In former times, before the introduction of railways, the traveller to Cairo had to go by canal, hire a boat, servant; procure a carpet, mattress, and bedding; lay in a store of provisions, and a variety of minor articles that would fill a page or two to mention. Now we can go comfortably by rail in a few hours, the distance being something like 120 miles, I think.
We pass, en route, Lake Mareotis and the Mohmoudieh Canal, cultivated land near Alexandria, then a good deal uncultivated and desert; but as we approach Cairo, we see large tracts of cultivated land, all accomplished by irrigation, and I am told that as much as two or three crops in the year can be obtained off these lands without very great labour. A hot sun can always be depended on. The agricultural labourer has not to go through the laborious work of ploughing and manuring as in England. All he has to do is to scratch the ground, and put in the seed in the fertilizing alluvium which has been brought down from the rich lands of Meroe and portions of Abyssinia by the Athara river and its tributaries, the Salaam, Augrab, and the greater stream, Tacazze or Settite. All these rivers cut through a large area of deep soil, through which, in the course of ages, they have excavated valleys of great depth, and in some places of more than two miles in width. The contents of these enormous cuttings have been delivered upon the low lands of Egypt at the period of the inundations. The Athara is the greatest mud-carrier, then the Blue Nile, which effects a junction with the White Nile at Khartoum.
The White Nile is of lacustrine origin, and conveys no mud, but an excess of vegetable matter, suspended in the finest particles, and exhibiting beneath the microscope minute globules of green matter, which have the appearance of germs. When the two rivers meet at the Khartoum junction, the water of the Blue Nile, which contains lime, appears to coagulate the alluminous matter in that of the White Nile, which is then precipitated, and forms a deposit; after which the true Nile, formed by a combination of the two rivers, becomes wholesome, and remains comparatively clear, until it meets the muddy Athara. The Sobat river is a most important tributary, supposed to have its sources in the southern portion of the Galla country.
For the foregoing information on these rivers I am indebted to an article of Sir Samuel Baker’s, which I read with great interest in the Contemporary Review; and I daresay many of my readers will thank me for reproducing it.
After this slight digression, I will continue my journey to Cairo. At the stations were numbers of women and children with refreshments for the traveller in this land, where the sun always shines with a burning heat; women with goolehs of water to sell; children naked, or nearly so, with sugar-cane, melons, oranges, dates, fresh sugar-cane, figs, &c. Vast numbers of these poor creatures were afflicted with ophthalmia, their eyelids covered with flies, which they take no notice of whatever, many of them blind, or partially so, blind beggars; one and all, whether they can sell anything or not, continually uttering the cry of “Backsheesh, backsheesh, howaga,” which comes faintly on my ears as the train leaves the station. As we journey on there is much to be noticed. Now we pass a camp of Bedouins in the desert; next a large grove of date-palms (the owner of which has to pay a tax on every tree). Here the domestic buffalo walks round and round a circle; he is working the sakia or water-wheel, which winds up the water for irrigation. This is also taxed. Scattered all over the country are innumerable shadoofs, another mode, and the most ancient, of obtaining water; there the stately-looking camel strides along, looking intensely unconcerned. Trotting past him on his little donkey is an Arab in loose, white, flowing robes, and turbaned head. At one time we pass squalid, wretched-looking mud-huts; anon Nubians, as black as coal, working in the fields. We arrived at Cairo in the evening about seven, and were at once driven off to the well-knewn Shepheard’s Hotel. The cuisine is all that could be desired, and every attention is paid to insure the comfort of visitors. Mr. Grose, the manager, is a particularly obliging and attentive gentleman.
