by earliujrako and sands 'of the su •/ouuuinf: desert covered it. We viciLoT the tomb cf ; Prime Minister of the Sixth Dynasty, 3000 years ago. Only the lower paits of the walls were 3taudii!;o, but the pie'ces found near have been built in with cement. It is a combination cf tomb and temple, and contains about a dozen rooms, the walls covered with carvings, illustrating customs and events of those old times li gave a strange feeling at first io be walking through rooms where Egyptians worshipped thousands of years ago. We next went to the tomb cf a high priest named Tye, who lived at the same’ time. The walls were also covered with carvings,which gave a wonderfully good idea of a lot of their old customs and styles of living. The real tomb was approached by going down a few stops and along a passage about 3 feet high. The vault contains only ■ the sarcophagus, the mummy having been removed some years ago, made of granite and beautifully polished. THE SACRED BULLS. Wa crawled back along the passage, and then wont to the temple which had contained the mummies of the sacred bulls. These bulls were buried in great style: The opened portion consists of several long passages with large rooms .opening at intervals on each, side, each containing a great polished granite sarcophagus, big enough to contain a bull. The walls are over 18 inches thick so you may imagine theii great size. There are 24 cf these, all the same size, except one which was to hold one a bit bigger, and the guide saij it was specially reserved for the King to worship. In the wall cf this bull’s chamber is a fairly small hole. The guide explained that the man who looked after this bull was killed, when it died, and buried in this hole in the wall. The walls cf one great passage are covered with small recesses. These used to contain the gold and silver caskets in which sacred cats were buried. Evidently the old Egpptians worshipped animals cf many kinds, as the walls bear carvings of sacred liens. We then moved out of the scared surroundings and made for the accommodation house, where our (guide spread out the lunch he had provided for us. It included boiled eggs, chickens ,ham, beef, bread, beer,, etc., and plenty of fruit. It wag a lunch fit for any one, and as we were all very hungry we soon spoiled the lock of it.

THE PYRAMIDS. We rested for a bit and at 3 o'clock started for the pyramids. It took us till 4.30 to go six miles. Alex. Charleston’s donkey got the tired feeling, suddenly stopped, and laid down. The donkey boys understand their work, however, and they scon got it going. Arriving ap the pyramids, the Sphinx - first took our attention. Then we went through an uid temple, and from there we found our way to the entrance to a pyramid, which is about 40 feet above ground level. We had to take off our boots as the passages are steep and the floors are of polished alabaster. We first went down a narrow passage, then up a similar passr|>e which leads to the King’s Chamber, in the very centre of the pyramid. The floors are very slippery, and the only footholds are small hollows, so the climb up was very solid work, more so because we were in a hurry. The pyramid is 451 fee?t high, so the King’s Chamber is 262 feet above the ground. The whole thinjg is built of sm. niense blocks of sandstone and alabaster, the latter being brought over 600 miles. The centre stone is of tremendous sixe, benig 11 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 5 feet deep. You can guess what a big block it is. We also visited the Queen’ s Chamber, which is directly under the King’s, and of the same style. Then we made for the fresh air, feb it was un'hearablp hot and

! stuffy inside the pyramid, I was glad | to /get cut and I don’t want to go in again, but T must go to the top it possible. We put on our boots and went straight back to Cairo, and from there to camp where we arrived at 8 p.m. I was quite pleased and satisfied with my visit to ancient Egypt; it was such a change from anything 1 had ever seen before. I will send post cards that will help to explain the wonderful places I visited.