CHAPTER XXXVI—AN INTERVIEW WITH THE KHEDIVE.—LIFE IN THE CITY OF THE NILE.
The Khedive, who is he?—A hard-worked Pasha—His personal habits—My interview with him—Adventures of an old hat—Arranging ourselves for a royal reception—An eastern Monarch in a European dress—An unimpeachable costume—A fluent talker—Bedouin Reporters—A carriage from the Harem—Two pair of bright eyes—Unveiling the women—A talk with a couple of pigmies—A nation of dwarf-warriors—My impressions of the Khedive.
MOHAMMED Ali, the founder of the present ruling family of Egypt, was a man of great ability, but his energies were devoted to repairing the damages done by the misfortunes that preceded his reign, rather than to marking out new paths of progress for Egypt. At the time of his death in 1848 the country was much the same as in the early part of the century.
Under the rulers that succeeded him, particularly under Said Pasha, some progress was made; but it was not until the present Viceroy, Ismail Pasha, ascended the throne, that Egypt began her career of improvement. There were a few steamboats on the Lower Nile before his time, and the construction of the Suez canal had been begun, but the railway was practically unknown, and the cities and villages were in much the same condition that they had been for a long time. Nearly all the great public works owe their origin to the present Khedive, Ismail Pasha, and he can point with pride to Egypt as she stands to-day.
If anybody imagines that it is easy work to be king, he would change his mind, if he could, for a few weeks, make an exchange of places with Ismail Pasha. There is not, I was told, a more industrious man in the country than the Khedive. He rises early, takes his bath and makes his toilet; then he takes a light breakfast and sits down to work a little past seven o’clock, and sometimes before that hour.
There are a lot of documents to examine, and questions to decide, which occupy him until eight o’clock, when his ministers arrive, and he holds counsel with them on matters connected with their different departments.
Thus his time is consumed till near eleven o’clock or between ten and eleven, when he gives audiences to miscellaneous officials, to the foreign representatives and to strangers whom they have arranged to introduce to His Highness. This lasts until noon when he retires to breakfast and a rest of an hour or so; then he generally takes a drive in his carriage, and very often has one of his ministers to accompany him, so that quite possibly he combines pleasure with business, by discussing affairs of state during the drive.