Egypt, as described by great writers

Front matter

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Preface

O country is more fascinating to both student and traveller than the land of the Pyramids, the Sphinx and the Nile j the land of tombs, temples and ruins of ancient towns ; the land of feathery palm-trees, lovely colours and jewelled skies. The subject is so vast and varied and the instructive and delightful books upon it so numerous, that the task of presenting even a general view of some of the most celebrated towns and phases of contemporary life is formidable, particularly when space is limited.

When Aladdin entered the garden of gems, in which all the trees glittered with clusters of jewels, he could only bring away a few specimens. I have been similarly embarrassed in making my selection from the golden treasury of literature upon this romantic country. I have only been able to collect and present here from the innumerable works by travellers and Orientalists, their impressions and descriptions of some of the monuments of the past, the most striking features of the scenery and some accounts of the various races that constitute the present population.

I have followed the plan of the companion volumes in this series of Holland^ 'Japan^ Russia, Switzerland, etc., but the difficulty was increased by the fact that there are two

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Egypts — the historical land of the Pharaohs lying in the Nile Valley and the deserts ; and modern Egypt — the empire of the Khedive, which his grandfather, Ismail Pasha, so aptly said was no longer a part of Africa, but belonged to Europe. In this Egypt of the Twentieth Century there are hotels to please the most fastidious Americans and Europeans ; fifteen hundred miles of railways with trains fitted with all the luxuries known to the present agej and automobiles and electric trains to the Pyramids.

Side by side with the Cairo of the Arabian Nights is fashionable Cairo, with its crowded streets, large hotels, fine shops, Khedivial Sporting Club, Opera House, gardens and theatres, while not far away the mysterious forms of the Pyramids and the Sphinx mock the centuries with their changing races and customs.

I can only hope that my endeavour to bring some of these varied scenes and phases of life together will, in some measure, give the untravelled a glimpse into Egypt Old and Egypt New, and pleasantly recall to the tourist some happy hours dreamed away in this mystic land.

E. S.

New York, September , zgii.

PART I The Country and the Race The Land of Egypt

Stanley Lane-Poole

Origin of the Ancient Egyptians Villiers Stuart

Dr. G. Schweinfurth

The Fellahin and Daily Life .

Stanley Lane-Poole

The Copts ......

Dr. C. B. Klunzinger

The Moslem Women ....

Edward William Lane

Women and the Interior of the House Dr. C. B. Klunzinger

Common Usages of Society

Edward William Lane

The Revels of Islam ....

Stanley Lane- Poole

Part II

Descriptions Alexandria to Cairo .... ji. B. De Guerville

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64 76 83

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CONTENTS

The Nile Fens .

D. G. Hogarth

Port Said ; the Suez Canal ; Suez ; an MAILIA ....

Villiers Stuart

^. B. De Guerville

Mosques of Cairo

Tombs .....

Sir G. Masp'ero

The Pyramids

PV. J. Loftie

The Pyramids of Gizeh and the Sphinx

Temples ... . .

Sir G. Maspero

The Fayoum . . .

Laurence OUphant

The Labyrinth and Lake Mceris Laurence OUphant

The Tombs of Beni-Hassan W. J. Loftie

Abydos ....

Auguste Mariette Bey

Thebes and Karnak .

Memnonium or Ramesseum

Sir L Gardner IVilkinson

Sir L Gardner Wilkinson

D Is-

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Deir-el-Bahari

Augnste Mariette Bey

J. B. De Guerville

The Dahabeah • •

Frederic Eden

The Nile in the Delta; Heliopolis; the Nile Valley ; the First Cataract ; PHiLiE

Nile Scenes .....•• Frederic Eden

The Assouan Dam ......

Frank Fayant

Nubian Sketches . . . .

Frederic Eden

Abou-Simbel and the Second Cataract Villiers Stuart

A Ride Through the Desert ....

Dr. C. B. Klunzinger

The Convent of St. Catherine, Mt. Sinai