Cairo (in Arabic, Kahira, which signifies victorious) is the capital city of Egypt. It lies on the east bank of the Nile, in a sandy plain, and contains old Cairo, Boulac (the harbour), and new Cairo, which are, to a considerable degree, distinct from each other. The city itself, separate from the gardens and plantations which surround it, is about 10 miles in circuit, has 31 gates, and 240 irregular unpaved streets, which during the night are, or were, closed at the end of the quarter, to prevent disturbances. The houses are for the most part built of brick, with flat roofs, and the interior of many of them is very sumptuous. The chief square of Cairo, El-Esbekiah, has a magnificent area, the centre of which is laid out as a garden, and is annually inundated by the overflowing of the Nile. It is surrounded by the finest palaces. There is in it a monument to General Kleber. The inhabitants of the city and suburbs, in 1871 353,851, are Arabs or Mahomedans, Coptish Christians, Mamelukes, Greeks, Syrians, Armenians, Jews, and natives of various countries of Europe. The castle, or citadel, situated on a rock, containing Joseph’s Well, 276 feet deep, is the residence of the Pasha. There are 80 public baths, 400 mosques, two Greek, 12 Coptish, one Armenian, and one English church, 36 synagogues, and many silk, camlet, tapestry, gunpowder, leather, linen, and cotton factories. Among the mosques, which, though many of them are in ruins, form the most conspicuous edifices of the city, the most remarkable is that of Sultan Hassan, which is built of blocks of polished marble, obtained from the outer casing of the pyramids, or pyramid rather, for, if my memory serves me right, they are from the great pyramid of Cheops at Gizeh. It has a beautifully ornamented porch, richly corniced walls, and many tall minarets. Here is also a Mahomedan high school, a printing office and 25,000 volumes. The largest convent of dervishes is at Cairo. It was built in 1174. The traffic of Cairo is very great, since it is the centre of communication between Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, and the North of Africa, and is upon the railway from Alexandria to Suez. The principal bazaars are the Ghoreah and Khan Khalel. Goods are disposed of there by public auction, and the different bazaars exhibit different kinds of merchandise. Ibrahim Pasha commenced a public library in 1830, and in 1842 a European Society, called the Egyptian Literary Association, was established. Mehemet Ali introduced schools for elementary education, and the Church of England Missionary Society has two schools.
Cairo was founded by Jauhar, general of the Caliph Moez, in the year of the Hegira 368, or A.D. 969, on the site of the Egyptian Babylon. Moez afterwards made it his capital, which distinction it retained until the overthrow of the Mamelukes by Sultan Selim in 1517. Saladin extended and fortified it in 1176. It was repeatedly attacked by the Crusaders, particularly by St. Louis in 1249. It was occupied by the French from 1798 to 1801, when it was recovered by the Turks with the assistance of the English. A great fire occurred there in February, 1863; advantage was taken of it to improve the town.
Our military occupation of Egypt (or shall I say that it is simply a “measure of police?”), and events that are now transpiring there, are a sufficient excuse (if one were required) for dealing shortly with the ancient history of Cairo and the neighbourhood.
Soon after our arrival at Shepheard’s Hotel, when we had restored ourselves to our personal comfort, our host provided us with a good dinner, to which we did ample justice, and as the weather (although the end of November) was like a summer’s evening in England, we enjoyed the usual after-dinner cigarettes in the balcony, which is a very pleasant lounge, even in the day time, as it is quite sheltered from the blazing sun. I soon strolled off to bed with the idea of obtaining a good night’s rest, so that I should awake refreshed and fit for a pilgrimage to the various shrines of intense interest with which Cairo and its neighbourhood abounds. I have visited and seen all that was interesting in Rome, once the mistress of the world—Corinth, once the seat of learning and the abode of a most polished people; Ephesus; have stood on the ancient Acropolis of Athens, the plains of Troy, celebrated by Virgil; explored Misenum, Pateoli, Baiæ, Pompeii, and Herculaneum, all rich in historical associations; but compared with the remains of ancient cities near Cairo these places were of yesterday’s growth, and were not even thought of until ages after the glory and high civilization of the people in the land of the Pharaohs had passed away. When Abraham entered the Delta from Canaan with his countrymen, moving about in tents and waggons, the Egyptians were living in cities enjoying all the advantages of a settled government and established laws; had already cultivated agriculture, parcelled out their valley into farms, and reverenced a landmark as a god.